What We Studied
We might be finally getting our footing for this year. We ended up doing schoolwork three out of the five days without much complaint and fuss. We completed our lessons and still had time for social activities. Overall, I think it ended up being a decent week.
Literature and Poetry
Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G6 for his language arts this year. While I love H&S, there’s never enough literature in there. Thankfully we have a stack of books just waiting to be picked up and read. Beyond H&S, we are focusing on expanding vocabulary and reading comprehension this year. Our first book is a sequel of sorts to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon we read back in 3rd grade. The third book in series is featured in H&S, but we wanted to read the second first. I really love how Lin incorporates Chinese folklore and myth in these quest stories. We finished it this week and chose to hold off on our newest book until next week.
Poetry: Hearth & Story G6
Poetry: A Child’s Introduction to Poetry by Michael Driscoll
The Vocabulary Workbook for 6th Grade by Kelly Anne McLellan
When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin
Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G3 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 3 and random books that we have around the house. We are also starting the Reading Explorer series to focus on reading comprehension and word choice. We continued with Lewis Carroll and started reading the sequel to Alice.
Poetry: National Geography Book of Nature Poetry
Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll
In the Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World by Virginia Hamilton
Math
Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 2. Effectively this is Singapore’s 7th grade math text. We covered the first chapter which mainly focused on review and basic math vocabulary. We don’t have formal logic book this year, but are focusing on lots of critical thinking and math puzzles.
Math in Focus Court 2 Book A
Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 3B and 4A. We also are finishing up our logic book before moving to more complicated puzzles. We continued with our chapter about mass and weight; not quite finishing it.
Primarily Logic
Singapore Primary Common Core 3B
Weight by Julie Murray
How Heavy? Wacky Ways to Compare Weight by Mark Weakland
Social Studies
Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Modern History Vol. 1. Unfortunately CC only has volume 1 published so far. This will take us to Christmas break. If they don’t release volume 2 by then, I’m going to have to do it myself. We started the next section focusing on Darwin, Pasteur, and all the scientific advancements in the 18302s-1850s.
Curiosity Chronicles Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
DK Science Year by Year
A Journey Through Art
Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas by Cheryl Bardoe
Pollen: Darwin's 130 Year Prediction by Darcy Pattison
Charles Darwin’s Around the World Adventure by Jennifer Thermes
Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species: Words That Changed the World by Anna Brett
Darwin's Rival: Alfred Russel Wallace and the Search for Evolution by Christiane Dorion
A Shot in the Arm! by Don Brown
Quentin is using Build Your Library Level 5 to begin our two year exploration of American History. We covered the indigenous peoples of the Northeast. We will stay with indigenous peoples for the first six weeks or so. We also continued watching the documentary series Native America. I love how we get to hear about the history of various Indigenous cultures and then see how they are still living today. It’s so well done! And in between the years, a second season was released. I cannot wait to rewatch Season 1 and move onto Season 2.
History Quest United States History
DK When on Earth?
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
A Kid's Guide to Native American History by Yvonne Wakim Dennis and Arlene Hirschfelder
The Earth Under Sky Bear's Feet: Native American Poems of the Land by Joseph Bruchac and Thomas Locker
The People Shall Continue by Simon J. Ortiz
Turtle Island: The Story of North America’s First People by Eldon Yellowhorn and Kathy Lowinger
What the Eagle Sees: Indigenous Stories of Rebellion and Renewal by Eldon Yellowhorn and Kathy Lowinger
Native American Stories for Kids: 12 Traditional Stories from Indigenous Tribes Across North America by Tom Pecore Weso
The Girl Who Helped Thunder and Other Native American Folktales by James and Joseph Bruchac
Native Americans: A Visual Exploration SN Paleja
Indians of the Northeast by Lisa Sita
Iroquois by Sarah Tieck
The Iroquois of the Northeast by KaaVonia Hinton
Algonquin by Sarah Tieck
Science
Arthur is using RSO Earth and Environment 2 and later RSO Astronomy 2 for science. We moved on to Minerals and dove into how they create rocks. It was a short lesson, but much more in depth that we’ve covered before.
RSO Earth and Environment 2 (August-November; March-May)
RSO Astronomy 2 (November-March)
DK Eyewitness Rocks and Minerals
Science Comics: Rocks and Minerals by Andy Hirsch
Nat Geo Kids Weird But True: Rocks and Minerals by Michael Burgan
All About Rocks by Alessandra Potenza
Geology: The Study of Rocks by Susan H. Gray
All About Minerals: Discovering the Building Blocks of Earth by Cody Crane
Minerals by Ann O. Squire
Researching Rocks by Sally M. Walker
Quentin is using RSO Physics 1. Well, that is our plan, but I’m waiting on the plans for Academic Co-op to be solidified before I start. There’s a possibility that the younger kid class (if we get the second classroom) will be doing Physics in a collective fashion. So, we started our Story of Science Volume 1 book and did some general review about the scientific review.
RSO Physics 1
The Story of Science Vol. 1 by Joy Hakim
Physics: Investigate the Mechanics of Nature by Jane Gardner
Physics for Curious Kids Introduction
Mass and Weight by Barbara A. Somervill
Enrichment STEAM Co-op
Arthur got to make marble roller coasters for his engineering unit. Quentin created building structures with toothpicks and marshmallows. I think Arthur had more fun than Quentin, but it was still a good week for co-op.
Art and Music
We are doing something a little different this year. Instead of trying to do music and art every week, we will be trading off. I realized last year these subjects were always the first to be cut when we had time constraints. We covered our first art lesson about Medieval Art. This connected with our visit to the Joslyn Art Museum last week.
DK Music and How it Works
DK The Arts
The Story of the Incredible Orchestra by Bruce Koscielniak
Field Trip/Activities
We visited Fontenelle Forest for a playdate at their new Acorn Acres playground. It was terribly hot and humid, but we made it almost two hours before heading home. It was nice to see some friends and chat with some new members of the group.
High
On Wednesday, our sister homeschool group held it’s We’re Not Supposed to Be in School Picnic. We spent over four hours connecting with new and old friends and celebrating the start of the school year.
Low
The heat really got to me again this week. It’s terrible. Thankfully the temperatures are heading below 80 degrees for next week. So excited for the change.
Next Week
Starting a new one (A)
Finishing our current read aloud (Q)
Learning about British Empire (A) and continuing the Natives of the Northeast (Q)
Looking at Islamic Art
Exploring Newton’s Laws of Motion (Q) and the Rock Cycle (A) for science
Spending more time at home
Next up on the TBR pile:
