Our Fall 2026-2027 Homeschool Curriculum Choices
I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want fifth-grade to feel like for my girls. It’s the last official year in grade school and at this age, there is so much we could do. There are endless curriculum options, subjects to add, books to read, and skills to master. And honestly, that can make homeschooling feel a little overwhelming. This year, I’m trying to resist the temptation to fill every inch of our day. Instead, I want to make room for the things that are easy to push aside when we get too focused on academics: relationships, resilience, and rest.
I want my kids to have time to linger over a good book. I want us to have long conversations that wander into unexpected places. I want them to master the art of trying (and failing), and learn to teach themselves so they can learn ANYTHING. I want afternoons outside, time to play, time to create, and enough breathing room that we don’t feel like we are always hurrying to the next thing.
Of course, we’re still going to learn. Fifth grade is an important year, and there are plenty of things I want my kids to know and be able to do. But I’m increasingly convinced that a good education isn’t just about how much we can fit into a school day – it’s about who our children are becoming and what kind of family life we are building along the way.
So our curriculum choices this year are intentionally simple. We’re choosing resources that give us good books, meaningful work, and opportunities to think deeply—without taking over our entire lives.
Here’s what we’ll be using for 5th grade this year, and how each piece fits into the kind of homeschool year I’m hoping to create.
Math
Last year we chose The Good and the Beautiful for math, and my kids liked it… most days. It started to become long and tedious, and since we have 2 in the same grade and do our work at the same time, if one of them finds the subject easier than the other (which happened) the one who is “behind” gets frustrated and wants to give up. This taught me 2 things: We need to simplify and shorten the time we spend on math and we need to work on our resilience skills.
This year we chose:
In the description of the course, it states “How Wee Learn’s Grade Five Math uses a cyclical approach, ensuring math concepts stay fresh in your child’s mind for learning that sticks. Plus, our one-page-a-day and quality-over-quantity approach makes the experience simple and stress-free! Simply open your coursebook and go.” This is exactly what I was looking for. I’m big on quality over quantity so I hope this will work for us. I’ll come back after a few weeks and give an update on how it’s going.
Language Arts
I am particularly excited about how we’re doing language arts this year! It’s unlike anything we’ve done in the past. I’m a big believer that reading is the single most important educational tool we give to our kids, and I’m fortunate that my kids and I love to read. Here are the materials I’ve gathered so far:
- James and the Giant Peach Novel Study by Simply Learning Together
- Tuck Everlasting Novel Study by Let’s Play School (Etsy)
- Elementary Reading Journal by Not Consumed
- The Secret Garden – (might use the reading journal for this book, or another novel study depending on how the first ones go)
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – (same as the secret garden)
We’ve never done novel studies before, but I chose studies that incorporate spelling words, grammar, writing, and copywork. The Elementary Reading Journal has “lessons focus on vocabulary, word study, comprehension, and higher-level thinking skills” so we’ll play this by ear with the last 2 novels I’ve chosen to study, or let them choose their own books. That’s the beauty of homeschool – I don’t have to have a perfect plan, and I can change-it-up if what I planned doesn’t work.
History
Ok listen. Stay with me here. I don’t do a formal history class (gasp!). We tried a popular history curriculum and my kiddos were not ready for some of the topics and bored with others. We did, however, do some individual study of Martin Luther King Jr. and did a bunch of copywork of President Lincoln and MLK’s speeches, which we all loved, so we’ll do that from time to time this year as well. I just think later middle school / high school is a better time to dive into history, when their brains and hearts are more capable of understanding and processing that kind of information. I bought a bunch of individual studies last year of historical Women with this curriculum and we really like them so they will get put into the mix as well.
- Women of History Character Sets by Grace and Grit
Science
My kids will be doing a STEM challenge class (see below) as well as these individual studies as time allows:
- Earth and Sky Explorers Bundle by How Wee Learn
There are 5 unit studies in this bundle: Wild Weather, the Seven Continents, Seeds and Plants, Rocks and Gems, and Stars and Constellations.
Classes and Clubs: Homeschool Co-op & Curiosity Untamed
In-person Co-op – We attend a local homeschool co-op that meets at our church. This group offers a variety of different classes and field trips each semester, organized and taught by parents. This semester my kids will have Sculpture, Creative Writing, and STEM Challenge. (I will be writing and teaching the Sculpture class for 5th-7th graders!) I adjust the subjects we do at home depending on what they are offering each semester, so that means I can’t always plan the entire year before it starts, but that’s ok – I like the variety of classes and social interaction this co-op offers our family so it’s worth it.
Curiosity Untamed – This is a badge-based exploratory learning club – like the girl scouts, but for homeschool! You can choose from literally thousands of badges and kids can earn them by doing tasks and showing mastery of certain skills. My kids have found badges for Dragons, Cooking, Camping, Frogs… you name it, they have a badge for it. I plan on using this as a way to get my kids excited and exposed to subjects or activities we might not think of ourselves. We might even invite some other homeschool friends to join us. And of course we’ll have vests and a troop number and all the things. 🙂
Extra curricular / Sports
We tend to do very little “extra’s” because being busy every night of the week is just not our style. We prioritize family dinner and have plenty of family game and movie nights. This semester we’ll be participating in:
- Kids night at our local Church
- Volleyball
- Several 5k’s and family runs
What curriculum are you using this year? Let me know your favorites in the comments below.