Our Third Grade Homeschooling Curriculum

It’s that time again, folks! *cues the Christmas music* It’s the most wonderful time of the yeeeear . . . Curriculum Unboxing Time!! ((wild cheers))

*ahem* I shall try to curb my enthusiasm while I unveil our choices for our (mostly) classical third-grade homeschooling curriculum. If you’re looking for suggestions for a different grade, check out our curriculum category.

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A Word about Classical Education

We are primarily classical educationalists. But I’m not exactly “by the book” with our style. But if there was a book that I am “by” it would be The Well-Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer. My philosophy lines up with their recommendations 98 percent of the time.

This book is an invaluable guide when deciding which subjects to cover and when, what your learning objectives will be at different ages, choosing curriculum, and crafting a workable schedule. But, more than all of that, it provides clear explanations of the classical style and gives you the all-important why behind what you’re doing.

I highly recommend owning a copy. I reference mine all the time.

Reading

Our reading list this year is fairly extensive so I have included it as a separate post. You can check it out here –> Classic Literature for Third Grade—A Suggested Reading List. (And grab the adorable printable bookmarks while you’re there!)

Classical education advocates reading a variety of high-quality books in literature, history, art, science, and more. We read classic novels, plays, poetry, myths and fables, etc.

For history, we read fiction pieces written during the time period we’re studying, as well as biographies and other non-fiction. Where possible we read original writings: books, journals, letters, and other documents written by the actual people we’re studying. In science, we read a lot of non-fiction about each concept as we explore it, but also biographies of scientists. Same with art and music. There are even really fun books about math out there!

Unlike the Charlotte Mason method, a classical approach means the use of abridged classics. I believe there are many benefits to this:

• you are still reading a high-quality story, which will then be familiar to your child when they read the original later;
• it helps ensure the material they’re reading is age-appropriate;
• they are usually perfect for my daughter to read independently, while still being challenging;
• it frees up more time for mom if you need to work with your other children.

I firmly believe in the classical approach of combining regular reading in three areas:

• below instructional level: for pure enjoyment and easier comprehension;
• at instructional level: where real progress is made in fluency;
• and above instructional level: where you read to them. This allows them to absorb far more vocabulary, complex sentence structure, and knowledge than just reading at their own reading level ever would.

Writing

We are adding a new element to language arts this year. We will be using The Complete Writer: Level 2 Workbook for Writing with Ease as a writing curriculum. This program uses the classical skills of copywork, narration, and dictation to guide the student toward mastery in crafting and writing their own work. It builds a solid foundation in the difficult skill that adults take for granted—turning ideas from your head into well-written sentences on paper.

The workbook provides lessons, student worksheets, and teacher instructions so it can be used all by itself. That is what we will be doing. However, it is designed for use with the book The Complete Writer, Writing with Ease: Strong Fundamentals: A Guide to Designing Your Own Elementary Writing Curriculum. This book gives you more explanation about instructional methods, how to implement them, and how to create an entire writing program for first through fourth grades. If you are not familiar with classical writing instructional methods, I highly recommend you use these books together.

Grammar

I love First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind by the same publisher as our writing curriculum. It introduces grammar concepts in an easy and fun, yet structured way. This will be our third year using it.

It exposes the student to wonderful classic poems, stories, and art, as well as original works. The student learns parts of speech and grammar rules and practices narration and memorization. Writing is kept to a minimum at the earlier levels so as not to create too heavy a writing workload on young students, who may do lots of writing in other subjects. So these lessons are teacher-led and done mostly verbally.

The Instructor Guide reinforces grammar and writing skills learned in previous levels, as well as scripted lesson suggestions for new material. And, of course, the Student Workbook provides all the pages the student will need, poems to memorize, blank sentence diagramming lines, etc. without the need to copy and prepare lessons.

Penmanship

This is our second year using Zaner-Bloser Handwriting. Last year the curriculum transitioned from manuscript to cursive where it picks up again in Grade 3. It is a simple, easy to use curriculum that gets results. My daughter now writes in cursive better than she ever wrote in manuscript!

I must say, the biggest plus is that this is a hands-free subject for me. I quickly demonstrate the letters to be practiced, ensure she is doing it correctly, and review the work to be done. Off she goes! The simplest 15 minutes of our homeschool day. We are extremely happy with this program.

Math

We love, love, love Horizons Math and are sticking with it for year numero three. There are some key reasons why it is such a favorite:

• It has a spiral-based approach, mixing new concepts with repeated practice of old ones at regular intervals and slowly increasing difficulty levels.
• The worksheets are so kid-friendly, bright and colorful, and not overwhelming.
• The teacher’s guide is thorough and comprehensive. It provides everything you need, including extra practice ideas if necessary and optional activities and games.
• The program relies heavily on manipulatives, which balance out the worksheets and are so important for a real grasp of number sense.

Read: The Only Four (Store-Bought) Math Manipulatives You Need . . .

Science

It’s tough to find a chemistry program that is both designed for third graders and is really educational, not just a collection of teach-nothing kitchen science experiments. Elemental Science is one great option. We used it in first and second grades.

But, this year, I found something new that also follows our classical trivium, so we’re giving it a shot! It’s R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey, Chemistry (level 1). And, like Elemental Science, it brings the scientific method to elementary-aged kids.

These are not just “experiments” that mess up your kitchen and teach no actual science. It teaches real scientific skills (observing, gathering data, hypothesizing, speculating, interpreting, concluding, etc.) and knowledge (atoms, molecules, states of matter, periodic table, chemical reactions, etc.).

Each lesson begins in a story format to introduce a concept. Then it’s followed by 1 to 5 hands-on activities to reinforce the concept. It is a complete year’s curriculum in one book. (It does include supplemental reading suggestions.) You need no background in science to teach it. And Home Science Tools has a lab kit available that provides 30 of the harder-to-find materials for the experiments. We can’t wait to try it out!

History

For the past two years, we have been using Story of the World to study history in chronological order. This year, we have reached the Renaissance-through-1850 stage. I’ll explain what we’ve used before and what we’re changing up this year. Both are great options.

In first and second grades, we used:

• Story of the World (reading text and spine)
• Usborne Encyclopedia of World History – Internet Linked (reference book)
  • only purchase once and use all four years
  • a fantastic resource for expanding your study and beautiful color illustrations
• Story of the World – Activity Book (teacher’s manual and supplemental activity book)

This year, we are continuing with the first two of those (our spine and reference book). But I found a new option for the activity book: History Odyssey (from the makers of R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey above). We will be using the Early Modern Level One, which complements the volume of Story of the World we are on this year and is designed precisely for third grade. (They have guides to go with each of the other SOTW volumes if you’re at a different spot.)

It provides the same things that the SOTW’s activity book does:

• Lesson plans and teacher’s guide,
• writing/narration activities,
• hands-on projects,
• supplement reading suggestions, and
• map work.

In addition to the SOTW spine and the Usborne Encyclopedia, History Odyssey uses History Pockets: Colonial America and Moving West, as well as several historical fiction books which are widely available at libraries.

Why try this if we were happy with SOTW’s activity guide? Because, for one, I’m always excited to try out new classical education products. But I love that, while it can be adapted for multiple grades, it is designed specifically for third grade. I hope it will liven up the routine, while still covering the same time period with a classical education approach.

In short—they are both great options.

Geography

I incorporate a lot of geography into our history lessons, using maps and globes to teach where events happened. But I still like to provide some more formal geography lessons in things like:

• map reading skills,
• compass roses, map keys, grids and indexes, scales,
• present-day maps (rather than strictly historical), and
• different kinds of maps: weather, topographical, political, etc.

We are continuing with Evan-Moor Educational Publishers’ Daily Geography Practice, Grade 3 this year. I love these books because they are simple and fun. We aim for one lesson a week, usually spending just 10 to 15 minutes a couple of days a week. I often assign this while I work with my PreK’er.

My daughter loves to color, cut, and glue the worksheets. And I love that the skills get through to her without turning this into another BIG subject for me to teach.

Electives

Music

Piano is my choice for a beginner’s instrument (despite its size) because I feel it’s easy and intuitive (relatively speaking). And so much of the musical knowledge and concepts gained with piano can be easily applied to other instruments later on.

We have a Williams Legato 88-Key keyboard. I love its realistic size and sound. And the semi-weighted keys are perfect for little fingers that are not quite ready for full weight but should have a realistic instrument, not a toy. However, any piano or electronic keyboard (provided it’s full size or close to it) will work for giving your child a great start in playing music.

This year we are using Alfred’s Basic Piano Prep Course Level A to give our daughter a strong grasp of the basics. The set comes with four books for lessons, theory, technique, and notation.

Art

I am farming out this class this year! At the end of second grade, our daughter tried some classes specifically for homeschoolers at a local creative arts studio, and she had a blast!

I include this here to encourage you to explore all your options, even ones outside your home. That’s one of the greatest benefits of being a homeschooler—MORE choices! These classes provide:

• a social outlet and a way for her to engage with other homeschoolers,
• exposure to a classroom setting,
• a break in the monotony of our schedule, AND
• something mom doesn’t have to teach!

Health

As a component of P.E., we are using Horizons Health Grade 3. The set includes a student workbook and teacher’s manual and it covers units on human anatomy, feelings and mental health, relationships, healthy living, safety, and medicines and drugs.

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This classical third-grade homeschooling curriculum is challenging and yet totally doable. It is infused with lots of hands-on projects and opportunities to customize your child’s learning. Lastly, the reason I love so many of these resources is that they are adaptable to different grades or to teaching multiple children at once.

If you’re looking for suggestions for a different grade, click here.

Read: How to Develop a Long-Term Plan for Your Child’s Education – Homeschooling with a Trivium