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[quote=Anonymous]Here is English

One of the confusing things about English is that everyone divides it up differently.  In my house, for my rising 5th and 7th graders we divide it up this way:

[b]Literature[/b]:  Books that I read aloud and we discuss that align with what we're doing in history.  So last year, this was mostly mythology, and some novels that related to the historical periods.  We finished history in April, and since we're locked in (one of my kids is very high risk for covid), and kind of bored, we decided to keep doing literature.  So, now we're reading the Narnia books together, and looking at how they connect to the Bible.  Obviously, that's an exception to our emphasis on secular.

For that, we use this book https://cadroncreek.com/shop/further-up-and-further-in/, but we're only doing the Narnia books and the Bible.  The book has science and grammar suggestions that we just ignore.  It also has writing assignments, and we ignore them too.

Next year, we're doing the Build Your Library 5 reading list for Literature.

https://buildyourlibrary.com/purchase-level-5-curriculum/

[b]Reading[/b]. Books that the kids actually read for themselves.  My rising 7th grader is a reader.  He loves to read, and listen to audiobooks and he usually picks things that are challenging and high quality.  I just let him pick whatever he wants, and I don't monitor it.  Sometimes if I'm interested in what he's reading we'll do an audiobook together, and sometimes if I see something I think he might like I show it to him, but he makes all the choices.

My rising 5th grader, would rather not read at all, but if I tell him he has to read something he chooses graphic novels, or Sports Illustrated Jr., or the Diary of a Wimpy kid.  I want him to read those things, but I don't want them to be the sum total, so we alternate, he chooses something then I choose something I think he'd like but that he wouldn't pick.  We've had some wins this year where I choose a book in a series and then he likes it so much he chooses the next book in the series!  Usually we read at bedtime, taking turns reading a few pages at a time.  I don't make him do anything based on his reading, other than talk a little.  I really want this year to be about building a love of reading.

[b]Phonics[/b]. We aren't doing this. He was in a K-8 school that taught a lot of phonics, before I pulled him out, and I really think he's solid on it.  I also think that for him the overemphasis on phonics instruction is maybe why he doesn't love reading.  So, we don't do it.

If I had a kid who I thought needed phonics, but didn't have a reading disability.  Either a kid who just hadn't been taught phonics, or maybe their ADHD had kept them from paying attention when it was taught, then I absolutely agree with the [b]Rewards[/b] suggestion above. Their stuff is here:

https://www.voyagersopris.com/literacy/rewards/overview

If I had a kid with dyslexia who read below grade level, and I was pulling them out for 5th, I'd outsource for intensive phonics from someone else.  Not because I think you have to be an expert, but because in my experience as someone who has taught many of those kids, remedial phonics for kids with dyslexia is a slog.  It's hard work, and painful, and I don't want that dynamic in my parent-child relationship.  If I'd homeschooled from the beginning, I might feel differently, but not in this situation. Ironically, other people pay me to teach their dyslexic kids phonics, so I'd keep doing that and pay someone else to do it with my kid.

[b]Grammar and Writing[/b] I use curriculum that combine these two.  Some people buy separate curriculums.

I'll start by saying that I've heard wonderful things about the [b]IEW[/b] curriculum that someone suggested above.  It's supposed to be very structured and clear, which is great for ADHD kids.  It's also got video lessons that some people find very handy.  I looked at it and decided it wasn't for my particular kids.  My 5th grader's writing is like his reading, it's technically good, and not something he does by choice.  I give both the credit and the blame to his elementary school which pushed hard on grammar and mechanics.  I felt like IEW targeted the things that he was already good at, and wouldn't improve his enjoyment.  If you're starting a 5th grader in IEW they suggest you start at Structure and Style for Students Level A which is here:

https://iew.com/shop/shop-grade-level/level-grades-3-5

and maybe supplement with [b]Fix It Grammar [/b]which is here:

https://iew.com/taxonomy/term/7/?f%5B0%5D=im_field_category%3A17

For my kid, this year we are going to [b]Treasured Conversations[/b], which I found a little gentler than IEW.  It's got both grammar and writing in it.

https://treasuredconversations.wpcomstaging.com/store/

We're going to skip the first 1/3 of the book which is parts of speech, which he knows, so hopefully we'll have time to do the second half of [b]The Creative Writer[/b], which is poetry.

https://welltrainedmind.com/p/creative-writer-level-one/?v=7516fd43adaa

My rising 7th grader and I did the first half, which is fiction, this year and really liked it.

Another, totally different, option for writing would be the online classes at [b]Bravewriter[/b].

https://bravewriter.com/

I liked the look of them, but I also like teaching writing, so I decided not to outsource it.  They don't have grammar, but I think there's room for disagreement as to whether 5th graders even need grammar.  If you wanted to do Bravewriter and grammar, you could combine this with the Fix It Above.

For one more option, there's [b]Voyages in English.[/b][u]  We did the 4th grade version this year.  It was fine, but not exciting, which is why we're switching.

https://www.voyagesinenglish.com/grades-3-8-overview

[b]Spelling[/b]

I have taught AVKO sequential spelling for years, and loved it, so that's what we'll do.  There's an online version here:

https://www.sequentialspelling.com/index2.php

The other option, would be to do an all in one English.  My 8th grader did Oak Meadow this year and it worked well for him.  In 5th grade English is combined with History, so you could do just the one thing, and then even sign up for their online school so someone else can set the deadlines and correct the work.

https://www.oakmeadowbookstore.com/K-8-Curriculum/Fifth-Grade/U-S-History-English-5.html

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