Our 6th Grade Homeschool Curriculum: What Worked and What We’d Do Again

When I pick curriculum for my kids I always second guess myself. Is it enough? Is it too much? I try to match our curriculum for the year to the needs and interests of that child. Last year I had a sixth grader. He needed to be able to work independently and have more control over his learning. He is interested in how things work and entrepreneur activities so we used that to guide our choices for his curriculum.

For 6th grade science, he used the hands on electricity program Spintronics. I really like the idea of being able to see the path the electrons take as they move. We paired it with the book Science Comics: Electricity: Energy in Action. This was a really good fit for him. He learned a lot about circuits, resistors and capacitors. The puzzles get harder at the end of the book as you would expect, but they also get harder to get the chains the perfect length which was frustrating for him. Luckily, there is an online version that he was able to use to painlessly set up and test the circuit. (Bonus points for me: it included hints and an answer key.)

For the second half of the year he used the hands on physics curriculum, Crash Science in the Classroom. This was a really fun curriculum. He did an egg drop where instead of wrapping items around the egg, he had to design the crash site to protect the egg. He also built a car to protect an egg rolling down a steep slope. Each challenge had restrictions about the amount of paper, tape and other supplies that could be used which was a great introduction to engineering problems.

For 6th grade math he wanted to be the GOAT. He used Saxon 7/6 and paired it with Nicole the Math Lady. I really like this program because he receives video instruction and immediate feedback on his answers. I don't have to be heavily involved unless I notice his first try percentages dipping too low.

For social studies we did The Indie Scholar American History units. He was able to complete these on his own and I just checked in occasionally to make sure he was retaining the information I wanted him to. As a reluctant reader, having the freedom to choose his own homeschool nonfiction books helped him grow more confident. By February, he was reading bigger books and even reading for fun every night.

For English, I knew I wanted him to read more, which is why I paired books up with his social studies. I had him do Language Mechanic for his grammar and Evan Moor Spelling for his spelling. He actually really liked Language Mechanic and learned a lot from the low stress way it presented the information. His grammar skills improved a lot. For writing, I knew I wanted him to write more. Because I didn't have to be actively involved in the day to day work of his other subjects, I was willing to commit to more time on this one. I decided to do Write Shop Junior Book F with him. Yes, this does have some reading, spelling and grammar built in, but I like to have workbooks specific for those subjects. This program was a good fit for him. In sixth grade, he still needed fun built into his subjects and Write Shop has a lot of games to play to learn the concepts. It also had a lot of built in scaffolding so we worked on the skill several times together before he was expected to include it in his writing. This program is a great fit for him and we will continue with it.

We also have him do electives, although we make electives less intense. He wanted to learn more about AI. He explored ChatGPT and the AI interface in Photoshop. He also created his own AI with Teachable Machine. He learned just how hard it is to train AI to correctly identify an object.

His last elective was a business. He had fun creating a website, coming up with business cards and exploring different business ideas. Some of the things he explored were lawn work, snow removal, craft fairs, door-to-door and lemonade stands. He learned a lot about what works and what doesn't. His favorite part was filling out "paperwork" to create the business ideas.

Overall, this mix of independent learning, hands-on exploration, and student choice made for a strong 6th grade year and he is actually excited about 7th grade.