Our 2026-2027 Curriculum Picks: Kindergarten, 3rd Grade & 6th Grade (+ Toddler)

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Last year I sat down to write our curriculum post and the whole thing was about choosing a new path after trying out different things over our first few years of homeschooling. After months of researching and sampling and second-guessing, we'd finally landed on Simply Charlotte Mason as our spine. Thankfully we loved it and this past year was a great test run of combining Charlotte Mason curriculum and making it work for our family.

This year instead of choosing, I’m refining what worked really well this school year.

SCM is still our spine, but this past year I decided to also add in a lot of Ambleside Online choices (as well as some other curriculum), and it worked really well. I'm learning to trust myself more than I ever have before now that we’ve been following CM’s methods for 5 years. I think that's the gift of homeschooling for several years — you stop borrowing other people's homeschools and start building your own.

This is also the first year we'll have three kids in formal school AND a toddler at home. 6th grade. 3rd grade. Kindergarten. And a 1-year-old who doesn't care what grade anyone is in and just wants to destroy every cabinet and drawer he can find!

Here's what we're using for 2026-2027.

 

How We're Approaching This Year

If you've been around for a while, you know we homeschool family-style as much as we can. That hasn't changed. Family-style means we do as many subjects as possible together — Bible, history, geography, science, the riches (picture study, hymns, folk songs, composer study, poetry), family read-alouds, nature study, etc.. The skills-based subjects (math, language arts, individual reading) are done one-on-one or independently, but the heart of our day is the time we spend learning together.

However, I am pulling from a lot of AO for the individual/independent subjects, which we did this year as well.  Every day, my two older daughters had an AO book that I read with them in addition to their other subjects, and that is a similar approach we will be taking this year.  I am going to start having my 6^th grader read probably one of her books on her own each day, however.  This is hard for me as I love reading with them, but with three homeschooling and a toddler, something’s gotta give!

The longer I homeschool, the more I trust myself to layer things together. That's the real shift this year.

 

Morning Menus (Together)

Every day, we start with our Morning Menus.  I print on cardstock and slide the pages into these menu covers for each child.  We talk about the weather, the calendar, they each practice writing the date at their own level, we discuss the moon phase, the seasons, what to wear, how they are feeling.  And then I put a few specialized pages in from the pack for each child depending on what they need practice with.  For my oldest, that’s spelling the days of the week and the months in cursive.  For my 8 year old, that’s multiplication facts and spelling in print.  For my youngest, that’s letter sounds, shapes, and writing her letters.  It’s a great time to just practice some everyday skills and also discuss what’s happening outside and events coming up.

 

Bible, History, and Geography (Together)

We're using Simply Charlotte Mason's Joshua-Malachi & Ancient Greece guide this year — and yes, this is the older version of the guide, not the new updated one.

If you're an SCM family, you probably noticed that they updated their history cycle this year. They went from a 6-year rotation to a 4-year rotation, and in the process they combined Ancient Egypt + Ancient Greece + Ancient Rome into a single guide.

For new families, this is great. For families like ours who finished Ancient Egypt last year, it created a problem. Switching to the new guide would mean repeating Egypt that we learned all this year.  Skipping to Middle Ages would mean we would skip Ancient Greece AND Ancient Rome, which I just didn’t want to do.

So I made a different choice. I bought the older standalone Joshua-Malachi & Ancient Greece guide directly from SCM. Continuing chronologically through history matters to us, and the older guide lets us do that without losing momentum. We will move on to Middle Ages the following year having a much better picture of the Ancient Times.

This single guide carries our Bible, history, and geography for the entire year, family-style. It's open-and-go in the truest sense — I sit down with the guide in the morning, we read what's scheduled, and we move on. There's no separate Bible curriculum to weave in, no separate geography to plan around. SCM has done the integrating for me, which is exactly what I need in this season of life.

The reading list for this guide is rich — historical fiction, picture books, biographies, primary sources. I'll link to the full SCM book list rather than listing each title here, but I’m thrilled to dive in.  My oldest will have a couple books she reads separately as SCM still divides the kids by form and has some different readings for each group.  I usually read the lower form’s books as a family, but I’ll have my oldest read her history books either with me or independently when they are scheduled.

If you are interested in Simply Charlotte Mason, you can use code HOMESCHOOLGLUE for 10% off any SCM order.

 

The Riches (Together)

Daily Riches is my own product, and I built it because I needed it. It's the curriculum that handles all of our family riches — composer study, picture study, poetry, hymn study, virtue readings, scripture memory, copywork, and handicraft — in one open-and-go program.

This year we're using Volume 3. Four days a week, family-style, no prep on my part.

We will be studying the following:

• Poets: George Herbert, William Wordsworth, and Walter de la Mare
• Composers: Vivaldi, Chopin, and Debussy
• Artists: Leonardo da Vinci, Degas, and Bierstadt
• 9 hymns
• 9 folk songs
• 36 virtue readings about three areas of life
• Handicrafts: weaving and brush drawing (otherwise we will just do handicraft at co-op)
• Copywork based on the poems and Scripture verses

It's the spine that holds the riches subjects together so I'm not scrambling to throw a bunch of different things together all the time. I'm biased, but it's the curriculum I'd buy if someone else had built it first.  My girls love it (my toddler loves the hymns, folk songs, and musical pieces), and I love it even more!

 

Science (Together)

This is a new one for us. This year we used my Buds, Blooms & Bees to learn botany and LOVED it.  If I had all the hours in the day to work on Homeschool Glue, I would’ve created another science resource, but I didn’t have the time.  So, we're using Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology by Jeannie Fulbright (Apologia).

Technically, this is an Ambleside Online 5th/6th grade science choice, which means it's pitched higher than my younger two. But Apologia is well-known for being adaptable across ages when you supplement younger kids with simpler picture books, so that's what we're doing. My oldest will work through the textbook directly. For my 5 year old, I'll layer in some anatomy picture books at her level so she can join us when we read aloud.  My oldest also has a couple science reads from the AO Year 6 list I’ll chat about later in this post.

 

Nature Study (Together)

Nothing fancy here. We continue our weekly rhythm — once a week when possible, no formal curriculum. Just outside time, observation, and sometimes a journal entry. This has been part of our school year for years and it's not changing.  We also look things up in field guides and the Handbook of Nature Study.

 

Art (Together)

For about a year and a half now, we’ve been using Classy Artist Box for our art instruction a couple times a month.  It truly was an answered prayer when I was trying to fit art in because I don’t have these skills or the time to source everything.  So, every month we receive a box in the mail with instructions, supplies, and then access to video tutorials so all I have to do is set out the supplies and turn on the video and the kids are learning art techniques!  It’s amazing!  Use code HOMESCHOOLGLUE for 20% off of the first box of a subscription order.

 

Math (Individual)

Last year I wrote about my conviction issue with the math curriculum we'd been using. After a lot of prayer, research, and wrestling, we made the switch. This year, all three kids are using Math-U-See for the first time.  We are using Zeta for 6^th grade, Gamma for 3^rd grade, and Primer for kindergarten.

Math-U-See has a different teaching philosophy than what we were using before. The hands-on manipulatives, the mastery-based progression, and the way concepts are taught in chunks all feel like a better fit for our family. I’m excited to try it out!

I'll have more to say about how Math-U-See is going after we've been using it for a year. But the relief of having all three of my kids on a math curriculum I feel good about is much appreciated.

 

Language Arts (Individual)

I’m very excited to talk about our Language Arts curriculum because it has genuinely changed how my 6th grader thinks about writing.

We're using Learning Language Well for both our 6^th and 3^rd graders this year. Our 6^th grade used it last year and is continuing while our 3^rd grader finished Explode the Code last year and is now going to be starting learning grammar, spelling, dictation, etc. this year.

Here's the testimonial I never expected to write: my 6^th grader’s spelling and her love of writing have improved DRAMATICALLY in the year we've been using Using Language Well (they updated it about a year ago but it’s basically the same). She came into the program as a kid who avoided writing whenever possible. She's leaving the year writing for fun and willingly writing pages and PAGES for written narrations when she used to struggle to write even just a few sentences.  I genuinely cannot overstate how drastic this change this is!

