The decisions regarding curriculum for this year became a little more challenging. With our older son in 3rd grade and our younger son in 1st grade, there was still an ability gap between them…both in the area of being able to do the same work as well as the ability level/depth to understand concepts (not to mention attention spans).
After comparing and considering various curriculum options, I chose to stick with My Father’s World because the curriculum they offered at this grade level (Exploring Countries and Cultures) was geography based. I arrived at the fact that both boys could grasp varying levels of maps, countries, biomes, etc. simultaneously. So…we “traveled” the world studying the continents, biomes, cultures, and geographic features using books, maps, the Internet, and food!
Reading/Vocab/Spelling
For our 3rd grader, we supplemented the Exploring Countries and Cultures curriculum with Rod and Staff’s Bible/reading materials (God Leads His People) which included lessons geared toward reading comprehension, vocabulary, spelling, etc. The content is from the Old Testament. So, the student is learning the Old Testament in the midst of their reading skills. Double bonus!!!
For grammar/English, we used Rod and Staff (Beginning Wisely). I found that the layout of their English books teaches grammar in a simple and focused way while still bringing into the student work some of the previously learned material for review and long-term learning. So it kept grammar learning “tolerable” for my boys!
For spelling, we used A Reason for Spelling. This curriculum uses a story (based on character traits) that incorporates the spelling/vocabulary that will be focused on and taught through various methods throughout the week. While this was a different method toward teaching spelling and was enjoyable in the beginning, the repetition of the process wasn’t challenging enough and caused the task of doing spelling to become too repetitious and somewhat boring as the year went on. So, for us, it wasn’t the best fit. Something still seemed to be missing from the learning process for us within the layout of this curriculum.
Math Curriclum
My biggest dilemma and struggle while choosing curriculum this year was to figure out a math curriculum to use. I had come to realize that by jumping through 3 different math curriculums in 3 years of school we were starting to miss concepts (unintentionally) that needed to be taught. This, I found out later rather than sooner, is because each curriculum isn’t put in order the same way or even prioritizing or teaching the same concepts at the same grade level. This was a HUGE realization…! And, at this point, I still wasn’t totally sure what my son’s greatest academic strengths were to know if he was stronger in math than other subjects or behind in math!?!!? But I did recognize and know that math is a crucial foundation for all kids in their learning and I needed to find a quality math curriculum and stick with it.
After surveying many options at a homeschool convention, I finally settled on Abeka Arithmetic 3. The reason I chose this was because…1. the lessons are straightforward with a brief explanation/description of what is being learned at the top of each new lesson (This allows a student to refer back to it if needed for definitions or brief explanations.), 2. the lessons are in a consistent cycle with a test built into the cycle (so 4 lessons then a test or 8 lessons, a review, and then a test or similar to that). There is always at least one review lesson prior to the test, 3. the lessons incorporate problems from previously learned information (so there is a constant review of previous material as the foundation for the new material to intertwine with and continually build on) 4. there are speed tests and supplemental worksheets (for extra work) available 5. I could assign which problems I wanted my son to complete within each lesson based on his strengths and weaknesses …and there were ample amounts and varieties to choose from within each lesson. So…It seemed like a good fit for these reasons. And, I could tell we had covered enough concepts in our other math materials that would allow us to carry on smoothly with math using this curriculum.
One Of Our Best Practices…….
One thing that we started doing more intentionally this year that has become a common practice in our home was reading books out loud as a family. While I have always read books out loud to the boys, the idea of taking the time consistently for reading larger/longer chapter books out loud was practiced more. In 3rd grade, the curriculum incorporated some “history heroes” and I read books about these heroes out loud to the boys. Beyond 3rd grade, the practice has led to years of enjoying books out loud together as a family. Typically, I read out loud in the car as we travel somewhere together as a family…which includes anything from a trip to the store to time in the car on a family vacation. Often times as we near the end of a book and the suspense is as its greatest, I read out loud before we head to bed (because we just can’t wait to find out what happens! This habit has been so advantageous. Not only have we enjoyed a lot of really good books as a family, we have learned a lot of history (we gravitate toward historical fiction) and the boys have repeatedly heard the patterns of a good story and good vocabulary usage which (by example) has lead to better writing skills for them. I highly recommend prioritizing such a habit!
{Additional note…At this point, our younger son did a lot of the same 1st grade materials that our older had done in first grade (My Father’s World…God’s Creation A-Z). But he also did the geography studies with our older son that were part of the 3rd grade curriculum. While I didn’t expect him to understand everything at the same level or depth as our 3rd grader, I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of information he did take in over the course of the year. It probably helped that the curriculum started with North America…a familiar location.}
At the bottom of the page I’ve added links to all of the resources I’ve mentioned in this post. It’s pretty convenient that Amazon has all of these available for you to piece it all together a-la-carte.