END OF THE YEAR CURRICULUM REVIEW || HITS & MISSES || WHAT WORKED AND WHAT DIDN'T!

[@amberleggio335]

One thing that's worked for me as far as scheduling is not having a Monday-Friday schedule but more Day1, Day 2, Day 3. It's worked really well for us. So let's say you do Day 1, and Day two but have a doc appointment the next day, you would just pick up day 3 the following day or whenever was the next school day you have. Don't know if that makes sense or not? It takes the pressure of of the days of the week and just makes it enjoyable. Even if you have a co op day you just pick back up the following day where you left off. 👍 We've used SCM history and don't follow her five day plan just what works for us. 🥰

[@Hopelb]

Ohh I like this idea! Kinda like a loop schedule?

[@intentionallymade]

This is like a loop schedule :) I love that!! I’m scheduling myself like this as well.

[@jenapellissier6742]

Ha! “That’s how far our wheels fell off that wagon!!” 😂 It happens sometimes 🙈

[@delightfullyfeasting8351]

Abby, you’re a gift to this space. There is an incredible amount of pride and inauthenticity here, and you’re a breath of fresh air in humility, authenticity, kindness, and vulnerability. I just wanted you to know that. ❤️

[@erikaz853]

Your honesty is truly appreciated ❤

[@TeamVeen]

I would love to see a video on what you did with 5 in A Row. How you expanded it. The notebooking. How you adapted it to multiple ages. How you planned it. How you scheduled it. Just interested. 😊

[@JoyfulNoiseLearning]

Yes! Love what you shared, that sometimes curriculum works, sometimes it doesn’t and we don’t have to hold such high expectations for the curriculum. Love that!

[@dawnhankins6139]

I totally agree that some things just don’t work for some but could work for others. Everyone’s homeschool day looks different. Thank you for ur honesty

[@JoyfulNoiseLearning]

I have one in Level 3 this year! Level 1 and 2 worked so well for him, I decided to keep going. My youngest will start Level 1 this year as well 😁

[@tammywhitehead2682]

I absolutely love your honesty. It's good to see we were not alone and that others had struggles this year too, instead of seeing videos that portray everything is always going perfectly. Thank you.

[@blairbardot53]

All about reading curriculum is a MUST have even for kids who go to public schools. Many people don’t know this curriculum is one of the FEW that are approved by The Science of Reading. (Many people don’t even know about The Science of Reading. if you don’t , Google and KZbin about it) This curriculum is a lifetime investment. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@Dreblueskies]

Good to know!

[@SevenInAll]

I loved hearing your review, Abbey! "Thankful for the memories" without holding the curriculum on a pedestal is such a wise approach.

[@stephaniemurphy4501]

Yes! Sometimes you have to cut things out for a little while in order to foster other things that are important. The spelling curriculum will always be there. I loved this video.

[@rachelschmucker1456]

I truly felt sorrowful that you even have to worry about people disliking your video simply because you chose not to do some of your curriculum!! Life does not always go according to plan, no matter how much we plan and prepare. Our job when life gets thrown off course is to hold tight to our anchor and do the most important things - loving God and our family. I have no doubt you’ve done that! I have definitely stopped curriculum mid year just because the timing wasn’t working. We also started Typing this year and only made it through the first ten lessons before I stopped adding it into our daily schedule. 🤷🏻‍♀️. Thank you for your honesty and great review of your year!

[@nancyann1090]

I love Simply Charlotte Mason for enrichment, those Art Portfolios are wonderful, the poetry, Shakespeare, geography, all of it so good!!

[@homeschoolmamax6]

Your honesty is refreshing and it makes your channel so much more relatable! I really loved this video and am so excited to see your Curriculum picks for next year!

[@keissylorini9319]

Hi! I'm so grateful I found your channel as a future homeschooling mom of soon to be 4 kids under 6yr. So I will be HS a 4 & 6 yr old next school year!

[@knowledgebynature8480]

Great video! We just could not get our footing with Exploring Nature with Children but I want to try again this upcoming school year. It looks wonderful and I want to love it lol

[@klemons7713]

Thank you for your honesty! It is always so refreshing. You give me permission to keep my head down while we forge our own way on this homeschooling journey. I’m not always a Pinterest perfect mom who can stick to my great plans. 🥴 Your authenticity makes you so much more relatable and it is always a breath of fresh air! 💜

[@blondestyleslife3017]

I really love how you handled this. I always love your honesty. We had a difficult school year this time. We had so much going on personally that we got off track and we never really got back in the groove.

[@marythomas6543]

I love the forgetting of curriculum. Makes me feel normal as that happens to me too Reminds me to make a written list of what we’re doing. The trick will be adding it to the list as I purchase more in the dead of the night.😂

[@marythomas6543]

I have been eye balls deep in minimalism and home decor content lately; the pandemic has caused a dive in my extra-curricular you tube watching.😂 I’m in love with this filming nook. Tranquil.🌻

[@amandabolain5]

Truly appreciate your honesty!! It gives me hope when we fall behind or fall short in my plans!

[@yelortiz]

Your honesty is very appreciate ❤️

[@RockSimmer-gal4God]

I love it wen we can spend a lot of time on a topic. I can’t believe Annie is bout to start all about reading. Nothing wrong wiv carrying on wiv typing

[@elisabethquigley7399]

Thanks, Abby! I love channel! It’s very encouraging!

[@stephaniecarolinesaucedo6987]

Thank you so much for your honesty. As a mom trying to do it all and struggling to learn that I can’t do it all, it was so nice to see your learning journey as well. ❤️

[@ashleyjbran3620]

Thanks for keeping it real. We had a few subjects and books we didn't finish either. Dust em off and keep on a schooling 📚🌞

[@maxunlisted9963]

Be easy on yourself. This is why we homeschool. Some years some of the most important learning isn't found in a curriculum.

[@homeschoolingjimenezes132]

I LOVE 5 in a row. My children were Prek, Kdg & 1st last year and we LOVED everything about it.

[@amberp2004]

I’m so excited I found Exploring Nature with Children at a yard sale for free a couple weeks ago so we are doing that next school year! We are also trying Story of the World because our history attempts were flops. We also forgot all about our typing pretty early in the school year but we decided to buy a laptop for school so I think that will help me be more consistent-because somehow the walk upstairs was too much for me. 😆

[@kabosekoele-onlinemathtuto277]

Thank you for making this kind of review. One based on your personal experience. Beautiful.

[@breannasuhoversnik1525]

Love this video & your honesty! We have the same Simply Charlotte Mason Bible & Geo curriculum for next year and I have the same reservations for how it will work for us. I'm thinking of just utilizing the 3 days a week Bible portion and seeing how that goes.

[@begowie]

I always appreciate your input and look forward to your vlogs, but today I have to comment on the art behind you. I adore that song and have the lyrics framed in my home as well, but I especially love the way it looks on your wall! So beautiful!

[@asuslp]

My daughter won’t be 11 until mid October, but will be in 6th grade, so I always look to your videos for ideas for the upcoming year. I only have the one child, and we still struggle to accomplish all that we need/want to each year. Like you, I have had such strong hopes for some subjects/curriculum only to have them completely fall by the wayside for absolutely no fault of their own (I’m looking at you All About Spelling, Apologia science, and Brave Writer)...and they’re often curriculum we actually REALLY like. Every single year we start off strong in all of our subjects, but a couple things always fall to the wayside.

[@moments_peace]

Love your honesty!! Grace Grace Grace when life happens and you have no control or have to adjust because a season or year calls for it. ❤️ I am in the same boat. We didn’t get a lot of school bookwork done but we had another beautiful year of memories and life lessons learned together through the hardships. You still seem to have had a great school year and memories in spite of less bookwork. ❤️

[@christinaselby9319]

Thank you for sharing the ups and downs! ❤️

[@JoyfulNoiseLearning]

I love that Five in a Row works so well for you guys! I keep looking at it, but never have jumped in fully 😬

[@tramseyplanter2]

Thank you! I love these videos

[@OneMamaToAnother]

Thanks for the update and your honesty!

[@eatonpartyofsix3229]

I really love your channel, thank you for sharing your thoughts! :-)

[@oneblessedmommy4024]

This was really great 💗 I appreciate your honesty so much! As I am thinking toward next year and planning I want more enrichment and activities in our homeschool. However, my kids are "done" with school after doing core subjects. I was wondering how do you schedule the enrichment and activities in with your main subjects? I feel like we just barely get our main stuff done yet I really want more for them than what we are doing.

[@jodylund5477]

Gosh I love your honesty. Like with typing. I had stuff like that too. There are so many great things out there I just want to do more than I can. We are wrapping up our kinder year. But going to do year round so planning things fir summer to continue and start grade 1 after Labor Day. We too LOVE ENWC. I own AAR and planned to use it for kinder and somehow it’s still sitting unused 😱. Which makes me sad. Cuz I did so much research to choose it. The year didn’t go at all how I envisioned it. It was my first year. But I keep telling myself it’s just kinder. She can read and enjoys math and handwriting. Has basic addition and subtraction , telling time on hour or half hour down, can do coins and skip counting 5 and 10’s snd some other things so I figure she’ll be ok. We are really mostly struggling with routine and consistency.

[@carinthiamontana7069]

Actually, Typing was one of our biggest hits. I think that’s mostly because my kids can do it independently and it only takes 15 minutes. We do it every day after math. I think if we only did it once or twice a week as it is suggested, we would forget about it too.

[@fabiolajustice4460]

Great video Abby! Love your honesty and kindness. What will you be using for Foreign Language? We are doing Spanish but had not found yet “the one” 😂😂❤️

[@homeschoolmamax6]

I’m super curious to hear this too! I can’t find a good foreign language curriculum fit for our family.

[@hillaryenloe]

Abby, question on reading eggs. I started the 30 day trial and completed the placement test. We are using AAR 1 - not quite at the half way point. She doesn’t dislike reading eggs, but she doesn’t like it either. I am having her do “reading eggs” basic program (because they offer so many options) and work on the lessons on each map. We are on map 5 I believe. She will work on it for 20 minutes, but when the timer goes off, she is done. We don’t use the tablet for educ “games” because she doesn’t seem to enjoy them. Any suggestions? I even attended the reading eggs webinar for new parents. I love it as a supplement to my teaching AAR and her reading aloud from the readers. Ideas - what am I missing? Helpful suggestions are welcome from others who use it. Thanks so much!

[@allisonward6621]

Thanks for your honesty! I was curious why you don't use All about reading after 2nd grade?

[@laurenbohannan7312]

Huge Five in a Row fan!

[@theknittogetherfamily711]

Thanks for sharing! ❤️

[@ysk1729]

Cracking up at the typing bit 😂. It happens 🧡

[@juliemclaughlin1757]

Great video. Thank you for your grounded perspective, thank you for sharing. Helpful to me for sure. :)

[@freelandtr]

If your children are writing narrations they are practicing spelling and grammar naturally. Even oral narration is improving their writing.

[@RootedinRest]

That’s exactly how I feel which is why i was less than consistent with the curriculum itself.

[@ohcraft8429]

We really enjoyed Story of the world las year, however this year it did not worked for us.

[@DanaK817]

Do you have a video all about Five in a Row? I've never heard of it before.

[@hannahc1072]

At least you realized you didn’t use it and still have it! Lol I’ve bought duplicate books before, only after realizing that we own the books already 🤗 you never can have too many books in my opinion ;)

[@valeriesearles3000]

We use TT too! What grade do you start with teaching textbooks?

[@brittanybeacham5143]

This is so helpful! I'm curious, will you continue on from Story of the World to the highschool series History of the World when your kids are old enough? I know that's the continuation, but I can never find any reviews or people talking about those older levels.

[@vivianavargas9523]

Abby I hope you get to see this bc I do have a question!!!! I been very interested in the exploring nature with children curriculum for my kids but after looking at a couple of sample pages I gave up on it because we also live in south Florida where there are no seasons and not a lot of weather changes or anything like that and done of what I saw was looking at these changes how do you make this curriculum work in FL?

[@katrinagyoung]

Hi! I just found you and love your homeschooling style! My daughter has completed AAR Level 1 and 2 and you mentioned you stop after Level 2. What do you shift to? Also, my son is turning 5 this summer.Have you done their Pre-reading? Thank you!

[@blaike_theblonde2579]

May I ask why you don't go past level 2 with the AAR?

[@FosteringCuriosityHomeschool]

Why do you quit All About Reading after level 2? What do you move onto next? We use AAR and are about done with lvl 2. We love it so far, but curious why you switch.

[@jennyswanson4488]

Hi Abby! I am very interested in 5 in a row and am curious if it is similar to A Year of Tales??

[@mackenzievattimo9205]

Funny enough, Reading Eggs does not work for me. I feel as though my student was not transferring the information from the app to books, and also the price scared me away. I would rather own curriculum than pay a monthly fee for it. However, I am glad others find it useful!

[@kikik5266]

What do you do after AAR2 if you don't continue?

[@10529Erin]

I was curious what you found for foreign language. I use one that I just battle the mp3s and teachers guide(hard to find pages and mp3s not in order) and so frustrating. Just curious what you are looking at. Thanks!

[@HomeLifeWithLove]

How come you had 2 histories planned for the year- Charlotte Mason Genesis plus Story of the World? We tried Charlotte Mason history and just like you, I bought the reading materials, but I gave up on it. I love that it incorporates Bible and history though!

[@RootedinRest]

I got it specifically for my daughter to use as an independent subject for middle school. I really wanted it to work for her while I did SOTW with my elementary kids but it was just not the right fit for our schedules.

[@HomeLifeWithLove]

@@RootedinRest I thought it was difficult for us to use with one child, just because of the daily skimming for the age-related assignments. I may re-examine it after we finish Notgrass history. :)

[@cheriek3872]

What grade/age did you start story of the world? I’m interested in adding that. My children are still pretty young so I’m not sure if it will be over their heads.

[@gadairyqueen]

Why do you stop AAR after level 2, and what do you do next for reading?

[@awallacedoula]

Do you think Exploring Nature with Children is enjoyable for all ages? I have a 11 and 15 year old.

[@amberleggio335]

Are you sticking with spelling wisdom and learning language well or looking at something different? I have used spelling wisdom for many many years but I am thinking about doing the learning language well and would like to know your experience with it. We've always used Queen language lessons but I do alot of the things that are in there and I feel it's a little redundant. Thanks in advance.

[@RootedinRest]

I’m sticking with it! I love it, I just wasn’t consistent with it.

[@amberleggio335]

Thank you.

[@fullofblessings4898]

How many days a week do you homeschool?

[@gracegreenwell2657]

I have forgotten subjects before HAHA It happens!

[@amberleggio335]

I'm not sure if you've ever looked at Queens Language Lessons. It is very CM and in a workbook with copy work, grammar and dictation. I have six kiddos and graduated my first last year in 2020. I just found it easier to be consistent with it versus the SCM language lessons because they could just grab their book and I could sit with them for the short lesson and then they were done. 🥰👍

[@moments_peace]

Yes! I agree. We love the Queenhomeschool language lessons. I love how Queen incorporates all the above plus some picture studies are used for creative writing in the “workbook” We actually use the Queen language lessons with the wordsmith series 6th grade and up and spelling wisdom altogether and it’s a great consistent balance that takes mins each day. All very CM based and affordable and actually doable each day with multiple kids. I love how queen’s language lessons and the Wordsmith series are directed straight at the student so clearly which makes my life easier. Four of my six kids are doing this.

[@ginamcgrew9955]

I appreciate honesty, and believe that anyone who gives you a thumbs down for owning your wins and losses is a complete weirdo who doesn't deserve your attention, lol!! I don't have time to watch a dog and pony show that is completely staged and fake. I need the truth and I need transparency to help me make thoughtful choices for my own homeschool. Let's pray that next year is a year of rest for your family compared to this one!