It's also simpler and easier than what we used before. Grammar, spelling, and dictation are all built in. I'm not running three separate programs and trying to fit them together. It's one program that does the whole thing well (in very little time each day).

 

6^th Grade Individual Reading + Narration

This year, I went through Simply Charlotte Mason’s literature recommendations for my children’s ages and I went through the AO book list for their years and I pulled books from both that I wanted them to read.  It worked really well this past year adding in some AO books that I didn’t want my kids to miss out on.  Thankfully, year 6 for AO has them read the Iliad and the Odyssey, which fits perfectly with what we are learning for history.  I added some literature choices, science books, and some history as well.  Even though we are learning anatomy for science as a family, I didn’t want her to miss out on learning about the periodic table and how that works, so I added those books in.  I cannot promise we will get through all of these as I’m not entirely certain what schedule I’m doing for them, but I’m guessing she will read a chapter of one of these each day of the week (either with me or without) and perhaps a chapter of another most days as well for the easier literature reads.  By the end of the year, that really can add up!  Here is her list:

• The Kite Fighters
• The Swiss Family Robinson
• Treasure Island
• My Side of the Mountain
• Little Britches
• Anne of Green Gables (a re-read but my favorite of all time so I had to add it!)
• The Hobbit
• Animal Farm
• The Odyssey for Boys and Girls
• The Iliad for Boys and Girls
• The Mystery of the Periodic Table
• The Elements
• Archimedes and the Door of Science
• Herodotus and the Road to History

She'll also pick from the AO Free Reads list during silent reading time.

As far as narration goes, she built up to two written narrations a week this past year where I had her write for no more than ten minutes.  Most days she wanted to write more than that but I didn’t want her to overdo it.  This year, we will likely work up to one written narration per day, with one a week being typed.  The rest of the narrations will continue to be oral.

 

3rd Grade Individual Reading + Narration

For my 3^rd grader, I also pulled some books from AO to read with her (not all from year 3 since we had missed a couple I wanted to read with her).  There are many picture books with SCM’s history + Bible + geography that are on her list that I’m not going to list out, but I’ll be reading those with her.  I may add a few more if it feels too light when I map out the entire year, but these are the books I have planned for her. 

• Heidi
• The Wind in the Willows
• The Princess and the Goblin
• Children of the New Forest
• The Jungle Book
• Pagoo
• Minn of the Mississippi
• Secrets of the Woods
• Aesop’s Fables

She'll also pick from the AO Free Reads list at her level for silent reading time.

For narration, I may have her do some illustrated/written narrations from time to time (maybe one a week based on our science or one of the books she reads) for practice, but I’m not going to have her start actual formal written narrations until next year.  She will continue with oral narrations after every reading.

 

Kindergarten Individual Reading + Narration + Phonics

My kindergartener will be reading the same set of books I read with my oldest our first year of homeschooling when we used Heart of Dakota for 1^st grade.  They are the sweetest stories and I wish I had read them with my second daughter, but we were reading all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and Narnia series, so I’ll forgive myself.  My kindergartener will be 6 in August right before we start the school year (my second daughter has a September birthday so she also started right before she turned 6 and so we went with the same timeline for her so they aren’t graduating until they are fully 18 (not 17 about to turn 18).  I will be reading a short chapter of the Burgess chapter books with her each day and having her practice narrating.  If she gets sick of some of these, I’ll pull from the AO list or other sources and add them in. She will give an oral narration after every reading. She isn’t reading or writing fluently yet, so we will tackle her reading independently when we cross that bridge.  For now, during silent reading time, she either looks at books, pretends to read chapter books (which is the cutest thing), or she listens to books on her Yoto player with headphones.

Here are her individual books:

• The Adventures of Peter Cottontail
• The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat
• The Adventures of Reddy Fox
• Peter Rabbit and Eleven Other Favorite Tales
• The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel
• The Adventures of Grandfather Frog
• The Adventures of Danny Meadow Mouse
• The Adventures of Buster Bear

As far as phonics goes, we are using Dash into Learning this year.  I tried Explode the Code with her last year and it just didn’t work as well with her as it did with my second daughter who learned to read really easily with it.  So, I’m trying Dash into Learning since it’s more hands-on, it really teaches them blending much better than Explode the Code (IMO), and it’s visually so beautiful and fun.  She’s done well with the few lessons we started this year but I decided to hold off and wait until the fall so she has time to grow and mature a bit first. Use code HOMESCHOOLGLUE for 15% off Dash into Learning.

 

Handwriting + Typing (Individual)

For handwriting for my 3^rd grader, we're using The Good and the Beautiful Handwriting — and specifically, the digital version. I bought them once, I print pages as I need them, and I can use it again and again for every kid. This will be the second year of cursive for her since she begged to learn cursive last year. All girls will get handwriting practice in our Daily Riches copywork twice a week as well.  Plus, what I’m using for phonics for my kindergartener (more on that later in this post) also has handwriting specifically for her.

For typing, we use TypingClub.com and this is our third year using it, I believe. It's free, which is hard to argue with. I just plan to have my oldest do typing and will have my second-born do it for 4^th grade the following year. 

 

Toddler

My toddler is 1, and he's been part of our homeschool day from the moment he was born. That doesn't change this year. He's at the table during morning time, on the couch during read-alouds, and underfoot toddling about 100% of the time.

What does change is that I now need to keep him entertained more intentionally during the parts of the day when I'm working one-on-one with the older girls. For that, I'm using Lessons with Littles, my guide for homeschooling with littles with 60 activity ideas.  I’ll be pulling from that and also creating my own little activities for him each month.

Activity bins are simple, rotated, and mostly self-led. He pulls one out, plays with it for 15-20 minutes, and I get a window of focused time with the older kids. It's not magic. Some days he refuses every bin and just wants to be held. But on the days it works, it feels like magic!

Honest acknowledgment: the toddler season is the hardest part of homeschooling four kids. I'm not pretending I've solved it. I'm just sharing one piece that has helped me so much in the past with my daughters when they were little.

 

Our Co-op

We're part of a small, local Charlotte Mason co-op our family helped create with a few other homeschool families. Every year it changes a little, so I don’t know exactly what subjects we will be doing there.  We meet 12 times a year.  This past year between the three kids, they learned: geography, Swedish Drill, movement (like a phy. ed. Class), narration (different books), Shakespeare, handicraft (clay – I taught that to the younger groups this past year), hymns, folk songs, recitation, composer study, and nature study.  Our little guy played and learned in the nursery with the other little ones.

Next year's lineup isn't finalized yet (we figure that out as a group in the summer), but the approach stays the same: cover at co-op what benefits from a group setting (Shakespeare, hymn, group physical activity), and keep the at-home day focused on the deeper individual work.

Co-op gives us community for the kids (and adults!), accountability for the subjects that are harder to do solo, and (real talk) a few hours every week where I'm not the only adult in the room.

 

Our Planners (Mine + Theirs)

I want to talk about this last because it's the smallest part of our curriculum stack but also very important.

I use my own teacher planner that I created as a Canva template (with 4 different styles to choose from) so you could customize your own as well. It's the one I built when I couldn't find a homeschool planner that matched how my brain actually worked, and now it's the planner that runs my entire school year. Sunday planning takes me about five minutes because the rhythm has already been built because I'm just looking at our week and making little shifts to what I planned in August as needed.

Last year I also implemented student planners (also Canva templates with 8 different styles to choose from) which was so helpful.  All three girls will have their own planner this year where they will mark off what they’ve done.  Right now, I guide most of our homeschool, but as they get older the goal is for them to be a lot more independent (with me still choosing the books and what they are learning) so they can learn time management skills and also take more ownership over their education.  This will help them tremendously as they potentially go to college and then out into the real world as adults.

Both the teacher and student planners are Canva templates you can purchase once and use for all your children for years to come (a huge cost savings).

I filmed a video overview of our planners last year that you can see here for more information.

 

In Conclusion

And there you have it!  That’s everything we are using for next year at this point.  I’m sure I probably missed something, but this is the plan I have at this point.  I will refine it more and make adjustments when I sit down this summer and plan my entire weekly rhythm where I assign subjects to days and plan out all our readings for each day/week for the entire year (just not tied to specific dates so I can easily shift things around).  For more about that, listen to my podcast about our weekly homeschool rhythm.