Fifth Grade Curriculum Thoughts

These are my thoughts on the Curriculum we used during 2016/2017 school year for Fifth Grade.

Most of the curriculum for 5th Grade worked well for my son but we did change a few things as I felt he needed more or that he just wasn't getting some of it. 

Math- Saxon Math 6/5

This math program was really good for him and really helped him build his confidence in math this year. He didn't really like all of the reading that came with it but we made our way through it and he really succeeded. The plan for this next year is to try something with less reading and more computer oriented. 

Language Arts- First Language Lesson, Level 4

We used Level 4 for 5th grade as he didn't really have much background in Language Arts coming from the public school. It just wasn't taught like it should have been. So we used this program this year although I will say it didn't end up being exactly what I wanted for him. We made our way through it and we will be working even harder in another Curriculum next year. 

History- America From the Beginning 

This was one of the books we stopped pretty early on. It was too much reading and just didn't catch my kids attention very well. They were very bored with it and I felt there had to be another option that worked for them better. We ended up using Easy Peasy All in One Homeschool for the remainder of the year and it was a much better fit!

Science- God's Design For Life, Plants, Animals, and Human Body 

I liked this Science curriculum. It was very easy to plan with and to teach. We did not get to the Human Body though as my kids started to show signs of interest in Space so I decided to take that interest and find online resources we could use instead. We did do plants and animals and really enjoyed it!

Literature- Classic Literature, Volume 1 

My son really enjoyed the Literature. He enjoyed reading through books he didn't know he would like and really digging down deep into learning more about them. We did do quite a bit of read aloud books with this program as well. 

Geography- Road Trip USA 

We didn't get through this curriculum fully but I did like it a lot. We will be continuing with learning our States this year as well as other Geography type items. 

Handwriting- Handwriting Without Tears, Cursive Success

I mainly used this for my son to see where he was at with writing in cursive. It is not taught in our public school here so seeing him pick it up as easily as he did was really nice. Definitely recommend this curriculum. 

Writing- Spectrum Grade 5 and Reading- Spectrum Grade 5

I grouped these together because I absolutely hated them as a curriculum for my son. I just did not like them at all. We tried to use them and ended up just focusing on individual things instead.

Spelling- Grade 5 List

This was a nice starting out point for us but I do think Id rather have an actual curriculum with a little more structure for the next year. 

Art- World's Greatest Artist, Volume 1 

I loved this curriculum. However, my boys just didn't find it interesting. We ended up just doing fun crafts from pinterest most of the year. He really enjoyed that and it worked! We may try to introduce it more in the future. 

Most of the curriculum I had picked for 5th Grade was a great fit for my oldest. There are definitely areas that I worked harder on finding curriculum that matched what my boys need for the next school year. 

These opinions are my own and not everyone may agree with them. This is just to share what we ended up using for the school year and what didn't work for my child.

You will notice some links have been removed due to not promoting a curriculum I was not happy with! 

To see the curriculum we had planned on using and explanations from the beginning of the school year check out our Fifth Grade Curriculum post.