Recipe to Write: Grades 3 & 4

Cook It, Then Write It Down

This looks like a cookbook. It is a writing curriculum.

Six recipes, six units, and in every one your child cooks something and then writes it down so another person could make it without asking a single question. A recipe is the most testable writing there is. An essay can be vague and still pass. A recipe cannot. Hand it to someone, watch them stop and ask what you meant, and you have found the exact sentence that failed.

The same six recipes run through all five volumes, so children at different ages can cook together and write at their own level.

The writing ladder builds across six units: sequence, then exact amounts, then describing doneness, then the ingredient list as its own form, then writing about waiting, and finally “to taste,” the hardest instruction in cooking and the last unit for that reason.

Inside:

• Six units: pancakes, drop cookies, cornbread, gingerbread, bread, and soup
• A science page, history page, and reading list in every unit
• A look at how the same recipe was written a century or more ago
• Vocabulary pages, because writing begins with the right words
• Gather, Measure, Fold In, Serve: the Fourfold Method, on facing pages
• A Test It On Someone page in every unit: hand your recipe to a real person and do not help
• A page for you in every unit, written to the parent
• A recipe section in larger type, plus three variants chosen to isolate one variable each

What you receive

• A printable PDF, 106 pages including the cover, 8.5 × 11 inches, designed to print clearly in black and white on a home printer.
• A family license: print as many copies as your household needs, for every child, every year.
• Your file is available only from the download page. It is not sent through a link in your order confirmation email, so please download it from the download page.

A first edition, shaped by the families who use it

Written by Gina Steffy. This is a first edition, and we would love your help making the next one better. If a page is unclear, something is missing, or an idea would work better at your table, please tell us. We welcome every suggestion and will build the best of them into future editions.

Every purchase includes free updates. When a new edition is released, you will receive it at no additional cost.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Let's Connec

Lisa Nehring

Author, Publisher, Curriculum Developer at True North Homeschool Academy

Lisa Nehring has been married for over 30 years, has five children, 2 graduate degrees and a black belt in homeschooling. She has homeschooled since 1991 and wrote a Master’s Thesis on Why Parent’s Homeschool, the Literature Review being,A History of Education in America.

Lisa Nehring and her husband, Dr. David Nehring, a Clinical Psychologist, and Biblical Scholar speak together on a wide variety of topics, including education, classical education, vision, mission, parenting, marriage, and more.

Let's Connec

Latest posts by Lisa Nehring (see all)

• The Not That Hard to Homeschool Booklist: Every Book in Our Guides - October 9, 2026
• Just Started Homeschooling? What to Do in Your First 30 Days - October 9, 2026
• Homeschool Portfolio and Evaluation Log: Gather the Evidence as the Year Happens - October 9, 2026