What We Studied

We school year round which makes it so much easier to take smaller breaks and easier weeks when the weather is amazing and we want to be outside. This was one of those weeks. We have already finished our history curriculum and math textbooks, so we focused our shortened in house hours to English and lots of reading.

Literature and Poetry

Moving along with our complete read of the Chronicles of Narnia. We started the second to last book and I’m not super impressed, but we will continue and move on next week.

• The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

• Hello Earth! Poems to Our Planet by Joyce Sidman

• The Green Mother Goose: Saving the World One Rhyme at a Time by Jan Peck and David Davis

Math

Another week of math games, puzzles, and review

• Ten Hungry Pigs by Derek Anderson

• Logic Countdown

• The School of Numbers

Social Studies

We officially finished History Quest Middle Times last week, but wanted to do some review and wrap-up this week. We started watching Terry Jones’s documentary series Medieval Lives. We’re about 1/3 of the way through. We plan on watching a few more episodes next week and the next to finish out our history study for the years.

Arthur Independent Time

To allow for one-on-one time with Quentin, I have added an hour of independent work time for Arthur. Each week, he will have a mix of packet work (mostly grammar and math review), independent reading time, and special projects. Many of his projects will be aligned with our literature selections (some taken from B&R Language Arts curriculum) and history.

Science and STEAM Coop

For coop, we studied rainbows and prisms. Quentin’s younger group learned about rainbows and made rainbow jars using water beads. Arthur’s older group learned about rainbows and focused on the light refraction side.

Art/Music

None this week

Quentin

I have scheduled at least four 1-hour time blocks for one-on-one time with Quentin. I bought Blossom and Root’s Early Years Volume 2 curriculum to use as our base. I love the variety of activities and some of the bigger projects included.

ELA

• Biscuit by Alyssia Satin Capucilli (Q reads)

• Biscuit Finds a Friend by Alyssia Satin Capucilli (Q reads)

• The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse by Beatrix Potter

• The Tale of Pigling Bland by Beatrix Potter

• The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse by Beatrix Potter

• High Five July 2020

• Once Upon a Unicorn's Horn by Beatrice Blue

Math

• Lollipop Logic Book 1

• Tinkeractive PreK Math

Other

• Tinkeractive PreK Science

• Mazes Book

• Busy Day Sticker Book

Field Trip

We had three! Yes three! field trips this week.

On Monday, we did an easy hike around Standing Bear Lake. It was a bit chilly and at times, very windy, but I loved it. We don’t do that lake in high summer as there is no shade at all. Doing a hike in April was perfect.

On Tuesday, we went to the Rose Theater to see Giraffes Can’t Dance. Our coop field trip coordinator got us group tickets that were very cheap. The show was lots of fun and the kids enjoyed it.

On Wednesday, we went to the Joslyn Art Museum one last time before they close for two years (renovations and building a whole new wing). J even took off work to join us. My favorite galleries were already shut down, but we will got to see some great art. And the kids got to play in ArtWorks (kid’s play space) for awhile.

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. As mentioned above, we are watching Terry Jones’s Medieval Lives series.

Misc. Picture Books Read

• A Spring Stroll in the City by Cathy Goldberg Fishman

• Just Help! by Sonia Sotomayor

• Mr. Pig's Big Wall by Glenn Hernandez

• Spring for Sophie by Yael Weber

• It's Spring! by Samantha Berger and Pamela Chanko

• How to Be on the Moon by Viviane Schwarz

• Dinosaur vs. Santa by Bob Shea

• Pigs to the Rescue by John Himmelman

High

• Taking off most of Wednesday to visit the Joslyn Art Museum was just the break that we needed. And I’m so excited that J got to join us that day.

Low

• Friday I woke up with a terrible migraine (due to massive weather changes). That made for a not great day, but we muddled through somehow.

Next Two Weeks

• Taking a curriculum break with multiple outings

• Finishing the current and starting the next Chronicles of Narnia book

• More math games, puzzles, and review

• Doing an Eric Carle deep dive for reading and art

Next up on the TBR pile: