Come grow with us!

Some of the curricula we use is from Prenda.  The main curricula we use from them is Lexia for part of Language Arts, and then Zearn or Mathseeds for Math. Then there is Treasure Hunt reading for the younger ones still learning how to read. All of these programs are what allow students to work in a mastery-based style of learning. Language arts and Math are done on a daily basis.

There are a few other options students can use for math as well.  Overall, you can learn more about Prenda's curriculum here: 

https://www.prenda.com/learning-experience

We also use other curricula outside of Prenda's in order to ensure we aren't doing too much on the computer. That is why I put together my microschool in a way that included more off screen, hand-on activities as well! 

Students in Growing Humans Microschool only use Lexia for about 15-20 minutes a day. The rest of language arts time, we are using a curriculum called The Good and the beautiful. As a previous school teacher, I have found it to be a wholesome curriculum that covers all section of language arts beautifully. It also includes lessons on kindness, and morality as well.  Please note: This curriculum is considered a faith based curriculum that occasionally mentions God. If there is a different language art curriculum you would like to have them do, you can bring that in for them as well! 

For my older students that are ready to read, they also do lit studies together while the younger students work on Treasure Hunt Reading. 

For science, we have been using The Good and The Beautiful.  They have some great open and go lessons that my students tend to enjoy. Each lesson includes a hands on activity as well. There lessons are designed to be done with a range of grade levels so it is something we are able to do together. 

Usually I do the younger science lessons with my younger kiddos while my older students read books of their choosing. Then we switch, and I have the younger students do an activity while I do science with the older students (while still allowing the younger students to jump in with us if they are interested ;)

 For the 2024-2025 school year, we will also be getting familiar with The Scientific Method while doing some hands on science lessons. Then I plan to put together a science fair with other microschools and homeschool students. We do science once a week. 

For history, we use a curriculum called Curiosity Chronicles. This is a weekly lesson where we read about a piece of history, do an activity on paper, and then do a hands on project related to what we have learned. 

For example, when we learned about King Tut, we made honey cakes as Pharaohs were often buried with honey cakes. When learning about The Persian War, we made Greek Shields, and then they created a pretend war game during recess. 

My students have had so much fun with this so far! My daughter keeps telling me how much she is loving our history lessons. 

For the 2024-2025 school year, we will be focusing on the Middle Ages for history. We will also be having some field trips related to the middle ages as well. 

I love to get my students outside as much as possible, especially during the cooler months! We will be doing nature studies throughout the year. Most of them will be different activities in our backyard. We also will do a few park days like we did this year. This will be where we do a day of school at the park! 

In the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, we will put together nature journals. In them students will be able use them with their nature studies so they can have memories of all the fun things we did to connect with nature. 

I would love to do a nature study each week, but because we explore so many areas, it will more likely be every other week. 

For the past 6 years, I have been really getting into health and fitness. I have found the stronger my body gets, the stronger my mind gets. In our modern world, we are filled with lots of sitting. This has caused humans to become less and less mobile. So having time for students to get up and move their bodies is a must in my microschool. 

I also want to make sure my students get a good amount of practice with balancing, working as a team, and hand eye-coordination as well. We do P.E. twice a week every week, and outside as much as possible! (Weather permitting) 

Music has always been something in the background for me. My emphasis I love to create music and share musical activities with my students. We alternate music and art. One week we will do one, and then the other. 

Sometimes for music we are studying a composer. Other times we are singing a song and doing actions with the song. Some other times we are practicing the rhythm in songs, etc. I love to switch up our music lessons to keep things interesting! 

Many of my students tend to love art projects, especially painting. So we do a lot of them! Sometimes our art projects connect to our history lesson. Other times it's things they are interested in drawing or painting (or other art related activities). 

Students also sometimes have art in their Good and The Beautiful Language Arts curriculum. We end up doing lots of art projects here and there as well as alternate on Thursdays a specific art/music time. 

We have all sorts of STEM projects that we do. Students can take turns picking projects from the STEM activity books I have or I pick one. Other times we will do holiday related STEM activities. Sometimes I will also break out some of our different  versatile STEM kits, and just let them build and explore. We do a STEM project nearly every week! 

There are so many directions we can go with STEM projects. We do them as our last activity of the day on Thursdays. 

My favorite part about STEM, is it really helps them learn that failure is a part of the process. Their contraptions often don't work the first time, and they have to readjust. It helps them learn to try again, and builds persistence! 

On the Prenda Platform, there is a section full of projects where students can create something. They get to pick which project they want to do, it gives them a prompt, and steps to follow in order to complete the project. Usually my students end up deciding on a project that we all do at the same time so they can help each other with it.

 This is just another opportunity to have some choices in what they are learning about. We do a create project about every other week.

My goal is to do one field trip a month. These are pre planned into the school year. These will be included for the students in the tuition fees for the 2024-2025 school year. (Parents that join the field trip will need to pay for themselves) 

There are other activities we do as well. Poetry Tea Time we do occasionally, where we have a tea party and read poetry. The first 15-20 minutes of class we do a social-emotional, growth mindset, or executive functioning activity. Every few weeks we break out all the board games, and have some game time! Overall, make a great effort for my students to have a well rounded education where they get a mix of being challenged, but also have some fun!