As I recently shared, we wrapped up our third grade, and we’re moving onto grade 4. I’m stunned. It seems so recently we started our homeschool journey, yet here we are, over three years later.

You know how people say that a fine wine gets better with age? I think the same is true with homeschooling. With every year, our homeschool experience gets richer and fuller.

I love piecing together our curriculum. In fact, it takes some restraint to hold back from splurging on all the awesome homeschool curriculum that’s available!

Today I thought I would share our 4th-grade homeschool curriculum choices for my oldest daughter….

photo credit: Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash

Morning Time

Our morning time routine brings such peace and beauty into our homeschool day. It sets the stage for learning and continually inspires us. We will continue with morning time, but our morning time basket regularly changes as we read books and explore certain topics.

Some of the curriculum choices that I’m sharing here are part of our morning time routine, while others are used during the structured part of our homeschool day.

Language Arts

Bob Jones English 4

I adore the Bob Jones English curriculum. As I’ve shared before, my daughter does not like the physical process of writing. She loves creating stories and will type them out, but she is unhappy when it comes to printing them by hand! The Bob Jones curriculum is structured for two weeks of grammar and then two weeks of writing. This arrangement allows my daughter a break between intense writing projects.

I love how colourful the curriculum is, and it covers the many different types of writing (narrative essays, research reports, poetry, etc.).

Cursive Handwriting by Handwriting Without Tears

Even though teaching handwriting is no longer “mandatory”, I want my children to learn cursive. I was hesitant to introduce this to my daughter but was pleasantly surprised when I discovered she quite enjoys it!

A Child’s Own Book of Verse: Book One

We read and discuss a poem from this book every day. The poetry is simple and easy for a child to understand.

Math

Jump Math 4.1 & Jump Math 4.2

I don’t care for Jump Math, but my daughter loves it… so we’ll stick with what she enjoys.

We do 2-4 pages of Jump Math 4 days per week.

Life of Fred

My daughter loves Life of Fred. She laughs and giggles about Fred’s antics whenever we read a chapter. She indeed loves this square-headed 5-year-old mathematician and his favourite doll, Kingie!

We’re finishing up the Edgewood volume, and we’ve planned for three more books this year: Farming, Goldfish, and Honey.

Science

In previous years, I purchased experiential education science units, but they were usually 2-3 lessons into a unit, and we would become overwhelmed.

While I have decided that I want to meet the Alberta curriculum requirements for science, I’ve chosen to piece together our curriculum using various sources (books and DVDs from the library, field trip experiences, and note-booking pages that I’ve created especially for this purpose).

For example, we started grade 4 with a unit on plants. So far, we’ve read numerous books such as A Seed is Sleepy, Amazing Plant Bodies, and we’ve watched DVDs such as Bill Nye the Science Guy: Plants and Bill Nye the Science Guy: Flowers.

We’ve planted seeds and visited botanical gardens as well as greenhouses.

All of my daughter’s learning is documented in her plant notebooking journal. There are places for her to write about her discoveries, record plant vocabulary words, and draw pictures or add photos. I made the journal pages reflect the Province of Alberta’s expected learning outcomes on the plant unit.

Social Studies

Story of the World – Volume 2

We’ve used the Story of the World curriculum for a couple of years and love it! I enjoy selecting various activities each week from the teaching companion guide.

I also incorporate Canadian content into our curriculum. We read books about the different provinces, and my daughter enjoys her subscription to Kayak (a children’s Canadian history magazine).

Bible

Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions for Kids

The Jesus Storybook Bible 

I love our Bible curriculum, although this year, I’ll be looking into a new devotional. We’ve been using the Jesus Calling one for several years, and it’s time for a change.

Health

Health is another curriculum that I assemble using various library books and DVDs. This year, we’re focusing on self-esteem, bullying, and disaster preparedness.

Art

I love doing art with my children. I use a few books to study classic pieces of art. One of my favourite resources is A Year in Art: The Activity Book.

We also regularly read about art history in The Usborne Children’s Book of Art.

To give some inspiration for creating, I signed up for Carla Sonheim’s Week of Art. I will spread the six lessons out over six weeks. We may also take a few additional online art classes through her website.

Music

Squilt Musical Era Bundle

We love SQUILT (Super Quiet Uninterrupted Listening Time). This curriculum exposes my children to notable pieces of music and allows us to include a peaceful ritual of music appreciation in our curriculum.

Physical Education

I don’t use a specific physical education curriculum, but I plan a variety of activities at home to get my girls moving daily.

We use Yoga DVDs as well as various exercise video games such as Wii Fit Plus, Just Dance Kids, and Zumba Kids.

We attend periodic gym at our local YMCA, and the girls also have weekly swim lessons.

Curriculum for Mom

I think it’s critical to have some curriculum for myself during the school year as well. I’m currently finishing the Better Together Guide but once that’s done, I’ll be reading the following books:

The Unhurried Homeschooler by Durenda Wilson

Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler’s Guide to Unshakable Peace by Sarah Mackenzie

Home Grown: Adventures in Parenting Off the Beaten Path, Unschooling, and Reconnecting with the Natural World by Ben Hewitt

Plan Your Year: Homeschool Planning for Purpose and Peace by Pam Barnhill

Reflect

So now it’s your turn! Is there a particular curriculum you love that you’re using this year? Feel free to comment below and share this post with your homeschool communities.

Jennifer Bly

Author of My Kitchen, My Classroom: An Introduction to Homeschool and creator of The Deliberate Mom. Jennifer writes about parenting, homeschooling, her faith, and life with her husband and two girls. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Applied Human Service Administration Degree with a specialization in Early Learning in Child Care.