My son has made it to 4th grade!! Whew!!
Do you have any children like that? You celebrate surviving to each new grade level?
That is exactly how I’m feeling this school year.
My son finished 3rd grade and we’re both still alive. This is a good sign!
Now he’s making slow and steady progress and is ready for 4th grade.
I’m excited that he’s finally able to do a few small things more independently and that he’s reading more fluently.
I’ve been planning his 4th grade year. Several of his subjects will be combined with his 3rd grade sister. And there are a few things we will do together as a group, adding in my 6th grader and 1st grader.
However, it makes planning a little simpler since I can combine my 4th and 3rd grader in a few areas.
Here’s my curriculum plan for my new 4th grader:
Bible
Classical Academic Press New Testament 2
Bible Study Guide for All Ages Intermediate
Last year I combined my son and older daughter in the Classical Academic Press Bible program. They worked on the worksheets and quizzes together after I read the lessons out loud to them. We’ll continue our New Testament studies this school year, while adding in my younger 3rd grade daughter. And we’ll also work through Bible Study Guide during our group school time. All of my kids enjoy listening to the Bible lessons.
Math
For math we’re just continuing along our path with the programs that we used last year. My son will work on multiplication, division, and fractions in Right Start E. He’ll also do a page or two of Math Mammoth independently each day. I find that the Math Mammoth lessons reinforce what we’re learning in Right Start, so those two programs pair well together.
Grammar
My son will be working through the last level of First Language Lessons. I can’t say he enjoys grammar, but this program is easy to use and is very efficient. He did well with the earlier levels of First Language Lessons and I appreciate the memorization of the grammar terms and the diagramming that is included in the program.
Reading
My son will be working through All About Reading 4 with his younger (3rd grade sister). I had hoped to be done with a reading program by 4th grade, but that wasn’t possible for my son who has been a struggling reader. I’m glad we can work at his pace and work toward mastery. He actually completed Level 3 at the beginning of 3rd grade, but we chose to do the entire level again. So he finished Level 3 for the second time at the very end of 3rd grade (at the same time as his younger sister). It was a great decision because he is now much more confident in his reading skills.
Spelling
All About Spelling Levels 2 and 3
My son will be working on spelling with his younger sister as well. I have waited to introduce spelling until he was a more fluent reader. While he might seem a little “behind” in his spelling skills, I didn’t want to frustrate him by teaching spelling alongside reading since he was struggling with learning to read. I’m hoping to complete both levels by the end of 4th grade now that his reading has improved. However, if he is still struggling we may only get through one of these levels and we might do the levels more than once. I’m just going to follow his lead.
Writing
For 4th grade we’re going to focus more heavily on writing skills. We’ll work on Writing with Ease to practice narration and dictation. Writing and Rhetoric Fable will be a fun add-on to help break up our writing time since Writing with Ease 3 is fairly challenging.
Literature
I’m really excited to try this program. It’s the first time I’ve done any formal literature studies with my son. I’m hoping he is encouraged to keep reading – the book list for this program looks amazing, so I think he will enjoy all the books!
Poetry
We’ll start each day with some poetry. I’ve been surprised (and really encouraged) by how much my son has enjoyed our poetry time. I think he’ll really love these books – you can’t go wrong with Prelutsky and Silverstein!
Handwriting
My son has a competition going with his younger sister to see who can finish their handwriting books first (and yes I check to make sure they actually use nice handwriting). So far it’s a tie! This year they’ll both be using the same handwriting book. I can’t say my son has the greatest handwriting but it’s legible so that’s a win right there.
Logic
And here is my son’s favorite subject. I’m not sure he actually has a favorite, but if he did it would be logic. He really enjoys working through the logic puzzles and workbooks. This year he’ll do several of them independently and I’ll just check his answers. I call logic his brain warm ups!
Spanish
So, we’re still finishing Getting Started with Spanish from last year. I’m going to add in some Duolingo on the iPad to help him continue to practice. I also ordered the Fun Spanish because it looked, you guessed it, FUN! I think it will provide nice review and reinforcement for Spanish.
Latin
Song School Latin 1 and 2
Oh dear! I’m starting Latin with my son this school year. He’ll be busy, busy as he works through both levels of Song School Latin with the DVD’s. I wanted a gentle and somewhat fun start to Latin since we’re already working on Spanish. I think this will be a perfect now stress intro for him.
History
200 Questions about American History Cards
Ok, I’m really excited about this one! I’m jumping out of the 4 year classical history cycle and diving into American history. I’m so excited to learn alongside my kids and this book looks like an amazing resource – very readable with great pictures. I’m adding in the flash cards to make memory work easy for me to implement.
Geography
To go along with our American history studies, we’ll learn about each of the states by drawing them. I’m hoping to review state capitals and add in a few fun facts about each state as we draw them.
Science
I’m never great at planning science for our homeschool. This year we’ll try the Biology book from Real Science 4 Kids. Maybe I’ll get to some experiments (probably not though…). If it goes well, we might try the chemistry book for the next semester. I’m going to have my 3rd grader and 1st grader do science along with my son. I think I’ll add in some more books that go with the topic for each chapter. We might also add in some Nancy Larson Science as well.
Art
I’m going to try to be better at getting to art. I’m hoping to complete at least one project a week with the Artistic Pursuit book. I’ve used this resource in the past and found it easy to get done and it requires very little planning on my part – I just have to gather a few supplies.
Music
My son will continue piano lessons with me. It’s definitely not his favorite subject but I can see how piano lessons have improved his rhythm and coordination, so we’ll press forward. He’s actually made a ton of progress in the past year; therefore, we’ll just keep going.
Outsourced Classes
Bridgeway Academy K’Nex Robotics
I don’t know who is more excited about this class – my son or me! He is going to love building and learning about robotics. I’m looking forward to him taking his first outsourced class and working toward a deadline that is imposed by someone other than me. I think this will be a great first step toward working independently and being responsible for classwork. And the class will be so fun!!
If you’re looking into outsourced classes, I want to share a coupon code with you! You can get a discount on Bridgeway Classes for the upcoming school year!
Read Alouds
Of course, I’ve created a wonderful list of read alouds for our year – some of the books from my list will be read independently by my son as I won’t have time to read every single title out loud. And my guy will continue with golf and swimming. It will be a busy year for him!
Have you planned your new school year yet?
Further Reading
Independent Work and My Homeschooled 4th Grader
Summer Reading for My 4th Grader
