Curriculum for Grammar
Easy Grammar by Wanda Phillips is one of my favorite grammar curricula. One thing I like most of all is that I really only need the teachers book because the student pages are also included in the book. I am permitted to copy the student pages. I put them in my own three ring binder usually a half year at a time.
This curriculum also includes unit reviews and tests, as well as, cumulative unit reviews and tests. She has included a few games in her book that are fun to play while learning. One such game is preposition bingo.
I love the fact that Easy Grammar begins with learning prepositions. The approach is somewhat ingenious. First your child learns the prepositions and their phrases and eliminate the prepositional phrases from a sentence. Afterwards, it becomes extremely easy to find the subject and verb, as well as, point out the other parts in sentence.
One of the biggest questions about Easy Grammar is, “Do I have to get the teachers book and the student workbook too?” The answer is no. The teacher’s books has the same material as the students book. To see what the books look like here is a quick video that shows the material. It’s not the best example but, it does show the books and how they are laid out.
[jbutton link="http://youtu.be/9a-PQyaAdcA"]Easy Grammar Curriculum[/jbutton]
Reminder and Review of Spelling Resource.
Spelling City: It’s simple and easy for your children to use. It’s a great resource to bookmark.
Best of all its free to use and doesn’t load you down with a bunch of advertisements that will distract your kids while they are learning their spelling words. You can use almost any word however, I have found that some of the exclusively Catholic terminology doesn’t always work for spelling word
Click this link to find the on the web or go to spellingcity.com
Catholic Free Video Collection
You may want to check out my free video collection it includes many Catholic subjects and saints. Plus other educational videos all free.
Connecting Science pre-k, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, grade
Another great CM style resource for science comes from a company called Teacher Created Resources. It’s called Connecting Science. They use literature, picture books to explain a science concept and then list several fun activities to reinforce the concept. Teaching Science concepts never got easier for primary grades pre-K through 5th.
Several book titles and topics to choose from. I really like this book they its very user friendly for both teacher and child. I was struggling with when to start Apologia materials this year or next – then I found my first Connecting Science Book at a book sale. For primary and younger ages these manuals are perfect. The newer versions may not include the literature you would have to check. However they do offer a thematic version for almost all the Magic School Bus series. These books are much better than I originally expected as a homeschooler.
You can find titles for yourself through the link below.
Grade 3 Language Arts Comparison of Homeschool Programs
Key:
Seton Home Study – Seton
Kolbe Homeschool Academy – Kolbe
St. Thomas Aquinas – STA
Our Lady of the Rosary – OLR
Our Lady of Victory – OLV
Mother of Divine Grace – MDG
Catholic Heritage Curriculum – CHC
Mater Amabilis – MA (Catholic Version of Charlotte Mason Style)
Angelicum – Angl
3rd Grade Language Arts Homeschool Curriculum Comparison
Whether you want to design your own curriculum or just see what all the HS programs have to offer, over the next week I will be doing a curricula comparison overview of several Catholic Home Study programs. Keep in mind this is an overview to get more in depth you should visit their websites. Some come with perks, some are free, and some are not. It’s very important to keep in mind that if you are interested in a particular text book or curriculum you should further investigate if it comes with a Teachers Manual, not just an answer Key. Some of the courses come with a teacher’s manual/guide, some schools offer them for sale and some do not. If you are not sure if a teacher’s manual is available I suggest visiting the publisher’s website; then you can make an informed decision. Do not just stop at the teacher’s manuals and answer keys because some programs offer lesson plans at a price$ even if do not belong to their program. I would recommend that you consider purchasing lesson plans. They will save hours in your week. Plus, you can always adjust them to your own school assignments.
English/Grammar
Kolbe: Voyages in English 2006 Grade 3
(you can also get McGuffey’s free online) English from the Roots Up Volume I
, Writing Strands Level 3 (Writing Strands Ser)
OLV: Voyages in English 2006 Grade 3
OLR: Voyages in English 2006 Grade 3
STA: Voyages 2 and/or Simply Grammar
Seton: English 3 for Young Catholics – Seton Grade 3
MDG: Primary Language Lessons by E. Serl and Sound Beginnings
MA: Primary Language Lessons E. Serl
Angl: Sing, Spell, Read & Write 3rd grade kit; Shurley Grammar: Level 3
Phonics
Kolbe, Seton: Phonics Workbook: Level C (MCP)
OLR, OLV: Word Study Level D (MCP)
Reading
Kolbe, OLV: Catholic National Readers – Book 3
STA: Catholic National Readers – Book 2
Seton: Reading 3 for Young Catholics, Comprehension – Seton Grade 3
Seton, OLR: Faith and Freedom Readers – This is Our Town
CHC: Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls
MDG: Primary Language Lessons by E. Serl
MA: Program of your choice
Literature
MDG, MA: Harp and Laurel and living books
CHC: Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls; Little Apostles on Crutches
STA: A Landscape With Dragons: The Battle for Your Child’s Mind
OLV, Seton: Catholic Stories of Saints and other stories check their sites.
Handwriting: All unique programs
Kolbe: Handwriting Book D – Cursive
STA: Writing Without Tears 3- Cursive
Seton: Handwriting 3 for Young Catholics – Seton Grade 3
OLR: Basic Handwriting
CHC: CHC Handwriting 3
MA: D’Nelian Cursive
MDG: Primary Language Lessons by E. Serl
OLV: Exercise in English
Spelling
Kolbe, OLR: Own Syllabi
STA: The W.I.S.E. Guide for Spelling
Seton: Spelling 3 for Young Catholics – Seton Grade 3
CHC: CHC Catholic Speller 3
MDG: Write Road to Reading
OLV: Traditional Catholic Speller 3 After my own investigation into all the 3rd grade curriculum has led me to make the following decision in my daughters Language Arts program.
English, Phonics, Reading, Spelling and Vocabulary Words will come from these sources:
- “English from the Roots up,” “Easy Grammar 3 And 4 – Student Edition: Grades 3 And 4
” (not listed), Sentence Diagramming. - “McGuffey Reader” or “Primary Language Lessons” (because I have these books.)
- Also have “Saxon phonics” (also not listed) I will be supplementing with when necessary.
- SpellingCity.com is where I will go to drill spelling words, play games with them and test.
- “Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls,” Catholic Saint Stories, “Our Town,”
- Living books from MA and other home study reading lists.
Handwriting:
- I really should try Writing Without Tears because handwriting is her least favorite subject.
- I have “Handwriting 3 for young Catholics.”
- I read bible stories associated with the pictures in writing book while my daughter writes out her lesson. She loves that.
See All that You Can Do With Notebooking and Lapbooks
Just what is notebooking?
That was my question the first time I heard about it.
Grab a cup of coffee sit back with you kids and watch these videos on lapbooking or notebooking they should help explain and give you a better understanding of the concept.
If you already know about notebooking then click the free resource link to find out all about what my homeschool mom friends are talking about. Free resources for Notebooking pages
Sample of States, Insects
First Lapbooking Adventure Doing Lap books with themes.
OKAY so how do I start. The kids can go play now, mom get another cup of coffee.
Raggedy Ann and Andy Books and Movie
If Raggedy Ann and Andy are of interest to you and your children and part of a your reading book curriculum, here are some links to free books and a free movie to watch. The movie is on youtube and called Raggedy Ann and Andy’s Musical Adventure. Perfect for someone who just turned 7 year old’s. It’s split into 10 parts.
You can also read the following books for Free. They are Raggedy Ann read aloud audio and reading book with interactive reading exercises included at the end of the story. All the following books can all be viewed at the bottom section of One Step Higher website with best English stories, all free to read.
- Raggedy Ann Learns a lesson
- Raggedy Ann and the Chickens (19 pages)
- Raggedy Ann and the Washing
- Raggedy Ann and the Kite (no questions at the end of the story) 19 pages.
- Raggedy Ann rescues Fido
Raggedy Ann and Andy Musical Adventure Movie
This movie is split into 10 parts to view the video in full screen – click the square box next to the speaker icon to expand – then when the video is over click the X on the bottom right of the menu. Enjoy.
Part 1
Part 2 Click the box to the right of the speaker to expand the movie to full screen.
Table and Chairs - Raggedy Ann
GUIDECRAFT Raggedy Ann & Andy – Table & 2 Chair Set
From: MyToyBox
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
GUIDECRAFT Raggedy Ann & Andy – Toy Chest
From: MyToyBox
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10 Short ending with credits
Movie Review: Miss Potter a Story of Beatrix Potter
First Let me say that just finding the movie I wanted was quite difficult. I was actually searching for the BBC’s version of Beatrix Potter’s story which I heard from other homeschool mom’s had been an excellent history and art appreciation lesson. After searching and searching on Google and other search engines I found this movie, Miss Potter, The Story of Beatrix Potter with Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor.
I realized it wasn’t the same movie however, in hopes it was close 2nd I couldn’t wait for it to arrive for me to watch it. It turned out to be a lovely movie of the romance of Beatrix, it did not dig deeper into her childhood as I was expecting. Being a Catholic homeschooler I was expecting to see more of Beatrix home schooled days and I was a bit disappointed in that part of the movie. It merely showed slight glimpse of her childhood life.
Now if your interested in how she became a published writer or the how it was that she remained single all of her life. Then you should watch this movie. In the part of the movie where she goes from publishing house to publishing house is quite realistic and inspiring. To think, if she had stopped trying we never would have had her lovely tales and pictures books in our lives. Missing out on Peter Rabbit in Mr. McGregors garden! I can’t image it.
Another part in the movie I found somewhat comical was Beatrix Potter’s mother. She thought all her daughters pictures and stories were childhood rubbish and that she would outgrow them. She was the last person to understand that her daughter was quite famous and wealthy from her writings and picture books! That part alone makes a person stand back and think about what dream they can say yes, I can accomplish what I set my mind to do, with the help of God.
Based on those two parts in the movie, along with the beautiful cinematography and history of the times back in 1902 I rate Miss Potter 4 stars out of 5 stars.
You can view the details and buy a copy of the Miss Potter movie here.
Fun Help with Grammar
Here is and linked except from a book called Grammar-land It was published in 1877 by M. L. Nesbitt. It has been republished by Yesterdays Classics and this except from the book can be found on the Baldwin Project page a free resource for online books that are classics or out of print. Grammar-land is particularly comical because of the way that it is written in narrative form and personifies parts of speech with it’s stories of Mr. Noun, Dr. Verb and Judge Grammar.
Schoolhouse Rocks Grammar
Learn Nouns through songs
These Grammar Rock songs from school house rocks are a great supplement to learning for the Catholic homeschooler. Kids love them so much they don’t consider it learning, to them its just another song to learn.
Grammar Rocks: Nouns
Grammar Rocks Schoolhouse Rocks:
Learning verb through music and songs:
Books, Videos, Gifts
Catholic Media
Free and Frugal
Good Deals
An_Amazon_Store For Catholic Family's
Watch Videos Now
List of Children Audio Stories and ebooks
Need checks