2025 Homeschool Curriculum Picks and Practical Planning Tips - Aby Rinella and Yvette Hampton - Schoolhouse Rocked: The Homeschool Revolution

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
I'm always really careful 'causewhen people say, you know, what
do you use, I don't always like to share because here's the
deal, what I use might not be the best fit for you.
Now that we're into this journey, I realize it works.
It works well. So we can loosen up a little and
just be excited to learn and light the fire rather than fill
the bucket. So that's what I'm really

(00:20):
excited about this year. I love it.
Hey everyone, this is Yvette Hampton.
Welcome back to the Schoolhouse Rock podcast.
I am so excited that you are here with us for this special
episode that this is our much anticipated annual curriculum
picks episode that Abby and I have done the last few years.

(00:41):
And these are always so fun for us to do.
So we're going to talk today allday today.
This is just going to be a one part episode that we're not even
going to leave you hanging for Part 2.
This is going to be a one part episode.
We're going to talk about all the things that we're doing with
our kids this coming year and some other things as well.
And so we're super excited to beback with you.
But before we get into our conversation, I want to say

(01:02):
thank you to BJU Press Homeschool for sponsoring this
podcast. We are so grateful for them.
We're going to talk about some BJU Press curriculum today,
which I'm very excited to share with you.
But if you've not checked them out, check them out
bgupresshomeschool.com. Their materials won't just
equipped you for successful homeschool journey.
They'll prepare your child for afuture full of possibilities so

(01:23):
that your child can confidently move beyond homeschool, ready
for whatever God has next. They've crafted their curriculum
to give you the tools you need that are rooted in a solid
biblical foundation. BJU Press Homeschool offers
lessons that encourage critical thinking skills as well as
activities and lessons that support multi sensory learning
and the unique learning styles of your children.

(01:44):
And they have both online and parent LED formats to fit your
lifestyle. BJU Press Homeschool encourages
a love of learning in your children and they will be with
you every step of the way. Again, visit them at
bjupresshomeschool.com. That's at
bjupresshomeschool.com. Well, Abanella, welcome back to
the Schoolhouse Rocks podcast. I am so excited to be back with

(02:06):
you. It it always seems like so long.
We used to record together all the time.
And this year it's just we've kind of shaken things up.
And so it's been, it's been a little.
Bit. I know, I know.
So I'm excited to be here too, and this is always a fun episode
to do together. Yeah, You know what I love about
preparing for this episode is that as a homeschool mom, it

(02:27):
makes me have to prepare for theschool year before, like the day
before school. I know because when you told me
we were doing this episode, you told me like in June, like I had
had one week of summer and I waslike kicking and screaming.
I'm like, no, I'm not. I'm not even thinking about next
year. But then it forced me to and a
little bit of time had passed. And now that we're recording, I

(02:49):
am so like, I am so excited to start school.
I'm, I'm like kind of in that like I'm not ready to be done
with summer quite yet, but I'm so like, I'm excited to start
school and I love that. Yeah, yeah.
And it's fun because this is thetime I think that all parents
are starting to think through. Well, many have started to think
through it, but this is where itcomes down to the wire.
Like, OK, what am I actually going to do with my kids this

(03:11):
year? And so you and I get asked
constantly. We get messages, we talk to
people at conventions, people are always asking us what we use
for our kids, for curriculum. I just got 2 texts yesterday.
Did you? And these moms were starting
kindergarten. And so I want to tell every
kindergarten mom right now, if you're listening, turn off this
podcast and go read to your kid because that's all you need to

(03:33):
do this next year. But I'm always really careful
because when people say, you know, what do you use?
I don't always like to share because here's here's the deal.
What I use might not be the bestfit for you.
And what I just same as what I use for one of my kids isn't the
best fit for the next. So we're going to share what we
use. But this is in no way, shape or

(03:53):
form telling you that this is what, but that's the beauty of
homeschool. You do what's best for your
family. You do what's best for your
individual kids. We're just going to share some
of the stuff because I always like to hear what people are
using. But that is does not mean you go
out and buy it. That means you can look into it
and see it's a fit for your children because it might not be
and we might get halfway throughthis year and go, oh, this isn't

(04:16):
a fit. We need to recalibrate, right?
Right. Yeah, totally.
So here's what I'm going to suggest to our listeners.
OK, get a notepad and a pen and write stuff down.
As we're talking, write down something, you know, if you're
looking for history or science or language arts or whatever,
maybe just jot down what it is that we're talking about.
Maybe it's something that just piques your interest.

(04:37):
And then go to the show notes. We will actually put this in a
blog post on the website as well.
So that blog post will be out when this episode comes out.
And so you can go and we will have direct links to every
single thing that we're talking about, both Abby and I.
So we it'll be easy for you to find it, but I don't, I don't
want you to be like, oh, what was that one specific thing that
they talked about? I do that on podcasts all the
time. When I listen to podcasts, I'm

(04:59):
like, oh, I want to remember that specific thing and then I
forget so. So if you're driving just.
Hit pause. Yeah, and if you're driving, it
will be in the show notes. So please do not.
That's right, write it down while.
You're driving publicly. Exactly.
And before we get into it, thereare just are a couple of
reminders. The first thing is pray before
you choose anything for your kids.

(05:21):
Everything that you do with yourkids for this coming year should
be covered in prayer so that youknow that whatever you're going
to use with them is, is what's best for your family, what's
best for them, what's best for your teaching style, and really
what the Lord is directing you to use.
So, so commit, you know, maybe aweek or a few days or whatever,
just commit it to prayer and askthe Lord to guide you and to

(05:42):
give you wisdom and doing what'sbest for your family.
The other thing is know what your goal is.
This is a really important thing.
And we've talked about this a lot on the podcast.
We actually did an episode, it'sbeen quite some time with Zan
Tyler and we talked about creating a statement, kind of a
mission statement for your home school and for your family.
So we'll put a link to that in the show notes as well.

(06:04):
But if you've not listened to that one, go back and listen.
It's been maybe three years since we've done that episode.
It's been quite some time, but it's really important to know
what your end goal is and so. And your goal might be different
than event and I's goal, which means your days are going to
look different, your curriculum choices are going to look
different. Again, that is the beauty of
homeschool. Do not try to fit into our box.
Like the whole point of why we homeschool is to fit into what

(06:27):
God has for our family individually.
And it's different for all of us.
Yeah, yeah, your. Kids are interested in different
things that my kids are interested in.
They totally are. And you know, it's funny.
I'm thinking back to our episodethat we did last year and I'll
just tell the story really quickly.
Last year, I, it was my first year with just Laci, Brooklyn
had graduated. So it was just going to be Laci
and I, she was going in 8th grade.

(06:47):
And I was like, we're, we're going to just dig into Charlotte
Mason this year. Like that's just what I decided
was going to be the best thing. And so I did all this prep work.
I, you know what? I I spent weeks and weeks, even
months reading about Charlotte Mason.
I mean, we've done lots of podcasts on Charlotte Mason, all
that stuff. Well, and because you were like,
we're not going to like be boundby textbooks that traditional.

(07:10):
I just remember you're like, we're going to just kind of
break out of that mole. Yeah.
Free spirit. It was going to be amazing.
And let me tell you, we had an amazing year, but we did not end
up doing Charlotte Mason. I sat down with Laci and I said,
OK, here's what I'm thinking forthe year.
And she just looked at me. She's like, yeah, I just want to
do textbooks, Mom. And she loves it.

(07:30):
She loves filling in the blanks.She loves there's something
about checking those answers andwriting 100% at the top, you
know? And, and you know what?
What I've realized with her is part of it is she wants to feel
like she's in, in traditional school in a lot of ways.
And so for her, I think that's her way of feeling like, oh,

(07:53):
yeah. OK, so my friends at church who
are in traditional school. Interesting.
They get to do this and they getgrades on their papers, and so I
want to grade on my paper too. It's really funny.
It's also how she's wired though, you know, and that's how
her gifts and her talents, and Imean, that's what we have to
remember is that it's where all of her kids are uniquely made.
But that was, I remember that story.

(08:14):
It was so, so funny because it'slike, gosh, we have to die to
ourselves, don't we? Yeah, but you know what?
We had such a great year and sheloved it.
She loved her textbooks that we,you know, chose together and she
did great. And so now she's going into
ninth grade, so only how former years of homeschooling hear her.
And it's Oh my goodness, it goesso quickly.

(08:35):
So we, you know, again, we're, we're focusing on textbook work
and, and it's great. She's learning, she's loving it,
and this is what she thrives with so.
That's awesome. That's what I'm going to talk a
lot about today. And one thing that helped me
when when we very first started this journey is and I wasn't
going to talk about this, but ithit me is the Kathy Duffy's 101

(08:56):
or 102 picks. What I loved about it is at the
beginning, and this was 100 years ago, so I'm not sure if
it's still like that, but I likethe paper book, the actual book.
I go to the website often to look at stuff.
But there's tests in the beginning that say, you know,
you take this test of how does your child learn?
What are their kind of like Laciwould be.
I learned, you know, the traditional textbook, but then
it also has a test for how does mom like to teach?

(09:18):
Because there are certain thingsthat I'm like, I'm just not that
mom. I just don't do that.
And not that I can't be stretched, but if I try to get a
curriculum that is just not going to fit with me, I'm not
going to do it well. So it takes how does a kid
learn? How does a mom teach?
Like what are the how are we both wired?
And then it helps you find a curriculum where those things
come together so that it's unique.

(09:40):
I mean, there's not going to be any 2 homeschools that look the
same. And so it's very unique.
That helped me hugely. It helped me tap into my kids
learning style, their interest. It helped me tap what kind of
teacher I am and then it helped match me with things and it was
a jumping off point, right? It's not that now I have this
formula because there is no formula, but it was.
It just helped me to think differently.
Yeah, yeah. We also did an episode several

(10:02):
years ago on learning styles andso we'll link that in the show
notes as well. That one was really interesting.
It's so fascinating to see how our kids learn and so those.
Are and they're all different. That are great, yeah, you.
Have 5-6 kids, you're going to have six different ways they
learn six different interests, which.
Doesn't mean that you have to use six different ways of
teaching all six different kids,but it's really kind of figuring

(10:23):
out like, OK, collectively, how do my kids learn best?
What, like you said, what works best for me as the teacher And
so, so anyway, so let's dig in 'cause I'm excited to share and
let me just let me just say don't think I've gone bonkers.
I I have a lot to share, but there's a method to my madness
here and I'll explain it kind ofas I'm going because I feel a.

(10:45):
Little intimidated to moms, you do not have to be insane like
Eva and she's going to explain why she has so much but she does
not recommend you having so much.
Right, Yes, yes, I will explain it as I go.
But the first thing and and likeI said, Laci's going into high
school. So the first thing, and we also
have done an episode on this. It's called Homeschool High
School by Carrie Defrancisco, who's amazing by the way.

(11:06):
She is so lovely. This, this A couple months ago
she was at her homeschool convention and she's fabulous.
Yes, she is amazing. She's a retired homeschool mom.
Yeah, if you have kids, go. I would say even like going into
middle school, but definitely high school.
Get this book. We will link the episode in the

(11:27):
show notes for this because thisbook is fantastic.
By the way, I forgot to mention this.
This is really cool. We have done several series
throughout the years on the podcast.
And so we did this one. It was called Homeschooling
through the Years. And it actually kind of started
because Carrie sent me this bookand I thought, oh, that's a
great idea. We should do homeschooling high
school. And then I was like, well, then

(11:48):
we should do one on homeschooling middle school, and
then we should do one on homeschooling elementary and
preschool in the after years. So it turned into this big
series, but we've done several series.
We've done them on homeschooling, different
subjects, We've done a ton of different ones.
And so on the website, if you guys have not been to our
website recently, Garrett has completely revamped it and it
looks amazing. And so on the website, we have a

(12:10):
section on there under podcast where you can look up the
different series that we've doneand you can click on
Homeschooling through the Years.And it will bring up all of
those episodes that we've done for homeschooling through the
years. So it's really awesome.
So check that out. Well, of course, we'll link that
in the show notes as well. But it's a great resource
because then if you're just looking for a very specific

(12:31):
thing, you can find it under those different series that
we've done throughout the years.So anyway, but so start to start
with this homeschooling homeschool high school and it's,
it's so thorough. She has done such a great job
with it. The next thing I wanted to share
was this is the high school planner that Laci chose.

(12:52):
It's by not consumed and it is amazing.
She has done such a beautiful job.
I, I don't know if you guys haveused not consumed.
I know Abby loves not consumed ministries.
I'm probably the biggest fan. Yeah, they have such great
resources. And so this one Laci loves
because you know, she's my textbook girl.
She loves to fill in blank. She likes to to check boxes.

(13:13):
She really wanted a good planner.
She loves to have a planner where she can write down, you
know, her different, you know, assignments and what's expected
of her, and she wants to be ableto track with all of that.
And so this one is amazing. We actually we were at the
Branson home school convention in for teach them diligently and

(13:34):
Kim Sorges Jones, who's the founder of not consumed, she was
there and so she was showing us this and Laci was like, Yep,
that's the one. And it's got cool stickers and
stuff, but it, the whole thing that I love about it is that it
is all, it's a biblical worldview planner, if you will.
It's got scripture woven throughout all of it.

(13:55):
And it's just very encouraging. It really helps kids to kind of
plan. We were talking about setting
your vision and knowing exactly what your end goal is.
And this teaches the kids how todo that.
So it's not just like a calendarbook.
It really walks them through like, what do you want to be?
Where do you want to go? What, what are your goals in
life? How is the Lord growing you?
How are you going to do these things?

(14:18):
And then, you know, it's got of course, the calendar pages and
stuff, but it's kind of a like life workbook, if you will, and
academic planner. But it's amazing.
And they have them for I'm, I'm pretty sure they have them for
elementary and middle school as well.
Or maybe the elementary middle school is the same.
I'm not exactly sure. But this is the high school 1
and it's fantastic. So Laci is super excited about

(14:42):
this one and I am too. Now I want to talk kind of about
our morning time and what we're going to be using for our
morning time routine. And so this is where stuff
starts to kind of pile up. So just understand I am not
expecting to get through all of these things in one year.
Most of what I'm going to be using, especially for morning

(15:04):
time is going to be kind of spread out through the next two
or three years. Because what I've learned, Abby,
is when I put that time stamp onsomething and I'm like, we're
going to do this and we're goingto get through it by the end of
this year, It it, it seems like we're forcing it when sometimes
it's just not as enjoyable if wedo that.

(15:24):
So. And it stifles rabbit trails,
deep conversations, and. And that's the that's the most
important thing with home schoolis that you guys are following
your kids love of learning theirquestions like what if they want
a rabbit trail? You have the freedom to do that.
Like you cannot be owned by a curriculum schedule I that is
probably the worst thing that you can possibly you'll, you'll

(15:46):
make your kids hate learning. And so the beautiful thing and
real quick, if you don't know what morning time is, if you're
new to that concept, it's just it's a time in the morning where
you gather. It's not the kids doing their
independent work where you work through different things
together. And some days you might do AB
and C and then the next day you might do BC and D and then the
next day and it's just kind of a, some people call it like

(16:06):
morning basket or it's, it's kind of like a smorgasbord of
really great things that you youcan dive into following the kids
interests, but it's an incredible time to do the rabbit
trails, the deep talks, talk through life, talk through
what's going on. And so you absolutely cannot
follow somebody else's schedule because you follow your kids in

(16:27):
that time. So I love how you say that like
this is what we're going to use and that's what we do, but it's
going to take as long as it takes.
Right, right. It's going to take as long as it
takes. Yep, no, no time limit on it,
correct. So I am beyond excited about
this one. This is from BJU Press home
school and it's called Bible doctrines and you guys, this

(16:48):
book is amazing. We, we in the past for morning
time, we have often just read through like a book of the
Bible. Last year we were reading
through Proverbs. We would do a proverb a day and
by the time we got to the end ofthe year, Laci was like, mom, I
really like Proverbs, but can wemove on to something else?
And as a family, we do our family devotions every day and

(17:11):
we read through a book of the Bible.
And so it's not, I'm not saying that's too repetitive.
You can never get too much of God's word.
But I felt like I wanted something that was just a little
bit more than just reading the Bible.
I really wanted to dig into likehow not and not even how to
study the Bible, but really whatthe Bible is is about what is it

(17:32):
teaching us? How is it changing our lives?
But again, you were following Laci.
You listened, right? Because if you were just like,
Nope, we got to get through every single Proverb, guess what
she's going to do? She's going to dread Bible time,
which is the last thing in the world we want to do.
So you were in tune to saying, OK, she she's hungry for the
Bible, but we need to, what is she hungry for?
And so that's really what it is.It's listening for those little

(17:53):
clues in your kids. Yes, yeah, you're exactly right.
And I, I don't want her to dreadreading God's word or learning
about, you know, God. And so so really quickly, I'll
just kind of read through some of the contents of this book.
So it's called Bible doctrines, the why, what and how.
And we talk, they talk about doctrine, you know, the, the

(18:13):
why, what and how is doctrine? What is that all about?
Then it talks about the word of God, understanding Scripture, it
talks about God. So then it breaks it up into God
and like who is God? It talks about the Trinity, the
attributes of God, which I thinkis amazing.
I started reading with her last year, Knowledge of the Holy by
AW Tozer, which talks about the attributes of God.

(18:36):
And it's a really good book. But she was just like, yeah, I
am just not tracking with this book right now.
And so we put it down It it is adeep book.
So I just thought, you know what, she was in 8th grade.
We may pick it up. You know, maybe I read that book
my 11th grade year. So I think it was a little early
for that though. She, I mean, she's crazy smart.
So she, it's not that she doesn't understand it, but I
think this will be better. So this one has a whole chapter

(18:56):
on the attributes of God, the sovereignty and Providence of
God, God the Father. And then Unit 4 is the Son of
God. Unit 5 is the Spirit of God.
And so it breaks up the Trinity.Then it talks about God's
creation and salvation provided by God, the people of God, and
the triumph of God. And so it ends with the triumph

(19:16):
of God, it feels. Almost like remember when our
kids because we want to share a little bit.
If you have younger kids, this is obviously not for them, but
it reminds me of the apology What we believe series that is
so good for young kids. It hits all those things, but in
a younger in an earlier way. So it sounds kind of like that
for older kids. Yes, yes.
And that one, I think that one is specifically their 10th grade

(19:40):
Bible curriculum, but it doesn'tmatter.
I mean, who cares about the label on it, you know.
So those are and so that that book is pretty deep.
We are actually with that one, I'm going to start out by using
the videos because they, BJU Press has amazing videos of
teachers. They're not live, but you can
watch them, you know, whenever is convenient for you.

(20:02):
And we've been in their studio. It's amazing.
And they have these teachers whoreally do an excellent job of
teaching their curriculum. And so this one almost feels
kind of I I watched a sample video and it doesn't feel like a
sermon. But sort of but but like easy to
grasp, right? And so I really liked the guy

(20:22):
who is teaching it and I thoughtthis would be really fun instead
of us just reading it or me justreading it out loud or her
reading it by herself. So we're actually going to use
the online videos for this one. Yeah, it's good to mix it up.
I think kids get more when you have different multimedia to do
a video, then have a conversation, then read a book
and then give an example. Yeah.
Exactly. So this is one that you

(20:42):
definitely could do, like if youwanted your child to do this
independently, they could do that and you could do it with
the videos, or you could just dothe textbook and maybe get the
teacher guide to go with it. Whatever works best for you.
But these ones are going to be amazing.
So I I love this. Problem I'm finding with with
middle school, high school, especially high school, cool.
I the kids have all this independent stuff, but I'm like,
but wait, I want to do that withyou.

(21:03):
But wait, I want to learn that too.
But wait, I want to write. And so it's like I want to do
all the things my kids are doing, but with with multiple
age level. I can't do every single thing.
But man, I just want to go back.You don't want to have 83 hours
in a day. Darn it, no.
Oh, man. OK.
The next thing that we're going to be using during our morning
time and this again, this is going to be one that's going to

(21:24):
be kind of spread out throughouta few years.
This is definitely not going to be a, you know, freshman year
only. We're going to get through this
beginning to end of the year. But this one is from master
Books and it's called the history of religious liberty.
And this one I'm super excited about.
So it kind of, it details the history of religious persecution

(21:45):
between the 16th and 18th centuries and, and it explores
ideas and the sacrifices that help to create religious liberty
in America. So I love, I'd love that it, it,
it takes you through that and then kind of to supplement.
And, and it's, again, I've been reading through this and it,
it's got, well, OK, these books don't go with it, but I'm

(22:09):
pairing these books with it. So again, this will just be part
of our morning time. We will just read these kind of
at our leisure as they come. But to pair with that is this
one is called Early Church Fathers, and this is also by
Master Books. And this one is biographies on
several different of, you know, early church fathers.

(22:29):
So you've got John Wickliffe, Martin Luther, John Knox,
William Tyndale and several others.
And so they're just like short biographies on these people.
And what I love about books likethis is if there's somebody that
your child's like, oh, that's really interesting.
I would love to learn more aboutJohn Knox.
Well, then you can go find a full biography on John Knox and

(22:50):
study him or do whatever you know works for you.
And so this is it's legends of the faith is the the book here.
So we'll, we'll link that as well.
And then along with that, we will do.
These are really cool. These are called eyewitness
books. These are from apologia.
And so there's the New Testamenteyewitness and this one says,

(23:15):
uncovers the truth about the NewTestament with this highly
visual presentation of the history information of the Canon
in the New Testament. So it talks about who wrote the
New Testament. How do we know?
How was it handed down? How can we know that we have the
original text? And it's just a fun, it's well,
for those watching on video, youcan kind of see.

(23:36):
Fun. It's pretty.
Not a comic book. It's visually appealing.
Visually appealing. And so this one is the New
Testament eyewitness. And did I say these are from
apologia? I think, OK, so they're New
Testament eyewitness, the Old Testament eyewitness.
I like it. And then there's the Jesus
eyewitness. And so they're all kind of part

(23:57):
of the same group. And there's more than this.
These are just the three that I chose and so I feel like these
kind of all go together with. You are going to be doing this
for four. Years.
Yeah, well, and that's the thing, we're spreading this out.
This is not all going to be thisyear. 11 so that's going to be
part of our morning time. And then the last thing that

(24:17):
will be part of our morning time.
But, well, I'll talk about books'cause we always have a book
that we're reading together. I think I'll talk about those at
the end, but in our Co-op, Laci and I are doing a new Co-op this
year. We're super excited about this
one and they are using, she's taking a leadership class in
this Co-op, which I think is amazing because you know, I feel

(24:39):
like that's one of the things that for homeschool kids, people
might be like, well, you know, they don't have student council
and they don't have leadership classes.
Well, this Co-op does. That's awesome.
They learn leadership skills andso one of the books.
This is also by not consumed. This is called becoming a
servant. Oh, I love those.
And they're just, they're small,fun workbooks.

(25:00):
But this is what her Co-op, the Mama who's teaching that Co-op
class on leadership is using this book and she's also using
this one on navigating friendships because one of the
ways to be a good leader is to be a good friend.
If you're not a good friend, it's really hard to be a good
leader. And so she's using both of
these. And so we, we got these from not
consumed as well. And, and of course, we'll put

(25:21):
links to those in the show notes.
But the Becoming a servant 1 is serving God.
It says serving God is obeying and honoring him in a way that
allows others to see his goodness.
And so you know what? It's not all about us.
It's all about God. Imagine that and then the
navigating friendships one says on this journey, you'll need a
great captain. And, you know, as we are

(25:42):
navigating life and friendships and just different seasons of
life, we need to learn how to begood friends and how not just to
be good friends, but how to choose good friends because, you
know, walk with the wise and be wise.
But a companion of fools suffersharm.
And so it is my goal in life, one of my goals in life is to
help my girls understand to choose wisely when it comes to

(26:04):
the people that they surround themselves with.
I love that. So, So yeah, I love these.
So that's, that's kind of it formy morning time, morning basket,
whatever you want to call it. Have you tried CTC Math yet with
your child? Here's a testimonial from
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(26:26):
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(26:49):
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All right, you ready to move on to math?

(27:31):
I'm ready. I'm ready.
Let's do math. All right, here's my math thing.
And I am going to be completely and totally transparent with our
audience and with you right now.Laci loves science.
She's she just, that's her thing.
And I'll talk a little bit more about that.
So we're really science heavy this year.

(27:51):
She loves science. She wants to be a midwife.
I'll talk a little bit more about that.
She loves writing. She does not love math.
She gets it from me. She, I won't say she hates math,
but she is not my math girl. Like she just doesn't, I mean,
she does it because she has to, not because she wants to.
She would never in a million years ask to do a math problem

(28:13):
for fun. She just doesn't like it.
And so we have really over the last couple years, I won't say
that we've pushed math aside, but we've not made it our
priority. And so this year she will be
doing pre algebra, which I hesitated to show that because I
thought, you know what, a lot ofkids do pre algebra in 6th, 7th,
8th grade and she's doing pre algebra in 9th grade.

(28:37):
But then I was like, well, you know what?
I just need to be real with my audience because this is the
beauty of homeschooling. But I I I want to just show like
it's OK if my 9th grader is doing pre algebra because God
has made each of our kids so uniquely and so differently with
different gifts and talents and abilities and math is just not
her thing. Well, and the reality is, is if

(28:58):
it's not her thing, then like ifyou did it in the traditional
school way, then she would be doing calculus right her senior
year. And she's not going to need, if
she's not math wired, God's not going to put her into a position
that she's going to need calculus.
Like math wired people are goingto need calculus.
And so it would be pointless. It would be a waste of time when
you could be using that time forother things that are geared

(29:20):
more for what she is wired for, right.
And so I just think we have to break away from this traditional
way of thought of every kid is the same.
So every kid, it has to follow the same trajectory, which isn't
even biblical, right? We're all created unique and,
and, and God has a plan for eachof us that is different than
that. We're the body, right?
So every arm, we're not all going to be the arm.

(29:42):
And so maybe the arm needs calculus, but maybe the leg
doesn't, It needs something else.
And so we have to break away andwe have to stop feeling guilty
about it, right? Some of my kids will do
calculus, some won't. And, and that's OK.
And some of my kids will learn something different.
Praise God for that unique, independent way that we do.
For sure, for sure. So we're, she doesn't even care.

(30:03):
She's like, yeah, I'll do what, you know, if I'll do pre
algebra, whatever. So I, I have planned out all of
her math for the next 4 years and she's going to be totally
fine. She's going to give you what she
needs to get through. You know, she's probably one of
the bad geometry help. In life, right, she's probably
going to know how to balance a checkbook and how to open a bank
account. Yes, right.
Yeah. So I'm getting there because

(30:24):
this is this is actually the math that we're most excited
about. Yeah.
And she chose this one as well because this is what she was
excited about. So this is also by not consumed
and this is their new consumer math we.
Did that. Did you do it?
Last year we did it last year. Did you love it?
Loved it, absolutely loved it. It is the most sorry, I won't
I'll let you talk about it, but we did it.

(30:45):
It's OK, so I can share because we did it.
It was amazing. It was relevant.
We did not do every single you're going to want to go
through because some of them you're like, you know, like
right now in 9th grade, this isn't really relevant, but get a
basic. It was so good and such a great
overview. And you know what, as I was
doing it, I'm like most kids that graduate high school with

(31:07):
calculus don't know how to do this.
And it's, it's crazy how you seethese 20 year olds who don't
know how to do regular life math.
I loved it. It was interesting.
The way it was written, the way it was laid out held my high
schooler's attention. Absolutely that.
That I think is a must do. Yeah, I think so too.

(31:28):
And so like I said, Laci actually picked this out.
She saw this at the non consumedbooth in Branson and she was
like, I want to do that book. And here's the thing.
This one is, is geared towards 11th and 12th grade.
But Laci just got her first realjob.
Oh, I know. And so she's she's working at a
restaurant as a Hostess and she loves it.

(31:50):
And she's getting a regular paycheck now, and so she wants
to learn how to manage her money.
She's my saver. She's my girl who wants to save
her money. If she has something she wants
to buy, she'll save and save herbabysitting money, whatever it
is, Christmas birthday money and, and she'll get that thing
that she she needs or wants to buy.
And so when she saw this, she was like, what is consumer
amount? So I kind of explained it to her

(32:12):
and this is great. It teaches how to create a
budget, how to write a business plan, understanding saving and
investing and just kind of the basics of income and taxes and
all this some stuff that like I'm still now trying to figure
it out. Well, and some of it, what I
realized with that, because it'sat 11th, 12th is you, it's
broken down where you can do allthe sections that apply to her

(32:33):
now. But if you're saying like this
doesn't, you can hang on to those sections and do them in a,
it's not a it doesn't necessarily build where you have
to follow it. Pick the sections that apply to
her now, save the sections that don't.
And then her senior year be like, OK, now we can talk about
mortgages. You know, that's I really like
it for that. Yeah, yes, I noticed that when I
was looking through it and I waslike, oh, we can kind of.

(32:54):
You know. Skip around and do what is most
relevant to her today. So this is another one that
we're not going to get through all of this this year, right?
We're going to focus on the stuff that she wants to
understand this year as she has a job and is learning to manage
her money. And then we'll just keep this.
This will kind of be for the next 4 years, so we'll use.
It for that. Yeah, I mean, it's great.

(33:16):
And again, like everything else with Not Consumed, it is all
written from a biblical worldview, biblical perspective.
And so she's got scripture wovenin through it and it's it's
fantastic. So so that's what we're doing
for math. All right, science.
We are big on science here with Laci because like I said, she
loves science. She gets it.
She just loves it that if she could just do science and just

(33:41):
write, that's what she would do all the time.
That those are the things that she loves to do.
You know, like I mentioned, she already knows that she wants to
be a midwife. She's already met with a few
midwives, like she, she has a midwife like book that she is
studying right now. Like, I mean, this is, this is
what she knows that she wants. And so she loves the study of
the human body. And so we, I was like, OK, this

(34:04):
is what we're going to start focusing on when it comes to
science, at least at least this year and for the next probably
couple years. So the first one is this is
apology and this is their healthand nutrition curriculum.
And it's fantastic. Again, I mean, I looked through
it and it's so good because it, it covers physical, nutritional,

(34:25):
emotional, social, mental and spiritual aspects.
And it teaches them all of thesethings.
So again, everything we do, it'swritten from a strong biblical
perspective. And so it teaches them all of
those things through the lens ofScripture and it's amazing.
And so with this, I love the videos that they, that Apologia

(34:47):
does. Again, I, we don't do a lot of
videos, but, but for this, I haven't decided yet if we're
going to do videos or just read this one.
This one will probably read because this one will be again
parsed out through the next few years.
We will not get through all of this in the next year.
I'm guessing this one will be atleast two, maybe three years

(35:08):
that it will take us to get through this.
And so again, we can even kind of pick apart like, oh, let's
focus on mental health, you know, for the next couple
months. Let's focus on nutrition for the
next few months and we can use other resources and stuff.
So we, we've got this one and then these come with the student
notebooks are great that go withthis as well, especially for a

(35:29):
student like Laci who loves to fill in the blanks.
So they've got the student notebooks and, and I'll link all
of those in there. OK, this is kind of the wonky
part of the our science. Last year I told you guys that
we were going to use wonders of the human body because Laci

(35:49):
loves this and she thinks it's fascinating and amazing.
And it is when we study how God created the human body to work.
So this one is volume 1. There's actually 2 volume.
And who's that through? This is master books.
OK, so we started this one last year and Laci loved it.
But then we found out that the Co-op that we're doing this
coming year is doing this exact same curriculum and she wanted

(36:15):
to do it in her Co-op class, which totally makes sense.
And they'll be able to do more creative labs than what, you
know, I was willing to do at home.
And she'll be learning what she's got, you know, several
friends at at Co-op. So she'll be in these classes
with her friends. And so she said, I really want
to do this, but I want to wait until we do it with Co-op.

(36:35):
So, so we've done most of this book.
And so we're going to basically just shelf, you know, I, I
shelved it for the last part of the year, but she still wanted
to do science. So we looked through a bunch of
different science options and I realized we we hadn't really
done a general science curriculum.
So I said well let's get generalscience and we'll focus on that.

(36:58):
So then I got the apologia general science.
So we did this the last part of 8th grade last year and we have
not finished this. So I know this is confusing, but
we're going to finish general science or at least get as much
through it as we can the first semester while she's doing

(37:19):
wonders of the human body at Co-op, because we've already
done the whole first part of wonders of the human body.
So we'll, we'll still do anatomyand Physiology through wonders
of the human body, but we're going to, we're going to keep
going with general science. And again, it's one whatever,
how however long it takes us to get through it is fine.
I mean, general science covers astronomy, meteorology,

(37:42):
oceanography, earth study, geology, paleontology and
environmental science. So it covers all of those things
and we've not dug deep into all of those.
We've we've dug into some of them.
But again, this one's amazing. This one, I have loved the
videos. Sherri, Sherri Seligson, who's

(38:03):
who we've had on the podcast several times.
She is actually the author of this book and she does the
teaching videos for it. And you just go at your own pace
with them and she does such a good job.
I love her videos. They're fantastic.
So this one we are actually doing by video and then we read
that, but the videos kind of they line up perfectly with the

(38:25):
chapters and Laci really likes the videos.
As a matter of fact, when we were in Branson at Teach Them
Diligently, Sherri was there andLaci was excited to meet her
because she was like, ah, you'remy science teacher, you're
Sherri's Alex. And and so it was really fun for
Laci to actually meet her in person for the first time.
So, so we've got general scienceand wonders of the human body.

(38:46):
And again, this one is A2 volumeset.
So it's kind of a lot to get through in a year.
I don't know that I would recommend.
I mean, if you're very, very diligent and do every single
lesson as it's laid out, you could get through it in a year.
Do volume 1 semester 1 and volume 2 semester 2.
But I just I feel like that's itis a high school anatomy

(39:07):
Physiology course, very well done, very scripturally based.
But I just feel like it's it forus, it was kind of a lot to do
it all, like if we had done bothvolumes in a year.
So anyway, so there's there's this one.
It's fantastic along with anatomy and Physiology because
it's Laci's thing. I got her this year and she was

(39:28):
super excited about this. It's an anatomy coloring book.
And let me just tell you guys ifand you have this we got from
Apologia, it's by Kaplan is the not the author.
I don't know, but but I got it through the apology website.
So what we'll link to this. But it is really amazing and

(39:52):
it's it's bigger than I thought it would be, but it's got like
all the different body parts andthen you label the different
body parts and then it gives youkind of a description of that
specific body part. And if you have a student who is
studying anatomy and Physiology at any level.
I would say from middle school, through high school and through

(40:12):
college, this book is amazing for them because they have to
color in the different parts of the body and then they have to
label them and it's just, I think it will help.
Laci likes to color and draw andstuff.
She's very. Artistic, it just solidifies it.
And there was the right, probably the you're the left
brain people especially. Yes.
So this is this is fantastic. I I just think it's a great

(40:34):
resources. It has 450 plus illustrations
and then it has flash cards. It's got self quizzing in the
back. So it's it's not just your
typical coloring book, though with this, I would say get some
colored pencils because it's fine lines that you're going to
be coloring. So don't you don't want to use
your like Crayola crayons with this.

(40:55):
This is not going to do very it's not going to do a very good
job of that. You want to get some nice
colored pencils for this. All right, one more science.
I know, I know. I told you it was.
Going to be one child. This is one child.
But again, please understand, yes, this is not all stuff.
Some of these are just supplemental.

(41:16):
This is not, I'm not like, OK, Laci, we're going to do school
from 8:00 AM until 8:00 PM everyday of the week.
I, I know it sounds like a lot, it's not as much because a lot
of these I'm supplementing with.So this last science one is
definitely a a supplement that we will use over the next four
years. This is my master books and it's
called Elements of Faith. And this is one of the neatest

(41:39):
books I've seen. So it goes through the periodic
table, it says a creation based journey through the periodic
table and it takes the differentelements and it points them back
to scripture, if that makes sense.
Yeah. So I, I just, I was like, OK,
what's one that I could share because I wanted to make it make
a little bit of sense. So hydrogen for instance,

(42:02):
hydrogen, it starts out, it's got a verse and it says in the
spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And then it talks about the dataof hydrogen.
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, picking
up over 90% of it. It was discovered in 1766 by the
English chemist Henry Cavendish.Isn't that a fun last name?
Cavendish, who later in 1781 showed that it was formed by the

(42:25):
combustion of hydrogen in the air, that water was formed by
the combustion of hydrogen in the air.
And it goes to all these different facts about hydrogen
and what it is and then it givesan analysis of it.
And then at the end it's got some fill in the blanks.
But then it it it has what's called living water application.
And it talks about how we can apply these different elements

(42:48):
to our lives in Scripture. And so I'll just read a little
excerpt from the book. And it says Jesus met a woman at
the well in Samaria. He told her that his followers
would receive living water that would give them eternal life.
He said, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but
whoever drinks of the water thatI shall give him will never
thirst. And then it says a little bit

(43:08):
more. But then at the end of the
application part, it says just as physical water is needed for
biological life, living water isvital for our life and growth as
Christians. And it goes on to talk a little
bit more about that. And so it just is really cool
because it goes through all the different elements.
So this one again is one that I'll use as, you know, just a
supplement. I mean, I was like at first

(43:28):
like, well, how am I going to relate that to the study of the
human body and anatomy and Physiology, since that's really
what we're focusing on with Laciright now.
And then, you know, I, I realized like the human body
requires a variety of elements. And so it fits perfectly.
And whatever science you're studying, this is a great

(43:48):
resource for you to have. Just, it's almost like having a
dictionary on hand, a Christian elements dictionary on hand that
you and your kids can study whatever elements you might be
studying and whatever science you're using.
So this is a great just all around whatever science you
have. And again, this one's master
books. So that that's our science.
I'm almost done, I promise language arts and this is, this

(44:13):
is the last of, of my, my crazy language arts.
Laci loves to write. She has taken several writing
classes. She's, you know, done several
different curriculums. She, she enjoys all different
sorts of writing. And so we she has done IE W in
the past, IE W's Institute for Excellence in writing, but it's

(44:36):
been a couple years since she's done any IUW.
And so we are going back to thatbecause she is the one who
chose. She said, I really want to do I
UW. I feel like that's going to make
me the most successful. And not that other curriculum is
not successful in teaching your kids how to write, but because
she's familiar with IUW, that's what she chose for this year.
So we are doing structure and style for students.

(45:00):
And this one is year one level C.
She's done year one level A&B, but not completely.
She's done parts of them, if that makes sense.
We've never gone to the very endof 1.
So this year we're going to start this one.
And it it such a great curriculum and really teaching
kids how to outline and summarize how to write cohesive

(45:25):
paragraphs. I think some people still have a
hard time with that. So like, how, you know, how do I
forced out these different sentences to make sense and
where do I start the new paragraph?
Where does the other one supposed to end?
It helps them to create stories.Well, they can produce reports
and critiques, essays. Like Lacey likes writing essays.
She thinks that's fun. OK, so it will help her to

(45:49):
develop essays and then be able to just translate her thoughts
and ideas into writing. And so we are going back to IEW
and super excited about this. But here's the thing, I'm going
to be super honest. One of the reasons that I
struggled with IEW years ago is because I, I didn't really

(46:10):
understand how to teach IEW. You can do it independently, but
I didn't really understand how to teach it myself very well.
And so she's done it with a couple of Co-op classes and she
has enjoyed that and it's been great because those teachers
really were well educated and how to teach this specific
method of writing. But I have struggled with that.

(46:33):
Well, this year I realized again, and I, I knew this from
when we did classical conversations years ago, but I
don't know, for some reason, it just didn't click in my, my mind
that using their teaching writing structure and style,
this is the basically the teacher training on how to teach

(46:55):
IEW curriculum. And so, so I am going through
this, this summer myself. I've already started going
through it and it's so good. And I've been through part of
this with when we did essentialsfor classical conversations
years ago, but this was when Brooklyn was in 4th grade.
So we're talking, I don't know, 10 years ago, I guess maybe.

(47:19):
Yeah, I think it was about 10 years ago.
It's been a long time since I'vebeen through any of this
training. And so if you are planning on
doing IE W with your kids, I highly recommend.
You don't have to do it, but I'mhere to say it will be so much
easier for you and you will stumble so much less if you will

(47:41):
do the teacher training. And you don't have to do it all
at one time. You can do it as you're teaching
your kids. So you can just kind of watch
the parts of the video that are the parts of the video that your
kids are, are the parts of the curriculum that your kids are
learning at any given time, if that makes sense.
So you can just kind of track with them.
But this is amazing. It's taught by Andrew Pudois and

(48:02):
it's such a fantastic, fantasticteaching tool.
And I just thought, you know what, She's got another four
years. And because she likes writing, I
really want her to be a very good writer.
And she wants to be a good writer.
She taught herself, By the way, did I tell you, Abby, she taught
herself how to write cursive this past year.
She never wanted to do cursive before.
And all of a sudden last year she was like, I want to learn

(48:23):
how to write in cursive. And so I was like, well, I've
got cursive books that I've had sitting on the shelf for all
these years. And she picked it up and within
a couple of weeks, she just keptpracticing and practicing.
And now she writes in cursive. It's so funny.
But anyway, these are just, it'sin my opinion, I think IEW is
the best writing curriculum. It's just laid out in a way that

(48:44):
is really easy for kids to understand.
But it's really helpful if you have the teacher guide to teach
you how to write. Anyway, along with that, we've
got Fix It grammar. Have you used Fix It before
Abby? We started into it last year.
OK, it's so fun. So basically your kids kind of
become the editor of this book. And so it takes us, takes them

(49:08):
through a story. This one is Level 3.
This is Robin Hood and it's so much fun.
They get to go through and they get to identify the different
parts of speech. They get to basically correct
the the story. So if there's, you know, if they
need capitalization or if it needs N marks or commas or
different punctuation, they kindof become the editor of the

(49:29):
story. And so and they're fun.
They're fun to read. They, you know, do copy work
with and stuff, which Lacy doesn't always do the copy work,
but for younger students that would be really beneficial for
them. So fix it.
Grammar is what we've got there and that's it.
Oh, I didn't tell you the books that we have planned.

(49:51):
I'll, I'll run through these really quickly.
So these are the books that we that I just have on our list.
We will read more and may not get through all of these.
It will kind of depend on what lace I by the way, these books I
have not yet run by Lacey. So she might look at some of
them and go, yeah, I'm not so interested in that one.
But but right. This is my like dream list of
the books that we'll do The Casefor Christ.

(50:13):
We actually are halfway through that book.
We we paused it for summertime. That's by Lee Strobel and she's
really enjoying this book. So we're going to finish The
Case for Christ. OK, Abby, you were talking to
Greta Eskridge a few weeks ago, and you asked her at the end of
her episode what her favorite book was.
Yes. And remember what she said.

(50:34):
Hiding Place because it's all ofour favorite books.
Yes, she said The hiding Place and then you were like, but
there's another book that comes after it, Tramp for the Lord.
Yes. And you said, but that one's not
as good as the hiding place. I I agree.
Have you read it? Yes, I have.
You did read Tramp for the. Lord, I did read Tramp for the
Lord, but I just, I'm, I just don't, I don't think there's a

(50:56):
book that talks the hiding place.
OK, I I think I think you are correct, but I'm like the hiding
place and then tramp for the Lord is like.
Right below it and then definitely below.
That is the five silent years. OK, And you were making fun of
that title too? Yeah, and I haven't read it
because I'm like, you can write a whole book a.

(51:17):
Book about being silent? Yeah, for five years.
I'm telling you it is. I know it's on my list.
It's on my list. It needs to be on your list.
The five silent years of Corey 10 Boom.
It was written by Pamela Roswell.
She was Corey's last assistant who kind of helped her through
life until up until, until her death.
And it, it is so powerful. I can't even tell you.

(51:40):
It's such a good book. I'm going to read this because
I've read, of course, I think Lacey's read The Hiding Place
probably three times at least. And then we read Transfer the
Lord Together last year. So this year we're going to do
The Five Silent Years. Such a good book.
The Door on the Wall got this one and we got this here.
I'm hoping to get to screw tape letters with her.

(52:01):
She. I'm reading that one again right
now. It's so good she has resisted
reading this book. I don't know why, but I am.
I will get her to read this bookor read it with her before she
graduates high school because this has been, I would say next
to. I didn't read it until into my
20s though, and I wouldn't have someone read it too early.

(52:22):
Because it's too good to make them crudge through it.
Does that make sense? Like it's too good to force
Because it is very good. But I think she might be ready
this year. Yeah, every year I try, try.
And I'm just telling you, if by the time she gets to 12th grade,
if she hasn't hasn't given the green light to read it, I'm just

(52:43):
going to make her read it. Or just wrap it up as a
graduation gift, right? Yeah.
It's so powerful, it's so good. This is one of the most life
changing books I've ever read. In yeah, I think it's very good.
I read this in 11th grade when Iread Knowledge of the Holy by AW
Tozer. Those were like 2 of my 11th
grade books and this one is lifechanging.

(53:05):
If you have not read Screw Tape Letters, you must read in it's
by CS Lewis, then this one. And this kind of goes with, you
know, us doing like the the, youknow, founding fathers of the
church and all that. So I maybe I should have put
this in that one. But this one is Saint Augustine.
We're going to read about Saint Augustine this year.
He's an early church father. And then carry on.

(53:25):
Mr. Bowditch, have you read this?
One yes, that's part of our Winnie did it 5th grade OK with
American history because it was a part of American history
sunlight. Yeah, yeah, I agree.
I've not read this one. It's very good, really good.
Thinks about it. So hopefully.
We like it. Yeah, and then this I already
mentioned this one, the case forChrist, so.

(53:45):
Yep, we did that one. Which there is, by the way, the
case for Christ for Kids as well.
You can read that if because this book is pretty heavy.
I actually thought it. Was going to be the case for
Christ for youth, a, a, a bridged for not kids.
OK, so there's the kids, which is like kids and then there is
the case for Christ. That's kind of a, what do you
call it, like a youth edition, you know, so it's for maybe

(54:09):
middle school or honestly even adults.
I might even not even be called the youth edition.
The adults that want the overview but not the nitty
gritty. Yeah.
Yeah. So there is that option as well.
This book is very heavy. Yes, it is.
And I've asked like you see several times.
I'm like, you're good, you're tracking with it.
And she's like, Yep, let's keep going.
She's there. Is an easier version.

(54:29):
You could say there is the kids,but they're and the kids, I
think it was like a seer anyway,they they there is an easier
what do you call it like an abridged, but I don't know if
it's not really abridged, but it's yeah, I don't know it's
like that, but anyway, well. We'll find it and we'll link to
it. There's also the Case for Christ
movie. I was actually talking to a
friend of mine a few months ago and we were talking about that
and she was like, I was going toread the book and then I

(54:50):
realized that there was a movie.So I just watched the movie.
That's funny. And I have seen the movie and
it's really good. Yeah, it is.
So if you want the easy way out.Just and.
Still impactful. Just watch the movie.
Totally. So man, I am sorry that was so
long. I told you I had a lot but I
explained this is not just all 9th grade.
This is like curriculum and and the reason is because I've

(55:14):
planned from 12th grade backwards.
I know where I want her to be and I actually have many of her
courses already outlined for senior all the way down to
freshman year, and so it's why I've chosen a lot of what I've
chosen for this year for her. But that will stretch.
Out super helpful with high school, like I have never in my

(55:35):
life said when you have yet little kids, never plan more
than a week. But like I mean you can plan
your year, but you need to be flexible.
But when you get to high school,I think there is something
important about kind of and it doesn't mean you're not going to
shift. It doesn't mean you're not not
going to change, but it just gives you a big overarching
because you don't want to get toyour senior year and go, Oh my

(55:55):
goodness, I wanted to do this orwe doubled up or I think it is
good to kind of make a light overarching.
What do you want to accomplish in those last four years?
And that's also going to depend on a lot.
What is their next thing? You know, like if your kid is,
you know, Ivy League school bound versus trade school bound
versus just regular like versus career bound, that's going to

(56:19):
affect a little a bit of your planning too.
So I would say for high school, you kind of should do a in an in
pencil overarching. This is what we're going to do.
Yes, yeah, for sure. So, so that's it.
I know that was a mouthful. I'm sorry that took so long.
But I, I, I have prayed through and really very intentionally
thought through what these next four years are going to look
like for her. And so this, this is what the

(56:41):
Lord led me to. So I am so excited to hear about
all of yours. But let's take a break 1st and
we'll be right back. I want to tell you about 3
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rocked.com/store. We are back with Avenella.
All right, Abby, you are up, my friend.
Tell us what you've got. I'm going to plow through this a
little bit because I have 3 kids, so I'm going to give you

(58:08):
just kind of an overview. So I have, and again, this does
not mean that you should do thisand this does not mean that we
are bound to this, but this is my map for this next year.
So I will have a 6th grader, a 9th grader and a 12th grader.
So I'll kind of go through each of those for 6th grade.

(58:29):
It's also interesting because my6th grader, like I've already
done 6th grade multiple Times Now.
So I can look back and go, oh, gosh, we didn't need to like to
overstress that or we didn't need to spend as much.
You know, I didn't need to be asbound by that curriculum as I
thought, right? Because I now have a 12th grader
and I'm realizing we have met every single requirement by her

(58:51):
11th grade year. And so I look back and I really
wish that I would have spent more time rabbit trailing, less
time trying to get everything done, more time following
passions and, and excitements. And, and I, I just, I've learned
a lot. You always learn a lot in
hindsight, right? And so I want to tell all of you
moms with youngers, you do, you are not bound by the 170 day

(59:15):
curriculum. You will destroy your you will
make an incredible like I don't know robot, but you are not
going to capitalize on your kidscuriosities and follow their
curiosities and their loves. And so loosen up, lighten up.
You have enough time to get everything done that you want to
get done. 12 years is plenty. So chill out and, and just make

(59:40):
it about a love of learning and teach them how to learn and not
so much like what's the saying? We're not filling buckets, we're
igniting fires, right? And that's, that's what I love.
And so I've, I obviously by, youknow, a couple kids and you have
that figured out and you can loosen up a little bit more,
which also takes a lot of pressure off of us and it makes
connections better and it makes it a lot more fun to learn.

(01:00:02):
So all that to say, we are for language arts.
We are doing. We're kind of taking so we're we
are, we love sunlight because for for a certain season, we
love, we love literature based units, especially for history.
I love history. I love history.
I think history is important to teach the kids.

(01:00:23):
So we've always done sunlight history.
So right now Winnie's in the middle of American history.
We're taking a couple years to do the sunlight American history
so that we can interject and find and, you know, rabbit trail
and do fun things. So this year what we're going to
do is there's a few history and science units that are
literature based. So when I get to telling you

(01:00:44):
what we're going to do for science and history, that will
also be our literature for writing.
Oh, also I found this great website called, I think it's
pronounced Progeny Press. Progeny Press.
But what's really cool is I'm going to use it for all my kids.
Basically, it's a whole bunch ofbooks that you can get at the
library or whatever, but they have done book units on them

(01:01:07):
like like chapter questions, discussion questions, because
sometimes you want to read a book and sometimes it's fun to
just read a book and have no assignments.
But they offer some cool either assignments or discussion
questions or prompts or, or evenjust to really some kids you're
like, did you actually read it? Here are some basic questions
for it. You know, so I'm going to
utilize that this year. I've never used it and I'm not

(01:01:30):
I'm not recommending it yet because I haven't used it, but
it's something that I'm definitely interested in.
So I'm checking them out for writing for both my 6th.
I'll just cut to the chase for both of them.
For both my 6th grader and my freshman, we're going to use
Master Books writing Strands. We've never used it.
I'm super excited about it. My 9th grader is an incredible

(01:01:52):
writer and my 6th grader is an amazing writer and so I feel
like it sucks the life out of them sometimes to do so much
like write, you know, another 5 paragraphs of graph essay or you
know, what are the parts of speech which really I ended up
being a writer and I never knew but like I ended up being a
published writer and I can't tell you every part of speech
either, so. Abby, if you had done classical

(01:02:14):
conversations, you would know. I would know, right?
Exactly. But it's kind of it's so we're
we're doing the writing strands and we'll do it loosely.
Because the one thing that I have a passion as a writer is I
don't want to suck the love of writing out of my kids.
And I've learned that with heavywriting curriculum, it tends to
suck the love of creative writing out of them.

(01:02:35):
And so I want them to always because I just see in them the
ability to write in those two especially.
So this is going to be more, it says focuses on skills such as
organization, narration and and argumentation.
So we're trying it and I'm excited about it.
I looked through it and it feelsvery doable to me.
It doesn't feel overwhelming. So we will be doing that.

(01:02:57):
And then for history in geography, I'm, I'm really
excited because we are doing, like I said, sunlight, American
history and we took a little hiatus in there and we did like
the Prairie companion, the Prairie Companion, which is like
a little unit study on Little House on the Prairie.
And we did that for westward expansion, you know, and so we
do a lot of rabbit trails. Again, parents, do not take your

(01:03:20):
curriculums 180 days or 70 days or whatever and just do it
because you miss out on so much.So like you, here's my five year
goal, right? And we can interweave.
So we took a break from that andwe we didn't take a break.
We interwove that Prairie, that Prairie companion Prairie
primer. Anyway, loved that.
So now we're taking another break because now we've finished

(01:03:43):
Lewis and Clark and we're kind of in the area where the Pacific
Northwest has been settled, right?
And because we live in Idaho, I was at a homeschool convention
and found the coolest curriculum.
It's from a company called Sparrow Homeschool and she was
homeschool mom that lives in thePacific Northwest.
So if you don't live in the Pacific Northwest, I mean, this

(01:04:04):
is pretty specific, it can be used depending on what your
states, it can be used to meet those history, local state
history, you know, requirements.But it is from a Christian
creation based young earth apologetics worldview.
So they take you from Genesis all the way through.
It is beautiful. It is from you can do it

(01:04:25):
kindergarten through 12th grade.It's so it's like a family
integrated. So both my freshman and 6th
grade will be 6th grader will bedoing it, but they will be doing
it. You know, they'll both have
their separate levels, but then we can come together and do it
together. So I'm so, so excited.
Like if you're watching the video, like this is the
pamphlet, but this is what all the pictures look like.
They're just, it's beautiful. So cool.

(01:04:46):
Are I shared it with a friend and she is doing it with a local
elementary school Co-op so they're actually going to all
independently do the curriculum and then come together for the
hands on activities once a week.That's a fun way of doing it
too. My kids are a little older so
they probably aren't going to beinto that.
We'll see. But this is what both my 6th
grader and my 9th grader will bedoing.
Some of what they will be doing for their history and then for

(01:05:10):
science. We'll be doing botany with my
6th grader. We also love that apology of
general science and that will come later.
But she's very into plants rightnow and into all of that.
So we'll be doing botany and I'mkind of going to piece meal some
botany stuff together for her. And so she's super excited about

(01:05:31):
that and we. Did we actually used the
apologia? Yes, Elementary botany, and it's
fantastic. Yes, we I did that with my older
kids and it was really, really good.
So I'll probably piece meal someof that.
I'll do some other, you know, ina you're the.
Nature Girl. Yes, that's kind of The thing is
we did an ethnobotany course andI, I shared this on another
episode way in the back of days years ago probably, but I, my

(01:05:56):
kids love ethnobotany, which is basically using local plants for
medicinal and food purposes. Like that's kind of our what we
love to do. So there is no ethnobotany
curriculum out there. So I reached out, I know I
reached out to our anthropology department at our State
University because they have an ethnobotany course and that

(01:06:18):
teacher, that university professor, it was mind blowing.
She basically put together like this all this stuff for me and I
piecemealed all this stuff and we did an ethnobotany course.
It's fascinating, but ethnobotany is different
depending on where you live in the country.
So reach out and figure it out. But my kids love that.
So I like to piecemeal stuff like that and they love it.
So that kind of carries on because that's a never ending

(01:06:41):
field of study. So we're still always doing
ethnobotany. So anyway, OK, that is that for
her. We are also doing for her.
I don't know what you would callthis.
It's not really Bible, but she'sdoing foundation worldview and
it's called careful thinking. And I am so, so excited about

(01:07:03):
this because it's kind of logic kind of Bible kind of and it's
just teaching kids careful thinking.
I'm I'm beyond excited about. This one is Foundation Worldview
by Elizabeth Urbanowitz. Yes.
Correct. Yeah, this is what is it one of
their online programs. It's one of the OK, so that's
what I was going to say. It's it is an online, it is
videos, but we will do it together because I still think

(01:07:27):
she's little. It's not I'm not going to set
her and anything like that. You just want to do with your
kids because that's where the great, incredible deep
conversations come in. So I have not done this with my
older kids and I'm so bummed. Like I found that like you're
like, Oh, I wish I could go backand do this with you guys too,
but I'm super excited about that.
And then while she's doing that,I'll share what I'm doing with

(01:07:47):
the older kids because they won't be doing that.
This one's more geared for, for her age.
So I'm super excited. We'll link to that.
They have several, she, she has several things on her website,
but we're going to start with the careful thinking.
That one. Just, I think it's really
important right now, you guys, Ithink it's so, so important that
we are teaching our kids good thinking, right?

(01:08:08):
Not what to think, but how to think and how to think
biblically with through a biblical worldview and, and be
able to analyze what we see around us through a biblical
lens. So I'm super excited, super
excited about that. Yeah, we'll, we'll link.
Actually, we've had Elizabeth Urbanowitz on the podcast a
couple of times, and so we'll link back to those because yeah,
shoot Foundation Worldview. They're an amazing team and they

(01:08:29):
have so many great resources forkids kind of of all ages, but I
want to say most of them are focused on elementary.
Yeah, I'd say elementary middle.Yeah, that's, that's what I
would say. The other thing is, OK, so
sorry, I'll go back to kind of our, you would call it circle
time or basket time. Or.

(01:08:49):
What did you call it? Morning time or group time or
whatever? So we meet in the mornings, all
of us together and we do Bible. And I always disclaimer, Bible
is not a school subject because you don't graduate from Bible.
You don't create Christmas breakoff a Bible.
You don't take summer break off a Bible.
Bible is just a way of life. It's like meals, right?
Meals aren't part of school, butyou have to incorporate them

(01:09:10):
into school. So we incorporate the Bible into
everything that we learn, but wedo a specific studying of the
Bible. And for the last few years we've
just done reading through the Bible, Genesis through
Revelation together. And then we so we read the book
of the Bible and then we do a not consumed study on that
specific book of the Bible. And then we watch the the videos

(01:09:31):
from the Bible project, we on that book of the Bible and then
we discuss that book of the Bible.
And then we move to the next book of the Bible.
So that over a course of howevermany years, it's not like
planned out. It's when we get it done, we get
it done. So we're now Pat just right past
the the gospels, you know, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
We finished those. So we still are going to finish

(01:09:52):
the New Testament this year. And so we use not consumed for
that. We use we we actually read the
book of the Bible. Then we do a story out of the
children's Bible, of that book of the Bible.
We just kind of did as many as we can to study that book.
So that's kind of what we're doing in that morning time.
And I've loved that. It's just been a really fun way
to dive in to the book, to the Bible as a whole.

(01:10:13):
So that's our morning time. And then we do some other fun
stuff in our morning time, like learn about a kid from certain
cultures or just kind of all sorts of fun things.
OK, so I'm trying to power through.
So 9th grade, my 9th grader, we're still on teaching
textbooks for math because for my 9th grade son, I am finding

(01:10:36):
that he is becoming more independent from mom.
And that's what we want. We want to raise men, right?
We want to raise men that are independent.
And so the more independent things he can do apart from me,
the less struggle there is. I'll just say that right where
my daughter, who's a senior would have been happy forever

(01:10:56):
having mom sit with her and holdher hand.
But and it's good. I had to realize that, I mean,
this is good. It's good that my son is like,
give me my work, let me do my thing.
And then I'm going fishing. So he'll be doing teaching
textbooks and language arts. Like I said, he's doing master
books, writing Strands, and thenfor lit, I have a couple things.

(01:11:17):
One not consumed. Again, we're like big fans of
them. They actually have a literature
study that I've used for all my kids.
And what's really cool about it is you pick the books and then
it goes with any book, right? So it does suggest, I think it
has room for like 3 autobiographies, 3 fictions, 3,
you know, whatever, all these different books.

(01:11:38):
But you have the kids fill thesethings out based on any book
they're reading. And that's what we're doing with
him. We've done it before.
Because then they can pick the books they want or you can pick
the books you want kind of like you picked all those books.
So the not consumed literature study thing will go with any of
those books. I think that that's an excellent
for anybody and you don't have to, it's not like a start to

(01:12:00):
finish curriculum. It's just a really great
resource to use with any books. Again, Progeny Press will be
doing some book study stuff on there too.
So I'll just pick a book list for him or let him and then
those will be the assignments for it.
He will be doing the Pacific Northwest history thing also and
I'm excited for that for him, for science.

(01:12:22):
He is my science and math kid 100%.
He is also an incredible writer.He's kind of has it all around.
But so for science, what we're going to do cuz he did that
general science through apologia, really liked it, did
it through a Co-op. But then last year we did Master
books did like a bioengineering or something because he's and he

(01:12:44):
loved, loved, loved that, right?It was our first master Books,
science and so. Didn't he do the videos with
those as well? We did the videos, they were
phenomenal and then we did the book that came with Master
Books. There was a couple books that
came with it. It was so cool and he absolutely
loved it. It basically took because again,
you know, our family, it took things in creation and how man

(01:13:07):
used God's design to then createkind of like a bird to make a
plane, that kind of thing. It was really good.
So I was like, OK, what else does master books have this year
that would fit? So we're doing this.
It's called the Survey of Science, History and Concepts.
And I would say it's like a general science because there's
four things that come with it. You're getting you're getting
biology, physics, chemistry and math math, I mean science math

(01:13:31):
in there. All of those over the course of
a year. I think he's really going to
like it because it mixes it up alot.
You get all four of those thingsand it's a good overview.
We'll do that for his freshman year because then he can go into
specialized science later because he's very science
minded. And then what I'm doing with my
older 2 while while my littlest does that foundation worldview

(01:13:56):
is I stumbled upon this again, Ican't necessarily recommend it
because we haven't done it yet, but I've extensively looked into
it and I'm super excited. It's through Focus on the Family
and it's called RVL Discipleship.
I've heard of it. OK, have you, I'm super excited
about it. And basically it's like these
are the different sessions. It's it's the kind of the study

(01:14:19):
of discipleship, right? Of what does it mean to be a
disciple? Who were the disciples?
What does it mean to be a modernday disciple?
The videos just looked super cool and really captivating.
I think that the way that we're going to do it is I'm not going
to do they, they offer two different things, like they
offer the Super extensive one and then the the holding back,

(01:14:42):
not holding back, but you know what I mean?
The one that's a little less right.
And so I think what we'll do is we'll watch the videos as a
family because you know, you sometimes you sit down as a
family and you're like, let's watch funny YouTube videos.
And instead of doing that, this is will be something we can
watch as a family all together. I'm really excited about it.

(01:15:03):
I will report back as to to whatit is but and how it is so.
What does RVL stand for do? You know.
And like, we'll just put some random acronym in.
There it doesn't it? I can't, I bet you could find
it, but I it wasn't, it didn't stand out really something I
don't know, but it looks cool. But you can just go to their

(01:15:24):
website and it shows all the videos.
I'm excited about it. Last year we did the civics
course with Michael Farris. Absolutely amazing.
I recommend that to every and any high school student.
And actually if you use the. Code.
That's that's Michael Farris himself.

(01:15:44):
Like Michael Farris puts that out.
It's his own thing. If you use the code Abby 20, you
can get 20% off of it. Here's a pro tip.
It's a pretty extensive curriculum if you live in a
state that you actually need that.
I did not do the curriculum withmy kids.
I did just the videos. I feel like the watching the
videos alone, I basically had the kids watch a video and then

(01:16:06):
write a summary. That was plenty for them and it
was plenty for our state. So that is a cheaper way of
doing it. It's only like $100 and then you
get 20% off if you use my code. The other one, it's a little bit
more, but it's more, I mean, they're writing papers, they're
doing research, they're, you know, so it depends how much you
want to do. So this RVL discipleship is

(01:16:26):
going to kind of take that chunkof time from what we did for
civics. Lastly, before I move on to my
older, I'm praying about doing, I heard about and everybody's
going to be like, we already know about that, but it was my
first experience knowing about NCFCA, which is a speech and
debate club. OK, I I am hoping and praying

(01:16:48):
that I can with other moms bringthat to our town and so that
will give my kid that speech anddebate.
Yeah, you're looking at that foryour 9th grader. 9th and 12th,
9th and 12th. So it's high school.
But actually I talked to the lady and I think it's 12 years
old and up, but we're not going to do that.
We're going to do, I think just high school.
I don't know it's working, but II've heard amazing things about.

(01:17:10):
It, it is amazing. I've actually been to a couple
of NCFCA tournaments and I've actually judged a couple of
that, yes, and it is fascinating.
I'm excited. The fact that these kids can
debate each other and give presentations and speeches, it's
amazing and the. Thing is, is it's speech and
debate, but it's it's incrediblybiblical.

(01:17:31):
It's basically how to stand and defend your faith.
It's not just speech and debate that we took in high school
where they would give you topicsthat were dumb and stupid and
nobody, you know, like it was just this is this is life
skills. It's learning how to
respectfully stand for what you believe in a culture that
doesn't. I believe that and so I'm super
excited about that. That's so cool.

(01:17:52):
I know it's a leap for me to, I mean, 'cause you know that I, I
run, I, I do a lot of things andI'm like, I don't think I can do
one more thing. But this is, this is, I think, a
thing that the Lord's putting onmy heart to do.
So oh, that's so cool. OK.
And then ninth grade, I mean, I'm sorry, 12th grade.
Holy cow. 12th grade senior year.
There's a lot I looked at what we quote UN quote need to do.

(01:18:16):
She's met all her requirements. And so then it's basically one
of those well, and it depends what your state requirements
are. I don't sure my requirements in
my state. I mean, what your average
college would need for entry level, right?
But really my requirements are my requirements.
And so I'm going through what what do I want my kid to know by

(01:18:36):
the time they graduate? And we actually did an episode
with somebody and he wrote a book like The Things That Your
Kids Need to Know Before They Leave the Home.
Oh, Josh Mulvihill, 50 things. OK, yes, 50 things.
Your kids so good. We're gonna link to that episode
and that's an incredible book. And that's really your guide of
what is your kid, What do your kids need to know before they
leave home, right? And then you're gonna need to

(01:18:57):
look at your state standards. Praise God, my state is very
free and my state trusts my standards for my kids.
So, so I'm looking at what my 12th grader needs and what she
wants to do and what she's interested in.
But it was really fun to plan her senior year because there's
nothing we have to do. It's just kind of what do we
want to do or like there's nothing like, it was just a

(01:19:19):
different feel of like anything.So we're going to start with we,
you talked about consumer math, not consumed.
We did that. It was amazing.
We did another one. I was just trying to find really
good consumer maths out there because that's for this child I
feel like is the most important.She doesn't need calculus and
all that stuff. So we're going to do Dave Ramsey
consumer math this year. OK.

(01:19:41):
I'm super excited. I think it will be a build on to
the not consumed. I also found this is a funny
story I was telling you about this.
I was just looking up fun consumer math stuff online.
I was trying to find anything I could and we found this one and
it was really good. But one day Tatum came out and
she was like, mom read this question.

(01:20:01):
It's hilarious. And it was talking about tipping
like, because that's something you need to learn how to tip,
right? And it was like, how much would
you tip on a pint of beer? And I was like, wait, what?
And I started to dig it. It was just some, just some
random consumer math things I found.
Well, it was a, it's a Canadian.There's other things that they
wrote in there that were like, Idon't even know what that word

(01:20:22):
means, but it was a Canadian curriculum.
But it wasn't even a curriculum.It was just some stuff that
somebody put on that was hilarious.
And I'm like, that's kind of funny because you wouldn't find
that. And I was just hilarious.
Consumer math does not, no. We laughed, we laughed.
And she's like, are you supposedto tip more on a pint of beer
than you are on like, a lemonade?

(01:20:42):
And it was just funny. We laughed.
It was great. But what I'm excited about is
Dave Ramsey's that probably won't be in there.
But again, like Yvette said, it's just it's life skills, it's
math you're going to need in everyday life.
It's preparing your kid for the real world, which is our
ultimate goal, right? Our ultimate goal is not to
prepare our kids for a socialistuniversity.
It is to prepare our kids for the real world and what God
calls them to do. So I'm super excited.

(01:21:05):
The other thing that we're goingto do, and this people might
think this is crazy, but I am going to literally go back to
what you learn in first grade, what you learn in second grade,
what you learn in 3rd grade in math, all of those things.
And we are going to make sure that there are no holes that
there, which your kids are goingto have holes and God is going
to fill them in. No big deal.

(01:21:25):
But like there are certain areasthat I'm like, oh, we didn't
like you were really still like For me personally, I do not know
my 9 times tables to this day I do not know them.
I learned every other times table and I must have missed
that week of school. I must have felt like.
Fun ones because every number equals.
I know, I know all that and, andThe thing is, is I know them now

(01:21:46):
because I've been doing them with my kids.
But there are certain things, you know, when you look back in
math and you're like, that's funny that like maybe fractions
or something. I just never fully or whatever.
So I'm going to kind of go starting at first grade through
12th grade and it's going to be pretty quick, but just kind of
go through the hot topics of each other.
Like, OK, Tatum, what's 2 + 2? Totally.

(01:22:06):
So we probably won't start in first grade, let's be honest,
But I'm just going to hit the big things and be like, is she
really? I just, I want her to be so
unbelievably confident walking into the world.
Like, can you make change without a calculator?
Can you like, I don't care. These kids who graduate with a
calculus degree, they can't count back change to you for the
life of them. They can't.
And I'm like, what good is your calculus degree, right, or your

(01:22:29):
calculus credit if you can't count back change?
So we're going to hit all those things.
The other thing that she's really excited to do is she
wants to do some of the unit studies with her little sister.
She wants to help, right? So the botany unit study that
we're going to do, the NorthwestPacific Northwest that we're
going to do, she wants to kind of step into that teacher role,

(01:22:53):
which I think she's going to be really good at.
So it's going to help her to notonly learn the stuff, but really
she already knows the stuff, butlearn how to teach and how to,
you know, I, I think that's she's very teacher minded.
So I mean, she doesn't. Desire with her sister, that's
so cool. She doesn't desire to be a
teacher by any means, but those are just skills to have what she
desires to be as a homeschool mom.

(01:23:15):
And so I'm like, well, guess what?
You can kind of do some of that now.
So I'm really excited about that.
And then the the last main thingI'm doing with her, oh, she's
going to do the RVL discipleshiptoo, obviously.
But the last big thing that I'm really excited about, and
everybody asks me, because if you've listened to the show long

(01:23:35):
enough, you know, this daughter of mine is very into natural
medicine. You know, all the different
nutrition is medicine, homeopathy, you know, herbs, all
the different things. She's very into that and she's
done multiple courses starting and I think she started her
freshman year with a basic one was called Natural Medicine.

