Our 2016-2017 Homeschool Curriculum Choices (3rd, 4th, 11th grade)

I can hardly believe we are entering into our 12th “legal” year of homeschooling. While I consider myself to have been homeschooling each child from birth – most people just count from Kindergarten on.

If you have been following me since my first website (soyoucallyourselfahomeschooler.com), you know that we have homeschooled in several states and even overseas in Germany for 3 years. And guess what this new school year brings for us? A move! So we are leaving the beautiful (and sunny) Central Coast of California for a new location that is a mile high in the sky in beautiful Colorado.

So not only does this new school year bring new (and exciting) curriculum choices, it also brings a new location with new and exciting adventures awaiting ahead! For most homeschool families, choosing curriculum never gets old. As a matter of fact it is always a real treat and super exciting time!

This year I will have an 11th grader, 4th grader, and 3rd grader. Woohoo!

Let the curriculum sharing begin!

2016-2017 Homeschool Curriculum Choices 

3rd Grade (Solomon)

READING
It’s no secret that we are HUGE fans of All About Reading so you already know this will be on the list. Here is what he’ll be using for reading this year:

• Reading Aloud – read-aloud time is one of the most treasured parts of our days together. We will be putting together a huge reading list of books for each of our children and will update and link to it once we are finished! It will be epic, that’s for sure!
• Comprehension Plus Level B – this was left over from last year so we are going to go ahead and work through it at the beginning of this year as it will be a great warm-up to start off!
• All About Reading 3 (and is super excited about it!)

GRAMMAR

This year we are going to have fun with our grammar. We are going to do activities that will teach grammar but will also be no-pressure and a ton of fun! Here’s what Solomon will be using for 3rd grade grammar this year:

• Fun with Grammar Pack – a fun packet that will reinforce Solmon’s use of punctuation, understanding of quotations, and grammar basics like identifying parts of speech and more.

• Grammar Notebooking Pages – this membership is full of fun interest-based notebooking pages that will help him learn what he is interested in while sharpening his grammar skills. This is a must-have, go-to resource for our family!

WRITING

For writing this year we will be using several different products to suit several different needs.

• Learning to Speak Life Copywork – this is 96 pages of scripture copywork to go along with the family Bible Study guide.

• The Crafty Classroom’s Step-By-By Writing Guides that contain: Writing a Biography, Writing Instructions, Writing Poetry, and Writing a Research Paper.

SPELLING

For the last few years we have been using All About Spelling for Solomon and he just loves it. So why stop a good thing? I love that he gets so excited when it’s time to spell and that he is eager to get a perfect score on his spelling tests. It’s funny because he is a very active young 7-year-old so for something to captivate him, it has to be extremely well executed!

He’ll be using All About Spelling Level 3 this year and will likely transition into All About Spelling Level 4 mid-way through. In the past we’ve just taken it super slow and done the curriculum the entire school year. This year we are going to go at his pace and I know that means he will finish up around semester.

LANGUAGE ARTS

• Grammar Galaxy – This fun new curriculum Grammar Galaxy: Nebula, the first in a series of language arts texts for first to sixth graders, teaches: reading skill development, literary concepts, vocabulary, spelling, grammar, composition and speaking.

GEOGRAPHY

This is one of our Solomon’s favorite things to explore. As a family that travels often, this is extremely exciting for him to follow along and learn about the new places we explore. This year for geography he’ll be using:

• • USA State by State Activity Pack – this packet is perfect as we are moving again and will be traveling across several states to get to our new destination!

• We snagged this great little wooden puzzle of the USA to go along with memorizing each of the states and their locations as well as and their capitals and other pertinent information.

• Continental Map Notebooking Pages from our Notebooking Pages Lifetime Membership

HISTORY

I’m so excited that we are cycling through Mystery of History with our two youngest children. This year we’ll be using:

• Mystery of History Volume II – we love the curriclum’s classical, chronological, and complete approach to history from  Christian world-view. The Mystery of History Volume II will take my son on a journey from the Early Church to the Middle Ages from AD 30 to 1460.

MATH

This year our son will be continuing to use Horizons. We have really enjoyed using Horizons over the years and am excited to use it again! This year he’ll use:

• Horizons Math 3 complete set – this includes the student workbooks 1&2 as well as the the teachers manual.

SCIENCE

We will be using one of our favorite creation-based science curriculums this year: Apologia. My precious Solomon will be diving into Exploring Creation with Botany this year with his older brother. They couldn’t be more thrilled — and neither could this green-thumb homeschooling mom!

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

In addition to being a busy boy who is constantly playing, running, and riding his bike outdoors, this year our Solomon is going to use his swimming lessons and martial arts to stay fit. So fun!

And for those who are just now discovering my website, I have to say that I have been known as the supplemental queen. I will supplement like crazy every year and enjoy finding new interest-led material for the children year-round!