5th Grade Secular Homeschool Curriculum || 2024-2025

Here are our 5TH GRADE secular curriculum picks for 2024-2025! Some things may be a bit unorthodox because we are getting heavily into literature; and we follow some European standards of education, but I hope this gives you things to think about as you go through your search for next year's curriculum for your family! #homeschooling #5thgrade #curriculum
Timestamp:
00:00 Intro
00:22 Science
02:15 MATH!
02:56 History & Geography
07:38 World Religions
09:17 French
11:30 Big Projects
14:04 Health, Media & Money
18:39 Spelling, Vocab & Grammar
20:38 Creative Writing
21:50 Poetry
27:16 Shakespeare Studies
29:17 Literature!!!
32:48 Extras
34:00 Outro

[@amandamendoza4181]

My goodness quite the year of education. I would like to mention that this is a pretty robust curriculum plan for a 5th grader. 3 of my 4 children definitely would not be able to handle this much of a load, and that is perfectly acceptable. I love watching other momma’s for ideas!😊

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

It's a lot, that is true. I really only care about the pace of our core subjects of math, French and reading. I find when we focus on those, the rest just comes along naturally. A lot of books are longterm reference books or literature we can always have on hand if we don't get to certain novels this coming year. While I do read all the poetry so I can help pick and choose poems with Morgan, she will only read a couple per book. And I suspect we will stay on the purple grammar book from TWTM for a couple years. We will go at a slower pace with that one than we did with Lesson for TWTM level 4. When we do unit studies, we drop pretty much everything except our core subjects until we have finished the unit study. That really takes the pressure off and keeps the day fun. Thank you so much for watching and commenting. I hope you have a great summer!!!

[@Michelgia523]

I’d love to see how you adapt the good and the beautiful science lessons for a secular family. Thanks so much for sharing.

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

We have completed TGTB health, geology and Space books this year. We work straight through the Christianity portions on their videos and discuss that many people enjoy weaving their spiritual beliefs into all subjects and this is how this program chose to do it. For the book portions, there actually is little to none in the kid workbooks and I often pass over the written portions in the instructor manual. This would not work, however, for their Maturation & Sexual Reproduction unit study. In our case, it would be too far from our own discussions on the topic. Same with something like Masterbooks. When I was a total newbie, I ordered Masterbooks Health text and there is a lot of scripture in and around the information that made it unusable for us. I hope this helps!

[@staceykruse8932]

Thank you for sharing, you've obviously put a lot of effort into designing your homeschool. Amazing ideas for the subjects that tend to fall by the wayside. I just ordered the media literacy books, and there are several others that I've marked down to think about for next year.

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

Thank you, I tried to pull as many neutral books from the library that I could to give examples. There are a couple of KZbin videos showing how Finland teaches it. Because they are so close to Russia, their country has a long history of misinformation flooding in so they teach the topic starting at a very early age. They might be worth watching.

[@sharmashwetaUTube]

thankyou so much. I love you sharing all .and awesome about the health info

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

Thank you so much for your comment!

[@AmyJBrowne]

Loved this video. Thanks for sharing your choices especially the poetry. I have no idea why I haven’t incorporated that in our homeschool.

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

Thank you! I hope you have fun with poetry. It's one of those awesome subjects you can do anything you want with. It straddles ELA, history and art really well, too, and is never a requirement so it's pure fun

[@lauramickow5823]

I love this! You are giving your child a wonderful education. :)

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

Thank you so much!

[@bubbleandsquid]

I love this, it's great to see mamas designing curriculum so personally for their child. 👌

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

Thank you! So glad you liked it 😊

[@shaynafuller]

Wow, very impressive!

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

Thank you!

[@laurenharmon3972]

As a heads up getting tickets for Anne Frank house is HARD! They only open up tickets 6 weeks in advance and sell out VERY FAST.

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

I saw that on line! So different from when I visited in 1984... Not sure what to do there... Give it a shot I guess. We may make the Netherlands a separate trip because there is so much to do in that small area. Thank you for mentioning the tickets.

[@diannaannette6956]

New subscriber here. What a great video. Its packed with so many great ideas, a couple of your books I looked at last year so it was great to see. Do you do videos of your schedule? How do you fit all this in? Also what criteria in your mind do you go through when picking your novels?

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

Thanks for subscribing! Novels: they must be classics, unabridged, and at Morgan's level of basic comprehension with assisted discussion. Her comprehension is far above her current reading level and I choose not to slow down her "reading" because she can't yet read the books herself. Around the 5-minute mark of my Eclectic Homeschool video, you will see one of our weeks listed: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iIPNk5usaMqmo6s I should probably do another one because my 4th grade homeschool lesson planning is outdated... we had just started homeschool then: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmepfXV5hLGeqrs We do some different things to fit stuff in. Sometimes on a Friday we will have a "math-a-thon", "read-a-thon" or "French All DAY". Or we can do that with any other subject and just take our time studying it. The reading is constant. Morgan reads her own stuff before school in the morning and during her quiet study time after lunch. When she can't read her book fast enough for her liking or she is really engrossed in a book, she will switch it to audible after school and go do a project in her room and listen for a long time. I read to her for a long time before bed. That's the literature books above her personal reading level. The science is easy. We don't do that all the time. We do the unit studies in 2 weeks and then break for a month before we do another science. Our core subjects are reading, French & math. So anything that isn't a core or in her morning routine that she can do on her own, comes and goes as we want to add it. Hmm, now I think I will do a video on this. Does all that help or have I made it worse??? 😊

[@krissettalb913]

Not worse, but I would appreciate hearing you narrate your days or a week in your life. As an eclectic homeschooler myself, a day in the life will only provide the tiniest of view!

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

@@krissettalb913 That is on my list to video this week. I just finished a video another mom asked for -- a flip through and explanation of how I use TGTB science units as a secular mom. That will be out this afternoon along with a mini book haul. Your idea is on the list to work on this week. If you want to send other specific questions or things you wonder about, I can answer them in the video. Your questions will help a bunch of other moms, too, I bet.

[@RaisingThreeMarigolds]

Watching this video a second time to write down some ideas for my sons 5th grade year, this is so well thought out. I use some similar resources, but had not heard of others you mentioned. Thanks for sharing!

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

Thanks for letting me know how this video helps you. I love hearing that. I try to show everything we do and are thinking about doing to generate ideas for others like it did for you! Have fun with your curriculum picks! ☺️

[@noncorporealentity5641]

Those Duchess Harris books look great! I also think info literacy is a part of health.

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

I don't think we have talked about it enough in the KZbin homeschool world. I think I want to do a longer video on this perhaps during the summer break. Thanks for watching and for your comment 😊

[@StephanieMT]

i love those black doors, i dont know what they are called but they are so cool

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

lol you mean the ones on the right of the screen that lead into the study? We aren't fans of open concept so when we renovated, we made a wide entrance for 2 inside doors so if we want we can open up the space but mostly keep one or both doors closed. Thanks for the compliment!

[@teresanorris4769]

I love your choices for readers but I hadn’t planned to use most of them until high school. Just wondering if your daughter has already read the “typical” book read in 5th grade. I’m overwhelmed with what to do. We love good literature.

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

Oh no! Don't be overwhelmed! I made the unilateral decision to put the typical books as voluntary for Morgan mainly because I am really sick of them. At my daughter's age, I didn't read any of the ones we so often see on KZbin or in school now. I feel like we mirror school literature in our homeschool as if they will miss an important developmental stage if they don't read 'Sarah Plain and Tall' LOL! We also eliminated many books that killed off a parent or a dog because we were tired of the sad messaging in the literature. The tougher classics don't have to wait if you are interested in them. I choose to read to Morgan at the high school and above range because she likes listening to the stories and can comprehend them at her level as a nice story and I can enjoy them at mine -- where I can read between the lines and share those thoughts with her. Even the classic literary horrors (Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyl...) aren't that scary at all. Kids love the plots in the original unabridged forms. I love reading them aloud to my daughter. She is under no pressure to study the stories beyond us chatting about them. I also suspect she will re-read them on her own when she does get to high school. She will be able to recognise those books I read to her when she was younger and be fearless to analyse them. There is TOO much good literature out there -- which means that's great for YOU! You can pick and choose.

[@teresanorris4769]

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy thanks for explaining. I was thinking your daughter was reading the books. This makes more sense and takes the pressure off. We will read these classics when we get to them. I read more unknown titles aloud for pleasure with characters her age.

