What We Studied

Getting back into a homeschool routine was very difficult this week, but we did it! We managed to finish a majority of my planned curriculum and worked in a impromptu field trip;

Literature and Poetry

This week’s main literature selection was Trickster Tales from Asia and Polynesia. The collection coincided nicely with our history chapter. The boys made a ton of connections to the movie Moana and really loved some of the stories. We also read a ton of picture books and some poetry. The boys are digging the silliness of our current poetry collection from Jack Prelutsky.

• Voices on the Wind: Poems for All Seasons selected by David Booth

• Trickster Tales

• Hooray for Hat by Brian Won

• The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson

• The New Kid on the Block by Jack Prelutsky

• Kit Flying by Grace Lin

Math

We fell into a routine of taking Monday to focus on logic puzzles and I’m really love the change. We will keep this in our regular routine. Beyond those, Arthur started Singapore Math 3B with a unit on mass and weight. We’ll be finishing that particularly chapter next week.

• Logic Liftoff

Social Studies

Still plugging along with our History Quest Middle Times. Chapter 16 was all about Polynesia. We learned about how and when various island groups were settled. The text focused then on three different cultures: New Zealand, Hawaii, and Rapa Nui. Arthur really got into the few travel videos I found detailing the Maori culture.

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• When on Earth

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• Oceania by Martha London

• Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• DK Explorers

Arthur Independent Time

To allow for one-on-one time with Quentin, I have added an hour of independent work time for Arthur. Each week, he will have a mix of packet work (mostly grammar and math review), independent reading time, and special projects. Many of his projects will be aligned with our literature selections (some taken from B&R Language Arts curriculum) and history.

Science and STEAM Coop

For science, I decided to start our health unit this week. We are starting with a week long study of emotions and then moving onto other aspects of social emotional learning. I’m sure we will also through in some basic anatomy and probably hygiene afterwards. And I we started to do some simple yoga to tide us over during these super cold months.

• DK How Do I Feel? A Little Guide to My Emotions

• The Crayons' Book of Feelings by Drew Daywalt

• Big Feelings by Alexandra Penfold

• Visiting Feelings by Lauren Rubenstein

• Exploring Emotions: A Mindfulness Guide to Understanding Feelings by Paul Christelis

• This Makes Me Happy by Courtney Carbone

• This Makes Me Sad by Courtney Carbone

• This Makes Me Angry by Courtney Carbone

• This Makes Jealous by Courtney Carbone

• This Makes Me Scared by Courtney Carbone

• This Makes Me Silly by Courtney Carbone

We kicked off the spring semester of coop with the theme of Famous Nebraskans and Iowans. As the first two weeks will act as our open house meetings, I made stations instead of our usual structure. Each station featured a person with biography and a related activity. Everyone who came seemed to really enjoy the activities. Next week we are continuing the theme with six new people. For this week, we covered:

• Shawn Johnson East - gymnast, learned to do a summersault

• Malcolm X - Civil rights activist, made protest signs

• J. Sterling Morton - founder of Arbor Day, planted herb plants to take home

• Norman Borlaug - agronomist, learned about what kids eat around the world

• Evelyn Sharp - WWII pilot, made paper airplanes

• Hartley Burr Alexander - iconographer, drew our own versions of the Nebraska State Capitol building.

• Basic geography and maps of Nebraska and Iowa

Art/Music

I am determined to bring back art and music this semester. Our science will be slightly lighter in the spring and I think we can find some time. This week we studied the woodcuts of Hokusai. (Arthur covered him last year, but this year Quentin is joining in.) We did a big overview of his life and them focused on three pieces to study and appreciate. I chose one piece for each day that we did art. We studied the piece for a few minutes and then made our own drawings. They could be copies or something inspired by the piece. While drawing (I set a 20 minute timer to help my routine and schedule focused kids), we listened to nature sounds (ocean and forest) to keep us in the mood. I really enjoyed this technique and will be carrying it through to the next weeks.

• The Story of Paintings: A History of Art for Children by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom

• Hokusai: Genius of the Japanese Ukiyo-e by Seiki Nagata

Quentin

I have scheduled at least four 1-hour time blocks for one-on-one time with Quentin. I bought Blossom and Root’s Early Years Volume 2 curriculum to use as our base. I love the variety of activities and some of the bigger projects included. I gave Quentin the same pre-test from August to see progress. He has made a ton of progress, but it doesn’t necessarily show on the test. I did notate the progress I have seen and changed a few of the tests to make them more challenging for him. His biggest stumbling block is fine motor control. Writing is still a mountain that we are working to climb. Now that we have covered all the letters, we are focusing on sounds and moving into beginning reading. Q already knows so many words, so we are going to focus a bit more on phonics so he can figure out ones he doesn’t know. For math, we did a lot of puzzles, games, and practice sheets. We also covered a mini unit on diversity and the hijab and the months of the year.

ELA

• The Magic of Letters by Tony Johnston and Wendell Minor

• The Alphabet Tree by Leo Lionni

Math

• Lollipop Logic Book 1

Other

• The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad with S.K. Ali

• What Color is My Hijab? by Hudda Ibrahim

• Under My Hijab by Hena Khan

• Please Try to Remember the First of Octember! by Theo LeSieg

• The Months: by Sara Coleridge

• A Year with Friends by John Seven

• Jump into January: A Journey Around the Year by Stella Blackstone

Field Trip

We didn’t have a field trip on the schedule, but a friend suggested a trip to the zoo on Wednesday. The temperature high was going to be 50 degrees, so perfect for walking around. We ended up visiting the desert dome, aquarium, gorilla house, and butterfly house (plus a pit stop at the okapis who were outside). It was a fun day reconnecting with a friend and her son. The boys had a ton of fun. I want to incorporate more mini impromptu activities with them this semester.

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. We didn’t watch one big documentary, but we did watch some more PBS Eons videos while I was doing a workout. Eventually we will finish them all. Arthur requested them instead of a NOVA episode. My work here is done!

Misc. Picture Books Read

• The Artists by Canles Porta

• There’s an Alien in Your Book by Tom Fletcher

• The Dinosaur that Pooped the Past by Tom Fletcher

• If I Had a Little Dream by Nina Laden

• Max and Marla are Flying Together by Alexander Boiger

• Just in Case You Want to Fly by Julie Fogliano

• Memoirs of a Goldfish by Devin Scillian

• Let's Go to the Hardware Store by Anne Rockwell

• Letter for Leo by Sergio Ruzzier

• The Tickle Test by Kathryn White

• Hungry Bunny by Claudia Rueda

• Ellie in Concert by Mike Wu

• I'm My Own Dog by David Ezra Stein

• First Snow by Bomi Park

• Pinduli by Janeell Cannon

• Ducks Overboard! A True Story of Plastic in Our Oceans by Markus Motum

• The Love Letter by Anika Aldamuy Denise

High

• Restarting coop was a treat. We missed our friends and it was nice to get some social interaction again. Can’t wait for next week!

Low

• I had a big dentist appointment on Tuesday morning (2 1/2 hours!) and ended up punting on school after that. My entire mouth was sore and I was grumpy. We ended up making up the time, but I still feel like we wasted an entire afternoon.

Next Week

• Covering Mali Empire for History

• Reading Trickster Tales from Africa and the Near East

• Finishing 3B Unit 6 for math

• Focusing on reading for Quentin

• Choosing a new artist to study for art time

• Completing W2 of Famous Nebraskans and Iowans for coop

• Visiting the SAC Museum for coop field trip

• Maybe taking a hike at Platter River State Park?

Next up on the TBR pile: