curriculum ·

2026-2027 Curriculum Choices

I am delighted to share the curriculum we've chosen for our upcoming school year! This year, we will have an 8th grader, a 6th grader, a 4th grader, and a 2nd grader (I can hardly believe it!). 

A reminder: Choosing curriculum can be enjoyable and… daunting. There are just so many wonderful options! While we should definitely do our research, I believe there comes a point when we need to make a decision and rest in it. The Lord has called each of us to this journey and He will sustain us. He cares about our children’s growth and flourishing even more than we do! If you’re feeling stressed about the upcoming year, I encourage you to pray and ask God for the peace and clarity you need to make these decisions. He will provide!

Non-Negotiables When Choosing Curriculum

Our core curriculum needs to come from a Christian worldview (or at the very least, not contradict it). Also, knowing who is writing our curriculum and understanding their faith background is essential to me. 

  • Our core curriculum needs to be literature-based and family-style. Literature-based is where our family thrives (give us all the books!), and family-style is the only sustainable option for us. We do as many core subjects together as we can, then our children work through their own levels of math, language arts, and a few other subjects for our older kids (which I explain below).

  • We aim to finish our formal work by lunch time. We begin our homeschool lessons at 8:00 am and end by noon. The afternoon is for rest time, time outdoors, some reading aloud, time to pursue personal interests, and time to spend with friends and neighbors.

  • We primarily use the Charlotte Mason method and are drawn to curriculum that reflects her philosophy.

  • Finally, I need to be excited to teach the curriculum we choose! This sounds obvious, but there have been some curriculums I've tried that I really wanted to like, but they just didn't click for me. If mom isn't enjoying the curriculum, it's likely the kids won't either. The best curriculum is the one you actually use.

Schooling 4 Days a Week vs. 5 Days a Week

We typically do school 4 days a week and use Fridays for field trips, catching up, or just spending time together. This has worked really well for us! We plan some vacation days ahead of time, and then there are other times I just know we need to take a day off, so we do! Having that flexibility has been a gift.

This year, our oldest two will be attending classes outside our home on Fridays, but we still plan to have the younger two take Fridays off.

How We School During Holidays

We do take much of December away from our normal curriculum to work through our Advent guide, Come to the Manger guide, or Christmas Around the World guide. We also divert from our normal curriculum on various holidays to work through our Brighter Day Press holiday guides. These all still count as “school” (and we usually add in math) as they all cover various subjects, even though we are taking a break from our normal curriculum for a few days.

This Year’s Curriculum Choices

I can’t wait to share with you what we’ve chosen for this year. We are so excited for 8th, 6th, 4th, and 2nd grade!

Family Subjects

What we’re planning to use for family subjects we do together:

  • Without Doors: Modern America: This is our family’s core curriculum for the year. This is a 28-week Charlotte Mason-inspired guide to the history of modern America for 1st to 8th grade students. The curriculum includes Bible, history, geography, literature, poet study, nature study, artist study, composer study, and hymn study. We used Without Doors last year and loved it. Use code WHITNEY10 for a discount on any Without Doors curriculum!

  • In addition to using Without Doors, we are continuing to work through the New Testament as a family, chapter by chapter. For our Bible reading each day, we have this Hosanna Revival NLT Bible to read with our kids. It’s a journaling Bible with lines in the margins to record notes, so on many days, I write down something that our kids gleaned from the reading or something they said (along with the date). Years from now, I know this family Bible will be such a treasure!

  • Each day, our family also sings two hymns from the Sing! Hymnal. We love using this book to read the story behind the hymn. Liam accompanies us on the piano, which is a joy to hear. 

  • We also spend time reciting Scripture passages we’ve memorized in the past, and spending about 3 minutes learning new passages. This is so beneficial not only for the kids, but also for me! Some of the passages we’ve memorized (and now practice about once a week) are 1 Corinthians 13, Psalm 23, Psalm 139, the Apostles Creed, Psalm 1, and Psalm 121. 

  • If you’re brand new to homeschooling, we’d love for you to check out our Morning Time guides. These are the guides we’ve used for years that have shaped our homeschool, and they make Morning Time as seamless and open-and-go as possible, providing a rich feast in manageable bites. 

  • Each of our children participates in “Mail Monday,” which is simply writing a letter to a friend or family member every week. I’ve set up little baskets for each of our oldest three kids that include everything they need to complete this task independently: personalized cards, envelopes, stamps, an address book, and even a wax sealing kit (here’s the actual stamp) if they’d like to add a beautiful touch. They really look forward to doing this and each have several penpals that they keep up with. It’s so fun and motivating for them to receive mail!

  • On Thursdays, each of our children chooses a topic from our history lessons that week and writes about it in their narration notebooks. Our older two can do this independently, while I help dictate words and sentences to our younger two for their notebooks. They also illustrate these notebooks. You can learn more about narration notebooking here.

  • To end our homeschool day, we watch World Watch News, which is a 10-minutes world news program by Christian journalists. This has been so informative and engaging for our kids. We all love it! If you use this referral link, you can try it for 60 days for free!

Homeschool Planner I Use

I will be using our brand new 2026-2027 Homeschool Planner to record the work we’ve completed. Spanning from July 2026 through June 2027, this planner is more than just a homeschooling tool—it’s a comprehensive life planner. With thoughtfully designed sections, you'll find dedicated spaces for meal planning, prayer requests, and shopping lists, allowing you to coordinate your family’s needs efficiently.

Independent Subjects

I call these “independent,” but I am still very present for most of these subjects (especially for our two youngest boys). I feel like a ping pong ball during much of our homeschool time, hopping from one child to the next, making sure all my children are getting what they need. It is a lot of work to manage multiple ages and various learning levels. But with a little planning and training, it’s totally possible. And it does get easier as your children grow and become more independent!

Independent Checklists

For each child, I’ve created an independent work checklist (that they have input on and really love!). Here’s the editable Canva link, in case you’d like to personalize some checklists for your kids, too! I print one checklist out for each child for each week. This has been a game changer for our homeschool and has really encouraged independence!

For the timed items on the list (like 15 minutes of reading), we love using these visual timers for each of our kids. These are the best timers I’ve found: they don’t tick and you can turn the beep at the end off or on (and it isn’t too loud or startling). All of our kids enjoy seeing how much time they need to put into various subjects, and it’s helping establish good habits and time management for them.

8th grade for Liam

This year, we're trying something new for Liam (8th grade) and Lanie (6th grade). Since a few of the subjects they need aren't ones I can easily teach at home, we've decided to have them take a few classes outside of our homeschool. Liam's schedule of classes outside our home includes French, literature, science, and geography.

One quick note: To protect our children's privacy, I won't be sharing the names of the programs, classes, or locations they'll be attending. I hope you understand, and I'm grateful for your support as we navigate this new season!

Here are the classes he will take at home:

  • Math: Introduction to Algebra by Art of Problem Solving. This feels like a good fit for him because he enjoys self-paced learning and can do this independently online. 

  • Extra-curriculars: Piano. Liam takes weekly in-person piano lessons and practices for a minimum of 45 minutes every day. He also has an adult piano student that he teaches every other week! Liam will also participate in a local chess club and will play soccer.

6th grade for Lanie 

Lanie is 11 years old, very artistic, and has very different interests than Liam. While I read aloud, she draws or paints beautiful pictures. She loves art, playing with her brothers, reading, and spending time outside. 

Lanie will be taking her core subjects (math, literature/language arts, and science) in person outside our home this year. 

Here are the classes she will take at home:

  • Handwriting: Lanie is interested in learning calligraphy this year, so we're starting with this book and this set of pens.

  • Extra-curriculars: Hoffman Academy online piano lessons. Lanie will take Hoffman Academy piano lessons a couple times a week and practice for 15 minutes each day. We purchased the Premium program because it includes so many helpful add-ons (like theory worksheets) that are not included in the free program. You can use the code LEARN for 10% off! Lanie will also participate in a local chess club twice a month.

4th grade for Bear

Bear grew leaps and bounds last year in homeschool and has become a voracious reader! He is so excited to learn, and it's a joy to teach him. 

2nd grade for Beck 

Beckham is our little athlete who would usually rather be climbing trees or riding his bike than sitting down for school. We keep his lessons short, and he likes to draw or paint while we read during our family-style studies. 

I hope you feel inspired by these choices and maybe even less overwhelmed as you look for curriculum for your own family! Of course, homeschooling does take a lot of planning… but once you find great choices for your kids, it is a joy to dive in!

Please note: As much as I would love to assist you in your own choices, I don’t have the capacity to do so. I receive many emails and DMs each time I post our curriculum plans asking about specific children and situations and what I would recommend. I’m so sorry I am unable to answer these. I encourage you to look through what we’ve used in the past from these posts to help guide you!

God bless you and your homeschool this year. I am cheering you on!

This post contains some affiliate links, but the opinions are all my own. Thanks for supporting my work!

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