What We Studied

We started off the spring semester with a normal week. And then, I had a minor outpatient surgery that knocked me back an entire week. So it was more like a 1 1/4 weeks of actual curriculum. At least we got outside and got to see our friends before I had to stay home. I tried to keep our read alouds going, but really let everything else go.

Literature and Poetry

For the coop book club, we finished reading our current book, Samantha Spinner. We had a fun club discussion with multiple friends. We then started our next selection. I’m really looking forward to that one.

• Samantha Spinner and the Super Secret Plans by Russell Ginns

• Winterhouse by Ben Guterson

Arthur and I read a survival story over the last two weeks. I didn’t know if he would really get into it, but turns out that he loved it. He even wants to read the two sequels. I told him that we could get them from the library and he could read them during independent reading. He also started learning how to write in cursive. We’re working on it! And Arthur started his study of the world religions.

• Nat Geo Book of Nature Poetry

• My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

• El Deafo by Cece Bell

• One World, Many Religions by Mary Pope Osborne

• Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson

Quentin focused on reading animal stories from around the world. I’m trying to line them up with our continents as we move across the world. For starting the study of Asia, Q and read a book focused on a Taiwanese-American family celebrating Chinese New Year and going about their year.

• Nat Geo Book of Animal Poetry

• A World Full of Animal Stories by Angela McAllister

• Around the World in 80 Days by Saviour Pirotta

• The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin

• Pete the Cat's Groovy Bake Sale (Quentin Read)

• The Mighty Avengers: These are the Avengers (Quentin Read)

Math

For both boys, we have scheduled math for three days a week. One day is focused on logic, games, puzzles, and special projects. The two other days are focused on covering the main math curriculum (Singapore 4A and 4B for Arthur and Singapore 1A and 1B for Quentin). During one of my off days, I pulled out the winter tangrams for the boys to enjoy. They are always a good distraction.

• Logic Liftoff (Arthur)

• Singapore 4B

• Lollipop Logic Book 2 (Quentin)

• Singapore 1A

Social Studies

Arthur continued his large study of United States history using a combination of Build Your Library Level 5 and History Quest United States History. We’ve finished our study of the Revolutionary War. We’ve also continued reading the beginning of Laurie Halse Anderston’s trilogy about slavery in America.

• A Kid’s Guide to Native American History by Yvonne Wakim Dennis

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

• We were There Too by Philip Hoose

• Words that Built a Nation

• History Quest: U.S. History

• A Different Mirror

• DK American History Visual Encyclopedia

• King George: What was His Problem? How to Start a Revolution

• Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

• George Vs. George by Rosalyn Schanzer

• Forgotten Founders by Mifflin Lowe

Quentin continued his study of the world with Build Your Library Level 0. We’ve moved into Asia started with the central asian countries of the former Soviet Union.

• Nat Geo Beginner’s World Atlas

• DK Countries of the World

• DK Children Just Like Me

• DK Children Just Like Me: A School Like Mine

• Follow Me Around China by Wiley Blevins

• Living in China by Chloe Perkins

• Z is for Zodiac by Elizabeth Rush

• The Empty Pot by Demi

• Daisy Comes Home by Jan Brett

• Lost and Found: Adèle and Simon in China by Barbara McClintock

• The Discovery of Fireworks and Gunpowder by Phil Amara and Oliver Chin

• Lon Po Po by Ed Young

• Liang and the Magic Paintbrush by Demi

• Hot Pot Night by Vincent Chen

Arthur Independent Time

We are working on following a checklist in a planner for weekly independent work. There’s usually some math workbook pages, an ELA packet, weekly writing prompts (1-2 times a week), independent reading time, and a special creative project. There has been many drawing projects lately.

Science

Arthur is focusing on Physics this year. We are covering the text and related videos at home and then joining friends for experiments and extra projects. We covered sound waves. Our friends led the boys to some great experiments. We skipped science the second week due to my recovery.

• RSO Physics

• The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way by Joy Hakim

• The Way Things Work Now

Quentin will be focusing on animal science with BYL Level 0.

• Nat Geo Wild Animal Atlas

• DK Animal

• Lonely Planet: The Animal Book

• The Tarantula in My Purse by Jean Craighead George

STEAM Coop

We had our first meeting of the year. Arthur started learning how to create stop-motion animation. Quentin learned about marine layers and ocean animals. The second week, we wouldn’t have gone to coop because of my recovery. That was going to be okay with us, but coop was cancelled due to the weather.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

We’re planning one doing on art project and one cooking project each week as well as picking a composer or musician to listen to and enjoy. We managed to watch the first episode of How the Earth Changed History. The episode was all about how water has changed the course of civilizations.

Field Trip

We headed to the zoo to focus on ocean animals. We visited the aquarium, sea lions, and stingray beach. It was lovely winter visit.

High

• We managed two winter hikes before my surgery. We walked the 3 mile loop at Schramm with some our close friends. We also visited Heron Haven with some other friends. It was lovely to see the nature ares in the height of winter. The iced-over wetlands were very neat to see.

Low

• Recovery from surgery has been rough. I could not do much and definitely could not get out of a bed multiple times a day.

Next Week

• Starting two new read alouds for literature

• Keeping on with our math curriculum

• Moving farther east in Asia for SS (Q)

• Creating a Constitution for history (A)

• Covering magnets for physics

• Watching another episode of our documentary series

Next up on the TBR pile: