Our Homeschool Plan for 4th & 8th Grade (2023/2024)

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.”

— Michael Altshuler

I remember when my oldest was in 4th, and now here we are. 🥹

I remind myself of the above quote every time we begin another school year here at River Lake Sunshine School. After all, time together is one of the biggest reasons we’ve made the sacrifice to homeschool our children.

At the beginning of every school year, I also take time to document what we’re planning to make sure we’re sticking with our core vision and goals for our family and each child. If you’d like to read about the heart and values behind our homeschool, I shared that in this post.

My babies are getting so big, but I’m so proud of who they both are. They are lights in this world and will move mountains.

So here’s what I’m planning for the 2023/2024 year…

TUTORIAL

We’re starting a new tutorial this year that some friends of ours attend! This is a huge change for us, but I think it’s going to be a good, healthy one. As they’re getting older, regular social time with friends is even more important, and I want to foster that by having predictable times every week when they can be with friends and in a faith-based environment where community and the joy of learning are celebrated.

We’ll still do the bulk of our learning at home the other days a week, but it’s important to me that my girls have a chance to be under different adult authority figures and develop the social skills that are required when in a group/team setting. The girls will be taking math, language arts, science, Bible, and other fun classes at this tutorial. I’ll focus on getting the bulk of my podcasting and marketing work for Kindred Farm done on these two days a week. This will be a huge relief.

BIBLE/DEVOTIONAL

One of my biggest goals for last school year was applying the Gospel and lessons of Jesus to our actual lives. Also, scripture memory. I’m happy to say that we made that a huge priority last school year. We all have an Inspire Journaling Bible now (the girls have this one, and I have this one). It’s been a great addition to our Morning Time to share what we’re learning and also have space to write and journal inside it to make it personal. They’ll also be doing devotionals at their tutorial each week.

MATH

I continue to be so grateful for The Good and The Beautiful math! Currently, their math doesn’t go higher than level 6, but it’s still very challenging. I’ve found that TGATB math is so thorough that it’s okay to do a little bit under the grade level because it really fills in the holes and uses the spiral method to make sure they learn all the concepts. We’re finishing up the level 6 book with my oldest and doing math at our tutorial. I look forward to TGATB releasing level 7 in early 2024. Fingers crossed! 🤞🏽

HISTORY

I haven’t decided on history yet - we will either cycle back through U.S. History this year with The Playful Pioneers Volume 2 by The Peaceful Press, or we’ll do The Good and the Beautiful History 1. I’m also considering doing this Draw the U.S.A book with my 4th grader as I focus on U.S. Geography with her.

LANGUAGE ARTS

We’re using The Good And The Beautiful for Language Arts again this year and supplementing with the language arts/writing classes at their tutorial. They will be doing some literature studies/book clubs there as well.

HANDWRITING/TYPING

My 8th grader is done with cursive handwriting! 🥹 She’s completed all of The Good and the Beautiful handwriting books. Sigh. I seriously love those books - they are so precious. She can still practice copywork in her blank school journal, though. My 4th grader is on The Good and the Beautiful level 5 handwriting.

TGATB typing didn’t really work for us - it was too much effort to get it set up every time, so we ended up not doing it at all. I’m going back to Typing.com with my oldest daughter. It’s free and straightforward. She is motivated to learn typing so she can start earning money helping with accounting and bookkeeping for our business!

SCIENCE

Both girls will take science classes at their tutorial - yay! I’m so excited about these science classes for them, because I know the teacher will make them engaging and fun. Bonus: we don’t have to do science experiments at home. 😬

FOREIGN LANGUAGE

My oldest is on a really long streak of daily learning on DuoLingo Spanish, and my youngest is dipping her toes into French on DuoLingo. That app is great. I’ve been taking Italian here and there!

SUBSCRIPTION BOXES

This is by no means required for a great school year, but both girls get monthly subscription boxes that they both look forward to, and they are excellent, a great value, and engaging. My 8th grader will continue to get Annie’s Creative Girls, and my 4th grader will get Doodle Crate. Sign up for a subscription box through this link and get $10 off your first month!

LIFE SKILLS

Lots of focus on life skills around here, and they each help with various parts of our small business, such as the farm store and cooking. My oldest is in charge of doing all the laundry in the house each week, and my youngest is in charge of emptying the dishwasher every day. They both take care of our cats and get paid to do other bigger jobs around the house and farm.

PHYSICAL EXERCISE & ADVENTURE

As a family, we’ve taken up pickle ball and have also been playing tons of basketball. We aim to get 30 minutes of intentional exercise everyday, and then any play outside is a bonus. I do the Lindywell app for Pilates/stretching and the Sweat app for cardio, weights, and HIIT. The girls are welcome to join me in any of those things or do their own workouts. Taking care of our bodies starts with me and Steven and trickles down to the girls - we’ve learned there’s no better way to motivate them than to be a good example. And we honestly all feel better when we’re prioritizing healthy movement in ways that we each enjoy. Lots of family nature hikes to waterfalls and on trails with friends will continue to be a huge priority!

FAVORITE SCHOOL SUPPLIES

Anyone else become giddy when it’s time to buy new school supplies?! I wrote all about our favorites here.

SCHOOLROOM & WORKSPACE

Well, the time has come when our schoolroom is just too tiny for us. 🥲 Last year, we mainly did school work around the farm table in our dining room anyway, and my older daughter does a lot of independent work in her room. We’re turning our little school room into a “common room” with books and bean bag chairs and a tea station for the girls to hang out together or with friends. We’ll continue gathering around our dining room table for group work! I use these IKEA rolling carts to organize things, and I love them. I also have a big basket that holds our Morning Time books.

So that’s our plan for this year! I hope something here sparks ideas for you! Here’s to a great school year…