With Christmas fast approaching, we are also nearing the end of the autumn term in our homeschool. This is a great opportunity for us to take a step back and reflect on our curriculum choices for the year. We can identify what has been working well, what needs improvement, and what changes we need to make. Additionally, I hope that sharing the resources we have been using will be beneficial and motivating for you. After all, I enjoy exploring the approaches others take and looking into their strategies.
If after reading you will have a specific question about our choices please leave a comment or drop me an email – I’d love to hear from you.
I will divide the post into year 6 and year 4 books. Then I will show you the books and resources that we are doing together. I will add links to the resources and as much as possible I will link the original websites that publish them. Quite often you will find there samples and free extras, so have a roam!
Without further ado these are my curriculum choices for boys in year 6 and 4 in the UK…
Year 6
English Language
The Good and the Beautiful books
We have just finished the Level 4 book which we started at the beginning of year 5. It took us a year and 3 months to work through it and we simply loved it! If you have not heard about the Good and the Beautiful books – I strongly recommend them! They are Christian, non-denominational and focus on promoting love of God, each other, nature and good books! These books are beautifully designed and combine teaching English reading, grammar and spelling with elements of Art and Geography. Level 4 consists of the main lessons book, reading books and spelling and writing workshop.
Now, I am always on the lookout for interesting curricula and like to change things to add variety to our days, so I thought… well maybe after finishing the level 4 book we can switch to something else… So we tried: Writing With Skill which I happened to have at home.
It is very thorough and offers a great selection of text to study. But it is not an easy curriculum and I don’t have the teacher manual which probably is great help. I think since we have a great writing program from the Institute for Excellence in Writing (look below), I will go back to the Good and Beautiful – Level 5. You can download their curricula as a PDF for you to print at home. Considering how expensive postage from the States is, this helps!
The Institute for Excellence in Writing – Structure and Style
While I love the way the main lessons of The Good and the Beautiful books are designed to be broad, interesting and stunning I have not seen much progress with writing workshops. And that’s why this year I decided to purchase the Institute for Excellence in Writing program called Structure and Style. It came with all the materials needed neatly packed in the folder and access key to fantastic pre-recorded video lessons. This was not cheap but I would be able to access video lessons as many times as I need to and I can still re-use the materials so I’m going to use the same package for my younger boy next year. Also, the principles learnt in these lessons could be incorporated into any other writing that we do!
Spelling
And for spelling, I found The Good and the Beautiful lists not challenging enough for Oskar. Last year we also prepared for exams and I wanted to make sure he is on track for what is expected from him. I substituted spelling from the workshops with British spelling, and for these, we use Twinkl Year 6 spelling lists and activities.
Grammar
For this, we are just continuing a Bond book that we started the previous year. Very simple, yet covers all the concepts children should know at KS2.
Maths
Junior Maths Year 6
Book from Galore Park. Very thorough British curriculum. Each concept is explained, then followed by exercises that gradually get more difficult. This book works well for Oskar. Most of the time he can read through the notes and do exercises himself asking for help when needed. At the end, he checks the answers in the provided separate pdf with answers.
We used to do an online maths programme called IXL. Unfortunately, it did not work for us. If you are not familiar with the website – it is used to practice maths concepts (and English as well in the UK). You pick a topic you want to practice and are presented with questions that you need to answer. Then you get points for the correct answer and you are taken away points for the wrong answer. To finish the topic you need 100 points. The system of taking away points every time you made a mistake frustrated boys and caused lots of anger and sometimes tears… So we have stopped.
Generally speaking, after a few unsuccessful attempts to do maths online, we settled to only doing maths practice on paper. Of course textbooks and worksheets are not the only way we tackle maths! If you are interested in some fun way to help your children understand maths concepts and how it is related to everyday life look into this post.
Year 4
English Language
The Good and the Beautiful Language Art Level 2 / 3.
We are nearly at the end of Level 2 book and will continue with Level 3. I just can’t stop praising this beautiful curriculum. And I am a sucker for all things beautiful!
Every time I step into our town’s children’s library, I can’t help but feel a wave of disappointment at the visual landscape of children’s books. . What happened to the aesthetic charm of children’s books? It seemsnon existent. I mean with all the technology that makes books more and more accessible and easy to print and re-print, they got more and more ugly. The shelves are cluttered with illustrations of strangely distorted characters that bear no resemblance to real people. Nature, often portrayed in dull black and white scribbles, lacks the vibrancy it deserves. Even classic books, when found (which is rare), are adorned with covers that are plain and unimaginative. And I am only talking here about the appearance, not the content…
The Good and the Beautiful Language Art book is our remedy for this! Pictures of real people, nature in its all majesty and wonderful art reproductions to fill the minds of my boys with goodness and beauty. Very much Miss Charlotte Mason style.
Cottage Press
Gentle Charlotte Mason-style book that includes language lessons, copying, nature studies and picture studies. There are different books divided ito Primer One and Two and each of them further divided into seasons. We are continuing Primer 1 Spring for which we also read a lovely book about the little mouse. Have a good look on their website as they include plenty of fantastic resources for free.
Spelling
Every time we come across spelling in The Good and the Beautiful book we swap for worksheets from the Twinkl website. We are currently working through the Year 3 spelling list.
Maths
Here we do a few things.
The Good and the Beautiful Maths Level 4
I love the fact that each lesson has a pre-recorded video with interesting explanations that always relate to real life, and each lesson in the book ends with a short review of all the concepts covered so far.
