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We're Homeschooling! Sourcing, and Buying

Tobe Buffenbarger

Once we decided our style and what we wanted to teach, I dove into the wild world of homeschool curriculum. There is so much out there, it can be easy to get lost. I jotted down some criteria to help me narrow down the choices:

  • secular

  • rigorous

  • wide world perspective

  • not necessarily all-in-one

  • at least some physical items, not all online

  • cheap (not necessarily the cheapest, but not expensive)

We didn’t create a strict budget, but I was mindful of the cost of various options to get the best deal for what we wanted. I also was mindful of systems that presumed continued homeschooling versus being able to dip in and out. I read a ton of blogs. I made multiple lists of options. I crossed off some items and added others. And eventually I decided on a collection of items and supplies to buy.

What We Bought

As we started buying, I knew that my eclectic approach would require coordinating many different sources and suppliers. No box curriculum for us! Even some of the more box-like items I purchased, I made changes along the way. Here’s what we have purchased for our homeschooling adventure.

Math

  • Singapore Math 1A and 1B Common Core Edition - I bought just the textbook and workbook for each level. I didn’t feel it was necessary to buy the teacher’s textbook or test booklet. After receiving the materials, Arthur seems like he could jump right to 1B, but we decided to spend August and September doing a big review before moving up. We will probably buy 2A after Christmas if our schedule holds.

  • Lollipop Logic Book 1 - I love the idea of teaching logic in a more formalized way. We’ll work through book 1 and if we like it, we’ll get book 2.

  • TinkerActive Math Grade 1 and 2 - These will mainly be used as daily math practice pages, but I also love that they have STEM activities for each unit.

Language Arts

Arthur has started reading, so we don’t necessarily want curriculum to teach the basics. I wanted items that would build his reading comprehension and writing skills. The books in the picture will be used for daily ELA practice. I bought:

Beyond the grammar components, we are planning weekly read alouds with discussions, daily poetry reading, and various picture books for night reading. Our first read aloud is going to be The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. We happened to own the book, but most of our read alouds will be checked out from the library. (Here the libraries are closed, but they do offer curbside pickups of holds) Writing will often be incorporated into one of the other subjects.

Social Studies - The Hard One!

I went back and forth when it came to Social Studies. In schools, SS is often only taught 1-2 days a week for about 20 minutes each time. This is a travesty in my mind! I wanted something where we would be working with social studies (and science, see next section) almost every day. After wading through, we ended up buying Build Your Library Level 1. BYL is a set of 36 weekly lesson plans coordinating history, literature, poetry, science, and art. They were created by a homeschooler utilizing a more eclectic approach but grounded in Charlotte Mason philosophy. I liked the idea of a framework to keep me grounded, but like that BYL is very flexible. Most of our read alouds will be taken from the plans, as well as most of the basic nature science. I liked the history, but the spine featured, Story of the World, is not a secular spine. I searched around and found out that Pandia Press has created a truly secular version called HistoryQuest. Right now they have the ancient world released. So I bought that! The textbook, history told in a narrative style, and the study guide are in a pdf format (so no picture!). We are only printing the pages that Arthur needs to work with and keeping the rest on the iPad. I am switching around some of the chapters to make more sense of the timeline in my mind, but we will be following a lot of the activities and discussions provided. Beyond the spine, BYL has a book list of suggested volumes to purchase. I went through, pulled out ones that were featured for more than 3 weeks and seriously thought about buying them all. A took a moment to look at how they were being used and made a few changes. I ended up buying the volumes above to act as supplementary materials to the main HistoryQuest text. We will also be utilizing a ton of videos and internet resources for each chapter. And the library will be the main source of supplementary texts both fiction and nonfiction.

After thinking about it some more, I went back and bought Blossom and Root’s A River of Voices U.S. History curriculum. I was hesitant at first, but after reading more about it, thought it would be a good fit for us. The PDF’s cover 36 lessons from the earliest North American explorers to 1791. The big draw is that RoV is told from an inclusive standpoint. We get a majority of lessons featuring marginalized communities. We are planning on checking out the spines and suggested reading books from the library, but may end up buying some of theme as the year progresses. Using RoV with HQ, we are going to do split weeks. Most Mondays, Tuesday, and Wednesdays, we will focus on the HQ chapter. Most Thursdays and Fridays, we will focus on a RoV lesson. We will also have random weeks in there where Thursday and Friday is being reserved for a continent study. I’m really hoping this works!

Science

Science will mainly be coming from BYL’s plan utilizing Nature Connection, but we will also be doing unit studies of various subjects. I know that there are science topics Arthur has expressed interest in (biomes for one) and some others that J and I want to teach (basic chemistry concepts, physics, etc). BYL’s science curriculum is very nature based and hands-on. That is a part of Charlotte Mason that I really enjoy. I want Arthur to be able to outside and connect to the Earth almost every day.

I also ended up buying Blossom and Root’s Book Seeds: Profiles in Science. This pack includes 6 two-week lessons featuring a famous scientist paired with a picture book, STEAM activities, art activities, and nature studies. I wasn’t going to buy B&R’s big science curriculum, but loved these small units. Our first Book Seed: Profiles in Science is about Charles Darwin. Perfect to align with Week 2’s History, Archaeology, and Evolution theme! I will be sprinkling these in throughout the year. I also ended up grabbing B&R’s Book Seed: Mittens and Book Seed: Rainbows for a discounted price. Two more little science units to add into our year.

Other Curriculum

We wanted to include a variety of subjects beyond the basics, so I scoured our own libraries for choices and then bought a few things. The items above are ones that I hope to sprinkle through our weeks. Art is not really listed separately, but we will be doing almost daily art either it’s a free create day, tied to one of our unit studies or history or literature other subject, or a more formal art history lesson (those will mainly come from online and library books). Similarly, music will be coming in the form of Classics for Kids podcast and supplementary library books. I want Arthur to gain an awareness of music through time right now, not necessarily a formal music education.

  • Children’s Dictionary - This is for reference of course, but we didn’t own a physical one.

  • I Can Draw books - I picked up these two for Christmas and we never opened them. They are going to be used for the occasional free draw day.

  • Human Body Activity Book - Hoping to work this into our science curriculum on bad weather days.

  • Philosophy for Kids - J picked this up a few years ago. I think it’s now the time to break it open. The book includes 40 large philosophy questions with readings, discussions, and activities. We will be tackling a question each week.

  • Early Spanish - Target Dollar Spot find

  • Measuring and Cooking - Another Target Dollar Spot find. We are planning on at least one cooking project a week. Sometimes it will relate to our units and other times it will just be helping me make dinner or cookies.

  • Coding Book About Ruby - J really wants Arthur to learn coding soon…

  • Q&A a Day Journal - Thought this would be a fun way to start our days.

Supplementary Curriculum

Over the past year, I have acquired a few more summer bridge style workbooks. These will mostly be used as math and language arts daily pages. Just 3-4 pages a day to keep up some skills.

As for supplementary material, I have found a ton of free printables online and have even bought a few things from various educators on Teachers Pay Teachers. As we move through the year, I’ll be sourcing other items for specific lessons and subjects, but don’t anticipate a lot of big expenses moving forward.

School Supplies

I love back-to-school shopping! But I knew that I needed to focus on other needs this year. Still, I did grab some basic supplies for our upcoming year. Not all items are pictured above.

  • Notebooks and paper - just a few of each including some grid paper, handwriting paper, blank sketchpads, and lined notebooks

  • Dry erase boards - I found a blank one and one with lines at the Target dollar spot

  • Dry erase markers

  • Pencils - Ticonderoga of course!

  • Glue sticks

  • Upper and Lower Case Alphabet Stamps - For extra fun and for Quentin (prewriting)

  • Dry erase pockets - Another Target Dollar Spot find! These are amazing!

  • File folders - To make history pockets

  • Highlighters, markers, and crayons

  • Index cards - Used for a variety of things

  • Rulers

  • Post-it Notes

  • Binders - To control the chaos!

Over the course of the year, I know I will pick up some things here and there, but we’ve mostly got our stuff in order!

Next up on the TBR pile: