Two years of homeschooling under my belt, and I feel like I’ve really found my groove. It wasn’t hard to pick curriculum for this coming year. I knew that we wanted to be literature heavy so Build Your Library and Blossom and Root were obviously choices for us overall. Once I started looking into things, I went on a shopping spree and got my ducks in order. The hard part this coming year will be to balance each child’s individual needs and levels. Arthur will be in 3rd grade and Quentin will be in Kindergarten. I am working on creating a schedule that works for everyone while allowing for flexibility.

As a reminder, we are a pretty eclectic household with a strong literature base. My criteria when looking for curriculum:

• secular

• rigorous

• wide world perspective

• not necessarily all-in-one

• at least some physical items, not all online

• cheap (not necessarily the cheapest, but not expensive)

Let’s take a look at what I have for curriculum for next year!

Arthur - 3rd Grade

Math

We will be continuing with Singapore Math Common Core Edition as our base curriculum. Arthur will be starting with 4A and push through 4B. Beyond the basic text, we will be supplementing with Khan Academy, lots of math games, and random workbooks and packets. We will also be continuing with our logic puzzles.

• Singapore Math 4A and 4B

• Multiplication and Division G3-4

• Random Target Workbook

• Scholastic Math Tests G4

• Scholastic Math G4

• Sylvan Super Math Success G4

• Kumon Geometry and Measurement G4

• Logic Liftoff

• 50 Logic Puzzles

• The Math Book by Clifford A. Pickover

• Five Below Random Workbooks

Language Arts

This is Arthur’s grammar workbook selections for this year. We don’t do every page and question, but bounce around between some of them.

• Evan Moor Daily Summer Activities 3rd to 4th Grade

• Brainquest Summer 3&4

• Brainiest 3rd Grade

• Grade 3 Complete Curriculum

• Evan Moor Daily Language Review 3rd Grade

• Scholastic Grammar 3rd Grade

• Scholastic Writing 3rd Grade

• Scholastic Reading Comprehension 3rd Grade

• Scholastic Grammar 4th Grade

• Scholastic Writing 4th Grade

• Scholastic Reading Comprehension 4th Grade

• Five Below Workbooks

• Grade 3 Readiness

Arthur’s readers will be a mix of Blossom and Root’s Grade 3 Language Arts, Build Your Library 5, and our home library selections.

• Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia

• The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

• The Beast of Buckingham Palace by David Walliams (coop book club selection)

• The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (coop book club selection)

• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O’Brien

• Tristan Strong Destroys the World by Kwame Mbalia

• Wildwood by Colin Meloy

• Winterhouse by Ben Guterson

• The Secrets of Winterhouse by Ben Guterson

• The Winterhouse Mysteries by Ben Guterson

• Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate

• The Secret Garden by France Hodgson Burnett

• Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

• Insignificant Events int he Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling

• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Readers continued…

• El Deafo by Cece Bell

• Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

• The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

• Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

• Hollowpox: The Hunt of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

• The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

• The Penderwicks at Last by Jeanne Birdsall

• Midsummer Mayhem by Rajani LaRocca

• My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

• The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix

• Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland

• Iggy Peck and the Mysterious Mansion by Andrea Beaty

• Word of Mouse by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein (coop book club selection)

Our language arts selections also include a mini unit on Native America stories and one on Shakespeare. I found some interesting resources for those.

• In the Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World by Virginia Hamilton

• One World, Many Religions by Mary Pope Osborne

• Bravo Mr. William Shakespeare by Marcia Williams

• Tales from Shakespeare by Marica Williams

• Shakespeare for Kids by Colleen Aagesen

• A Child’s Introduction to Poetry by Michael Driscoll

• Between Earth and Sky: Legends of Native American Sacred Places by Joseph Bruchac

• The Earth Under Sky Bear’s Feet: Native American Poems of the Land by Joseph Bruchac

• They Dance in the Sky: Native American Star Myths by Jean Guard Monroe

• Pushing Up the Sky: Seven Native American Plays for Children by Joseph Bruchac

And of course we have a stack of poetry selections.

• My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States by Lee Bennett Hopkins

• Poetry for Young People: American Poetry

• Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

• Writing Down the Days by Lorraine Dahlstrom

• Poetry for Young People: Walt Whitman

• Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson

• Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes

• Poetry for Young People: Edgar Allan Poe

Social Studies

Arthur’s social studies will focus on the United States to coincide with our history selection.

• Map Skills for Today Grade 3

• License Plates Across the America

• Nat Geo Kids U.S. Road Trip Atlas

• The Geography Book

• Map Skills for Today Grade 4

• Evan Moor Geography Skill Sharpeners Grade 5

• Target U.S. Workbook

• Nat Geo Kids United States Atlas

• The 50 States Activity Book

As our history base, Arthur is using Build Your Library Level 5 (U.S. History) combined with History Quest’s new U.S. History release.

• DK American History

• DK When on Earth?

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK History

• Don’t Know Much About The Presidents by Kenneth C. Davis

• DK Timeline of Everything

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• Words that Build a Nation by Marilyn Miller

• What Color is My World? The Lost History of African American Investors by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

• The Declaration of Independence by Rod Gragg

• Inventing America: The Life of Benjamin Franklin by Mark Regan Essig

• Remember the Ladies: 100 Great American Women by Cheryl Harness

• Evan Moor Native Americans History Pockets

• A Kid’s Guide to Native American History by Yvonne Wakim Dennis

• Lewis and Clark for Kids by

• Target U.S. Presidents Workbook

• The American Revolution for Kids

• A Kid’s Guide to African American History by Nancy I. Sanders

• Heart and Soul by Kadir Nelson

• The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales by Virginia Hamilton

• Trickster: Native American Tales by Matt Dembicki

Our history curriculum has a ton of extra readers. I’m very excited to get to all of these.

• King George: What was His Problem? by Steve Sheinkin

• Which Way to the Wild West by Steve Sheinkin

• Two Miserable Presidents by Steve Sheinkin

• Day of Tears by Julius Lester

• Sarah Journey’s West by Nikki Shannon Smith

• Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

• Chains by Laurie Halse Andreson

• Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson

• Ashes by Laurie Halse Anderson

• In the Shadow of Liberty by Kenneth C. Davis

• Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

• A Different Mirror for Young People by Ronald Takaki

• Pocahontas by Josephy Bruchac

• The Winter People by Joseph Bruchac

• Morning Girl by Michael Dorris

• A Young People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

• Sunnie Press Maps

Science

Our science is going to be a combination of Build Your Library Level 8 (history of science), Level 4 (Physics), and RSO Physics. Lots of interesting combinations.

• Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia

• DK Science Year by Year

• The Way Things Work Now by David Macaulay

• Build This Book by David Eckhold

• Astronomy for All Ages by Philip Harrington

• The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way by Joy Hakim

• The Handy Science Answer Guide

• A History of Earth in 100 Groundbreaking Discoveries by Douglas Palmer

• Six Easy Pieces by Richard P. Feynman

• The Annotated Flatland by Ian Stewart

• Five Equations that Changed the World by Michael Guillen

• Introducing Quantum Theory

• Nick and Tesla’s High Voltage Danger Lab by Bob Pfluffelder

• Flatterland by Ian Stewart

In addition to our formal science curriculum, we will be doing a variety of nature science lessons. We still have a ton of leftover lessons and resources from last year.

Art

This is actually all the art books for Quentin and Arthur. I took just one picture. Each one of their Build Your Library levels has a related art book to dip in and out of. Arthur’s selection is Great American Artists for Kids book to go along with U.S. History. Beyond that book, I imagine that we will occasionally do a art lesson on other people and styles. Plus, coop is supposed to be starting an art class. Very excited about this possibility.

• A Journey Through Art: A Global History by Aaron Rosen

• Storybook Art by MaryAnn F. Kohl

• The Art Lesson by Tomie dePaola

• The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning

• Great American Artists for Kids by MaryAnn F. Kohl

• Global Art by MaryAnn F. Kohl

• Frida Kahlo: The Artist Painted Herself by Margaret Frith