What We Studied

We had a Flex Week and a regular week encompassing the last two weeks. Adding Flex Weeks into our yearly schedule has been a game changer! They allow us to take breaks that make sense to us and then use the Flex Weeks to catch up on the units.

Literature and Poetry

For the coop book club, we finished our selection and had a great book club meeting.

• Winterhouse by Ben Guterson

We started and finished our read aloud. Arthur really got into it and we hd some great discussion about homelessness and financial difficulties. It’s a fairly gentle story that really touches on some serious topics. Great pick!

• Nat Geo Book of Nature Poetry

• One World, Many Religions by Mary Pope Osborne

• Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson

• Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate

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. We also started a new read aloud. He’s been slow to warm up to it, but I think we’re really going to enjoy this one.

• Nat Geo Book of Animal Poetry

• A World Full of Animal Stories by Angela McAllister

• Around the World in 80 Days by Saviour Pirotta

• Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

• Heartwood Hotel: A True Home by Kallie George

• The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss (Q reads)

• The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

• FriendBots: Blink and Block Make a Wish by Vicky Fang (Q Reads)

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).

• 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 took a week off from history (Flex Week) and then covered Thomas Jefferson’s Presidency minus the Lewis and Clark expedition. That portion will be covered with a larger unit about exploring the west. I also found a great documentary about Monticello (The History of Home: History’s Greatest Homes).

• 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

• Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• What the Eagle Sees

• Thomas Jefferson and the Mammoth Hunt: The True Story of the Quest for America's Biggest Bones by Carrie Clickard

• Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library by Barb Rosenstock

• Thomas Jefferson: A Day at Monticello by Elizabeth V. Chew

• Jefferson Measures a Moose by Mara Rockliff

Quentin continued his study of the world with Build Your Library Level 0. We’re continuing with our Asian country study. We covered more of Asia and moved into the Middle East.

• 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

• Nasreen's Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan by Jeanette Winter

• A Sky-Blue Bench by Bahram Rahman

• The Sky of Afghanistan by Ana Eulate & Sonja Wimmer

• Count Your Way Through Afghanistan by Jim Haskins & Kathleen Benson

• I am Malala Yousafzai by Brad Meltzer

• Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai

• I See the Sun in Turkey by Dedie King

• Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad by James Rumford

• The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter

• Joha Makes a Wish by Eric A. Kimmel

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. Continuing our physic study with lessons on atoms and sensors. We were going to watch a Modern Marvels episode about radar but our copy was very wrong. Instead, I found a Mythbusters episode of them trying to beat a speed radar. Adjacent, but good addition to our science. And we watched a classic episode of Bill Nye: The Science Guy about atoms and molecules.

• 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. We started watching a new documentary series called Magic of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It’s a behind the scenes look at caring for the animals at the park. Each episode is less than 30 minutes, so it’s a perfect length for Q. We also talked a lot about what animals do in winter.

• Nat Geo Wild Animal Atlas

• DK Animal

• Lonely Planet: The Animal Book

• The Tarantula in My Purse by Jean Craighead George

• Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner

STEAM Coop

Arthur’s group is continuing its big stop-motion animation project. They were supposed to finish filming this past week, but coop was cancelled due to weather. We made the decision to shift the next three weeks so the kids could finish out their project. The littles started their unit on stars and astronomy. They are also going to finish next week.

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.

Field Trip

We took a trip to the SAC Museum. The lesson they provided wasn’t that exciting, but we had lots of free exploration time. The museum has updated the kids exploration area adding in lots of new games. All the kids were very excited to design their own jet and then fly it on the flight simulator. They each did it about three times. Lots of fun!

We also got back on our 52 Hike plan with a lovely (and cold) morning at Heron Haven. Glad we wore our snow boots as the drifts were about 5 inches deep.

High

• We had our coop Valentine’s Day Party. It was a great time and the kids got lots of time to hang out with their friends.

Low

• A snowstorm put a wrench into our coop plans. Oh well, it happens living in the Midwest.

Next Week

• Starting a new read aloud (A)

• Getting close to finishing Singapore 4B for math (A)

• Covering static electricity for physics

• Moving to Madison and the War of 1812 for US History

• Continuing our current read aloud (Q)

• Watching a few more animal documentaries

• Joining a friend’s new Nature Explorers group on Friday morning.

Next up on the TBR pile: