Our Charlotte Mason Homeschool Third Grade Year: A Recap (take 2!)
(Please note that I have linked to the book lists on the AO website to respect their licensing terms and the hard work they’ve put into such an amazing curriculum that they offer for free. Books that use affiliate links here are not listed on the AO website.)
It is much to be wished that thoughtful mothers would more often keep account of the methods they employ with their children, with some definite note of the success of this or that plan.
CHARLOTTE MASON (HOME EDUCATION)
See our plans for this year here.
It’s time for part 2 of our annual school year recap! We finished on June 7th but had a few weeks of random activities (including exams), so I’m just now sharing how it all went. This was my second time going through AmblesideOnline Year 3, and it went very well. I continue to be so thankful for this free curriculum!
C made a lot of progress this year in several areas, especially her handwriting and narrations. She is becoming more descriptive when she narrates and retains more from the readings, even if I read longer sections before asking her to narrate. She is also excelling in math, which makes me happy as I struggled with it so much when I was her age.
She completed several sewing projects and began piano lessons, both of which have gone very well. I’m so glad to see that her interests are well-rounded, and I hope this continues!
It’s really hard for me to believe (and a little sad) that I’m done with Form I and won’t have any more students this young. It’s exciting, however, to see them both grow and their progress as they move up.
Here’s our Year 3, take 2!
Morning Time
Summer
In the Fall of the Year
Winter
In the Spring of the Year
Book of Virtues
Morning Time Resources
Our routine:
- Prayer
- Doxology
- Music
- Monday/Wednesday: hymn
- Tuesday/Thursday: folksong
- Reading/Riches
- Monday: a single reading from we finished courage and moved on to self-discipline)
- Tuesday: Picture Study (see below for more details)
- Wednesday: ten minutes from one of the seasonal books listed above
- Thursday: Composer Study (see below for more information)
- Lord’s Prayer
- Benediction
Our Morning Time stayed pretty much the same this year, which means we finally hit a good rhythm for it. We ended up finishing In the Spring of the Year just before the end of the school year, so I’ll have to find a different book for us next spring. I’ll write more about that in my Year 7/Year 4 planning posts.
Bible
Bible Book List Here and Here
The Student Bible Atlas
Bible Resources
I ended up not using the J. Paterson Smyth commentaries much this year, though I can’t remember why other than that I think I forgot about them. In hindsight, I wish I had used them, so that’s something to remember for next year. She was still usually very engaged with the readings and always narrated well for the Bible part of her exams.
History & Biography
History Book List Here
Biography Book List Here
History Resources
We went through our history and biography readings as planned, with The Bard of Avon in term 2 and Good Queen Bess as a free read. We also skipped Ann Askew in Trial and Triumph due to content. She struggled with keeping all of the English monarchs straight, which is completely understandable as I have a hard time keeping them all straight, and I’ve read this twice now. Otherwise, she did enjoy the individual stories in Our Island Story and This Country of Ours.
I also added these books:
Pocahontas and the Strangers by Clyde Robert Bulla
Encounter by Jane Yolen
If You Lived Here: Houses of the World by Giles Laroche
Literature
The second part of Pilgrim’s Progress, which focuses on Christiana, was definitely more engaging for C than the first part, though I do think she was ultimately glad we finished this book this year. I did end up skipping The Jungle Book, as I had planned at the beginning of the year, but even with that, we did not finish Children of the New Forest, so we are reading that through the summer (without narrations). I also somehow missed a few readings in American Tall Tales, which didn’t make it on my term schedule. I’m unsure how that happened, but I’m leaving them unread. She ended up reading The Princess and the Goblin on her own (then narrating to me) and enjoyed it very much.
We read all of our Shakespeare selections this year from The Children’s Shakespeare by Edith Nesbit, which worked well. She has decided that she wants to move up to “regular” Shakespeare next year with her brother and me, so she’ll join us for the Arkangel recordings.
Poetry
She enjoyed Sara Teasdale but especially liked Hilda Conkling, because the poems were written when she was a little girl, and Helen Hunt Jackson.
Language Arts
Copywork
Getty-Dubay Handwriting Series
Copywork Resources
Her handwriting continues to improve as we make our way through the Getty-Dubay books. She has actually asked a few times to do copywork as her brother does, so I may mix this up next year with two days of the week in Getty-Dubay and the other two days doing regular copywork.
Reading
Reading-Literature: Third Reader
We finished the Reading-Literature: Third Reader early in the year, and because she is a very strong reader and that time could be used in other ways, I didn’t feel the need to continue having her read aloud to me. Often, she likes to spontaneously read to someone else in the family whatever she finds interesting in a book she’s going through, so I think she’s still getting plenty of reading-aloud practice.
Repetition/Recitation
Ruminating on Recitation Article (read this first!)
Recitation Guidelines and Student Log (updated in 2021)
Recitation Resources
We kept up with our routine of her reading aloud her recitation pieces to me once daily with Old Testament on Mondays, New Testament on Tuesdays, Psalm on Wednesdays, and poem on Thursdays. She picked her poems but asked me to choose everything else.
This is what she learned for recitation:
Term 1
OT: Exodus 3:13-17; Exodus 6:2-8
NT: Luke 5:27-32; Luke 6:6-11
Psalm: 15
Poem: Little Lamb by William Blake
Term 2
OT: Deuteronomy 5:6-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-21
NT: Luke 8:9-15; Luke 14:1-6
Psalm: 121
Poem: The Star by Sara Teasdale
Term 3
OT: Deuteronomy 31:1-6; Jeremiah 29:10-14
NT: Luke 18:9-14; Luke 21:1-4
Psalm: 34:1-7
Poem: The Mirror by A. A. Milne
Foreign Language
Charlotte Mason Simple Spanish
Tierra: Tema 1 & 2
We did Charlotte Mason Simple Spanish in Term 1, and that worked well for us for the most part. The organization and layout were a little confusing to me, and I felt like I had too many different things to juggle at times, but that was probably more due to user error than the curriculum.
About halfway through Term 1, I was asked to test Tierra and we used that for the rest of the year. This one worked so, so well for us, and I’m excited that we got to use it first! If she continues to make new content for that curriculum, I fully intend to use it in the fall as well.
Geography
Geography Book List Here and Here
Marco Polo Map
Geography Resources
She liked the individual stories in Marco Polo, and we followed along on a map as much as we could, but it was challenging for her to distinguish between the different places he visited and what they were called. She also connected more with him and the story toward the end when he was heading back to Venice, the battle after he got there, and the end of his life. Ultimately, I think it was a good book to emphasize how different areas of the world can have vastly different cultures.
The readings we did from Charlotte Mason’s Elementary Geography and Long’s Home Geography were interesting for her, and she drew a very detailed map for her geography exam at the end of the year.
Scouting
I read this to her and her brother.
We all enjoyed the scouting book when we were able to make time for it, which, sadly, did not happen every week. In Term 1, we got through the Observation unit, and I had the kids do the test at the end during their exams. In Terms 2 and 3, however, we fell behind as the other units I chose required more prep work which I neglected to do. I hope to continue with this book next year and might suggest doing it with a friend, as I think it works better in larger groups.
Nature Study & Science
Nature Study & Science Book List Here (Nature Study schedule here)
Term 1: Nature Study Hacking Birds
Term 2: Nature Study Hacking Weather
Term 3: Wildflowers/flowerless plants from the Handbook of Nature Study
Nature Study Collective
Various books from the Sabbath Mood Homeschool living science books lists
She tried a few of the experiments from A Drop of Water on her own, but a few of them were ones we’ve done before, so for those, she just talked about what she remembered from them in addition to narrating the readings. She kept a weather log in Term 2 and learned quite a bit about clouds which has given both her and her brother an interest in meteorology that comes out a lot as we’ve had such crazy weather this year.
She also enjoyed Pagoo and Secrets of the Woods very much, especially the story about Meeko as she has tamed one of the squirrels in our neighborhood to come and take peanuts for us (she’s working on her babies now). She just really loves animals, so I think any books we read about them (if they’re not harmed) will generally be a hit for her.
Though it ended up being challenging studying wildflowers in the spring as we had such a late winter this year, I was impressed by the Nature Study Collective guide and plan to use that in the future.
Math
RighStart Level C
RightStart Level D
Math Resources
We finished RightStart Level C about halfway through the year and switched to Level D, which we’re continuing through the summer. She is doing so well in math, and even though she gets frustrated easily, she generally has a great grasp of the concepts. I continue to really appreciate RightStart as it has worked so well for both kids.
Art
Picture Study
Term 1: Leonardo da Vinci
Term 2: Art of the Yuan Dynasty
Term 3: John William Waterhouse
Picture Study Resources
She and her brother actually argued to see who got to narrate for picture study first, which was very encouraging. Because we read a biography on Leonardo da Vinci and Marco Polo (who visited Kublai Khan’s Yuan court in the 14th century), I thought it would be fitting if we learned about these people and areas for picture study, which worked out very well. She also enjoyed the Waterhouse paintings, and her narrations for picture study continue to improve.
Art Creation
Creating a Masterpiece
Art Creation Resources
We did two projects and started one (which we’ll finish over the summer) from Creating a Masterpiece this year. The first was a northern light scene with chalk pastels, the second was painting tiles with alcohol ink (definitely the favorite!), and the last one was a floral medley in watercolor. We have the subscription until August, so we may also try to do the caran d’ache project as well over the summer.
Music
Composer Study
Term 1: Richard Wagner
Term 2: Ralph Vaughn Williams
Term 3: Edvard Grieg
Composer Study Resources
Composer study is improving but still proves problematic when it comes time for exams. I started playing our composer study selections from Plex on our TV after we ended our school day, and this would play for most of the afternoon. But the kids are usually off doing their own thing in their rooms, the basement, or outside, so they aren’t sitting and actively listening to the music. I also started playing it through Plex in the car on the way to our nature group or other outings, but it didn’t seem to stick. Ultimately, the most important thing about composer study is exposure, but it would be nice if they could remember more about it. I need to think about this more over the summer.
Hymn
Term 1: He Leadeth Me & Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
Term 2: How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds & What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Term 3: I’m Not Ashamed to Own My Lord & Sweet Hour of Prayer
Music Resources
I only changed the second song in Term 3 from Rock of Ages to Sweet Hour of Prayer because the latter was available earlier on the Folks and Hymns channel on YouTube. I have come to appreciate this resource so much as both kids are learning both songs each term well because we can sing along with her twice a week. I also signed up as a Patreon member and get the MP3s that way, so I have added that to our Plex playlist as well. When I plan for next year, I need to keep in mind that she releases the recordings just before each month, so only certain ones will be available at a given time.
Folksong
Term 1: Did You Go to the Barney & Waltzing Matilda
Term 2: The Mermaid & Poor Wayfaring Stranger
Term 3: Red River Valley & Crawdad Song
Music Resources
I didn’t make any changes to this schedule from the beginning of the year, and we used the Folks and Hymns channel on YouTube for this as well. It was encouraging to hear her singing our folksongs and hymns throughout the week, and she liked to “practice” by singing them to herself at night when she was lying in bed. She struggled a little more with the hymn words for her exams, but I’m hoping that gets better with time.
Just a little sidenote about both our folksongs and hymns, but especially the hymns: Lynn Bruce selected all of these last summer. When she passed away on February 18th after a 15-year battle with cancer, Poor Wayfaring Stranger was our folksong, and that, along with Red River Valley, often brought tears to my eyes as I thought of her.
Piano
Hoffman Academy (use code LEARN to get 10% off new memberships!)
This is also my second time going through Hoffman Academy with one of my kids, and C has excelled here. She is moving through the lessons at a very good pace and likes to play the songs she’s learning outside of lesson time as well. I really appreciate that we can have the lessons whenever we want, which we generally do in the afternoon. I’m interested to see how far she wants to go, as we gave her brother the option to quit after two years, but she seems to be enjoying it so much more. Ironically, when she started her lessons, he expressed an interest to start his again but hasn’t brought it up more than once.
Physical Education
Swedish Drill Revisited II
Swedish Drill Revisited III
Sadly, Swedish Drill was one of the things that fell off the schedule when life got busy, which it often did this year. We did get out for quite a few hikes and events with our nature group, walks around the neighborhood, play dates, and of course, activities in the backyard, so being “active” did happen. But there was nothing intentional. I found an archery range not too far from our house, and the fees are reasonable, so that may be my more intentional thing for the coming year.
Handicrafts
Survivor Kid
Sewing School
Handicrafts Resources
We managed to get through a little more than half of Survivor Kid, which all of us enjoyed. I’d like to try some of the things discussed, like making shelters and different ways to start a campfire, over the summer when we go camping. The section on how to respond when wild animals are near or attack was particularly helpful. We’ll finish reading this through the summer with no narrations required.
Specifically with C, I read through Sewing School, which she greatly enjoyed. It was encouraging to see her take charge of the sewing projects, so we just went over the instructions and supplies together, bought anything we didn’t already have, and she had the project finished by the time we were ready for the next one on Friday. Both she and her brother learned a lot from this book, so I may move them both up to the next one next year, in which they learn how to sew with a machine.
Free Reads
From the AO Free Reads list specifically, she read the following books:
- A Little Princess
- Swallows and Amazons
- Caddie Woodlawn
- On the Banks of Plum Creek
- The Little White Horse
- King of the Wind
- The Wheel on the School
- The Bears on Hemlock Mountain
- Happy Little Family
- The Matchlock Gun
- The Courage of Sarah Noble
- Rabbit Hill
- My Side of the Mountain
- Sarah Plain and Tall
Among many others that weren’t on the free reads list. I also read By the Shores of Silver Lake with her before bed at night.
Now on to Form II!
