Homeschool W1-2: Kicking Off Our Year in Hard Mode

What We Studied

We’ve officially started our 6th year of homeschooling and I will admit that it’s been difficult. For whatever reason, the boys had a really hard transition back to our normal schedule. We usually do not take a long summer “break” as we like to have many smaller breaks during the regular year. But between travel, activities, and my mental health, we ended up taking a longer break. Bad idea! The transition was difficult. I think we are finally settling in, but it’s been difficult.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G6 for his language arts this year. While I love H&S, there’s never enough literature in there. Thankfully we have a stack of books just waiting to be picked up and read. Beyond H&S, we are focusing on expanding vocabulary and reading comprehension this year. Our first book is a sequel of sorts to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon we read back in 3rd grade. The third book in series is featured in H&S, but we wanted to read the second first. I really love how Lin incorporates Chinese folklore and myth in these quest stories.

• Poetry: Hearth & Story G6

• Poetry: A Child’s Introduction to Poetry by Michael Driscoll

• The Vocabulary Workbook for 6th Grade by Kelly Anne McLellan

• When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G3 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 3 and random books that we have around the house. We are also starting the Reading Explorer series to focus on reading comprehension and word choice. We started the year with my absolute favorite childhood classic, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

• Poetry: National Geography Book of Nature Poetry

• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

• In the Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World by Virginia Hamilton

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 2. Effectively this is Singapore’s 7th grade math text. We covered the first chapter which mainly focused on review and basic math vocabulary. We don’t have formal logic book this year, but are focusing on lots of critical thinking and math puzzles.

• Math in Focus Court 2 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 3B and 4A. We also are finishing up our logic book before moving to more complicated puzzles. These two weeks, we covered a chapter about mass and weight.

• Primarily Logic

• Singapore Primary Common Core 3B

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Modern History Vol. 1. Unfortunately CC only has volume 1 published so far. This will take us to Christmas break. If they don’t release volume 2 by then, I’m going to have to do it myself. Despite time constraints, we finished the first Section focusing on Queen Victoria and the British Empire. For our documentary selection, we watched the NOVA episode “What Darwin Never Knew” connecting our history study with our science study.

• Curiosity Chronicles Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Ground Breaking Guys: 40 Men Who Became Great by Doing Good by Stephanie True Peters

• A Journey Through Art

• The Story of Buildings by Patrick Dillon

• The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London's Poop Pollution Problem by Colleen Paeff

• Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine by Laurie Walmark

• Ada’s Ideas: The Story of Ada Lovelace, the World’s First Computer Programmer by Fiona Robinson

• Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science: The First Computer Programmer by Diane Stanley

• Florence Nightingale by Demi

• DK Timelines from Black History

Quentin is using Build Your Library Level 5 to begin our two year exploration of American History. We started with a basic geography lesson and moved to an introduction of indigenous peoples before European contact. We will stay with indigenous peoples for the first six weeks or so. We also started watching the documentary series Native America. I love how we get to hear about the history of various Indigenous cultures and then see how they are still living today. It’s so well done! And in between the years, a second season was released. I cannot wait to rewatch Season 1 and move onto Season 2.

• History Quest United States History

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• If America were a Village by David J. Smith

• The Scrambled States of America by Laurie Keller

• D is for Drum: A Native American Alphabet by Debbie and Michael Shoulders

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

• A Kid's Guide to Native American History by Yvonne Wakim Dennis and Arlene Hirschfelder

• The Earth Under Sky Bear's Feet: Native American Poems of the Land by Joseph Bruchac and Thomas Locker

• The People Shall Continue by Simon J. Ortiz

• Moon Mother by Ed Young

• We are Still Here: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know by Traci Sorell

• 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

• Native American Stories for Kids: 12 Traditional Stories from Indigenous Tribes Across North America by Tom Pecore Weso

• The Girl Who Helped Thunder and Other Native American Folktales by James and Joseph Bruchac

Science

Arthur is using RSO Earth and Environment 2 and later RSO Astronomy 2 for science. We begin with a basic overview of earth science and quickly reviewed the Four Spheres and Plate Tectonics.

• RSO Earth and Environment 2 (August-November; March-May)

• RSO Astronomy 2 (November-March)

• Investigating the Scientific Method with Max Axiom by Donald B. Lemke

• From a Super Continent to Seven

• Plate Tectonics by Stephen M. Tomecek

Quentin is using RSO Physics 1. Well, that is our plan, but I’m waiting on the plans for Academic Co-op to be solidified before I start. There’s a possibility that the younger kid class (if we get the second classroom) will be doing Physics in a collective fashion. So, we started our Story of Science Volume 1 book and did some general review about the scientific review.

• RSO Physics 1

• Where Did We Come From? by Chris Ferrie

• How to Think Like a Scientist by Stephen P. Kramer

• The Story of Science Vol. 1 by Joy Hakim

Enrichment STEAM Co-op

We’re entering into the second half of Session B for the 2025 Session. Arthur focused on two weeks dealing with knots. Quentin learned about engineering skills while making paper roller coasters and then balance toys.

Art and Music

We are doing something a little different this year. Instead of trying to do music and art every week, we will be trading off. I realized last year these subjects were always the first to be cut when we had time constraints. So far, we managed to still do music for the first two weeks of school. We’re talking a lite approach to music appreciation and some musical theory built in. As our backbone, we are using the Music Comes Alive curriculum. While it’s not strictly secular, it’s neutral, I’m okay with their approach to music. It was the best for what I have time for and wanted to expend energy toward.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• The First Notes: The Story of DO, RE, MI by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton

• Iconic Composers

• Hildegard of Bingen by Demi

• The Story of the Incredible Orchestra by Bruce Koscielniak

Field Trip/Activities

No formalized field trips, but we did have quite a few activities these first two weeks. We had our monthly zoo visit with two friends on the first Wednesday. We mostly stuck to the outdoor buildings and rode the train. We also visit Heron Haven for a quick nature walk with friends on Friday. The second Wednesday was our monthly Josly Art Explorers visit. Two friends joined us to look at the human form in paintings and sculpture. We focused primarily on the Medieval gallery through the Neoclassical gallery to compare and contrast. I had a lovely conversation with an eight year old about realism and the human body. And a friend hosted the first monthly Curriculum Planning meeting. While I didn’t do much planning, it was nice to chat with other homeschooling parents while the boys hung out with their friends at a lovely coffee shop. Looking forward to doing it monthly!

High

If wasn’t on my plan, but we ended up going to our favorite pool twice the first week of school. The pools closed August 10th, so it was our last chance to visit! We went on Tuesday, but it was a bit chilly. So we all decided to come back on Friday to celebrate the hot weather and the last few pool days. As the boys are much strong swimmers this year, it’s been a great summer of being at the pool but not having to constantly watch them. I love this new level of parenting!

Low

Everyone was struggling to get back into the routine and feel comfortable with our homeschool schedule this year. Hopefully W3 and beyond goes better.

Next Week

• Finishing his read aloud and starting a new one (A)

• Starting a new read aloud, in fact the sequel to our first book (Q)

• Learning about Science in 1850s and the British Empire (A) and Ice Age and Natives of the Northeast(Q)

• Looking at Medieval Art

• Exploring Rocks and Minerals for science (A)

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W32-33: Lots of Travel!

Arbor Day Farm

What We Studied

We completed one regular school week and then a few days of another week before leaving for Indiana for Alex’s graduation. So I decided to combine these two weeks into one post.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. Arthur started and finished another Applegate book. We have loved every book that she has written. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• Willodeen by Katherine Applegate

• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We finished reading two classics.

• Poetry: A First Book of the Sea by Nicola Davies

• Matilda by Roald Dahl

• Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. We finished the textbook and will be doing review for the summer.

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book B

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A.We are close to finishing 3A, but not quite there.

• Singapore Primary 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. Beyond random documentaries and museum visits, we will be pausing our history study until August.

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. We will be pausing history until August.

Science

Arthur finished his RSO Biology 1 course with the end of the academic co-op. We switched gears a bit and covered a few BookSeeds from Blossom & Root.

Quentin finished RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. He started a side unit about oceans. We got through multiple topics and watched a few episodes of Blue Planet to reinforce.

• A First Book of the Sea by Nicola Davies

• Ocean Anatomy by Julia Rothman

• DK Earth's Incredible Oceans by Jess French

• DK Ocean

• DK Eyewitness Ocean

• The Ocean in Your Bathtub by Seth Fishman

• The Girl Who Built an Ocean: An Artist, an Argonaut, and the true Story of the World's First Aquarium by Jess Keating

• A Turtle's View of the Ocean Blue by Catherine Barr

• Oceanography: The Study of Oceans by Susan H. Gray

• Manfish by Jennifer Berne

• Marie's Ocean: Marie Tharp Maps the Mountains Under the Sea by Josie James

• Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea by Robert Burleigh

• Ocean Speaks by Jess Keating

• Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle by Claire A. Nivola

Enrichment Co-op

We covered our fourth week of co-op. Arthur covered slime chemistry. Quentin wasn’t feeling it and stay home that day.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We listened to Blondie, David Bowie, The Smiths, and Depeche Mode these weeks. Many winners for our listening.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

Before leaving for Indiana, we had our twice a year visit to Arbor Day Farm. We absolutely love that place and can spend all day exploring and playing. A ton of homeschool friends joined us for a full day.

High

Thankfully we have reached the point in the year where we can slow down the lessons to allow for travel and activities.

Low

Arthur hasn’t gotten to all the literature pieces that I had hoped for this year. Not a huge deal as we will just continue, but I think I need to recalibrate for next year’s plans.

Next Week

• We are currently in Indiana and not covering any big lessons. We brought a bag of work to complete and will just fit it in here and there.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W30-31: Wrapping Up and Travel

What We Studied

We completed one regular school week and then a few days of another week before leaving for Indiana for Alex’s graduation. So I decided to combine these two weeks into one post.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. Arthur started and finished another Applegate book. We have loved every book that she has written. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• Willodeen by Katherine Applegate

• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We finished reading two classics.

• Poetry: A First Book of the Sea by Nicola Davies

• Matilda by Roald Dahl

• Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. We finished the textbook and will be doing review for the summer.

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book B

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A.We are close to finishing 3A, but not quite there.

• Singapore Primary 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. Beyond random documentaries and museum visits, we will be pausing our history study until August.

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. We will be pausing history until August.

Science

Arthur finished his RSO Biology 1 course with the end of the academic co-op. We switched gears a bit and covered a few BookSeeds from Blossom & Root.

Quentin finished RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. He started a side unit about oceans. We got through multiple topics and watched a few episodes of Blue Planet to reinforce.

• A First Book of the Sea by Nicola Davies

• Ocean Anatomy by Julia Rothman

• DK Earth's Incredible Oceans by Jess French

• DK Ocean

• DK Eyewitness Ocean

• The Ocean in Your Bathtub by Seth Fishman

• The Girl Who Built an Ocean: An Artist, an Argonaut, and the true Story of the World's First Aquarium by Jess Keating

• A Turtle's View of the Ocean Blue by Catherine Barr

• Oceanography: The Study of Oceans by Susan H. Gray

• Manfish by Jennifer Berne

• Marie's Ocean: Marie Tharp Maps the Mountains Under the Sea by Josie James

• Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea by Robert Burleigh

• Ocean Speaks by Jess Keating

• Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle by Claire A. Nivola

Enrichment Co-op

We covered our fourth week of co-op. Arthur covered slime chemistry. Quentin wasn’t feeling it and stay home that day.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We listened to Blondie, David Bowie, The Smiths, and Depeche Mode these weeks. Many winners for our listening.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

Before leaving for Indiana, we had our twice a year visit to Arbor Day Farm. We absolutely love that place and can spend all day exploring and playing. A ton of homeschool friends joined us for a full day.

High

Thankfully we have reached the point in the year where we can slow down the lessons to allow for travel and activities.

Low

Arthur hasn’t gotten to all the literature pieces that I had hoped for this year. Not a huge deal as we will just continue, but I think I need to recalibrate for next year’s plans.

Next Week

• We are currently in Indiana and not covering any big lessons. We brought a bag of work to complete and will just fit it in here and there.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W29: A Normal Week I Guess

What We Studied

We pushed through and finished a pretty normal week for us. My body decided to make me cancel Friday’s hike, but we did engage in a few other activities this week.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. Arthur started and finished the June Co-op Book Club selection. I was feeling in the mood for some good adventure fantasy and this one looked perfect. Arthur ended up not loving the second half, but I did. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We continued reading a classic.

• Poetry: Fresh-Picked Poetry: A Day at the Farmer’s Market by Michelle Schaub

• Matilda by Roald Dahl

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. We got back into our math textbook and completed a chapter about Statistics. Only one more chapter to go!

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book B

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons. Taking it slow but moving along.

• Singapore Primary 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. Beyond random documentaries and museum visits, we will be pausing our history study until August.

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. We will be pausing history until August.

Science

Arthur finished his RSO Biology 1 course with the end of the academic co-op. We switched gears a bit and covered a few BookSeeds from Blossom & Root.

Quentin finished RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. He started a side unit about oceans. We got through multiple topics and watched a few episodes of Blue Planet to reinforce.

• A First Book of the Sea by Nicola Davies

• Ocean by Stacy McAnulty

• Oceans by Peter Benoit

• Ocean Anatomy by Julia Rothman

• DK Earth's Incredible Oceans by Jess French

• DK Ocean

• Discover the Oceans: Southern Ocean by Emily Rose Oachs

• Discover the Oceans: Pacific Ocean by Emily Rose Oachs

• Discover the Oceans: Indian Ocean by Emily Rose Oachs

• Discover the Oceans: Atlantic Ocean by Emily Rose Oachs

• Discover the Oceans: Arctic Ocean by Emily Rose Oachs

• How Deep is the Ocean? by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

• Otis and Will Discover the Deep: The Record-Setting Dive of the Bathysphere by Barb Rosenstock and Katherine Roy

• Diving Deep: Using Machines to Explore the Ocean by Michelle Cusolito

• Sandy Feet! Whose Feet? Footprints At the Shore by Susan Wood

• Seashores by Cathryn Sill

• DK Shell

• Seashells: More Than a Home by Melissa Stewart

• A Nature Walk at the Beach by Louise and Richard Spilsbury

• Tide Pool by Louise Spilsbury

• A Turtle's View of the Ocean Blue by Catherine Barr

• Coral Reefs by Precious McKenzie

• One Night in the Coral Sea by Sneed B. Collard III

• Coral Reefs by Cathryn Sill

• Seagrass Dreams by Kathleen M. Hanes

Enrichment Co-op

We covered our third week of co-op. The transition to a new park worked well. The classes seemed to go really well. Arthur learned about sugar chemistry. Quentin learned about the scientific method through experiments with Peeps.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We listened to Fleetwood Mac to finish the New Rock Sound chapter. The boys were not huge fans (I do not understand this sentiment). We moved onto the New Wave chapter with Roxy Music and Devo. Boys weren’t super excited about these bands but we had fun discussing how different they are from the last chapter’s bands.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

Wednesday we had our monthly exploration at Joslyn Art Museum. The kids focused on light and shadow by taking pictures in the outdoor sculpture gardens. I think Arthur had more fun chatting with friends than taking pictures, but it was a lovely day to look at some art.

High

We got so much schoolwork done this week. We are in a great position to take off from school the two weeks we are in Indiana. And when we come back, our load will be light.

Low

Very sad to miss our Friday hike at Platte River State Park. My body was revolting and I just couldn’t bring myself to drive down there and then hike.

Next Week

• Reading more literature

• Moving forward with our math textbooks; very close to being done

• Exploring the ocean (Q) for science

• Listening to Blondie and David Bowie for music!

• Transitioning to a more summer routine of activities and schoolwork

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W28: We're Getting to the End

What We Studied

We had a normal week and a flex week. Basically it means that we came other the end of my preplanned weeks. I like to take a flex week to catch up on anything we pushed to the side and plan the next few weeks. This flex week was a bit different as we are nearing the end of the big school year. I spent time planning our activities as some of our curriculum is basically done.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. Arthur started the June Co-op Book Club selection. I was feeling in the mood for some good adventure fantasy and this one looked perfect. We’re about halfway through it and very much enjoying the story and characters. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We finished our comedy book and started a classic.

• Poetry: Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O’Neill

• Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

• Matilda by Roald Dahl

• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. We got back into our math textbook and started a chapter about the Area and Circumference of Circles.

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons. Taking it slow but moving along.

• Singapore Primary 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. Arthur finished the history curriculum with a chapter about Manifest Destiny in the US and Social Reforms movements around the world. Beyond random documentaries and museum visits, we will be pausing our history study until August.

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. We finished the chapters with one focusing on Elizabethan Times. We will be pausing history until August.

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare by Diane Stanley

• Shakespeare's Theatre by Andrew Langley

• The Tudors: Kings, Queen, Scribes, and Ferrets by Marcia Williams

• Good Queen Bess: The Story of Elizabeth I of England by Diane Stanley

Science

Arthur finished his RSO Biology 1 course with the end of the academic co-op. We finished the Story of Science Vol. 3. We switched gears a bit and covered a few BookSeeds from Blossom & Root.

