What We Studied

It was a very busy week for us. We had a field trip, our regular activities, a trip to the airport (drop off for J), and the start of a weekend trip. Being so busy and attempting to stay on top of the house meant that we cut back a bit on schoolwork to accommodate. That’s okay. This week (like starting today) is a flex week where we get to take some time to catch up on units and rearrange things for the next block of weeks.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur finished reading Word of Mouse as our coop book club selection. We finished in time to take to coop so another family to borrow our book. As for our actual big ELA read aloud, we started reading The Wild Robot and Arthur is very into the story. I loved how the chapter give us little vignettes that connect with Roz’s longer storyline. Loving it! Hopefully we finished next week and then can dive right into the sequel. Arthur officially started his spelling curriculum this year. I hadn’t planned on doing a formal spelling curriculum, but one of my favorite resources, The Moffatt Girls, released a 3rd grade version and offered a discount for the first week. I snapped it up we will continue with spelling for another year.

• The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

• Nat Geo Book of Nature Poetry

• In the Beginning by Virginia Hamilton

• Word of Mouse by James Patterson

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.

• Nat Geo Book of Animal Poetry

• 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). 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

• 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. Turtle Island is my current favorite resource. I love how the chapters are divided. We get a little snapshot of many different cultures and areas. Arthur also continued reading a graphic novel collections of Native American tales as part of his independent work. We also started a history read aloud for our Native American study.

• A Kid’s Guide to Native American History by Yvonne Wakim Dennis

• Native Americans: A Visual Exploration by SN Paella

• 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

• Sees Behind Trees by Michael Dorris

Quentin began his study of the world with Build Your Library Level 0. We did a study of the United States. We covered Mexico this week with a lot of stories and books.

• 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

• Mexican Art and Architecture by Anna Carew-Miller

• Mexico by Elaine Landau

• Living In Mexico by Chloe Perkins

• Follow Me Around Mexico by Wiley Blevins

• P is for Pinata by Tony Johnston

• Let's Explore Mexico by Walt K. Moon

• Mexico ABCs

• Cinco de Mouse-O! by Judy Cox

• Just a Minute by Yuyi Morales

• Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto

• The First Tortilla by Rudolfo Anaya

• My Family Celebrates Day of the Dead

• Danza! by Duncan Tonatiuh

• Holy Mole by Caroline McAllister

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. This week he also had an Outschool class on creative writing. It was a big brainstorming session with tips and tricks to write better stories. Afterward, he dove right into making up some new stories.

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 friction and had fun with some race cars

• 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. Specially we learned a bit about the American Bison this week. Lots of fun as we have seen bison up close on a number of occasions.

• Nat Geo Wild Animal Atlas

• DK Animal

• Lonely Planet: The Animal Book

STEAM Coop

The older class finished their geology unit with a study of volcanoes and earthquakes. After some good discussion, we made lava flows with puffy paint and flower pots. With the conclusion of this week, I am done teaching for the semester. Now I get to just participate and fix problems as they arise. The younger two classes learned about fungi. Quentin learned about yeast and took home some to make bread net week..

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. We also didn’t do much cooking this week due to the busy schedule.

Field Trip

Tuesday we did a guided tour of Lauritzen Gardens with a special emphasis on spotting mushrooms through the gardens. We did some interesting specimens on our walk. Afterward, we went into the classroom to learn a bit more about mushrooms and make our own out of rocks, felt, and yarn. It was a big, busy field trip, but I enjoyed our walk.

Friday was took off on a weekend trip to Des Moines. Specifically we were going to visit the Living History Farms for their homeschool day, but I didn’t want to drive over 4 hours in one day. So, we added two more days and explored the area. After the Living History Farms, we spent the afternoon at a local arcade and stayed for pizza dinner. Saturday it rained all day so we ended up visiting the Science Center of Iowa. We will definitely be back there soon! It was full of interactive exhibits and shows. We snuck in a bookstore browsing session after the Science Center. On Sunday, we traveled northwest to Boone to take a ride on the Fraser Excursion Train. The trip is an 11 mile round trip through the Des Moines River Valley area. We saw some beautiful countryside and even a few eagles. As an added bonus, it was Day Out with Thomas this weekend, so we got to enjoy those exhibits as well.

High

• Coop was lots of fun and low pressure this week. I think all the kids are finally settling in and getting comfortable.

Low

• A hectic schedule meant that we had to skip art class this week. Oh well, maybe next week.

Next Week

• Continuing an ELA read aloud and a History read aloud (A)

• Catching up on history (A)

• Moving on to Energy for Physics (A)

• Reading some animal stories (Q)

• Covering Central America and the Caribbean (Q)

• Covering telecommunications (A) and maps and geography (Q) for coop

• Introducing the art of John Singleton Copley?

• Listening to Bach

Next up on the TBR pile: