What We Studied

We had two weeks full of activities and school coming before and after the boys’ birthday party. Some day we might have a quieter week, but fall is definitely not the season for it. Maybe November… For now, we will continue with our fast speed of study.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur finished reading Echo Mountain. I really enjoyed that book, and Arthur seemed to also enjoy it. The second week, we focused on Langston Hughes including his poetry and a historical fiction book. 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

• Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome

• That is My Dream by Langston Hughes and Daniel Miya

• Langston’s Train Ride by Robert Burleigh

• Visiting Langston by Willie Perdomo

• The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes

• I, Too, Am America by Langston Hughes

• Sail Away by Langston Hughes

• Coming Home: From the Life of Langston Hughes by Floyd Cooper

Quentin spent the school days reading book tied to his fall themes. We covered apples, fall, leaves, corn, and scarecrows. He also worked on some basic grammar.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

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

• How Do Apples Grow? by Betsy Maestro

• Applesauce Day by Lisa J. Amstutz

• Bad Apple by Huw Lewis Jones

• Apples for Little Fox by Ekaterina Trukhan

• The Poisoned Apple by Anne Lambelet

• Corn Aplenty by Dana Meachen Rau

• A Questzalcoatl Tale of Corn by Marilyn Parke and Sharon Panik

• Gimme Cracked Corn and I Will Share by Kevin O’Malley

• Popcorn Country by Chris Peterson

• From Kernel to Corn by Robin Nelson

• The Story of Corn: It Starts with a Seed by Robin Nelson

• Of Corn Silk and Black Braids by Vincent L. Johnson

• Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington

• It's Fall! by Renee Kurilla

• The Scarecrow’s Dance by Jane Yolen

• Scarecrows by Calvin Harris

• The Scarecrow's Hat by Ken Brown

• Samurai Scarecrow b Rubin Pingk

• Hopefully the Scarecrow by Michelle Houts

• Scarecrow Magic by Ed Masessa

• Scarecrow by Cynthia Rylant

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 continued through the passage of time with a few weeks on topics such as the Pony Express, Transcontinental Express, and conflicts with the Native Americans.

• 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

• Which Way to the Wild West by Steve Sheinkin

• They're Off: The Story of the Pony Express by Cheryl Harness

• In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph M. Marshall III

• Coolies by Yin

Quentin continued with Mesopotamia with a focus on stories. And then we did a mini introduction unit to Egypt with a focus on deserts.

• 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

• Lugalbanda by Kathy Henderson

• Lost Cities

• DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Gilgamesh the King by Ludmila Zeman

• Destination Desert by Laura Perdew

• Desert Song by Tony Johnston

• The Sahara Desert: The Biggest Desert by Aileen Weintroub

• Life in a Desert by Carol K. Lindeen

• Desert Biome by Grace Hansen

• How the Sphinx Got to the Museum by Jessie Hartland

Science

Arthur explored more of the periodic table and atom basics. We also covered another chapter 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

• DK The Elements

• The Periodic Table of Elements by Jenny Karpelenia

Quentin covered units on Mollusca and echinoderms. I’m loving the slow progress through our main science text.

• RSO Life

• DK Oversimple Biology

• Are You a Snail by Judy Allen

• Slimy Snails by Laura Hamilton Waxman

• Some of These are Snails by Carter Higgins

• Snail Trail by Ruth Brown

• How to Party Like a Snail by Naseem Hrab

• Snail Crossing Corey R. Tabor

• Wake Out, Snail! by Gay Hay and Margaret Tolland

• The Rainbow Snail by Karin Akesson

• Are You a Snail? by Judy Allen and Tudor Humphries

• Snails are Just My Speed! by Kevin McCloskey

• Big as a Giant Snail by Jess Keating

• The Snail with the Right Heart by Maria Popova

• Escargot by Pashka Slater

• A Book for Escargot by Pashka Slater

• Snail Mail by Samantha Berger

STEAM Coop

Arthur continued with his Art Mediums theme with two weeks of working with clay. He really really loved working with clay. Quentin’s class covered nocturnal animals with lots of fun games.

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

No field trip this week, but we did go to Vala’s twice. We’re hoping to get in three more Vala’s visits before Halloween.

High

The birthday party was amazing! The Art Party was a huge success and the kids seemed to have fun creating.

Low

I’m definitely going to need another quiet home day soon.

Next Week

• Starting our next read alouds

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

• Beginning Egypt for Q’s History

• Completing the Transcontinental Railroad for A’s History

• Covering more of the Periodic Table

• Learning about insects

Next up on the TBR pile: