This giveaway has now ended. Thanks for entering!
Thanks for joining me for this year’s back to school week! I hope this week’s posts encourage you in your school and life planning as the start of the traditional school year grows nearer.
I discovered Oak Meadow through the magic of the blogosphere, and found it to be just what I needed for my kids at the time. The curriculum and the philosophy behind it have become a steady part of our home learning experience since then.
What first drew me to Oak Meadow was the heart behind it–is it possible for a curriculum company to have heart? Yes, it totally is! And I found that Oak Meadow’s connected with much of my own–their gentle approach, their slow introduction to academics, their focus on nature, free play, and stories.
Oak Meadow began over 35 years ago. The company offers complete curriculum packages from PreK through 12th Grade, which you can purchase and use at home with your children.
They also offer an enrollment option in their accredited distance learning school. This allows students to receive full academic credit and transcripts for their work at home–as well as the support of an experienced teacher.
For this giveaway, the generous folks at Oak Meadow sent me their 3rd grade curriculum to review (pictured below). If you’re interested in finding out more about other grade levels, I have previously reviewed the Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade packages as well.
The bulk of the 3rd grade material is presented in the syllabus. Like the ones I’ve seen before, this book is easy to use and lovely in its layout and design. Printed in full color, it is divided into three trimesters of 12 weeks each. Each trimester includes introductory material for the teacher to read, which explains the skills to be covered during that time period.
Each weekly lesson plan covers assignments in depth. Subjects included in each weekly plan: circle time, language arts, math, social studies, science, art, music, crafts, and health. I have always appreciated the fact that in these early years (K-3) all subjects are here together–no multiple binders or separate curricula to keep track of and juggle.
Plenty of ideas are provided for each week, and it can appear overwhelming initially. Just remember: There’s no law saying you have to do everything in any curriculum–I have written before about the unique way we use Oak Meadow in our homeschool, and I’ve learned over time to make the material my own as we go along. Oak Meadow provides plenty of room to adapt to meet your unique needs, and emphasizes that home teachers should do so.
Here is an overview of the 3rd grade package from an Oak Meadow teacher, citing the projects and studies that many of her students enjoy the most:
Language Arts
- form drawing exercises in correlation with learning how to cursive write
Math
- creating multiplication designs in conjunction with learning the times tables
- reciting rhymes for each of the times tables and engaging in rhythmic activities associated with the times tables (catching and tossing a ball or beanbag, jump roping, etc.)
Social Studies
- making a model of a sukkah (Lesson 2)
- reading Native American creation stories and making a corn husk doll (Lesson 6) and a dream catcher (Lesson 7)
- creating a folk art scrapbook of the student’s family heritage (Lesson 9)
Science
- making Chinese, Greek and Roman water clocks (Lesson 3)
- composing a story of “The Day There Was No Gravity” (Lesson 4)
- observing the clouds and creating a cloud booklet (Lesson 10)
- illustrating the four season cycle of a plant or tree (Lesson 19)
- growing an avocado seed (Lesson 20)
- constructing a terrarium to observe the natural process of the water cycle (Lesson 24)
- making a collage of the student’s local natural resources (Lesson 28)
Art
- cooking projects (First Trimester)
- paper marbling and bookbinding (Second Trimester)
- and engaging in carpentry projects (Third Trimester)
One Simple Homeschool reader will receive a curriculum package in the grade of your choice (grades K-8) from Oak Meadow!
How to Win
Everyone has two chances to win. Here’s how:
1. Comment on this post, answering this question: Do you prefer one curriculum that covers all subjects or would you rather choose separate curricula for different subjects? (If you are reading this in an email, you must click over to enter your comment!)
2. ‘Like’ Oak Meadow and Simple Homeschool on Facebook. Then — this is important — you need to come back and leave an additional comment here, telling me you have done so.
This giveaway has now ended. Thanks for entering!
I’m so new to homeshooling that I haven’t decided which I like more. But it seems that both have what to offer. I’m already of fan of both Simple Homeschool & Oak Meadow of FB.
I prefer one well written curriculum.
I have “liked” both FB pages.
Already liked Oak Meadow, now I like you too!
I have liked both pages 🙂 I would rather choose separate curricula for different subjects to provide my child different subjects to explore and learn.
What a GREAT giveaway!
My answer:
I would prefer to get all my subjects from one place. With 4 children it gets a bit much, so it is nice to have a one stop shop.
I love Waldorf inspired homeschooling, we’ve been venturing down that road for a couple years now. Never tried Oak Meadow before, but we are hoping to try Oak Meadow this September!
Both are liked – what a great give-away!
Also – I do prefer to have consistency in homeschooling. However, if one part of a package is not working, I will seek out and utilize other options.
i have been drawn to oak meadow’s preK and K curriculum for some time. i would love to integrate it into our preschool rhythm. i do not have a lot of home schooling experience but i would prefer to have the curricula separated making it easy to customize a lesson plan that is perfect for my child.
thank you for the giveaway!
erika
InspiredMama (at) msn (dot) com
erika’s latest post: inspired mama*sunday
We are just staring on our homeschooling adventure and I’ve been confused what to get for my daughter because she is a self taught reader and is reading chapter books at age 5. She also is writing her letters well. I am debating what ‘grade’ to get her from Oak Meadow because of this. It would be nice to pick the grade your child is at for each subject area. I guess that’s not very Waldorf, but I love everything about it and want to try it. I just think for my daughter she might be better suited if we were working on her level rather than what is expected at Kindergarten. Having the option of separate curricula for different options would make my decision a lot easier!
i have liked both FB pages!
erika’s latest post: inspired mama*sunday
Lean towards separate so that I can adapt subjects towards learning styles.
We actually are starting with Oak Meadow this year. We have not started yet and have never used them before but we are loving what we are reading about them! I prefer a curriculum that contains all the subjects and gives me a weekly outline of what I should teach but also gives us room to adapt or add in.
Just coming back to say that I “Liked” both SimpleHomeSchool and Oak Meadow on facebook!
Patty-Jean’s latest post: Time…scheduling….another extra curricular activity!
I like both facebook pages!
I “liked” Oak Meadow ages ago, and now your facebook page as well. What a lovely find! And of course, a free curriculum would be extra awesome 🙂
I do appreciate a curriculum that has everything in one place, mostly for a framework to throw other random tid-bits from here and there into. I generally glean from various free sources and work those into whatever “official” curriculum we are working from. Plus, I like to research whatever my kiddos are into at the moment and trying to link that back into reinforce something we have recently explored.
Last year was our first year homeschooling and I pieced together a curriculum. I’m planning on doing that again this year so I guess that’s what I prefer although I haven’t tried the other option.
I like an all-in-one curriculum. I love having everything laid out for me – it helps me know I’m getting things done. I do sometimes supplement with other things, but I like using a full curriculum as a strong spine.
I’ve liked both Oak Meadow and Simple Homeschool on Facebook! Thanks!
I like both pages on fb!
I like both! I enjoy using a full curriculum and picking and choosing one or two supplemental materials to change things up throughout the year.
Ideally, I would prefer one curriculum to cover everything. However, I just on’t see that working for most kids. The one size fits all approach is what deterred my family from public school.
I have never used a curriculum with everything included. This will be my 3rd year homeschooling my 6 children and this sounds much better than what I have been doing.
I have been piecing together from various places for our curriculum. I like flexibility but also would like an all in one to make it simple
Normally I like the bulk of our curriculum in one package and I would also want it to serve both my children who are 20 months a part.
I have liked both simple homeschool and Oak Meadow on Facebook