Ready for day two, sharing all about 3rd grade! (If you missed my post from yesterday sharing our 1st grade curriculum picks, check it out HERE.)
Third grade is one of my favorite years and I’m so excited for all we have planned! I’ve been able to piece together a few curriculums that will work best for my son. The beauty of homeschooling!
3rd Grade Curriculum 2026-2027
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Language Arts/ Literature
We are headed back to Brave Writer Literature Singles DART for my son’s language arts and literature studies. These have been tried and true favorites in our homeschool over the years and I’m so excited for him to enjoy them now too!
Each Dart is a 4-week guide (for ages 8-10) and uses a novel/chapter book to teach grammar and writing concepts. I really love how they are able to learn about language arts concepts through the great literature they are reading. Every month he has one new book and guide, so it always feels new and fresh throughout the year, while keeping our daily rhythm the same.
Each week they have copywork or dictation, vocabulary, grammar, literary concepts, and a small writing activity. I have a few past blog posts sharing more information and how we use them HERE. Also check out my Dart highlight on Instagram with more examples and a break down of each week.
These are the books/guides I’ve chosen for him to complete for his 3rd grade year. (Two of these books are from the Arrows Literature Singles- for ages 11-12. He is a strong reader and really interested in these stories so I think they will be fine for him. I can adapt them in any way needed too.)
September– Wondrous Rex by Patricia MacLachlan: DART Guide
October– A Rovers Story by Jasmine Warga: ARROW Guide
November– RA The Mighty Cat Detective by A.B. Greenfield: DART Guide
December– The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate: DART Guide
January– The Very Very Far North by Dan Bar-el: DART Guide
February– The Beatrice Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo: DART Guide
March– The Boy Who Saved Baseball by John H. Ritter: ARROW Guide
April– The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary: DART Guide
May– Encyclopedia Brown Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol: DART Guide
*They do not have to read the chapter books on their own for each Dart, see some different things we do to read them together on THIS post. We have a quiet reading time for 30 minutes every afternoon and usually can read just one chapter per day to complete each book in a month.
**Check out the book reports we complete at the end of each book they finish: Book Reports
Writing/Grammar- Essentials in Writing (EIW)
We will be continuing Essentials in Writing and moving on to Level 3. We loved this program last year! The first half of the book covers grammar and the second half covers composition/writing. We go back and forth through these sections throughout the year. (We complete a section of grammar- usually 5-7 lessons, then move on to a section of writing lessons- usually one writing project, repeat.)
I love how everything is broken down so simply and slowly over the course of a few days, spreading out the work. There are videos that go with each of the lessons but we don’t really use them for these younger levels. The instructions are also in the student book so we just read it and go over it together.
A more in depth look at EIW on this blog post!
Grammar– Fix It Grammar Level 1
You DO NOT have to use both EIW and Fix It Grammar. We love Fix It Grammar and choose to also use it for extra daily grammar practice. EIW is great at teaching the grammar concepts but once you finish those lessons, you won’t review them again. Fix It Grammar has been great for continuing to practice those grammar concepts all throughout the school year. They only complete one page, twice a week and we stretch one level over two school years.
In Fix It Grammar they are given a sentence to “fix.” They have to find and mark what it asks at the top (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.), they have to fix any mistakes (punctuation, capitals, etc.) and rewrite the sentence correctly at the bottom.
Yes, you need the teachers manual too! It is very helpful to quickly check answers when they are done or to look up something if they have a question! Sometimes you will be stumped by a question. 😆
Handwriting– The Good and the Beautiful Level 3 (Beginning Cursive)
We are using Level 3 handwriting from The Good and the Beautiful for beginning cursive. My son already started this in 2nd grade because he was SO excited to learn cursive and will continue it in 3rd.
I really love the way they teach cursive. They use a rainbow dot system to show how to correctly form cursive letters. (Follow the dots red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple to form the letter correctly.) He completes this independently, one page each day.
Spelling– 180 Days of Spelling & Word Study Level 3
This year we are going to try 180 Days of Spelling and Word Study Level 3. My daughter has used this for a few years and it worked really well for her and he is very similar to her in terms of learning style.
I’m excited to use the free YouTube lessons that go with each week to teach the spelling rules. He will watch that on Monday’s and then complete one page per day in the workbook the rest of the week. Each page focuses on the definition, analogy, synonym, antonym, and more for each word, while also practicing the spelling when writing it in the blanks repeatedly.
Math– Teaching Textbooks Math 3
My son begged me for half of his 2nd grade year to start Teaching Textbooks! He watches both his older siblings use it and thinks it is so fun. It doesn’t start until grade 3 so he can now use it this coming school year and he is so excited!
Teaching Textbooks is done independently on the computer (they do have printed textbook options too.) At the beginning of each lesson is a short video teaching the concepts, a few practice problems, and then a ton of review (which I love.) It spirals and comes back to concepts they have learned frequently and has a short quiz every 10 lessons or so.
Even though it is done independently, I get an email notification every day that lets me know the lesson they completed and the grade they got. I can go in to check anything and print additional worksheets for more practice. I have them complete one lesson per day.
You can get a look inside the lessons HERE and try the first 15 lessons for FREE!
*We have one iPad all my kids share for school lessons that is so easy for them to pull out and log in: find our links and setup HERE!
Alongside this, we will also use Musical Multiplication from TGATB. My older kids did so well learning their multiplication facts with these songs, so I think my son will enjoy them too.
Typing– The Good and the Beautiful
Third grade is when I start to introduce some typing lessons. Earlier than this, they usually get too frustrated because of their smaller hands. We are going to try the new typing program from The Good and the Beautiful.
These are short lessons (5-10 minutes) that he will complete 2-3 times per week.
*Each subscription allows you full access to the course for up to six students, and you may log in on multiple devices.
Science– Sports & P.E., Masterbooks Living Healthy
Science has always been a struggle for us, to find something we enjoy, so this year I’m letting my boys interests take charge and I’m just as excited as they are! Of course they are obsessed with all sports right now, so we are going to be using Sports and P.E. from Gather Round.
This curriculum covers the history of sports, how they are played, the rules, and what equipment is needed. It also focuses on nutrition, how to read labels, fuel the body, and how to make healthy choices. The teacher guide has all the information you read together and there are student workbooks for activities and worksheet pages (available for many age ranges.)
Alongside this study we will be focusing more on heath, nutrition, and exercise with Living Healthy by Masterbooks. This workbook covers topics like fitness, serving sizes, superfoods, vitamins, immune system, food safety and more. It is geared for grades 4-6, but definitely doable for my 3rd grader. We probably won’t use the whole book but pick and choose the topics we want to cover.
I also hope to focus on the muscular system this year. I found THIS printable, laminated it, and added velcro dots so they can continue to practice the correct muscles in the body throughout the year. My hope is to learn about these muscles, their importance, and how to take care of them with the proper stretches, fuel, curing injuries, etc.
I also found this chicken wing dissection lab to begin our study about the muscular system that my boys will love!
All together we will be learning about their favorite sports (and many others) plus learning how to take care of their bodies and muscles too! I hope they will be able to learn a lot and carry this information with them as they get older and continue to play.
*We also cover an additional science unit with our co-op that meets every other week. Will share that soon!
History– Curiosity Chronicles Medieval History
Last school year we studied Ancient History with the Unfolding Ancient History series and loved it! We ended with the fall of Rome so it only makes sense to continue on in history with the Middle Ages! This is the only subject we will be doing all together as a family (3rd, 5th, and 7th grade.)
I know many of you are hoping I write some unit studies for this time period, and I hope to one day after researching 11 different curriculums and not finding anything I loved. Unfortunately if I do create some, they won’t be available for a while. So we decided to go ahead and try Curiosity Chronicles Medieval History this coming school year.
My kids love to read aloud as different characters so I thought this textbook that is “dialogue” style would be something they’d really enjoy to do together.
There are 36 chapters total, one for each week. Each week you read the chapter, complete the worksheet pages, and can add any hands-on project ideas from the teacher guide. The worksheet pages include vocabulary matching, comprehension questions, timelines, map work, coloring pages, and puzzles. There is also a section at the end for Minecraft, where it gives prompts for the child to build the significant buildings and places they are learning about. My boys are going to be so excited about that!
I’ll be sharing another post, once we get into it, how we are incorporating it into our schedule, what parts we are using/not using, and how to add our favorite notebooking pages too.
*This curriculum is secular and geared for grades 2-6.
That is everything for 3rd grade!
Although it seems like a lot, most of his work can be completed independently and we don’t do everything every day. My kids use THESE independent checklists, so they know what to complete each day. They are able to start their day without me and get anything done (Handwriting, Fix It Grammar, Spelling, and Typing) before I jump in to help with any Math or Language Arts. I check their work later and help with any mistakes. This has been SO helpful in teaching multiple kids and getting everything done in a timely manner.
I’ll share an example of his checklist once I get it all figured out later this summer!
A typical homeschool day:
Our Homeschool Rhythm Schedule Blog Post
• breakfast • get ready for the day • independent work • play break or a walk • Language Arts & Math lesson • lunch • play • reading (30 min) • history or science • clean up • extra curricular activites (baseball)
We like to get all our core work done before lunch and then do history or science in the afternoons.
I’m excited to try some new things for him next year and watch him grow in his learning! Tomorrow I’ll be sharing all the curriculum choices for my 5th grader!
Happy Tuesday!
– Lindsay
**Please take note: You do not have to use the same curriculums I am sharing. Each child learns differently and the blessing of homeschooling is that we have the freedom to tailor curriculum choices to whatever works best for them. We have tried multiple curriculums and I have done extensive research on lots of different things. This is what works best for our family and our needs. 😊
3rd Grade Curriculum Round Up:
Language Arts- Brave Writer Dart
Grammar- Fix It Grammar Level 1
Handwriting- The Good and the Beautiful Level 3 (Beginning Cursive)
Spelling- 180 Days of Spelling and Word Study Level 3
Writing- Essentials in Writing (EIW) Level 3
Math- Teaching Textbooks Grade 3
Typing- The Good and the Beautiful
Science- Sports & P.E., Masterbooks Living Healthy
History- Curiosity Chronicles Medieval History
Interested in what we used for our 2nd grade year, read it HERE!
