3rd and 5th grade Curriculum Plans 2020-2021

I shared what my 7th grader will be using for the 2020-2021 school year here. Now I'll be sharing what my 3rd and 5th graders will be using. I'm grouping them together because they are using the same things, just on different grade levels.

MATH:
They used Math Lessons for a Living Education this year and loved it. But I felt like my boys needed something a little more traditional, with more drills and practice. I decided to go with MCP Mathematics Level C for Titus and Level E for Silas. This series is targeted towards students who need a little more practice with math. I did enjoy the Math Lessons for a Living Education, but for these two boys I feel like they needed something different.

       

LANGUAGE ARTS:
I'm starting them both on Learning Language Arts Through Literature this year. Silas will be using the Purple book and Titus will be using the Yellow book.

Titus will be reading:

• The White Stallion, by Elizabeth Shub
• Madeline, by Ludwig Bemelmans
• Meet George Washington, by Joan Heilbroner
• The Courage of Sarah Noble, by Alice Dalgliesh

Silas will be reading:

• Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Trumpet of the Swan by E.B.White
• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
• Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink

       

SPELLING:
They both need extra spelling practice, so they will be using 180 Days of Spelling for their respective grade levels.

       

HISTORY:
We will be using the Mystery of History Volume 1 along with Mercie. We will be using the notebooking pages and challenge cards, also.

SCIENCE:
I am using Exploring Astronomy from School House Teachers with them. We will learn about the planets and space and do some fun hands-on projects like making our own solar oven and baking cookies.

ART:
They will also be using Elementary Art Lessons from School House Teachers. They will learn about 12 artists and make their own masterpieces in those styles.

MORNING BASKET:
I'm going to bring our Morning Basket back into our homeschool day! We slowly quit doing it because I had a baby and we were in survival mode! It really does add so much to our lives, though, that I find it very important to bring back.

We will be using Road Trip USA by Confessions of a Homeschooler each morning to gently cover each of the 50 states. I am ordering every state book in the States Alphabet series to read during this time, as well as having map drills, states and capitals drills, and a few hands-on activities.

We will also be reading the Bible during this time. We are currently in Deuteronomy and will continue reading straight through the Bible. I read from the New Living Translation and discuss it.

We will work on scripture memory, memorizing chunks and chapters of scripture.

We will also have a poem a week, like we used to do. The kids loved reading the poem aloud and memorizing it. I usually choose poems based on the seasons or interests of the kids.

I'm also planning to have a read aloud each morning that corresponds with our history lessons. Mystery of History has tons of book suggestions that I will choose from.

Our Morning Basket will probably take around an hour each morning to do.

See what my 7th grader is using by clicking here! Next I will share about my 18-month old's Tot school and the resources I am buying for him, and then I'll share what my senior will be using!

Homeschool Highlights: 5/25/20 - 5/29/20

My Full Heart

It's hard to believe May is almost over! We are still in Texas with Rod. We have two full weeks left here and then we will head back home. It's been very hot! We spent Memorial Day at the bowling alley about half an hour away from where we are staying. We had a blast! The kids hadn't been bowling in years. We bowled three games. Afterwards we went and ate Mexican food for a late lunch.

The parks and playgrounds are still closed, but we did get to walk at one park this week. We watched the ducks and turtles play in the water! Zeke loved this!

Mercie, Silas, and Titus worked in their Summer Learning Binders. We also did a lesson from a review product about the First Encounter of the Pilgrims and Native Americans. It was a pretty interesting lesson, and the kids had to draw a picture of what they would have seen and how they would have felt if they were arriving to the New World on the Mayflower. They did a great job!

I've been working on Tot School resources for Zeke, and listing them on Etsy and Teachers Pay Teachers. I've also been trying to get our school curriculum lined up for August and get mentally prepared for everything we are planning to do.

We've made several trips to the library for books and movies. We've watched a ton of Scooby-Doo, the Mentalist, the Natural Treasure movies, and now we are hooked on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. I watched that show when I was a kid, and I love it just as much now as I did then!

Mikaela is feeling pretty good. She is 17 weeks pregnant and starting to show a little bit! We ordered Daniel's Christmas stocking kit for my mom. She has made all of the kid's Christmas stockings just like she made mine and my sisters when we were kids.

We are lining up her senior year curriculum. She is going to homeschool for her senior year and then she wants to enroll in beauty school. She is going to use Apologia's Advanced Biology, Saxon's Advanced Math, Babylonian History from School House Teachers, and British Literature from Schoolhouse Teachers. All she needs are those four credits to graduate.

School House Teachers is having a big sale that ends June 1, so if you're curious about the website, which offers a TON of course options, curriculum, videos, and World Book access, now is the time to try it! It's only $139 for an entire year's subscription for the whole family! You will also receive 19 free gifts and a tote bag! I have printed off so many units for the kid's Summer Learning Binders, not to mention we are using their Astronomy course next year for my boys. Check it out! Click the picture below!

Random shots from the week:

We went on a drive Sunday and took some pictures!

He loves playing in the dirt.

Zeke snuggling with Mercie.

He loves our daily walks! 

I found this at a flea market and bought it for my kitchen! I love cows. This reminds me of my mom's kitchen when I was a kid!

Every time he puts on my glasses he opens his mouth!

Mikaela and Zeke eating lunch!

Me and Mikaela!

"Tacos have fillings, too!"

How was your week? Link up any homeschool-related posts from the week. Be sure to visit the other posts in the link up and leave a comment. And please use my button on your blog and link back here! Thanks!!

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Tot School - Week 2

Zeke has been using the Bible ABCs for Ones, Twos, and Threes that I wrote. He completed Week 1 last week and Week 2 this week. It's written as a 5-day a week curriculum with the 5th day being a nature walk and story time with books that go along with the weekly theme.

This week, his Bible story was B for Brothers - Cain and Abel. We read the story several times in his 5-Minute  Bible Stories book. He used his Tot Learning Mat for Cain and Abel to help tell the story. I will tell the story and hand him the correct cards to place on the mat. I try to get him to repeat words to help increase his vocabulary.  He is very good at these Tot Learning Mats!

He also used his Tot Learning Mat for the color white.

We talked about sheep and his color of the week was white. I drew the outline of a sheep on a sheet of construction paper and he placed white paper hole reinforcement stickers on the sheep. He loves anything with stickers!

I gave him two bowls and ten cotton balls. He had to transfer the cotton bowls from one bowl to the other. I had some plastic tongs but he had a difficult time manipulating them, so I handed him a plastic spoon which was much easier for him! He stayed busy almost 20 minutes with this activity, so I repeated it this morning.

He played with white play-dough. I showed him how to roll balls and called them "sheep." He loves play-dough!

I talked to him about families, especially his siblings. We read several books on love, hugs, and families. We read this really cute book called, "What Brothers Do Best!" He loves to listen to stories.

He put pictures of "brothers" on a letter "B." I simply printed out some clip art of boys.

For our nature walk, we looked for white items. We saw lots of white ducks at the park this week! We saw white clouds and white rocks. He loves seeing white trucks because my dad drives a white truck. Anytime he sees one he hollers for "Papa!"

If you'd like to see what we did for Week 1, it's in this post toward the bottom.

Reading Kingdom

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Titus has been using Reading Kingdom several times a week to work on his reading skills. Reading Kingdom is an online reading program targeted at ages 4-10, or grades K-3. Reading Kingdom uses Dr. Marion Blank's "Phonics-PLUS" system, which teaches six different reading skills - sequencing, writing, sounds, meaning, grammar, and comprehension.

Reading Kingdom is different from most online reading programs that I have tried with my kids. One of the biggest differences is that Reading Kingdom requires your child to type in the correct words, using capitalization and punctuation. You can use either your keyboard or an on-screen keyboard. We used our regular keyboard, because I do think it is important for children to be able to correctly type on a keyboard.

We started out with the placement test, which is kind of long. Titus did not like this part, but it did help put him on the correct level. He was placed on level 3. Each lesson has 15 parts and takes around 15-20 minutes for Titus to complete. There are several components to each lesson. Each lesson teaches a word - in this example lesson, the word is "very." He has to find "very" several times in a short paragraph and click on it. The he has to to type in "very" in the same paragraph, which has blanks for the word. 

In this activity, he has to click the word that could be "very" and then type in the missing letters.

In this next activity, he has to read the paragraph. Then, he has to click the missing words and type them in. 

Now he has to read a sentence, and then click the correct words in order. 

He also has to read a sentence and then type each word in, using correct capitalization and the space bar. 

There are several more exercises in each lesson. At the top right of the screen, it lets you know how many activities you have left in the lesson. Titus likes this feature because he knows exactly how much is left in each lesson. 

I am pretty impressed with Reading Kingdom. Titus is already an excellent reader, but he did enjoy the activities. I am glad that he is getting practice using the keyboard and typing words in. I really like how the different skills are taught along with phonics. My children always learned to read best when they were putting it into practice like they do on Reading Kingdom - reading real paragraphs, learning about words and sentence structure, and learning how to spell the words they are learning to read. Reading in context is a great way to learn to read and to improve reading skills.

Reading Kingdom also offers a program for children on the Autism spectrum called ASD Reading. See what other reviewers thought about Reading Kingdom and ASD Reading by clicking the banner below!