nixpix5 Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 I have completely revamped my plan for DD. I think I finally have it where I want it though. Math: Saxon 54 and Beast Academy as a supplement Writing: Finish last bit of BJU English 3 and then IEW Fables, Myths and Fairy Tales Grammar: Fix it! Robin Hood Literature: Mosdos Opal along with 3 or 4 MBTP lit studies. Spelling: SYS D Cursive: Start Write copy work from lit and history Subjects with her siblings: History: Biblioplan 2 using SOTW 2 as the spine with lots of good read alouds. Science: finish up BJU science 3 and then we will do a combo of TGTB nature study and MBTP science unit studies that correspond with our lit studies. I really want to keep science fun and discovery based this next year. Geography: SCM - Europe along with Draw Europe, 10 days in Europe, Geopuzzle Europe, recipes, lit for deeper country studies and so forth Art: Artistic Pursuits 2 Computer/STEM: Arduino, raspberry pi We haven't registered for enrichment classes yet but she typically take 4-5 electives each semester. One will be Latin for sure though and she always does theater. One will probably be PE based. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahrb Posted May 28, 2018 Share Posted May 28, 2018 On 2/6/2018 at 1:52 AM, Pegs said: Science: Undecided Pegs, I noticed in your signature that you have used Mystery Science. What have you liked and not liked about it? My 2nd grader has loved the Quark Chronicles for science (biology of plants, animals, and humans) the last 2 years, but unfortunately the next book is not out yet so we are curriculum shopping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted May 29, 2018 Share Posted May 29, 2018 I have finally started thinking about next yr. I am going to build history and science around a couple of Holling C Holling books. We have to sit down together and decide on which ones. She is a strong math student. She will be doing Horizons 4th and 5th next yr along with HOE. I might buy BA 3. I was really disappointed by 2A bc she was so far beyond its content, so I am gong to wait and see if I have surplus in my budget. We will be doing Treasured Conversations for writing, HTTS for spelling, and pen pal letters for handwriting. She wants to learn Latin, but I am going to have to see how much time we have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahrb Posted May 29, 2018 Share Posted May 29, 2018 (edited) I can't believe this will be our 3rd year of homeschooling!!! My son will be entering 3rd grade and my daughter will be happy to be 4. I don't intend to do any formal preschool with her this year - she is with her grandma twice a week and enjoys a rich learning environment with her, and occasionally attends a community preschool, so I think between all that and sometimes listening in on her brother's lessons at home, we'll be fine to wait until she turns 5. This year, we homeschooled 3 days a week at home and 2 days a week with grandma (who covered history, art, and occasionally some math or reading help / review) while I worked 12-16 hours a week outside of the home. Next year, it is quite possible that I may increase my work to 32 hours a week (for the benefits!), but I am committed to homeschooling I will be increasing my work hours to 24 a week at the office, plus 3-4 a week from home. I think that I may have my son with me 2 or 3 days a week at the office doing independent work. We test-drove that plan at the end of this school year and it went pretty well. (If it is just 2 days a week, then he will be doing school with Grandma 1 day a week as well.) I am nervous and excited and in over my head all at once. Constructive Criticism or suggestions invited! Without further ado, the basic plan: 1) ELA: continue ELTL Level 2 - my son is starting to do these lessons independently, with help from librivox - mostly independent, add one writing day (either outsourcing this to a teaching on outschool or thinking of using WriteShop Primary or Junior on our day at home together) (purchasing EIW Essentials in Writing - needed something less teacher-intensive!) 2) Reading: silent reading and reading aloud together, no program chosen at this time but may supplement with newsela or other reading comprehension resources - mostly independent 3) Math: continue Beast Academy - we just finished 2A and started 2B; continue to the end of level 2 and evaluate - introduce new concepts together, practice/review independently and/or with Grandma 4) Science: Mystery Science? open to suggestions. We did Quark Chronicles: Botany and Zoology for 1st grade, and mostly Quark Chronicles: Anatomy for 2nd grade Kiddo nixed Mystery Science because he wants to do Chemistry, so we will use RS4K Focus on Chemistry and Focus on Physics, plus supplements based on interest in Chemistry and Physics related topics. 5) Bible: Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids ... OR Long Story Short (we use this sporadically right now and like it) I have two goals - 1) read more of the Bible, mostly through stories but possibly some out of the actual text this year and 2) use supplements to teach doctrine and general knowledge (Buck Denver on Netflix, Leading Little Ones to God and Training Hearts, Teaching Minds for doctrine/catechism) 6) History: SoTW 3 7) Fine Arts: Grandma is an artist, so I leave this up to her! 8.) Gym: not sure ... want to continue Martial Arts, but considering gymnastics and/or apps (sworkit) instead due to travel limitations We will do Martial Arts if the teacher offers classes in our area. If not, I will lean on Outschool classes. 9) Library: go twice a month and use it! 10) Health: look at the K-3 curriculum we used sporadically this year and make a plan, either to use it more next year or to study the topics it lays out with age-appropriate books 11) Miscellaneous: supplementing with Brainpop, Spelling City, math apps, a couple of online learning sites, and Outschool (especially hoping to get some maps / geography in with outschool this year). Edited July 17, 2018 by sarahrb Edited to show changes in curricula choices and schedule Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegs Posted May 29, 2018 Share Posted May 29, 2018 18 hours ago, sarahrb said: Pegs, I noticed in your signature that you have used Mystery Science. What have you liked and not liked about it? My 2nd grader has loved the Quark Chronicles for science (biology of plants, animals, and humans) the last 2 years, but unfortunately the next book is not out yet so we are curriculum shopping. I really liked what I've seen of Mystery Science, and I'm happy to recommend it. I hope you gain as much from it as we have! I didn't always put together materials for the activities, but we enjoyed the assessments and found them to be relevant and thought-provoking. DS has already done most of the mysteries, and now prefers to pick topics from Brainpop and give oral narrations (which I scribe for him). We do science twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm vaguely planning to leave him to his Brainpop on one of those days, and do some marine biology on the other day. I've ordered books from this set: https://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/019437 I'm in touch with a local marine biologist, and I'm hopeful that she'll join us for some labs and field work. We're close to the beach, and marine biology is DS' passion. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 My upcoming third grader is reading at a first grade level. His siblings all made it into a rigorous charter school, but they wouldn't take him. So I get to focus just on him this year and get him tested into 4th grade next year at the charter school. Can we do it? I sure hope so. Barton reading and spelling, plus vision therapy CLE LA 3 Saxon math 3 & 5/4, double pace if he's up to it. Copy work in cursive Lots of reading and read alouds with oral narration. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arliemaria Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 6 minutes ago, Heidi said: My upcoming third grader is reading at a first grade level. His siblings all made it into a rigorous charter school, but they wouldn't take him. So I get to focus just on him this year and get him tested into 4th grade next year at the charter school. Can we do it? I sure hope so. Barton reading and spelling, plus vision therapy CLE LA 3 Saxon math 3 & 5/4, double pace if he's up to it. Copy work in cursive Lots of reading and read alouds with oral narration. Has your son been diagnosed with a reading disability/dyslexia? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 17 minutes ago, arliemaria said: Has your son been diagnosed with a reading disability/dyslexia? No, not formally. I've been teaching him reading from regular phonics books, waiting for it to click. He's my fourth child I've taught to read, so I know how an average reader progresses. I've also tutored a unrelated 12 year old girl with Barton for 18 months and saw it worked wonders with her, but I didn't want to use it unless absolutely necessary on my son because it's tedious. But after the charter school said he didn't even test into 2nd grade, it was a wake up call to me to get him reading now. He's feeling dumb because his peers can read already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandra in va Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 On 5/30/2018 at 4:58 PM, Heidi said: My upcoming third grader is reading at a first grade level. His siblings all made it into a rigorous charter school, but they wouldn't take him. So I get to focus just on him this year and get him tested into 4th grade next year at the charter school. Can we do it? I sure hope so. I hope so, too!! I have one that has had challenges and it is so hard. I had to hold her back one year and that has helped. So maybe if 4th grade next year isn't the best fit - 3rd grade again? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 On 6/1/2018 at 8:17 AM, sandra in va said: I hope so, too!! I have one that has had challenges and it is so hard. I had to hold her back one year and that has helped. So maybe if 4th grade next year isn't the best fit - 3rd grade again? Yes, we'd take third grade, but I'm really hoping for 4th for his self-esteem. ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahodgson923 Posted July 2, 2018 Share Posted July 2, 2018 On 2/7/2018 at 6:47 PM, Erielle said: I'm a full-time student again, so we're going to be using Acellus for the core four (LA, math, science, social studies/history) + two electives (engineering & Spanish). It is a way for my DS to work *mostly* independently while still having to be an accountable student. Plus, it keeps track of records & grades without me having to do that. This is what our family needs right now. Acellus lessons are so short and to the point without unnecessary busywork, so I add in supplements to extend our school day (to 4 hours max daily) and ensure my kiddo is still getting exposed to a "feast of foods." It looks like a lot when written down, but it's actually rather simple and fun. We pretty much just read a lot of books, pursue interest-led learning, and keep it engaging. Language arts & math are our focus, followed by science because that is my son's favorite subject. Language Arts/English: Brave Writer (A Quiver of Arrows & Jot it Down!). Mad Libs for fun extras. I have a struggling/reluctant writer, so I'm hoping BW will be the answer to our prayers. It seems wonderful. Not sure if I want to add in an italic handwriting book or stick with Draw Write Now for penmanship practice. Spelling: Apples and Pears. Literature/Reading: Read alouds from living books. Readers from a list of mom-assigned books. Math: Math Mammoth? If not, then Singapore. Life of Fred as a fun supplement. Maybe finish up Beast Academy 2. Science: Mystery Science + read alouds. BrainPOP Junior. We also have a STEM subscription box from Amazon we make the most of. History: Read alouds + Magic School Bus, Bill Nye, and documentaries that compliment what we're learning at Acellus. Geography & Culture: Little Passports + read alouds from Give Your Child the World. Review map skills as needed. Fine Arts: Piano lessons. Doodle diaries. Artsy fun things from Art Lab & the Artful Year. We're still in the years of learning through play, exploration, discovery, and wonder so I don't have a formal art/music history program yet. Still letting his imagination run wild and lead the way. Logic/Critical Thinking: fun workbooks I've purchased off Amazon + continuing to master Chess For Fun: Orphs of the Woodlands (a reading adventure). BrainPOP Junior and other fun, educational apps we get through a co-op we're apart of. This is eerily similar to our plan for the year. I have had a tough second year of homeschooling (sophomore slump?). We did really well the first year, but things kind of fell apart and got crazy around November and we never really got back on track. Therefore, we are going to try acellus as a "keeping us accountable" prop for this year. My husband doesn't like the idea of this being our primary curriculum or of them spending hours in front of a screen every day. So they will work about an hour or so a day on acellus and the rest will be more typical homeschooling. This will also give me time to work individually with each kiddo while the other works on acellus. For my rising 3rd grader: Acellus: math, LA, Science and Social Studies. Additional LA (all with his 5th grade sister): Bravewriter arrow subscription, sequential Spelling, Fix it grammar (maybe. Not sure if he is ready for this yet) Additional math: Beast Academy. We are about halfway done with 2B. We may skip right into 3A, as I don't know when 2c will be released. Additional Science: thinking about mystery science Additional History: thinking about running through SOTW beginning with ancients again since we already own all four levels. Maybe incorporate more activities this time through, since last time, we basically just listened to the audiobooks. I may try to wean us off of the acellus if we are doing well. But I need to know that they are getting some sort of schoolwork done if we have another hectic season like last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stibalfamily Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 On 2/4/2018 at 7:21 PM, WoolC said: History: American History from my own booklist Would you mind sharing your booklist? I am doing American history and on the hunt for some good books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janeway Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 On 5/28/2018 at 7:44 PM, 8FillTheHeart said: I have finally started thinking about next yr. I am going to build history and science around a couple of Holling C Holling books. We have to sit down together and decide on which ones. She is a strong math student. She will be doing Horizons 4th and 5th next yr along with HOE. I might buy BA 3. I was really disappointed by 2A bc she was so far beyond its content, so I am gong to wait and see if I have surplus in my budget. We will be doing Treasured Conversations for writing, HTTS for spelling, and pen pal letters for handwriting. She wants to learn Latin, but I am going to have to see how much time we have. Beast Academy has a placement test. You could try that to make sure she is at the right level. But I really liked Horizon's. My oldest did Horizon's and is a very strong math student now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 4 minutes ago, Janeway said: Beast Academy has a placement test. You could try that to make sure she is at the right level. But I really liked Horizon's. My oldest did Horizon's and is a very strong math student now. She is my 8th. The older 7 all used Horizons through 6th. All of my kids have been very strong math students, and I firmly believe Horizons provided them an excellent math foundation. BA would just be for her to do for fun. That is why I bought 2A, but it was fun only in terms of a comic book type entertainment. The concepts were below here and she got frustrated bc she already knew Roman numeral math through the thousands and their use of the Cs and Xs and Is was simply for understanding place value which she was way beyond. I don't have any room in my budget to buy BA for this yr anyway. We have decided on a family vacation in the spring and I have cut my spending down to the bare bones to save for airfare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janeway Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 5 hours ago, 8FillTheHeart said: She is my 8th. The older 7 all used Horizons through 6th. All of my kids have been very strong math students, and I firmly believe Horizons provided them an excellent math foundation. BA would just be for her to do for fun. That is why I bought 2A, but it was fun only in terms of a comic book type entertainment. The concepts were below here and she got frustrated bc she already knew Roman numeral math through the thousands and their use of the Cs and Xs and Is was simply for understanding place value which she was way beyond. I don't have any room in my budget to buy BA for this yr anyway. We have decided on a family vacation in the spring and I have cut my spending down to the bare bones to save for airfare. I wonder if I should switch to Horizon's with my younger ones. I taught with Singapore Math in a private school long ago, as in, back when the 3rd edition was still being used. I really liked it. So when my oldest insisted on Horizon's and refused to do Singapore, I was disappointed. I own all the textbooks (but some are 3rd edition but really, those can be used interchangeably with US edition). My one who was very successful with Singapore Math now seems to struggle with math. I am sure it is just him. But I really am wondering if I went the wrong direction with choosing the math with my youngers. I also liked BJU too, but, I disliked how the publisher stopped making the home educators edition of the TM and started pushing expensive classroom stuff for all. I love that Horizon's is workbook all the way through. I have also been curious about CLE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 1 hour ago, Janeway said: I wonder if I should switch to Horizon's with my younger ones. I taught with Singapore Math in a private school long ago, as in, back when the 3rd edition was still being used. I really liked it. So when my oldest insisted on Horizon's and refused to do Singapore, I was disappointed. I own all the textbooks (but some are 3rd edition but really, those can be used interchangeably with US edition). My one who was very successful with Singapore Math now seems to struggle with math. I am sure it is just him. But I really am wondering if I went the wrong direction with choosing the math with my youngers. I also liked BJU too, but, I disliked how the publisher stopped making the home educators edition of the TM and started pushing expensive classroom stuff for all. I love that Horizon's is workbook all the way through. I have also been curious about CLE. My favorite combination for elementary is Horizons with Hands On Equations Verbal Book. I own all of the SM Challenging Word Problems books. I bought them when our oldest was in 6th grade. (That was something like 18 yrs ago.) I went through them with him back then and he had absolutely no problems solving any of the problems except for rate/flow b/c it was a concept he had never been taught. He solved them all using an algebraic approach vs. bar method approach. One of my kids did Horizons with MiF (long story that has to do with her stubbornness and refusal to put any effort into anything vs any weakness in Horizons. It came down to if she didn't stop complaining, I was doubling her math. She didn't stop, so I doubled her math. She eventually stopped, but it took 3 yrs. ? ) Anyway, I personally do not believe that MiF teaches any concepts any better than Horizons. The approaches behind concepts are not that dissimilar. I do not like the wording in many parts of SM type explanations. They seem to overly complicate rather simple statements. (I see that in what they are asking in their word problems, too.) Horizons does not have word problems at the same level of difficulty as SM. HOE's Verbal Book does. (but, my older kids did not use HOE and none of them have ever had problems with word problems at the high school level, so it never impacted them negatively.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted August 15, 2018 Share Posted August 15, 2018 (edited) Finally getting down to nuts and bolts here! I'm piecing together from what we own; our history cycle is a year behind, but he loves the Middle Ages so there's no temptation to rush it. For my third grader this year: across the curriculum: Ambleside Online Year 2, modified esp. in science and church history History Story of the World 2; I don't think I have the maps for the AG, but I do have MapTrek Hakim's History of US: The First Americans + at least some of the study guide AO stuff, subbing "History Lives" series for their church history Memoria Press States and Capitals geography Literature/poetry/Shakespeare AO Y2, with Shakespeare from Lamb Book selections from Build Your Library 2 IEW's poetry memorization Composition etc. All About Spelling First Language Lessons 3 Writing With Ease 3 Classical Writing Aesop A Dance Mat Typing Memoria Press 3rd grade penmanship Math Combination of stuff. Current plan is to use Math U See as our spine, and add from MEP/Singapore/Beast Academy Living math book: G is for Googol Science: this is where the rummaging-through-the-closets strategy is most obvious. Human anatomy: we just never have done body systems! So we're doing a build-your-body paper project + reading from See Inside Body Book MP astronomy: read & memorize, not writing Composting Across the Curriculum RSO's Chemistry, starting around the holidays (have to get the book for one thing) Apologia's Botany starting in the spring -- this is heavily edited by myself some kits, spread over the year: Thames & Kosmos Creative Cosmetics Lab (I expect this to be a hit: he loves stuff that smells nice) Thames & Kosmos Magic or Science Thames & Kosmos Solar Physics Workshop (5 models to build of increasing complexity) Languages Getting Started with Latin finish Minimus, begin Minimus Secundus Greek Alphabet Book Arts &c Harmony Fine Arts Year 2, adapted as necessary to avoid upsetting images of suffering people Artistic Pursuits Elementary Book 1 lessons 1 - 21, then either continue or try the new book/DVD for Middle Ages Handcrafts from Year 1 of Ursa Minor's handcrafts list Knitting (longish shot! this would be awesome!) Whittling: sweet potato whittling book Kitchen basics Make butter Learn to swim (done this! whoo-hoo!) Edited August 15, 2018 by serendipitous journey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppy Posted August 30, 2018 Share Posted August 30, 2018 Still deciding. I think: Language: Langauge: Logic of English C. (Not sure about this, he is reading fluently, is it worth it doing anyway? IDK) Math: Beast 3 History: SOTW 2 & Activity Books plus he will probaly read Hakim to keep up with his sister Science: RSO Chemistry Music: Squilt Art: Home Art Studio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chey Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Hello 🙂 new here so I've been looking through old posts. I also figured I'd add in what we've picked for our 3rd grade 2018-2019 year 🙂 This is our first year homeschooling and we started in July 2018 but had been playing fill in the gaps until October. We had mainly been using free or cheap curriculum until the last couple of months and we'll be getting the rest of what we wanted to use once taxes get here. So what we picked: Language Arts - Essentials in Writing level 3 (this will be new) along with Spectrum Language Arts 3 and probably some of 4 since we've already started Spectrum LA 3. My 3rd grader is also practicing cursive letters on dry erase sheets I printed out but will soon be doing words and sentences I think. I'm hoping this will help her with her print writing but I'm unsure. Any tips for that would be very welcome. I found a neat free resource that has a print paragraph to copy on the first half of the worksheet and then the same one in cursive to copy on the second half. Maybe that practice will help. For typing she's practicing typing by typing the short main paragraphs from our Kingfisher Animal Encyclopedia then reading the page 🙂 For reading we're making our way through the Guardians of Ga-Hoole series on audiobook and are currently on book 6. For read alouds we're doing the Series of Unfortunate Events taking turns reading pages and are on book 5. We also watch the corresponding two episodes from the TV series after we finish each book and that's been fun. We take turns reading because she was pretty much forced to meet a book quota in second grade to pass the grade and it killed her previous love of reading and so we're working on trying to bring her back from that. Vocabulary & Spelling will be practiced through the given vocabulary from all our other curriculum. Math - Mathematical Reasoning Level D which we've already started as well and Math Mammoth Grade 3 from the Light Blue Series. We got MR the beginning of January and recently won a giveaway for MM LBS grades 1-7 CD and we've started on that this week too. 🙂 History/Geography - I couldn't find a curriculum I liked so we've combined a bit to make our own. Previously we've just been doing a history study on our home state but with taxes we can start on what we've been wanting to do. So we're going to be using the Usborne Encyclopedia of World History as a spine to follow for a timeline and are focusing on the Ancients this year. Homeschool in the Woods Project Passport Bundle for hands on activities. Kids Discover Online Subscription. I LOVE this site so much. We'll be getting the yearly homeschool subscription to be able to make our own worksheets and such for comprehension questions and they include vocabulary worksheets ^.^ We wont be focused on geography as a separate subject but we'll be talking about the landscapes and areas we study in our history. I may get the Letters From Afar and Charm Post letters later on though. We'll also be including lots of topics related books and other activities/fun stuff we've seen on Rainbow Resource. Science - Previously we've been working through the Spectrum Science 3 workbook but we're fairly certain we'll be sticking with trying out Real Science Odyssey Level 1 Life. She has had pretty much no exposure to science from public school so I don't want to over do it and she's really excited to try out the butterfly and ladybug habitat from Home Science Tools. If we progress through it fast that's fine. I've read a lot of mixed reviews so we're just going to go for it and see how it goes. We'll also be using the Kids Discover Online subscription for science. If RSO fails we'll probably go to the basics and simply find books and experiments etc to do along with Kids Discover. We'll be reading books from the RSO suggested reading list as well. Science Update - Due to suggestions and opinions we decided to ignore the fact she hasn't had much exposure to science and go more toward on grade level to start but interest led and so we're going to piece our own things together using Kids Discover Online and an Usborne Science Encyclopedia as a spine. We'll gather kits, books and such for the topics we chose to work on. Currently it seems we're headed in a Geology and Space study 🙂 Health - American Girl the Care and Keeping of you 2, discussing dangerous situations and what she should do if in those situations. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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