We’re back at it, although later than I would have liked; I am still in planning mode. Rather than starting on August 16, like we’ve done in the past, we will be starting right after Labor Day. Last year we attempted to do six-weeks on and six-weeks off, but failed miserably. We started off strong, but once we took a break things just never get back on track. Much had to do with severe financial stress that plagued us. You can read about that in the Summer issue of home | school | life Magazine. I worried that we did not learn anything and that I had dropped the ball. Hard! However, after a careful review, we learned so much! All of us!
This year, I decided to try something a little different. My husband pretty much gives me free reign to plan the year, so he was on board when I told him my ideas. In the past, I tried to organize everything down to the day. This year I compiled a list of goals and then found the materials that I wanted to use to help us reach those goals. I will share the goals at a later date. You will find the materials that I’ve chosen after the break.
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Language Arts
Poems
- “By Myself “ by Eloise Greenfield
- “Catch a Little Rhyme” by Eve Merriam
- “Knoxville, Tennessee” by Nikki Giovani
- “Dream Variations” by Langston Hughes
- “The Crocodile” by Lewis Carroll
- “Trees” by Sergeant Joyce Kilmer
- “Rudolph is Tired of the City” by Gwendolyn Brooks
- “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Longfellow
- “Sir Gawain & the Green” Knight (poem)
- “The Fairie Queen” (poem)
- “Songs of Innocence” by William Blake (poetry)
- “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” by Robert Browning
Speeches
- Preamble to the US Constitution
- Opening to the Declaration of Independence
- Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death by Patrick Henry
- The Articles of Association
Ancient, Renaissance, and Early Modern Literature
- The Children’s Homer : the adventures of Odysseus and the tale of Troy (Kindle Version)
- Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of ‘The Iliad”
and The Wanderings of Odysseus: The Story of “the Odyssey”
by Rosemary Sutcliff
- How the World Began: World Myths (Myths and Legends from Around the World)
- The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus by Aliki
- Favorite Greek Myths
by Mary Pope Osborne
- Pegasus by Marianna Mayer
- The Classic Treasury of Aesop’s Fables
- Egyptian Gods and Goddesses
by Henry Baker
- Traditional Tales from China by Vic Parker
- The Canterbury Tales
by Geoffery Chaucer
- Saint George and the Dragon
by Margaret Hodges
- Hamlet (No Fear Shakespeare)
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream (No Fear Shakespeare)
- Macbeth (No Fear Shakespeare)
- Dante’s Divine Comedy: As Told for Young People
- King Arthur and His Knights: Based on Morte d’Arthur of Sir Thomas Malory
- The Once and Future King
by T.H. White
- Knights of the Round Table by Gwen Gross
- The Kitchen Knight: A Tale of King Arthur by Margret Hodges
- Robinson Crusoe (Illustrated)
- The Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault
- Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
- The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
- Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
- The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas
- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
- Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (Audiobook on Librivox)
- Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (Audiobook on Librivox)
- Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (Audiobook on Librivox)
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
- The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground by James Fennimore Cooper
- “The Leaguer of Boston” by James Fennimore Cooper
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
- Various Norwegian Folk Tales
- Moby Dick by Herman Melville
- Sir Thomas Wyatt
- John Knox
- Rene Decscartes
- John Milton
- Erasmus
- Martin Luther
- John Calvin
Additional Short Stories
KEY: Mythic Voices (MV) | Nextext Specialized Anthologies: Mythology 2000 (CWM) | THE BIBLE AS/IN LITERATURE ANTHOLOGY (Points of Departure)
(TBL) | Patterns in Literature
(PIL) | Discovering Fiction Student’s Book 1: A Reader of American Short Stories
(DF) | What Your Third Grader Needs to Know
(WYTG) | What Your Second Grader Needs to Know
(WYSG
- “The Trojan War” (MV
p. 120)
- “Beowulf” (MV p. 82)
- “Coyote and the Fish Dam by Celia Barker (MV p. 54)
- “Creation: The Nine Worlds” (CWM p. 47)
- “Creation: Heaven and Earth” (TBL p. 3)
- “Spider Woman” (CWM p. 40)
- “Anansi Gives Nyame a Child’
- “How Shiva Got His Blue Throat” (CWM p. 74)
- Courlander (MV p. 57)
- “Theseus and the Minotaur” by Favin O’Rabilly (MV p. 99)
- “Windigo” by Herbet T. Schwarz ( MV p. 96)
- “The Legend of Iroquois Falls” by Mabel Burkholder (MV p, 155)
- “Quetzalcoatl” (CWM p. 76)
- “The Man Who Married a Star” (CWM p. 82)
- “The Toad Bridegroom” (CWM p. 165)
- “The Taming of the Sun” (CWM p. 284)
- “Frog and his Two Wives” (CWM p. 162)
- “A Wolf and Little Daughter and Ole Gally Mander” (CWM p. 198)
- “The Two Hunchbacks” (CWM p. 306
- “A Secret for Two” by Quentin Reynolds (DF p. 46)
- “The Bracelet” by Yoshiko Uchida (DF p. 28)
- “Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen” by O. Henry (DF p. 70)
- “The Fun the Had” by Issac Asimov (DF p. 88)
- “You Go Your Way, I’ll Go Mine” by William Saroyan (DF p. 118)
- “The Speckled Band” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (PIL p. 332)
- “The Magic Shop” by H. G. Wells (PIL p. 348)
- “Camford Cottage” by Michael Gilbert (PIL p. 305)
- “Paul Bunyan” (WYTG p. 51)
- “Pecos Bill” (WYSG p. 52)
- “John Henry” (WYSG p. 54)
- “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” (WYTG p. 25)
- “The Hunting of the Great Bear” (WYTG p. 29)
- “William Tell” (WYTG p. 39)
Copywork and Handwriting
- Cursive Writing Practice Book (Flash Kids Harcourt Family Learning)
- Reading Comprehension
- Reader Response Journal
- Custom Worksheets/Notebooking/LapBooks based on Reading
- Comprehension & Critical Thinking Level 3 (Time for Kids (Teacher Created Materials))
- Reading Comprehension and Skills Workbook
- Nonfiction Comprehension Test Practice: Level 3 (Nonfiction Resources with Content from Time for Kids)
- Daily Reading Comprehension, Grade 3 (Daily Reading Comprehension)
- Text-Marking Lessons for Active Nonfiction Reading (Grades 2-3): Reproducible Nonfiction Passages With Lessons That Guide Students to Read … Text Structures, and Activate Comprehension
Grammar & Writing
- Prompt, Plan, Write! (Gr. 2)
- Grammar Minutes, Gr. 3
- Writing Workbook
- Journal Prompts
- The Writer’s Jungle
Spelling, Vocabulary and Phonics
- All About Spelling: Level 2 and 3
- The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading
- First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind: Level 1 (Second Edition) (First Language Lessons)
(REVIEW)
- Explode the Code Book 2
- Alphabetizing Activities Workbook Wordly Wise 3000
- 100 Word-Building Pyramid Puzzles
- Dr. Funster’s WORD BENDERS A1 Workbook
- Scholastic Phonics Reading
Literacy Practice
- Literacy Centers
- Boggle
- Bananagrams
- Hangman
- Scrabble
Required Reading (Read Alouds)
- A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond
- The BFG by Roald Dahl
- The Complete Tales of Uncle Remus
by Joel Chandler Harris
- The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh
A.A. Milne
- Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
- The Little Prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- Nim’s Island By Wendy Orr
- The Chronicles of Narnia C.S. Lewis
- Inkheart Cornelia Funke
- Bud, Not Buddy
Christopher Paul Curtis
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Mildred D. Taylor
- Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
- Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
- Forge
by Laurie Halse Anderson
- Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
- The Hobbit
by J.R.R. Tolkein
- Bridge to Terabithia By Katherine Paterson
- Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
- Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
- One Crazy Summer
by Rita Williams-Garcia
- Matilda
by Roald Dahl
Picture Books
- When Clay Sings
by Byrd Baylor and Tom Bahti
- Her Seven Brothers
by Paul Goble
- Echoes of the Elders by Lelooska and Christine Normandin
World and American History
Main
- The Story of the World: Ancient Times
- The Story of the World:The Middle Age
- The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History (With Internet Links)
- A History of US: Eleven-Volume Set: Paperback Set
- Adventures in America
- The American Story: 100 True Tales from American History
- Children’s Encyclopedia of American History (Smithsonian)
History Readings
- A Picture Book of Davy Crockett
- A Picture Book of Benjamin Franklin
- A Picture Book of Christopher Columbus
- A Picture Book of Louis and Clark
- A Picture Book of Thomas Alva Edison
- If You Lived With the Cherokee
- If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution
- If You Grew Up With George Washington
- If You Lived in Colonial Times
- If You Lived With the Sioux Indians
- If You Lived in the Days of the Knights
- Who is William Shakespeare?
- Who is Charles Darwin?
- Who is King Tut?
- Ancient Egypt an Interactive History
- Ancient Greece an Interactive History
- Ancient Rome an Interactive History
Novels
- The Birchbark House
by Louise Erdrich (rereading)
- The Game of Silence
by Louise Erdrich
- The Porcupine Year by Louise Erdrich
- The Making of a Knight
- More Than Moccasins by Laurie Carlson
- Jean Fritz’s Books
- Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos
by Robert Lawson
- George Washington’s Teeth
by Deborah Chandra
- Take the Lead, George Washington by Judith St. George
- Colonial Voices: Hear Them Speak by Kay Winters
- Let It Begin Here!: Lexington & Concord: First Battles of the American Revolution by Dennis Brindell Fradin
- John, Paul, George & Ben by Lane Smith
- George vs. George: The American Revolution As Seen from Both Sides by Rosalyn Schanzer
Science
Main
- Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding
- Human Body Detectives
- Science Arts: Discovering Science Through Art Experiences
- Mudpies to Magnets: A Preschool Science Curriculum
- More Mudpies to Magnets: Science for Young Children
Additional Reading, Experiments, and Activities
- Everybody Has a Body: Science from Head to Toe
- Popup Facts About the Human Body
- Bugs Study
- Rain Forest Study
- Can It Rain Cats and Dogs? Questions and Answers About Weather
- Scholastic Question & Answer: Where Have All the Pandas Gone?
- Scholastic Q & A: Why Do Volcanoes Blow Their Tops?
- Scholastic Q & A: How Do Bats See In The Dark?
- Earth Child 2000 with Teacher’s Guide: Early Science for Young Children
- Born With a Bang: The Universe Tells Our Cosmic Story
- From Lava to Life: The Universe Tells Our Earth Story
- Evolution Revolution
- When Fish Got Feet, Sharks Got Teeth, and Bugs Began to Swarm
- The Age of Mammals (Prehistoric World Books)
- The Ice Age (Prehistoric World)
- Prehistoric Coloring Books
- Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story
- Electricity, Light, & Chemistry labs
- Microscope and Slides
Math
Main
- Singapore Math 1B, 2A, 2B
- Math Mammoth (links to the Homeschool Buyer’s Co-Op)
- M.E.P. Math (FREE)
Reinforcement and Practice
- Coloring Squared: Number Sense 1-999
- Problem Solving Workbook
- Pigs Will Be Pigs: Fun with Math and Money
- Divide and Ride (MathStart 3)
- Spaghetti and Meatballs for All! A Mathematical Story by Marilyn Burns
- Sir Cumference and the First Round Table: A Math Adventure by Cindy Neuschwander
- Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar
by Masaichiro and Mitsumasa Anno
- The Greedy Triangle (Brainy Day Books)
by Marilyn Burns
- Spin an Equation Math Game by Kristina Daniele
- Singapore Challenging Word Problems
- Spectrum Math Grade 1 (Review and Practice)
- Base Ten: Hands on Activities and Reviews
- Math Centers
Foreign Language
I’m a little late, but this is part of the Not-Backt-to-School Blog Hop: Curriculum Week.
What a rich selection of literature you’ve chosen. My third grader and I will also be reading some of those ancient classics, like Beowulf. I was also delighted to see Dahl’s The BFG included. That book is hilarious!
Thanks and thanks for commenting. I have had your blog open on my computer for a few days and I am excited to include your history of film in my daughter’s research. She is very interested in film and movies. I did not include self-directed projects, but that is one of the ones that she will be taking on.