Curriculum Choices for Aaron - 3rd Grade

I am using Bigger Hearts For His Glory from Heart of Dakota (HOD) for Aaron this year. Aaron is in 3rd grade. I started using HOD when Martin started 2nd grade. This is my 4th year using a Charlotte Mason approach to learning and it is a wonderful fit for our family.

I don't have a picture to share but Aaron will be using Cheerful Cursive to learn how to write cursive. He is so excited to finally be learning how to write cursive. I love Cheerful Cursive and found that when Martin went through it he rarely needed any assistance at all. Aaron is on the same track and rarely needs any help with it. (which allows me to get some work done with Jonathan while Aaron works independently!)

Aaron will be working through Singapore Math 3A and 3B U.S edition.  He is still finishing up his 2B workbook at this point, but it shouldn't be too much longer before he heads into 3A. I purposely slowed him down last year to work on memorization of multiplication facts. 

The history spine includes A First Book in American History, Journeys in TIme, Stories of Great Americans, and The Story of the Wright Brothers and their Sister. I took Martin through this curriculum 2 years ago - and am enjoying reading through the books again with Aaron!

We will be using Rod and Staff English 3. I thoroughly enjoy Rod and Staff English. It is no secret that I am just not a math kind of a girl ... however, English is very enjoyable to me. I love teaching it ... and surprisingly enough both of my boys like it as well. They even enjoy diagramming sentences. I love the no nonsense methodical approach that Rod and Staff provides. We do about 2/3 of it orally and about 1/3 of it written.

Scripture study and memorization is woven throughout each of the subjects that are taught in HOD. Included in this guide is also a Hymn study for music and a devotional book called Little Pillows. Aaron has the Hymns on his ipod and can listen to it easily at some point each day. We also sing them together! 

I am doing things a little bit different this year for our read a-loud time. The suggested read a-louds for  story time are selections that come from specific genres of literature. They are wonderful book choices and I enjoyed them immensely when I took Martin through them. This time, however, I decided to get the extension readers that are offered for older students that may be going through Bigger and use those as read a-louds. They are scheduled in the back of the book and are extensions of the history lessons that they are learning each day. I thought it would be very interesting to read those books instead. I'll still use the storytime lesson plans in the Bigger guide as we go through the extension books.

I made 3 notebooks for Aaron to use this year. He will be starting History and Science notebooking, so I put together a separate notebook for each of those. I was able to download notebooking pages that other moms have made as they had children going through Bigger. They graciously uploaded the files they created to the HOD yahoo group. The 3rd notebook has a section for English worksheets, Vocabulary, and daily checklists. I got the daily checklists and vocabulary sheets from the HOD yahoo group as well. I am so thankful for other moms who have taken the time to share their hard work with the rest of us.

Aaron will be reading One Small Square: Seashore, One Small Square: Woods, A Pioneer Sampler, Science in Colonial America, and Thomas Edison for Science this year. He will be notebooking as he goes through the book as well as performing lots and lots of fun experiments!

We will be using Drawn into the Heart of Reading (DITHOR) for  reading this year. DITHOR is a very thorough study of the different genres of literature. It includes pre-reading activities, guided literature discussions, vocabulary lessons, and creative projects. Godly character lessons are weaved throughout all of the lessons. This curriculum can be used with any books. The books that I chose for Aaron are pictured below. Aaron is a very analytical kind of a child as well as being very perceptive. DITHOR is one of his favorite things about school.

By the Great Horn Spoon, Black Stallion, Snow Treasure, Tales from the Dust River Gulch, More Tales from the Dust River Gulch, Little Pilgrims Progress, Misty of Chincoteague, Scripture Sleuth, Gentle Ben, and Buffalo Bill. (the last one is not pictured because he is currently reading it)

This is the Level 2/3 workbook that Aaron will be working through this year along with the DITHOR guided teacher student discussions and analysis. The workbook provides many analytical processes that will help guide students to become independent thinkers. There are exercises in predicting, character analysis, character webs, themes, main ideas, and much more.

This is going to be an incredibly thorough and rich year of learning for Aaron. In my experience, 3rd grade is a huge skill building year. There is also a pretty significant leap in the work that is required of him. So, we are going to have some adjustment time ahead of us. My goal, though, is to keep everything fun, interesting, and joyful as we study all these amazing books! I am so thankful that I have such joyful learners!