Curriculum Plan Details
Curriculum
Students will complete some work at home and some on-campus. Students will need access to a computer at home, as many assignments will need to be digitally submitted, or may include videos or other online resources. Students will use online programs such as Class Companion, Blooket, Seterra, and others. Information on how to use these will be provided. If technology isn’t your best friend, please don’t feel intimidated by these; I’m available to help in-person during M/W school days, and am available by phone-call during office hours from 2:00-4:00 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The curriculum information in this document is subject to change. Much of this is still being built during the 2025 spring semester and summer, and other items may change depending on student response and need.
On-campus, Horizon uses the Grapevine Studio Bible lessons. These lessons are “stick figuring” lessons, meaning that students will draw along with the lessons. Students will have notebooks for the lessons in which they will draw “stick figures” along with the teaching and add any notes they’d like to, depending on their age group. The stick figures are extremely simple, such that the youngest students can participate, but also adaptable such that the oldest students can refine them as much as they’d like. For the 2025-2026 school year, we’ll be going through the Old Testament.
Students will also work together on Scripture memory of the following passages. We will focus on one large passage each quarter. Students also have the opportunity to memorize additional verses at home for extra credit.
Exodus 20:1-17
Phillipians 2:1-11
Psalm 23
Books of the Bible
At home, Horizon does not dictate a specific Bible curriculum, but strongly encourages parents to work with their kids to learn details of their own denominations. This could be as simple as a family devotional, or a more formal Bible class. I also highly recommend finding a catechism of your denomination to work through with your kids. If you need help finding a curriculum, I’m happy to assist.
There will not be formal assessments for Bible class; grades will be based on class participation and memory work.
Students will be using the Math Mammoth workbooks both at home and on-campus. Math Mammoth is considered an advanced curriculum, and has instruction written directly to the student. On the first two days of on-campus work, students will take placement tests to determine what their individual needs are. Horizon has purchased licenses to print all of Math Mammoth’s materials, meaning that I can build a workbook that’s unique to your child depending on their areas of strength or struggle. For example, I can build in additional practice or a review of the previous year, or I can skip half the pages in a section or jump the student ahead. Placement tests will allow me to design that book specifically for your child, and should be available beginning week three of classes (Week two will be spent on modeling in-class procedures.). It is absolutely expected and ok for your student to have areas where they might need to drop back into a review of a previous grade. Math curricula companies cover various topics at different paces and different grade levels.
On-campus, math class will begin with whole-class memory work, such as memorizing multiplication tables or the Pythagorean theorem. (Yes, even the little ones. Their memories are on-fire at that age, and knowing these will be incredible supports later. When I was taking college algebra, I still used little songs my Dad taught me as a child to remember things like the quadratic equation.) After memory work, students will split into mentor-mentee groups for about 10 minutes, and then move into a second group. (Most of the time, these groups will be pairs, but occasionally depending on numbers of students in different grades, an older student may mentor two students of the same grade.) Students will have one group in which they’re the student and one in which they’re the teacher. Teaching a peer who is a year or two behind you is an incredible review and solidification of the material in the teaching student’s mind- there is significant research on peer work helping both students. Students will spend about 20 minutes total in their peer-groups, during which time the teacher is also monitoring groups to offer insight and support where needed. Students will then separate for independent practice. Students who need additional help can raise their hands for teacher aid- the class is small enough that the teacher should be able to spend a few minutes one-on-one every week with all students. Some students will finish their independent work very quickly- some even completing it during their peer-pairs. Students who are finished will move into a side room for some math games overseen by the parent-assistant for the day.
On some days, students will work together in larger groups to complete logic-based word problems from Singapore’s Dimensions line.
At home, students will have 2-4 pages to complete, depending on their age range. Younger students may need parental help for these. If a student needs help beyond the instructions on the page and their parental support, Math Mammoth offers free videos online that work hand-in-hand with the workbooks. If additional help is needed, I am available for phone calls from 2-4 pm on Tuesday and Thursday.
Math tests will happen at home, with a parent proctor. The parent will initial the paper when the student is done to confirm that the student did not use any outside resources.
Horizon’s music is largely focused on reading written music and on choral work. We will be working on hymns and folk songs, and will add a new piece approximately every 3 weeks.
There is no formal homework for music, but students are expected to be in private music lessons for an instrument of their choice starting in the 4th grade. Piano is one of the best starter instruments, but it’s also important for the student to be excited about their instrument. It’s ok for students to change instruments, but I strongly encourage them to commit for at least a full school-year to the instrument that they choose.
If private instrument lessons are outside your budget, I highly recommend Hoffman Piano Academy. These are pre-recorded, online lessons, combined with printable worksheets and music theory training. They don’t replace a live teacher, but they are excellent for the price, which is a fraction of a year’s worth of private lessons.
If the Hoffman account is also outside your budget, most of the lesson videos are available for free on Youtube, but you’ll miss out on the practice sessions and printables.
Students 4th grade and up will be expected to turn in a plan for at-home music lessons by week three of classes. You can, of course, certainly start younger students in instrument lessons if you wish- some research indicates that age 6-7 is about the best age for starting, however many teachers prefer students to be a bit older.
If you would like additional music training for students 3rd grade or younger, I recommend Prodigies Music for music theory or the Hoffman lessons for piano, but these are optional.
Horizon will use a variety of resources to ensure a well-rounded curriculum, including, but not limited to OpenSciEd, Novare*, The Good and the Beautiful, and Khan Academy.
In-class days will be experiments and activity days, with one day per week being taken from our Elementary curriculum, and one day per week from our Middle School curriculum. Students of all ages will participate in all activities. Work done at home will be specific to the student’s grade level. In this way, students will spend the majority of their time doing work specifically aimed at their grade level, and will also get to engage in two hands-on activities each week. Homework may include reading, writing assignments, and/or workbook pages.
Horizon will use the Zaner Bloser books. These will be done in-class, and generally take only a few minutes. Older students can submit a sample of their writing to test out of this, and use the time instead to work on calligraphy or extra typing practice. Cursive instruction will begin in Grade 3.
All students will spend at least 15 minutes each at-home day working on typing practice. Different programs will be assigned based on student age and ability. Students will submit a practice time log, with an expectation of at least 30 minutes per week spent typing. Parents may need to monitor student practice to ensure students are working with correct form and are not “hunting and pecking.”
Most students will work with the Well Ordered Language program from Classical Academic Press. This is an explicit grammar instruction with models of excellent writing, memory work, and sentence analysis and diagramming. Any student 3rd grade and up who does not have diagramming experience will begin with book one, as it can flex to a variety of ages. Students who complete all four years, and students younger than 3rd grade will use Memoria Press’s English Grammar and Core Skills Language Art series. (These are also excellent books, but are aimed more at individual use rather than whole-class use.) Students will work in groups based on which book they’re working through. Groups will cycle through instruction time with the teacher, practicing in groups, practicing alone, and enjoying stories together. Work will be done both at home and in-class.
Students will use the Writing and Rhetoric program from Classical Academic Press. Each book focuses on a specific type of writing, such as fables or narration, and can flex to accommodate a variety of ages. Students will work in groups as in the grammar class. These books begin at a third grade level, so students in the 1st and 2nd grades will work more closely with the teacher using a writing program from ELA Skill Builder. Work will be done both at home and in-class.
Spelling lists will be unique to each student, and will focus on a specific phonics aspect, specific areas of interest, or words that students are struggling with or particularly would like to know. Students will build their lists in-class, and will practice their list words both at home and in-class.
This is our Literature class for the year. Students will read at least four books for Book Club each year (one per quarter). They will have the option to choose a book (sometimes individually, and sometimes by voting as a group), and then will be broken into reading circles based on their selections. Most of the reading time for these books will be done at-home, as class time will be spent with discussion groups. Books will vary in complexity and length to accommodate students of varying ages. Different quarters may work differently, but as an example, in the first quarter, the students may vote to read The Iliad, Egyptian Myths, or Aesop’s Fables. Then, students will be given a book of that subject that’s appropriate for their age and be broken up into discussion groups based on the specific book, generally putting students of similar ages together. Another quarter, students might be allowed to individually select from a list of 4-5 books, and then be placed into groups. The voting and grouping will vary depending on how many students we have, and how many students we have in various age groups.
Students will have various roles that they will rotate through each week, such as being in charge of new vocabulary for the chapter, making connections between the book and their own life, summarizing the chapter, etc. Older students may also be assigned additional Literature work to be completed at home.
Students will spend about 15 minutes each week learning Greek and Latin root words that build up the English language, using the book English From the Roots Up. Learning vocabulary in this way allows students to learn a large number of words by memorizing relatively few roots. (For example, the Greek root “graph” means “write” and helps to build English words such as “telegraph,” “autograph,” or “graphite.” When the student also knows what “tele,” “auto,” and “ite” mean, words are quickly understood.)
This is a once per week class, meeting for 30 minutes. Students 3rd grade and younger will spend our logic time playing games that build logic skills, such as chess, Logic Links, or Gravity Maze. 4th and 5th graders will use the Reasoning series from Classical Academic Press. We will alternate each year between the first two books, so that students can complete both.
Middle Schoolers will alternate years between The Art of Argument and The Discovery of Deduction, also by Classical Academic Press. 6th graders are welcome to choose between the Reasoning series and the Middle School books. If we should have an 8th grader who has finished all four books, they can move into The Argument Builder.
The class assistant will work with the youngest students. Older students will have 15 minutes of group work and 15 minutes with the teacher.
Our history class will cover all of world history from ancient times until modern in a four year cycle. The first year, 2025-2026, will cover ancient history until the fall of Rome. In-class time will include reading from The Story of the World and lots of exciting, hands-on activities like mummifying a chicken, building armies out of gummy bears, and exploring ancient cuisine. At home, students will have more reading and geography work assigned according to their grade levels. Early Elementary students will be reading Magic Treehouse books at home, Upper Elementary will be reading books from the Who Was series, and Middle Schoolers will read a variety of books, such as novels by Rick Riordan** centered around Roman and Egyptian mythology. Students will turn in assignments based on these readings, and will have periodic tests on the material in-class. Students will also design and present year-end projects, and will gradually build a timeline in-class that shows all of the work we’ve done for the year.
Social Studies will include U.S. History, Civics, U.S. Geography, and current events. U.S. History will also follow a 4-year cycle, with the first year covering all of U.S. History in a quick fly-over, and the following three years each covering approximately a third of U.S. History more deeply. Civics will show students how the government functions, from their local government to the federal government. For geography, students will practice drawing a map of the United States, with the goal that they can do so by memory at the end of the year. Current events will be largely discussion-based and built around student interest. Middle School students will have at-home reading and other assignments to turn in as well.
Life Skills will work in six 6-week units to cover a variety of topics. These will change year to year, but are currently expected to include units such as study skills, digital literacy, and budgeting. Homework is not generally assigned for this class.
Spanish instruction will focus on real-world speech combined with explicit grammar instruction. Students will practice conversation in-class, and have assigned homework including watching Spanish videos and minor writing assignments. We will use a variety of resources including the talkbox.mom phrase dictionary, Getting Started with Spanish, and the Salsa kids’ show.
If you would prefer that your student study another language at home (maybe Grandma speaks German, or your neighbor is from China), students may be permitted to skip at-home Spanish practice, but will need to turn in a home-study plan by week 3 of classes.
* Novare
Parents should note that Novare science is presented from an old-earth creationist view. It’s my expectation that most families attending Horizon will teach their children a young-earth view, just as I was taught when I was a child. Novare is the Middle School science text, and will not be introduced to students until the 6th grade.
I have chosen Novare not in spite of its viewpoint, but in part because of it. I strongly believe that students need to hear an accurate presentation of both sides of this question, no matter which answer they or their families believe is correct. In my experience, young-earth science texts, especially at the elementary age, do a poor job of explaining what the other side actually believes. They set up and knock down a lot of “straw men.” For me, personally, this meant that as an adult, when I came face-to-face with what secular evolutionists believe, I was blindsided. I didn’t have the answers that I thought I did, and I discovered that I had placed an unfortunate amount of my Christian faith on my own understanding of what the science said the world’s origins were (in spite of God specifically telling me to not trust my own understanding). My faith was shaken, and I struggled for over a year with what I actually believed. Ultimately, it was a good pruning experience for me, as I learned that my own scientific understanding cannot be what my faith is grounded in, but it is not an experience that I want for my children or yours. The primary points that I want students to take away from this is that their salvation or standing before God is not based on their beliefs in Earth’s origins and that there are Christians on both sides who love God with all their hearts and strive to take the Bible literally. I want to present an accurate understanding of what both sides believe so that students can make educated, informed decisions about what they believe.
If using this text concerns you, I highly recommend that you read the text along with your Middle Schooler and use it as a springboard for discussing what you believe. The Novare text reading will happen entirely inside your home; the only parts of it that will be used in-class are the activity/experiment guides. I, personally, would much rather have my child’s first exposure to a difficult question to be in a context in which I could guide them through their questions. However, if you as the parent ultimately decide that this text is not best for your child, they can instead use the upper-elementary reading assignments.
** Rick Riordan
Parents should be aware that our study of ancient history will include references to the gods that the ancients worshipped. The Riordan books specifically have significant detail about these gods.
Some of Riordan's books also contain references to same-sex couples. It’s my opinion that, like the science note above, it’s better for students to interact with these things in a safe environment where they can discuss these issues with their parents. The Riordan readings will all happen in your home, and I personally believe that they are excellent books despite the questions they bring up. If you as your child’s guardian are uncomfortable with these books, students can step down to the Upper Elementary readings, or propose alternate books to read in their place.