Our 2018-2019 4th Grade Homeschool Curriculum
When choosing 4th grade homeschool curriculum, I usually focus on base subjects, like English/Grammar, Math, Science, and History. That leaves lots of room for my kids to learn through play on their own.
English/Grammar
We began this school year with some review from our Growing with Grammar textbook and workbook. (No, we didn’t finish all the book last year. I’m not a homeschool mom that makes my kid finish all the book…well, not anymore. 😉) After a couple of weeks, we thought we might like to try something else, a different curriculum.
I know some homeschoolers give Accelerated Christian Academy PACEs a very hard time, but we felt like these would be a good fit for us this year for at least a couple of subjects. We could buy a portion of the curriculum at a time through ChristianBook.com and it’s easy to pack up and go with these little workbooks, if we needed to do school on the go.
The workbooks are dated, meaning what seems to be a 1950s or 1960s setting, but that doesn’t bother my kids or me. There are Bible verses in each lesson that emphasize character building and require memorization. That doesn’t make me cringe either, rather the contrary, if it has to be memorized hopefully, those verses will be available from memory when the day arises that they NEED them.
The lessons are challenging, yet easy to understand and there are enough exercises given to make sure concepts are mastered. You could always skip some of the exercises if you feel they are excessive.
We do two or three pages per day in each workbook. This seems to be enough to work through the book and retain the information. And my boys like this curriculum!
Science
We knew it was time for a change in our science curriculum lineup. When Mom is having trouble understanding the lessons, it’s time to move on.
My older daughters had both used ACE PACEs for science so, I thought we might try them this year.
Again, same as with the English curriculum, there are verses to memorize, challenging but easy-to-understand lessons, and just enough exercises to practice the lesson.
Another thing about the PACEs, parent grade keys are easy to read and make grading super simple.
The 4th-grade workbooks are interesting and teach mainly from examining the world around us.
Math
For math this year, I decided to use the Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching. They have a free program and are based in the United Kingdom. I was able to email them and get the passcode to the grade keys.
We quickly discovered that it was difficult for us to understand some of the concepts. Therefore, making this curriculum too complicated for this busy mom to figure out.
Deciding to return to the curriculum we used last year was our best choice. Also a free homeschool curriculum, Free Math Program, has lessons divided out by the weeks children would learn the skill in a public school setting. We don’t use it in this way. I jump around a lot, but you are certainly welcome to do as you please. Completing one lesson before moving on isn’t required.
The lessons are given at the top of the first worksheet for each unit. Teacher keys are available at the end of some of the printed lessons. However, sometimes you must grade on your own.
History
Another of our choices that has caught some flack over the years is The History of US, by Joy Hakim. We’ve used this curriculum a couple of different times for different grades. One of the main arguments for this series is there are inadequacies. In my opinion, there are inadequacies in every story from history. No two people see events the same. We’ve used this to our advantage and researched some information in this book from other angles.
I love that this book is written much like a story, not necessarily in textbook format. That alone makes it a more interesting read. There are some great pictures in this book as well.
Worksheets to go with each book can be found on Mister Dan’s website.
Reading
Reading is not something I get too strict with. My kids like to read, so this isn’t a subject I have to force or insist they complete. For the most part they are free to read books of their choosing. Every other book they read is a piece of classical literature I think they’ll enjoy. We don’t plan the reading list ahead of time. It’s a “decide as you go” type of thing.
Geography / State Study
We’ve never done this before, but this year I decided to have my boys begin studying every state in the United States. No, we may not finish this year, but we could very easily carry this over into our next school year.
Two of the resources helping us to do this are a map of the United States and the USA State Study pages from NotebookingPages.com. We have the Lifetime Membership to Notebooking Pages and have used it numerous times in the last three years.
Each state packet contains 49 pages. You decide which pages you’d like your student to complete, and they by no means need to complete them all. I feel like these pages cover a variety of grade levels. My boys complete several of the pages from each state. This is something they work on together. Most days it goes very well. 😊
Life is busy. I think it is for most of us, homeschooling moms. We do the best we can to teach our children and keep our lives somewhat balanced. If you’re a busy homeschooling mom with a favorite curriculum, I’d love to hear from you, or you could share it in the comments. I know other moms would appreciate the suggestions.
For more information on how I juggle four different ages, read Homeschooling Multiple Ages.
