At the time of writing this blog post, we have JUST wrapped up our homeschool year! We had a 5th grader and 1st grader this year and it has gone so fast! Here, I’m sharing our top 5th grade homeschool curriculum choices, along with what worked well and what we ended up ditching!
>>Read Also: How I Approach And Calculate Homeschool Grading
At the beginning of this past school year, I took some time to figure out what our homeschool goals were. For our daughter (who is our now graduated 5th grader), our biggest goal was to improve her reading fluency, as well as work on her spelling.
Language arts has always been her least favorite subject. I remember when we first started homeschooling, both she and I would end up in tears sometimes during her language arts lessons! That is NOT how it’s supposed to be, and it wasn’t much fun for either of us.
Looking back, I see now that the curriculum I had chosen was completely wrong for her. I have since discovered the learning styles of both my children, and can fully understand why that curriculum wasn’t working! Sadly, it sort of tainted language arts for her and ever since then it’s been a bit of an uphill battle. Combine that with a small learning gap due to Covid interruptions and it has been quite the challenge.
However, during her 5th grade year, we finally discovered what worked the best for her! We also made changes to her math curriculum, as well as science and history.
So, let’s dive in and talk about our 5th grade curriculum choices!
The Core Subjects
When choosing our 5th grade homeschool curriculum, we started out by making sure all of the core subjects were covered. The core subjects are primarily:
- Math
- Language Arts
- Science
These are the most important things to focus on when you have younger children. Especially math and language arts! I consider things like history lessons, music lessons, and even social studies as ‘extras” when your kids are still young. We have never used curriculum for any of those. Instead, we focus our time and resources on a good math, science and language arts curriculum. We don’t ignore the rest, we just don’t use a curriculum for them.
For subjects such as history and social studies, we often go to our local library and find some good reading material about the topic we are planning on discussing. Morning time is a great way to incorporate discussions about world history, different cultures, etc. We also go on field trips with our homeschool community to learn about a specific subject area as well.
For some inspiration on homeschooling younger grades, check out my blog post on how to homeschool kindergarten + kindergarten curriculum tips!
All this to say, I’m sharing with you the 5th grade curriculum we chose for our daughter – but the curriculum isn’t our entire homeschool! Don’t feel like you have to use a curriculum for everything. We certainly don’t!
Alright, let’s dive into our top 5th grade homeschool curriculum choices!
Math
Math is something my daughter enjoys, so it’s never been much of a struggle getting her to do her math lessons. For the first few years of homeschooling, we used The Good And The Beautiful Math. She liked it, but by grade 5 she was ready for a change.
So, this past year we used Teaching Textbooks Level 5 Math. Teaching Textbooks is a series of online courses, where someone first explains each lesson and then the child has to complete a number of math problems. These are recorded audio lessons – they are not live with anyone. My daughter really liked this format because she could replay something if she wasn’t quite understanding the concept.
This was the first time I was completely hands off with her math (almost)! The only time she needed me was if she wasn’t understanding something. We would then just pause the lesson, and work on it together until she grasped it. But having her be mostly independent during math allowed me to be available to our younger child who is in the 1st grade. It also taught her to be more independent with her learning, and she was able to sit down and do a math lesson whenever she needed to. Even if I wasn’t home!
She did find that near the end of the homeschool year, her math felt boring to her. But I would argue that most kids are just ready to be done as the end of the year approaches!
Overall, we found Teaching Textbooks worked really well. Everything was grade level appropriate, explained very clearly, and even had some cool features like graphics and stickers.
It comes with a parent portal you can log into to view the weekly lessons and see if your child needs some extra practice with any of the concepts. You have access to their gradebook which shows you what your child has scored for each lesson, as well as their overall course average. It was also very affordable, and you get instant access when you purchase the program online.
Language Arts
Over the years we’ve really struggled finding a language arts curriculum that is a good fit for our daughter. We’ve tried a few different things, but ended up abandoning most of them. Choosing the best curriculum for your child has a lot to do with knowing your child’s learning style. I have discovered that my daughter learns best with as many hands-on activities as possible. This has been such a great discovery because I can now choose curriculum that has lots of different activities and components.
Reading
This past homeschool year, my main goal was to improve her reading skills. I actually started the year off without using any formal curriculum and focused on giving her as much time as I could for personal reading. After she finished a book, I would have her tell me some interesting facts about the book, or what she did/didn’t like about it.
