Third Grade Curriculum

Overview:

You will likely see a significant shift between 2nd-3rd grades or 3rd-4th. The workload picks up in 3-5th because it’s more about application of skills than it is about acquiring skills. In math, the four processes are still being acquired. You may see fractions and measurement conversions based on the curriculum you’re using.

Language Arts:

• Spelling - I like lists from superteacherworksheets.com - it’s a subscription service that is $25 a year

• Reading Comprehension work once in a while (like, 1-2x a week on a topic related to other studies, holidays, etc.) - also superteachworksheets.com

• Writing with Ease level 3 - this works as grammar as well

• Mad Libs for grammar and language

• Writing, for whatever reason, is so much easier for me when it’s integrated into other subjects and is not based in language arts. And I’m a certified high school Language arts teacher. Go figure.

Reading:

• Chapter books of child’s choosing. Between 2nd and 3rd grade my oldest child read the Harry Potter Series and the Narnia series. My younger boys enjoyed Magic Tree House. And my daughter reads with me because, preschool/kindergarten.

• Illustrated Treasury of Classics and Classic Starts books

• Chapter book read alouds, this year we read the following aloud together:

  • Fairy Tales (Brothers Grimm)

  • Call of the Wild by Jack London

  • Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne

  • The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Math:

We’ve done a few different maths for grade 3:

• Abeka 3 once, and will not do it again for grade 3 - it works for many families but it just made us combative

• Singapore math 3a and 3b - good math program, not my favorite, but it’s solid and very well done

• Masterbooks 3 - this has ended up being what I like best and continue to use. I really like how they introduce multiplication vs. other programs.

Penmanship/Writing/Grammar:

• I really like integrating writing from other subjects in the form of assignments in other areas. (Nature Study Club always involves some writing, for instance)

• Writing with Ease 3

• Fun writing units from curriculum bundles

• Mad Libs Reading & Writing 4 for some fun and grammar work - the less enthusiastic writers in my house enjoyed this work

History/Social Studies:

• Story of the World Volume 2/ Moving into Story of the World Volume 3

• Pinterest for resources that go with Story of the World, including book lists

• Occasional geography studies, again I prefer unit studies for this sort of thing

Science:

• Nature Study Club Junior Explorers

• I started reading my favorite science books by John Hudson Tiner at this level, and they work for this grade all the way through middle school.

• The Tiner science series is a really accessible, narrative format. I started with Exploring the World of Biology and we all really liked it! If you want workbooks and tests, they can be purchased through Masterbooks. We did not use them.

Enrichment/Electives/Extracurriculars:

• Tie field trips and activities to learning: I remember this grade being the one with my oldest where I first went out of order in a textbook, and now I do that all the time when a book is just a broad overview. We had an astronomy field trip upcoming so we skipped to the end chapter of his science book and studied it as a family in preparation for our field trip. I was sad I hadn’t attempted this before, because the knowledge being tied to a real life experience is amazing!

• Seek homeschool sports, league sports, or sports through your local schools if that’s your thing

• Fine Arts classes are always lovely!

Third Grade: What I wished I would have done & what went well

1. Family Style learning was a great discovery! It is not without hiccups and speed bumps, but it is a good way to work together. My favorite subjects to group are Science and History.

2. I would have used Writing with Ease 3. I find that when it comes to writing, I often was ‘winging it’ which is not horrible since I’m an English Teacher and can do that easily enough BUT it is nice to feel like things have a clear start point and end point.

3. I was happy to have discovered unit studies at this point for my middle two children. They both really enjoyed the unit study model more than a daily ELA curriculum where you have a page a day (like their math).