The Ultimate Guide To Homeschooling 5th Grade
I can’t believe it’s already time to talk about 5th grade! The homeschool years have flown by and here we are, our last year of elementary school.
I’ve got a plan and I’m excited to share it with you. However, keep in mind that plans have a way of changing. Life happens and we can always adjust our plans to meet our needs.
If you’re as excited about homeschooling 5th grade as I am, let’s talk about homeschooling 5th grade! Join me to learn about the read alouds, subscriptions, games, and unit studies we’re planning for our 5th grade school year.
Everything You Need To Homeschool Your Fifth Grader
Let’s talk about all the things we used throughout Emily’s fifth grade year to give you a comprehensive peek at homeschooling fifth grade with us. These are the resources that really worked for us this year, but you might need to make some adjustments in your own homeschool and that’s ok!
With all that in mind, here’s a place to get started with homeschooling fifth grade and get excited about the upcoming homeschool year!
Fifth Grade Homeschool Curriculum and Resource Picks
As we enter fifth grade, we’re continuing our journey as interest-led learners. I’m focused on learning together as a family through play-based activities and engaging resources. We still won’t complete most of these curriculum options in their entirety, instead we will jet ski across the surface and dive deep into topics and concepts that ignite Emily’s passion for learning.
We will be using multiple resources to teach language arts and math and following Emily’s interests for the other subjects we’re homeschooling this year. Keep reading to discover our favorite language and math resources for homeschooling fifth grade.
Language and Math For Homeschooling Fifth Grade
The basis of our math curriculum this year will be Teaching Textboooks. We have really come to love this program. I’ll also be adding lots of fun math games and living math books to bring fifth grade math concepts to life for Emily.
For language arts, we will be continuing to work on our writing skills. Journaling together and writing letters have become important components to our language arts study. I’ll be incorporating lots of beautiful books and fun language arts based games too. Emily will be participating in monthly book clubs on Outschool as well.
Fifth Grade Geography, History, and Science
We are focusing on our new What Was Unit Studies and Who Was Unit Studies for history and geography during our fifth grade year. I love that we can pick and choose topics that Emily is really curious about and build on them together with these mini-unit studies.
For science, I’ll continue focusing on Emily’s interests and letting her dive deeply into the things she’s passionate about throughout the year.
One of the unit studies we are working on this year is the Minibeasts Unit Study all about entomology. We are planning to focus on animals in science this year as well with our new Who Would Win mini unit studies about a variety of different animals.
Our One Thing for the Fifth Grade Year
Every year, we choose one thing to focus on together for our homeschool year. Prioritizing one thing each year helps us to incorporate new things and establish habits by the end of the year. In the past, our one thing topics have covered things like gameschooling, poetry tea time, and field trips.
This year, we will be focusing on logic and critical thinking skills. There are so many great ways to foster these skills at home as a family!
Playing games is a really fun way to focus on logic and critical thinking so we will definitely be leaning in to our gameschooling principles on this one. If you’re interested in adding logic lessons to your homeschool this year, check out my top 10 list of our absolute favorite logic games for homeschoolers.
Our Fifth Grade Homeschool Routine
This year I really wanted to help Emily be more independent with our homeschool routine. I made lists for her each day to help her learn to manage her time and complete assignments independently. We used our flexible homeschool planners to help with this.
Strewing is still a big part of our homeschooling routine for fifth grade. I alternate between strewing items and working together with our morning basket. Want to learn more about strewing or morning baskets for your homeschool? Check out my Ultimate Guide to Strewing and Absolutely Everything You Need to Know About Homeschool Morning Baskets.
After we complete our morning activity, we have table time together. This is a time for more structured lessons and it’s often when we do unit studies together. Then, we have learning lunches. During learning Emily watches an educational show or listens to a podcast while she eats and I take some quiet time to recharge my batteries or get a chore done.
In the afternoon, Emily can deep dive into the things she’s passionate about and learn more with online classes. LEGO class is one of her favorites! We also attend in person classes like the homeschool classes at the Central Florida Zoo in the afternoon.
Subscriptions and Memberships To Help You Homeschool Fifth Grade
We love adding subscriptions to our homeschool lesson plans. Subscription boxes are like a special prize we can do together as a family. It’s always so exciting when they arrive!
There are quite a few awesome subscriptions and memberships we use in our homeschool each month. Here are some of our favorites:
- History Unboxed
- MEL Science
- Universal Yums
- My Zoo Box
- Kiwi Co. Eureka Crate
Read Alouds And Independent Books For Fifth Grade
We spend a lot of time reading books together and playing games here at The Waldock Way! Reading aloud plays a crucial role in our homeschool journey. Most days, we begin and end with reading aloud together.
There are so many amazing chapter books and beautiful picture books we have enjoyed throughout the year! I’m going to share the chapter books with you below. At this point I think many of our read alouds could easily be independent reads and vice versa. The deciding factor is typically whether or not I want to read it too, in which case it is a read aloud.
Read Alouds
We like to read lots of book series aloud each year. We get sucked into a story and when the story keeps going, we get to race through the book and move on to the next book in the series. It’s like the story gets to keep going!
Independent Reads
Emily’s favorite spot in the entire house is her book nook corner. This is where she loves to curl up with her cat and read. Here are some of her favorite independently read books this year.
15 Games For Fifth Grade Learning
We play LOTS of games in our homeschool! Gameschooling is a big part of our days. Instead of learning about something that Emily really isn’t interested in from a boring textbook, we learn new concepts with games.
Gameschooling lets us practice in a hands-on way while fostering connection. Plus it’s a lot of fun! If you’re interested in adding more games to your homeschool days, check out the most played games from our fifth grade year below.
Adsumudi
Find the secret math path to the Adsumudi answer on each card by adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing the five other numbers. You get to keep the cards you solve first and collect 5 to win the game.
Outnumbered
This cooperative math game is so much fun to play with your fifth grader! The adjustable difficulty levels make Outnumbered an easy way to practice logic and math facts with your homeschooler no matter what their abilities.
Blobby’s Pizza
This is a great game for helping kids understand and practice working with fractions. In this fun game, kids get to make pizzas and steal pizzas with monsters from the game. Blobby’s Pizza also comes with free bonus game ideas that are every bit as fun as the original game.
Target
Improve your child’s math skills with this challenging STEM math game. Target has multiple skill levels to help your kids get started and build on what they know. Plus, its versatile enough to be played virtually or in person.
A Little Wordy
If you’re a fan of Exploding Kittens or Throw Throw Burrito, you should definitely check out A Little Wordy. It’s a two player game that helps kids build vocabulary, practice spelling, and become “word wizards” as they unscramble tiles to make words.
Blurt
Blurt is a word racing game where players move around the path by being the first to blurt out a word just by hearing the definition. It’s an excellent way to practice building vocabulary with your fifth graders this year.
Dabble
Do your fifth graders need to practice spelling? Dabble is a brain teasing word game where players race to spell words using 20 tiles. Can your fifth grader beat the clock?
Word on the Street
Have you ever thought about playing tug of war with words? In Word on the Street, players will compete to come up with words for every category in just 30 seconds. The player with the most words wins!
Mindware Trivia
We love trivia games! They’re easy to play no matter where you are, even riding in the car. Mindware Trivia is filled with fun challenges and interesting facts. We are fans of the animal version, the geography version, and the science version.
Hive
There’s a reason Hive has won so many game awards. This game is great for encouraging fifth graders to use logic and think critically. It’s like a new and faster game of chess!
Mastermind
Kids can test their code-cracking abilities with Mastermind. This challenging game of logic and deduction comes with three levels of play, so kids can learn and grow with the game. It’s easy to learn and fast to play.
Qwixx
Qwixx is a fast family dice game that will fit in your purse! It’s perfect for gaming on the go with your homeschooler. Qwixx is simple to play but each decision is critical becauase the more numbers you cross off, the more points you will score.
Sleeping Queens 2
If you loved Sleeping Queens, you won’t want to miss Sleeping Queens 2. In this new version of the game, the queens have all the power and they’re working to save their kings. Fifth graders can practice not just addition, but multiplication and division as they combine cards to help the queens.
Dragon Realm
If you loved Dragonwood, you’ll love this fantasy dice game too. Dragon Realm helps kids practice strategizing, critical thinking, and important math concepts as they play. Gather the most gold and you’ll be the ruler of your realm.
Herd Mentality
This game is a lot of fun to play! It’s like Scattegories except the goal isn’t to get the answer no one else will think of, instead you’re trying to guess the answer that most people will choose. Herd Mentality is a great game for helping kids think about the perspective of others.
Yes, You Can Homeschool Fifth Grade!
The reality is that I questioned myself all the time during our fourth grade year. Most homeschooling moms do!
But, I want you to know that homeschooling fourth grade is not only an educational option, it’s a wonderful approach to your child’s education.
As homeschool moms, we often question our methods and choices about homeschooling. If you’re questioning whether or not you can actually homeschool fifth grade, I want to encourage you. Yes! You can totally homeschool fifth grade and do it well!
Homeschooling isn’t just an option, it’s a wonderful choice for your child’s education! Check out my FREE Grade Level Skills Checklist to help you get started. Then, share your plans and ideas for homeschooling fifth grade in the comments. I can’t wait to read about all your grade ideas!
Watch this fifth grade homeschool playlist to see a indepth look at how our fifth grade homeschool year went.