Curriculum Posting (finally!): Grade 3
So, now that we're almost done with the school year, let's do some curriculum posting, shall we?
I really have been all over the map with my homeschool curriculum (and my homeschool philosophy too) this year, so a few things have changed along the way. Mostly we have added stuff.
I think I'll post by girl-- starting with N and her 3rd grade curriculum for the year. Sound good? Mmmmkay!
READING
As you know if you've ever read any of my curriculum posts, we don't really do a reading curriculum. We just read. N constantly has two or three books going. She loves herself a good mystery and has buzzed through a good portion of our library's collection of Nancy Drew (and the graphic novels) and The Boxcar Children. Lately she has discovered A to Z Mysteries and is loving them! Anything funny and/or about kids her own age is obviously a big hit, and so earlier this year she read the whole Ivy & Bean series and lately it has been Ella Diaries and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. We also read through the first two books in the Kit series together for a homeschool project earlier this year. There are lots of other books she loves-- too many to name!
For read-alouds we have been all about Harry Potter this year, using the Jim Dale audiobooks (the best!) whenever we ride in the car. We read Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire over the summer, and Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince this school year (with a break after Order of the Phoenix to read The Phantom Tollbooth for something different). We just finished The Deathly Hallows.
WRITING
Writing curriculum has been a bit tricky for me to decide on this year, and truth be told I still haven't really settled on anything official. At the beginning of this school year I looked over practice forms of the standardized tests that N would be taking this year if she were in public school, and then I looked at some different curriculum geared toward test prep in writing... specifically the LearnZillion ELA lessons and these curriculum maps. We tried doing a few of these lessons verbatim, and I felt they were all just slightly beyond her... I know that, in about two years, she'll be totally ready for that type of thing. She was bored and discouraged by it at this point in time. I didn't push it.
So, we have been doing a bit of mix and match. We do about one writing project each week, and sometimes I let her take the lead choosing her own topic, sometimes I give her writing prompts, and sometimes I take lessons from the above-mentioned curriculum and just adapt them a bit to make them more achievable and/or exciting for her. We typically spend a day brainstorming/outlining, a day writing a draft, a a day revising/editing (using the acronym CUPS so she can remember what to check... capitalization, understanding, punctuation, spelling) and then a day to write the final draft. It has been good this year to put a bit more emphasis on the writing *process*-- and giving her tools for editing and revising. It helps her to write more freely and creatively when she doesn't have to worry about the mechanics on the first go. We are talking short writing projects here-- one or two paragraphs at most. We have used quite a few tools from TeachersPayTeachers like these writing tab-its, and fun book reports.
Speaking of the mechanics of writing-- N struggles with those more than the average kid, I think. If she were in school I'm pretty sure she would be labeled with mild dysgraphia. Letter and number reversals are still a struggle for her, and spelling is also extremely tough. Her reading doesn't seem to be affected. Since I've become more aware it and done some reading and research on the topic, my expectations have changed a bit and I'm more patient and "big picture" about those types of things. I'm confident that things will come more easily for her with time.
She does love writing on her own-- she often writes her own "books" and lately has been very diligent about writing multiple-page entries in her diary every single day. Despite the fact that we've floundered around a bit with writing curriculum, what's important to me is that she still enjoys it and has a great mind for stories and imagination.
HANDWRITING
N has been learning cursive this year, continuing with the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum that we have been using. She has just about completed the Cursive Handwriting workbook and really enjoys it.
We are also still working through the second grade portion of Keyboarding Without Tears that we started last year-- taking our time with it as it's not a top priority for me. She enjoys that too, though, and often asks to do it. It's good to know that her typing skills will be in place when she will begin to type more of her final writing drafts in a few years.
GRAMMAR
We have focused a lot on grammar this year, using a variety of sources. I purchased these grammar tab-its and these pages and, using those, N has been compiling an interactive notebook throughout the year. We also use the Write Source Skills Book.
I think the biggest hit (with both older girls) by far in the grammar department has been The Sentence Family. I printed the whole story and stapled it together like a book and the girls just loved snuggling up and reading it together, and the images and characters helped their understanding SO much. They drew the different characters in their grammar notebooks and really had a lot of fun with it. It was a great introduction for L and reinforcement for N. I hope to go back and re-read it before the end of the year because it was so enjoyable!
When I need a visual aid we have been using the WriteAlong videos from LearnZillion or (of course) the wonderful grammar videos from Schoolhouse Rock. Singing those catchy tunes all day is definitely a great learning tool!
We have also been doing a lot of Mad Libs lately to reinforce the parts of speech. The toilet humor abounds and they're giggling while they're learning, so it's great. :)
I also purchased two new board games that have helped us a lot with grammar in a fun way. Super Sleuth is teaching us the concepts of homophones, synonyms, and antonyms; You've Been Sentenced has been a hilarious way for the girls to practice building complete sentences with both a subject and a predicate.
SPELLING
We are still using Spelling City. I LOVE this resource-- it makes things super easy and convenient for me. You can use it for free and create your own lists, and access a certain set of the games. I sprang for the premium membership last year (only $40/year) and that allows me to track multiple students (N and L), assign certain lists and games, and monitor their progress. It also unlocks additional games for them. I log in once every few weeks and check their progress, then make a batch of assignments. They just pick up the iPad each day, log in, and their daily assignment is waiting for them. Easy Peasy.
From the beginning of our homeschool journey I have waffled over purchasing All About Spelling. It seems like just the way I would want to teach spelling in a perfect world if I had all the time on earth to prepare things and sit down for uninterrupted lessons. Plus it's a bigger financial investment than Spelling City. Given N's continued struggles with spelling this year due to dysgraphic tendencies, however, I finally decided to purchase level 1. The materials arrived about three weeks ago and I have yet to even finish punching out all of the cards. !!! I'm giving myself some time and patience in these busy few weeks, though, and even if we have to work on it over the summer, I think it will still be helpful to her. Hoping to start in earnest soon.
MATH
In first and second grade N used Splash Math, but as we began third grade she and I both felt it was time for something different. Splash Math is more of an "extra practice" app-- which was fine for first and second grade, because N could figure out most of the concepts without much teaching (I just sat with her and helped her through some of the more difficult topics). Unfortunately these days it does happen a lot that Mama is busy with baby or other sisters and she has to either wait or figure things out on her own. Fortunately, we found a resource this year that gives her some tools for figuring out more difficult problems independently. That resource is Khan Academy (and it's completely free!)
She is working her way through third grade math currently and doing quite well. We are taking it slowly and will probably have to bleed over into the summer on this a little bit, too. The thing I love about it is that if she's working by herself and gets stuck, she can ask the computer for a hint, or watch a video lecture on the topic that's giving her trouble. She is also given the option to skip questions on topics she hasn't learned yet-- and the computer will "remember" and will show that she needs help on the report I get by email. The questions are very similar in format to standardized testing, so it's good to know that if we ever went that route, she will have had plenty of exposure. She also really enjoys the little avatar incentives as they're geared a bit more towards older kids than Splash Math was. I really try to sit with her and do it together as much as we can, but it's not always possible. C'est la vie.
Math fact fluency has been on my mind a lot this year. It helps N so much with the more difficult math concepts when she feels confident quickly recalling basic facts. I sort of didn't realize that Splash Math didn't have a timed math facts practice and so N missed a little bit of fluency in the lower grades. We halfheartedly did some Kicking It math at the end of last year, and it was exciting for her at first but we lost steam. We have found a great resource this year, however, called XtraMath. They take a little-bit-each-day approach that is much more N's style. So as we approach the end of the year her addition facts are in great shape and multiplication facts are well on their way to being fluent.
We did skip-counting songs to learn the multiplication tables-- she LOVED this! I'm not sure why her music educator Mama didn't think of this sooner. Duh Mom. Once we started them halfway through the year she had her multiplication tables 1-10 learned within two weeks!!
We borrowed mostly from the Classical Conversations skip-counting songs... N got a big kick out of little Isabel and watched this video many times:
We have done a couple of hands-on math projects this year like taking surveys and graphing the results, measuring and comparing things around the house, and building a scale model of the solar system. Of course she helps me cook and bake a lot so she has a great fundamental understanding of fractions. We also really enjoy the Sir Cumference and MathStart books for learning math concepts through stories, and luckily our library has most of them! If we're tackling a difficult new concept I can usually find a story about it and ILL it for N to peruse.
Wow-- this is long! Perhaps I'll save art, music, science, and social studies for another day!
I really have been all over the map with my homeschool curriculum (and my homeschool philosophy too) this year, so a few things have changed along the way. Mostly we have added stuff.
I think I'll post by girl-- starting with N and her 3rd grade curriculum for the year. Sound good? Mmmmkay!
