3rd and 5th Grade: 2026-2027 Homeschool Curriculum
The past few years, I’ve been veering more and more toward a Charlotte Mason homeschool. This year, while I still believe strongly in Charlotte’s methods, I think I’m finally at the point of ignoring the different labels and camps of homeschool curriculum and doing what I think will work for my children.
I have two boys. And this year they’re in 3rd and 5th grade. They are both high energy, neurodivergent, and super bright. That’s honestly exactly why we homeschool. It’s also why I’ve been so drawn to a Charlotte Mason homeschool.
So where are we truly Charlotte Mason and also not so much?
Where We’re Not Charlotte Mason
For several parts of my boys’ homeschool, we are using Memoria Press. And while I do truly believe Charlotte Mason is classical. I also think there are different types of classical. We use Memoria Press for spelling, grammar, and most of Latin.
For writing, we do a combination of written narration (which is Charlotte Mason) and also notebooking (which I feel is more Charlotte Mason-inspired).
Do my kids love the Memoria Press workbooks? Not really. But did they love the dictation and copywork we did in place of that when we were sticking to 100% Charlotte Mason? No. And while the Memoria Press books are workbooks, I have found them to be very intentional and to-the-point. I’ve also seen so much progress when my kids use Memoria Press for these subjects.
For Bible, we’ll be using The Story of the Bible. We do this as a read aloud two mornings a week and notebooking once a week. For notebooking, my boys have loved drawing and summarizing the Bible stories.
We also do quite a few hands-on activities throughout the week. For some weeks, this might be tied to history, other times art, or nature study, or science. My kids really thrive when they get to be creative. So a week without extra art projects and crafts is a sad week in our home.
Where We Are Charlotte Mason
We will be sticking with Charlotte Mason’s methods for math, science, nature study, history, literature, most writing, and all of the “beauty” subjects: poetry, artist study, composer study, solfa, hymns, and folk songs.
This year, I’m making an effort to simplify our homeschool by wrapping all of the beauty subjects and some of our literature into history. We’ll be studying medieval history this year. Nature study will be centered around the seasons and science around plants.
A Note About Enrichment & Co-op
Once a week, my boys go to an enrichment program. It is cottage school-style and very Charlotte Mason in style. Each year, there is a different theme. This year, they’ll be using Bible stories as their springboard for science. For example, they might read about the second plague (of frogs) in Egypt and then spend the day learning all about frogs and other amphibians and pond ecosystems. They might look at water samples and learn about water filtration. I’m so excited for them to get to experience this this year, as well as continue in a program with good friends that is centered around our Christian faith.
In co-op this year, we’ll be taking a field trip once a month. Then twice a month, we’ll meet and do the Crunch Labs Space Science curriculum.
3rd Grade Curriculum Picks
Math
Let’s start with math. This year, my 3rd grader will be using The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series. He’ll be finishing up Book 2 and then completing Book 3. We use a gridded notebook for his written work. I also got the manipulatives that go with Book 3 from Simply Charlotte Mason.
Language Arts
For language arts: he’ll be using several things from Memoria Press. He’ll use Traditional Spelling II, Introduction to English Grammar, English Grammar Practice, and Prima Latina.
My younger son will notebook for Bible and history this year. For this, he will draw a picture and orally narrate it to me. Then I will write a single, summarizing sentence based on his narration for him to write with his drawing.
For literature, we have both read alouds and independent reading. My 3rd grader will orally narrate to me after each independent reading chapter. And as he finishes each book, he will also do a drawn narration:
Term 1: The Cricket in Times Square and A Sword in the Tree
Term 2: Tucker’s Countryside and Viking Adventure
Term 3: Stewart Little and Castle Diary
Additional, interest-led throughout the year: Inspiring Stories of Artists
5th Grade Curriculum Picks
Math
I’ll start with math for my 5th grader too. He’ll be using The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series. He’ll be finishing Book 4 and completing Book 5. He will also be using Charlotte Mason Practical Geometry, Part I.
Language Arts
For language arts, his setup will be similar to my 3rd grader. He’ll be using Memoria Press for several components: Traditional Spelling IV,English Grammar Recitation II, and Latina Christiana.
For writing, he will follow a more Charlotte Mason approach. We did give the progymnasmata a try from several different curriculum companies. None of them worked well for my son. It felt like we were taking a step back in terms of his writing because he stopped enjoying writing. I’m not saying he has to enjoy every part of school. But he already writes fairly well, naturally, so it felt like any strides forward in writing ability took us multiple times backward in terms of his joy of writing. We went back to written narration and notebooking, both with minimal grammatical and spelling corrections and his joy returned. He wrote also wrote more fluently. It didn’t feel forced.
So my older son will be doing notebooking (where he draws and then writes several summarizing sentences) for Bible and history this year. I’ve debated also including this for Norse mythology, only because both of my boys thoroughly enjoyed notebooking for Greek myths last year. I don’t want to give him too much writing every week though, so I haven’t fully decided yet on notebooking for myths. Also, once a week, we will read a story from Arnold Lobel’s Fables and he will complete a written narration. This will be a little different than notebooking. He will only be writing, and it will cover a much shorter text. I’m truly excited to see his writing progress this year!
My 5th grader will also orally narrate to me after each of his independent reading chapters for literature. And in place of book reports, he will do a written narration as he finishes each book.
Term 1: The Incredible Journey and The Adventures of Robin Hood
Term 2: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and A Single Shard
Term 3: Lassie Come-Home and Adam of the Road
Additional, interest-led throughout the year: The Lost of Art of Reading Nature’s Signs
Family Curriculum Picks
Bible & Scripture-Related
For Bible, we’ll be using The Story of the Bible series. We will finish up the Old Testament book and also complete the New Testament one. My kids will also continue notebooking with this one. Last year they really enjoyed this and even asked to continue their notebooks this year!
My kids will be using the Truth & Grace Memory Book 1 for memory verses and catechism questions. This year, since we are doing medieval history, they will also be memorizing the Lord’s Prayer in Old English, and some medieval poetry like an excerpt from the Song of Roland and from the prologue of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
As a family each weekend, we’ll also be going through Simply Charlotte Mason’s In the Word, Book 1. While it’s not really meant to be done as a family, I really liked the content and themes in this particular book and could see our family doing it together.
History & Geography
Speaking of Feast of Ages, we’ll also be using this for our history and geography lessons this year. I wrote this curriculum specifically for my family as a heavily Charlotte Mason curriculum that includes history, geography, art, and the Charlotte Mason “beauty” subjects. I wanted something that was open-and-go, simple, and all tied together through a single history cycle. This year, we’ll be studying the Middle Ages. For us, history and geography will include a read aloud from Castle with Many Rooms, narration and notebooking (coloring pages included!), mapwork, logging dates in our family book of centuries. We’ll finish with a quick hands-on activity that links to the week’s art lesson.
Art & Handicrafts
For art, we’ll be using Feast of Ages as our guide for brush drawing and sewing. I may also look into a video-based drawing program from my youngest who loves to draw.
“Beauty” Subjects
For our beauty subjects this year, we’ll be pulling from Feast of Ages for our weekly artist study, poetry reading and recitation, and composer study, hymn, and medieval folk songs. In poetry, we’ll also get a taste of how the English language shifted during the Middle Ages from Old English to something more recognizable to use today. I can’t wait to share this with them.
Literature
Each of my boys will be reading independently, but I also like to do family literature read alouds. This is my favorite part of our homeschool, and I think my kids really enjoy it too. This year on our list are:
Blue Fairy Book
D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Rescuers
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
On the Banks of Plum Creek
Caddie Woodlawn
Little Pear
For some of these books, we’ll do a more formal literature lesson alongside them. For others, we’ll simply read and enjoy them.
Science
Like I mentioned earlier, science is happening in my sons’ enrichment program and our co-op. In enrichment, they’ll get a variety of science topics, all inspired by Bible stories. In co-op, we’ll be studying space science.
Latin
I mentioned Latin briefly in my sons’ language arts, because they’ll be using the Memoria Press Latin curricula individually and it feels very much a part of their language arts with how Memoria Press presents it. In addition to this, we’ll also, as a family, read from Getting Started with Latin a few times a week. I like Memoria Press’ systemic approach to learning Latin. But I also really like how much more practical and conversational Getting Started with Latin feels. So I’m adding it in just a couple times a week over our lunchtime.
French
For French this year, we’ll be continuing with Siepmann’s Primary French Course. It’s called a “course” but it’s really a book. We’ll do that as a group twice a week. And then once a week, I’ll do French with my sons individually too. This might entail going over something from our group lesson in more depth. Because of their ages, my younger son can usually use some reinforcement on the week’s lessons while my older son can usually learn things more grammar-related. Or we might play a French Feast video in our one-on-one French time so I can converse and give each of my sons the individual attention he needs to be able to thrive and really learn the language.
Piano
While it’s not really a group subject, both of my boys are using Hoffman Academy for piano this year. My goal for them is that they complete one lesson plus one practice session per week and learn two songs per term.
Extracurriculars
Musical Theater
My boys both really enjoy musical theater. They do this during the school year and it culminates in two productions each year—one right before the holidays and another at the end of the school year.
Seasonal Sports
When they’re interested, my boys can do one seasonal sport at a time. This year, my oldest will be trying flag football and soccer. Both boys plan to play basketball and to swim on the local rec swim team.
