3rd Grade Homeschool Schedule and Curriculum

Once you make the decision to homeschool your child, the many different options for curriculum and materials can easily cause you to feel overwhelmed. Even though I taught elementary school for over 10 years, I still felt somewhat lost on how to make teaching work at home.

After completing a ton of research on how to successfully homeschool a child in grade 3, I was finally able to come up with a plan that satisfied both the mom and the schoolteacher in me. In this post, I will discuss my family’s homeschooling schedule. I will also break down the subjects we incorporate into our third grade daily plan. Many of the homeschooling materials we use are super low cost, and some are even free!

(This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, I may receive a small compensation at no extra cost to you. Please see my disclosure policy at the bottom of this page for more details.)

3rd Grade Core Subjects

Since it was important to me to have control over the curriculum and materials I used while homeschooling, I enrolled my daughter in an umbrella school called Homelife Academy. Homelife Academy takes away all of the stress of dealing with the local school system while giving you freedom to pick what you teach.

Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies

I am going to start with the homeschooling curriculum we use for the 3rd grade core subjects, which is Time4Learning. Time4Learning’s online curriculum was a game changer for me! It provides an entire year’s worth of lessons for grades pre-k through 12. For elementary aged kids, Time4Learning covers language arts, reading, math, science, and social studies.

They do this by using really engaging online videos, interactive games, and thorough lessons. My daughter LOVES this curriculum because it makes learning fun! I love Time4Learning because it makes homeschooling so easy! I highly recommend signing up for the 14 day trial just to see how easy it is for both parents and students.

Third Grade Homeschool Curriculum

When you are trying to decide which subjects to cover in third grade, try starting with a list of what is important for YOUR family. In addition to the main subjects covered by Time4Learning, I wanted to also cover the following areas for my third grader:

• spelling
• cursive handwriting
• Spanish
• P.E.
• art
• music
• health
• computer skills
• public speaking

I will explain the materials and programs we use for our third grade homeschool curriculum below.

Grade 3 Spelling

Rather than purchasing a spelling curriculum to use for third grade, I decided to utilize one of my favorite resources from my days of teaching in a classroom: Super Teacher Worksheets. This website provides spelling words for each grade level along with activities (worksheets) to accompany the word lists.

Some of the worksheets are for members only. I believe the fee to become a member is around $25 per year. If you don’t want to pay to become a member, most of the spelling lists offer one or two worksheets you can access for FREE each week. I also created a Spelling Menu for my daughter to use on the days she doesn’t have a worksheet. This allows her to choose an activity of her liking to practice her weekly words.

Spelling Schedule

The spelling schedule I am using for third grade is as follows:

• Mondays– Introduce new words and have your student write them in her notebook.
• Tuesdays– Complete a FREE spelling worksheet from Super Teacher Worksheets OR choose an activitiy from the spelling menu.
• Wednesdays– Complete a (different) FREE spelling worksheet OR choose another activity from the spelling menu.
• Thursdays– Take the weekly spelling test.
• Fridays– Practice cursive handwriting.

Spelling Materials

In addition to using the Super Teacher Worksheets website, I wanted to incorporate penmanship or cursive handwriting into our routine. Since we started cursive handwriting in second grade, my daughter had been exposed to the correct ways to form capital and lowercase letters in cursive.

For third grade, I wanted to take it a step further with words and sentences. I bought a SUPER CHEAP cursive handwriting book to practice these skills. You can see the cursive handwriting workbook I bought here. (Amazon Affiliate Link)

Foreign Language Third Grade Homeschool Curriculum

I had a really hard time deciding on a foreign language curriculum for my third grader. We decided that we would start with the Spanish language, and I wanted something that was online. This is so I didn’t have to provide a lot of guidance since I am nowhere near fluent in Spanish.

I ultimately chose to go with Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids. I liked that the videos showed real kids speaking about everyday objects and activities. The online lessons that go with the videos help reinforce the vocabulary, and they provide a lot of variety in difficulty level.

Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids costs about $15 per month for one student, or you can subscribe for $120 for a full year. You can sign up for a FREE trial period to see if this is the right fit for your family as well.

