Make third grade language arts more interesting and comprehensive with an integrated approach.
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After a fantastic year of Paths of Exploration last year, I decided to opt for something a little bit lighter.
It was a mistake.
So, when given the opportunity to review Kendall Hunt RPD’s Pathways Reading and Language Arts integrated curriculum for third grade, I jumped at the chance.
Even though we’re secular homeschoolers, I was eager to try an integrated language arts curriculum that focused on historical events and time periods.
Little Miss was eager to try something new too, so it was the perfect fit!
Engaging Elementary School Curriculum
We got to examine and use two of the themes – Heroes and Yesterday – for our review.
I’ll go through them both, so that you have a better understanding of what they’re about and how you might be able to use them in your homeschool as well.
Although we were compensated for our time, all opinions about the Pathways Reading and Language Arts Curriculum for 3rd Grade are our own.
HEROES – ABE LINCOLN’S HAT
The Heroes Theme is the first in Kendall Hunt RPD’s third grade curriculum, so we started with it first.
Little Miss has read about Abe Lincoln before and absolutely loved him, so the subject matter was a sure hit.
The theme uses the book Abe Lincoln’s Hat which is a Step Into Reading, Step 3 book.
I was honestly concerned when I saw it, because Little Miss is reading on a much higher level.
However, even though the vocabulary and reading were a breeze, the story had some fascinating facts that she hadn’t heard before.
It made the book incredibly enjoyable!
I loved the blackline masters that came in the Daily Lesson Guide.
Since she was the only one who used our curriculum, we just used the pages right in the book.
If you were using it with multiple children, you could easily copy the pages instead.
The flow of the Daily Lessons was a bit hard to follow, because it was written more with a classroom in mind.
That being said, we were able to easily adapt and rearrange some of the activities to fit our homeschool needs.
From Little Miss: “My favorite activity was the Joke Hat, because I love to tell jokes.
The book was really interesting and easy to read!”
YESTERDAY – SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL
One of the things I loved about this selection was all of the geography.
Yesterday is the eighth out of nine themes for the Pathways Reading and Language Arts Integrated Curriculum, so the reading level in Sarah, Plan and Tall was higher than Abe Lincoln’s Hat.
Little Miss was a tad disappointed about it not being as much of a breeze to read, but she quickly got over it and fell in love with the story.
I found this theme to be a lot more hands-on than the Heroes theme and, thus, a bit more aligned with our way of homeschooling.
We loved making our own whole wheat bread after reading the story of bread!
And, although we’re waiting for the weather to warm up a bit, we can’t wait to go outside and do more of the Homestead Day Celebration activities.
I also liked that there was plenty of character discussion, cursive writing practice, and map skills included in the Daily Lesson Guide.
As with Abe Lincoln’s Hat, we adjusted a lot of the activities and lessons to fit our needs vs. those of a classroom setting.
From Little Miss: “I haven’t liked geography at all this year, but the lessons in Sarah, Plain and Tall were a lot of fun. The bread recipe was delicious and I can’t wait to do the Homestead Day Celebration when the weather gets warmer.”
HOMESCHOOL LEARNING WITH KENDALL HUNT
Although this is not a curriculum that we would have normally considered (solely due to it being produced by the Religious Publishing Division of Kendall Hunt), I can honestly say that our homeschool experience this year would have been sorely lacking without this opportunity.
We had so much fun learning about different time periods, geography, and more.
If you’re concerned about heavy religious themes, don’t be.
The lessons on character and compassion transcend religion and make it a great choice for secular homeschoolers as well.
So, if you’re looking for a fun curriculum that integrates language arts and history, I highly recommend the Pathways Reading and Language Arts Curriculum.
It’s been a fabulous (and much-needed) boost to our homeschool lessons this year.
You can find out more about the curriculum here and connect with Kendall Hunt Publishing RPD on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Happy homeschooling!