Valley View Academy 2025 Curriculum Selection
Curriculum Selection for the 2025-2026 school year.
Welcome to Valley View Academy,
our Classical Charlotte Mason homeschool in North Iowa! I’m excited to share with your our 2025 curriculum selections. I hope you find this information to be helpful and inspirational as you plan your school year ahead. Or, maybe you’re in the middle of a semester and just need to switch things up.
(I’ve done that plenty of times)
History
We do our social studies together as a family. This year we will be diving into the second book of Story of the World. If you are new to SOTW you can visit my SOTW Volume 1 Chapter Mapping & Supplement for more information on what we did last year.
Story of the World Volume 2 : Middle Ages
Famous Figures of the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Historical Timeline Figures: Resurrection to Revolution
Timeline and Memory Work
Classical Conversations Foundations
I love Classical Conversations (CC) and have used their audio for supplement in our homeschool for may years. This year we will be using Classical Conversations Cycle 2. I own the Foundations book and the CD sets for all three cycles.
Even though we are not part of a co-op (an official CC community) we can still use their materials for personal use at home legally.
Timeline Binder
We will continue adding to our timeline binders, which we started last school year. If you’re interested in how I set up our timeline binder you can find more information on my post about Buidling a Timeline Binder.
Timeline of Books
The real sweet sauce in timeline study is using the Timeline of Books. It’s a curated selection of quality books that supplement our study of history from creation to modern times. You can find the entire library under the Timeline of Books tab in the Fig Tree main menu. Keep in mind it is still under construction with new books being added each week. Estimated completion is 2027.
Foreign Language
Our entire family will be starting Latin this fall. Since our long term “plan” is to enroll the children into the local Classical Christian school once they reach high school, it is important that we learn Latin before they get to that point. I’ll be honest, I haven’t been very excited about learning Latin up until now, but after reviewing the resources I’ve selected, it doesn’t seem it be quite as painful as I was expecting. We will be starting this in the spring of 2024 and studying Latin over the summer and into the fall. Once we finish it will will move on to the next level.
Prima Latina (Memoria Press)
When I was in 8th grade my private school teacher introduced us to Greek and Latin roots using English From the Roots Up. What a gift that was to me. As someone who later whet into a scientific field, knowing these roots was invaluable to me. I have planned to introduce them to my kids ever since.
I inherited English From the Roots Up from my sister-in-law, and it was also a resource included in My Father’s World: Creation to the Greeks which I had already purchased. While I did pull out my flashcard box from 8th grade (yes, I still have it), I didn’t incorporate it well into our schooling during the 2024-2025 year, so I’m working to use it more faithfully this upcoming one. I selected a Vocabulary Packets Greek and Latin Roots workbook to supplement our study.
Vocabulary Packets: Greek and Latin Roots (Scholastic)
Language Arts
Living Together (Rod & Staff)
Fix It Grammar : Level 2 (IEW)
Cursive
Medieval History Based Writing Lessons (IEW)
Rod & Staff Pathway Readers
These books encompass many areas of language including vocabulary, phonics, dictionary skills, and reading comprehension. Each lesson includes a story to read in the student reader along with two pages in the workbook to complete. (Younger levels have more pages per lesson to focus on phonics) The workbook pages typically contain 4 different exercises which are approximately a half page each. I have my students complete one unit each week, using the 4 parts of the workbook as 4 days of assignments. This curriculum has been around for decades with very few revisions, and is very inexpensive!
English Grammar Practice
After putting this post together, I decided to jump my 3rd grader into IEW Fix It Grammar in the fall of 2025, but since I had already purchased English Grammar Practice from Memoria Press, I started it in the spring of ’25 to work through the summer. I wanted a gentle introduction to grammar for my 8 year old who doesn’t prefer language arts. I also am excited about Memoria Press so I wanted to include it in these recommendations.
Spelling
Buy one spelling book and never look back! That’s why I chose the Spelling Power curriculum. This book contains spelling lists for 3rd grade on up. Words are grouped based on vowel sounds and special sounds by level. At the beginning of each week I test the kids until they misspell about 10 works, and that becomes their list for the week. The front of the book includes instructions for testing placement.
Mathematics
I own the hardcover 2nd editions of Saxon math printed in the 1990’s, but have linked the 3rd edition homeschool printing for your reference
I have my Saxon math students use a quad (1/4inch) ruled notebook to neatly organize their math assignments. The grids allows for better organization of place values, which my Type A really appreciates.
3rd Grade Math
Up until 3rd grade we use Abeka math for all of our kids. Since our 3rd grader this year enjoys math and is doing very well in Abeka, I’m planning to switch up to Saxon this fall (which I already own). I used the 3rd grade Abeka for our first child, and about half way through the book it started not working as well for us, so I haven’t used it since. I might change my mind on this one and order the Abeka Arithmetic 3. We’ll see once fall get here how I’m feeling!
Science
Physical Education
Last winter I began learning about Integrating Primitive Reflexes, and made several connections between behaviors I was seeing in my children and possible reflexes that needed integrated. I purchased one of the books listed below and we began working through the exercises provided. Since I have 3 children, and some of these reflexes can take months to integrate, we are continuing to do these therapies and part of our physical training this year. If you’re interested in learning more about primitive reflexes you can learn more at www.harkla.co, which I have found to be a very valuable resource.
Arts
Draw and Write Through History Book 3 : The Vikings, The Middle Ages, The Renaissance (a complement to our Middle Ages history study and is an option to add to the student’s timeline binder.)
Watercolor Classes from Brighter Day Press
Living Art Lessons (Masterbooks) : I hope to get to this book this year, but if not we will set it aside for 2026!
