HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM YEAR END REVIEW | 2023-2024 Homeschool Year End Reflections & Recap

Consistency > Stressing about doing it all

I have been super pleased with Math Mammoth for my older girls! Super solid, and super affordable. Doesn't get a lot of chatting on Youtube, but I am glad we have done it. I also have adored teaching my younger two to read. We used 100 easy lessons, and it worked great, they are both off a running and it is so adorable! 🥰

I had the same frustrations with the Beautiful Feet Around the World. Also, the books all focus on long past aspects of those countries and nothing about life there now. Guest Hollow's Jr. Geography is much more contemporary and adds in the non-fiction and videos, etc.

I love Gentle Classical and use it with my son! I love watching your videos, so soothing and it is like having another homeschool Christian bilingual mom friend <3

I love how touched you are just in talking about your baby. ❤

"The homeschool year that was" sounds so ominous 😂

I 100% agree with your thoughts on BFB around the world in picture books. We did enjoy the Maps book. But I don't feel like there were big takeaways in general. We are also Math with Confidence users, that was a win for us this year! I had one in 2nd, one in 1st and one in Preschool Math at Home. 😊

Another mom here who had the same experience with Around the World this year. Lovely books, but that was about all it had to offer. Used Early American History Primary last year and felt it had much more to offer. But next year we are switching to Bookshark (would do Sonlight but our charter school will pay for Bookshark). I'm ready for some history spines and really readable, usable instructor's guides!

I agree with your analysis of Around the World with Picture books. The maps book was gorgeous and it’s my oldest child’s favorite resource at the moment, but so many times my boys would ask me about one of the images in the book. Then I had to research it on my phone which to me was a big distraction during teaching.

Completely agree on BFB. We had the same issue this year. I had to add in almost everything.

You’re so good about the languages. Kudos. Most of our friends give up and I’m finding myself slacking as the kids get older. I enjoyed hearing how your year went. And happy to hear things are going well with baby.

A “miss” for the year was Singapore Math, because the teachers manual is not scripted and I didn’t feel like I understood how to give that understanding of numbers to my daughter that I naturally have and the curriculum is trying to teach and so we switched after one semester to Mayh With Confidence and I just love the ease of use and she loves the games so she will do subtraction happily in a game. I should say she did well with Singapore it just wasn’t great for me as a teacher. Rachel always says consistency is key and Math With Confidence gives you the ability to do that easily. I was really excited to use Llamitas this year and we did but even though it’s easy to use and I was super jazzed about that I didn’t keep up with it regularly. Nothing wrong with the program-actually her ability to read the little readers impressed me and I love the syllable sounds in the lesson. I think she’s naturally taking her English reading ability to read Spanish. It’s fun to see her get excited when she sees a word she learned in Llamitas in another context.

Thank you so much for all this info! I'm noting it for sure!

Along with the others and you, 100% agree with your assessment of Around the World with Picture Books. The map book continues to be my daughter’s favorite thing. And some of the books were lovely and fun. But most of our learning happened because I took the time to research and extend the information….which I didn’t want to have to do…. Which is why I bought the resource in the first place! 🤣🤷🏻‍♀️ Living overseas without a great library made it a challenging curriculum to use as well…no easy way to head to the library to extend the book selection. Also we found our secret sauce of math with Math with Confidence 2+ Beast Academy online. My (2nd grade) daughter loves the videos for BA. I love the way it helps her think in a different way. ❤️

That little baby is definitely the highlight of the year!! ❤️❤️❤️

I had just started to try to implement Spanish into our homeschool routine when I started dealing with morning sickness for baby number seven. As you can imagine, that second language really got dropped because the first few months of pregnancy are extremely difficult for my body. I'm just getting into my second trimester and thinking about if there is a way that I can still try to implement Spanish that will actually be doable in this season of life. Haven't come up with a solution yet, but I do know that what you say about little bits is absolutely true. Small amounts done consistently adds up greatly.

What a sweet highlight!❤ I have really enjoyed the Grade 1 geography resources from Charlotte Mason Beehive. Rachel North has updated some lovely living geography books + added beautiful photos! Been a highlight, I have used it for all my young elementary kids. And it’s a download🎉

Good reminder to reflect! We still have another 7 weeks or so yet, so at the moment I'm just trying to focus on finishing that before our baby arrives, but it is so helpful to look back and think on what's working, what has not, and ways to grow in the future. Also appreciated the comments on Beautiful Feet books. I've often wondered if I should have purchased their curriculum during our kinder year when we did an Around the World theme. I'm glad to get some confirmation that not purchasing was a good choice, lol. Not that what they have is bad. I'm sure there are helpful aspects to it. It is just that for the $$ I think I would have been disappointed. I would have wanted it to do more, like you were saying. Thankfully we have an amazing library with great non-fiction as well as fiction titles that worked great for us, and I had the time and energy back in that season of life to invest heavily into a DIY approach that worked wonderfully for us back then. :)

We plan to break for a long Easter break like last year so I naturally reflect on the last homeschool yr!!! Idk what my firm plan for a school year is as well and as we are travel schooling idk if we will take our long Easter break but I’m hoping we do for family subjects or we slow down on homeschooling!!! We love beautiful feet but we had to put our science history class on Pause till next spring (September 2024)!!! I love the masterbooks book that has 4 pages on a country!!! Ur younger son Spanish will improve as he ages!!! I’ve slacked with German when my older kids where younger and their German has came well!!! My oldest has been learning Hebrew for 2 years and he struggles with the different letters!!!

Definitely agree with the bfb review. My kids loved the books but i felt like there was no meat to it. I personally feel like for the price it should have had more to it.