Third Grade Level Recommendations

 A friend at church asked for help because she wants to home-school.  I’m assembling some materials I like for her and want to share them with you, too.  One of her two elementary-aged children is bored.  My friend, Jen, another home-school mom, taught public school and has the tools to evaluate reading levels.  Let’s assume the rising third grader is on level. Here are my suggestions for a basic curriculum.

1.  I know the little girl doesn’t love to read.  So, a literature based program is out.  However, a basal reader  should be perfect.  My favorite basal or anthology is from Open Court.  Look for an older edition of a general reading book.  Yes, this is old school. These anthologies have fables, short stories, poems, etc, a little of everything.  Make spelling lists from weekly reading.  Use Zaner Bloser for handwriting or Even-Moor’s Daily Handwriting.  I used the literature book below.  There are questions for loads of classic books.  Set a goal to read books.  Keep a log.  Choose easier books, listen to audiobooks, or read aloud with your child.  

2. There are many, many math programs, including Saxon Math.

Before you decide, try 3rd Grade Math with Khan Academy.    

3. Science is an easy choice, Apologia’s Young Explorers Series. Go with the first edition of Zoology 1, Flying Creatures. There are two ‘Notebooking’ books journals.  The Junior notebook has handwriting practice and coloring.  The other journal has puzzles, and more notes.  Both notebooks have a syllabus.  

4. Third grade is a little young for history.  Why not try Daily Geography? Or History Pockets?  Remember, your focus is on reading, writing, and arithmetic.  

5.  Religion is easy, Faith and Life.  Although, my friend teaches CCD and may decide to keep both children enrolled.  You would be surprised how many home-school families do.

Create your own electives!

 First, if you need a few electives to round out your high school transcript, consider the free, online courses from Hillsdale College.  (Lacie did a few her senior year.) These are high quality electives.  Another resource is Universal Class.   Ask at your library if they have a membership.  

You can create your own electives, too.  For example, my husband, Rob, teaches guitar one-on-one with a young friend every week.  Right now they’re trying to play all of the Beatles’ songs.  They’ve been playing together for years.  Create your own clinic: writing, grammar, or Civics.  Borrow a book from the library and let your teen work through steps in Water Color Painting.  We used a video workshop from Magnolia to learn how to make the perfect French omelette, as part of French class.  In fact, cooking French dishes was a key component of French.  You could make it a workshop, too. What about poultry or equine management?  Consider the hours and hours your teens pour into their areas of interest.  Document their progress and consider it an elective.

Happy Easter!

 

Chemmatters: Science Articles

 I subscribe to Chemmatters and AACT whenever I teach Chemistry.  I rely on both for original articles, ideas, and fun labs.  But many of the Chemmatters articles are free.  Chemmatters articles have topic which interest kids:  3D Printed Food, Pimple Patches, Bugs and the Future of Meat, How to Raise a Jellyfish, and Ice, Cream…and Chemistry.   Be sure to browse the Resources for Teachers section.  I usually focus on the questions for discussion.  Look at this Emergency Lesson Plan: Chocolate: The New Health Food.  Or is It?  (When I taught in public and private schools, I saved Chemmatters articles with questions in a drawer as emergency lesson plans—for the day you’re just too sick to supply detailed notes for the sub.)  You can assign a simple writing lesson: Is chocolate healthy?  Explain.  It’s considered old fashioned to have your child read and article and write a response.  Print a few articles and questions to set aside when your week has just been chaos as emergency plans.  Use these along with a novel and book report as another safety net for your home-school curriculum.

Write a cookbook!

 Many families wind up their home-school lessons in May.  Now is the time to plan a few summer projects.  Why not produce your own cookbook?  Here are instructions using Google Docs.  Here are steps to help you get organized.  This might be a fun cousins project and a way to extend the number of recipes.  Go old school and write the recipes on index cards and put them into a recipe book or simple composition book. (See bottom photo for a recipe book on Amazon.)  My Aunt Donna has won over 80 cooking contests.  My cousins published her recipes and newspaper clippings into a cookbook they distributed to the whole family.  Does your family want to spearhead a church fundraiser?  Here is the pricing chart from one of the cookbook publishers to give you an idea of the startup costs.  Even a single recipe book is such a treasure!

Summer Fun: Enter the County Fair!

 I love county fairs.  Now is the time to plan your entries.  Do you sew?  Draw?  Raise fancy chickens?  Bake?  Raise  flowers? Have a bunny?  Take photos?  You should enter your item at the fair!  Okay, this can be humbling. (Ask me how I know.)  Even if you don’t win, think about the experience! Yes, it’s fun to tour a fairgrounds; it’s much more meaningful to have a stake in the fair.

1. Register.  Look for Online Registration and the deadlines.  Fair Entries are often free.  

2. Is there a Contest at the fair?   A pageant?  Eating contest?  Cornhole Tournament?  Scarecrow decorating?  Greased pig? 

3. Look at the 2024 Jefferson County Fair Book and the 2025 Warren County Homegoods Book for categories and rules.  They both are good, general guides to the rules most county fairgrounds set.

4. Does your Co-op want to set up a booth and sell hand crafted goods?  Some Fairgrounds have free booths for professional vendors and non profits.  Usually, Soil and Water, Forestry, and Politicians set up booths.  Your Co-op can pick up some swag!

5. Research recipes: Jams and Jellies, Fruit Curds, and Blue Ribbon Recipes.

6. How are quilts judged?  How are garments judged? How are photos judged? How are Vegetables judged?  How are poultry judged? 

7. Locate a regional Sheep to Shawl competition.  This is a team event.  Take it as inspiration for your talented family! 

Easy to Read Versions of Classics

 I’m planning to teach American and British Literature the next two years.  This crew has several kids with learning differences.  I’m filling out my library with easy to read versions of the classics with these publishers: Longman Classics, Classics Illustrated, Great Illustrated Classics, and Classic Starts.

I haunt book sales.  I’m always looking for a different publisher of easy to read classics.  These types of books allow every student to finally finish a book and be part of the discussion.  I also scour Thriftbooks and the like for copies under $7, too.  I lend out my copies; many don’t return, lost in the struggle of family life.  So, I don’t want to overpay.  My husband, Rob, helps with class.  He wants to read these versions, too.

Easter Break!

 Easter is the perfect time to create loads of art projects celebrating Holy Week and Easter.  Pull out all the stops: Crayon Resist for Bible Stories, He is Risen (agamograph), Passion Tryptych, and Catholic Icing’s Mary Crafts.  With any theme you have, look at Blick Lesson Plans for techniques, such as a Narrative Bead Collage.  You could use religious beads and symbols instead.  Block’s Fresco Panel can be adapted for kids, similarly to the Michael Angelo Art Project: Fresco.  Many families take a break to honor the Triduum and Easter holiday.  Stack some art projects and call it a clinic for your portfolio.  May you have a blessed Holy Week and Easter.

Algebra 1: Do conversion problems!

 As a Chemistry teacher, I want kids to understand how to convert units.  My husband, Rob, is teaching Algebra I.  While our textbook doesn’t include unit conversions, we added this as a unit.  The teens have all done conversions earlier in math.  This is one of those topics which don’t stick.  Practice, practice, practice!  Here, here, and here are worksheets.  Want to learn more yourself?  There is a free webinar from AACT, Triple the Tricks: 3 Easy Ways to Master Metric Conversions!

Middle School Workbooks

Workbooks do have a place in the curriculum, especially is grades five through eight.  Kiddos that age like a routine and autonomy.  Let me share my favorites.

1. The Catholic Textbook Project has the best history textbooks I’ve seen in a long time. The series starts at fourth grade and runs through high school.  The curriculum includes textbooks, workbooks, and test and quizzes—all excellent.  I assigned reading, workbook pages, and quizzes.  The workbook helps kids hone in on facts.

2. Another great series is Sadlier’s Vocabulary Workshop.  This series is valuable through high school.  It can make a difference on the SAT.  Paul ran through the sixth grade edition in fifth grade.  I assigned exercises from the workshop book twice a week, as part of English.

3. Evan-Moor Daily Geography is a terrific supplement for History.  Paul did a week’s worth of Geography on Mondays.  This workbook would make a good summer review, too.

4. Two more English workbooks are Easy Grammar and Editor in Chief.  I’ve used Easy Grammar with younger kiddos to help them with the basics.  However, older teens can benefit if they haven’t had much in the way of grammar.

Lab Reports

Several kids in the Co-op Composition class also take Biology.  I carve out time in Composition to work on lab reports. If your kids write a report for one subject, make that assignment their writing practice for the week.  Younger kiddos can hand-write their reports and practice their cursive hand-writing.  Yes, it’s fine to combine assignments!  