We kept it a priority to make sure she was reading a lot throughout the entire year. We did lots of library trips and even a few special outings to the bookstore! I can honestly say that by her simply reading more, not only have her reading skills improved but so has her grammar and spelling.
Writing
For writing practice, she has done a few things. The Good And The Beautiful has Handwriting books and she has done a few levels of them. This year, she did level 5 and really enjoyed it. It provides practice with cursive writing, but also teaches some grammar, punctuation, and scripture.
We did use Abeka Spelling and Grammar with her for the first few months just to work on her spelling. It was okay, but to be honest, it didn’t really click with her. We stopped using that and did our own spelling lists instead.
But one thing that has been working for her that is completely hands on, is playing board games like Scrabble! It’s fun and helps her remember trickier words.
L.A. Curriculum
A few months before the end of the school year, I decided to try out The Good And The Beautiful level 4 Language Arts curriculum. Yes, she was in fifth grade, but I find The Good And The Beautiful to be more on the advanced side. Because they provide all of their language arts courses as a free download, I only printed out the first 10 lessons. I wanted to see if it would work for her before printing out the whole thing.
Well, it has been absolutely wonderful and she’s actually enjoying it! She completed the first 30 lessons or so by the end of the homeschool year, and will just pick up where she left off in September. I expect I will likely start her in the next level about halfway through the upcoming year.
Science
Science is a subject that we do together in our homeschool. I don’t separate it by grade level, and didn’t seek out any specific 5th grade curriculums for this subject. Therefore, I always look for a curriculum that is good for younger, and older kids. Our favorites so far are Gather Round, and The Good And The Beautiful. As the parent I have my teacher’s manual, and each child has work based on their different levels.
As a family with a 5th grader and 1st grader, these are the science units we chose:
- Earth Science (Gather Round): This provided a solid foundation of knowledge about how different things on earth are formed. It covered topics like rocks, minerals, volcanos, ocean currents, and more.
- Safety (The Good And The Beautiful): This included topics such as water & electricity, kitchen safety, fire safety, how to deal with strangers, etc.
- Marine Biology (The Good And The Beautiful): This was all about the different sea creatures, as well as the science of the ocean in general.
All The Rest
Everything else we covered for 5th grade was done in less formal ways. Music, history, art, etc. are all included in this category. Here’s what we did!
History
I often include history lessons during our morning time, and this past year we discussed topics such as:
- The Titanic
- The Halifax Explosion
- World War 1 & 2
- The Acadians
To do this, I borrowed books from the library, as well as found some kid-friendly YouTube videos on the subject we were covering. We also went on some related field trips that provided a more hands-on experience.
Art
In previous years we have tried following an art curriculum, but we gave that up pretty quickly! Both of my children are very creative and art is just a part of everyday life around here! Sometimes we use YouTube videos to learn how to draw certain things. Other times, we just pull out some art supplies and get crafty!
Music
Again, this is not something we look to a curriculum for in our home. Our 5th grader takes weekly piano lessons and also sings in a choir. Music is weaved into the fabric of our family, and doesn’t need to be checked off of a list!
Bible Study
Every morning, we start off with our Bible time. For us, this is usually reading a devotional together, followed by whatever discussion it provokes and then we pray together.
Beginning each day this way builds such a good foundation. We all feel the effects this has on us, and really notice it if we get too “busy” and decide to skip it. We’ve basically learned the hard way to never skip our Bible time together! It is the foundation for everything we do, and without it, we’re kind of a mess!
Summary
In my opinion, 5th grade is still young enough that you really don’t have to get too heavy into curriculums for everything. Besides making sure your 5th grader has a good grasp on their math concepts and is actively reading…..the rest is icing on the cake!
There is no reason for 5th grade to feel stressful for you or your child. Our 5th grade homeschool year went really well! My daughter learned so much, improved drastically in her reading and writing abilities, and we soaked up all sorts of things together as a family!
And remember, it’s important to pay attention to your child’s individual needs and ask them what their goals are for the year. Every child learns in their own way and at their own pace. There is no “right way” to do this. Cover the basics, become a student of your child and learn what they’re interested in….and don’t forget to have some fun along the way!
Blessings!
~Maryann
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