10 Best 4th Grade Curriculum: A Complete Guide for Home & School

That’s why we’re here today with ten options for a 4th-grade curriculum; some for home use, others for school, and some viable both ways. So follow along for an overview of each of our choices.

Top 10 Fourth-Grade Curriculum & Resources

1. Positive Action 4th-Grade Kit

As usual with the Positive Action curriculum kits, this one is a versatile curriculum designed for in-school use but also works great for homeschooling.

Engagement is essential, and Positive Action understands that. That’s why it teaches through a story, and this time it's a story of two brothers who are separated as their parents go through a divorce. As the story develops, your kids will see how brothers cope with a difficult situation and work together to overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.

The main curriculum is divided into six units, each with a different focus and objective, but all aiming for your kid's benefit. For instance, unit 1 teaches how to explore oneself, while unit 2 teaches the benefits of good physical health and maintaining it. Next, unit 3 teaches how to use your gifts, such as time, talent, and feelings, to overcome problems, and so on.

Overall, Positive Action's 4th-grade kit is a worthwhile investment that makes schooling a more fun experience for you and your kids.

2. BJU Press Grade 4 Online with Books

BJU Press offers an extensive curriculum with seven courses: English, reading, spelling, handwriting, math, science, and heritage studies. Each course is long enough to last 180 days with an average of 2 hours 20 minutes of teaching time per day.

And while, technically, BJU Press' kit is for online distance learning, you could still use it at home or a traditional school setting since you can get it in the form of DVDs instead of online.

Either way, if you'd like to incorporate some non-digital learning into your kid's routine as well, you can do that with the BJU kit regardless of which format you pick since BJU offers workbooks for each course.

Also, the kit is straightforward to use as an instructor since it comes with a parent guide and all the teacher support materials you might need, and you can use the website to track your kid's progress, assignments, and so on.

3. Sonlight 4th-Grade Homeschool Curriculum

If you're looking for a curriculum that focuses on Christian values and Bible studies, then Sonlight's curriculum should be on your list.

Sonlight's 4th-grade kit is vast. It comes with three instructor's guides: one for the entire curriculum, one for language arts, and one for science. And these three guides can help you set up your kid's school year with a 36-week program.

As for the Bible program, it comes with three books: an American Indian prayer guide, a Bible version for early readers, and a digital memorization program.

Next, their language arts, literature, and vocabulary courses aim to enrich your kid's language skills with read-alouds, books, a spelling program, and a program about English techniques, such as metaphors and hyperboles.

Lastly, the science program focuses on physics and biology, specifically the observable world. On the other hand, the math program focuses on division and its strategies.

4. Time4Learning 4th-Grade Online Curriculum

If your child likes to depend on themselves, then Time4Learning's 4th-grade homeschool kit should be on your list as it offers your child a chance to take some control over their learning journey.

Unlike some of the other kits, Time4Learning's one isn't as bulky. It offers the four basic courses that should be in any 4th-grade kit, including language arts, math, social studies, and science.

The math curriculum is excellent for building math fluency in your child by teaching them how to solve theoretical math problems with the four basic operations and some basic geometry.

As for language arts, it focuses on expanding your child's vocabulary, improving their comprehension, and sharpening their listening as well as critical thinking skills.

Finally, the science and social studies curriculums are an introduction that prepares your child for what they'll study later on. For example, they'll study physics in science, while in social studies, they'll study some ancient civilizations.

5. Oak Meadow Grade 4 Package

Whether you'd like to homeschool your children yourself or send them to an online school, Oak Meadow has something for you.

The independent-use program provides you with everything you need to homeschool your child and track their progress properly.

Some of the resources in this independent-use program are a teacher's manual, weekly lesson plans for their six courses, a planner, an assessment sheet, and even consultation from the Oak Meadow office if you need it.

However, if you don't have much time to homeschool or would prefer an online school for any reason, you can use Oak Meadow's accredited distance learning school.

Here's the thing about their distance learning school: you, the parent, are still the primary teacher. But you get assistance from an Oak Meadow teacher who's always there for you to help you through the journey.

And this assistant teacher can be a lifesaver by taking off the tedious work you mightn’t have time for, such as grading your child's work and providing assessment.

6. Abeka Grade 4 Homeschool Child Full-Grade Kit

If you're old enough to know anything about homeschooling in the 70s, then you're probably familiar with Abeka, as they're one of the pioneers of homeschooling in this country.

Like Sonlight, their curriculum is based on Christian values, focusing on improving your child's language skills, arithmetic, history, geography, and science as well.

There's also a course on developing and maintaining good health, which is lovely for your kid to learn in grade school.

In general, Abeka is versatile with the kits they offer. The full-grade kit is for those who want an all-in-one package, but if you like to mix-and-match, you can pick independent kits as you like.

For instance, you have the student kit, the parent kit, and a kit for each subject. And each kit contains all the resources you'll need for its purpose. Abeka even has guides and pre-recorded lessons for everything, so you'll always have the assistance you need.

7. Blossom and Root Fourth Grade Full Bundle

If you're a fan of digital education, then check out Blossom and Root, the company that offers 100% digital education for homeschooling with no physical products.

Before we get into this, you should know that Blossom and Root don't follow common core standards, so if you need to follow it yourself, compare their curriculum with the common core requirements in your state to decide if it's what you're seeking.

Their curriculum doesn't aim to align with what public schools cover either. Though naturally, there is some overlap between the two. Specifically, the Blossom and Root grade-4 curriculum covers four general courses: English, science, nature study, and art.

