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Timberdoodle 3rd Grade Curriculum: Unboxing

As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, our family has been ordering from Timberdoodle for years. We love all the products they carry.

When we first began our homeschool journey, they offered lots of enrichment games and activities, but it wasn’t until much later Timberdoodle began selling a complete curriculum for each grade level.

New Timberdoodle Kits

By that time, we’d already pieced together a program of our own. But when Timberdoodle contacted me this year to ask if I’d be interested in reviewing their 3rd grade level elite curriculum kit, I said, “You bet!”

My youngest daughter, Abby, will be entering 3rd grade this fall. So this level is a perfect fit. Doing something fresh and new sounded fun. And the timing was right. As two of her sisters graduated in May, I was down to having just four students to homeschool — or so I thought.

A Slight Change in Plans

Shortly after I agreed to teach using Timberdoodle’s program next year, I more than doubled my class size. I’m now teaching my five oldest grandchildren two or three days a week, as well, to give my daughter-in-law a much-needed break to rest and recuperate after a recent move and the birth of her 7th!

unboxing our new school books

She and my son also have a third grader. Plus, the rest of their kids are close enough in age that they’re going to love working through many of the science, history, and literature lessons together!

So this review opportunity really is a God-send. The grandkids were here when we cracked open the huge box of books and supplies Timberdoodle shipped us.

TImberdoodle Complete 3rd Grade Curriculum Review

The books were extremely well packed and padded, so everything arrived in pristine condition. We had to pause from the unboxing long enough to photograph the costumes the kids made from the packing material. It’s as if all that brown paper leapt out of the box straight onto their bodies!

unboxing our new school books

Parcels of Possibility and Potential

Digging into the contents, we felt like it was Christmas in July. It took us half an hour just to unbox and unwrap everything inside.

TImberdoodle Complete 3rd Grade Curriculum Review

TImberdoodle Complete 3rd Grade Curriculum Review

The children ooohed and aaahed over each new discovery.

TImberdoodle Complete 3rd Grade Curriculum Review

I’ve never seen kids more excited about starting back to school!

unboxing our new school books

The 3rd grade curriculum includes a few familiar and well-loved products we’ve used for years. Other components are brand-new to us. I’m looking forward to trying those out as much as the kids are.

unboxing our new school books

I’d feel completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of material to cover if it weren’t for the printed handbook and online lesson schedule Timberdoodle includes with every kit. These resources break everything down into small chunks and tell you exactly how much material you’ll need to cover in each subject to get through it all in a year.

TImberdoodle Complete 3rd Grade Curriculum Review

You can read all about everything included in this kit in great detail at Timberdoodle, but here’s a brief listing, including comments on resources I’ve used before. You’ll also find links alongside products I’ve already reviewed; I plan to come back to this post to link others as I review them in the future:

Timberdoodle 3rd Grade Curriculum Kit Contents

Math

  • Math-U-See Gamma – I’ve used Saxon math almost exclusively for grades 4-12 at home, but taught Algebra 2 in a co-op last year using Math-U-See and was very impressed, so I’m going to give it a try with my 3rd graders at home this year. I’m hoping its methodical pace of introducing only one new concept a week will be good for my grandkids, who’ll only be schooling at my house part-time.
  • Mobi Max – This is such a fun game! It’s like playing Bananagrams, but with number tiles instead of letters.
  • Wrap-Ups Multiplication – We used these when our oldest kids were little, but they got lost in a move some where along the way. I’m delighted to have a new set, and love the design they’re using these days, as it’s less to keep up with but still provides the same great practice!
  • Extreme Dot-to-Dot Pets – I’ve been using these extreme dot-to-dot books as stocking stuffers for years. They’re intense!

Science

Language Arts

History

Geography

Thinking Skills

Art

Teaching/Testing Aids

Whew! We finally reached the bottom of the box, so that’s about it.

TImberdoodle Complete 3rd Grade Curriculum Review

Stay tuned, as I’ll be posting a few progress reports over the course of school year to share how we’re doing working our way through Timberdoodle’s 3rd Grade Curriculum Kit. With all these fresh, new resources — and five extra little ones to teach — this promises to be a very interesting and educationally stimulating year!

TImberdoodle Complete 3rd Grade Curriculum Review

And just to demonstrate the kind of appeal Timberdoodle’s resources have, here’s what happened when the grandkids left and our college students came home for the day:

TImberdoodle Complete 3rd Grade Curriculum Review

They couldn’t resist trying out the Zoob Builder STEM set while their dad read aloud to us that evening. Don’t you just love games and toys and books that all ages can enjoy together?

TImberdoodle Complete 3rd Grade Curriculum Review

With Timberdoodle, that’s exactly what you get… by the boxful.

Timberdoodle 3rd grade

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6 Comments

  1. Fantastic post… I have been waiting all day to get a chance to sit down and read it. It was totally worth the wait. How exciting to have your own little ones and your grandchildren learning and growing together! Thanks for sharing.

    1. Thanks, Roxanne. Yes, we’re all pretty excited about having the grandkids join us for lessons this year. After homeschooling a dozen of my own kids, the house was going to feel a little empty with only four of my own to school. The grands definitely add a lot of energy to the days they’re here. Ha!

    1. Both are great kits, Jennifer. Our family already owns and regularly uses about 10 components in the 2nd grade kit, so 3rd grade was a better fit for us this year. I love the fact you can use the materials to teach multiple ages at once, though, so either level would have worked.

    1. I agree, Mary Anne. Although this is our first time to try one of their full curriculum kits, I’ve been consistently impressed by everything Timberdoodle offers!

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