Our End-of-Year Homeschool Curriculum Review
Here is what worked and what didn’t this year (Second Grade & Fifth Grade)
At the beginning of the school year, I shared what we planned to use for our homeschool.
Now that we’re finishing up, I wanted to come back and share what actually worked in our home… and what didn’t.
Every year looks a little different. Some things continue to be staples for us, and others just don’t fit the season we’re in. Over the years, I’ve learned to hold our plans loosely and be willing to adjust when something isn’t serving our kids well.
Here’s a look at our second grade homeschool curriculum and fifth grade homeschool curriculum from this year.
Second Grade Homeschool Curriculum Review
Bible (Same for 2nd & 5th Grade)
We use Foundations of the Bible, and this has been our fourth year working through this curriculum.
We genuinely enjoy these studies. One thing I’ve really appreciated is how it has grown with our family. Each time we go through it, my older kids pick up on new details, while my younger kids are able to follow along and learn with us.
Check out Foundations of the Bible Studies Here | Free Sample
Math – Saxon Level 2
I really enjoy Saxon Math.
I love the repetition and how it continually circles back to older concepts. I’ve used this with my oldest since he was in first grade, and I plan to continue using it even with my youngest who is currently four.
My second grader completes her warm-up independently, and then we work through the main lesson together. I appreciate the no fluff, straight to the point lessons.
Math Map (For CC Families): I had the best intentions to incorporate Math Map into our school year, but I didn’t make it past week three. It was too difficult to add another thing to our plate, and I'm not fully ready to forgo Saxon as my primary math curriculum. So unfortunately, we didn't make much progress there.
Language Arts
We started the year using Language Lessons for a Living Education by Master Books.
After the first semester, I realized it wasn’t helping her learn the grammar rules I wanted her to grasp, so we had to make a change.
We switched to a different grammar book called Growing With Grammar that had more repetition and practice problems, and I’ve really liked it. She is now understanding concepts like proper nouns, predicates, and subjects much more clearly.
Reading – All About Reading Level 2
This is my favorite reading curriculum!
I’ve reused it with each of my children, and it just clicks for them. I’m so thankful I started this program years ago. I put each page in sheet protectors so I can reuse it. It's worth the time and effort! Here is a video about that.
Spelling – All About Spelling
My kids love their spelling curriculum, too!
We typically complete one or two lessons each week. We practice the spelling rules until they can apply them correctly, and then we move on to the next lesson. They tend to grasp the concepts best by writing 10 spelling words each day, 2 phrases, and 2 sentences. That's how we do it.
Handwriting (Cursive) / Writing
My daughter was very excited to learn cursive this year so we started with Cursive Kickoff by Learning Without Tears. She has done extremely well with this book! It's amazing how when they are interested in something, they can pick it up much faster.
She completes one page a day and has made great progress.
History – Story of the World
This has been another staple in our homeschool.
We’ve used it for five years now, and we still really enjoy it. We plan to continue using it moving forward as well as incorporating more history-related read-alouds.
Science – Learning with Friends
This is a great resource, especially if you are part of Classical Conversations.
It provides helpful experiment ideas that pair well with the weekly science topics. My kids enjoy hands-on science, and this has been an easy way to incorporate that one day a week with minimal prep.
Fifth Grade Homeschool Curriculum Review
Bible (Same as 2nd Grade)
My 5th grader has gone through this volume twice, and I can honestly say the repetition is so helpful! He remembered all the memory sentences, but the depth stuck more this year.
With this curriculum, my kids are understanding the important people and events of Scripture, and seeing Jesus through it all.
Math – Saxon 5/6
My oldest is able to complete most of his math independently by reading the lesson introduction and working through the problems.
I review and grade his work and then we review any concepts he didn’t fully grasp.
We rotate between odds and evens to help manage the workload, and if there are missed concepts, we add extra problems for practice.
This has worked really well for us, and I continue to appreciate the repetition built into Saxon.
Language Arts – CC Essentials & IEW Medieval History
I can’t say enough good things about IEW.
I absolutely love it!
I really enjoy how we are able to learn more about historical topics through writing. It has been such a meaningful way to integrate subjects together through writing.
If you haven’t tried it, I would encourage you to look into it.
CC Essentials Families: We also love my friend Kim's quarterly essentials workbook that she has created. It makes reviewing the weekly grammar concepts super easy. She will be making one for Cycle 3 so you'll need to check it out! Link to her website
Spelling – All About Spelling Level 4
We’ve continued with All About Spelling, and I still love this program. My kids actually ask me to do their spelling with them—so that's saying something! We don't really use the activities like we do for the reading program.
My son has become a strong speller through the repetition and consistency of this curriculum.
Handwriting
Between this and Learning Without Tears, my son’s penmanship has improved a lot.
He doesn’t complain about handwriting, which is always a win. I do think we’ll begin incorporating typing soon, probably over the summer since it's hard to fit things in during the school year.
Geography
My son really enjoyed geography, especially drawing maps. We really enjoy the "Draw the World" series. I think for Classical Conversations, this will be a very helpful skill as he approaches Challenge A in two years.
He moved through this geography book quickly because he enjoys this kind of work. However, I do think there would be more benefit in repeating the material and practicing the maps more than once.
History – Story of the World
This is the same resource I mentioned in the second grade review. Each week we read the related chapters that match up with the weekly memory work for Classical Conversations. The kids also narrate in their history journals that I grabbed from Amazon.
Science
Also the same as second grade. This has been a consistent and helpful resource for us.
Final Thoughts
Every homeschool year looks a little different.
Some things become staples that we return to year after year, and other things simply don’t work for that season or for one particular child.
And that’s okay.
Over time, I’ve learned that consistency matters more than perfection. It’s better to do a few things well than to overload your days with too much. In fact, this year we did less crafts and "fun things" than our previous years. Honestly, I felt like I kind of failed this year, and then a friend reminded me to get off the "I'm not doing enough train." I'm so glad she said that because I happily jumped off that train and felt at peace with my efforts and the season we were in this year.
So friend, if you are on that train, go ahead and jump off, and trust that what you did is enough. The Lord will be faithful to finish the good work He has started in and through you.
I hope this post gave you a helpful look into what worked for us this year as you plan your own second grade homeschool curriculum or fifth grade homeschool curriculum.
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