Just be prepared to read a lot because the curriculum consists entirely of digital books in PDF format. But if you prefer only a portion of this curriculum, you can get a single kit for any of the courses without the rest.

8. Moving Beyond the Page Age 8-10 Full-Year Package

Moving Beyond the Page offers a full-year curriculum for children aged 8-10, the age group of 4th graders. The curriculum includes the four basic courses: language arts, math, science, and social studies.

If you're not sure whether your child's math level is good enough for this course or not, you can use the free placement questionnaire on the Moving Beyond the Page’s site. Also free on their site are other placement assessment guides, getting started guides, and schedule plans for 9-month programs and year-round programs.

You'll find many books in this package, and you can pick either digital or physical format.

Moreover, the manipulatives stand out in this course. Depending on how you customize your package before purchasing, you'll find a handful of manipulatives that go well with the curriculum. Things like exploration and survival, force and power, and interdependence science kits are constructive to your child's science knowledge.

9. Calvert 4th-Grade Home Curriculum

Calvert works differently from most other companies in that you pay a subscription fee and get access to their courses. For the 4th-grade curriculum, there are five courses: language arts, spelling, math, science, as well as history and geography.

If you've used Calvert in the past, you might remember they used to offer a blend of online lessons and textbooks to teach. But that's not the case anymore, as they depend solely on online programs now instead of books and DVDs.

And the whole process is neatly automated with automatically graded placement tests and a teacher's dashboard that shows student progress and where each student is excelling or lagging.

When your child is finished, their results are stored in a secure Calvert database for seven years so that you can prepare accurate high school transcripts when it's time for them.

10. Power Homeschool 4th-Grade Program

Finally, Power Homeschool is, as the name implies, an online homeschooling program for students K-12. Once again, the curriculum includes the four basic 4th-grade courses: language arts, math, science, and social studies.

Power Homeschool aims to keep homeschooled children up to date with other traditionally-schooled children. As for student experience, it's all an online school setting with classes, attendance, video lessons, reviews, goals, progression, and more. All of this is accessible through your child's student dashboard that lets them navigate the program.

As for you, the parent, you can follow up on your child's work for each lesson. And if the system sees that your child is lagging, it'll alert you, and then you can see how your child performed.

Also, you can set weekly goals for your child to complete.

What Is Taught in 4th Grade? - A Complete Guide

Language Arts

Naturally, English and language arts are among the most important subjects taught in school.

The skills a child gains during this phase can benefit them throughout their whole lives as they'll be using language far longer than most other subjects. And language arts is an extensive branch as it contains many smaller parts like literature, reading, spelling, vocabulary, penmanship, and more.

Ideally, a 4th grader should get a mix of everything to improve their day-to-day language skills. For example, novels that contain new but understandable vocabulary are essential for your child. And critical thinking problems are necessary for your child's development as well.

Also, a 4th grader should start learning the basics of deeper language concepts, such as metaphors, hyperboles, and so on. These concepts could help a child understand the language deeper and improve how they perceive what they read.

Math

Math is another essential subject that follows along pretty much through K-12 education.

Up to the 4th grade, children are taught basic arithmetic, the four operations (though sometimes not division), some basic geometry, sets, etc.

In 4th grade, your child should know how to perform division, and ideally, it should be taught in a memorable way instead of just telling them how it's done. For example, you can tell them that it's the inverse of multiplication and teach them some useful tricks for dividing quickly.

It's also the age where geometry should take a bigger role in your child's math development. By the end of grade 4, your child should be familiar with the basic shapes and principles and know how to calculate their perimeters.

Science

When children are 8-10 years old, they observe the world around them with sharp detail. That's why teaching them about this observable nature is crucial to the development of their scientific understanding.

Fundamental physics is commonly taught in this age range where children learn things, such as the Earth, space, other planets, gravity, magnets, etc.

Biology is important too. Your child could be very excited to learn about their favorite animals and the rest of the animal kingdom, so you can teach them the scientific names of their favorite animals. Also, they could learn about the human body and some basic processes.

In this stage, they learn how to conduct experiments with different states of matter in a scientific way, making observations along the way and reaching solid conclusions.

Social Studies

Most American public schools have a 4th-grade social studies curriculum that focuses on the history and geography of the country and the state where the student lives. These general facts are fun to learn for a child, and they'd appreciate it as a part of their curriculum.

Some other social studies curriculums might teach deeper concepts, such as what it means to be an American citizen, the difference between state and federal, the American civil war, and so on.

You could also teach your kid about ancient civilizations, like Mesopotamia or Ancient Egypt, as they’re commonly taught in elementary schools anyway, and most students find them interesting. Some even remain fascinated by them their entire lives.

Physical Education

Although it's rare to find physical education in a homeschooling curriculum, it's still important to instill it in some way or another or at least teach your child the importance of developing and maintaining good physical health.

At 8-10 years old, children may want to start getting into sports if they haven't already. If a homeschool curriculum doesn't contain physical education, you can instill it in your child yourself.

Look for a sport that your child enjoys and have him play it. And remember that different children will enjoy different sports, so you might have to get your kid to try a few sports until they settle on one.

Final Words

In conclusion, the most balanced 4th-grade curriculum out there is the Positive Action 4th-grade kit. It has the perfect blend of theoretical and practical learning, creates a memorable learning experience for children, and it's versatile enough that you can use it both in a school setting and at home.