Homeschool Memorial Day Break

What We Studied

For the last week in May, Memorial Day, and the first week in June, we ended up taking a semi-break. For us, that means we only did school about an hour a day and added in more outings, activities, field trips, games, and crafts. We are schooling year round which easily lends itself to these types of lighter weeks to change things up. We’ve realized that both boys really do well with routine and structure. Dropping all school for two weeks is a terrible idea. Going a bit lighter works perfectly for us!

Literature and Poetry

We read the four book Frog and Toad collection by Arnold Lobel and started reading The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster. Frog and Toad are some of my favorite childhood characters so it was nice to revisit with Arthur. I’ve never actually read The Phantom Tollbooth, but have heard so many amazing things about it as an adult. Arthur’s not completely sold on the story, but I am loving the word play and silliness. Beyond our read alouds, we read a ton of picture books, Arthur tackled some early readers, and focused on reading comprehension. We also completed a sample standardized test meant to close out First Grade. It was a nice review for Arthur and work on some test taking skills.

• Frog and Toad Collection by Arnold Lobel

• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster

• At the Beach by Alexa Andrews (Arthur read)

• Otter: Hello, Sea Friends! by Sam Garton (Arthur Read)

New playground just opened!

Math

We did a ton of review, some skill building, logic puzzles, and Khan Academy. We’re going to continue with all that throughout the rest of the summer up until we start Level 4 in August.

Social Studies

Nothing formal, but we did a ton of local exploration

Loggerhead

Science

See Unit Theme

Green Sea Turtle

Art

Nothing formal, but a lot of drawing and free expression

Mermaid’s purse and a wobbegong shark (very camouflaged against the wall of the tank)

Music

We finished our American Folk Music unit with lots of bands and songs from the 1960s and 1970s. We could keep going, but have decided to switch focus a bit for June.

Unit Theme

We finally wrapped up our giant Ocean unit. We focused on specific animals on different days along with a trip to the zoo to check out the aquarium. Arthur was super excited to spot both species of sea turtles (loggerhead and green), three species of shark, a couple mermaid purses, and a wobbegong shark! Plus Arthur watched a ton of videos from Brave Wilderness highlighting encounters with various sea creatures.

• DK Ocean

• Nat Geo Ocean Animals

• Ocean Anatomy by Julia Rothman

• Sea Turtles by Gail Gibbons

• Nat Geo Kids: Sea Turtles by Laura Marsh

• Nat Geo Kids: Mission Sea Turtle Rescue by Karen Romano Young

• Octopuses by Elizabeth R. Johnson

• Nat Geo Kids: Ink! by Stephanie Warren Drimmer

• Giant Squid and Octopuses by Ruth Owen

• Giant Squid by Mary M. Cerullo and Clyde F.E. Roper

• Giant Squid by Candace Fleming

• Here There Be Monsters: The Legendary Kraken and Giant Squid by HP Newquist

• Crabs by Ann Herriges

• Hermit Crabs by Ellen Lawrence

• Jellyfish by Grace Hansen

• A Day in the Life: Jellyfish by Louise Spilsbury

• Becoming a Jellyfish by Grace Hansen

• A Day in the Life Sea Animals: Seal by Louise Spilsbury

• Sea Lions by Colleen Sexton

• A Day in the Life Sea Animals: Leopard Seal byKatie Marsico

• Walruses by Renee C. Rebman

• Super Swimmers by Caroline Arnold

• Sea Otters by Nathan Sommer

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Abracadabra It’s Spring by Anne Sibley O’Brien

• Swashby and the Sea by Beth Ferry

• Good Thing You’re Not an Octopus by Julie Markes

• Ocean Soup by Meeg Pincus

• Shark Nate-O by Tara Luebbe and Becky Cattie

• Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle

• Nugget and Fang Go to School by Tammi Sauer

• I'm the Best Artist in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry

• Octopuses One to Ten by Ellen Jackson

• Squid and Octopus Friends For Always by Tao Nye

• I am Not a Fish by Peter Raymundo

• Inky the Octopus by Erin Guendelsberger

• Day at the Beach by Tom Booth

• Crabby Crab by Chris Raschka

• Shark Detective by Jessica Olien

• The Hermit Crab by Carter Goodrich

• You're a Crab by Jenny Whitehead

• After Squidnight by Jonathan Fenske

• The Fisherman and the Whale by Jessica Lanan

• Don't Worry Little Crab by Chris Haughton

• The Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort

• Following Papa's Song by Gianna Marino

• Sink or Swim by Valerie Coulman

• Flip & Fin: We Rule the School by Timothy Gill

• Compost Stew by Mary McKenna Siddals

• There Might Be Lobsters by Carolyn Crimi

• Whale in a Fishbowl by Troy Howell

• Ida and the Whale by Rebecca Gugger

• Adelita: A Sea Turtle's Journey by Jenny Goebel

• Melissa's Octopus and Other Unsuitable Pets by Charlotte Voake

• A Small Blue Whale by Beth Ferry

• President Squid by Aaron Reynolds

• Mabel: A Mermaid Fable by Rowboat Watkins

Highs

So many to choose from these past two weeks!

Snapping turtle!

• We spent a lovely day at Schramm State Park hiking the 3 mile trail, checking out the education center, observing the fish hatcheries, looking for fossils, and enjoying a picnic. Now that we have a state park pass, we’ll be back!

• We watched a fun Book Blast presentation from the library highlighting some great new children’s books. Arthur made me put almost half of them on hold. At the end, they did a raffle and we won a book bundle of four of the selections. So exciting! They are doing it again July with different books and we definitely going to be attending.

Making magic wands

• The local maker space is doing a summer STEM challenge with projects and activities. We picked up our passports, watched the kick-off, and made our first project! We will be having fun completing activities all summer long and earning prizes.

• Speaking of summer challenges, we signed up for the library’s summer reading program and got our free book to kickstart our summer reading.

• We made our summer bucket list and opened our summer basket! Schooling year round doesn’t mean that we skip summer activities. We just incorporate them into the school days.

Lows

• It’s been super hot around here (in the 90s) and I really don’t want to go anywhere any afternoon. I have messed up our schedule a few days and cause us to be outside after noon. Not making that mistake again.

Next Week

We’re back to a normal-ish schedule for us. I want to get close to finishing our U.S. History curriculum (only 6 more lessons), start our new music unit (The Beatles), complete another read aloud, and continue reviewing for math and language arts. Plus we have a few extra topics for the week including Pride Month and States of Matter. Also, we have strawberry picking and a park playdate scheduled for the week as well as working on a 30 day engineering course as a family.

Next up on the TBR pile: