This week, I am sharing our 5th Grade Homeschool Curriculum plans for the 2021-2022 school year. This will be the fourth time I have taught 5th grade, which is exciting!
You will see that I am using some of my tried-and-true 5th grade curriculum and adding in a few new-to-us curricula as well. We are using a lot of Memoria Press, as is the typical case for us now, and adding in some BJU. We will see how that goes!
Aside from my affiliate links, I’m not presently affiliated with Memoria Press, BJU, or any other curriculum provider in any way. I’m just a very grateful and satisfied homeschool mama!
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Browse through all of the homeschool curriculum posts here at Mama’s Learning Corner.
ETA: After I typed all of this out, it looks like a lot. Some of the subjects like math and Latin do require quite a bit of work. Some of the subjects such as cursive or spelling only take 5-10 minutes each day. I’m careful not to overload my children with work, so I constantly review their course loads during the year.
Our homeschool goal is NOT to be burned out with work, but to realize that valuable learning involves work that can simultaneously be enjoyable. (In full disclosure, my children would totally groan over that last statement. Ha.)
First Form Latin in 5th Grade
Even though this is my 4th child to take First Form Latin from Memoria Press, it is only my second time teaching it. I didn’t learn much Latin until my #3 child, as my older two have been taught via Memoria Press Online Academy.
I was 100% pleased with their Latin classes through MPOA, but I didn’t have the bandwidth to learn Latin and then teach them. Now I do have the time (sort of).
My 5th grader and I will have our main teaching class on Mondays, and then 1-2 mini classes throughout the week. She will also do a full recitation twice a week since the recitation portion of First Form isn’t too lengthy.
5th Grade Math
My 5th Grader will work through Rod and Staff Math Grade 5. We typically do a lesson each day, and I always go through the Teacher Manual prompts, as that is where the gold of the review is located.
She still needs quite a bit of work on quick recall of math facts, so we will make sure we work through the Supplementary Drills in the book, plus some mom-made helps.
5th Grade Grammar, Composition, and Spelling
Rod and Staff English Grammar is a staple in our household, and my 5th grader will work through my favorite grade level in the blue book.
The 5th grade level of Rod and Staff is just a very solid walk through elementary grammar. I highly recommend it if you’re looking for grammar.
Read more: How We Use Rod and Staff English Grammar in Our Homeschool
My current 5th grader is excellent at composing sentences, as we worked on that a lot during her 4th grade year. She also has a natural bent for putting words together in a very pleasing way, so I think she will do beautifully in the Fable level of Classical Composition.
I was able to secure a seat in the Fable class in Vita Baeta this year, and this will be my daughter’s first foray into an online class setting.
Vita Baeta is strictly for discussion, and exposure and teaching in this case with composition. I will be grading her writing and giving her feedback.
My daughter requested a spelling curriculum other than Spelling Workout this year, so I allowed her to go with Rod and Staff’s Spelling by Sound and Structure for Grade 5.
We have used Rod and Staff’s Spelling by Sound and Structure in the past for a brief time, so I’m familiar with its layout.
I feel like the words are a little easier with Rod and Staff compared to some other programs. I do like the amount of phonics work that varies with each week, and that was also very appealing to my daughter.
She just felt bored with Spelling Workout. So off we go with Rod and Staff!
My daughter will also continue to work on her cursive using Copybook Cursive III.
5th Grade Literature and Poetry
My daughter will work through Memoria Press’ 5th Grade Literature set, which is one of my favorite years of Memoria Press literature. I am so excited to read through these books again with my daughter!
The set includes 3 novels for her to read and analyze this year – The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Lassie Come-Home, and Heidi. She will read the books and work through the study guides. We meet together every chapter or two and go over the story line and all of the comprehension questions together.
No, these are not the only books she will read this year. She is an avid reader, and often reads in her down time. She will have some other biographies and history and science readers assigned, but there won’t be any written output.
She will also continue on with the Poetry program through Memoria Press. It is scheduled during the 3rd-7th grade years, although you could certainly complete it on your own timeline.