[@JesPenrod]

Do you have a video or another link showing your personal homeschool book with the world school planning pages in it?

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

I sure do: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZ_NkGd9jpicfdU

[@velmag583]

I’m curious what your “big picture” plan for history coverage is … 3rd-8th is the timeframe I’m trying to map out 😍 just picking brains

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

I was literally sitting here drinking coffee thinking about my trouble with history when I read your comment. I am thinking about doing another video on history soon. I struggle with American history and finding texts that aren't "cute" or have busy work or extra fluff -- or worse, just bits and blurbs all over the page to push facts. I just received the text "Out of Many: A History of the American People AP Edition" from Thriftbooks. They use this text in college and just market it differently. And I have read Howard Zinn's "People's History" twice and will likely annotate and teach from it -- he adds so much heavy messaging sometimes it's distracting, but it's the only book I have found so far that delves into civil struggles with such detail. He must have had a ton of teacher's aids helping him with that kind of detail covering the whole country. This summer I purchased Paxson's "History of the American Frontier" and Painter's "Creating Black Americans". I'm looking for Native American texts, too. Do you have any? I need to educate myself first so I can decide how to go about teaching US History. I will stay with The Well-Trained Mind's "Story of the World" for all 4 volumes because the first book did such a good job generating conversation and it touches on so much of the world and not just Europe. I may simply study US History this year by myself, create my own plan and teach verbally paired with literature. For now, we have Live Education! Local Geography, History & Industry. I may not cover any more US History than that. If you have read this far, I will tell you that was the longest "I don't know" answer I have ever given LOL! What are YOU going to do???

[@velmag583]

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy so the only 2 “side trails” I’ve seen done well are Oh Freedom! Which covers US history from a person of color’s lens, and has a booklist on Bookshop under the shop Woke Homeschool and Blossom and Roots “River of Voices” which has indigenous voices as well. Both are heavy reads and more appropriate for Middle or High school. I haven’t dove deep into the USA 1 & 2 list by Build Your Library, but she does have videos reviewing the books she chose for her family. I can’t decide When I want to start the Ancient, Middle, Early Modern, Modern tracks… and “Do I make unit studies out of a state history or US history while keeping the world view for history overall?” 😂 … I have written down so many different approaches and nothing feels right yet. I’m thinking of doing 2nd Prehistory / Jurassic era 3rd Ancients “History Quest”/ and or “Curiosity Chronicles”. With a State Geography Unit 4th Middle Ages “HQ” & “CC” 5th Ancients - Greece Semester 1 USA Explores - Revolution “ Build Your Library 5” Semester 2 6th Ancients - Fall of Rome Sem 1 USA - End of Civil War Semester 2 7th Early Modern World View “History Odyssey” 8th Modern World view “HO” Science scope/topic was easy compared to how much history has taken over my brain.

[@kellylotempio5178]

Explode the code level 4 is for beginning 2nd grade. I would look into a higher level phonics program.

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

Sort of like with our math, Morgan has some gaps I need to let her have time with. She is a good couple of grades different between spelling vs. her vocab, reading & reading comprehension. But I should have probably mentioned that in my video so people don't think that is the level they might want with their kids. I do wish editing and adding was possible on these videos once published! Good comments like yours make me smack my forehead like a v-8 commercial 😊

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

I don’t have the kingfisher encyclopedia :)

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

U made me chuckle 🤭

[@victoriasbooktalks8882]

Can you do a review on TGTB science? We also secular homeschool and would like to know how much religion is in the science. This is our first year using Michael Clay Thompson, and love it! It is very thorough and my son has picked up a lot by using it. Also, how do you decide which books to use? I love that you include various formats (short stories, essays, poems, fiction and nonfiction).

[@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy]

Yes, I can do a flip through! I actually don't know if a secular mom has done one. We have used Geology, Space & Health this year. We have Weather (didn't get to it...), Simple Machines, Chemistry & Marine Biology. I can do a flip through of all and start with how we used the ones we did and show the completed workbooks. I really can't find anything better for short and thorough unit studies. We took Morgan's Space workbook when we visited UND's professor of Space Studies, Dr. Sherry Fieber-Beyer. She looked through it and was really impressed with the detail and style of the book. That made me feel pretty good. I will do a video soon. Thanks so much for your comment and interest!