Home School Posts, Curriculum Choices
Meggen Loew
2026 Homeschool Curriculum Choices: A Switch to ...

Our new school year is here.   While most families are settling back into their home school rhythms from before the holidays, we begin our first official school day of the new school year. Curious as to why? Well, if you're new to following us, it is because we adopted a year-round homeschool schedule (which I go over in more depth HERE). Basically, because our yearly schedule is often unpredictable with travel, staying within a traditional school-year calendar (August to June) wasn't working out. While one shouldn't feel "behind" in one's homeschooling journey, I did, and it was overwhelming. I switched to a year-round calendar and began our year in January almost 6-7 years ago now, and haven't looked back. While we are no longer new to year-round schooling, we have decided to take a different approach to our school days this year. We have been (and I still am) a big fan of Sonlight History/Bible/Literature. It is no longer sustainable or a workable option for us. With three kiddos now needing instruction and time with me, and a 2-year-old running chaos amongst us, I was being pulled in six different directions, and our homeschool magic learning atmosphere was missing. Enter in family unit studies, a new approach to learning for us that I am excited to share with you as I share our curriculum choices for the 2026 school year.

2026 Homeschool Curriculum Choices: A Switch to Family Unit Studies and More
FAQ About Homeschooling, Curriculum Choices, Home School Posts
Meggen Loew
How Do I Choose Curriculum, and What About the ...

In many homeschool groups on the online space, parents are asking for the best curriculums out there. Very rarely will a whole collective group of homeschooling parents agree on what the best curriculum of all time is. Because really, there isn’t the best curriculum for everyone, but there is the best curriculum for your particular family unit. No homeschooling family is alike.

There are literally thousands of curriculum choices out there. From all-in-ones, piecing together, hodge-podge, you name it, and it is out there, with technology, homeschooling curriculum, and choices have become a lot more readily available than they once were.

How Do I Choose Curriculum, and What About the Cost?

What’s New for 2022 Momma Bear School: Bringing Homeschooling Parents Together


Over the last six months, there has been a dramatic shift in the life of Momma Bear School. Lack of Naps! While I anticipated adding Bird to our homeschool life, I didn’t realize how much it would affect my productivity. So, I stepped back and plotted and planned for what I truly wanted Momma Bear School to be. I was trying to do too much and in turn, started to become a person I am not. 


In comes 2022, and I’m ready to launch into what I hope will be a solid foundational year of growing and learning for both myself and you as a willing participant in what’s to come. My goals are simple and basic for this year as I navigate homeschooling my older girls and living with a currently very clingy toddler. I still want to help you and others along the way in their homeschooling journies and adventures.


For new things in 2022, I have set a “theme” for each month. So with each new theme, I'm committing to one new blog post and one new helpful free parent tool a month. In addition to this, I’m also committed to bringing weekly discussions to the Momma Bear School Parent Group and new daily glimpses into our homeschooling journey on our Facebook page and Instagram. As my confidence and my schedule opens up this year, I hope to offer more, but for now, this is what I know I can do. I anticipate developing a few non-free printable resources, but do not have a timetable on these, as I want to create freely and without time constraints. 


Some things that are leaving in 2022 are monthly/quarterly updates about what we have been doing. The redundancy of these has become a begrudging chore; besides, if you follow us on our Facebook Page or Instagram, you pretty much know what we have been doing. Gone also for this year will be the workshops and classes I was trying to form over the last two years. These may return in the future, but for now, they don’t reflect the person I am. This area was starting to become overwhelming to navigate, as I felt it required me to be a salesman, and well, let’s face the facts, I’m not, nor do I want to be. I’m stripping down Momma Bear School back to our Blog and Printable Resources for what’s new in 2022. I’ll be sharing more


I’m excited about what’s new for Momma Bear School in 2022; I feel this is a great year to build a community that encourages and supports not only our homeschool adventure but yours as well. Thank you to those who have been following our journey up to this point and those who are new to this adventure of Momma Bear School. 2002 is all about rebuilding and community building, and I can’t wait; I hope to see you there along the way. 

Be sure to join our Parent Group on Facebook(Momma Bear School: Parent Group). You can also follow along on our journey on Instagram and Facebook from the links below.

Box Day 2021: Our Curriculum Picks for the 2022 School Year

Box Day 2021: Our Curriculum Picks for the 2022 School Year

I'm not sure if Box Day is a strictly Sonlight related phrase for getting next year's curriculum or an overall understanding among other homeschooling families, but alas, we had our box day for the 2022 school year. Wait, 2022, you ask? Yes, for us, our school year begins in January. To take part in deals and use a few coupon codes I had to receive, I usually order our curriculum sometime during the summer. Also, ordering a while before we use it allows me to set it up and prep it ahead of time, and this year, with our Baby Bird, I may need a little extra time.

So, what did we order?

We are Plenty Socialized (I Promise)!

We are Plenty Socialized (I Promise)!

The dreaded Socializing question every homeschooler gets asked when we reveal to others that we homeschool has never been a dreaded question. I know all the sarcastic remarks others can make in this instance (we socialize our animals and countless others out there). It is not so daunting if you set out what socializing means to you and not necessarily what it means to everyone else. This (definition) can help answer the questions of the not-so-friendly, random stranger, or even family who ask. People often ask about socializing because they knew someone or saw some news article about weird, awkward, and half backward families who homeschooled. Frequently those families are extreme, but they fill people's stereotypes for what a homeschooler is supposed to be or how they are supposed to act. Like any stereotype, others' preconceived notions serve their definition, not what it means.

Dealing with Negativity (from Other's About our Choice to Homeschool)

Dealing with Negativity (from Other's About our Choice to Homeschool)

I have spent the last eight and a half years loving being a Momma and our homeschool journey. But I have always been a little reserved with it, and I have received my share of backlash for our choice and decision to pursue the homeschool path.

I have wanted to write about this negativity since I started plans for this blog three years ago. Every time I sat down to write it or jot notes down for it, my response always came up short, though, in my opinion, of the message I wanted to express to others. It felt snarky, rude, and judgmental. Precisely the feelings I had felt each time someone criticized our choices. No matter how I worded things, I couldn't get out what I wanted to say.

What Homeschooling Has Taught Me: Confessions of a Former Public School Teacher

What Homeschooling Has Taught Me: Confessions of a Former Public School Teacher

I will preface this by saying that while I never actually had my own public school classroom, my time as a short-term and long-term substitute teacher, and while pursuing a full-time teaching position, I had many biases in place regarding homeschooling. I spent the first year struggling in our homeschool because my public-school background clouded my education and understanding of learning. By our third year in (and consequentially the year I chose to test out Sonlight), I had a mind shift and finally had the clarity to separate myself from my public-school mindset. While I still have valuable lessons from my college days and my days as a substitute teacher, I now view our homeschool as something completely different, as others should consider it.

2021 5th Grade Curriculum Choices

2021 5th Grade Curriculum Choices

Mouse is 10 years old entering into the fifth grade at the start of our 2021 school year. We will be continuing the same curriculums from last year, as they all seem to fit really well with her. We are going to continue studying American history using Sonlight History/Bible/Literature Core E American History Part 2, Sonlight Readers E and their American History II Lap Book. I will also be adding into the readers again this book from the American Girl History Books Series.

2021 Combined 1st and 5th Grade Curriculum Choices

2021 Combined 1st and 5th Grade Curriculum Choices

Still looking to make this year easier on myself I had to do a lot of planning and unplanning, knowing we would be adding a baby into the mix with us this year. Since last year we fell short of completing my goal in US Geography I decided to hold off on starting a science or health curriculum at the beginning of the year and instead concentrate solely on Geography. I will reevaluate this plan once we are farther along in the year and how well we adjust to having a baby into the mix of our home school day.

Homeschooling During Pregnancy

Homeschooling During Pregnancy

I am sure like everyone going through 2020 crazy things have been happening everywhere. We were issued a few surprises of our own. In May we discovered we were expecting another addition to our family. To say we were surprised would be an understatement. Last year I had finally accepted the possibility our family would not be growing anymore. As items in our temporary outdoor storage had begun to be damaged by the elements and nature we decided, last fall, to sell all our baby gear we had been hanging onto. We knew that we would be able to replace these items in the future rather than hang on to them so that no one would get any use out of them.

Momma Bear School Advent 2020

Momma Bear School Advent 2020

I am excited to announce another new adventure for Momma Bear School. For the last three years, I have slowed down our school load during the month of December and taken time to focus on the season of Advent. This year I am going to share our advent plans with others, instead of keeping them to ourselves. Our plans have allowed for us to use this time to create memories and still get school hours in as well. I really enjoy this time with the girls, and I hope to help crate that for others as well.