It’s time for my youngest to hit the midway point of elementary school! Yes, she is ready to tackle 3rd grade. I thought with 2 kids, it’d be easy to just do the same thing as I did with my older kid. However, the beauty of homeshcooling is that we can customize their educational experience to meet their unique needs and interests every step of the way. Sure, we’ll be doing some of the same things I did 3 years ago with Big Sis, but I’m also adding in some extra STEM because that’s what makes my youngest super happy! Here’s a look at what we have planned for her 3rd grade homeschool curriculum.
History and Science Curriculum
She is moving on to BookShark’s Reading with History level C Intro to World Cultures year 2 of 2. She was quite engaged with this level when her older sister did it 3 years ago, so I’ve been hesitant to redo it with her. I started looking for something else, but she is quite adamant that it’s her turn to do these books “for real”. She is a more advanced reader than her sister was at this age, so I ordered the grade 4 readers for her. She breezed through the readers for levels 2 and 3 last year.
She will also be doing BookShark’s level C Science which covers life science, meteorology, and mechanical technology. She’s my science kid so it’s been really hard to keep her hands off these books until we start the school year. I let my kids explore their new books for a day or two before shelving them for the new year, but I’ve caught her several times digging out these science books.
Since she’s so interested in science, we’ll be doing a lot of child-led learning. She’s still into robotics, space, and coding. She’ll continue learning about those topics with Hour of Code, her favorite robots, Scientist Academy, Engineer Academy, and (fingers crossed) a local robotics competition team.
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3rd Grade Language Arts Curriculum Choices
Reading and Spelling Curriculum
This is the first year that I won’t have a child doing All About Reading. Now, she just has her readers from BookShark. We’ve been so lucky to find top quality books with these two programs.
She’s still working through All About Spelling and will be starting level 5 this year. Spelling has been very easy for her – partly due to All About Learning Press’ recommendation to starting their reading program before their spelling program. She learns to spell words that she’s long since learned to read. This is very different from what our local schools teach. It was hard to break away from the idea of teaching both at the same time. I’m so glad I staggered these two similar but different subjects. Learn more about the benefits of delaying spelling instruction.
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The Rest of Language Arts
This is the first year that we aren’t doing anything from Brave Writer. While we enjoyed the copywork and dictation lessons, the writing projects repeatedly fell flat with my kids. At the end of last year, we switched to Institute for Excellence in Writing. My oldest had already been using their Fix it! Grammar program, so it only seemed natural to try their Structure and Style writing course. Both of my kids are doing the course together, and I added in Fix It! Grammar for my youngest.
She will continue to learn to write in cursive with Peterson Directed Handwriting. This program is not something I see recommended often, but we really enjoy it. It uses key words to describe the motion needed to make the letters. The student says the words as they write. This really helps with speed and flow. Other programs do this, but this program keeps it simple.
3rd Grade Math, Economics, Civics, and Academy books
Math
She’ll be starting 3rd grade with Singapore Math’s Primary Mathematics level 3. She picks up math easily, so I’ll be adding in their Challenging Word Problems and Intensive Practice Workbooks. As a family, we’ll be working with other math supplements like Logic-Math Exercises for Elementary-Age Children and More Logic-Math Exercises for Young Children. We also love the Bedtime Math series of books.
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Extras
We’ve been fans of the Tuttle Twins book series for several years. These books break down complex economics and civics concepts into stories that children can understand. My kids have read most of them on their own, but we’ve never done the extra workbooks activities that come with the set. We are no strangers to the concepts taught in the books, so we never felt that we needed the extra help in discussing the books with our kids. However, we’re going to take a more structured approach to this series this year by including these books in our Morning Basket time and using the workbooks.
My youngest has a very entrepreneurial mindset so we will continue to help her (and Big Sis) develop these skills and start small businesses. We’ll be working through Entrepreneur Academy this year to help them bring their ideas to life. This is what sets homeschooling apart from regular school! We can take our kids’ interests and help them run with it.
We’ll also be continuing with video lessons from Nana at Chalk Pastel. My kids love these lessons! They’ve even hosted art classes with their friends and guided them through activities. I love when my kids learn something that they’re eager to pass onto friends!
That’s about it for our 3rd grade homeschool curriculum choices. I’m sure we’ll add things here and there as we move through the year. This kid LOVES to create her own projects so I’m excited to see what she puts together on her own this year.
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