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

• One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia by Miranda Paul

• The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever by H. Joseph Hopkins

Quentin finished RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. He joined Arthur in the BookSeeds. As a bonus we did a review of the biomes of earth before concluding our RSO focus. We are also adding an oceanography unit for the rest of April and maybe into May.

• RSO Earth and Environment

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• What on Earth? Trees by Kevin Warwick

• Muse: Secrets of Trees

• We Planted a Tree by Diane Muldrow

• Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner

• Many Biomes, One Earth by Sneed B. Collard III

• Desert Biome by Grace Hansen

• A Day in the Life of the Desert: 6 Desert Habitats, 108 Species, and How to Save Them by Roxie Munro

• Deserts by Gail Gibbons

• Forest Biome by Grace Hansen

• Over and Under the Rainforest by Kate Messner

• Tundra Biome by Grace Hansen

• Marine Biome by Grace Hansen

Enrichment Co-op

We kicked off Enrichment Co-op with the first week of April. Arthur’s class learned about chemistry by making bouncy balls and colors by experimenting with chromatography. Quentin’s class was all about soil for the two weeks.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We listened to Queen, Heart, Bruce Springsteen, Kiss, and Journey. There was favorite was Queen (as it should be!) followed by Heart and Journey. They were not big fans of The Boss and Kiss, but that tracks.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

We traveled to Lincoln for a Morrill Hall visit focusing on our favorite exhibits there. It was our first time using our membership at the museum, but we have used the reciporcal benefits all across the midwest. We will be renewing this pass at the end of May and plan to go back to Morrill Hall at least once more this summer. After the museum, the friends we were with joined us at Lost in Fun for an afternoon of free play.

High

On Friday, we finally got back into our biweekly nature hikes! I had been craving some time out in the woods and we made it to Schramm. One other family joined us for the 3 mile hike. The rangers have thinned the trees in preparation for planting oaks in their place. (A lot of the existing trees were not native to Nebraska; oaks are native.) The trails were a bit strange, but we made it through. I was thoroughly tired and sweaty, but it was a great walk.

Low

Not a big low, but co-op this past week was a bit of a chore. It was warm enough outside, but the wind was fierce! We had to battle flying everything while attempting to complete the activities. I got home and my lips were completely wind burnt.

Next Week

• Continuing our read alouds

• Moving forward with our math textbooks

• Exploring more BookSeeds and the ocean (Q) for science

• Listening to Fleetwood Mac for music!

• Transitioning to a more summer routine of activities and schoolwork

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W27: Spring Finally Arrived!

What We Studied

After a March filled with weird weather, this week finally cooperated and we took full advantage. Our schoolwork was shortened to spend multiple days outside with friends. It was well worth it to boost our general mental health. Apparently I took like no photos this week. All of our photos in this post were ones that Arthur took at Heron Haven.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. Arthur took a break from novels to focus on some short stories. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We started a fun book of a young girl and an intelligent squirrel. So much comedy in this story. We love it.

• Poetry: The Tree That Time Built

• Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. We got back into our math textbook and started a chapter about the Area and Circumference of Circles.

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons. Taking it slow but moving along.

• Singapore Primary 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We covered a section about the potato famine in Ireland and then social reform movements. We also watched more PBS Eons vides. Getting closer to finishing the entire series.

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. We covered a chapter focused on New Ideas for Europe, exploring the Reformation and the Scientific Revolution. We have one more chapter left in the curriculum.

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

Science

Arthur finished his RSO Biology 1 course with the end of the academic co-op. We switched gears and focused on reading some more chapters from the Story of Science. We only have about six chapters left in the book. I also want to work through a few Blossom & Root Bookseeds this late spring.

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. We covered climate and climate change.

• RSO Earth and Environment

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

Academic Co-op

With the cancellation, our spring semester has ended.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We listened to Parliament-Funkadelic and Hall & Oates this week. Arthur preferred the funk and Quentin preferred H&O, which was surprising. I love seeing how they have such different opinions about different bands.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

On Friday, we got back into our nature walk routine with a visit to Heron Haven. Our last few attempts have been thwarted by weather issues. It was lovely to explore the wetland and spot signs of spring and some animals. We had a good group of multiple families join us allowing for some socializing time for the kids and the adults.

