Before wrapping up our 2019-2020 school year (our fifth year homeschooling!), I dove into curriculum planning for next school year. It’s one of my favorite things. So today I’ll share with you our 3rd grade homeschool curriculum choices.
You can find our 6th grade curriculum choices for 2019-2020 here.
You can find our 1st grade curriculum choices for 2019-2020 here.
Factors That Affected Our Curriculum Choices
All of my kids are different from each other and every year I learning something new about each of them, so the first thing I do is update what I know about their Learning Preferences. My rising 3rd grader is an independent learner, so I knew that I needed to continue to focus on finding ways to allow him to work on his own as much as possible.
I also updated what I know about his Difficulties, Dislikes, and Delights. My middle boy loves music and dislikes jumping from topic to topic, so I took those things into account.
I then considered the Three D’s from a family level. We’re in a season where I’ve time-blocked mornings for focusing on personal projects, so I decided that I would put a high priority on independent work for all of my kids this upcoming school year.
And, lastly, my philosophy is that it’s better to get effective learning done quickly than to have it take a lot of time while trying to make it “fun.” Work smart, not unnecessarily hard.
3rd Grade Homeschool Curriculum Choices
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Morning Work
For early elementary, I like to focus on calendaring activities. For this school year, I’ve created new calendar worksheets for my kids to use.
I’ve been dabbling in mindfulness for the last several months, reflecting on the best part of each day and taking stock of my emotions. I’ve found it to be a helpful practice, so I’m incorporating mindfulness into my kids’ days with their Morning Work with worksheets that I’ve created to track their emotions and to note the best part of each day.
I like the idea of my kids starting off the day with fun(ish) brain exercises to get their mental juices flowing, so Scholastic Daily Word Ladders will be part of my middle boy’s Morning Work binder.
Bible
My son has been reading through a book of devotions, so he will continue with that until he’s completed the book.
Math
In an effort to find a math curriculum that allows my son to work independently and uses the mastery approach, this year we’re going with Math Mammoth, which I purchased through the Homeschool Buyers Co-op.
Reading
We’ll likely start off the school year by reading through Bridges Beyond.
I also plan to assign my son books from a reading list that I’ll put together for him, along with worksheets (that I create) focusing on characters, setting, vocabulary, etc. We may also try a Literature Unit from Confessions of a Homeschooler.
Handwriting
This is the year my third grader learns cursive! Handwriting Without Tears has worked well for him in the past (you can see one of my reviews of Handwriting Without Tears here), so this coming up year we’re going with Handwriting Without Tears – Cursive Handwriting.
Grammar
Since I’m focusing on independent learning for my students this coming up year, we’ll cover grammar using Evan-Moor’s Grammar & Punctuation for Grade 3.
Spelling
For third grade spelling, we’re continuing with Evan-Moor’s Building Spelling Skills. But I do plan to supplement with extra sentence writing.
My son will also work through Explode the Code Book 7 for extra phonics practice.
Writing
Workbooks work well for my son, allowing him to work independently after some initial teaching, so for writing this year we’re going to try Evan-Moor’s Daily 6-Trait Writing.
History
We’re going to tackle history (somewhat) together with Story of the World Volume 2 – Middle Ages. We went through volume 1 (Ancient Times) a few years ago. It actually took us two years to get through that time period, but this time around I want to make it easy-breezy by simply listening to the audiobook during lunch and maybe doing one little project a week. I may also incorporate Project Passport: The Middle Ages and Homeschool in the Woods Lap-Pak: The Knights. We plan to study the Middle Ages as a group, but we’ll see how that goes.
For our United States studies, my son will do Homeschool in the Woods’ U.S. Elections Lap-Pak and then Knowledge Box Central’s U.S. Government Lapbook.
Science
I’m excited to try Berean Builders’ Science in the Beginning with my two younger boys. My third grader will also be using the Older Student Notebook. In order to make things easier for me, I also purchased the lab kit from Rainbow Resources.
Geography
We’ll be tackling geography as a separate subject this year with Evan-Moor’s Daily Geography Practice, Grade 3. It takes hardly any time and covers the subject well.
Typing
My third grader will continue to spend about ten minutes a day on a typing game with Typing Instructor for Kids.
Piano
My husband (former middle school choir director) plans to get all of the boys started on piano lessons (and maybe voice lessons?) with him this coming up year. I’m not gonna lie – that sounds stressful to me. Better him than me. 😜
He chose this series of books for their piano lessons. Hoping for the best. 🤞
