I am so excited to share with you all our 3rd Grade Homeschool Curriculum Choices for 2025-2026! This is my 16th year homeschooling and it will be my 5th and final time to teach 3rd grade. It’s bittersweet to know you’re teaching a grade for the last time! I teach my children a Christian Classical education here at home, so of course my curriculum choices will reflect that.
Thanks for following along with me! I always love to hear what other homeschool moms use to teach their children, so please leave your choices in the comments below.
I have several past years of 3rd grade homeschool curriculum posts if you would like to browse through those also:
- 3rd Grade Homeschool Curriculum Plans – for 2013-2014
- 3rd Grade Homeschool Curriculum Plans – for 2015-2016
- 3rd Grade Homeschool Curriculum Plans – for 2017-2018
- 3rd Grade Curriculum Choices – for 2019-2020
➡️ Click here to browse through Homeschool Curriculum Choices by Subject or by Grade. You will find more than a decade of curriculum posts through which to browse!
This post uses affiliate links. You can see my disclosure policy at any time. I am currently not affiliated with any of these companies, except as an affiliate. I’m just a very happy, satisfied customer.
Through the past 16 years of homeschooling, I have tried a tremendous variety of curriculum. I teach my children a Christian Classical education here at home, and listed below are my favorite curricula choices for 3rd grade specifically. I have used other curriculum in the past that I loved but it just wouldn’t be the best fit for my current 3rd grader.
Let’s get started!
Summary of Our 3rd Grade Curriculum
| Subject | Curriculum | Why I Love It! |
|---|---|---|
| Math | Rod & Staff Math Grade 3 | Black & White pages; excellent spiral review |
| Handwriting | Handwriting Without Tears | Tried and true for 16 years! |
| Spelling | Traditional Spelling II | Methodical phonics |
| Literature | Memoria Press | Classical literature with phonics support |
Just a note: I have listed a lot of curriculum below. Thankfully, there are only a few subjects that we fully do every day. Others are only done 1-3 times per week. I’ll note below which ones are daily and which subjects are not so you don’t feel overwhelmed!
3rd Grade Literature
My 3rd grader will finish the last 1/3 of Memoria Press’ 2nd grade literature program. We will cover Little House in the Big Woods, and then the four Beatrix Potter books. We are skipping the Brambly Hedge books because we have read them so many times!
The 2nd grade level includes quite a bit of phonics instruction and reinforcement, which my son needs daily. I anticipate we will be able to start the 3rd grade literature around Thanksgiving and possibly even Christmas. Farmer Boy is the first in the 3rd grade literature and it is one of my favorites! I can’t wait to read it with my boy.
The phonics reinforcement provided in the Teacher’s Guides is just right for my son’s stage. Memoria Press’ traditional approach to phonics has proven to be incredibly successful for my children!
We also will have a read aloud going most of the time. We are starting with Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos. Such a good story!
Frequency: Daily
3rd Grade Spelling and Grammar
Speaking of phonics, we are using Traditional Spelling II for 3rd grade spelling. While this is scheduled in Memoria Press’ 2nd Grade Core Curriculum, my son was not ready for it in 2nd, so I bumped it to 3rd. This will be just right for him!
➡️ I wrote extensively about our experience with Traditional Spelling I, so take a peek if you are interested.
I will use the Traditional Spelling II set along with the Supplemental Workbook.
I am a faithful user of Rod and Staff Grammar going on 14 years now, and I love and appreciate each level. I am excited my 3rd Grader will start the lovely green 3rd Grade English Grammar book!
I have to choose carefully what my son writes as we are building his writing stamina. Many of these exercises will be done orally with the occasional exercise on paper.
➡️ Read more: How I Use Rod and Staff English Grammar in Our Homeschool
Frequency:
Spelling – daily
Grammar – 2-3 times per week
3rd Grade Handwriting Practice in Print and Cursive
My son is my third child to experience a distaste for the physical act of writing. In fact, he avoids it at all costs! He is not a child that will willingly pick up a pencil or crayon to write anything at all.
I will readily admit that I did not push him as much as he needed to be pushed last year (a Mama can only fight so many battles, you know?), so handwriting is a top priority for us this year. My son wasn’t ready to start cursive as he still needed much work to make print a rote activity for him.
That being said, we are starting the school year using my Basic Facts Copywork in print. We are then moving on to Handwriting Without Tears’ Cursive Kickoff. This is a gentle start to cursive, which begins only after a thorough review of the print alphabet.
Because we are working on handwriting every day, we will have time to move on to Cursive Success. I anticipate we will not start this “true” cursive book until we are well into the spring semester. And I am okay with that!
Frequency: Daily
3rd Grade Latin and Recitation
Our classical education homeschool begins Latin in the 3rd Grade with Prima Latina. I am so thrilled that I get to study Latin again this year with one of my children! I personally enjoy Latin, and Prima Latina is such a beautiful and gentle start to learning this language.
Since this is my 5th time teaching Prima Latina, I could teach it with my eyes closed. However, we still have our original DVD teaching videos and my older children tell me that my son can’t go through Prima without hearing Leigh Lowe teach a few lessons!
We probably will not get to the Prima Latina Copybook this year (sadly!) because my son will not start cursive for several more weeks, but we will see. If I can fit it in one day per week, I certainly will.
In addition to Latin recitation, my son will work through 3rd Grade Recitation. We will work on this recitation 2-3 times each week.
➡️ Read more: How I Teach Prima Latina in Our Homeschool
➡️ Read more: Why I Teach Latin in Our Homeschool
Frequency: Daily (but the first day is the heaviest; the others are much lighter)
3rd Grade Math
While I have tried several elementary math programs, I have settled on Rod and Staff Math. I did not think it would be the best fit for my more numbers-oriented son, but I could not have been more wrong. I switched to Rod and Staff Math at the end of 2nd grade, and it was a much better fit for him.
The lessons are methodical, the pages are black and white and not distracting, and the Teacher’s Manual is a gold mine of information. Truly – the Teacher’s Manual is where the heart of the program is located, so don’t miss it! The spiral review, the math facts practice, and the teaching helps are well-laid out for each lesson.
Even though I already had the older version, I decided to upgrade us to the newest copyright of Rod and Staff Grade 3 Math. The tipping factor to buy the newest version is that the textbook comes as a workbook! And the best part is the workbook lies flat on the table!
My son truly cheered out loud when we both realized this! It is true that seemingly little things make the school day run more smoothly.
Frequency: Daily
3rd Grade Christian Studies
My son and I will begin Memoria Press’ Christian Studies I this year, which uses the Golden Children’s Bible. I will be using the two-year pacing that Memoria Press offers for this curriculum. We will complete half of the Christian Studies I during 3rd grade, and then the other half during 4th grade. Then in 5th grade, he will move on to Christian Studies II using the regular one-year pace.
This type of pacing allows for us to not rush through the material and is much more doable for my son.
Frequency: 2 times per week
💡 NOTE: When I taught all three of my girls Christian Studies at the same time, we used it as our Bible Time in the morning. You can read about that here: How We Use Christian Studies in Our Homeschool. It might give you some ideas for teaching multiple ages and stages at the same time.
3rd Grade Greek Myths, American History, and Timeline
In our classical homeschool, my children and I study Greek Myths in 3rd grade. We will again use Memoria Press’ two-year pacing and complete the first half of the curriculum in 3rd grade and the latter half in the 4th grade.
If you have taken a look at the workbook, you will notice that there is quite a bit of writing involved. I will write a more detailed post later about how I handle this with my writing-phobic son. It is a good compromise! So stay tuned for that.
We will also read through American Pioneers and Patriots this year. These are short, fictional accounts of typical pioneer families. We will read these stories together read-aloud style and answer the questions orally together. This should just be a fun weekly snuggle on the couch time.
We will learn 8-10 dates on our Timeline this year. I love the Memoria Press Timeline program, although I do not implement it strictly as written. Having those anchors in time are quite helpful as we move through elementary school and into middle school. Timeline has served my older children very well!
Frequency:
Greek Myths – 2 times per week
American History – Read several chapters each week at a peaceful pace
Timeline – Reviewed in Recitation a few times throughout the week
3rd Grade Science
I have many “must-do’s” in 3rd grade, so science tends to take a back seat. This year, however, my son and I are going to use Rod and Staff Science Grade 3. The teaching is gentle but solid and in just-right amounts. There are also a short amount of lessons, so we should finish in the middle of the spring semester if we don’t do all of the activities.
I have read through most of the text and I love that it is focused on Creation and nature. Topics cover the water cycle and how we use water each day, temperature, how seeds and plants grow, the human body, and more.
What fun topics to explore in 3rd grade! Even though I am not a science person, I am looking forward to learning about all of these topics with my sweet boy.
Frequency: 1-2 times per week as we are able
What is your 3rd grader studying this year?
I’d love to read all about it in the comments below!
Need more homeschool curriculum ideas? You can browse through all of my homeschool curriculum posts and get a few new-to-you ideas!
Here’s a quickie list of our 3rd Grade Curriculum Choices for this year:
→ Lesson Plans: Memoria Press 3rd Grade Curriculum Manual
→ Timeline: Memoria Press Timeline Program (used 3rd-7th Grades)
→ Literature: End of 2nd Grade and Beginning of 3rd Grade Memoria Press Literature
→ Spelling: Traditional Spelling II
→ Grammar: Rod and Staff English Grammar Grade 3
→ Handwriting: Basic Facts Copywork in Print, HWT Cursive Kickoff, HWT Cursive Success
→ Latin: Prima Latina
→ Recitation: Memoria Press 3rd Grade Recitation
→ Christian Studies: Christian Studies I (Genesis through the Entry into Canaan)
→ Math: Rod and Staff Math Grade 3 (I purchased the Student Workbook version)
→ Classical Studies: Greek Myths
→ American Studies: American Pioneers and Patriots
→ Science: Rod and Staff Science Grade 3 Student Text and Teacher Text
July Calendar Worksheet for 2nd and 3rd Grade
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