 Right now the teens are working on a mega Microscope Slide Lab Report.  Here are the lab report rubric and How to Write a Lab Report.  I review  the rubric and guide before each formal lab report.  Below is a decent example of a lab report, which has been revised. My students type the subsections in bold with colons to make grading easier.  They use the third person with either present or past tense throughout the report.  Take a look!

Simple Math and Food Gifts!

 I like to make vanilla extract.  It occurred to be that there is a little math.  I have a bunch of glass bottles: I bought 50 vanilla beans and 1.75 L of vodka.  How many bottles can I make if I use eight ounce bottles and between 6-8 vanilla beans?  I can make seven, eight ounce bottles with seven vanilla beans in each.  How much does each bottle cost?  I spent about $1 each on the bottles, $32.99 on the vodka, and $37.99 for the vanilla beans.  Each bottle costs $11.29.  (I didn’t factor in the cost of the labels, which I’ve used now for years.)

This is the sort of practical math your teen can do when she makes food gifts.  How many dry beans does she need to make a dozen bean soup gifts?  What is the price per gift including the mason jars, beans, spice mix, and tiny hot sauce bottles?  Let her do some research and compare prices and recipes before she makes batches of granola to bag for presents. Here are 75 food gifts with recipes.  Here are mason jar gift ideas.  Which recipes are the most cost effective?  Which will delight your extended family?  Which can be done ahead of time?

 Let her write up the lesson, take pix, and add it to her portfolio.  School doesn’t need to be boring.  Budgeting, planning, and shopping are important aspects of her education.  

Home Economics: Clothing

 4-H has an extensive Clothing Project, with an impressive list of topics.  If you want to learn how to sew along with your family, try  Sewing for Beginners or Clothing and Textiles, Beginning Sewing Skills. There are photos and images.  Look at the Clothing and Textile Overview.  Here is a project guide and here is a leader guide to give you topic ideas.  I love the idea of modifying second hand clothes with Frugal Fashion.  Here is an advanced project, The Economics of Clothing Purchases.  

There are loads of free sewing patterns: Mood Fabric’s Rosalie Shirt Dress (many free patterns), Craft Gossip’s Easy Pillowcase Dress, Joann’s Reversible Triangle Tote (upload any patterns you like to Drive—Joann’s is out of business), and this sock elephant.  Sewing is so fun and practical!  Make sewing another elective!

Home Economics Elective

Managing a home can be an elective course.  Here is a good overview of Home Science.  I love imaginative electives.  Here is a 36 week Home Economics course.  It includes valuable lessons: Basic Sewing, Time Mangement, and The History of Chocolate.  There are other lessons with baking, meal planning, cooking, gardening, organization, and more.  Have your teen read Home Economics Lessons to Use in Adulthood before you launch your class.  You could teach one topic a week or run regular seminars, say lessons on  bread baking, cooking to survive on your own, or jarring jam.  Title your course Adulting 101.  I bet you have all kinds of lessons!

Are you taking full advantage of your library?

 Our local library system, CRRL, has loads of resources.  Library services vary from tiny rooms to enormous systems.  But, it pays to see just what your library offers?  Our library system hosts Tax-Aide and art shows, and  lends Chromebooks, hotspots, drums, and games.  There are book sales; the library a MakerSpace, with badges, to allow clients to use the 3D printer or sewing machine.  Our system has online courses.  

Even some of the smallest libraries has any number of services.  Look at the Columbus AFB Library.  It has one large room; yet the library offers several programs.  Check out the Handley Library System’s webpage.  See?  Loads!

Supplements for Composition

Let me share a few supplements we like to use in Composition: Editor in Chief, Easy Grammar, and Diagramming Sentences.  If your family hasn’t done much in the way of grammar, editing, or diagramming, start teens at the Middle School level, say grade six or seven.  Catch up on the fundamentals, first.  Look at English as a bunch of topics: Composition,  Grammar, Vocabulary, and Reading.  When you select a supplement, vary how frequently you use it, say once a week.

We use Warriner’s English Grammar, a thesaurus, and MLA handbooks, too.  However, most of the time, we use these as references.  Editor in Chief is the favorite by far.  The teens like to see who can locate the most errors.  Easy Grammar is an excellent supplement for families unfamiliar with basic grammar.  We use different resources as needed.  I’m doing a little sentence diagramming next week with a paragraph to edit.