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Our 3rd Grade Weekly Lesson Planner/Schedule Rule Book 

 There are 2 main factors I have religiously stuck to when choosing our 3rd-grade curriculum: 1. Teachers involvement and 2. How many weekly lessons each subject requires. If I had not kept in consideration these 2 things, our 3rd-grade schedule/weekly lesson planner would be looking much different, and our days would be much longer. In general, our school days do not take longer than 3-4 hours and keep in mind I’ve had plenty of shorter days and maybe a few longer ones (depending on kids mood).

 

Teacher’s involvement required.

When piecing together our 3rd-grade curriculum, scheduling had a lot to do with my decision to use a certain curriculum or not. As a homeschooling mom of different aged kids, many factors come into play when I piece together each of their school grade years. One of the first things I look for in a curriculum is to see how teacher intensive its planning and scheduling is. My children are still young and need my assistance and teachings in some areas, however, for the most part, our curriculum picks promote independence from early on.

Weekly lessons needed to complete within a 34/36 week school year.

Another very important factor for me is to know how many lessons a week are needed for us to finish a curriculum within a school year. Although we do math and reading throughout summer (on a very relaxed schedule), all other subjects are to be finished within a 34-36 week school year. In general, when making my curriculum picks for History, Geography, and Science, I like to know they can be tackled once a week. I’ve come across many wonderful curricula picks for these subjects, however, when it came to scheduling many didn’t make the cut because of its planning and scheduling requirements.

In my opinion, in 3rd-grade History, Science, Geography, and some other subjects should be covered just for exposure, not for mastering. In all honesty, during these early grades, my main concern is for my 8-yr-old son to master his math, spelling, reading, and writing. All other subjects covered during these elementary years are done in “moderation”. Each year when I put together our curriculums, if our “non-core subjects” require intensive scheduling and planning to be finished within a school year, then I immediately take them out of consideration.

Please know that although I thrive on structure, I’ve noticed over my years of homeschooling, sometimes sticking to a weekly planner too religiously can backfire too.

When I first began homeschooling, I was using Abeka where each day was already planned for you and at the time I felt without it I would be overly relaxed. When 2 years later I moved on using a customized Timberdoodle curriculum, I absolutely didn’t expect to fall in love with their genius idea of a weekly checklist instead! Their weekly checklist vs. Abeka’s strict daily schedule, helped us understand how being flexible doesn’t necessarily mean slacking off.

Flexibility is the key…

As homeschooling families, we need to keep in consideration life events will get in the way of our weekly planning more than we would like it to, and flexibility is the key in order not to lose our groove. You will see how I pencil in a certain subject on certain days of the week, however, if appointments or illnesses get in the way I shuffle around as needed. I found keeping an open and flexible approach to our weekly-schedule helps me not get too stressed when I don’t make it on time to cover certain subjects on given days. I also found, picking curriculums that don’t require a strict 4-5 day a week lessons, helps us keep a more realistic homeschool schedule with low-stress level.

Below you will find a list of our 3rd-grade curriculum picks divided by subjects and I’ve also include Amazon and Christianbook.com links for your convenience, where you can look them up and purchase if and when you decide. Immediately following, you will find our 3rd-grade weekly planner and schedule grid. Feel free to print it out if it can be of help to your homeschooling journey.

**Here is also the link to my post reviewing our 3rd-grade curriculum picks “3rd-grade curriculum 2018/2019“).

Our 2018/2019 3rd-grade curriculum

Language Arts

1. Essentials in Writing 3 (click on the link to read my full review). |2-3 lessons x week
2. All About Spelling levels 1-3  (click on the link to read my full review). | 3 days x week
3. All About Homophones | 1-2 sheets x week
4. Beginning Word Roots | 2 pages x week
5. A Reason for Handwriting – Transition level | 3-3 days a week
6. Abeka Read & Think Sheets 3 | 1 sheet x week
7. Reading →”Our 3rd-Grade Reading list“| 20-30 min Read aloud/Independent nighttime reading.

All About Spelling Level 1 (Teacher’s Manual & Student Packet)

All About Spelling Level 2 (Teacher’s Manual & Student Pack)

All About Spelling Level 3 (Teacher’s Manual & Student Packet)

Math

1. Math-U-See – levels Gamma followed by Delta – (click on the link to read my full review). | 1 lesson x week.

Math-U-See Gamma Level Up Set

Thinking Skills

1. Critical & Creative 3 | 1 page 4 days a week
2. Circuit Maze | 1-2 game cards x week

History & Social Studies 

1. Geography Sharpening Skills 3 (click on this link to read my full review). | 4 pages x week
2. Our American Heritage (Textbook and Test), by Abeka | 1 Famous Person x week
3. Health, Safety & Manners 3 (Textbook and Test), by Abeka | 1/2 chapter x week

Science

1. Apologia “Flying Creatures” (with Activity JR Notebook and Audiobook). | Alternating 1 lesson/1 Notebook activity x week
2. Dr. Bonifide 1 | 3-4 pages x week

Stem

1. LEGOS | at leisure
2. Ozobot Evo | at leisure
3. Typing Instructor for kids – Platinum | 10 min x day

Art

1. Complete-A-Sketch Vol.1 | 1 sketch x week
2. Draw-Write-Now (Polar book) | at leisure
3. Paint by number | at leisure

About the Links …

As you might notice, I’ve included both Amazon & Cristianbook.com links for our 3rd-grade curriculum picks. In some cases, the curriculums we use are not available for sale on Amazon (Essentials in Writing, All About Spelling, Math You See), or the prices they are sold for are not fair when comparing with other websites. In those cases, we usually make our purchases through Christinabook.com or RainbowResources.com but keep in mind their minimum purchase required to qualify for free shipping is higher than Amazon.com.

• Min purchase necessary to qualify for Free Shipping → Amazon $25/Christianbook $35 with code/RainbowResources $50.

In the case of Asteroid Escape, I didn’t include an Amazon link because we have received this game at a discounted price through Timberdoodle.com.