Homeschool Fourth Grade {Curriculum Picks}
I nearly didn’t write this post as it feels that 4th grade is a continuation of 3rd grade. We’ve homeschooled from the beginning, whichever beginning you want to count from (preschool? birth?). At this stage, it feels like a lot of incremental progress. The “slow and steady,” of consistency over time paying off, of “practice makes permanent” lived out. At this age, we are well past the huge, flashy jumps in skills when learning to read or understanding the foundations of numeracy. Instead, we’re polishing and refining. In many ways, literally dotting i’s and crossing t’s.
The conversations become deeper and richer as we delve into more complex read alouds.
Finally not every single subject needs to be one-on-one with mama, which also means that I need to be more intentional about connecting with my kids’ hearts.
I’m thinking more about our relationship as my boys mature before my eyes. I’m spending a lot of time listening, investing in their interests; I’m trying my best to understand the rules of baseball and their favorite players, and their dreams for the latest LEGO build. I trust that as I prove myself worth talking to about what’s on my son’s 9 year-old heart, that he’ll find a worthy listener when he’s 13, and 17, and 21.
I’m reaping the harvest of righteousness sown over the many years of habit training. I’m continuing to sow, in my own heart and in my students’. We’re stretching muscles of attention, leaning into hard spaces, building upon the foundations already in place. We’re learning anew to add “YET” to our vocabulary as we encounter more challenging topics.
As for the nitty gritty, here are the pieces of our homeschool in the form of curriculum:
Since I’ve been blogging for 7 years now, I have many links to previous posts to fill in the details of these areas of our homeschool and our experience with various curricula. I tend to write long reviews of curriculum after using the products. Click through if any of these areas pique your interest for many, many more details. I also have an index of all my homeschool-related posts here.
This post contains affiliate links. As an amazon associate, I earn a small commission on eligible purchases.
Math: Right Start Math. We’ll continue with our math curriculum, moving into the 5th level of the program. We’ve used this from the *start* and it’s proven to be solid. My oldest isn’t naturally a math lover, but this program has provided him with excellent mental math skills and strategies. I love the research-backed method, the hands-on nature of the lessons, and the games to round out the lessons. Full review here.
Spelling: All About Spelling. We’re moving at my son’s pace (read: slow), and he is thriving. This program is excellent for him as a struggling speller, providing word attack strategies. Full review here.
Grammar: First Language Lessons. We’ve used this program since 1st grade as well, and it also provides a fantastic foundation. I like the touch of classical style by including this in our homeschool. We don’t use every piece (we skip the memory work as that’s part of our co-op and works better for us in a group setting; dictation is in our Spelling program; and copywork is also in our co-op homework). It does include sentence diagramming which makes my heart happy. My son doesn’t love diagramming, but I truly think it is teaching him such a solid understanding of how sentences are built! He tolerates it, and I trust the process because I’ve seen its brilliance. (I tutored American English Grammar at the college level.)
Handwriting: At this point, my son is honing his skills. He writes beautiful cursive, and enjoys doing so. Often we use Spelling as handwriting practice. Otherwise, we use The Good and the Beautiful’s program for refining of his skills.
History & Narration: We’re continuing our read aloud of The Story of the World, with picture books and rabbit trails as we see fit. We also will narrate/notebook our way through the chapters. We love the notebooks from School Nest.
Nature Study: Exploring Nature with Children. This is accomplished largely through a co-op that’s dedicated to nature study, trail walking, and free play. We’ve followed the ENWC curriculum through 3 full times, with a year off to complete Scouting for Wild Ones. This year we plan to have the students take more leadership roles and practice their public speaking skills by presenting a topic on a rotating schedule, rather than the adults doing the teaching. Yes, it may potentially be more work for the moms this way, but it’s so valuable to practice those planning and presenting skills!
Science: Having been rather sporadic with science in the past (a smattering of science read alouds, nature study, and a few stand alone units), we are trying a program with our co-op this year. I’m finalizing that decision as we speak, but leaning toward Learning With Friends’ physics unit.
Typing: Keyboarding Without Tears.
Memory work: I’ve struggled to accomplish memory work without the accountability of a co-op. And so, our co-op will tackle poetry memorization, scripture passage, geography (the same method I described here), and history timeline.
Beauty: A vague term I use to encompass those areas that edify our souls: hymn study, artist/composer study, handcrafts, catechism, poetry. We accomplish much of this via family Sabbath dinner, where we learn a new hymn each month and practice catechism (I promise, it’s not as dry as it sounds. We actually ALL love our Sabbath dinner routine. Read more about our Sabbath here).
We schedule a weekly Poetry Teatime and layer in an artist/composer each month there as well. We’re using Dash Into Poetry for recitation and I select whatever catches my eye at the library.
I’m still working on the best way to incorporate handcrafts- my 4th grader is intensely interested in woodworking, so we have found an older gentleman in our neighborhood who is informally apprenticing my boy, and we have purchased Simply Charlotte Mason’s woodworking course as well. Otherwise, handcrafts often follow his whim. This week he’s been sewing a flag for his (non-sea worthy) sailboat, inspired by a recent read aloud of Swallows and Amazons.
It’s so hard to capture a full picture of this homeschooling life, but those are some of the components! And of course… read alouds. We always have several novels going and supplement with picture books that either catch our eye at the library, or tie-in with our other learning (hello, rabbit trails!). I post only the very best on my instagram feed, and seasonal blog post round-up as well.
Reach out with any questions! IG is the quickest way to find me, but drop a comment and I’ll reply too!
