Here are our French immersion homeschool picks for 2025-2026, for grade 5/CM2:
(Note: none of the links below are affiliate. I am not paid to say what I say and was given no free samples!)
(Also note: I usually try as much as possible to find used copies of these books online before resorting to buying them new. And check the library. It would be quite a lot of money to buy all of these new. Am I allowed to say on the internet that I photocopy in order to save money?)
Grade 5 (CM2)
In Français:
Les mot sonts vivants CM1 by Laura Laffon
I heard nothing but good things about this book in a Facebook group called Charlotte Mason France. I decided to get it for my child in grade 5, but I bought the grade 4 level (CM1), because her French level is behind her English level.
Unfortunately, this book has been way too hard for her so far. The reading selections are quite difficult, and there is a lot of grammar that she has been finding very hard, because we hadn’t done very much grammar before this year. (Note: since this is the first year I decided to go whole hog on French immersion homeschooling, we hadn’t done much grammar. I am hoping this will be rectified with the little ones, who will do grammar starting in grade 1 from La librairie des écoles).
Even for a native French speaker I think it looks hard, especially for grade 4. The lady who wrote it must have super smart kids!
However, there are good things about this book. It is based in classical children’s literature, such as Tom Sawyer, Le Petit Prince, La gloire de mon père, The Hobbit, etc. The literature selections are interesting enough to have piqued my child’s interest. It also has a writing assignment for each chapter. It has poetry and sometimes assigns oral narration. There is also a “dictée” to work on for each chapter. One thing I really like is that it has dictionary work!
Although this book is too difficult for my fifth grader, it could be a good choice for someone whose child:
-can already read quite well in French (can read easy novels)
-has done grammar from the very beginning
-knows all 9 parts of speech
-is familiar with verb conjugation
-has experience with dictées
(One mom on Charlotte Mason France suggested giving a grammar lesson before each chapter on that chapter’s specific grammar topic).
I want to stick with this until at least next term, when I plan to switch her to a reading program from La librairie des écoles (my life is a lot easier when she can do her school work on her own!) and maybe do En route pour la dictée CE1 by Hatier for French spelling. Poor M1 had never done a French dictée before and I just threw her right into the deep end!
For French writing (expression écrite):
I wanted some extra French writing practice, and voilà. This is a fun book with many interesting and unique writing exercises such as writing about yourself, inventing imaginary things, writing a weather forecast, captioning images, writing a dialogue, etc. My fifth grader says she really likes it!
French copywork (le rallye copie):
Écriture: Stratégies de copie CE2
I like this book because it has words, sentences, and interesting paragraphs to copy. I specifically wanted something with paragraphs, not just disconnected sentences. The layout is attractive, too, and my fifth grader seems to enjoy it. (You can preview it here).
I like it so much that I ordered level CM1/CM2 as well. I saw that one section of the book is based on Ancient Greek mythology!
French Grammar:
Étude de la langue CP manuel et cahier d’exercices from La librairie des écoles.
I love La librairie des écoles! These books are a gentle and repetitive introduction to grammar, but not so easy as to be baby-ish. Although the book is for grade 1, I think you could start it at any time in elementary school, or maybe even middle school. I am using it this year for grade 2, 4, and 5. The layout is very attractive and colourful, and it progresses in a logical and systematic manner. M1 will soon be done with this book and will start the CE1 level. By the way, she said she “loves” these books. Note that your child does need to know cursive to use materials from La librairie des écoles.
Extra grammar practice on occasion:
Améliorer sa grammaire CM1/CM2 by Hatier Chouette.
Améliorer sa conjugasion CM1/CM2 by Hatier Chouette.
I have been using a lot of grammar resources from Teachers Pay Teachers and Bout de Gomme. I will probably do a separate post on how I’ve been teaching verb conjugation to my fifth grader.
French novel studies:
I’ve noticed that many of the novel suggestions for French homeschoolers are taken from English works translated into French. So it can be quite difficult to find French novels that are not translations, but they are out there.
Since M1’s reading in French is not as good as in English, I needed something fairly simple, but not baby-ish.
Nouveaux Contes de Fées by Comtesse de Ségur.
Les Malheurs de Sophie, Les petites filles modèles, and Les vacances by Comtesse de Ségur. You pretty much can’t go wrong with La Comtesse de Ségur.
Science, grades 5, 4, and 2:
4 Tavernier Books.
I am not thrilled with the Sciences expérimentales et technologie book by Tavernier. It has very little text inside and I am confused as to how it is meant to be used. It definitely isn’t meant to be a learn-at-home type book. The exercise books seem more promising. None of the dates line up for these books. The textbook is from 2010, 2 of the workbooks are from 1993, and the other workbook is from 2014. It’s a long story, but I was confused about which books to buy, and the ones from 1993 were recommended by Charlotte Mason France. Since they weren’t overly expensive, I bought all three just to see. I will probably use them as a spine to plan our science lessons, especially the CM2 workbook. It starts with a chapter on teeth, so I planned a teeth unit for us. It also has a lot about fetal development, including goat fetuses…..kind of random, but my kids love goats!
For plants, I used this workbook on photosynthesis from Teachers Pay Teachers:
Along with some pages from our Usborne Science Encyclopedia (I wish it came in French!)
Next we went on to animal classification and vertebrates vs invertebrates, using this document from TPT:
Then we did this unit from TPT and it was very fun and my kids enjoyed it a lot:
The document comes with a couple different classification activities. For the first one, we organized (on our bulletin board – I printed them small) animals into amphibiens, reptiles, birds, mammals, and fish. Then there was an activity of organizing animals into their ecosystems. Then, with all that vocab up on our bulletin board, we did the Classons les Animaux workbook. Then we did the Mon Animal book. I recommend it! Here is a picture of our bulletin board:
Teeth
For our teeth unit we started by watching an episode of C’est pas sorcier on YouTube called “Comment prendre soin de ses dents ?” Next, I found a free teeth lesson online here from J’ai rêvé de l’école:
Then we will do the relevant teeth pages from our CM2 workbook. I will probably continue to plan our science around that book. In this house we do science together with all grades.
History, grades 5, 4, and 3:
L’Histoire de l’antiquité by La librairie des écoles.
We follow a four-year history cycle of ancient, medieval, modern, and Canadian. This year we are on ancient history. I plan to use this book as our spine and supplement it with historical fiction, videos, activities, etc.
L’histoire de l’écriture by Quelle Histoire.
L’histoire de l’art racontée aux enfants from La librairie des écoles. I will probably just read the portions relevant to ancient history, and maybe any chapters that also align with the Ambleside Online artist rotation. In this house we do history all together with all the grades.
Geography:
M1 will be finishing Canada Map Book 3 this year (in English – though it is available in French!) and then progressing on to Manuel de Géographie CM1/CM2 by La librairie des écoles , but probably skipping the part about France and starting at the part about world geography.
I am also hoping we can cover Minn of the Mississippi by Holling Clancy Holling this year.
Catechism, grades 4 and 5:
Les trois blancheurs written by the FSSP. This series has been a vrai coup de coeur in this house! Not only is it doctrinally trustworthy because it is from the FSSP, but it is also serious in tone and doesn’t have googly-eyed characters and doesn’t condescend to my children, and it has questions and answers to memorize, which has really helped my children with their oral French. They are also very attractive books, and they alternate catechism lessons with stories about saints.
Unfortunately they are hard to find in Canada. I got a couple of them second hand on Amazon Canada, and another couple from Librairie de l’Emmanuel.
Bible:
I was incredibly lucky to find a French version of the Golden Children’s Bible in 6 volumes. We read through volume 3 last year and are on to volume 4 this year. Those of you familiar with the Golden Children’s Bible in English know what a treasure this is, with its language level that is not too baby-ish, but not too hard, and its lovely artwork. The Swedish Jesus is a little weird; we will just have to overlook that! It is called L’Histoire Sainte pour garçons et filles. It seems you can purchase it as an ebook here.
And can preview it here.
Saints and other edifying stories:
We started with Monette et le général by Martine Bazin. Usually I look on Librairie de l’Emmanuel for ideas, and then see if I can get the books on Amazon, new or used. Although we enjoyed this book and ordered the next two in the series, they are rather expensive, for some reason. For that reason I am not sure if we will buy the entire series. The books are about the childhood of Mère Yvonne-Aimée de Jésus, an Augustinian nun who was known for her great faith from a very young age. These books are a reprint from the 1930s. I love stories about the childhoods of saints and other holy people. They help my children to see that even saints had their naughty moments in childhood, but that didn’t stop them from seeking God with all their heart!
