What We Studied

Our week 8 ended being a bit abbreviated because of lots of different activities, so I’m combining it with our week 9 for the recap. We ended our week 9 with the boys’ epic Knights of the Round Table Party, so we had another slightly abbreviated week. Still got a lot of school done and time outside, but we will be playing catch-up a bit on our next flex week (after week 10).

Literature and Poetry

As our extra read aloud, we finished A Wolf Called Wander in the middle of the two weeks. For our actual curriculum, we started and almost finished The Wild Robot Escapes. I really loved the entire duology of Roz’s adventures. I loved every part of those books. We’ll be wrapping that book up this week and diving into our next read aloud (and the coop book club selection for October).

The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown
Nat Geo Book of Nature Poetry
In the Beginning by Virginia Hamilton
Poetry for Young People: Robert Frost
A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry

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. We stayed in South American for our stories.

Nat Geo Book of Animal Poetry
A World Full of Animal Stories by Angela McAllister
Around the World in 80 Days by Saviour Pirotta
Looking for Jaguar and Other Rain Forest Poems by Susan Katz
Tales Our Abuelitas Told: A Hispanic Folktale Collection by Alma Flor Ada
Jabuti The Tortoise: A Trickster Tale from the Amazon by Gerald McDermott
Biblioburro: A True Story from Colombia by Jeanette Winter
Love and Roast Chicken by Barbara Knutson
Miro in the Kingdom of the Sun by Jane Kurtz
One Day in the Tropical Rain Forest by Jean Craighead George

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). Quentin finished his Tinkeractive text so we are ready to move onto Singapore and Smart Start Math.

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 wrapped up our exploration of the various groups of Native Americans pre-1492 and dove into the European colonization of the continent. We ended up covering Jamestown and beginnings of what would be Virginia.

A Kid’s Guide to Native American History by Yvonne Wakim Dennis
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-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
History Quest: U.S. History
DK American History Visual Encyclopedia
1607: A New Look at Jamestown
Blood on the Water by Elisa Carbone

Quentin continued his study of the world with Build Your Library Level 0. We did a study of South America covering multiple regions. We also had a Sunnie Press maps for Rio de Janeiro and a Atlas Crate box for Brazil.

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
Along the Tapajos by Fernando Vilela
Living in Brazil by Chloe Perkins

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. There has been many drawing projects lately.

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. We covered more simple machines. and more from our Story of Science.

RSO Physics
The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way by Joy Hakim
Screws by Sally M. Walker and Roseann Feldmann
The Math Book

Quentin will be focusing on animal science with BYL Level 0. We talked a lot about the Amazonia rainforest and the animals that live there.

Nat Geo Wild Animal Atlas
DK Animal
Lonely Planet: The Animal Book
The Rainforest Grew All Around by Susan K. Mitchell
Rainforest by Julia Groves
In the Rainforest by Kate Duke
Anteaters, Bats, and Boas: The Amazon Rainforest from the Forest Floor to the Treetops by Roxie Munro
Rainforests by Andrea Silen
Over and Under the Rainforest by Kate Messner
The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry
The Leaf Detective: How Margaret Lowman Uncovered Secrets in the Rainforest by Heather Lang
Tree of Wonder: The Many Marvelous Lives of a Rainforest Tree by Kate Messner

STEAM Coop

The older class continued their telecommunications theme. Arthur got really into making a transmitter tower and a crystal radio. Quentin’s class focused on life skills.

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 music just didn’t happen. But that’s okay. Arthur’s continued with the Outschool drawing class. He has really gotten into the idea of a new animal each week. He drew an elephant and a red panda.

Field Trip

We had a Zoom tour of a radio station to align with our telecommunications unit. It was fun too see a working radio station even if it was virtual. We also had coop school pictures which led to a park playdate practically next-door to the studio. We also went to the pumpkin patch multiple times these past two weeks. Good thing we have season passes.