Best 3rd Grade Art Curriculum

I am in LOVE with the art curriculum we are using this year for third grade! Jodi at The Kitchen Table Classroom is both a mom and an art teacher. She provides top notch instruction, videos, and printables on her website. If you sign up for her email list, you get access to a TON of free resources.

Plus, her emails are full of valuable information and creative lessons for teaching art. On her website, Jodi provides lots of video lessons that are super easy for students to follow independently. We started with her free items, but Jodi also offers art courses that you can purchase for a fee.

Grade 3 Music

The music curriculum we are using for third grade is called Prodigies- Sing, Sign, Play. You can sign up for a free trial to make sure it’s a good fit for your family before committing to a subscription. The video lessons at Prodigies are AMAZING for kids of all different ages.

Students learn concepts like keeping rhythm, singing in tune, and playing instruments. Both of my kids (aged 3 and 8) really enjoy these engaging online music lessons. You do not need to purchase any specific materials to go with the music curriculum on Prodigies. However, I opted to buy a set of desk bells to use with the lessons.

If you look through the Prodigies website, you will notice that the teacher uses these quite a bit during his lessons. Amazon sells them for a really reasonable price. You can see the desk bells I bought for my kids here. (Amazon Affiliate Link)

3rd Grade Computer Curriculum

If you are interested in finding a program that teaches keyboarding and typing skills, we have found one that is perfect for third graders! Typetastic is organized into super fun lessons that students can complete independently. My daughter absolutely loves completing these lessons!

The best part about Typetastic is that it’s totally FREE to use. Just create an account and work through the engaging program. In addition to typing practice, I am teaching technology skills like using spreadsheets, word documents, powerpoint, etc. I hope to be able to share how I am incorporating these technology skills in the near future, so check back soon!

3rd Grade Health Curriculum

It was important to me to introduce a health curriculum to my third grader because the skills learned in this subject area tend to be lifelong skills. We really loved the health materials we used for second grade, so I went ahead and bought the same program for 3rd grade. We will be completing these health lessons once a week, and we plan to tie them into our science curriculum at some points. You can see the health workbooks I bought here! (Amazon Affiliate)

Third Grade P.E. and Religion Curriculum

I am not including a lot of information on physical education or religion materials because we utilize local classes for this. My daughter is involved in soccer, swimming, and gymnastics to meet physical education skills. She attends weekly religious education classes at our church, which covers Bible lessons.

If you are looking for an additional Bible resource, we used the Lifepac program in second grade and really loved it. This was actually one of my daughter’s favorite courses during second grade. You can find the third grade version here! (Amazon Affiliate) If you have found a different physical education curriculum or Bible curriculum that your family loves, feel free to comment below to share!

3rd Grade Homeschooling Schedule

Below, you will find the homeschooling schedule I use with my third grader. I implemented some of the features of a regular classroom schedule because that is what is most familiar and comfortable for me. You can obviously tweak the schedule below to your liking so that it works for you and your kids.

We like to get all of our lessons completed by early afternoon, so you will notice that the schedule below reflects that. One of the big perks to homeschooling is that you can decide the times that work best for your family!

• 8:30 Morning Meeting
• 8:45 Language Arts
• 9:30 Spelling/ Penmanship
• 9:45 Math (including math facts)
• 10:30 Science
• 11:00 Social Studies
• 11:30 Foreign Language/Public Speaking
• 12:00 Special Classes:
  • Mondays- Art
  • Tuesdays- P.E. 
  • Wednesdays- Health
  • Thursdays- Music
  • Fridays- Computer

You can also add or remove subjects from my list for your child’s schedule. Depending on the homeschooling option you choose, you may have the freedom to decide which subjects to teach and what materials to use.

Final Thoughts on Homeschooling a 3rd Grader

As an elementary teacher, I am keenly aware of how important the third grade school year is for academics. A lot of important skills and lessons are learned during this time. 

The subjects, schedule, and materials listed above create a really well-rounded 3rd grade homeschooling experience. Not only am I happy with our results, but, my daughter is really enjoying them all as well! What subjects are you teaching as you homeschool your 3rd grader? Comment below to share your ideas!