I’m excited for the poetry selections she will memorize this year!
5th Grade Christian Studies
Even though my children and I do Bible time together every morning before school, my children each have a Christian Studies assignment in their school work.
This year, we are working through Christian Studies I from Memoria Press again. We completed it a few years ago, but my 5th grader was only in 2nd grade at the time.
This go through, she will write the answers to all of the questions in the guide and take the tests. Because we do the drill questions frequently, this will be very easy and familiar to her.
➡ Read more here: How I Use Memoria Press’ Christian Studies I-III in Our Homeschool
5th Grade History, Geography, and Timeline
Famous Men of Rome is on the agenda for 5th Grade History. My daughter is also taking this class with Vita Baeta, so she will get ample discussion with that group. We will briefly go over her comprehension questions together and she will take the quizzes and tests with me.
I’ve taught Famous Men of Rome a couple of times now, so I wouldn’t have to prepare for the class like I do so many others. I needed to take some things off of my plate this year, so I chose to outsource the discussion portion of this class.
My daughter will also continue with Memoria Press’ Geography program, using Geography I and United States Review. This is an excellent drill-heavy with lots of exposure curriculum. I have been thoroughly pleased with it!
Memoria Press’ Timeline program is scheduled for 3rd-6th grades, and my 5th grader will proceed with the fifth grade assignments.
Even though we don’t exactly do the Timeline program as it’s written, this is one of my favorite Memoria Press components. The dates show up over and over again in a variety of places and subjects. The consistent exposure to the dates and events makes them easy to remember.
5th Grade Science
Lastly, my sweet 5th grade girl is going to do something brand new with science. She is going to use an actual textbook-type curriculum!
During 4th grade, my daughter studied Mammals and loved it. She’s a very nature-y girl, however, the idea of studying only astronomy next year or only insects was not appealing to her in the least.
She needed a little bit of variety in her science studies.
After narrowing it down to 2-3 choices, I let her choose which curriculum she would like, and she chose BJU’s 5th Grade Science.
She’s already gotten started with it and loves it! The variety of topics – weather, earth science, human body systems – is just what she’s looking for. I’m thrilled!
Because we have never used a textbook science curriculum, I don’t have a lot of science equipment. I did quite a bit of research on how I can order All The Experiment Things in a box, and came across Home Science Tools.
I literally just ordered the BJU 5th Grade box a few days ago, so I can’t give a good review yet. However, I will definitely write about it as we use the materials.
While ordering all of the science supplies together in a kit wasn’t the least expensive option, it does ensure that the science activities will actually get completed since I have all of the materials on hand.
Having 5 different children in 5 different grades means I have to either spend money or spend time. In this case, I chose to spend money even though our homeschool budget is super tight this year.
I will admit I am tickled with this change in science and I’m looking so forward to the “real” science activities!
Again, I have no affiliation with Home Science Tools other than my affiliate links and being a VERY happy homeschool mama to find a science kit that I didn’t have to put together.
What is your 5th grader studying this year? I’d love to read about it! Leave a note in the comments! ❤
Here’s an easy list of our 5th Grade Curriculum Choices for this year:
→ Latin: First Form Latin
→ Math: Rod and Staff Grade 5 Math
→ Grammar: Rod and Staff English Grammar Grade 5
→ Composition: Classical Composition: Fable
→ Spelling: Rod and Staff Spelling by Sound and Structure
→ Cursive: Copybook Cursive III
→ Literature and Analysis: 5th Grade Literature Set
→ Bible: Christian Studies I
→ History: Famous Men of Rome
→ Geography: Geography I and United States Review
→ History: Timeline
→ Science: BJU 5th Grade
Early Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum Plans for 2021-2022
It is a good feeling to pull it all together with some confidence that the year will be full of exciting learning and solid precepts. We added a weekly trip to our museum of science.
There turned out to be a nice group of boys, excellent teaching in labs with tools, and we brought along a picnic lunch and football. The outing was refreshing as was the science extension. May God bless your homeschooling year!
Hey Patti,
You’re so right – it is a good and refreshing feeling to have it all pulled together. I don’t feel quite so pulled together with my older 2 (9th and 11th grades), but I’m working diligently on their plans.
I am so thrilled for you that your weekly trip turned out to be such a hit! Great learning and great friendships. A winning combo, in my opinion. ❤
I appreciate you stopping by with your encouragement today!!
xo, Lauren
Hi Lauren,
Thanks for your posts on mp curriculum. Fellow (mostly) mp mom here. I have pre-k, 1st/2nd slightly special needs guy, 5th grader and 8th/9th grader for next year. I was on the fence about grammar for my 5th grader but I’m intrigued by the Rod and Staff that you recommended. We’ve done EGR (mp) so far for him but I don’t love it or anything. We’re doing R & S spelling because he hated Spelling Workout. I went ahead and ordered 6th grade for him because, like you said, they seem to run a bit easy. My 5th grader will also be doing Geography I, FMOR (in a Vita Beata group too), SFL, and LWW but for his other literature we’ll do My Side of the Mountain and The Hobbit (both mp). Do you use Rod and Staff English just because you started it and liked it? Or because you liked it better than mp’s EGR? Oh and I totally get using curriculum on a 4 year old. My 3 turning 4 loves to do ‘his school’ (he’s doing the simply classical level B right now because junior k would have been too much for him) and it makes me be intentional about spending time on ‘just’ him.
Hey Cecilia! So nice to meet you. ❤
My oldest boy was in 6th grade before I realized MP had anything other than Latin, believe it or not. My oldest had used Rod and Staff English since 2nd grade, so I know how to use it blindfolded. Plus, I had already seen MUCH fruit from the curriculum. I didn’t have a really good reason to switch to EGR, to be honest. When I switched to (mostly) MP cores, I was already having so much trouble wrapping my head around the whole deal, that I didn’t want to have to learn yet another piece of curriculum.
I also couldn’t get a feel from the samples as to how much actual writing and practice was involved in EGR.
The bottom line was I knew Rod and Staff English super well and I had already seen the benefit of learning grammar using this method.
YES to the being intentional about spending time with the 3/4 year old crowd! I’m right there with you! It’s very different when that age is not your first or second, isn’t it?
And I bet our 5th graders will be in FMOR together! (I can’t remember if there are two sections of that or not.)
Best wishes to you as your start your year!
xo, Lauren ❤
Lauren, Thank you so much for sharing! Can you share some of the differences between Traditional Spelling, Spelling Workout and R&S Spelling? Warmly, Sunny
Ooh. That’s a really good idea for a blog post. Thank you for that! I will try to publish that after I get my curriculum posts finished.
This is the short of it:
Traditional Spelling is my favorite. It’s routine without being boring. The phonics work is magnificent. The pages are uncluttered. LOVE IT. I only wish they had more levels.
Spelling Workout – It has a lot of distraction (stories about words, etc), the pages are a bit cluttered, and the pages are newspaper thin.
Rod and Staff Spelling – The phonics work is excellent and I like that it incorporates a lot of phonetic spellings (like in the dictionary). The words aren’t quite as advanced, however. The activities are varied, which my girls enjoy. The workbook is super tough to write in, for both my right and left-handed children.
Hope that helps! I hope to write a bit more in the next week or two.
xo, Lauren ❤
Thank you so much for your reply! I appreciate the information. I am going with Traditional Spelling this year, but I love Rod & Staff’s materials… You made me curious! 🙂
Also, do you have any tips for laminating those little Latin flashcards? Thanks! 🙂
Oh I wish I did!! I use the cheapy laminator that I bought from Amazon 10 years ago, and I also use the Amazon brand laminating sheets. I just load as many as I can on the sheet without them overlapping.
I wish I knew a better way!
xo, Lauren
Thanks Lauren! I wish I knew a better way too 🙂