Bookworm-8 is now ready to enter third grade. Taking an extra year was the best decision EVER! I never could have guessed how much growing, both emotionally and intellectually, would happen this over last year.
Like last year, we started with Memoria Press Third Grade Core as our jumping point. That being said, we always do a little tweaking but this year it was not as much as normal.
Memoria Press Third Grade Curriculum
Latin
We finished (most of) Prima Latina last year and since they have changed their curriculum such that it takes two years to complete Latina Christiana I, after teetering back and forth, I have decided to keep it this year. She liked it last year and since the littles are doing Song School Latin I, *I* might even pick up a bit this year.
English Grammar Recitation
This was another subject that I almost biffed (and it might still), but we decided to keep it. I like the memorization piece (CCM doesn’t have that) and she could use the handwriting practice in copying the rules.
Literature
I didn’t throw out the literature selections (again, I almost did), but I did throw out the workbooks. She has actually already read 2 or 3 of these and I will make her re-read them this year. And that’s it. Stop. The. Train. Moving on…
Classical Studies – D’Aulaires’ Greek Myths
I have thrown out the workbooks (figuratively, of course) and I will be reading them aloud to the whole family, during the cold, yucky winter terms.
Astronomy
While studying Mammals is the new third grade science selection, I decided I preferred Astronomy. In fact, we are all studying astronomy, including myself. She will be doing the workbook as directed in the lesson plans.
Subjects Swapped Out or Eliminated
We decided to swap out several subjects for different materials including spelling (see Essentials), poetry & timeline stuff (we do this with CCM – Gamma), christian studies (Faith & Life 3), math (to Math U See Gamma), and States & Capitals (for a Charlotte Mason geography study using Holling C Holling Books). Further, we completely eliminated IEW writing — we are still trying to “catch up” with spelling and such.
American Studies Supplement
I REALLY wanted to do this as a read-aloud for the whole family to enjoy, but I am simply out of time. So I will be having her read these on her own as part of her 20 minutes a day of required reading. Nothing else will be done. Maybe narration if I feel like it, but don’t count on it.
Read-Aloud Novels & Picture Books
I love to read-aloud, but I never get to HER books. So I plan on doing these at the end of morning time. Check back later to find out how that is going :).
Essentials
I LOVE Essentials. She doesn’t hate it and is learning to spell. ‘Nuff said. Want to know more about it? Check out my full review of Essentials.
Math U See Gamma
We are changing our math curriculum to try to allow for more of an understanding of the beauty of math. I’m not sure if this will do that, but it seems more likely than anything else I had seen. She took the placement test and was put into Math-U-See Gamma so we got further in math last year that I had thought.
Geography
50 States & Where to Find Them is a Charlotte Mason Resource that uses Holling C Holling books to teach geography and we will be doing that as a family. I will also assign her work from Drawing Around the World: USA for the state(s) we are working on.
Catholicism & First Communion/Confirmation Prep
We will be required to go through 3-4 months of first communion and confirmation prep in the winter/spring. In addition to that, she will be reading and narrating from Our Life with Jesus and possibly some memory work from the First Communion Catechism.
And that’s everything except morning time. I’ll share that in another post. Maybe. Hopefully?
