Homeschool W28: We're Getting to the End

What We Studied

We had a normal week and a flex week. Basically it means that we came other the end of my preplanned weeks. I like to take a flex week to catch up on anything we pushed to the side and plan the next few weeks. This flex week was a bit different as we are nearing the end of the big school year. I spent time planning our activities as some of our curriculum is basically done.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. Arthur started the June Co-op Book Club selection. I was feeling in the mood for some good adventure fantasy and this one looked perfect. We’re about halfway through it and very much enjoying the story and characters. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We finished our comedy book and started a classic.

• Poetry: Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O’Neill

• Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

• Matilda by Roald Dahl

• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. We got back into our math textbook and started a chapter about the Area and Circumference of Circles.

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons. Taking it slow but moving along.

• Singapore Primary 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. Arthur finished the history curriculum with a chapter about Manifest Destiny in the US and Social Reforms movements around the world. Beyond random documentaries and museum visits, we will be pausing our history study until August.

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. We finished the chapters with one focusing on Elizabethan Times. We will be pausing history until August.

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare by Diane Stanley

• Shakespeare's Theatre by Andrew Langley

• The Tudors: Kings, Queen, Scribes, and Ferrets by Marcia Williams

• Good Queen Bess: The Story of Elizabeth I of England by Diane Stanley

Science

Arthur finished his RSO Biology 1 course with the end of the academic co-op. We finished the Story of Science Vol. 3. We switched gears a bit and covered a few BookSeeds from Blossom & Root.

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

• One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia by Miranda Paul

• The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever by H. Joseph Hopkins

Quentin finished RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. He joined Arthur in the BookSeeds. As a bonus we did a review of the biomes of earth before concluding our RSO focus. We are also adding an oceanography unit for the rest of April and maybe into May.

• RSO Earth and Environment

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• What on Earth? Trees by Kevin Warwick

• Muse: Secrets of Trees

• We Planted a Tree by Diane Muldrow

• Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner

• Many Biomes, One Earth by Sneed B. Collard III

• Desert Biome by Grace Hansen

• A Day in the Life of the Desert: 6 Desert Habitats, 108 Species, and How to Save Them by Roxie Munro

• Deserts by Gail Gibbons

• Forest Biome by Grace Hansen

• Over and Under the Rainforest by Kate Messner

• Tundra Biome by Grace Hansen

• Marine Biome by Grace Hansen

Enrichment Co-op

We kicked off Enrichment Co-op with the first week of April. Arthur’s class learned about chemistry by making bouncy balls and colors by experimenting with chromatography. Quentin’s class was all about soil for the two weeks.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We listened to Queen, Heart, Bruce Springsteen, Kiss, and Journey. There was favorite was Queen (as it should be!) followed by Heart and Journey. They were not big fans of The Boss and Kiss, but that tracks.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

We traveled to Lincoln for a Morrill Hall visit focusing on our favorite exhibits there. It was our first time using our membership at the museum, but we have used the reciporcal benefits all across the midwest. We will be renewing this pass at the end of May and plan to go back to Morrill Hall at least once more this summer. After the museum, the friends we were with joined us at Lost in Fun for an afternoon of free play.

High

On Friday, we finally got back into our biweekly nature hikes! I had been craving some time out in the woods and we made it to Schramm. One other family joined us for the 3 mile hike. The rangers have thinned the trees in preparation for planting oaks in their place. (A lot of the existing trees were not native to Nebraska; oaks are native.) The trails were a bit strange, but we made it through. I was thoroughly tired and sweaty, but it was a great walk.

Low

Not a big low, but co-op this past week was a bit of a chore. It was warm enough outside, but the wind was fierce! We had to battle flying everything while attempting to complete the activities. I got home and my lips were completely wind burnt.

Next Week

• Continuing our read alouds

• Moving forward with our math textbooks

• Exploring more BookSeeds and the ocean (Q) for science

• Listening to Fleetwood Mac for music!

• Transitioning to a more summer routine of activities and schoolwork

Next up on the TBR pile: