It's that time of year again when we’re all figuring out what we'll use for the upcoming school year or finishing up our shopping for what we still need. I finally bought everything my two third-graders will use this year! Today, I’ll only be sharing what my youngest, Violet, will be using.
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First up Language arts
Violet has always used The Good and the Beautiful as her core curriculum so moving to the level 3 course set seemed like a no brainer. She is excited to read the books that go along with this set and I am excited for all the fun wiritng activies this level has, it has been our favorite level we have ever used from them!
Math
Choosing a math program has been a little trickier. Violet has used and loved The Good and the Beautiful math the whole time, but starting at the beginning of Level 2, she started crying a lot when it was math time. There were a lot of things going on in our family, so I didn’t immediately attribute those moments to the math curriculum. However, by the end of the school year, she was verbal enough about what she didn’t like that I knew we needed something different.
I bought three different programs to try, but she wasn’t happy with any of them because they were either too cluttered or had more than one page of work. I finally decided to go with what my older kids use: Saxon Math. I’m hopeful that this will be a good fit!
Each lesson has one page (Section A) of work, along with a scripted teacher lesson beforehand. There’s another page (Section B), but from my research, that seems to be geared toward public schools for sending home homework. Since we don’t need more "homework," we’ll skip that part. The lessons are pretty scripted, so I know I’ll need to condense some of it or it would take forever, but I feel like that’s doable. We’ve been using Saxon Math 5/4 and up for years, and I really like how it teaches and that there are so many teaching videos available from various companies. The K-3 editions are written by a different author and formatted differently from the 5/4 and up editions, so I’ve never tried them before, but I’m hopeful they’ll be a good fit!
Spelling
This year, we’re also adding a spelling curriculum. I think a short, sweet list is a good thing, so we’ll be using Evan-Moor Daily Spelling Traits. It looks really simple, and I love that it includes dictation. Even though The Good and the Beautiful includes spelling, I’ve learned that it doesn’t work the best beyond Level 2 because the lists aren’t consistent. While they do a great job teaching rules and helping with sounding out words, it hasn’t been the best fit for us when it comes to long-term spelling practice.
Handwriting
Violet has used The Good and the Beautiful handwriting since Pre-K, so moving to Level 3 was the obvious choice. We may also add in some Handwriting Without Tears to mix things up a bit. She loves the sweet and simple lessons, and I appreciate that there are activities in the books to keep things fun!
Violet and I are both excited about these changes and the favorites we already have in place. I’ve been at this for over 12 years now, so I know no year will go perfectly, but I’m hopeful that involving her in the choices will set us up for a great start.
Happy homeschooling!
~Shantel
Some links shared may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission—at no extra cost to you—if you choose to purchase through them. Thanks for supporting our homeschool journey!