(Last Updated on March 5, 2025)
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If you haven’t done so yet, read the first post in this series here and check out Our Curriculum Choices – Year 1 and Year 2.
Year 3 Snapshot
Each year seems to bring something new, and our 3rd year educating our kids at home was no exception. It was the first time I was homeschooling with an infant. And we were still grieving the loss of my dear mother-in-law who had passed away only a few weeks after I had our third baby.
But God has always been our Provider, whether it’s in the form of new insights, tangible resources, or help from friends and family. He’s consistently given us hope and a way through difficult seasons, both in homeschooling and life in general.
By Year 3, I had a better feel for routines that worked (and didn’t work), what each kid could handle academically, and what activities they liked best. Our new baby girl still slept a lot which helped. And, although I didn’t feel like it was easier to have three kids, in some ways it forced me to slow down which was a good thing. Nursing, for example, is a great excuse for a chance to sit down!
So through the ups and downs and diapers, we moved forward into our third year of homeschooling. Here are the resources we used.
Year 3 Curriculum Choices – 2nd Grade
- Bible & Character: Old Story New and The Ology both by Marty Machowski
- Math: Math-U-See (MUS) Gamma, Life of Fred (Apples, Butterflies, Cats, and Dogs), and Mathematical Reasoning Level C
- Reading: Silent reading plus a lot of family read-alouds
- Spelling: All About Spelling Level 1 & Level 2 (Incidentally, AAS is one of our all-time favorites – check out my All About Spelling Curriculum Review for more info!)
- Writing: Written narrations and entries in his science and history notebooks
- Handwriting: Daily handwriting practice pages from The Complete Book of Handwriting K-3 by Thinking Kids plus other customized pages made on handwritingworksheets.com (*FREE*)
- Science: Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (BFSU) K-2 and Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Astronomy (BFSU is another curriculum we’ve loved! Take a look at my in-depth BFSU Review for details!)
- History & Geography: Tapestry of Grace Primer
- Health & Safety: Unit Studies (including topics like Disaster Preparedness, Safety, Healthy Choices, etc.)
- Logic: Lollipop Logic Book 3 plus lots of puzzle books
Year 3 Curriculum Choices – PreK (age 4/5)
Bible study and read-alouds we do as a family, and this year our preschooler was more involved with the science, history, and health/safety lessons, too. In addition to the work we did together, he also had some of his very own, big-boy, school work:
- Math: Math-U-See (MUS) Primer and he listened in on Life of Fred
- Reading: Phonics Readers on Starfall.com and ABCMouse.com plus phonics videos from Leapfrog and several of the Meet the Phonics DVDs from Preschool Prep Company (Read my review of the Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD to see why we loved it so much!)
- Handwriting: Customized pages from handwritingworksheets.com and other Pre-K writing printables, plus a lot of cutting, Play-Doh, art projects, and other fine motor activities
- Logic: Lollipop Logic Vol. 2 plus various puzzles and puzzle books
Other Fun Stuff
If you’ve read the previous posts in this series, you’ll know we were blessed to find a wonderful co-op not too far from our home early on in our homeschooling journey. In this 3rd year of homeschooling we continued our weekly enrichment classes there again. This time my oldest took Fun & Games, Gym, Art Exploration, and Nature Study. My preschooler had group games, crafts, introductory Spanish, and music activities in his co-op preschool class.
Both boys continued with Homeschool Open Gym at our local park district and loved taking gymnastics classes there, too. We had some schedule conflicts with the Gym & Swim class we’d done in the past, which was a bummer since the boys loved it and it was very affordable. Instead, we dabbled in some online kid fitness videos (like the ones found on GoNoodle.com) and used resources like the Presidential Youth Fitness Program K-3 Fitness Club to get the boys moving daily.
We also found an online robotics course from Supercharged Science which was a blast. The boys both started group piano lessons at our park district. And, of course… field trips galore!
Check out the next post in this series, Our Curriculum Choices – Year 4, to see what we did the following year!
And use the links below to see summaries of what I used for all my preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary-aged kids over the years!
- How to Homeschool Preschool – Part 1
- How to Homeschool Preschool – Part 2
- How to Homeschool Preschool – Part 3
- How to Homeschool Kindergarten: Curriculum Ideas & Lessons Learned
- How to Homeschool the Early Elementary Years (1st -3rd Grade): Curriculum Ideas & Lessons Learned
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