What We Studied
We left the house every single day this week. Exhausting! But we had a great time exploring some places.
Literature and Poetry
Arthur started reading Through the Looking-glass this week. We hope to finish next week so we can watch one (or two) movie versions of Alice. He also has a weekly poetry selection. We continued our Myths and Maps extra curriculum from B&R. We began covering creation stories from around the world. I’m liking these short retellings of myths. Eventually we will add our squares to a world map and see where all the civilizations are. We started our next book club selection, Word of Mouse, and will probably finish late next week.
Through the Looking-glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll
Nat Geo Book of Nature Poetry
In the Beginning by Virginia Hamilton
Word of Mouse by James Patterson
Quentin finished reading The Very Very Far North for his read aloud. We are to going to take a break from a long read aloud book in favor of some picture books for the next few weeks.. We also started sprinkling in animal stories from around the world. I’m trying to line them up with our continents as we move across the world.
Nat Geo Book of Animal Poetry
The Very Very Far North by Dan Bar-El
A World Full of Animal Stories by Angela McAllister
Around the World in 80 Days by Saviour Pirotta
Biscuit and the Great Fall Day by Alyssa Satin Capucilli (Q reads)
You are a Beautiful Beginning by Nina Laden
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). I also found a fun packet of logic puzzles based on Alice in Wonderland. We will be spreading these out over our reading of the text.
Logic Liftoff (Arthur)
Singapore 4A
Alice in Pastaland: A Math Adventure by Alexandra Wright
Tinkeractive Math Kindergarten
Lollipop Logic Book 2 (Quentin)
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 did a bit more exploration of the various groups of Native Americans. Arthur also continued reading a graphic novel collections of Native American tales as part of his independent work.
A Kid’s Guide to Native American History by Yvonne Wakim Dennis
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
The Earth Under Sky Bear’s Feet: Native American Poems of the Land by Joseph Bruchac
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
Trickster: Native American Tales by Matt Dembicki
History Quest: U.S. History
Quentin began his study of the world with Build Your Library Level 0. We did a study of Canada complete with a Canada food night. We had Maple Chicken, Wild Rice, Bannock Bread, and Blueberry Crisp. I had saved a Sunnie Press map featuring Banff, Alberta, Canada that was perfect for the week.
Nat Geo Beginner’s World Atlas
DK Countries of the World
DK First Earth Encyclopedia
DK Children Just Like Me
DK Children Just Like Me; A School Like Mine
Carson Crosses Canada by Linda Bailey Kass Reich
Canada ABCs by Brenda Haugen
Follow Me Around Canada by Wiley Blevins
Canada through Time: Canada Today
Must stop for Ted & Wally’s if downtown anywhere… Cookie Monster, Lemon, and Sour Apple choices.
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. Beyond the paperwork, Arthur focused on his game he’s been making (Lord of the Book) and some random side creative projects.
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. This week the boys learned about Newton’s Second Law of Motion. Their engineering project was to make a solar powered windmill. For our history of science, we read a chapter more about the Greeks and the three “A”s.
RSO Physics
The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way by Joy Hakim
Quentin will be focusing on animal science with BYL Level 0. We talked about animals of North America.
Nat Geo Wild Animal Atlas
DK Animal
Lonely Planet: The Animal Book
I promise that they had fun. Just ridiculous facial expressions.
STEAM Coop
Coop continued with a slightly smaller group (thank goodness). We had a great week where the older kids learned about minerals and gems. They got to dig for their own gems. Simple, and yet, loads of fun. The younger groups finished their theme of reptiles and amphibians. Quentin make a frog and frog life cycle.
Dancing to 311 at trivia night.
Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking
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. This week, art and music just didn’t happen. But that’s okay. This is why I have built in flex weeks to catch up on some of the things that get pushed aside during a normal week.
Thursday as a bit of a slog and we didn’t make it to art class. But I put it as a definite for next week.
Field Trip
On Monday, I grabbed a library pass for The Durham Museum so we could check out the dinosaur exhibit before it closes on Sept. 4th. We had to go through that particular section three times before we moved on to the rest of the museum. This visit, the boys really got interested in checking out the 1898 Exposition models.
On Tuesday, we had a coop field trip to Heron Haven to spy animals (specifically reptiles and amphibians). We ended up seeing a heron, lots of ducks, turtles, and some frogs. I loved spying the frogs in the algae on the pond.
High
Tween Gaming - On Friday, we met some other homeschoolers at a local game shop and played some games. I was impressed by the variety of games they stock (that I’ve never heard of). We ended up buying Pokemon: Battle Academy. The shop has open Pokemon play on Sunday afternoons. We will have to check it out soon.
Family Trivia Night - Tuesday night, we headed over to the cafe/bar for General Trivia night. We had fun, but ultimately came in second. It was still fun.
Low
Um… there was a bit of bickering between the boys this week and we had to separate often.
Next Week
Finishing the sequel to Alice in Wonderland (A)
Learning about Native American cultures of the West Coast (A)
Moving on to Newton’s Third Law for Physics (A)
Reading some animal stories (Q)
Covering United States and Mexico (Q)
Covering geology (A) and fungi (Q) for coop
Introducing the art of John Singleton Copley?
Finishing Word of Mouse for coop book club
Listening to Bach
Going to the Nebraska State Fair!
Next up on the TBR pile:
