I’m not entirely intent on finishing curricula on any particular timeframe, so a lot of what Poppy will be doing for the first part of third grade is carried over from second grade. I might be more concerned about it if we were switching to a different curriculum, but we’re sticking with a lot of the same stuff so there won’t really be any interruption in the flow of things when we switch from, say, Volume II of “Story of the World” to Volume III.

I’m adding a couple of things to Poppy’s schedule this year, such as Latin and an official writing program. Her days look pretty busy on paper, but I think it’s going to be a nice year.

Here’s what she’ll be doing:

History

“Story of the World, Volume II: The Middle Ages”

Poppy & Pete love the activities in “Story of the World,” and I actually did a better job last year actually doing them than I have in years past. This year’s goal: More activities!

“A History of US”

Poppy like to curl up on the couch with me while we read this. I’m altogether for that.

Geography

“Trail Guide to U.S. Geography”

We’ve had this for a few years, and I’ve had a tough time actually getting through it. We’ll try it again this year, though, because Poppy likes it and we need to do some kind of geography.

“Map Skills 2”

Poppy did the “Map Skills 1” workbook last year, and she loved it. It’s a quick, straightforward book of basic map skills. As the title suggests.

Math

“McRuffy Math”

Poppy is about 10 lessons from the end of McRuffy Math’s second grade book. She’ll be moving on to the third grade book after that.

“Teaching Textbooks 3”

We’ve been making very slow progress through Teaching Textbooks 3. Poppy still isn’t entirely confident on multiplication, and she never likes doing work that she isn’t 100 percent confident about. I have Teaching Textbooks 4 ready to go, though, so I’m pretty determined to have her finish TT3 by mid-year.

Language Arts

“Spellwell B”

Spellwell is a solid, standard spelling program. She’s good at it, but Poppy doesn’t love doing spelling. I think it’s because of the tests; she puts a lot of pressure on herself.

“Growing with Grammar: Level 1”

The website and the cover of the book aren’t pretty, but the grammar lessons are sufficient. They don’t take long for Poppy to complete, either, which is a big plus in her book.

“Writing Strands 3”

I’ve been looking for a writing program for Poppy, and this one gets pretty good reviews. We’re going to give it a shot.

Science

“Nancy Larson Science 1“

Science 1, which is recommended for ages 5 through 8, seems a pretty easy for Poppy most of the time, but I really wanted to find a program she and Pete could work on together. She’s retaining the information nicely, so I’m OK with it being on the simple side. It’s an expensive program, but I like that it comes with the majority of the materials needed for the lab sections.

Extracurricular

Art

Last year I outsourced the kids’ art lessons, and Poppy loved it. I’ll probably sign her up for them again.

“Song School Latin”

“I saved Latin. What did you ever do?”

Bible

In addition to reading through “Egermeier’s Bible Story Book” together, Poppy will be working her way through “Bible Truths 2.”

Physical Education

Dance

Poppy did a weeklong dance camp over the summer, and she really enjoyed the jazz and modern dance portions. So she may be switching to one of those from ballet for awhile.

Tae Kwon Do

Poppy started TKD a few months ago, but because of travel, summer camps, etc., she hasn’t been able to go to class regularly. That should change once August arrives and things settle down a bit.

Soccer

I’m just hoping we don’t get the first game of the day again this season.

Family Time Fitness

We’ll be using the Core 1 set from Family Time Fitness. I’m hoping we can all do this together, because I could definitely use some fitness time myself.