What We Studied

We had a great two weeks of easy school and limited activities. I didn’t want to push it too much or over-schedule us. Thankfully coop events were few and far between these few weeks.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur finished two read alouds these two weeks. We wrapped a book about censorship and then finished a book mentioned in the previous. Also, we dove into the topic of death. It was a heavy read, but a good one for this age. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills. We continued the first Reading Explorer book which focuses on reading comprehension. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

Ban This Book by Alan Gratz
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
My America poem collection
Reading Explorer 1

Quentin dove into a collection of stories from the Odyssey. We are pushing our Blossom and Root lessons out another week. He also worked on some basic grammar.

Sing a Song of Seasons
Tales from the Odyssey Part One and Part Two by Mary Pope Osborne
Winter, Winter, Cold and Snow by Sharon Gibson Palermo (Quentin read)
If You Happen to Have a Dinosaur by Linda Bailey & Colin Jack (Quentin read)
Lettuce Introduce You: Poems About Food by Laura Purdie Salas

Math

Arthur dove into 5B with a unit on Decimals. Most of it was review, but it was a good review for him. We’re flying through the lessons.

Singapore Common Core 5B
Orbiting with Logic

Quentin continued Singapore 2A with a big review of numbers to 1000. We also continued our logic book.

Lollipop Logic Book 3
Singapore Common Core 2A

Social Studies

Arthur finished our study of World War I and moved onto the Harlem Renaissance. We even found a way to include a few documentaries.

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
A Different Mirror for Young People
This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration
Come On I, America: The United Staes in World War I by Linda Barrett Osborne
Knit Your Bit by Deborah Hopkinson
Military Aircraft of WWI by Ole Steen Hansen
DK Find Out World War I
Unraveling Freedom: The Battle for Democracy on the Home Front During World War I by Ann Bausum
DK Eyewitness World War I
Fearless Flyers
DK Timelines of Everything
DK History

Quentin dove back into the chapters on Ancient Greece. We found a good balance of videos, textbooks, and small readings.

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
Find the Journeys Around the World by David Long
Blast Back! Ancient Greece by Nancy Ohlin Pg. 1-31
Ancient Worlds
Ancient Greece by Sandra Newman
DK Eyewitness Ancient Greece
The First Olympics by Lisa M. Bolt Simons
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky

Science

We were back at Chemistry class this week. They talked and explored states of matter. The kids had fun exploring the changes by making ice cream and root beer floats. Plus we read another chapter in our Story of Science book.

RSO Chemistry
DK Super Simple Chemistry
Story of Science Vol. 2: Newton at the Center by Joy Hakim
DK The Elements

Quentin got back into the RSO Life curriculum moving into the unit on Human Anatomy. We did a big overview and then covered the skeletal and muscular system.

RSO Life
DK Oversimple Biology
DK Human Body
Know and Glow Human Body
DK Eyewitness: Human Body
iDiscover The Body by Carolyn Scrace Pg. 6-7, 14-15
How to Build a Human Body: Set Up the Skeleton by Kirsty Holmes
The Museum of Odd Body Leftovers: A Tour of Your Useless Parts, Flaws and Other Weird Bits by Rachel Poliquin Pg. 54-58

STEAM Coop

Arthur covered geometry and art with two lessons featuring tessellation and Islamic geometric art. He got to play with compasses and rulers. Quentin’s class was all about World Cultures. Each week the class covered three different countries with some information, art, and taste testing.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

We didn’t actually cover any art or music this week. But we did manage to watch a few documentaries. Arthur started and finished a long American Experience episode about Zora Neale Hurston. It was mostly about her travels and anthropology work, but also covered the Harlem Renaissance. Quentin watched two docs on Ancient Greece. One was about the Parthenon featuring the engineering aspects. The second one was all about the antikythera device, an ancient computer.

DK Music and How it Works
DK The Arts
DK Art and How It Works
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
Iconic Composers by Nicholas Csicsko & Emi Ferguson
13 Art Movements Children Should Know
13 Artists Children Should Know
13 Modern Artists Children Should Know
The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning & Brita Granström
Why is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge

Field Trip

We didn’t have a field trip this week.

High

We have started to set up a social gathering for after coop at a variety of locations. The weather was decent so we made two park playdates. It was very lovely to be out and allow the kids to run around. W also had a lovely nature walk at Heron Haven. It was the perfect weather for a little walk in the woods.

Low

I was so tired. This really took a bit of wind out of my sails.

Next Week

Finishing one read aloud and starting a new one
Moving onto the 1920s for history
Continuing new our math units
Exploring some new concepts about the periodic table
Wrapping up Greece with some myths and stories and Alexander the Great
Taking a break for science
Hopefully heading outside for a nature walk

Next up on the TBR pile: