Homeschool Curriculum: What We Used for 3rd and 5th Grade

We are wrapping up our sixth year of homeschooling, and this post shares what we used for our homeschool curriculum for 5th grade and 3rd grade.

homeschool curriculum 3rd grade 5th grade favorite books common cents club pinterest

Heart of Dakota

This was our third year of using Heart of Dakota as our curriculum for Bible Study, History, Science, Poetry, Geography, Research, Vocabulary, Timeline, Spelling, Written and Oral Narrations, and Read Alouds.

Heart of Dakota is a Christian homeschool curriculum. I love how it has each day mapped out for you, it’s from a Biblical perspective, the subjects often overlap, yet it’s easy to modify for your family’s needs. It also includes so many excellent living books that I’d never heard of before, which our family loves.

preparing hearts for his glory guide inside

We were in the Preparing Hearts for His Glory, which has four days per unit. This allowed us an extra day per week for running errands, going on adventures, or meeting up with friends.

While some families do a separate guide for each child, I’ve always had both of our children in the same guide. We love learning together as a family and it greatly reduces the time and mental load for me.

The curriculum offers extensions for those who are older and have more advanced skills, and it’s also easy to reduce or modify work for kids who are younger or have lower reading and writing skills.

If you’re interested in learning more about Heart of Dakota, it’s best to look at their placement charts to see which guide fits your child’s skill level.

Math with Confidence

We used Math with Confidence 3rd grade and 5th grade. After trying several math curricula our first two years of homeschooling, we’ve stuck with Math with Confidence for 4 years now, and it’s been a good fit for our family.

It’s open and go, with scripted lessons and minimal prep work required. The lessons typically take us 20-45 minutes, which fits with Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of short, focused lessons.

Each unit also includes an optional storybook, which is great because it often shows the math concept students just practiced in a different way or in real life. Plus, our family loves books and most have been available from the public library system.

Math with Confidence also includes games for extra practice. They’re simple and fun, but they’re non-essential, in my opinion, if you have a child who doesn’t enjoy the games or if you’re trying to shorten lesson time.

All About Reading

For our third grader, we used All About Reading Level 3 to continue developing foundational literacy skills. We’ve used Levels 1-3 with both kids and have been happy with this curriculum.

Christian Light Education – Language

For extra language arts, we lightly used Christian Light Education levels 3 and 5, and will continue to work through those this summer.

I appreciate that it’s a Christian curriculum. It’s kind of old school, but it works for us.

Check out their Diagnostic Tests for proper placement. I find their language arts to be advanced.

His Story Handwriting and Pentime – Cursive

We used His Story Handwriting: Exploring Handwriting through Scripture (Cursive Edition) for 5th grade and Pentime 3 Cursive for our 3rd grade.

Yousician – Piano and Guitar

We used Yousician for piano and guitar practice this year.

We also just started a free trial of Simply Piano, so I’m curious to see how they compare and which works better for our children.

Isn’t that the beauty of homeschooling? Year after year, we get to ponder the needs of each child, trusting God to equip us to meet them right where they’re at.

Some Favorite Books

We read a lot of books in a year as a family, and the kids read a lot on their own too. It is hard to pick a favorite! But here are a dozen memorable ones from a variety of genres and lengths.