It’s a new school year and we’re already halfway through the term. Can you believe that? I sure can’t – it feels like we just started back last week. Oh how the time flies! It’s true what they say – the days are long but the years are short.
I would be lying if I said we’ve had a smooth start. To be honest, it’s been a rough transition. We had 8 weeks of summer break and it seems the longer we have off, the harder it is to get back into the swing of things. That being said, 6 weeks in and I think we’ve finally gotten back into a good flow with homeschool. I’ve changed things up this year, and it’s made a world of difference in our routine!
So what did I change? Mainly, parts of our curriculum, including a complete curriculum overhaul for Diane and minor tweaks for Jack. I switched Diane to Simply Charlotte Mason, which Jack has been doing since we started. I love teaching Charlotte Mason style, and quickly realised early on that having the kids on different homeschooling methods AND curriculums was terrible for our flow. It led to so many interruptions and our days were getting increasingly longer.
Let me tell you, having both kids on the same curriculum has been a game-changer! The day actually flows, and everyone is on the same page in their learning. There’s an added feeling of togetherness and team when we learn as a family. Not to mention, Diane is enjoying her new curriculum. She’s extremely bright, and I’m finding that this curriculum is challenging her much more than the previous one we used.
If you’re considering homeschooling but you’re unsure where to start, or maybe you just need some inspiration (or you’re just curious!), here is what’s currently on my bookshelf, categorised by subject:
On My Bookshelf
Devotions
We love this one! It’s more of a storybook, but I’m happy to use it during our devotion time because it retells Bible stories in a new light. I got this from Gracebooks, which is our go-to Christian bookstore.
We do this devotional as a family at night with Matt. I chose this devotional because going into 2026, God laid the idea of family teams on our hearts. This devotion brings everyone on the same page about what we stand for as a family, and it’s very engaging! There’s also an accompanying colouring book that the kids colour in while we read.
History, Geography, & Bible
We completed Genesis – Deuteronomy & Ancient Egypt last year, and this one is next in the lineup. We love this series! The stories are firsthand and once you dive into them, you don’t really want to stop reading. We do 3 days of Bible, 2 days of history, and 1 day of geography on a history day.
A quick note about Simply Charlotte Mason: They are in the process of overhauling their Bible, history, & geography curricula. You can find information about it HERE and HERE. This does mean that next year, we’ll be starting a new book that isn’t necessarily next in line, but I’m happy to go with the flow. Especially if it means these subjects will be even more doable!
Art, Music, Literature, & More
Last year, we completed Enrichment Studies Volume 1. Each book covers different art mediums, artists, poets, musicians, and books (as well as foreign language, habits, etc). We tend to end our day with Enrichment, because the very last thing we do in Enrichment is our family read-aloud, and what better way to end the school day than with a story? We love it!
Individual Grade Level Subjects
We use Life of Fred for math, and my kids enjoy it. They love reading the Fred stories, and the math problems always relate to each story. I enjoy reading Life of Fred as well, because it not only teaches math topics – it teaches common sense and encourages readers to think outside the box! The writer is witty and it reflects in these books. 10/10 recommend.
This is a Simply Charlotte Mason living science handbook. We use this for Diane. The lessons are short, but fun and engaging, and Diane gets to create her own creation notebook as we learn about creation. As part of the curriculum, we source and read picture books relating to the science topic at hand. There are also prompts to go outside and complete various activities. We look forward to science!
This is a Simply Charlotte Mason living science handbook. It accompanies The Burgess Bird Book for Children, by Thornton W. Burgess. We are enjoying this book, and part of our learning includes using a bird field guide to learn about the birds in each chapter, and hearing their songs and calls. Jack also either sketches or colours in the birds we learn about.
I chose Fix It! Grammar for Jack because he had a hard time with Simply Charlotte Mason’s Using Language Well. This book gives Jack bite-sized lessons in grammar that aren’t overwhelming for him. In fact, he’s taken well to the lessons. I’ve noticed he’s suddenly writing faster, and he understands the parts of speech he’s learned so far. This curriculum was recommended for students with ADHD, and I agree!
We use Simply Charlotte Mason for Diane’s English, and she’s excelling. Writing is her strong suit, so she really enjoys this handbook. The lessons in this book are bite-sized, but they do get considerably longer by book 3 (which is why we had to ditch this mid-term last year for Jack).
This book is part of Simply Charlotte Mason’s handwriting series. Diane has mastered print, so she is currently learning to write in cursive. She showed an interest in cursive last year, so I introduced cursive letters to her while she worked on her print. I think it helped transition her to cursive because she gained a familiarity with it.
I chose this for Jack’s handwriting for a few reasons. 1. It includes the handwriting lines, which help Jack immensely with his letter formation. 2. The sentences are short enough that Jack doesn’t get lost in transcribing them. He still struggles through these, but I’ve noticed recently he’s gained speed and it’s becoming less daunting for him. A win!
These are Diane’s readers. They’re by Pathway Publishers, and a bit hard to come by here in NZ. They’re a decent size and she typically breezes through books, so I’m glad these are lasting!
This is Jack’s reader. I chose it ad-hoc because he has a hard time getting through chapter books (although he has done it before!). Calvin and Hobbes is a comic, and Jack is speedy at reading comics. He finds this series hilarious, which is a huge bonus. I want him to enjoy reading, and I think we’re getting there.
Health & P.E.
It took me a bit of researching to find this health curriculum, and it is a bit different than what we used last year. It’s very hands on, so we are enjoying it! We’ve already done a few experiments; it’s like a mixture of health and science. So far, we’re finding the chapters to be a bit long-winded, so if I could go back and plan again, I would split up the chapters a bit. There are only 10 chapters, and at the current rate (1 lesson per week), we’ll conclude health in a short 10 weeks. Also worth mentioning – this curriculum covers P.E. It comes with exercise cards, and they add a nice mix to our usual P.E. activities. Some extras we are enjoying: recipe cards, activity cards, and posters. Bonus that it’s faith-based!
Technology
I discovered Code For Life this year, and my favourite part about it is the price – it’s free. Last year I bought an expensive programme, not realising I had options. The kids are enjoying it, and there’s the option to print the lessons for younger kids so they can learn coding concepts before they have the capacity to operate a computer. Brilliant!
We finally discovered Typing Club/Ed Club after trialing other free typing sites, and it’s a clear winner for us. For most of last year, we used the free version, but now we are using the paid version through our NCHENZ subscription. The fee is minimal, and this version offers a few themed typing adventures that weren’t included in the free version. The kids have always enjoyed this programme, so we will stick with it.
Miscellaneous Resources
I used this in elementary school and thought I would stick with what I know. Sounds silly, but it gets the job done.
This is the companion to the American Heritage dictionary.
This is such a useful and sturdy field guide. I use an online field guide for our studies (ebird.org) since we are studying North American birds, but this guide is helpful to take along on nature studies so we can identify local birds, trees, insects, etc.
And there you have it – these are the books on my bookshelf (although technically, they’re in our school locker). I hope this has provided some inspiration. Every homeschool is different, and there are endless curricula combinations you could choose for your own. These are what work for us, and it took a lot of trial and error to get to where we are today. I am so happy with this mix (I’ve adapted a bit of an eclectic Charlotte Mason style). It works for my kids individually and our family as a whole, and that’s what’s important.
Now would be a good time to mention the homeschool planner I use. Finding one that worked for us took a bit of trial and error (4 times to be exact!). We finally settled on Homeschool Panda, and it has made a HUGE difference in the flow of our day, as well as my own planning. I was able to use the system to plan out our entire year in one go, and it wasn’t as time-consuming as you’d think. Last year, I lesson planned for at least an hour every Friday. This year, everything is planned out in the system and all I need to do is check to ensure we have all the resources we need for the following week. It takes me about 15 minutes, tops. What a difference!
The kids also use Homeschool Panda. They have individual logins and their dashboards show what lessons they need to complete each day. This allows them to complete their independent work independently (whereas previously, they would have to come to me for their independent assignments), which is great for teaching them initiative and responsibility. An added bonus – I can see what they’ve completed and know exactly what work I need to check when I’m ready for it. This is especially helpful when I’ve had a long night with Louis and need a bit of a sleep in; it doesn’t interfere with our school day because the kids can get a head start without my input. Now that we have Homeschool Panda, I couldn’t imagine our homeschool without it.
Lastly, and this is New Zealand specific, I thought it would be helpful to mention what memberships we have that add value to our homeschooling experience. Toward the end of term 3 2025, we joined the Manawatū Home Educators group (MHE). I didn’t feel ready to join any sooner. I needed terms 1 and 2 to acclimate to homeschooling, and we spent term 3 in Auckland. Joining has been integral, because now we’ve been able to enrol the kids (including Blaire!) in gymnastics and trampoline, starting term 1. We’ve also attended a homeschooling event, and plan to attend additional events in hopes of meeting other homeschool families. And the emails are super informative, keeping me in the loop with all the happenings in our local area. MHE also has a library loaded with heaps of homeschooling resources. How neat! By the way, these groups can be found all around the country. They go by different names, so you may need to do a bit of searching to find your local group.
We are also members of NCHENZ, which stands for National Council of Home Educators NZ. This has been a valuable membership because this organisation keeps me in the loop with the latest in homeschooling news and offerings. I am able to take advantage of programme deals, such as Typing Club and Beast Academy (which we used last year). I opted to receive the quarterly and monthly newsletters, and I find them quite useful.
I hope this has been insightful. If you have any questions, feel free to comment them below!
The Cullums Immigrate 