I don’t know how it happened, but September is here. Whether you like it or not, it’s time for planning and getting back into the (home)school swing of things. And that means that it is time for my annual Gifted Homeschool Curriculum Choices post.
Gifted Homeschool Curriculum Choices: 1st, 2nd, and 4th grade
If you’re new here, you must know that we are gifted homeschool curriculum ‘dabblers’
If you haven’t already, I invite you to read our posts from past years. You can find all previous homeschool curriculum and resource posts on this landing page:
Homeschool resource landing pages:
- Homeschooling: Resources by Academic Subject
- Gameschooling: Resources by Academic Subject
- Books: Resources by Academic Subject
- The Best Homeschool Subscriptions and Memberships
We are ‘curriculum dabblers’
If you haven’t already, I invite you to read our original curriculum post and also the post from last year, as we will be using many of the resources mentioned in those posts. I always joke that we are “curriculum dabblers” – we love to do a little of this, a smidge of that, and a dollop of that. It’s how we roll.
Check out My Little Poppies Course Offerings:
- The Lazy Homeschooler’s Guide to Unit Studies
- How to Rock THE MOST IMPORTANT PART of Your Homeschool Day
- Gameschooling 101: How to Add More Play to Your Homeschool Day
If you are interested in checking out previous years, you can view them here:
Our Gifted Homeschool Curriculum Choices and Routine for 2017-18
You can read more about how we incorporate a routine over a strict homeschool schedule here.
I plan to start each morning with Coffee and Books.
Gifted Homeschool Curriculum Choices, By Subject
Okay, here we go!
Math
My 4th grader will use the following:
My 2nd grader will use the following:
My 1st grader will use the following:
All three kiddos will dabble in:
Language Arts
All three children will enjoy:
- Literature-based academic studies (see below)
- Coffee and Books
- Marie’s Words
- Michael Clay Thompson’s Language Arts program
Science
My oldest two participate in a homeschool nature class. In addition, everyone will use:
- Science I (with advanced readers) from BookShark
- Building Foundations for Scientific Understanding: A Science Curriculum
- Exploring Nature with Children
- Science games
- Nature games
- STEM toys
- STEM books
- Science storybooks
Geography & History
Everyone will use:
- Around the World with Picture Books (Beautiful Feet Books)
- Around the World Stories
- Reading with History (with advanced readers) from BookShark
- Story of the World (audio)
- Pin It! Maps
- Geography games
- History games
Art
My oldest two kiddos take an art course and we will continue our outdoor art. In addition, everyone will dabble in:
- Discovering Great Artists by Maryann F. Kohl and Kim Solga
- Doodle Diaries
- Alisha Gratehouse | Flourish
- Chalk Pastels | You Are an Artist
- Simply Charlotte Mason Picture Study Portfolios
- Art & Music Games
If you love art, I want you to know about two of our favorite art membership sites:
1. The You Are An Artist Clubhouse Annual Membership
We *love* Nana and her Chalk Pastel tutorials. Now, Nana has created an entire clubhouse for artists!
The Clubhouse annual membership includes:
- Instant access to oodles of video art tutorials
- A new art course added monthly
- A new art lesson each week
- … and Chalk Pastels at the Movies
You can read more or sign-up here.
2. Masterpiece Society Studio
I’m not at all surprised, but my kiddos are *loving* this membership site.
My oldest was sick as a dog on Valentine’s Day. Everyone was grouchy (self-included) and feeling a little crummy that our day didn’t go as planned.
Thankfully, we had access to amazing art lessons and they saved the day, as you can see from the photo above!
Music
All three kiddos participate in piano lessons.
Everyone will dabble in:
Technology
My oldest wants to learn to type (this did NOT happen last year as planned).
Everyone will dabble in:
Foreign Language
Everyone will dabble in:
Other resources we are thrilled to explore and/or continue with
- Field Trip Zoom (continued)
- CuriosityStream (continued)
- Newsela (explore)
- Outschool (explore)
- Seesaw (explore)
Our family loves to learn through fantastic read alouds and educational games.
Read more about our style here:
Looks like your kids are going to be learning lots of neat stuff this year! What’s your son doing with all those little dogs?
Hi, Coriander!
That is a game called Walk the Dogs from SimplyFun. It works multiplication skills in a fun way and my kids LOVE the little dogs. If you are interested, you can check it out here: https://www.simplyfun.com/pws/mylittlepoppies/tabs/home.aspx
This looks like it’s going to be a super fun year — love all those math choices, too! Your kiddos are super adorable.
Thank you, Gina! <3
Awesome! My son is 5, and I’m still trying to figure out what our homeschool will look like, so this is super helpful– thank you!!
May I ask how you handle it when one of your kids hyperfocuses on something? Do you stay there? Move on? Shape what’s next around the interest? I’ve been thinking a lot about this, given the child I’m raising, lol.
We are excited to start story of the world!
Looks like you have a lot of fun stuff to do! We are two (slow) days in. I have been using Singapore math for years and this year decided to try out Beast Academy. How do you teach your Beast math? I wish they had more guidelines for the parent. We did the first chapter and it was hard for my son to understand. I feel like I will definitely need to be reading it with him or looking over his shoulder. Any advice is much appreciated! I am a huge fan of yours and especially love the sisters podcast!
I started my oldest on Beast 3A when he had completed Singapore for grade three. Then, it was easier for him to adjust to. I am using 2A with my littles right now and I just sit beside them and help them as needed. If Beast is too tricky right now, don’t be afraid to put it aside. When it is a good fit, it’s so much fun so definitely save it!
Thanks so much for all of your insight and helpful information. Have your kids tried the Stanford based Gifted and Talented program? I am considering adding that into my 6 year old’s curriculum and would love your thoughts.
Yes, they have used it in the past and I believe I have a review or two on the site. We ended up going with Khan (free) and Singapore/Beast, though. It’s just a better fit for us right now.
Those pieces of art your son and daughter did are amazing! Is that from a brick and mortar art class they attend? I would love to find a class like that near me.
Thank you! They take a course with a local artist.
Will you still be doing the History Unboxed subscription? Trying to decide if we should subscribe to that to go along with our Beautiful Feet History curriculum.
We paused our subscription because the kids wanted to focus on specific continents as part of a geography study so I’m combining it with history. We will go back to it though because we had a blast!
How have you liked Rosetta Stone? I’m debating between that and Pimsleur. Thanks!
I loved it. I need to transfer it from our old computer to our new one, so we haven’t been using it lately (read: mama has been lazy). But it’s a great program.
I will have a 2nd and 4th grader (and a 3yo!) this year and this is super helpful! I have to admit, this looks like so much! Can i ask how many hours per day your kids spend on studies? It’s our second year, and I have been considering moving away from the boxed curriculum we did last year (build your library, similar to bookshark). Then i have to pick a history and science curriculum! We also do MUS and BA! How do you fit all that in along with all their activities? In awe lol!
Thank you for this amazing post! There is so much useful information here. We are using many of the same things.
Do you have any insight about testing a possibly-gifted homeschool child? Either testing yourself (I am able to administer most standardized tests) or having someone else administer? There is so much information out there, I am a little overwhelmed by it. Currently we are just working above grade-level in everything for my second child, but I don’t know if that’s enough. I’d just like some concrete feedback for her.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Thank you again for this post. I look forward to reading more on your blog.
Hi, Emily.
We did have my son tested. You can read the post here: https://my-little-poppies.com/giftedness-to-test-or-not-to-test/ Basically, there is no right or wrong answer. It was recommended that we homeschool and we haven’t looked back. Since homeschooling, I haven’t felt a need to have my younger two assessed although I know they are gifted too.