Madame Elisabeth de la France by Artège.
I wanted to love this book because the topic is fascinating and the artwork was lovely. It is about the sister of Louis XVI, who was very pious and chose to stay with her brother to the very end and be executed, rather than flee France and save her own life. However, it was very hard to follow. It seems the author expects you to already be an expert on the subject. Nothing was ever explained, not the characters, the political background, the historical context….I was confused for much of it.
So I found this book and got a used copy online:
It is a novel of 137 pages. We haven’t started it yet, but I am hoping it will be better than the bande dessinée. Furthermore, it looks like the publishing house Pierre Tequi has a lot of really good saint novels for kids.
If we get through all those books, I think we will start our Saint Peter bande dessinée by Glenat (the French and Belgians really are the best at saint comics!):
Unfortunately it looks like Libraire de l’Emmanuel doesn’t carry it anymore (I bought it a few years ago). Indigo has it, but it is very expensive! I would recommend trying to find a used copy online.
And, if we finish that one, I also have a bande dessinée about Thomas More:
I don’t even remember where I got it from. But it is listed on Amazon Canada.
And, finally, if we are still needing reading material, I have this book that I bought quite a few years ago but haven’t actually read yet:
Le Roi de la Cité Merveilleuse by Mother Mary Loyola is re-print from 1925 by Saint Augustine Academy Press. It looks very good. I believe it is written as an allegory. Will have to update once I’ve finally read it.
Fun Reading:
My kids love Anatole Latuile, and it’s a good way to brush up on “familier” language. It is in cursive.
We have a subscription to the J’aime Lire magazines, which my kids really like. And this month’s issue is about WWII, how cool is that? We also subscribe to Pomme d’Api. The J’aime Lire stories that we’ve had have all been pretty good so far. Nothing overtly political, woke, sexual, or pushy. They are simply good stories. Although there was one I didn’t overly enjoy because it was about a young girl who wanted to be a gondola driver despite her dad’s insistence that it was too hard for a girl, so she STOLE her dad’s gondola and drove it all over Venice like a madwoman, and helped her friend win a baking contest by getting him to the contest on time. I really didn’t like the message that you should ignore your parents and commit grand theft boat.
There is also a collection of J’aime Lire beginner novels. I found one of these at a library sale, and the other one I ordered used on Amazon. My local library also carries some of them.
M2 is improving her French reading with the help of some old Paul et Suzanne easy readers from our library. Last year she used the “Petites BD” series by Scholastic.
And of course there is Bayam! M1 and M2 go on it in the evening. It is a website (we don’t give our kids phones and tablets) with audio books, e-books, cartoons, comics, games, some movies, and other things, all in French and for only 8 euros per month. My kids improved their French comprehension so much with Bayam. And with Bayam you can listen to an audio version of each month’s J’aime Lire story. You can also discover cool characters and superheroes that are popular amongst French children. This is actually something I could make money on, because of le parrainage. If you want to subscribe and you click this link https://bayard.mention-me.com/m/ol/mh2eb-leila-chandler, we both get a bonus 5 euros.
Lastly, my children have been using Boukili, which is a Canadian website for learning to read French. It is a really nifty site. The child can open a book, try to read the words, and then click on an audio button to hear the words. The narrators have a light Quebecois accent. Note that this website doesn’t teach reading from the ground up. It is for kids who already know the basics. My children will sometimes go on it when they have finished their school work early.
If you have read this far, you may be wondering how I manage to fit all this in. We do not do all the things every day. Science is two afternoons per week this semester. Next semester we will do history two afternoons per week. My husband does math with the children from 8 to 9. From 9 to 10 I do morning time with them. On Mondays and Tuesdays we do Bible, then a couple poems, and then Latin. On Wednesday and Thursday it is the same except we do catechism instead of Bible. On Friday it’s a saint story. From 10 am onwards the children do their individual work. Reading and writing are every day. Geography, Graphilettre, and grammar are 2-3 times per week.
And that is the end of that very long post. Stay tuned for what we are using for the littles this year, and what have chosen for English subjects.
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