A Week of Home School Third Grade
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A
week of home schooling my active third grader often goes by like a
blur. This week was no exception. Her question every day is, “Where are
we going today?” So as usual we were out and about a good bit. She's pretty alert, and captured the picture of this egret while we were running errands one day.
I
look back and think about what we accomplished in each subject:
Math:
We
stopped using the Horizons workbook before Christmas since it was moving too fast for her. It assumed she
had all her multiplication tables down, and there wasn't much sense
in continuing with it until she did. I decided then to focus primarily on
the multiplication facts, and switch to a math workshop approach with
a variety of activities. So as this week started, we were using:
- flash cards
- oral practice (in the van)
- on-line math activities such as IXL and Math Playground
- Math Fact Master arithmetic app on my iPod
- Horizons supplemental worksheets
- best of all, a Multiplication Rap DVD that I bought a few weeks ago at Lakeshore Learning
On
Thursday we were in Books-A-Million and she asked me if they had
anything for math. I bought the Spectrum Math Grade 3 workbook since it is not heavy on
multiplication, and will give her the opportunity to maintain her
other math skills like multi-digit addition and subtraction with
regrouping. I also just ordered her a new JLab tablet on sale (her old Asus broke) so we'll be downloading some math apps for that.
Language
Arts:
She
has several language arts workbooks, but the ones we used this week were Daily Grams 3rd Grade and Nonfiction Comprehension. When
we bought the math workbook, we also got the
Spectrum Spelling Grade 3.
We already had the Spectrum Word Study and
Phonics workbook
(free from a church rummage sale), but I think she needs more
targeted help with spelling instead of that.
We
took turns reading books out
loud every
day and
often in the evening. We brought books along to our therapy appointments on Wednesday to read while we waited. One night she read me a bedtime story until I
fell asleep! A few
times
she gave me oral narrations of what we had read.
As
we read, we pointed out homophones,
compound words, proper
nouns, and
other grammar concepts.
We
also discussed synonyms and antonyms.
Life
Skills:
On Tuesday and Thursday
afternoons, her baby nephew came to visit. She couldn't touch him
since she had just gotten over a case of impetigo, so she did a
little puppet show and sang songs for him instead.
On Thursday, we shopped
on-line for a new tablet for her. We read reviews and compared
features before we picked one.
Since
we will be flying to
Maryland next
week, and she doesn't remember her one air trip as a baby, we
prepared a little by reading the book If
You Were a Pilot
by Virginia Schomp. Also
in the career realm,
she picked out A
Day in the Life of a Musician
by Linda Hayward.
History
and Science:
Our current unit study is on
early pioneers and farming, though we don't confine our reading
strictly to that. We have also been reading biographies and short
stories about notable women of the 19th century, such as
author Louisa May Alcott, teacher Ann Sullivan, and first female physician Elizabeth
Blackwell.
We tried starting Caddie
Woodlawn a few weeks ago (see my
free study guide), but didn't get too far with that
yet. I had hoped to be done with this unit by now, but we've still
got a lot of great books to finish. My goal is to have at least the
library books read before we go out of town next week. I will save
Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series for after we study the Civil War.
- A Pioneer Sampler: The Daily Life of a Pioneer Family in 1840 by Barbara Greenwood (my favorite resource for this unit - part fiction, with lots of factual and practical sidebars)
- The Bears on Hemlock Mountain by Alice Dalgliesh – an easy and fun read
- A is for Abigail: An Almanac of Amazing American Women by Lynn Cheney (wife of Dick Cheney, VP under G.W. Bush)
- Hooray for Beekeeping! and Hooray for Sheep Farming! published by Bobbie Kalman – great for science!
- Pioneer Bear by Joan Sandin
- Westward Ho! The Story of the Pioneers by Lucille Recht Penner (Landmark Picture)
- An American Pioneer Family – How They Lived by Robin May
- The Value of Friendship: The Story of Jane Addams by Ann Donegan Johnson – the story of the Hull House settlement house in Chicago is one of my favorites, and Addams is a wonderful role model of justice and mercy
On
Monday, we went to Brightlight,
my favorite used bookstore. I had about $30 store credit, and we blew it all on
books and a DVD for her.
Some of the books from Brightlight |
Among other titles, I bought A is for Abigail: An Almanac of Amazing American Women by Lynn Cheney, Kirsten Learns a Lesson (American Girl book for our current
unit study), Dust for Dinner (an easy reader on the dust bowl for a later unit study),
and Kit Kittredge
(American Girl DVD on the Depression Era). She watched the DVD that
afternoon, and I watched it with her the next day. Very educational!
On Tuesday, we pulled out some
easy drawing books to sketch farm animals and Native Americans. One
was Draw Write Now Book 3: Native Americans, North America, the Pilgrims.
On Thursday, while waiting for
my iPod battery replacement, we went to the nearby Adjectives Market antique and art store. The two floors are full
of historical and beautiful things, so it made a great impromptu
field trip for an hour. How vintage typewriters worked definitely piqued her interest.
On Friday morning, I
remembered getting an e-mail about a Civil War reenactment about 25
miles from here. Prior to the main weekend events and full battles,
they were having a home school day with some of the historical
exhibits and cannon firing. Though I wasn't feeling very well, we
decided to go on the spur of the moment. We arrived late but still
had plenty of time to see what was there and to visit with friends we
had called to join us.
Cannon fired (no live ammo - flour mixed with the gunpowder made the "smoke") |
Our friends with a reenactor |
Here we are! |
Jacob's Ladder at the toy table |
Wood working booth |
Fry bread and lemonade - the perfect end to the day |
That's the main stuff we did
for school this week! What does your typical week look like?
Virginia Knowles
I love seeing how others school their children. Looks like a full day of adventure in learning. Love. Thank you for sharing your day. Visiting from Mom's Morning Coffee.
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