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I’m wrapping up this year’s curriculum planning and reviews with our 4th grade curriculum choices. It seems each year I experiment with one or two things with my oldest that my younger two don’t get, and this year was no exception. I will admit, not everything we end up trying out sticks around, but it’s still fun to try out new things together.

Language Arts

Core Language Arts & Literature: We continued with The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts & Literature Level 4 this year. My son has been using TGATB since Level 2. We started this level a bit late in the school year, so he won’t completely finish it before the end of his fourth grade year. I plan to continue using it a bit through the summer (since we do school a few days a week even through the summer). He will most likely need to finish it up at the beginning of his fifth grade year as well. This was a new release of Level 4, and he and I greatly enjoyed it. He didn’t get to experience the newest edition of Level 3, and has since expressed many times that he enjoyed this new layout much better than his old Level 3 edition.

This new edition thoroughly covers writing, spelling, reading, grammar, usage, punctuation, vocabulary, geography, and art appreciation and instruction. In addition to the course workbook there is a Spelling and Writer’s Workshop book as well. It includes short, effective lessons to improve spelling and writing skills.

Vocabulary: My son used Wordly Wise 3000 Book 3 during his fourth grade year. It built on Book 2’s lessons from last year and continued to improve his vocabulary and spelling at the same time. I usually purchase the test and quiz booklet as well, and he completes a quiz after each week’s list. Each week repeats itself in a similar fashion with a word list on day one followed by five sets of practice problems and activities. There is also a lesson extension at the end of each word list that has the student discuss and work on a writing prompt with one or two of the new words from that week.

Grammar: Easy Grammar Grade 4 was the perfect choice for some additional grammar practice this school year. He gets some great exposure to grammar concepts through TGATB, but I wanted just a bit more for him to work on independently each day. Typically he’ll complete a page a day, sometimes two, depending on the topic and amount of practice problems. I’ve found that Easy Grammar is a great curriculum and started it with him during second grade.

Spelling: This year, I began working through Spelling Plus: 1000 Words toward Spelling Success with my oldest. I decided he didn’t need to start with list 1, as it was SUPER easy. He started instead around List 20, and progressed weekly through the end of the book. It helped me realize that A. he’s a really natural speller, and B. he prefers to spell orally instead of writing out the words on a piece of paper or the white board. This was an excellent book to work through with him, and I plan to use it for my younger two as well.

Independent Reading: He spent the year reading a TON of books this year. I’m thrilled that he loves to read. Some of his favorite independent books this year included: Last Kids on Earth, Who Was? series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, The Bad Guys, The Wild Robot, and The One and Only Ivan. Many of our favorite books, are found in our Amazon storefront.

Mathematics

Teaching Textbooks 4.0: This kiddo is the reason I started using TT about three years ago. He started out with a few other curriculums and ultimately got frustrated by every single one of them. In second grade, I decided to make a change for him and began using TT 4.0 Math 3. He’s been a big fan ever since. It’s changed a bit since we first began using it, but only for the better. His favorite new feature are the stickers he can collect for a job well done. There’s just something about a sticker sometimes, am I right? His little first born, follow the rules brain loves to know his grades at all times, so the automatic grading feature and grade book storage get looked over daily. He’ll be finishing up Math 5 this year and will begin Math 6 almost immediately afterwards. I like to just continue with Math through our summer break because I find that it’s quick and keeps that information in their brains.

Basic Math Drills: In addition to using Teaching Textbooks, he completes a page from Humble Math Workbooks each morning, usually from the multiplication book. I ask him to skip around each day, so he’s not focusing on the same numbers each day.

Math Wrap-Ups: Did you ever use Math Wrap-Ups as a kid?! I randomly found them one day on Amazon and knew they’d help out with multiplication fact memorization. I was right! I love that it’s easy to keep the entire set together, and we don’t have flash cards all over the place. It’s also wonderful that it has a self-check on the back of each key.

History

LifePac History and Geography: About halfway through the school year, I decided to try out something a little more with my oldest for History. Our history curriculum mostly consisted of reading history books and biographies during our read aloud time each day. It’s what has worked best for us, but I feel the need to approach it in a new way next year.

I’m still trying to figure that out if I’m being honest.

Did we love LifePac? Eh…Not a ton. I had purchased the first book from Grade 5. This first unit workbook focused on conflict with Britain and the birth of the United States. It’s very reminiscent of what I remember history to be like in public school. Read a textbook and answer questions.

Electives

Typing: Typing is definitely an important skill in today’s day and age. My kids are very familiar with using technology in the form of tablets, iPads, and iPhones, but I want to make sure they have excellent (and correct) typing skills as well. We use the Typing Books from The Good and the Beautiful to achieve our typing mastery. This year, my fourth grader completed using Typing 1. I like it because all we have to do is open a blank Word Doc and my kiddo can complete his lesson for the day. Many times he will work on this as I read aloud in the mornings.

Highly recommend!

For more curriculum reviews and ideas, see the following posts below:

Curriculum Planning: Morning Time
Curriculum Planning: First Grade
Curriculum Planning: Second Grade
Curriculum Planning: Fourth Grade