What We Studied

On the schoolwork front, we had a normal week. Outside of the table work, we spent a lot of time outside. It was great to take advantage of the great weather especially as this week’s forecast is calling for a ton of wind, rain, and lower temps.

Literature and Poetry

Instead of starting the next coop book club selection, J continued reading the Bromeliad trilogy to the boys.

We finished Midsummer’s Mayhem and it was utterly delightful. We loved how it puts a new spin on the classic Shakespeare story.

Nat Geo Book of Nature Poetry
Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson
On the Wings of Words: The Extraordinary Life of Emily Dickinson by Jennifer Berne
Midsummer’s Mayhem by Rajani LaRocca

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 finished the second book in the Heartwood Hotel series. I imagine that we will read the third book soon.

Nat Geo Book of Animal Poetry
Heartwood Hotel: The Greatest Gift by Kallie George
A World Full of Animal Stories by Angela McAllister
Around the World in 80 Days by Saviour Pirotta

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). We continued our financial literacy unit. Quentin has very small lessons. Arthur is going more in depth. I had him quickly work through the Financial Literacy books for grade 1 and 2. We didn’t do the big activities, instead we just worked through the concepts and questions.

Evan Moor Financial Literacy Grade 1
Evan Moor Financial Literacy Grade 2
A Penny's Worth by Kimberly Wilson
Follow the Money by Loreen Leedy
What is Money? by Kate Marsico
Nat Geo Kids: Not-So-Common Cents by Sarah Wassner Flynn
Singapore 1B

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 covered the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark, and the independence of Texas.

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
Smart About the First Ladies
Which Way to the Wild West by Steve Sheinkin
Lewis and Clark: A Prairie Dog for the President by Shirley Raye Redmond

Quentin continued his study of the world with Build Your Library Level 0. We finished our study of Africa with a focus on South African countries.

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
Africa is Not a Country by Margy Burns Knight and Mark Melnicove
Jaha and Jamil Went Down the Hill by Virginia Kroll
Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales
Misoso: Once Upon a Time Tales from Africa by Verna Aardema
Nubiah’s Well by Donna W. Guthrie
Honey Honey Lion by Jan Brett

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. The boys didn’t quite finish their model engines this week, so we are going to take one more week to finish those before moving on to optics.

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 continued 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 covered more animals from Africa.

Nat Geo Wild Animal Atlas
DK Animal
Lonely Planet: The Animal Book
The Tarantula in My Purse by Jean Craighead George
African Acrostics: A Word in Edgeways by Avis Harley
African Critters by Robert B. Haas
Life-Size Anaimals by Rita Mabel Schiavo
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema
Grasslands by Laura Purdie Salas
Over in the Grasslands by Marianne Berkes
Here is the African Savanna by Madeleine Dunphy
Hippopotamuses by Kari Schuetz
Meerkats, Moles, and Voles: Animals of the Underground by Jody Sullivan Rake
Meerkats by Jody Sullivan Rake
Zebras by Amelie von Zumbusch
Lake of the Big Snake by Isaac Olaleye
Rumble in the Jungle by Giles Andreae
Draw by Raul Colon
Tree of Life: The World of the African Baobab by Barbara Bash

STEAM Coop

The oldest group has moved on to their last theme of the year: Math + Art in Science. This week, there was a bit of a mix-up, but they ended up making art from found nature objects and a shelter with tree branches. Q’s group started on a gardening theme focusing on how bean plants grow.

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

On Tuesday, we had a guided field trip to Lauritzen Gardens. The older group walked the entire gardens observing signs of spring along the way. We then identified trees and learned about various species. Thankfully the weather was perfect for our visit to the gardens. We even got to have a picnic on the patio afterwards.

We also had book club on Saturday morning. I didn’t actually have to lead the meeting this month. A friend brought a great cipher activity to add to our discussion.

High

Friday’s spring hike at Fontenelle Forest was just delightful. We got out into the woods, saw some turkeys, and generally enjoyed the perfect weather. After our hike, we visited Raptor Rescue to check out all the birds. While there, I spied a garter snake. A worked caught it and gave us an impromptu lesson about snakes in the area. Turns out that snakes were this particular guy’s specialty. I love it when we get unexpected lessons while out and about.