What We Studied

Another week, another instance of me over-scheduling events and exhausting myself. The kids seem okay. I’m just so tired after last week…

Literature and Poetry

Arthur kept reading Echo Mountain. This is a gem of a book, but be forewarned, there are lots of big topics discussed. I’m really enjoying a book that I’ve never read before. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills and starting our writing journey. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

• Poetry for Young People: American Poetry

• Poetry for Young People: African American Poetry

• Reading Explorer: Intro

• Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk

Quentin finished our current Zoey and Sassafras book. I decided to mini theme unit about fall and apples to celebrate the season. So we spent our extra time reading picture books about those topics instead of diving into a new big read aloud. He also worked on some basic grammar.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Zoey and Sassafras 4: Caterflies and Ice by Asia Citro

• Where I Live: Poems About My Home, My Street, and My Town

• Apple Picking Day by Candice Ransom

• My Autumn Book by Wong Herbert Yee

• Fall Weather Fun by Martha E.H. Rustad

• Leaf by Leaf: Autumn Poems

• Hello Autumn Shelley Rotner

• The Apple Orchard Riddle by Margaret McNamara

• A is for Autumn by Robert Maass

• Apples by Gail Gibbons

• Kit and Kaboodle Visit the Farm by Michelle Portice

• Enough Apples by Kim Kane and Lucia Masciullo

• Apples A to Z by Margaret McNamara

• Apples to Applesauce by Inez Snyder

• It's Fall by Celeste Bishop

• Amelia Bedelia's First Apple Pie by Herman Parish

• Apples by Jacqueline Farmer

• Fall Apple Fun by Marta E.H. Rustad

• Fall Mixed Up by Bob Raczka

• Leaves by David Ezra Stein

Math

Arthur continued to dive into Singapore 5A. We are definitely going to slow down our math lessons a bit to make sure that Arthur achieves mastery. We also continued our next logic book.

• Singapore Common Core 5A

• Orbiting with Logic

Quentin continued working toward the end of Singapore 1B with a unit on math to 120. I’m still debating if we should take a small review break after finishing 1B and before beginning 2A. We also continued our logic book.

• Lollipop Logic Book 3

• Singapore Common Core 1B

Social Studies

Arthur jumped back into BYL 6 and History Quest: US History with Reconstruction. We covered the time period and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Our curriculum also had us take a step back to reconnect with Native Americans before and during the Civil War. We will be continuing with that storyline next week.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• Red Cloud: A Lakota Story of War and Surrender by S.D. Nelson

Quentin covered the invention of writing with a focus on cuneiform. We took it easy and didn’t immediately jump into the next unit. We will get there.

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• The Genius of the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages by Izzi Howell

• Mesopotamia by Sunita Apte

Science

Arthur is embarking upon RSO Chemistry this year. We will be doing the experiment portions with a group of coop friends. This week’s class focused on reviewing atoms and elements and taking a look at the first ten Elements on the periodic table. The experiments this week were not anything exciting, but the kids did get to play Periodic Table Battleship. We also covered two chapters in our Story of Science all about Galileo.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

• Story of Science Vol. 2: Newton at the Center by Joy Hakim

• STEMQuest: Astonishing Atoms and Matter Mayhem

• DK The Elements

Quentin caught back up for science with mini units on cnidaria and earthworms.

• RSO Life

• DK Oversimple Biology

• Jellyfish by Kristen Rajczak

• Jellyfish by Mari Schuh

• Jellyfish by Grace Hansen

• How Old is a Whale? Animal Life Spans from the Mayfly to the Immortal Jellyfish by Lily Murray

• Wiggling Worms at Work by Wendy Pfeffer

• This is a Book to Read with a Worm by Jodi Wheeler-Toppen

• Earthworms by Lisa J. Amstutz

• Thank You, Earthworms by Emma Huddleston

• Le's Look at Earthworms by Suzanne Paul Dell'Oro

STEAM Coop

Arthur’s class finished out their 2-week dive into drawing with another great lesson on shading and shapes. He was so excited to take home the sketchbook and writing tools. Quentin’s class was taught by me and we focused on leaves and art. I had the kids make a chalk pastels silhouette of a leaf. We then scoured the park for treasures and made our own leaf men a la Lois Ehlert’s classic book. I’m very excited to not teach for the next weeks as we transition to our winter building and I prep for my board game unit starting in November.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

And I continued not fitting in these subjects. I just could’t seem to get it to fit in our schedueles. I suspect this will be an issue until November, but hoping we can slide it in at least half of the weeks.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• We are Artists by Kari Herbert

Field Trip

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent at Vala’s enjoying the pumpkin patch. It was Quentin’s birthday on Tuesday and he picked the patch. For his birthday dinner, he chose the Chinese buffet. Very yummy all around!

High

Thursday night, Arthur attended his first homeschool dance. A member of our HS community started organizing three yearly dances last school year. Thankfully she has continued it. The kids (6-18) get to have a safe space to hang out and dance the night away. As Arthur is 9, I got to drop him off for his two hour dance period. I popped down the street to the cider house to read and enjoy a spiced apple cider before having to pick him up. He loved it! And he even won one of the raffles collecting a 2 liter bottle of root beer. He was in heaven!

Low

Friday morning we were supposed to do our usual nature hike. I drove all the way before realizing that I had forgotten my wallet home. We had to turn around and drive all the way home. No nature hike for us. Pretty disappointing and threw off our whole day.

Next Week

• Finishing Echo Mountain

• Deciding on Q’s next read aloud

• Finishing 1B for Math (Q) and taking the next lessons in 5A slowly (A)

• Getting back into our history texts

• All the birthday party prep!