The Third Grade Basket

EP192: What if the key to your child's independence lies in the transformative year of third grade? This episode promises a treasure trove of insights, from the dreamy state of early childhood to the burgeoning self-awareness and curiosity that define this developmental stage. We delve into practical skills like carpentry, cooking, sewing, and gardening, all designed to boost your child's confidence and self-sufficiency. But that's not all. We also dive into the thematic curriculum that aligns beautifully with your child's developmental needs.  This episode is your comprehensive guide to creating a nurturing and educational environment for your third grader, filled with inspiration and practical advice. 

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

You're listening to the Art of Homeschooling podcast, where we help parents cultivate creativity and connection at home. I'm your host, jean Miller, and here on this podcast you'll find stories and inspiration to bring you the confidence you need to make homeschooling work for your family. Let's begin Welcome. Welcome to the Art of Homeschooling podcast. I'm Jean and I homeschooled for over 25 years. I'm so happy you're here with me for this episode. We're doing a series and we're diving deep into each grade. We've been working our way from kindergarten through eighth grade, building a wonderful library for you to refer back to again and again whenever you need inspiration and guidance about Waldorf-inspired homeschooling in the grades. We've already talked about kindergarten, first grade and second grade, so be sure to check those out. I'll put a link to them in the show notes. And today we're diving into homeschooling third grade.

Speaker 1: 1:28

Third grade is the year in which the child is and I have a quote for you emerging from his long, strong preoccupation with his mother or caretaking parent. That's from the Gazelle Institute of Human Development. A child of this age is becoming more and more independent. It's gradual, of course, but developmentally, children in third grade are taking baby steps away from their childhood years and toward independence. This is often referred to as the nine-year change. Just remember that this path toward independence happens over a number of years. Teaching and parenting through the nine-year change can be intimidating. Perhaps you can think back to your own childhood, when you started to feel a sense of the limitlessness of the universe and the weight of self-awareness. You may notice in your own child a touch of melancholy as he or she navigates this shift. Melancholy as he or she navigates this shift. Fears may arise as the child starts to leave that dreamy state of childhood behind and often results in more questions, a little self-doubt and also a sense of wonder. And, of course, the curriculum for grade three is designed to meet the children where they are developmentally. Learning practical skills and self-sufficiency gives children the confidence they need.

Speaker 1: 3:17

And the third grade year is rich in hands-on learning, such as carpentry and building, cooking and baking, fibers and clothing, sewing and weaving, gardening and composting. I often say that the hands-on learning in third grade is designed to help children reach the end of the year seeing and feeling that they could take care of themselves, that it's possible. As they move away from that protective bubble of childhood, they'll be okay. All of these experiences help a child feel safe and comfortable in the world. Creation stories and stories of the people of the Old Testament build on these universal themes, instilling a sense of wonder and appreciation for the universe, a connection to the source of life and the courage to set out on one's own journey. The third grader can be preoccupied with learning how to fend for herself and curious about the origins of things. She wants to learn how to cook, how to sew, how to build, how things work and to be able to say I can knit a scarf to keep myself warm, grow food to nourish myself and build a lean-to to keep shelter from a storm. In addition, this is really a year where children make great progress in a lot of skills language arts skills and math skills. We'll come back to that shortly. Now on to what we want to have on hand at this stage. In the third grade basket I would add colored pencils so that children can begin writing more and more in their main lesson books and begin adding more detail to their drawings.

Speaker 1: 5:16

Hand tools are really great to introduce to your children at this age. They don't need to be specifically child-sized tools, although you can find those fairly easily, but most third graders can manage. A full-sized hammer or a smaller one can be nice too, but real tools can make all the difference. A small hand saw for cutting up to maybe two inch thick branches from the yard. If you're doing a bigger building project that requires cutting larger or thicker pieces of wood, you can measure and pre-cut those or have your child help you use a larger power saw. A file or rasp for smoothing edges and rounding ends and edges can be really helpful. And also a drill, a hand crank drill, with a few different size bits. A wonderful first project to make would be a wooden toolbox for keeping all these tools and building supplies in, like a tape measure and a level and things like that. You can find directions for making a simple toolbox in Lester Walker's book Carpentry for Children.

Speaker 1: 6:38

I also recommend you have some gardening tools on hand, like a small shovel not a toy shovel, but a small sized shovel that sometimes they're called mini shovels or short handled shovels that you can find at the hardware store and you want them to have sharp edges but be small enough for your child to use. These are really fun, also to take to the beach, of course, to dig holes, big, big holes in the sand and other wonderful tools, for your third grade basket might be a hand trowel, a weeding tool and, of course, a watering can, because splashing about in the water on a hot day is so much fun. Now you'll want to continue on with some supplies you've had in your previous grades baskets like chalkboards, dry erase boards, small and large, for writing practice that's expanding at this stage into paragraphs, blank books, main lesson books or blank paper or a folder or binder for recording the learning, along with books and stories about farming and gardening, creation stories, homes and shelters, fibers and clothing and house building. I'll have a few to recommend in just a moment. Now. Most kiddos are just picking up speed with writing and reading at the end of second grade, so it's really important to continue on with this, even as the curriculum brings lots of hands-on activities like gardening and building projects.

Speaker 1: 8:14

Third grade is a good time to begin really focusing on an extra skills session time. In your daily rhythm it can be just around 30 minutes or so of writing practice, spelling, math skills. That skills session is often focusing on the topic that you're not doing in your main lesson block. So if you're doing a math block, your skill session could be in language arts, and if you're doing more of a language arts block or social studies block, then that skill session can be devoted to math skills. So look at your child, see where they are and what they might need extra support in in building those skills to help them make progress. Your third grade rhythm could include and this is just an example, but it might have you might have a language arts skills lesson first thing in the morning, like a very brief kind of mini lesson, and some skills practice for 30 to 40 minutes, followed by couch time with stories related to your main lesson block, and each block could include a variety of activities, from making a main lesson book, doing some hands-on projects, getting outside to do bigger projects and a few afternoons a week. Then you could focus on some lively arts like painting, modeling, form, drawing, cooking, handwork or crafts. You don't need to be doing every one of these every single day, so create a daily rhythm and a weekly rhythm that suits you well.

Speaker 1: 9:54

Okay, now for the last part of the third grade basket. As a homeschooling parent, what materials can support you as you prepare to teach your third grade child? And here are just a few favorites the Lester Walker books, carpentry for Children and House Building for Children are really great. Children love looking at the pictures in these and they're very simple and fun to use. Having a favorite Old Testament stories or creation stories book on hand is good. Our family favorite is Stories from the Bible by Martin Waddell. Native American Gardening by Michael Caduto and Joseph Bruchach is really fun, has stories and activities in it. And then, of course, for planning I am going to mention this one in every grade the tasks and content of the Steiner-Waldorf Curriculum by Ross and Richter and Abison. It's a really wonderful reference book for the parent for all grades, for planning your grades, why we bring certain subjects when and can be super helpful to you. And there you have it. I hope this third grade basket has helped you picture what homeschooling third grade might look like at your house.

Speaker 1: 11:18

Check out the show notes for this episode for links to the recommended tools and resources, as well as links to the previous episodes in this series. You'll find those show notes at artofhomeschoolingcom, slash episode 192. And be sure to subscribe to the Art of Homeschooling podcast so you don't miss any of the upcoming episodes on how you can create homeschooling lessons you love that are simple, inspiring and doable. Until next time. That's all for today, my friend, but here's what I want you to remember Rather than perfection, let's focus on connection. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll see you on the next episode of the Art of Homeschooling podcast.