Our 2020-2021 Homeschool Curriculum Picks for Third Grade and First Grade
It’s a new school year around here! This year it began just a couple weeks after the end of our last school year. We’ve been homeschooling for over three years now and I’m still learning each year what works best for our family. We’ve taken summer breaks and kicked off school in August before, but right now what works best for us is a year round approach.
The girls took their end of year exams in May (we do the Woodcock Johnson exam through a certified local proctor) and we got the results back a couple weeks afterwards. Our proctor is wonderful and provides detailed feedback with not only their skill levels, but also strategies for how to challenge and improve their skills. I use these results (and online placement tests) to help gear our curriculum picks and levels for the following school year.
The school year we just started will look a little different for us, but I know by now that that is completely normal. If you’re new to homeschooling, expect each year to look a little different, as part of the beauty of homeschooling is you can make adjustments as needed based on your child and your family/life situations.
Things will look a little different for us this year for two reasons. First, we are not joining a co-op this year. You may remember that two years ago we did co-op one day a week and this past year we did co-op two days a week. We were so bummed when we had to cut the year short sue to Covid, but it was a very positive experience for us overall. Each co-op is incredibly unique and we loved ours because of the structure they provided (teaching core subjects), the incredible people in it, and the drop off option.
The second reason that things will look a little different for us this year is that Hailey is entering third grade and I feel the need to step our commitment up a notch. I’ve done this each year since preschool and it’s worked well for us. “Up a notch” for us this year means we will be implementing a full history and science curriculum at home, rather than letting them get the majority of that topic through their co-op classes and through natural curiosity and exploration.
I enjoy the research process of picking our curriculum. While I’ve always been tempted by the “all-in-one” options, I’ve found it works better for us to piece together our curriculum based on what fits the girls’ learning styles and interests the best. For example, we’ve used Beautiful Feet for world geography and all of us adored the literary approach because we love picture books.
Now, with that lengthy intro out of the way, let’s get to our homeschool curriculum picks for third and first grade!
Hailey: 3rd Grade
(approximately 2-2.5 hours of structured learning a day)
- Math- Singapore Primary US Edition 2A,3A,3B (supplementing with Horizons math workbook 3 too)
- Language Arts- The Good and The Beautiful Level 3
- Handwriting- The Good and The Beautiful Level 3
- Writing- Brave Writer Partnership Writing
- History- Beautiful Feet Early American History
- Science- Singapore Science 3A
Kaitlyn: 1st Grade
(approximately 1.5 hours of structured learning a day)
- Math- Singapore Primary US Edition 2A, 2B (supplementing with Horizons math workbook 1 too)
- Language Arts- The Good and The Beautiful Level 1
- Handwriting- The Good and The Beautiful
- Writing- Brave Writer Jot It Down
- History- Beautiful Feet Early American
A few more notes:
- I link to my favorite homeschool supplies in my Amazon store under the Homeschool Favorites section.
- Kaitlyn does not have a formal science curriculum, but will most likely enjoy following along with Hailey and me while we do hers.
- I highly recommend using the placement tests many curriculum offer to determine your child’s level. I find the level does not always perfectly correlate with grade.
- I like to supplement and switch things up a lot as we move through the year. Other resources I like and use include Math Lessons for a Living Education, First Language Lessons, All About Spelling, Musical Multiplication from The Good and The Beautiful, Todo Math App, Horizons Math, and Moffatt Girl No Prep Packets. We also play a lot of games and read aloud as well.
- The girls have responsibility charts they do every day. Their independent work usually includes their handwriting and a Moffatt Girls worksheet.
- We don’t have a strict structure to the day. While I prefer to do as much school as we can in the mornings, sometimes we all do better with breaking it up throughout the day. Sometimes a morning walk suits us better than pushing through math.
- I’ve been asked how much prep work homeschool takes weekly. I find this differs greatly depending on subject and curriculum. For summer schooling, I tend to lean towards open and go curriculum (like The Good and the Beautiful) because prep is minimal. On average, I expect to spend 15-20 minutes prepping for each day while I read through the lessons for the next day, gather supplies, and mentally outline our schedule for the day.
If you’re new to homeschooling, you might also enjoy checking out my homeschool posts. I’m working on a new design for the site right now that will make searching easier, but until then, use this link to see all the posts I’ve written on our homeschool experience. And if you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments!
CLICK HERE TO READ THE UPDATE OF HOW THESE PICKS WORKED FOR US
Amy says
Mad props to you for homeschooling! I go into the summer with great ideas about how we will work through summer bridge books but I just can’t get motivated to do it. While I believe lots of people will be homeschooling in the fall, I know that it isn’t the best option for me. Have a great school year!
Brittany Dixon says
Everyone is so different, I totally get it! I have a good friend who homeschools but totally takes summers off for a mental break 🙂 I hope you guys are having a great summer and that school gets rolling as close to normal as possible for you in fall- fingers crossed!
Kelly says
Hi Brittany!
I appreciate all of your home school tidbits! I wonder if you could touch on your transition to homeschool and how you got your girls to fall in line (so to speak) with doing school work at home. With COVID, I was teaching my kindergartener at home and it was a struggle to get her motivated to do any sort of curriculum or reading with me (curriculum provided by her public school). It didn’t help that I had a three (now four) year old vying for my attention at all times.
We live in Los Angeles where they have yet to determine what this next school year is going to look like. I am also still trying to work out what my comfort level is sending my daughter back to school in the middle of a “hot zone” and am considering homeschooling for first grade regardless.
Thank you!
Kelly
Brittany Dixon says
Hey Kelly! So we started homeschooling “part time” when Hailey was in her last year of preschool (I sent her 3 days and kept her home 2 days), then we went full time homeschooling in kindergarten. Personally I had very low expectations for kindergarten curriculum-wise. I tried to pick a hands-on math (but now I’d probably consider The Good and The Beautiful because it’s very hands on from what I hear) and we did that consistently. We also did a relaxed learning language arts program called Brave Writer, which is book based. We did a lot of reading, a lot of play time, and I felt good with that. I know everyone has different expectations which is totally fine, but structured learning time for kindergarten for us was never over an hour a day cumulatively (broken up into 15 minutes segments). What helped me so much at first was realizing that homeschool looks really different from public school and it really doesn’t take a lot of time, especially in the early grades. Good luck making your choice and let me know if I can help! <3
Emily says
Thank you for sharing! I’m homeschooling for the first time this year with my kindergartener and am pouring over ideas. I’m struggling most right now with which levels to get for different areas. Definitely having a more laid back approach as we get into this!
Brittany Dixon says
Figuring out levels, especially initially, is such a challenge! I love that some programs offer online evaluation/placement tests. Singapore does this and it’s so helpful. Best of luck to you!
Ali says
You have such a positive attitude and it radiates from your blog! One question I have about homeschooling (something I found challenging while homeschooling children same age as yours during COVID) is how do you find time for yourself to recalibrate/reset/recharge? I find one of the drawbacks of homeschool is feeling the need to always be “on” and always being in charge of planning the next “thing.” While the actual teaching/learning together was fun I found preventing burnout difficult. How do you manage that all year?
Brittany Dixon says
Whew, girl, that’s a great question! I think it largely depends on the age of your kids. When they are little, it is truly tiring. During those time I took full advantages of their naps and I always woke up early to have time to myself. We were big on early bedtimes, too, so the evening was all mine and David’s. Now though (ages 8 and 6), it’s so much easier. I can (and have) tell them I need an hour to get stuff done, or rest, or whatever, and their options are play upstairs or do chores. Guess what they always choose 😉
Also, our schooling morphs with the seasons. Right now we are doing a lot of open and go structured curriculum but around Christmas we usually loosen up a lot and bake more cookies and watch more movies. The seasonal shifts also help keep us all (myself included) feeling refreshed. I hope that helps!
Erica says
Thanks so much for this post! I’ve been making my way through all your home schooling posts and recommended resources in the past few weeks. My older son struggled through 2 years of preschool (3’s and 4’s) due to social anxiety. He loves being home and has flourished so much now that he’s not in school anymore. He just turned 5 in June but he’s been reading for over a year and now is spelling and working on addition/subtraction. The hardest part about working with him is also working with his brother who turned 3 in March (he was in the 2’s class last year and misses preschool). I’ve been planning a preschool type lesson (topic based – youtube video, worksheets, and craft) for each morning and then they do painting/puzzles/workbooks in the afternoon. We have unstructured “independent play” twice a day – I’m so happy they are at ages they can play together now. My husband and I are both working from home, so trying to figure out what we are going to do in the fall is very overwhelming! Seeing your success in working with your girls is such an inspiration!
Brittany Dixon says
Love hearing how things are working for you, Erica, and so glad to hear your son is thriving 🙂 I felt the same when when my girls got to ages that they could really play with each other; so good for everyone involved! We’ve always taken things at a “one year at a time” approach because it takes off so much pressure. Whenever something changes and doesn’t work anymore, we’ll change it then 🙂
Brittany Dixon says
There are definitely some tough decisions for so many families right now; good luck choosing what is best for yall! Let me know if I can help in any way. <3
Laura W says
Thank you so much for this!! It looks like I am going to be homeschooling a 1st and 4th grader this year so I find this so helpful! One question for you…why did you break up writing/language arts into two different curriculum (Good and the Beautiful and Brave Writer) as opposed to just picking one (like Brave Writer) that seems to combine everything? I’m so lost…
Brittany Dixon says
It all sounds so confusing at first! (and sometimes once you’re in it too- haha ;))
I break things up for two reasons. First, I find alternating between material keeps things fresh and we don’t get as burned out on a certain style of teaching/learning. Also, some curriculum I really like for certain reasons, and they compliment each other well. During this first part of the year (summer into fall), I like open and go options, which TGATB is great for. However, I love the focus on writing and the style of Bravewriter, so I like to supplement with that along the way. I do a similar set up for math too- a main curiculum, then supplementing with other resources. It’s totally fine and good though to pick one and start there, then add or alter as you go 🙂
I hope you have a wonderful year!!
Sally Mae says
Maybe you answered this somewhere already, but do you use primary common core edition, standards edition, or U.S edition? I’m definitely confused by all the options and I wish the website was more helpful. My soon to be 3rd grader struggled with the primary 2A test so I was happy to see that your 3rd grade daughter is also still working on this book, but I’m curious what edition? Thanks so much! I’m finding your blog super helpful in ordering some supplemental activities for this school year.
sally mae says
Or do you use dimensions?
Brittany Dixon says
Hi! I totally agree, it’s super confusing, and I’m still not sure I understand it completely. However, we use the Primary U.S. Edition. It’s a very rigorous curriculum so I find that more often than not, grade level doesn’t correspond with Singapore level; totally normal 🙂
Jen says
Thank you for this, Brittany! May I ask, for the Singapore math curriculum, do you purchase the textbook in the workbook, or both of those, plus the teachers guide? I am new at this and a little bit confused!
Brittany Dixon says
Hi Jen! Personally I buy the textbook (which is colorful and engaging), the workbook, and the at home instructor’s guide (because it rounds out the lessons and concepts with additional activities). I tried it in the beginning without the instructor’s guide, but definitely prefer teaching with it!
Jen says
Thanks! I was looking on the Christian Books website for the “at home instructor’s guide,” but only found “teacher’s guide,” which looked daunting. I will see if I can find the home instructor’s guide elsewhere.
I appreciate your candid views on the curriculums and supplements!
Brittany Dixon says
It may depend on what version you are looking for. Singapore Dimensions only has a teacher guide, while Singapore Primary has home instructor’s guide. It’s confusing, I know!
Mary Beth says
Hi – we are making the leap and I am looking at some of the curriculum you have posted here. Do you also purchase the teaching guides? Thank you so much!
Brittany Dixon says
I do buy the teaching guides for math, but after buying the science curriculum, I don’t feel like I need to buy it for science.
Lindsey says
Hi there! I’m going to switch our son’s math curriculum over to Singapore Math and was debating between the Primary U.S. Edition and the Dimensions. Were there any specific advantages you saw with the Primary over the Dimensions?
Brittany Dixon says
I chose primary originally because it came with a home instructor’s guide, while the dimensions program only has a teacher/classroom guide. However, dimensions now has a video lesson option which is intriguing, too, so I don’t think you can go wrong with either!
Elisabeth Gonzalez says
I was looking into purchasing Signapore workbooks for my daughter’s curriculum . I’m new to homeschooling do I also need the textbooks. ?I know some refer to the textbooks and some dont.
Brittany Dixon says
I found it helpful to have the workbook, textbook, and teacher’s guide. Another option (as you said you are new) is to check out esingapore.com – it’s singapore math online and has been really great for us!
Tera says
Hello! Did you ever do a review of Jot it down? I’m looking into it but having a hard time justifying the price plus cost of printing since it’s a digital product. Thank you!
Brittany Dixon says
I never did a full review because we only used it intermittently. I really like Julie and her style, but found it a little hard to follow. I’m not sure if it’s been updated since the version I used so I can’t speak to it currently, but maybe see if there is a sample you can thumb through first before committing?