Year 6 Homeschool Curriculum - Year 7 NZ
Our Year 6 homeschool curriculum is a literature rich, family friendly homeschool program inspired by Charlotte Mason.Suitable for New Zealand and international home educators.
About Our Year 6 Homeschool Curriculum
There is no time limit on completion of a grade. You can begin our courses at any time in the year.
My Homeschool Curriculum Year 6 is similar to Year 7 in the New Zealand education system.
Our Year 6 Full Program is a one-year full curriculum. In most circumstances this is the one we recommend.
Our Year 6 Lite Program is a half-year condensed version of our full curriculum. It is a great entry point for students who are not ready to progress to a higher grade, or for families starting mid-year who do not need a full year of curriculum.
After purchase, login details will be sent to your email address. You can then access all the course materials including planning documents. We use Moodle as our online learning platform.
* Math Kinder to Grade 2 Only
- My Homeschool Year 6 Curriculum Guide
- Global Goodies – For International Students and Extension Work
- English
- Maths
- Social Studies & Humanities
- Science
- Foreign Language
- Arts
- Health & PE
- Teaching Support
- Assessment & Exams
Our Year 6 is similar to Year 7 in the New Zealand education system.
Our literature based approach includes many living books, a key concept of the Charlotte Mason method. Living books have something special about them: they flow, they capture the imagination, and they tell us the facts while they give us the story. A living book is written by a passionate author who communicates this passion to the reader in a literary language.
As Charlotte Mason penned:
“A book may be long or short, old or new, easy or hard, written by a great man or a lesser man, and yet be the living book which finds its way to the mind of a young reader.”
Our Global Goodies are not part of our core curriculum but are available to give you an additional element of flexibility to our courses and to give international families an alternative to some of our Australia specific resources. They are also for families looking for additional Charlotte Mason inspired resources.
You can swap out similar resources or add them as extension work. These resources are not written into your Weekly Planner.
The Year Six Global Goodies include:
- USA, NZ and Singapore Prime Ministers & Presidents study options
- Country geography alternatives for USA, NZ and UK.
- American constitution read aloud suggestions.
English: Year Six Homeschool Curriculum
Living books are the core of our curriculum. Our read aloud novels are all highly acclaimed Australian novels.
For a little variety we are using a collection of classic poems from Australia and around the world.
We’ve also included a number of short stories and some Shakespeare.
Primary Language Lessons is a key resource used within our My Homeschool graded courses from Kindergarten to Year 6: This resource is used three times per week throughout the year. It includes a variety of lessons that follow a Charlotte Mason approach to learning English. Comprehension lessons are done using narration and conversation. Children are encouraged to explain what they are seeing as a pre-writing skill. Spelling, grammar and punctuation are taught by using sentences and identifying spelling rules. Reading is encouraged with simple stories using a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts.
This resource has been written so you can pick up and start the lesson without preparation. Lessons are short, taking a maximum of 20 minutes. Some lessons can be done orally so your child will not get bogged down in worksheets. You don’t need to buy any other books to complete this resource. The relevant passages are all provided within. Written lessons are completed in a notebook (or exercise book) so there is no extra printing of worksheets. Answer guide provided.
Please Note: Our Year 6 Lite offers a condensed 2 term version (18 weeks) of this resource.
Downunder Dictation uses Australian and New Zealand literature for weekly dictation. This is done once per week.
Wildflower Copywork is a weekly copywork/dictation resource that can be used for nature journal entries, handwriting and/or calligraphy practice. Please Note: Our Year 6 Lite offers a condensed 2 term version (18 weeks) of these resources.
For our foreign language study and handwriting practise we use Latin Copywork. It is a cursive resource copying the first chapter of Genesis. English translation also given. Please Note: Our Year 6 Lite does not offer this resource.
Comprehension lessons are done using narration and discussion from stories, science and history readers. Children are encouraged to explain what they are seeing as writing preparation.
Written narrations are increased with other lessons and your child will be notebooking from their geography, history and science resources.
Poetry Anthology: We have links to weekly online poetry readings for your child and for those who want a ‘real book’ we have a delightfully illustrated suggestion in our resource list.
We don’t provide a core math program for our Year Six Homeschool Curriculum.
We want you to pick a core math program that suits your learning style, your child’s ability and your budget. Suggestions are given within the course for math programs homeschoolers like. However we do provide some math drill practice with our Math Copywork timetable & math words revision.
My Homeschool members also have access to our 50% discount on Maths Online membership. This can save you $150 per year for a family membership.
World History
We have used a living book approach for our history studies using a selection of history authors appropriate for young children and popular with Charlotte Mason home educators.
Short chapters are given for read aloud lessons and oral narration.
History Makers: Modern History covers significant events, people and geopolitical changes in the world during the 20th century. It includes stories of world leaders, missionaries, Nobel Peace prize winners, and significant wars. Written narrations after each chapter help with writing skills. Please Note: Our Year 6 Lite offers a condensed 2 term version (18 weeks) of this resource.
Autobiographies and historical novels follow our world history related themes which include: human rights, apartheid, Nazism, communism, the Taliban, refugees, and Indigenous heritage.
We will continue to use a Book of Centuries (used from Year 5 to Year 10 – purchase once and sold separately) which is a timeline notebook that can be kept for the next few years.
Geography and Earth Science
Geopolitical maps are explored as we look through the shifting borders of Asia and Europe in our modern history studies and the various countries who have territorial claims in Antarctica.
The Geology Book by Dr J Morris (sold separately) is a one year geography and earth science book that looks at rocks, the earth’s surface, and changes over time. This book presents the theory of evolution and creation from a Christian world view. This book can be swapped for a secular science book about the Rock Cycle, however no suggestions are given.
Geology & Natural Disasters are explored as we learn about: tsunamis, flood prevention, earthquakes, cyclones and indigenous stories on geology.
Australian Geography
We overview Australia’s geography with Discover Downunder and our Downunder Geography Pages notebooking pages.
It includes:
- Australia as states and territories and Australia’s major natural and human features
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders’ ideas of country and place
- environmental factors that have influenced Australia as a place
- similarities and differences of people living in different places in Australia
- identifies the main climate types found in Australia
- geographical data on maps including borders, legend, scale and north point
- Notebooking
Civics and Economics
PM Biographies
Year 6 includes an overview of Australia’s democracy with our Civics Video series.
We take a biographical look at the prime ministers of Australia recording significant events and achievements. We have our notebooking resources as a guide. Please Note: Our Year 6 Lite does not include these Civics & Government resources.
Economics & Business
We examine some key industries in Australia and discover the resources needed to keep these businesses going and how the environment and the consumer can affect production. Please Note: This is not part of the Year 6 Lite version.
Science: Year Six Homeschool Curriculum
Nature study is a practice and pursuit that you may associate with the Charlotte Mason method. It is something that is encouraged throughout your child’s education and continues through to our high school graded courses.
The Geology Book by Dr J Morris (sold separately) is a one year science book that looks at rocks, the earth’s surface, and changes over time. This book presents theory of evolution and young earth creation from a Christian world view. This book can be swapped for a secular science book, however no suggestions are given. Please Note: this is not used in the Lite program.
Each term has different science themed videos and notebooking activities.
- Living World Science: soil, fungus, Murray River, Antarctica and indigenous perspectives on biodiversity.
- Geology & Natural Disasters: tsunamis, flood prevention, earthquakes, cyclones and indigenous stories on geology.
- Electricity Videos: circuits, switches, heat energy, solar power, nuclear power, hydro electricity and wind power. Please Note: not provided in Lite program.
- Matter and Mixtures: changes in matter, mixtures and solutions. Please Note: not provided in Lite program.
In Year 6 we have a Latin Copywork resource that teaches cursive handwriting. It uses the first chapter of Genesis and includes the Latin and the English translation.
If you wish for your child to study a particular foreign language in depth then you will need to use additional resources to teach this, we give suggestions in our Year 6 Course Introduction.
Learning a foreign language in depth is not compulsory, however, in Western Australia by 2021 all students from Years 3 to 6 will learn a second language, extending through to Year 9 by 2023.
There is no specific foreign language taught in Year 6. If you wish for your child to study a particular foreign language in depth then you will need to use additional resources to teach this, we give suggestions in our Year 6 Course Introduction.
Creative and Practical Arts are taught with other subjects including: nature journaling, literature based unit studies, picture study and music appreciation.
Art and Music Appreciation courses are provided with My Homeschool membership, so you have a choice of rotations, including some specifically developed for young learners. You can simply choose one rotation for your family to use.
Some rotations have additional books to purchase while others have everything you need provided online. Your My Homeschool membership also gives you access to our Handicrafts resource which includes a range of practical art and craft ideas with instructional videos.
Physical Education
We have included a series of fun kids exercises in our online WOW – workout world classes.
Personal Health & Development
This commonsense subject is taught through the activities of daily living and participation in local sports and community events. Healthy Conversations checklists are provided for each stage of the syllabus so you can teach respectful relationships and personal growth as you deem appropriate.
The My Homeschool team includes experienced home educators who provide mentor support and help you deal with issues as they arise. We don’t provide tutoring or specific lesson support on an individual, one-on-one basis.
We are always happy to answer questions about our curriculum and how to implement it and we encourage our members to get involved in the Community Forum.
We have a vibrant online community where you can share stories and help others, purchase books you might need and connect with other My Homeschool families in your area.
You are the teacher and you oversee lessons. We provide homeschool teacher training as well through our self-paced courses How To Homeschool 101 and for our more experienced members the Boost Your Homeschool.
We are continually adding to our collection of resources to help support you in your role as teacher to your children.
Our Primary Full Version course is 36 weeks of study, organised over 4 terms. 8 weeks are set topics and the 9th week is an assessment and review week that often includes a project. Our Lite Edition gives you 18 weeks of study, enough for 2 terms.
Each week has its own Weekly Planner checklist which is available in an online format or as a downloadable PDF to print and store in a folder, making record keeping easy.
At the end of each term there is a downloadable report of work achieved over the term. Parents add comments and assessments of their child’s progress in each area of learning.
We know that parents want their children to thrive and that testing is popular in many school environments as a measure of progress. When you homeschool you do not need to test your children as much as they do at school, as you are assessing as you go.
We give you tips and support on how to assess your child in a way that suits homeschooling, so you can be confident that your child is progressing well in your homeschool.
End of Term Examinations
The 9th week of each term has been allocated to assessment and optional examinations.
The exams given are not like those in a traditional school with grades but rather as an assessment tool for the parent and an opportunity for your child to share what they have learnt. They are not meant to be a stressful event or a tool for comparison with peers or siblings, but rather a way to assess progress of your child throughout the year.
FAQ - Course Questions
Here are a few of frequently asked questions answered.
I am a Kiwi. Can I still use your curriculum?
Yes you can! We already have New Zealanders using our program.
My Homeschool is very much a curriculum that New Zealanders can use. The Australian Curriculum and the NZ Curriculum are different in their organisation, but they are both considered to be of the same rigour.
My Homeschool offers a Charlotte Mason inspired curriculum that considers the Australian curriculum but we have a global approach and so include lots of global goodies. For example, you will find world history and geography in all the primary years.
We have a reasonable amount of NZ content in our curriculum.. We include NZ literature, NZ nature study , some NZ civics. We don’t cover a lot of specific NZ history but we do have some when it overlaps with Australia. There isn’t any Māori content. You can source that however from your library.
You’ll find there is a lot of overlap with NZ and Australia and so we certainly have a lot there for you.
On the purchase of a course you are provided with a planning template, Scope and Sequence, and Weekly Planner to help you plan out your year ahead with ease and confidence. We also include Term Reports so you can also give evidence of how you are assessing your child. This will make your homeschool application/exemption very easy as we have already done most of the work for you. We are homeschooling parents who know what all homeschoolers need!
One thing to note is that in New Zealand your Year 1 is our Kindergarten in Australia, so you will need to use the grade below what you would normally use in New Zealand. We still have the same amount of years you just finish at Year 13 and we finish at Year 12. Our My Homeschool Curriculum only goes to Year 11 New Zealand (Year 10 Australia).
Will I be able to teach this program? It sounds quite academic.
It’s natural to feel a little daunted when we think about teaching our children. We don’t want to intimidate you, we are here to support you. We won’t send you a bunch of downloads and send you on your way. We also teach you how to teach. Our guides and homeschool expertise will help you instruct your children. You can also post questions on our forum when you hit a snag. You’ll learn some new things and brush up on old things as you teach your children. It’s a very satisfying experience and many veteran homeschoolers report co-learning as one of the unexpected benefits of homeschooling.
I'd like to know what books you use. Can I see the booklists?
Our booklist are carefully curated and are only available as a part of our program.
My Homeschool uses living books in many subjects. Some are for your child to read alone, and some are to be read aloud by the parent. We also include some online and audio book options. Books allocated for reading aloud provide an opportunity for families to discuss them broadly. Parents are able to offer the scaffolding and support which will help their child navigate the literature which may be challenging for a variety of reasons.
We do use secular books and these do not always line up perfectly with a Christian world view. This also reflects Charlotte Mason’s approach. We have tried our best to make good choices in our literature and we have read what we recommend. We have rejected many books in the process of writing this curriculum. Finding a perfect book is almost impossible but our book selection is thought out and many of our books are recommended by others who follow a Charlotte Mason education.
We’ve also included culturally significant Australian literature which often highlights what was happening in the era it was written. For this reason, some of the literature may well be ‘politically incorrect’ or old fashioned by today’s standards, but at the time of writing it was not. These books offer an opportunity to teach your child about the culture of the times.
Our books were chosen with the Australian Curriculum in mind, however we understand that you may not want to read all the books we have chosen. Feel free to replace them with a title that suits your family’s needs.
We offer alternatives and extension suggestions in our My Homeschool Reading Lounge. This is our exclusive online library catalogue of book list suggestions and alternatives.
Can I just buy individual subjects and resources?
My Homeschool does provide many free homeschool resources.
Our curriculum is a structured program so we do not sell our curriculum separately.
If you are planning on using My Homeschool as your main curriculum, we suggest you consider your approach to mix and matching resources as you may experience overlap or gaps in subsequent years. For this reason, we recommend buying appropriate grades for each child so that you will have a sequential well curated curriculum.
Will this work for teaching multiple children?
Choice has been built into this curriculum to give you the flexibility you need for teaching multiple ages and adapting to the special needs and interests of your child/children. We encourage families to do read-alouds, nature study, handicrafts, art and music appreciation as a group.
Our World History subject from Year 2 to Year 6 encourages parents to read aloud the history content. When teaching a few children in this age group at once we recommend you only teach one history cycle at a time. Since World History is not part of the Australian Curriculum this will not impact your curriculum compliance.
More details on working with multiple children can be found here.
I already have a very busy life? How much time will this involve?
My Homeschool follows the Charlotte Mason practice of shorter lessons so there is time for the student to follow other interests. Approximately three to four days per week is allocated to group study and parent reading aloud in the primary years. In high school we have written a four day schedule with Day 5 free for other planned educational activities.
Your day will usually include consistent lesson time in the mornings, leaving afternoons free for natural learning and play. You can also get some of your jobs done and pursue other interests.
(Note: This is Year 7 in the New Zealand Curriculum)
Transitioning From Primary To Independent Work
I’ve homeschooled all my four children through Year 6 and it took a while to realise that I needed to expect more independent learning in these later primary years. We were so used to working as a family. I set their pace so they became quite dependent on me dishing out all the lesson content. I was DIYing a lot of my curriculum and was often scheduling their timetable daily. If I stopped, they stopped.
We used an inspired Charlotte Mason approach and I had unrealistic expectations of what I could achieve in a year. I over purchased books because everything sounded so good. This meant I had too many books to read and I didn’t know how to schedule it all. It was a planning headache and a waste of money.
I also discovered that living books didn’t fit neatly with the state school syllabus. That meant we had lots of gaps in our content.
When I was asked to help others put together a Year Six Homeschool Curriculum that met the Australian Curriculum it was always tricky because a long booklist and reading schedule didn’t help them meet the requirements without tweaking. They also needed to add content that was scattered about the place and not in a neat homeschool friendly format. It was hard to turn it all into a plan that met the registration requirements.
Unfortunately, following the government curriculum requirements is a problem for many homeschoolers.
As regulations begins to tighten in each state, many people give up their educational philosophy and go back to worksheets, textbooks and online tick the box products, some go unregistered and hope they won’t get caught, some send their kids back to school and some just lie about what they teach in order to pass registration.
None of these are good options!
But I've found a solution. In 2007, I started publishing resources for Australian home educators and showing them how to use the Charlotte Mason method for registration. And people kindly thanked me and told me our resources and guides were ‘pots of gold’ and it had made their homeschool journey ‘so much easier’. They kept asking for more help.
And when my children had graduated from my homeschool and gone to university, I launched My Homeschool so I could continue serving the homeschooling community and help others successfully home educate their children!
Story by Michelle Morrow (Founder of My Homeschool)
Join Our Community
When you buy a course through My Homeschool you are joining a community that supports and mentors parents interested in educating their children academically and spiritually.
We give you a shortcut to help you get straight into giving your child a delightful and robust education without spending days and days researching and tweaking unsuitable content.
Our homeschool curriculum is written to comply with the Australian curriculum. And we make registration easy because we’ve already done 75% of the documentation you need for your application.
