Wondering what a Charlotte Mason-inspired 3rd grade looks like? Here’s a look at our Charlotte Mason homeschool plans, reading selections, and curriculum choices for the upcoming school year.
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Realistically I’m not sure when we’ll start our new school year due to the year of bouncing back after lots of homeschool interruptions. We’re moving over the summer, so most likely we won’t start this 3rd grade year until at least August or September.
Also worth noting, all of these resources won’t show up one day, much less one week. You can get a good idea of our typical homeschool day here, but we generally do math, language arts, and read alouds every day. All other subjects are spread out over the course of a week.
Okay, now that those housekeeping items are out of the way, here’s a look at what’s in store for 3rd grade:
Our Charlotte Mason-Inspired 3rd Grade Homeschool Curriculum Choices
We’ll once again follow Ambleside Online to guide us through our homeschool year. This year my daughter will move into AO Year 3. This will bring us into the Renaissance and Reformation eras with our current history spines, Our Island Story, This Country of Ours, and A Child’s History of the World.
It will also give us a chance to explore the lives of Shakespeare, da Vinci, and Marco Polo.
We’ll have plenty of good stuff to read along with AO Year 3. We’ll continue reading Tales from Shakespeare and Parables from Nature, but we’ll also work in The Jungle Book, Children of the New Forest, A Little Princess, and The Princess and the Goblin, to name a few.
3rd Grade Language Arts
We don’t have any shakeups happening with language arts. We’ll be sticking with Learning Language Arts through Literature for phonics review and gentle spelling and grammar instruction.
We’ll also include handwriting practice through an old dry erase Leap Frog tablet and our scripture copywork journals. (These are basically composition book journals that allow me to copy the scripture passages of my choice for my kiddo to practice writing and illustrate.)
3rd Grade Math
I’m also grateful we don’t have any shakeups in our math plans for 3rd grade. We’ll continue on to Math U See Gamma to focus on multiplication skills.
We’ll also be closer to finishing the Life of Fred Elementary Series within the next year. We’ll hopefully work through Life of Fred Honey and Life of Fred Ice Cream, leaving us plenty of time to finish the final elementary volume in 4th grade.
3rd Grade Science
Nature study continues to be the primary science focus with AO’s Year 3, so we’ll continue with their study suggestions and mix in nature walks inspired by Our Journey Westward’s Creative Nature Walks book.
For reference, we’ll keep our copies of Nature Anatomy, Handbook of Nature Study, and our region’s National Geographic bird guide on hand.
We’ll also dig in to Sassafras Science Adventure’s Zoology volume a couple of times each week. Zoology is not scheduled in AO for Year 3, but my kiddo is asking to learn more about animals.
That said, I used this CM-inspired curriculum in the past with my oldest and really enjoyed it. Since I’m already familiar with it and had most of the needed resources on hand, it’s a great solution and I’m excited to use it again. :)
For Sassafras Science, we’re using the following resources:
- The Sassafras Science Adventures Volume 1 (This is the primary text.)
- SciDat Logbook Zoology Edition (This is a notebooking-style book used in the lessons.)
- The Sassafras Guide to Zoology (This is essentially the teacher guide for the program. It includes teaching instruction, copywork, additional books to enjoy, and projects to go along with the book chapters.)
- Science Around the World (This book is referenced occasionally in the teacher guide and is used for some projects.)
- DK’s Encyclopedia of Animals (The teacher guide recommends having an animal reference book for each lesson; this is one of the two options they suggest.)
Related: Our Review of Sassafras Science Adventures
3rd Grade Geography
For geography we’ll primarily focus on AO’s suggested books and geography concepts for Year 3. In addition to those, I’ll be using Charlotte Mason’s Elementary Geography and my friend Crystal Wagner’s A Panoramic View of Geography for guidance.
I’ll also turn to our copy of Hands-On Geography. This one is a big help because my kiddo loves the kinds of games and projects it shares.
On a not-so Charlotte Mason-inspired note, I added the elementary geography course from CC Academy to our plans for the year. While it’s quite different from the other resources in our lineup, I’m finding it to be a nice way to add some positive tech time into our days.
Preview the course here!
Want to learn more about this elementary geography course? Get all the details, preview a few lessons, and check it out for yourself!
3rd Grade Arts & Extras
Spanish
We’re turning to Mango Languages for foreign language this year. It’s new to us, but we’re excited to give it a try because there are lots of language options and nothing changes if she decides she’d prefer French after a month.
Note: I’m certainly not encouraging her to abandon Spanish, but she’s on the fence about which one she wants to focus on now.
Also, I can use it for my 3rd grader and my 9th grader, which means I don’t have to mentally shift when helping either of them. I’ll be able to track their progress in the same place and in the same format, which is a win for me!
Art Instruction/Art Appreciation
We’ll continue using our day-to-day art approaches like Can You Find It? books and books about artists along with regular chalk pastel projects.
For her more detailed instruction, she’ll stick with our Masterpiece Society Studio membership and work her way through the recently added elementary (fun projects) and art school (fundamental skills) courses.
Music Appreciation
We’ll probably pick up our piano from storage by the time 3rd Grade officially starts, so I’d love to say we’ve got big piano plans coming. Realistically however, I don’t know how long it will take us to get it to our home and I have no clue when we’ll get it tuned.
In the meantime, my daughter will practice ukulele through Raising da Vinci’s course and tackle music appreciation through A Year of Charlotte Mason Music Lessons from Music in Our Homeschool.
Handicrafts
Lastly, we were gifted a year’s worth of Doodle Crates, so that makes our handicraft decisions pretty easy for next year. From leatherworking, weaving, candlemaking, and more, she’ll have plenty of time to explore different handicrafts. ;)
By the way, you can learn more about Doodle Crates and all the other awesome crates from Kiwi Crate through the link below.
That’s it for our Charlotte Mason-inspired 3rd Grade curriculum plans. If you have tips or questions about any of these resources, I’d love to hear them.