Our Third Grade Curriculum Picks

Third Grade is here, ready or not! I finally have all of my ducks in a row and am going to share which curricula I’ve picked for Maddie this year. We have a BUSY semester ahead chock full of fun museum classes and extra-curriculars.

This post is more for record keeping than anything. Just know that what works for my kid/family may or may not work for yours. I’ve linked everything that’s linkable if you’d like to check out any of my picks for her this year.

Math

This year for math, Madeline is taking Year 3 with Teaching Textbooks. We’ve used this online math curriculum in the past before with my older daughter, Lorelai, and have had great success with it. I’m excited for Maddie to try it out this year!

We also supplement our math curriculum with basic math facts worksheets, games like Sum Swamp & I See 10, Race to Planet X, and Yahtzee.

Language Arts / Reading / Writing

For the third year in a row, we are using The Good and the Beautiful’s Language Arts curriculum. This is not a secular program, but it’s easy to skip parts as needed. I can’t say enough good things about TGAB curriculum. It just WORKS with Maddie.

For reading, Maddie will be following the novels that came with their third grade language arts set.

For our read-aloud selections, check out this post. We love reading and spend a good chunk of our homeschool day enjoying novels!

The curriculum I picked above will also have writing projects. However, I also bought this Scary Writing Prompts workbook to try with Maddie. It’s recommended for kids a little older than her, but I feel like she’d be up for the challenge.

Science

This year I picked Noeo Science (Physics I) to use for Maddie. It’s experiment-heavy and is ready to go right out of the box. It came with a bundle of interesting science resource books and materials for the experiments, along with the workbooks and teacher guide. We are so excited to get started on this one!

In addition, we’ve been working our way through the Magic Schoolbus science experiments. I found a PDF online years ago with tons of worksheets and guides, but I haven’t been able to find it again to link it properly. If anyone finds it, let me know! They are simple and follow the episodes. Maddie loves them!

Maddie will also be taking classes at nearby nature centers, as well as at a natural science museum. The museum classes range from early elementary up through high school, with basic classes for the younger students and dissection classes for the older kids. (Lorelai has dissected a sheep’s heart before, among other things!)

History/Social Studies

The Story of the World, Volume One, is what we’ll be using with Madeline this year. I used this with Lorelai during her first year homeschooling and we really enjoyed it. Read a chapter about ancient history, and then do the activity/craft and answer questions. I plan to design supplemental worksheets and crafts to help drive the lessons home for Maddie.

Art

Maddie will be taking a weekly art class at an art museum this fall!
I also have a ton of art reference books, guides, and Youtube art tutorials to supplement.

Physical Education

Staying active won’t be a problem! Maddie is joining a swim team that will meet 3-4 days a week (she’s doing lessons first to get the basic swim strokes down). We also are planning to do park days, trampoline park trips with friends (we have a membership), and basketball & tennis at our neighborhood rec center.

Other Stuff:

• Handwriting: she will be working out of this cursive handwriting workbook.
• Typing: We will use this website to help her learn to type faster and more accurately.
• Piano: Hoffman Academy is a wonderful resource for beginner piano players!
• Co-Op: Unfortunately, co-op with our local homeschool group doesn’t fit into our schedule this fall, but we’re hoping to be able to add it in the spring!

Extra Curriculars:

• Swim Team
• Girl Scouts
• Choir

This school is gearing up to be full of fun and learning (and fun learning!). I’ll be sure to share updates and recaps of our homeschooling adventures. What curriculum did you pick out for your kids? I’d love to hear about your choices!