What We Studied

I think that I’ve accepted that this past week is going to be a new normal. We just don’t have enough hours in a week to shove everything in and I need to make some cuts. Basically, I have slowed down our book work to continue our nature hikes, extra coop activities, and errands. At some point I have to actually go to the grocery store and the library. We made time for all of that this week and I don’t feel like our school work completely disappeared. This year has really been about adjusting expectations with two kids doing full-time work.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is all in with reading Tristan Strong Destroys the World. It’s number two in the series. B&R has the first book in its curriculum for grade 4, but we’ve already read it. So I’m just adapting. We are enjoying this sequel. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills and starting our writing journey. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

• Poetry for Young People: American Poetry

• Reading Explorer: Intro

• Tristan Strong Destroys the World by Kwame Mbalia

Quentin covered the B&R theme of Tell it in Three with books on the Goldilocks and Three Little Pigs fairy tales. He loved them! We also did a mini unit on pumpkins. He also worked on some basic grammar.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Fairy Tales Collection

• The Three Bears by Paul Galdone

• Goldilocks and the Three Knocks by Gregory Barrington

• Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas by Natasha Yim

• Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems

• The Other Side of the Story

• You Choose: Goldilocks and the Three Bears

• The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone

• The Three Little Pigs by Barry Moser

• The Three Little Pigs by James Marshall

• The Three Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas

• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka

• Three Three Superpigs by Claire Evans

• The Three Swingin' Pigs by Vicky Rubin

• It's Not the Three Little Pigs by Josh Funk

• The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf by Mark Teague

• The Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lowell

• Let's Celebrate Halloween by J. Patrick Lewis

• The Pumpkin Mystery by Carol Wallace

• Pumpkin. by Jackie Lee

• Ten Little Pumpkins by Rosie Greening

• Pumpkin Heads by Wendell Minor

• When Pumpkins Fly by Margaret Lawrence

• The Bumpy Little Pumpkin by Margery Cuyler

• The Great Zombie Pumpkin Parade by Robert Burleigh

• Flat Stanley and the Missing Pumpkins by Lori Haskins Houran

• Mystery Vine by Cathryn Falwell

• Rocket and the Perfect Pumpkin by Tad Hills

• Oh My, Pumpkin Pie by Charles Ghigna

• Duck, Duck, Dinosaur: Perfect Pumpkin by Kallie George

• Pumpkin Day by Candice Ransom

• Mr. Pumpkin's Tea Party by Erin Barker

• A Unicorn Named Sparkles and the Pumpkin Monster by Amy Young

• Pumpkin Trouble by Jan Thomas

• Let's Explore Pumpkins by Jill Colella

• The Great Pumpkin Contest by Angie Rozelaar

• Runaway Pumpkins by Teresa Bateman

• 10 Spooky Pumpkins by Cris Grimly

• The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis

• It's a Pumpkin by Wendy McClure

Math

Arthur continued to dive into Singapore 5A. We are definitely going to slow down our math lessons a bit to make sure that Arthur achieves mastery. These past weeks, the units were very much a review of decimals and fractions. We also continued our next logic book.

• Singapore Common Core 5A

• Orbiting with Logic

Quentin started a Tinkeractive Math Book and worked through about half of it this week. We’re all about review right now. I don’t anticipate starting Singapore 2A until January. We also continued our logic book.

• Lollipop Logic Book 3

• Tinkeractive Math Grade 1

Social Studies

Arthur covered cowboys vs. farmers and the end of the west for this week’s history. Our next big unit is all about Industrialization, Immigration, and Urbanization. We’re getting to my favorite time period in U.S. History.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• Which Way to the Wild West by Steve Sheinkin

• Bill Pickett: Rodeo-Riding' Cowboy by Andrea D. Pinkney

• Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park

Quentin continued exploring Egypt. We focused on the famous pharaohs. We have one more week in Egypt before we cross an ocean to Mesoamerica. So much to learn and explore!

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Ancient Worlds by Miranda Smith

• Tut’s Mummy Lost and Found by Judy Donnelly

• Howard's Mummy: Howard Carter and the Search for King Tut's Tomb by Tracey Fern

• Nat Geo Investigates: Ancient Egypt by Jill Rubalcaba

• Egypt in Spectacular Cross Section

• Ancient Egypt by Jinny Johnson

• DK Eyewitness Ancient Egypt

• Tutankhamun by Demi

• The Pharaoh’s Boat by David Weitzman

• Pharaohs and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt by Kristine Carlson Asselin

• Hatshepsut: His Majesty, Herself by Catherine M. Andronik

Science

Arthur covered another chapter in our Story of Science. This was our break week from Chemistry class. We’ll get back into the periodic table next week.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

• Story of Science Vol. 2: Newton at the Center by Joy Hakim

• DK The Elements

• The Periodic Table of Elements by Jenny Karpelenia

Quentin got back into RSO Life with a unit on Arthropods and specifically insects.

• RSO Life

• DK Oversimple Biology

• Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert

• Are You a Ladybug by Judy Allen

• Are You a Butterfly by Judy Allen

• Are You a Grasshopper by Judy Allen

• Are You a Dragonfly by Judy Allen

• Are You a Bee by Judy Allen

• Becoming a Butterfly by Karen Wallace

• Nat Geo Kids: Great Migrations Butterflies by Laura Marsh

• Insects by the Numbers by Steven Jenkins

• Wild Kratts: Wild Insects and Spiders! by Martin Kratt and Christ Kratt

• Insects and Spiders by Christine Taylor Butler

• Bug Off! Creepy, Crawly Poems by Jane Yolen

• Insects Biggest! Littles! by Sandra Markle

• My Life as a Monarch Butterfly by John Sazaklis

• Insect Detective by Steve Voake

• B is for Bee y Catherine Ipcizade

• Ants Don't Wear Pants by Kevin McCloskey

• Insects by Seymour Simon

• Small Wonders: Jean-Henri Fabre & His World of Insects by Matthew Clark Smith

• Butterflies are Pretty Gross by Rosemary Mosco

• Bugs are Insects by Anne Rockwell

• How to Build an Insect by Roberta Gibson

• One Million Insects by Isabel Thomas

• DK Eyewitness Insect

STEAM Coop

Arthur started his exploration of board games. By the end of the six weeks, the kids will have created their own board games. I taught this week and focused on “What is a game” and the History of Board Games. The kids got to play some ancient board games. Quentin’s class started their theme on government. They learned about the city council and pretended to vote on some issues.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

I actually fit in art and music this week! I’m so excited. We actually covered two artists (Amrita Sher-Gill and Oscar Howe) and two musicians (Miles Davis and Camille Saint Saens). The boys really enjoyed heir free art time this week.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• We are Artists by Kari Herbert

• Amrita Sher-Gil: Rebel with a Paintbrush by Anita Vachharajani

• Birth of the Cool: How Jazz Great Miles Davis Found His Sound by Kathleen Cornell Berman

• Looking for Bird in the Big City by Robert Burleigh

• Welcome to Jazz: A Swing-along Celebration of America's Music by Carolyn Sloan

• The Carnival of the Animals by Jack Prelutsky

• Carnival of the Animals: Poems Inspired by Saint Saens' Music edited by Judith Chernaik

Field Trip

No proper field trip this week, but we did have the Coop Halloween Party on Halloween. The organizers secured an indoor space as it was freezing that day! The kids got to do some crafts and trick-or-treat indoors while hanging out with their friends. That night, I did take the boys trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. We also got in a nature hike on Friday. It was the perfect temperature. We definitely needed a bit of outdoor exercise time.

High and Low

After coop, I took the boys to the Library Book Sale to use their Summer Reading Programs coupons for a free book. I forgot that the library does not take credit cards so we couldn’t really dig into the shelves (My Low). We took our three books up to the checkout where the ladies told us that each coupon actually gets us three kids books! So we went back and got a few more. Thank you to the library ladies for helping us out and getting more books that we were anticipating. I’m planning on getting some cash from the ATM and going back this week after coop. I saw some brand new workbooks and summer bridge books and hope they will still be there (I’m sure they will be…).

Next Week

• Continuing Tristan Strong

• Covering more classic tales

• Reviewing multiplying and diving fractions (A)

• Lots of math review (Q)

• Finishing Egypt for Q’s History

• Moving into industrialization for A’s History

• Covering more of the Periodic Table

• Learning about spiders and bats

• Hitting the Library Book Sale again!

Next up on the TBR pile: