Our 2016-17 Curriculum

Because of our big country-to-country, across-the-Atlantic move last summer, I never did get around to posting our curriculum for this school year!  To make this quick and easy, I'm going to briefly list what each child is using on this one post.

3rd Grade

1.  Bible:  Wisdom With the Millers (book and activity book)--studying the book of Proverbs
2.  Reading:  Doors to Discovery
3.  Seatwork:  Spectrum Test Practice, Grade 3
4.  Math:  Primary Mathematics 3 (Singapore)
5.  Storytime:  We're doing lapbooks along with each of the following books (I stopped lapbooks after grade 3 because they were too much work; however, each of the kids has wanted to do them, so I'm back to lapbooks again!):

• Abraham Lincoln (Anne Colver)
• Stone Fox (John Reynolds Gardiner)
• Door in the Wall (Marguerite de Angeli)
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis)
• Key to the Treasure (Peggy Parish)
• Horse Heroes: True Stories of Amazing Horses (Kate Petty)
• Mr. Popper's Penguins (Richard Atwater)
• Justin Morgan Had a Horse (Marguerite Henry)
• The Apple and the Arrow (Conrad Buff)

6.  Language:  Language Lessons for the Elementary Child, Volumes 1 and 2 (we're finishing Volume 1 from last year)

7.  Spelling:  All About Spelling, Level 3

8.  Science:  Christian Kids Explore Earth & Space (unfortunately for my sanity, we do lapbooks for each science unit, too!  At least this is my last year doing lapbooks.)

9.  History:  The Story of the World, Volume 2: The Middle Ages (we use the CDs, the activity book, and other supplements)

10.  Geography:  I make my own geography units.  This year, we are studying the following countries:

• United Kingdom (sad that we moved from the UK just before starting this one)
• Saudi Arabia
• France
• Norway
• New Zealand
• Australia
• Netherlands
• Japan
• Russia
• Spain
• Mexico
• Germany

11.  Extracurricular:  We do these as we have time:

• Art
• Spanish--Teach Them Spanish 1
• Music--Singing Made Easy and piano
• P.E.--Right now, we're making use of our small town's basketball and tennis courts
• Health--Heath, Safety & Manners 3 (A Beka)

7th Grade

1.  History:  British History (I made my own course using a number of books--click link to view)
2.  Reading:  She's reading the following books and doing book reports on them:

• George Muller: The Guardian of Bristol's Orphans (Benge)
• Swiss Holiday (Yates)
• The Bronze Bow (Speare)
• Watership Down (Adamas)
• The Windy Hill (Meigs)
• The Hound of the Baskersville (Doyle)
• Tales of the Greek Heroes (Green)
• Full Steam Ahead: The Race to Build a Transcontinental Railroad (Blumberg)
• Stories of Don Quixote Written Anew for Children (Baldwin)
• Old Yeller (Gipson)

3.  Math:  Teaching Textbooks 7

4.  Bible:  Explorers Bible Study Quest: Faith at Work

5.  Science:  Interactive Science: Earth Science

6.  Language:  Easy Grammar 6 and Easy Grammar Plus (finishing last year's first)

7.  Spelling:  All About Spelling, Level 7

8.  Extracurricular:  P.E., Typing (Typing Instructor), Ancient Music and Ancient Art (Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool), and guitar (instruction from her grandma)

10th Grade

*Coming Soon*

3rd Grade Reading Log

Here is the reading log for my youngest!  She has no specific required reading for school.  She is reading out of textbooks only, and I am reading aloud to her from chapter books.  Therefore, these are books she is reading on her own this year--unrelated to school.

1. Adventures of the Wishing-Chair (Enid Blyton)
2. More Wishing-Chair Stories (Enid Blyton)
3. Samantha Learns a Lesson: A School Story (Susan S. Adler)
4. The Boxcar Children: The Black Widow Spider Mystery (Gertrude Chandler Warner)
5. Sarah, Plain and Tall (Patricia MacLachlan)
6. Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (Eleanor Coerr)*
7. Haunted House (Peggy Parish)
8. The Boxcar Children: The Mystery of the Singing Ghost (Gertrude Chandler Warner)
9. Felicity Learns a Lesson: A School Story (Valerie Tripp)
10. Skylark (Patricia MacLachlan)
11. The Tower in Ho-Ho Wood and Other Stories (Enid Blyton)
12. The Enchanted Wood (Enid Blyton)
13. The Magic Faraway Tree (Enid Blyton)
14. Caleb's Story (Patricia MacLachlan)
15. The Firebird (Retold by Mairi Mackinnon)
16. The Folk of the Faraway Tree (Enid Blyton)
17. The Boxcar Children (Gertrude Chandler Warner)
18. Ivan and the Informer (Myrna Grant)*
19. The Boxcar Children: Mountain Top Mystery (Gertrude Chandler Warner)
20. The Caravan Family (Enid Blyton)
21. Hannah's Helping Hands (Jean Van Leeuwen)
22. The Boxcar Children: Surprise Island (Gertrude Chandler Warner)

Moriah's 3rd Grade Reading Log

This will be a running list of books Moriah reads herself during 3rd grade. I will be adding to it throughout the year. This is mostly for my own records. I am trying to encourage her to read chapter books, but I will be listing picture books as well, as long as they're not too easy! If you'd like to view her 2nd grade reading list (which wasn't too long), click HERE.

