The Ultimate Guide To Homeschooling Third Grade

I can not believe I am already talking about homeschooling third grad already! Where has the time gone?!?

Please keep in mind that this is the plan and we all know nothing ever goes according to plan. That being said, I always do a mid-year and end-of-the-year update video on my YouTube channel. Make sure you are subscribed so you don’t miss it.

Homeschooling third does not have to be complicated. Let The Waldock Way show you just how easy and fun it can be!

Table of contents

Everything You Need To Homeschool Your Third Grader

I have compiled everything we used throughout Emily third grade year to give you a comprehensive look at homeschooling third grade. As always, please remember that this is what works for us. Your child may need some tweaks and adjustments and that’s ok!

This is simply a place to start and get you excited for your child’s third grade homeschool year!

Third Grade Homeschool Curriculum and Resource Picks

These curriculum choices reflect our continued shift to play based and interest led learning. But, please keep in mind that we will be dabbling in these resources and not necessarily completing all of them in their entirety. We choose to use multiple resources to teach language arts and math goals. While following our daughters interests for the other subjects.

Language and Math For Homeschooling Third Grade

The base of our language art and math will be Evan-Moor Daily Fundamentals and I will pair them with books and games. If I find that Emily needs more review on a concept I will use the Evan-Moor Math and Language Fundamentals.

Additional resources I am planning to use for math include Right Start Card Games, Life of Fred, and A Math Journey Through series.

Additional resources I am planning to use for language arts include Grammar Galaxy, Write Your Own Story Book and Write Your Own Poems.

Emily wants to learn cursive this year so we will be using the cursive writing app, wooden cursive tracing board, and a creative lettering kit.

We really loved using Teaching Textbooks and Night Zookeeper too. They are perfect for school on the go because they can both be done using tablets.

Third Grade Geography, History, and Science

For history we will be doing at least one Who Was Unit Study a month. But I am hoping for more than that.

For geography and science we will be bouncing back and forth between Traveling the Parks and Traveling the World. I will also be putting together a simple zoology study for her that I will share at a later date.

For government and economics we will be using the Tuttle Twins book series and game.

Our One Thing for the Third Grade Year

Each school year I choose one thing to focus on. I find that by prioritizing one thing for a year it becomes a habit by the end of the year. We have focused on things like reading aloud, gameschooling, and poetry teatime in the past.

This year we will be focusing on art by request. To help set myself up for success I made sure to have some fun resources on hand.

While we don’t follow it exactly I love having What Your Third Grader Needs to Know on hand for references.

Our Third Grade Homeschool Routine

My plan for the upcoming school year is for us to maintain a general routine to our day. I am so excited to have found these adorable magnets from LoveyList that I can easily display on the fridge for a visual reminder of what each day will hold.

That routine will loosely be:

Once we have completed five days of school work we will take the sixth day off for what I am calling a fun/enrichment day. On that sixth school day we will have fun enjoying things like poetry teatime, art projects, and science experiments together.

Subscriptions and Memberships To Help You Homeschool Third Grade

Subscriptions and memberships we will be utilizing include Writings from the Wild, Letters from Afar, Heritage Letters, Universal Yums, KiwiCo Tinker Crate, Around the World Stories, SQUILT, No Sweat Nature Study, Chalk Pastel, Yellow Spot Sun, and Masterpiece Society.

If our co-op is able to resume this school year we will also be using Exploring Nature with Children.

Read Alouds And Independent Books For Third Grade

Our homeschool is largely comprised of books and games. Reading aloud plays a very crucial role in our homeschool. Most of our days begin and end with me reading aloud to Emily.

These are the books we enjoyed throughout her third grade year.

I will be specifically sharing the chapter books we enjoyed throughout the year. But, we also read a lot of picture books in addition to chapter books. The majority of the picture books we read each year can be found on Read Aloud Revival’s a year of picture books list.

Read Alouds

A very large portion of what we read was book series. We tend to get invested when the story keeps going and we were more excited to race through a book knowing there was another one waiting.

It seems like there is a mourning period (at least for us) when a book ends. So maybe we just like series because there is less mourning that way.

 The Magic Misfits Complete Collection Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Books 1-4 (Boxed Set) The Land of Stories Complete Paperback Gift Set Pages & Co.: The Bookwanderers Pages & Co.: The Lost Fairy Tales Pages & Co.: The Map of Stories The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden The Vanderbeekers Lost and Found The One and Only Ivan The One and Only Bob The Secret Zoo The Secret Zoo: Secrets and Shadows The Secret Zoo: Riddles and Danger The Secret Zoo: Traps and Specters The Secret Zoo: Raids and Rescues The Green Ember Ember Falls Ember Rising Ember’s End A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans A Dragon’s Guide to Making Your Human Smarter A Dragon’s Guide to Making Perfect Wishes Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures A Pinch of Magic Year of Miss Agnes How to Eat Fried Worms James and the Giant Peach

 

AND A LOT OF WHO WAS BOOKS!

Independent Reads

Emily loves to read. her favorite spot in the whole house is her little book nook corner. She loves when her cat Nala comes and curls up with her for story time.

 Zoey and Sassafras Books Pet Rescue Adventures Kitten Tales Collection Pet Rescue Adventures Puppy Tales Collection Dinosaur Cove Collection Kylie Jean Queen Collection Upside-Down Magic Set Clover’s Luck The Enchanted Egg The Missing Magic The Magnificent Makers #1 The Magnificent Makers #2 The Magnificent Makers #3 The Magnificent Makers #4 Pip Barlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Unicorn Training Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Sea Monsters The Magic Mirror: A Branches Book The Stolen Slipper: A Branches Book The Snoring Princess: A Branches Book The Missing Dwarf: A Branches Book Unicorn Princesses Books 1-3 Unicorn Princesses Books 4-6 Unicorn Princesse Books 7-9 Kitty and the Moonlight Rescue Kitty and the Tiger Treasure Kitty and the Sky Garden Adventure Kitty and the Treetop Chase Kitty and the Great Lantern Race

 

Keeping Track Of What We Read

If you are looking for a way to easily keep track of the books you read in your homeschool, I highly suggest the GoodReads app.

GoodReads let you have as many “shelves” as you’d like. I have one for every homeschool year so far. You can scan the books and add them to your shelves with ease.

Games For Third Grade Learning

To say we play a lot of games in our homeschool would be an understatement.

We are what you would call gameschoolers for sure. I make it a point to incorporate games into our days as much as possible. One way I do that is to use them in place of busy work.

Instead of learning about something Emily is uninterested in out of a boring textbook we can do something like play a fun hands-on game while we learn more about one of her favorite things: cats. Plus while we play we’d be connecting too.

Because I know we’re not alone, and many of you would love to add games to your days as well, I have put together a list of our most played games during our first grade year.

Top 15 Games for Third Grade

Upwords –  The higher you stack, the higher you score! In Upwords, each player starts with 7 letter tiles. Play words across or down to make new words or stack on top of tiles to change a word! Earn points for every tile put down.

Scrabble – Scrabble, the classic crossword game, is full-on fun for friends and family. You can feel the excitement begin as soon as you rack up your letters, choose a great word, and hope to land on a triple-word score.

Boggle – Earn points by spotting words your friends don’t before time runs out. Shake the grid to mix up the letter cubes. Then lift the lid and flip the timer. Players have 90 seconds to write down as many words as they can find on the grid before time is up.

   

 

Super Sleuth – Detective-themed vocabulary game with 180+ mysteries to solve. Practice synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and multiple-meaning words.

Quiddler – A kid-friendly word game that is fun for the whole family! All ages can play this fast-paced game because even short words like at, of, and zoo, can lead to a win!

Zangle – Brain-twisting, shape-building fun, with 3 ways to play! Turn-Style, Speedster and Solitaire. Created by the inventor of SET!

   

 

Prime Climb – Learn and master multiplication, division, factorization and prime number concepts by combining colors. Multiply by combining colors; divide by removing colors. The colors on the Prime Climb board give us a way to see every number as a combination of the numbers it is made of (its factors)!

Dragon Times – Dragon Times is an adventure, fantasy card game suitable for ages 6 and up. The game helps children practice and memorize the multiplication facts in a fun and exciting way.

Proof – Proof! is an award-winning, fast, fun, and addicting math game that the whole family can enjoy! Work that mental math magic as you race to find creative equations hidden among nine number cards. Keep what you find and collect the most cards to win!

   

 

Fraction Formula – It’s a race to “1”! You draw fraction cards and drop the matching cylinders into their tubes to get as close to “1” as possible, without going over.

Cover Your Assets – The goal of the Cover Your Assets game is to acquire $1,000,000 in assets, and the first one millionaire wins.

Trekking the Parks – Trekking the National Parks is a spirited family board game that lets players experience the U.S. National Parks in a fun and competitive way. Players compete for points by claiming Park Cards and collecting trail stones as they race across the country experiencing the wonders at each of these magnificent landscapes.

   

 

Way Back When in History -Journey through time with the Way Back When in History fun and educational board game. Players travel through five time periods in early America: Explorers, 13 Colonies, American Revolution, Constitution and the Civil War.

Valence – In Valence Plus, you’ll build elite Science Ninja teams out of elements from the periodic table to find molecules and win the game! But be careful – opponents might attack you with acid squads, reducing your bases to worthless salt and water!

Exploding Kittens – xploding kittens is the perfect card game for adults, teens and kids who are into kittens and explosions and laser beams and sometimes goats. Exploding Kittens is a highly-strategic, kitty-powered version of Russian roulette.

   

 

Yes, You Can Homeschool Third Grade!

The reality is that I questioned myself all the time during our third grade year. Most homeschooling moms do!

But, I want you to know that homeschooling third grade is not only an educational option, it’s a wonderful approach to you child’s education.

Watch this third grade homeschool playlist to see a indepth look at how our third grade homeschool year went.

2 Comments

  1. Thank you (-:
    Sincerely love this article, and appreciate all the hard work you put into it. Wish you had the 4th grade guide available as well (-;
    ttfn. ,
    L.

    1. I can’t have an Ultimate Guide to 4th grade until we finish it. So it will be up at the end of this school year! I am glad you enjoyed the third grade guide though!

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