I've changed my mind repeatedly for weeks now, and I just can't settle on what to do next year for DD's third grade. Part of the problem is that I'll be in my last year of graduate school, and my own classes are taking up more and more of my time now. But we are committed to homeschooling, and DD wants to continue being homeschooled, so I need to figure out what will work for us. Right now we are doing SOTW 2, Sassafras Science Adventures from elemental science, McRuffy Math, Math Mammoth, Jr. Great Books 2nd grade anthology, Atelier Art, FLL, WWE, Evan Moor Building Spelling Skills, and various other practice workbooks (Spectrum, Evan Moor). It is working okay, but I find that some things don't get done and other things could be done much better than they are. I'm feeling lots of mama-guilt. I think I might do a better job of getting things done with a boxed curriculum and teacher guide. I'd like something that would work for her to be able to do some work independently. At this point, I'm leaning toward Calvert and Teaching Textbooks 3. Any suggestions?

Thanks everyone. Yes, I do need to add spelling - I wasn't sure if it came with MCT or not. I think I might look at doing Evan Moor Spelling again next year along with MCT. You know, I have not really thought about language. CVA has us choose PE, Art, or Language for an elective. I definitely want to do art, but maybe I'll just purchase a good Spanish or Latin program for her myself. I'll check that out. For PE, she does ballet and then just informal activities. Great to hear from someone else at CVA! We just started DD at CVA at mid-semester for the rest of her 2nd grade year. So far I really like them! It seems very different from the other virtual schools. I like that we have so much choice in what we can do. I agree that the shared inquiry is difficult with just one child, but we do enjoy the Jr. Great Books!

Hi all! I'm really a lurker, but thought I'd post and see if anyone can give me some opinions. I'm deciding on what to do with DD for 3rd grade and so far this is what I have: Language Arts: MCT Complete Homeschool Package Level 1 Jr. Great Books series 3 Math: Teaching Textbooks Science: Either Interactive Science or Science Fusion??? Social Studies: History Odyssey which includes: The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History – 1409508587 – Textbook History Pockets: Native Americans – 1557999015 – Workbook Days of Knights and Damsels – 1556522916 – Textbook A Coloring Book of the Middle Ages – 0883880075 – Workbook Knights of the Round Table – 0394875796 – Textbook Meet Christopher Columbus – 0375812105 – Textbook Middle Ages Level One – 0976605775 – Teacher’s Edition Shakespeare for Children audio CD – Media Story of the World Volume 2 The Middle Ages – Textbook World History Atlas Art: Meet the Masters (Age 8-9) Typing: Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing She is also in a Homeschool Ballet class weekly. Am I missing anything? Any ideas for things that might be better? We are going through a virtual academy in Washington State (Columbia Virtual Academy) and I'm able to choose whatever curriculum options I want. If they are part the school catalog, then the school system will provide me with all of the materials. If something is not in the catalog, I can still use it, but will need to pay for it myself. The course catalog has so many choices it is a bit overwhelming. Here is a link to the catalog: http://www.mycva.org/course-catalog/k-8/ RIght now we are using FLL, WWE, Evan-Moor Daily Practice workbooks (Building Spelling Skills, Daily Language Review, Academic Vocabulary, Daily Geography, Modern Manuscript Practice, and Paragraph Editing), Interactive Science 2nd Grade, TimeLinks Social Studies (which I don't love), Atelier Art, and McRuffy Math. We also have a subscription to Time4Writing, but I'm not crazy about that either. Thanks! Anne

We are starting back tomorrow, too. I'm so excited! Tomorrow will be an intro to her new books and supplies, our first attempt at my new work-box system, and we'll start reading Mr. Popper's Penguins and using the MP Literature Guide with it.

Hello! I've been lurking on this board forever it seems, but finally decided to "de-lurk." I'm Anne - married to my computer geek husband Greg and mom to our 7-year-old daughter (starting 2nd grade). We live in the beautiful (and rainy) Pacific Northwest. We will be starting our 2nd year of homeschooling on August 6th. I'm looking forward to joining in on some of the conversations - but thought I should at least introduce myself. I hope I didn't do this in the wrong place!

Good luck tomorrow!! I'm sure you will do fine. What curriculum are you planning to use this year? We start back August 6th and I'm already wishing we could just go ahead and get started sooner... :)

I'm also very interested in what others have to say. I am considering using it for DD's 3rd grade year. She is starting 2nd grade in August, so I pulled some of MP's curriculum in for 2nd grade, too. She'll be doing Prima Latina and using the 2nd grade literature guides.