1. Henry and Mudge and the Bedtime Thumps (Cynthia Rylant)
2. There's No Place Like Space! All About Our Solar System (Tish Rabe)
3. Who Will Be My Friends? (Syd Hoff)
4. What Makes Day and Night? (Chris Arvetis and Carole Palmer)
5. The Little House (Virginia Lee Burton)
6. Molly's Pilgrim (Barbara Cohen)
7. 102 Cat and Dog Jokes (Michael Pellowski)
8. Tornado (Betsy Byars)
9. Abe Lincoln's Hat (Martha Brenner)
10. Dolphins! (Sharon Bokoske and Margaret Davidson)
11. Clifford's Thanksgiving Visit (Norman Bridwell)
12. The Night Before Thanksgiving (Natasha Wing)
13. George Washington and the General's Dog (Frank Murphy)
14. A Teddy Bear for President Roosevelt (Connie and Peter Roop)
15. Helen Keller (Margaret Davidson)
16. The Adventures of Laura & Jack (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
17. Lad, a Dog: Lad to the Rescue (Margo Lundell)
18. The Magic School Bus, A Science Chapter Book: Twister Trouble (Ann Schreiber)
19. The Josefina Story Quilt (Eleanor Coerr)
20. The Big Balloon Race (Eleanor Coerr)
21. Dolphin Adventure (Wayne Grover)


Summer Reading
1. The Boxcar Children (Gertrude Chandler Warner)
2. Wagon Wheels (Barbara Brenner)
3. Henry and Mudge and the Bedtime Thumps (Cynthia Rylant)
4. Henry and Mudge Take the Big Test (Cynthia Rylant)

3rd Grade Curriculum

Wow, I can’t believe my daughter is already in 3rd grade!  Luckily, I already have lesson plans for most of these subjects.  Listing everything by workbox number, here are my 2012-2013 picks for Moriah’s school year:

In brief

Box 1:  Math—Primary Mathematics 3 (Singapore)

Box 2:  Reading—Doors to Discovery

Box 3:  Bible—Wisdom and the Millers, book of Proverbs

Box 4:  Language—All About Spelling, Language Lessons for the Elementary Child 1, and Explode the Code (books 5-7)

Box 5:  History and Geography—Story of the World, Volume 1:  Ancient Times and my own geography units

Box 6:  Science—Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space

Box 7:  Story Time—various books

Box 8:  Extracurricular--Fine Arts, P.E., Thinking Skills, Seatwork, Typing

With explanations

Box 1: Math—Primary Mathematics 3 (Singapore)

Unlike Isaac, Moriah has been doing Singapore Math since preschool.  She’s doing so well with it, I decided to continue at least through this coming year.

Box 2: Reading—Doors to Discovery (reader)

Like Isaac did, Moriah is using this set of readers only through 3rd grade, so this is the final year we’ll use a reader.

Box 3: Bible—Wisdom and the Millers, book of Proverbs

This fictional chapter book has interesting stories that illustrate specific verses from the book of Proverbs.  When we finish the book, we’ll read through the book of Proverbs.  She’ll have memory verses as well.

Box 4: Language—All About Spelling, Language Lessons for the Elementary Child 1

Spelling:  All About Spelling, books 3 and 4 (as continued from last year)

Language—Language Lessons for the Elementary Child includes short lessons on grammar, poetry, copywork, and picture study

Phonics--Explode the Code (books 5-7)

Box 5: History and Geography—Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient History and my own geography units

History:  Isaac did Story of the World, Volume 1 (Ancient Times) in 2nd grade, but last year I chose for Moriah and Isaac to do volume 3 (Early Modern) together.  Along with the book, I’ll have supplemental books and stories, and we’ll also do a study of the book of Acts, using an illustrated version of Acts.

Geography:  I haven’t finalized my plans yet, but I think I’ll do one geography unit (country studies) a month but only a few days a week.  I have lesson plans already for some of these countries, since I did them with Isaac.  There will be a few new units I’ll have to create.  This is a list of countries we may study (I’ll add 3-4 more to this list when I get it figured out):  Egypt, Israel, Greece, Ghana, Italy, India, China. I just bought the book Galloping the Globe, which has similar units, so I'll use it as well.

Box 6: Science—Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space

Along with the book and projects, Moriah will be doing lapbooks this year—one for each unit.

Box 7: Story Time

I will be reading the following books aloud to Moriah, and we will make a lapbook for each one:

Biography— Abraham Lincoln

Adventure— Stone Fox

Historical Fiction—Door in the Wall

Fantasy— The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Mystery— Key to the Treasure

Nonfiction— Horse Heroes: True Stories of Amazing Horses

Humor— Mr. Popper’s Penguins

Realistic Fiction—Justin Morgan Had a Horse

Folktales— The Apple and the Arrow

Box 8: Extracurricular--Fine Arts, P.E., Thinking Skills, Seatwork, Typing

Art--Joseph the Canada Goose

Music—mostly singing (Singing Made Easy) and piano

P.E.—Various games and exercises (see THIS post for more explanation of how we do P.E.)

Thinking Skills--Logic Links, Analogy Challengers, Venn Perplexors, various games and other books

Seatwork:  Spectrum Test Practice, Grade 3

Typing: I'm also adding in a new typing program for Moriah and Isaac to use this year, Typing Instructor for Kids Platinum.

If you're interested in any of this curriculum, follow the links on the amazon widgets on my sidebar.

I’m linking this post to the “Link Your 2012-2013 Curriculum Picks!” blogroll at {School} Days Gone By.