We made lapbooks for each continent, then Z read books about each, watched videos from Travel with Kids series using Amazon Prime and any we could find on YouTube and he also did a Geo-Puzzle of each continent. You can see Africa and Europe lapbooks and puzzles here.
These are books that Z reads for fun in the evening that are below his reading level. I will be adding to this list throughout the year. We are using the 1000 Good Books List and others we come across and like.
These are the books that Z is reading during his morning reading time, he'll be reading Classic Starts, Stepping Stones or Step Into Classics versions of some of the following:
We're utilizing Christian Kid's Explore Chemistry as our spine and fleshing it out with various books, videos and resources. I also have Adventures with Atoms and Molecules books for experiments and many library experiment books we will be trying out (not pictured).
Chemistry Outline of Categories
We are at the finish line! K is starting her last year of school and I can't believe we made it through all the challenges that came at us but with God, we made it! K has some things to finish up leftover from 11th, along with the following:
English IV - Writing exercises with Jump-In Writing; Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind; Book list
Honors Geometry/Trigonometry - Saxon Advanced Math first 90 lessons; Saxon Teacher CDs; Art Reed DVDs
Personal Finance - Dave Ramsey's Foundations in Personal finance high school course
Science - Chemistry/Physics 101 DVDs with required supplements for credits
Constitutional Law - Michael Farris' Constitutional Literacy DVD and workbook
Latin - Henle Latin
We decided to study countries by continent and Z chose Africa to learn about first. We made an African lapbook, then he read books about Africa, watched videos from Travel with Kids series using Amazon Prime and did a Geo-Puzzle of Africa and then we did Europe the same way.
We have found some awesome new books lately! It seems that more publishers are realizing that homeschooling is growing substantially and they're accommodating by coming out with some great materials.
Smithsonian has these Super Simple books and I got all 3. They are laid out very well and of course super simple. I find that these can work in any grade, though they are advertised as for grades 6-12. Adults will even find these valuable!
Z really loves these Ultimate pop-up books, he has looked through them countless times since getting them a few months ago:
Here are the plans for Z's 3rd grade year. We are adding in a lot this year - Latin, cursive, piano lessons, archery, architecture, woodworking and chess.
Bible - Bible Study Guide for All Ages
After finishing up Earth Science, we are moving on to Astronomy. I'm using 2 encyclopedias as my main spine and then fleshing them out with numerous books, videos, games and other fun extras! The spines are Usborne's First Encyclopedia of Space and DK's First Space Encyclopedia (my favorite one). I also have Christian Kid's Explore Earth & Space but it didn't have enough for Z.
I created an outline using the 2 spines (USB and DK) and divided the subject material into categories. Some of these are short and some are packed full of material, like space exploration and the solar system.
Astronomy Outline of Categories
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I decided to add in a new writing program because Z needs something more, so I chose Writing & Rhetoric, Book 1: Fable: *Update - Writing & Rhetoric turned out to be difficult for Z to grasp what they were asking. It really seems to be too much in my opinion and there are easier ways to do the instruction than what is in this book. We decided to go back to Writing With Ease 2 and just have freewriting days for Z to indulge his creative writing talent.
He also is very interested in what words mean, so I decided to order a simple vocabulary program to see how it likes it. I chose the older version of Wordly Wise, starting with book A:
My son is a big fan of David Adler's books! My daughter is also, as she had read almost all the Cam Jansen series when she was younger. Z loves reading Adler's books and I checked out as many as I could find at the library and then we own some as well. I highly recommend them!