READING
As you know if you've ever read any of my curriculum posts, we don't really do a reading curriculum. We just read. N constantly has two or three books going. She loves herself a good mystery and has buzzed through a good portion of our library's collection of Nancy Drew (and the graphic novels) and The Boxcar Children. Lately she has discovered A to Z Mysteries and is loving them! Anything funny and/or about kids her own age is obviously a big hit, and so earlier this year she read the whole Ivy & Bean series and lately it has been Ella Diaries and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. We also read through the first two books in the Kit series together for a homeschool project earlier this year. There are lots of other books she loves-- too many to name!
For read-alouds we have been all about Harry Potter this year, using the Jim Dale audiobooks (the best!) whenever we ride in the car. We read Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire over the summer, and Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince this school year (with a break after Order of the Phoenix to read The Phantom Tollbooth for something different). We just finished The Deathly Hallows.
WRITING
Writing curriculum has been a bit tricky for me to decide on this year, and truth be told I still haven't really settled on anything official. At the beginning of this school year I looked over practice forms of the standardized tests that N would be taking this year if she were in public school, and then I looked at some different curriculum geared toward test prep in writing... specifically the LearnZillion ELA lessons and these curriculum maps. We tried doing a few of these lessons verbatim, and I felt they were all just slightly beyond her... I know that, in about two years, she'll be totally ready for that type of thing. She was bored and discouraged by it at this point in time. I didn't push it.
So, we have been doing a bit of mix and match. We do about one writing project each week, and sometimes I let her take the lead choosing her own topic, sometimes I give her writing prompts, and sometimes I take lessons from the above-mentioned curriculum and just adapt them a bit to make them more achievable and/or exciting for her. We typically spend a day brainstorming/outlining, a day writing a draft, a a day revising/editing (using the acronym CUPS so she can remember what to check... capitalization, understanding, punctuation, spelling) and then a day to write the final draft. It has been good this year to put a bit more emphasis on the writing *process*-- and giving her tools for editing and revising. It helps her to write more freely and creatively when she doesn't have to worry about the mechanics on the first go. We are talking short writing projects here-- one or two paragraphs at most. We have used quite a few tools from TeachersPayTeachers like these writing tab-its, and fun book reports.
Speaking of the mechanics of writing-- N struggles with those more than the average kid, I think. If she were in school I'm pretty sure she would be labeled with mild dysgraphia. Letter and number reversals are still a struggle for her, and spelling is also extremely tough. Her reading doesn't seem to be affected. Since I've become more aware it and done some reading and research on the topic, my expectations have changed a bit and I'm more patient and "big picture" about those types of things. I'm confident that things will come more easily for her with time.
She does love writing on her own-- she often writes her own "books" and lately has been very diligent about writing multiple-page entries in her diary every single day. Despite the fact that we've floundered around a bit with writing curriculum, what's important to me is that she still enjoys it and has a great mind for stories and imagination.
HANDWRITING
N has been learning cursive this year, continuing with the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum that we have been using. She has just about completed the Cursive Handwriting workbook and really enjoys it.
We are also still working through the second grade portion of Keyboarding Without Tears that we started last year-- taking our time with it as it's not a top priority for me. She enjoys that too, though, and often asks to do it. It's good to know that her typing skills will be in place when she will begin to type more of her final writing drafts in a few years.
GRAMMAR
We have focused a lot on grammar this year, using a variety of sources. I purchased these grammar tab-its and these pages and, using those, N has been compiling an interactive notebook throughout the year. We also use the Write Source Skills Book.
I think the biggest hit (with both older girls) by far in the grammar department has been The Sentence Family. I printed the whole story and stapled it together like a book and the girls just loved snuggling up and reading it together, and the images and characters helped their understanding SO much. They drew the different characters in their grammar notebooks and really had a lot of fun with it. It was a great introduction for L and reinforcement for N. I hope to go back and re-read it before the end of the year because it was so enjoyable!
When I need a visual aid we have been using the WriteAlong videos from LearnZillion or (of course) the wonderful grammar videos from Schoolhouse Rock. Singing those catchy tunes all day is definitely a great learning tool!
We have also been doing a lot of Mad Libs lately to reinforce the parts of speech. The toilet humor abounds and they're giggling while they're learning, so it's great. :)
I also purchased two new board games that have helped us a lot with grammar in a fun way. Super Sleuth is teaching us the concepts of homophones, synonyms, and antonyms; You've Been Sentenced has been a hilarious way for the girls to practice building complete sentences with both a subject and a predicate.
SPELLING
We are still using Spelling City. I LOVE this resource-- it makes things super easy and convenient for me. You can use it for free and create your own lists, and access a certain set of the games. I sprang for the premium membership last year (only $40/year) and that allows me to track multiple students (N and L), assign certain lists and games, and monitor their progress. It also unlocks additional games for them. I log in once every few weeks and check their progress, then make a batch of assignments. They just pick up the iPad each day, log in, and their daily assignment is waiting for them. Easy Peasy.
From the beginning of our homeschool journey I have waffled over purchasing All About Spelling. It seems like just the way I would want to teach spelling in a perfect world if I had all the time on earth to prepare things and sit down for uninterrupted lessons. Plus it's a bigger financial investment than Spelling City. Given N's continued struggles with spelling this year due to dysgraphic tendencies, however, I finally decided to purchase level 1. The materials arrived about three weeks ago and I have yet to even finish punching out all of the cards. !!! I'm giving myself some time and patience in these busy few weeks, though, and even if we have to work on it over the summer, I think it will still be helpful to her. Hoping to start in earnest soon.
MATH
In first and second grade N used Splash Math, but as we began third grade she and I both felt it was time for something different. Splash Math is more of an "extra practice" app-- which was fine for first and second grade, because N could figure out most of the concepts without much teaching (I just sat with her and helped her through some of the more difficult topics). Unfortunately these days it does happen a lot that Mama is busy with baby or other sisters and she has to either wait or figure things out on her own. Fortunately, we found a resource this year that gives her some tools for figuring out more difficult problems independently. That resource is Khan Academy (and it's completely free!)
She is working her way through third grade math currently and doing quite well. We are taking it slowly and will probably have to bleed over into the summer on this a little bit, too. The thing I love about it is that if she's working by herself and gets stuck, she can ask the computer for a hint, or watch a video lecture on the topic that's giving her trouble. She is also given the option to skip questions on topics she hasn't learned yet-- and the computer will "remember" and will show that she needs help on the report I get by email. The questions are very similar in format to standardized testing, so it's good to know that if we ever went that route, she will have had plenty of exposure. She also really enjoys the little avatar incentives as they're geared a bit more towards older kids than Splash Math was. I really try to sit with her and do it together as much as we can, but it's not always possible. C'est la vie.
Math fact fluency has been on my mind a lot this year. It helps N so much with the more difficult math concepts when she feels confident quickly recalling basic facts. I sort of didn't realize that Splash Math didn't have a timed math facts practice and so N missed a little bit of fluency in the lower grades. We halfheartedly did some Kicking It math at the end of last year, and it was exciting for her at first but we lost steam. We have found a great resource this year, however, called XtraMath. They take a little-bit-each-day approach that is much more N's style. So as we approach the end of the year her addition facts are in great shape and multiplication facts are well on their way to being fluent.
We did skip-counting songs to learn the multiplication tables-- she LOVED this! I'm not sure why her music educator Mama didn't think of this sooner. Duh Mom. Once we started them halfway through the year she had her multiplication tables 1-10 learned within two weeks!!
We borrowed mostly from the Classical Conversations skip-counting songs... N got a big kick out of little Isabel and watched this video many times:
Some of the songs we found were too complicated, too hard to remember, or too similar to one another so that she mixed up the multiplication tables, so we searched the internet for alternate tunes.
We found this Harry Potter Math Facts game a few months ago and the girls really enjoy playing it together (and with friends when they visit!). L plays it with N and just answers the facts in addition rather than multiplication.
We found this Harry Potter Math Facts game a few months ago and the girls really enjoy playing it together (and with friends when they visit!). L plays it with N and just answers the facts in addition rather than multiplication.
(playing the game with tea and cupcakes)
We have done a couple of hands-on math projects this year like taking surveys and graphing the results, measuring and comparing things around the house, and building a scale model of the solar system. Of course she helps me cook and bake a lot so she has a great fundamental understanding of fractions. We also really enjoy the Sir Cumference and MathStart books for learning math concepts through stories, and luckily our library has most of them! If we're tackling a difficult new concept I can usually find a story about it and ILL it for N to peruse.
Wow-- this is long! Perhaps I'll save art, music, science, and social studies for another day!
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