OLD HOMESCHOOLERS NEVER DIE . . . THEY JUST WRITE CURRICULUM


"Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants."

Deuteronomy 32:2

Courses of Study

To view the Course of Study for each grade level, you can click on the "Course of Study" label
or "Search This Blog" for the specific grade level you wish to see.
To date, I have courses of study completed for kindergarten through fourth grades.

Newsletter Articles

In 2013 the Lord started me producing a newsletter for the homeschool group we are a part of. Every other month I write an article on a topic the Lord has put on my heart. I've decided to add these articles to this blog. I hope you will find encouragement through some of my ramblings. You can click on the label "Newsletter" to find the articles.

Sunday, September 7

Third Grade, Bible, Set Five

Hymns:
  • Reach Out to Jesus
  • Crown Him With Many Crowns
  • The Wonder of it All
  • Glory for Me
  • Have You Room for Jesus?
Bible Memory:
  • Psalm 91:5 - 16
  • Reviewed passges with Verse Strips
Project:
  • Fort Faithful -- based on Psalm 91
Catechism:
  • Learned #41, 42, 43
  • Reviewed previously learned
Prayer:
  • Countries/Peoples
    • Druzes
    • Egypt
    • Ethiopia
    • Falashas
    • Fiji
Read-Aloud:
  • Swiss Family Robinson in Words of one Syllable
  • Picks from our Bible shelf
The Princess and the Kiss
  • Lesson 20 in Life Lessons -- purity is not just a gift a woman can give to her husband; it is a way to honor the Lord. We are to be pure in body, heart, and mind.

Third Grade, Math, Set Five

  • We did Addition and Subtractions sheets like in Set Four
  • We played multiplication games on the computer and practiced our skip count sheets
  • I taught decimals - tenths and hundredths places
  • We played Fraction Games
  • We completed miscellaneous worksheets to review things like
    • even/odd
    • counting by 10's
    • measuring units
    • perimeter
    • symmetry
    • word problems
  • We did more work with Maps Skills

Third Grade, Reading, Set Five

We continued with More Tell and Draw Stories. Each of us did a couple each week.

We read pages 91 - 118 in Long-Ago Stories of California, then completed a story organizer about it.

We read Out of Darkness: The Story of Louis Braille by Russell Freedman together.

Third Grade, Grammar, Set Five

We completed the book, Painless Jr. Grammar, reviewing periods, commas, and capitalization. We learned about colons, semi colons, indenting, and abbreviations. I found worksheets on-line to give more practice than the book had.

We also did worksheets on singular possessives, abstract nouns, irregular verbs, and comparative/superlative.

This is our last set of Grammar this year. In the next two sets we will be using our grammar time to work on our writing project.

Third Grade, Writing, Set Five

Along with continuing to learn the capital letters in cursive, we worked on writing a compare/contrast essay.

I picked up The Bossy Gallito at the library and noticed its similarity to The Old Woman and the Pig. We used these two stories for our essay.
  • (week 1) After reading both stories
  • (week 2) we made a Venn diagram to show how they were alike and different.
  • (week 3) Then we wrote a topic sentence for the compare paragraph and another for the contrast paragraph.
  • (week 4) Then we wrote the body of the paragraphs.
  • (week 5) We wrote the closing sentences.
Now I've put it away, but I will bring it back out in fourth grade so we can add opening and closing paragraphs.

Third Grade, Spelling, Set Five

Because we were really busy with other subjects, I did not add any climbers to her spelling lists.

Third Grade, Science, Set Five

This time K.'s project was to create a bug and tell about it. I had her go through boxes of saved stuff -- soap bottles, tubes, cartons, cans, foam trays, etc. -- and pull out something to use for a head, a thorax, and an abdomen. I helped her attach them together. We made legs and wings and attached antenna. Then (because she doesn't like messy fingers) I covered it all with newspaper dipped in starch. Then she painted it. Her bug is called a Colton. I gave her eight questions to answer about the bug. Such as: where does it live, what does it eat, how does it defend itself, what is it's life cycle. She made a poster to answer these questions. She never really got excited about making the bug, but she liked making the poster.

Third Grade, History, Set Five

We read chapter 79 from Child's History. I had planned for us to listen to one piece of music from each composer, but we have not done that yet.

We read pages 143 - 210 in Abraham Lincoln's World.

We added Arkansas, Michigan, Florida, Texas, Iowa, and Wisconsin to our notebooks, along with presidents Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, and Polk.

We completed two more lessons in California History and went to the Irvine Museum to view a special exhibit of California scenery.

We read chapter 5 in Industrial Revolution and completed the paddle wheel boat from chapter 4.

Here are other books we read:
  • If You Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln by Ann McGovern -- I made a list of about eight questions for K. to find the answers to in this book. One question, What are two different kinds of bees?, gave her a lot of trouble. She even had Dad looking for the answer, but, they were looking for insects instead of parties.
  • The Supreme Court by Christine Taylor-Butler -- we read portions of the book that dealt with how the Supreme Court was established and John Marshall.
  • Rachel's Journal by Marissa Moss -- fictional story, based on actual experiences of overland emigrants between 1846 and 1868. K. read this book on her own.
  • Honest Abe Lincoln: Easy-to-Read Stories about Abraham Lincoln by David A. Adler -- I had K. read this on her own.
  • Kit Carson by Jan Gleiter -- this book has great illustrations and easy-to-understand text while telling the story of Kit Carson's life.
Slavery
  • A Picture Book of Harriet Beecher Stowe by David A. Adler -- the story of Harriet Beecher Stowe written for younger students with great illustrations.
  • A Picture Book of Frederick Douglass by David A. Adler -- the story of Frederick Douglass' life written for younger students with great illustrations.
  • Seminole Diary: Remembrances of a Slave by Dolores Johnson -- story of a slave family that flees to Florida and becomes part of a Seminole village. This book has wonderful illustrations and easy to understand text. 
  • Slavery and the Underground Railroad by Carin T. Ford -- we didn't read this book. I asked my husband to read some of it, and we decided that, although it is written in a manner that K. would understand it, she might not be ready for some of the realities it puts forth. However, I do want to get it the next time we visit this era of history.
The Alamo
  • The Battle of the Alamo by Janey Levy -- lots of illustrations and just enough information for younger students.
  • Battle at the Alamo by Teri and Bob Temple -- we just looked at the illustrations and read short excerpts from this book. It will be a good book when K. is older.
  • The Battle of the Alamo by Amie Jane Leavitt -- this is an interactive history adventure, good for older students.
  • We also read The Boxcar Children's book about The Alamo. Although totally fiction, it presented how it would be to visit it today.
For Older Students
  • All is Well by Kristin Emery Litchman -- this book is about Mormons and the practice of polygamy. I read it because I wasn't sure how it would present the subject. This will be a book K. reads when she is older. There is nothing wrong with the book, and it presents well this subject and some history of the Mormon church. However, it presents Mormonism as truth, so since we aren't ready to delve into the teachings of the Mormon church, this book will wait.
  • Suez Canal by Valerie Bodden -- we just looked at the pictures, but the next time we visit this time period, it will be a good book for K. to read
  • Mapmakers of the Western Trails, Adventures with John Charles Fremont by Natalie Nelson -Hernandez -- this is a fictionalized account based on the facts of the life of General Fremont, written for young people.
  • Enemies of Slavery by David A. Adler -- this book gives short (2 - 3 paragraphs) biographies about 13 people who fought against slavery.
  • The Journey to Amazing Grace: Out of Slavery by Linda Granfield -- this is the story of John Newton
  • Desperate Journey by Jim Murphy -- I read this book and really liked it. It is about a family that makes their living on the Erie Canal.

Third Grade, Fine Arts, Set Five

We continued making birthday and anniversary cards. We did some with stenciling and some with paper pricking.

K. asked to do piano again, so we did a few pages.

We painted a plaque with a fortress and wrote our favorite verse from Psalm 91 on it.