The Elements (and the Superhero)

Happy New Year! It's already halfway through January, so I thought it was high time for another post.

J received many wonderful gifts for Christmas. Two of them involved his newest passion: The Periodic Table of the Elements. Aunt E hooked him up with this book. (Click on it for info.) It gives each of the elements in full color pictures with a LOT of information:


The book itself is awesome. J pored over it for 2 hours straight and then carried it around with him for the next week. But that wasn't all. Aunt E went the extra mile and got the boxed card set that goes with the book!

So, of course, J got right down to creating The Periodic Table on his bedroom floor . . .

. . . while dressed as Superman. (Makes perfect sense.) There's a certain danger, however, to pairing this particular costume with assembling the P.T. A certain little element called -- KRYPTON!! (Whose symbol is Kr.) Watch out, Superman!!


Just in time, Superman solved the Krypton problem by surrounding it with the other elements. The day is saved and the P.T. is complete.

3rd Grade: History, Latin, and Science

In my Overview, I list other things I'm planning on covering (e.g. Cooking, Art, etc.) that will not have specific books. I won't do a separate post for those items. I do want to talk about the three subjects that are MY favorite ones in this post.

History:

History is my A+, #1, all time Favorite subject. We've been following the suggestion from The Well-Trained Mind to present history in chronological order over a four-year period. Then, we'll repeat the time periods in order for the next set of four years, going more deeply into the details. A final time through for the high school years will give opportunity to delve into more details than usually is done.

The "text" that I'm using is Story of the World, Part 3. This will cover the mid-1500s to the mid-1800s. This book will provide the guideline for studying. I will supplement with the gobs of extra books I have for that time period as well as plenty-o library books. Fun, fun, fun!

Science:

Science, however, is lower on the scale for me. I'm not a fan of messes. They have to be cleaned up! Of course, for the "Cause of Education," I have "allowed" them.

When The Well-Trained Mind declared chemistry to be the focus for 3rd grade, I began to worry a bit. The only thing we did in my high school chemistry class was write "chemical equations." I actually liked that part, but it never gave me a grid for actual chemistry as we never did any experiments. (I did, however, watch in fascination as one of the cheerleaders had her hair corn-rowed one day in class a la Bo Derek. But I digress.)

Back to my dilemma. How in the world was I going to make chemistry remotely interesting without a serious chem set so we could blow up things? I researched a bit (a lot) and came up with this: And this:

Both are VERY cool books. The first (Fizz, Bubble, and Flash) is an entertaining yet thorough explanation of the Periodic Table. (Woo Hoo! I'm finally going to understand what all that means!) The second book has 30 chemistry experiments using regular stuff you would find in your home (or easy to find in the store).

NOW I'm excited about Science! (We'll save the chem set for later when J is more able to wield a fire extinguisher.)

Latin:

I began this Latin program this summer. I had tried FOUR other programs but none really fit for us. THIS program, however, is fun, interesting, and J and I are truly "getting" Latin! I cannot say enough good things about it. If you're interested in taking a stab at Latin for yourself, this program would be the way to go. It incorporates Roman history, too. J says he sees Latin words every where now as he recognizes them in English.
This is the last post about our curriculum. I've got all the books lined up, the year generally planned out and the first week's lesson plans ready to go.

Right after Brawn Week, I think J will be VERY happy to get started on all of this!

3rd Grade: Math

Math has been interesting. Of all the subjects we've covered in the three years we've been homeschooling, math has always been on the bottom as far as J's interest goes.

Things started out well. Whenever we had word problems, J was excited. Then we hit the "wall" of the multiplication tables. Oh, the weeping, the wailing, the gnashing of teeth. He HATED the flash cards. Hated them, I tell you.

When I went for J's evaluation at the end of 2nd grade, I asked the evaluator for some suggestions to make math more enjoyable. She pointed out that J is a visual learner. For some reason that never occurred to me! Then, she showed me a little program called "Times Tales." It covered the more difficult sets of multiplication that were giving J trouble by using PICTURES in story form to solidify it in his mind.

I used it during our Summer Program and, get this, J declared that MATH was his favorite subject! (Cue the Hallelujah Chorus.)

With the hurdle of the multiplication tables out of the way, I turned my thoughts to the new school year. First, I thought I'd use the Mind Benders book that incorporated logic puzzles (word problems using the process of elimination to solve). We'll do one each week. They're an excellent to provide orderly thinking, and, well, I just like them!

Next, I found an interesting presentation regarding all things money. We'll essentially read through this and talk about it as it comes up in "life."

Finally, I wanted a math book that continued to lay down the principles in an orderly way but provided LOTS of words to help with the numbers. I came across Mathematics Power Learning for Children. It had amazing reviews, but I'm not sold yet. We'll see how it goes when we get into it.
Thought not J's strongest subject, I think I can turn it around to at least make it an enjoyable one. I'll do my best.

3rd Grade: Language and Writing

The following are the books I've pulled for spelling, grammar, vocabulary, and writing. It's quite a stack, believe me. Each offers something specific that I wanted to incorporate this year. When I originally bought them (at curriculum sales), I knew by skimming through them that they had the potential to spark both my and J's interest. We'll see if I was correct!

Language:

This book gave a nice combination of spelling, vocabulary, and "life" situations using the word lists. J's spelling skills are pretty solid, so this might be a little less challenging that I would like. We'll see as the school year moves along.

This next book seems like it will do a fantastic job of giving a lot of useful practice for the chosen 100 words. J is a great speller, but that doesn't mean he always knows the definition of the words he spells. This book should prove very useful.



I found the series below last year (through another homeschooler). I can't say enough good things about it. The method used to simplify a sentence by removing the prepositional phrases is pure genius. I'm finding the gaps in my own education being filled through using these books for J. The first book teaches the new concepts. The second gives daily review of all concepts learned to date.

Writing:

With all that spelling, vocab, and grammar, the boy just needs to write! In my backlog of posts from the summer, I wanted to show some of J's summer writing. It has been a blast. It also showed me some areas of weakness and areas of interest that I can address this school year.

This next book is an intriguing way to practice punctuation. J is pretty grounded in this area, but more practice never hurts.

Lots of interesting story types, starters, and endings are given in the next book. I went through and chose enough to give him weekly prompts to increase his writing skills.

I didn't NEED to use the next book, but I wanted to. I will be using it more as a creative way to present what J writes. I could just put his writing in a notebook, but I know he will enjoy this visual/creative chance to enhance his work.

One more thing will be included in our language/writing section: Poetry. I never learned much about poetry until I went to college. I had a professor that made poetry absolutely come alive. Ever since then I knew I would cultivate that same excitement for poetry in my child. My plan is mostly to read, read, read lots of good poems. Each month I'll give him an opportunity to do his own using different "types" of poetry (eg Haiku).

I already have proof that he's for this. As I was copying off my pages describing the different types of poems, J caught sight of two of them and ran of to create a series. He's calling it his "food poetry" series. I told you he's a language kind of guy!

3rd Grade: Overview

The following is an overview of my plans for third grade. After this post, I will break it into sections linking to the books I will be using.

For some this is just letting you know what your grandchild/nephew/friend is up to this year. For others who are homeschooling, perhaps you'll find something useful in what I've listed!

Language:

• Spelling
• Vocabulary
• Grammar

Writing:

• Punctuation Puzzles
• 5 Minute Story Inspiration
• "Publishing" written work
• Poetry Appreciation

Math:

• Multiplication
• Division
• Fractions
• Factoring
• Prime Numbers

History:

• Early Modern Times (from Elizabeth I to the "Forty-Niners")

Science:

• Chemistry experiments
• Periodic Table

Bible:

• Read through one gospel (Mark) and the remainder of the NT
• Stick figure timeline of the events in the NT

Art:

• Study of individual artists' lives
• Weekly crafts (just for fun)

Latin:

• Lively Latin (which is just TOO awesome!)

Music:

• Piano lessons
• Drum lessons (I promise I'll get to a post about his new drum set.)

Cooking:

• Learn to plan a menu, make a grocery list, shop for and prep food
• Cook 10 breakfasts, 10 suppers, and 10 desserts throughout the school year

Health:

• Simple first aid (required by the state)

I have finished!

WHEW!

In snippets of time over the past two weeks, I have been pulling together J's Third Grade Curriculum. I'm a bit of a geek in this area--or maybe more of a free spirit. Either way, that boils down to over-the-top customization. I have only one child and I LIKE to research and pick and choose, and mix and match what I know would be a good fit for me and for J. I actually think it's fun! We're not starting for three more weeks, but, by golly, I'm ready!

I'm splitting up my posting of this "presentation" of our overview as there are too many parts for one post. You would probably glaze over a bit if I didn't, so I thought breaking it up would give you an opportunity to do other things with your life rather than read through all of this at once. I'm thoughtful that way.

Let me preface what is about to be shown with the reminder that J's forte is language. He is ALL about language. It comes easily to him and he eats it up like ice cream: the more I give him, the more he wants! (Math, not so much.)

I had several books on my shelves that I've picked up through curriculum sales. I pulled out these babies and found many that would work for us this year. In fact, through these sales, Half.com, and used items bought from other homeschoolers online, my total outlay for this school year is approximately $200. Not too shabby!

This was just the introduction. Next up will be an overview, then Language and Writing.

I have goosebumps.