We Care About What Your Children Are Taught
We aim to give you confidence that you can educate your children with a worldview that honours Judeo-Christian principles and has strong academic outcomes. However, our resources are not predominantly Christian. We look for outstanding resources and often a secular resource is the best option.
We have a number of families who use our curriculum who are secular or from other faiths.
We do not include devotional material or specific religious instruction in our curriculum. We leave that up to parents.
We Wanted A Curriculum That Worked For Home Educators
Our curriculum writers have already done the juggle of homeschooling a few children at once.
- We knew how lovely and important it is to learn as a family so we made some lessons and read alouds possible to teach as a group.
- We reduced the time needed for formal academics by crafting our curriculum so our resources and books often teach multiple topics.
- We made each grade fit each state’s syllabus so you can get registered easily.
- We gave you a streamlined intentional curriculum so you could give your children a wholesome integrated education from kindergarten to high school.
- We made sure it was academically challenging so your children will have career options, and a pathway to university if needed.
- We put it all in one place so you weren’t hunting around looking for resources every time you wanted to begin lessons.
- We made it easy to access your lessons and planner when you were out and about or travelling just by picking up your smartphone.
We Use A Blended Learning Approach
My Homeschool lessons are provided in a blended learning format.
All our virtual homeschool uses the Moodle LMS software, a renowned online learning platform used by many schools and universities. Using this format means we give you exceptional functionality which enables you to record your progress, and access your lessons from various digital devices and locations. This format also enables us to keep our resources fresh and dynamic.
A laptop, tablet, or desktop computer is needed to use our courses. Access to a printer is also necessary.
PDFs can be downloaded and printed for offline reading but other resources can only be viewed from our learning platform.
The majority of our classes require reading from a real book or paper-based resource.
Writing exercises involve pencils and paper and many lessons are oral or conversation based.
Video lessons require access to the My Homeschool learning portal.
The Moodle App can be downloaded onto your smartphone for on the go lessons and checking progress but is not recommended as the main digital device for reading and viewing lessons.
While I'm responding I just wanted to take a moment to say that we are absolutely loving the My Homeschool curriculum. My children and I feel like we have breathed a breath of fresh air after a turbulent first and second term this year with a distance education school. We had signed up with them in an effort to reduce the amount of time I spend planning and reporting for HEU [Queensland government registration unit].
In fact the only reason we hadn't signed up with My Homeschool initially is because anytime HEU was mentioned my heart rate would increase and I'd want to run!
We were, and are, a Charlotte Mason style family and in hindsight I should have realised that the distance education route was going to be a disaster. Let's just say, in term 1 and 2, no-one saved any time, there were lots of frustrated tears from children and mother, and there was so much busy work to do and no time for a proper education!
Enter My Homeschool, oh how we loved term 3, our first term with you. My children were once more excited about 'school', I was once more loving learning alongside them. There was time to explore some of the creative tangents the children go off on when were learning new things, you know the sort, "if that happened, I wonder what happened when...", or the classic "why?".
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the hard work you do, your curriculum has provided a platform (and the reporting documents) that satisfies the HEU while still leaving us loads of flexibility and room to explore our amazing world and the people who have lived here and still live here.
You have saved me time in planning and reporting and the word HEU no longer makes me want to run. I have been so thrilled I tell all my homeschooling friends about your amazing program and one of my friends signed her family up with My Homeschool (PS they're loving the curriculum too).
Many blessings to you and your team, continue the good work you are doing. The hours are most likely long and some days feel fruitless, but you are without a doubt a blessing to many families.
Continued Membership Rewards
You will continue to have access to your purchased courses, and all the benefits of being a My Homeschool member, as long as you keep your membership current. This means you can use the same graded course again for subsequent children. Inactive members are deleted after 12 months.
Digital Course Content Provided On Learning Platform
Note: New Zealand grades names are different to My Homeschool Grades.
You will be charged in Australian Dollars at checkout. Login details will then be sent to your email address. You can then access all the course materials.
Lite Program| Price NZD$ 353.40
Full Program| Price NZD$ 589.01
I love that I have a place to start with organising a personalised curriculum. I love the access to the Primary Language Lessons, copy work, and geography resources.
To have a grade by grade list of resources suggested and available for the various subjects is great!!
Although I haven't as yet made proper use of the community hub, I plan to and it is reassuring to have that available!
We combine our Year 4 and Year 6 children together.
Appreciate all the work that has gone into creating each grade level work.
As a teacher & homeschooling parent, I have an appreciation for all the time that has been put into developing the content appropriate to each grade.
Thank you.