Humble Maths books
This little books serve to to practice multiplication and division, money, time and fraction. To make it more ‘fun’ we set the timer and compare results, hoping for a better time with every practice. There is something magical about the stopwatches, they really seem to turn every mundane exercise into something to look forward to!
Junior Maths – book 1 (for year 3)
Very thorough British curriculum, with lots of practice. Just a note – we don’t do ALL the exercises in the book – just pick some for each topic, to keep things short and sweet.
And that is about all the subjects that we do separately. Yes, only Maths and English.
Year 4 and Year 6 together
Creative writing
This is more a fun activity that we are doing than proper instructions in creative writing. Once a week instead of English I simply ask boys to write a piece from their imagination. It could be a journal entry, something related to a specific topic we have studied/read about, a letter to our family or to Banjo the Cat (you will read about him later in Geography…). Both boys have started to write a book each. They add to it little by little. Not so long time ago we had kittens at home so naturally Dominik’s book is called Adventures of the Pixy, Dixy and Trixie, who of course are kittens. Oskar being a science guy in our house writes a science fiction book with lots of experiments, interesting inventions and nerdy professor 😉
Science
Apologia – Exploring Creation with Physics and Science.
It is a very thorough book that is written in such an engaging way that when Oskar reads aloud Dominik quite happily listens to it. Each chapter has quite a few ‘Try this’ experiments which make the lessons more interesting for my younger son. We end every lesson by summarising what they have learnt and here of course I expect Oscar to produce more detailed notes, explanations or pictures.
This another State based publisher but it became popular in England so it is easier to find good deals on Ebay or Amazon.
I got our books cheaply on Ebay and the journal has some pages already filled in, but I don’t mind at all. And we have only one copy of the Journal. Oskar utilise it, while Dominik uses another ‘Sciency’ journal that I bought last year on Amazon and never really used it properly.
The Theatre of Science – online lessons.
The lovely lady offers the science lessons for free and there are days when you can access them live, but we prefer to just pick up the already pre-recorded lessons. Each lesson includes a simple experiment that is made on the go and boys can follow along or repeat in their own time.
History
Story of Civilisation, part III Modern Times
Last year we listened to them as audiobooks during car journeys, and now we have decided to switch fully to hard copy of the textbook together with the teacher manuals and activity book. Just to note – you can’t really use the activity book without the teacher’s manual! As a matter of fact, you don’t need them – you can design your own activities. We sometimes throw in our own projects. However, if you want it easy then you need to buy both books. Admittedly, it is a bit inconvenient, but given the scarcity of English Christian books exploring the Catholic perspective on history, and the often noticeable bias against Christianity in Western secular books, it’s a worthwhile compromise for a more comprehensive and balanced educational experience.
Geography
Geography through Art with Oxford Atlas
We only started to use this interesting book this year. It is a collection of art projects and ideas from different countries of the world. For instance, during our exploration of Italy, we were sketching the iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa. In a hands-on homage to Michelangelo, we stretched paper beneath the table and painted while lying on the floor, aiming to capture the experience reminiscent of the maestro’s work on the ceiling of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The book has proven to be a rich source of inspiration so far. It also includes some templates and ideas how to teach geography which we incorporate into our lessons. The atlas helps with finding information about different countries. I found it in our local charity shop. It is very thorough book with lots of different maps and details, but it is an older copy, so I might look at the newer edition. If you have any good ideas do let me know!
Banjo Robinson
This a subscription service that brings the world to our doorstep 🙂 Banjo the Cat a seasoned traveler send us a letter each month that includes fascinating information about the featured country, engaging activities, ideas to enhance learning, and a delightful recipe. With the subscription we have received the big colourful world map and we are using it to track the places Banjo has visited. It is geared towards children 8 to 10 years old, and works well with our other resources. (I think it also has an option for younger children)
Art
We use a lot of ideas from the above online Charlotte Mason style curriculum and for art we are going through their drawing lessons and art history.
Music
We simply listen to classical music of our own choice.
Nature Studies
Botany Book from Apologia
We use this on rainy days only! It has some interesting activities like all the Apologia books. Otherwise, we go on walks in the local woods with drawing notebooks and some ideas from curriculum Under the Home.
Book Study
Treasure Island at the moment. We listen to an audiobook, followed by simple activities that include looking at the map, dramatizing passages from the book or just retelling the story. I have also borrowed The Great Big Book of Pirates from the library to look at some famous (or infamous?) pirates. I think it would be great to finish off this little pirate topic with a visit at the Golden Hinde in London.
Catechism
This year we are using Our Lady of Rosary Family Catechism online. Really well prepared online lessons with activities and questions. And it is completely free. We pray together and read from the Bible in the evenings when everyone is home.
Computer projects and Coding
We use Scratch in which boys prepare simple projects of their own choice. We have started learning with books but by now – they learn independently with the help of their older brother or YouTube. Additionally, Oskar is learning Blender, an animation program, and working on a project. Once I get permission to show it to the public, expect some Ka-boom-boom!
Our curriculum also includes learning Polish and French, PE (swimming, cycling and football), instrument lessons with the local teachers and fantastic drama with my homeschool friends.
And that my friends would be all our curriculum choices for boys who work roughly at the level of Year 4 and 6 in UK schools. I truly hope it was helpful! Please comment on what are your favourite resources as I’m eager to foster a community where we can together enhance our educational journeys. Here’s to empowering each other in our home education pursuits!
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