I have been homeschooling my children since the fall of 2014. I started homeschool preschool with my oldest at 2.5 years old and with my second and third at age 3. After two years of preschool work, she started kindergarten when she was 4.5 years old. She completed all her kindergarten level work by the following May, so I graduated her to first grade in June. She finished all her first-grade level work the following March, so she began second grade in April. She started third grade the following February and then started fourth grade in December 2019. My oldest then started her fifth grade work in December 2020. My son and other two daughters will start their grade 5 homeschool curriculum around the age of 10. If you are interested in any of the materials, easily find copies on Amazon via my affiliate links.
Originally published on July 30, 2020. Updated on July 21, 2022.
Reading
I continued using the Treasures series for fifth grade reading. The accompanying Practice Book, Grammar, and Spelling are also available online as free downloads, but we did not use any of the three workbooks.
Treasures: A Reading/Language Arts Program (Grade 5)
Grammar
Because of the many errors and problems in the grammar books for fifth grade currently available, I wrote my own fifth grade grammar workbook for my children. A Form-Function Grammar: Level 5 is the fifth workbook in the elementary series that builds up to A Form-Function Description of the Grammar of the Modern English Language, a textbook and workbook that provides a descriptive grammar that strives to provide an objective description of English as used without value judgements.
The goal of Level 5 is to reinforce the word classes (parts of speech, grammatical forms) of English taught in Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4. Level 5 includes nouns, determiners, pronouns, verbs, phrasal verbs, modal verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, coordinating conjunctions, correlative conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions, and interjections. Level 5 reinforces noun phrases, determiner phrases, adjective phrases, adverb phrases, verb phrases, adverb clauses, and adjective clauses. Level 5 also introduces count versus noncount nouns, absolute adjectives, grammatical case, grammatical voice, passive voice, postpositions and postpositional phrases, separable phrasal verbs, relativizers as direct objects and indirect objects, complementizers, and noun clauses.
Level 5 is recommended for ages 9 to 10 in fourth grade through fifth grade.
The answers to all the activities are located at the end of the workbook.
Writing
For writing, I chose The Grammar & Writing Book: Grade 5, which is a 266-page grammar and writing book that expands on the information learned in the fourth grade edition through grammar instruction and practice, writing craft and models, and writing and grammar test preparation. The 30 lessons cover a variety of grammar and writing topics appropriate for fourth grade students including sentences, word order, parts of speech, punctuation, and paragraphs.
I also included Grammar and Punctuation, Grade 5 in our writing lessons as supplement practice on important grammar and punctuation rules. The black-and-white workbook covers 25 grammatical and punctuation topics including sentences, punctuation, word classes, and usage that build on the topics learned in the fourth grade edition. Each section includes four pages of instruction and activities for a total of 25 instructional pages and 75 practice pages. I use the workbook as extra practice for concepts covered in The Grammar & Writing Book.
I heavily modify The Grammar & Writing Book and Grammar and Punctuation because of the errors in the grammar sections.
I additionally added the Spectrum Writing Grade 5 workbook and The Writing Prompts Workbook, Grades 5-6 to our curriculum. The Spectrum series is available for kindergarten through eighth grade. The Writing Prompts series is available for first grade through twelfth grade.
My children also continue working on their printing and cursive through various handwriting activities.
Spelling
My children and I continued doing word study using Structured Word Inquiry. Each week she and I chose a base word or two to study. I am also using the InSight Words (Volume 1, Volume 2, Supplement, and Inflections) from Linguist-Educator Exchange. We also studied other words that arose in day-to-day life.
I also created the Teach a Student to Spell: Level 5 workbook for spelling lessons. Level 5 consists of 36 lists of one to four bases each. The number of bases in each list depends on the size of the word family. The activities focus on the four questions of Structured Word Inquiry: (1) What does a word mean? (2) How is the word built? (3) What are morphological and etymological relatives of the word? and (5) What are the sounds that matter? What are the letters doing? The goal of Level 5 is to study the spelling of English words using the Structured Word Inquiry framework. Level 5 builds on the spelling rules introduced in Level 3 and Level 4. Level 5 also reinforces the prefixes, suffixes, and connecting vowels from Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4 while introducing additional prefixes and suffixes.
Vocabulary
My children began using Vocabulary Words in Context: Grade 6-8 to expand their vocabulary in fifth grade.
Math
For fifth grade math lessons, I selected Singapore Math Level 5 (US Edition). The two textbooks in Level 5 teach mathematical concepts, and the workbooks provide additional independent practice. The US Edition has been minimally modified from the original Singapore edition to teach American money and include American English spellings. The textbooks follow a unique pattern of moving from hands-on demonstrations to picture drawings (concrete examples with pictures) and finally to the abstract (numbers and symbols) in a natural, easy-to-understand progression. The program aims to teach children to learn to think mathematically rather than just being able to solve math problems.
My children also continued using Khan Academy for extra math lessons.
Science
For science lessons, I selected the textbook Scott Foresman Science and the accompanying workbook. Each lesson includes questions at the end, and the workbook includes further questions for study.
After finishing the grade 4 social studies textbook and workbook, my daughter moved on to the Macmillan/McGraw-Hill Our Nation Grade 5 textbook and the accompanying workbook. The 635-page hardback book covers various social studies topics such as community, geography, history, and culture. The accompanying workbook is essential for reinforcing the lessons in the textbook and covers vocabulary, writing, and other activities.
For health lessons, I opted to continue using the same textbook series, the 448-page Harcourt Health & Fitness: Grade 5 and the accompanying workbook. The accompanying workbook provides practice that reinforces the information from each lesson. Most of the worksheet pages cover two or three lessons per page.
Art
For art lessons, I continued using the 13 Children Should Know series of books. For fifth grade, I used 13 Art Mysteries Children Should Know, 13 Art Illusions Children Should Know, 13 Photos Children Should Know, and 13 Fashion Styles Children Should Know. We also used YouTube and Facebook Live to learn more about various artists, artworks, and art styles.
Music
For fifth grade music, I used Help Your Kids with Music: A Unique Step-by-Step Visual Guide. All three of my children listened in on the lessons, so the book spans multiple grades and ages.
Spanish
My children continued using Rosetta Stone to learn Spanish.
Image Credits
All images via Amazon