(01:23:55):
And then we did a book called Nutrition One O 1.
And it's a total biblical worldview, amazing resource
book. Actually, I think it's a
resource book she'll use forever, but it's also a text
that she did. And then this year I'm super
excited. I found at a conference, a
homeschool conference. I just stumbled upon it.
It is brand new. They literally just came out

(01:24:17):
with it. So we are maybe the Guinea pigs,
but it's a company called Wild Root and the the it's called
functional nutrition and I'm going to show you.
And so it's, if you're into any of the, it's, it's like, you
know, functional medicine, it's whole body, it's a mix of, I
mean, it's, it's, it's functional medicine.
It's more all they call it alternative, but it's actually

(01:24:40):
the original way God designed it, I believe.
But it's, it's called the building blocks of cellular
health. And I am so excited.
It goes about nutrition, digestion, blood sugar
regulation, hydration, but it's all through a natural holistic,
non Western medicine point of view.

(01:25:01):
And it's beautiful. I mean, it's absolutely
beautiful. It breaks down, it basically
busts out, it gets rid of the whole food pyramid thing, the
American standard, the standard American diet.
It just kind of debunks all of that.
I'm really, really excited aboutit.
So she I actually had her look through it to say, do you want
to do this? I mean, she's a senior.

(01:25:22):
She can decide if I'm interestedor not.
She was and she's done a ton of this stuff.
So I'm like, is it gonna be she's like, this looks like it
could be better than any other thing that I've done in this
field. It says it's grades 6/6 through
12. Also, I'm just gonna throw this
out there. If you use the code Abby, you
get a discount because I'm, you know, I'm passing about.

(01:25:43):
Just A. BYABY because I'm about giving.
I want people to have discounts to try new things.
It's beautiful. And I'm passionate about a
generation that learns health properly and not, you know, not
improperly. So that's probably what she's
most excited about. And then she's going to be
working a lot, right? She's going to be working a lot

(01:26:06):
to start to save for the next season.
I also wanted to hit you talked about a planner for your kids.
I'm I love planners. I'm like the planner mom.
I love colors. I love, I like planning so much.
But what I have found works for my kids as opposed to giving
them each a planner is every week they get one piece of paper

(01:26:28):
and it has all of the subjects that that kid does and then what
they have to do that week. And then every week they get a
new piece of paper and then theyturn that piece of paper in.
It's really worked for us because it doesn't.
I don't plan more than a week ahead and I can kind of show
them what's required of them. And then what I'm learning as
they get older is because my sonis just an out-of-the-box

(01:26:49):
schooler, he's like, can I get it all done on Monday and then
go hunt and fish Tuesday throughFriday?
And so I'm like, sure, I guess Isurrender.
Like as long as you get it done,I don't care.
And so that works for him. Where I have another child who's
like, this is Monday and I will do it Monday.
I will never look to Tuesday because it's not Monday.
Monday is Monday, right? The kids are all so different.

(01:27:09):
So that's what has worked for them is that one sheet a week
that I just make up on the computer and write down what
they need to do that week. We, I think we've done an
episode on planning somewhere inthe past on different ways of
planning, loop planning, you know, day by day, all that.
So there's different ways of doing it, but that's what works
for us. So I'm beyond excited about this

(01:27:30):
year. I'm really excited because I
feel again, I'm going into the year with not a staunch plan,
but a, a guide, a map, like a direction, right?
And so I, I always look at it like this.
When I use the app on my phone to get somewhere, I always hit
the tell me when to turn left. Tell me where to turn right.
Tell me you know when where the stop sign is, where the That's

(01:27:54):
just how I direct. What's your next?
Move right? What's my next move?
My husband he when you open an app on to get somewhere, he
cannot it like it. He's short wires and he can't do
it. He goes, I need you to zoom out
and show me the the map, the actual map, not the directions,
but he. Wants to see the whole picture.
Give me the big Atlas like he would like a paper map like we

(01:28:16):
always used to do, right? And he goes, I can see where I
am, I can see where I'm going and I know how to navigate,
which I think is brilliant. And we should all be doing that
right? Because we should know how to
use maps. But I feel it that with
homeschool, like I don't want tobe a tell me my next move.
Tell me in 2 terms where I need to go.
I want to see where I'm at and where we're going.
And then we're just going to getthere organically through

(01:28:38):
learning together and growing together and following the kids,
you know, loves and interests. And, and that means if today we
want to go do something entirelydifferent, we can, right?
Because that's how we learn. We learn through life, not
through a 180 day. Tell me what to do with the next
step. And so that's kind of what we're

(01:29:00):
entering in. And like I said, because now and
you, you've experienced this once you have a senior, you
realize shoulda, woulda, coulda.And so we're going to do more
unit studies of things they're interested in and go, that just
covered everything, right? We can do 4 unit studies a year.
I don't have to do a specific this curriculum for this thing.
We have to start and finish it. And so now that we're into this

(01:29:23):
journey, I realize it works. It works well and so we can
loosen up a little and just be excited to learn and light the
fire rather than fill the bucket.
So that's what I'm really excited about this year.
I love it and and keep in mind too, parents, as you're
listening, you don't I know I, Ihesitated even to share all of

(01:29:43):
the curriculum that I have because I didn't want it to
sound like all we do is school all day, every day.
We have lots of other things going on.
We serve at our local crisis pregnancy center.
We do Co-op, we play games everyday.
Our family plays games together.You know, we, we, we have read a
lot of time. We have our Bible devotions.
We, we do lots of things. You know, we're involved or you

(01:30:05):
know, we just in all sorts of different things outside of the
home. And so it's really, it's not
just all the academic stuff and the academics are important, but
it's we don't just focus on that.
So I know it sounds like, you know, with as much curriculum as
we've talked about today, like all we do is sit and study.
All day long. There are so many other things

(01:30:28):
that we do throughout the day, on the weekends, throughout the.
Week. But that's why we also say this
is what we're doing over the next four years and some years,
you know, in the winter time we had get it hard and then we
loosen up in the spring and in the fall And it just you work it
for your family, but just have your big picture and work
backwards. This is where we want to end up.
And and you'll really quickly learn.

(01:30:50):
Like I put so much time when I look back and I've shared this
before, I put so much time into things that I thought were so
important. And then I bring it up with the
kids and they're like, we don't even remember that curriculum.
I will never forget when my daughter was in first grade, we
did an anatomy and Physiology apologia.
She built the cell out of jello and the candy.

(01:31:11):
I poured my life into it. I made sure that we did every
single day that we were supposedto.
We finished every day. We did every page, we did every
activity. I poured my heart and soul into
it. And I asked her about it now and
she's like, don't remember any of it.
I don't remember any of it. I don't remember all those
things you did. And I was like, because I did
too much too early. And throughout life, she's
learned anatomy and Physiology. She learned, you know, 10 years

(01:31:33):
worth of it in her 11th grade year because all of a sudden,
she fell in love with it. And so she wanted to learn it
all. And I'm like, wow, I did too
much too early. And I held to this, this box
that I thought they should be inand the schedule I thought they
should do. And it really didn't do anybody
any good. Where if I would have loosened
up, I would have been a lot lessstressed.
And she would have learned it anyway in the moments that I

(01:31:55):
could capitalize on it, you know?
Yeah, for sure. I mean, I, I love the freedom
and flexibility of being able toteach our kids when it's best
for them. You talked about, you know,
letting your kids sleep at like,I mean, Laci, she, she, Oh my
word, she's just like her dad. She works best at night and
sleeps in in the morning. And so she will stay up, She'll

(01:32:16):
she'll stay up and do she'll read, she'll do schoolwork until
midnight, one in the morning. That's just how her body
functions. Yep, and she's they run the best
that way. If you can work, she totally
does. Yes.
And I, I, I don't understand that because I am, I am not a
night owl. Like I just need to sleep, but I

(01:32:36):
can get up early in the morning and do those things and her body
just doesn't function that way. Isn't it interesting?
I don't care if she does math orscience or history at 9:00 or
10:00. But I bet if you woke her up and
made her do it at 7, she wouldn't would paint anything
right? She wouldn't.
It wouldn't do any good and so. It would be torture for for the
whole house. It would be awful.
So no, we've got the freedom to do that.

(01:32:56):
But goodness gracious, this has been a long episode, but it's
been so much fun going through all the things that we're doing
for the next year. You guys, thank you so much for
being with us. We are so grateful for you.
If you have not visited our website, go to
schoolhouserocks.com. You can see our new website
there. You can look at the different
series, podcast series that we've done throughout the past

(01:33:17):
few years, as well as all the other episodes we've done.
And, and I think you can search by topic on there now.
I think that's that's up there as well.
So if you're looking for specific podcast episode, I
think you can look for that as well.
Anyway, it's great. Garrett's done an amazing job of
it. You can of course, still watch
the movie Schoolhouse Rock to the Homeschool Revolution.

(01:33:38):
You can watch it for free through our website.
Check that out, share it with your friends, and if you'd like
to make a donation to the ministry, you can do that
through our website as well. Guys, we love you so much and we
are so grateful for you. If you have any questions, feel
free to reach out to us at podcast@schoolhouserock.com and
be sure to share this with your friends.
If you're watching on video or the podcast itself, share with

(01:33:59):
your friends so that they can get the encouragement as well.
Abby, thank you for being with me this week.
It's been so fun. Have a great rest of your week.
Can I say one more thing of it? Yeah, of course I.
We do these episodes every year and they're timeless.
So if you have younger kids thanwe do or whatever, or you want
other ideas, you can go back andlisten to all of those episodes

(01:34:20):
and it will say, you know, five years ago we did this.
What did you guys use in, you know, 4th grade, 3rd grade?
Like if some of this is like, eh, that's not a fit.
We have one of these episodes every single year that you can
go back and listen to to get other ideas for other grades,
other subjects. And then usually at the end of
the year, do we do a recap So you can go listen to those and
find out if we even liked the stuff that we ended up using.

(01:34:42):
Yeah, that's right. Well, we will put links to all
the things in the show notes to make it easy for you guys.
Thank you so much for listening.We love you guys.
Have a great week and we will see you back here next week.
Bye. You're listening to the Biblical
Family Network. Hey, I'm Miki and I'm Will and
we're the Co host of the CultureProof podcast.

(01:35:04):
We want to invite you to join usevery week as we discuss what's
happening in the world and then filter those happenings through
a decidedly biblical lens. There are many questions,
especially when we see what's happening in our culture today,
but the answers are found withinthe word of God.
So that's where we want to look.Amen.
When we resist those cultural trends that rival the truth, we

(01:35:24):
remain culture proof.

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2025 Homeschool Curriculum Picks and Practical Planning Tips - Aby Rinella and Yvette Hampton

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}2025 Homeschool Curriculum Picks and Practical Planning Tips - Aby Rinella and Yvette Hampton