High

Thursday we had our enrichment kick-off playdate. We were supposed to be at Chalco, but the Papio RND had closed the playground for a field trip (hate when they do that and do not post anywhere in advance). We had to scramble to relocate and made it to Zorinsky. Not my favorite park, but most of the families joined us for some great playtime. It was also a chance for some of the new families to meet the old families. Love seeing our little community come together and form relationships.

Low

We had another playdate on Friday afternoon downtown. Nine families RSVPed and only three (including myself) actually showed up. Very disappointed in all these families who claim to want to community and just never show up to anything but make posts in the FB group about needing friends and activities. So come? Frustrating.

Next Week

• Finishing our read alouds

• Moving forward with our math textbooks

• Traveling to the United States and then War in Europe (A) and Elizabethan Times (Q) for history

• Exploring astrophysics (A) and soil (Q) for science

• Listening to Queen for music!

• Going to Lincoln to explore Morrill Hall and whatever else we decide to do while there

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W26: Weather Again!

What We Studied

We had a full week planned with multiple activities and the last week of Academic Co-op. Unfortunately, a blizzard hit us on Tuesday night cancelling our Wednesday Joslyn visit and Thursday co-op meeting. Oh well. At least we finished up a ton of schoolwork.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. Arthur took a break from novels to focus on some short stories. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We started a fun book of a young girl and an intelligent squirrel. So much comedy in this story. We love it.

• Poetry: The Tree That Time Built

• Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. We got back into our math textbook and started a chapter about the Area and Circumference of Circles.

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons. Taking it slow but moving along.

• Singapore Primary 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We covered two more sections of history focusing on Victorian Britain and British Imperialism. We actually only have two more sections left in the curriculum. We also watched more PBS Eons vides. Getting closer to finishing the entire series.

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• You Wouldn’t Want to Be a Victorian Servant, by Fiona MacDonald

• You Wouldn’t Want to Work in a Victorian Mill!, by John Malam

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. We covered two chapters exploring the Mughal Empire and the Ottoman Empire. We have two more chapters left in the curriculum.

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• DK Explorers

• Taj Mahal by Cynthia Kennedy Hanzel

• Where is the Taj Mahal? by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall and spring semester courses, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. We read some more chapters from the Story of Science.

• RSO Biology 1

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. We covered extreme weather which was appropriate given the blizzard.

• RSO Earth and Environment

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• DK Eyewitness: Weather

• Wind by Grace Hansen

• What on Earth? Wind by Isabel Thomas

• Cloud or Fog? by Kelly Doudna

• Hail or Freezing Rain? by Josh Plattner

• Extreme Weather by Ann O. Squire

• A Child's Introduction to the Environment

• Hurricane or Waterspout? by Josh Plattner

• Tornado Alert by Franklyn M. Branley

• Tornado or Dust Devil? by Josh Plattner

• Tornadoes by Gail Gibbons

• Tidal Wave or Tsunami? by Kelly Doudna

• Winter Storm or Blizzard? by Kelly Doudna

• All About Heat Waves and Droughts by Steve Tomecek

Academic Co-op

With the cancellation, our spring semester has ended.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We covered Madonna this week. The boys were not huge fans, but it was better than last week’s selections.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

On Friday, we attended board game club at a local coffee shop. I had a nice time chatting with other homeschool moms.

High

Tuesday we renewed our Fontenelle Forest membership to meet up with friends to play at the new nature play area. And then we went on a nice walk on the boardwalk. It was lovely to get out in nature, especially as a blizzard came in that night. .

Low

Sad that we couldn’t finish out our Academic Co-op semester.

Next Week

• Finishing our read alouds

• Moving forward with our math textbooks

• Traveling to the Ireland (A) and Europe (Q) for history

• Exploring astrophysics (A) and climate (Q) for science

• Listening to Parliament-Funkadelic and Hatt & Oates

• Going to the park for a playdate and the nature preserve for a hike

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W25: Another Normal Week (We're on a Roll!)

What We Studied

Another week full of regular schoolwork, co-op, and a few activities. Very very normal.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. Arthur finished the co-op book club selection. We cannot wait to discuss it in two weeks. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

• The Elephant in the Room by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We finished our read aloud at the end of the week. Perfect timing.

• Poetry: The Tree That Time Built

• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. We ended up taking a short break from our textbook to explore more logic and algebraic expressions and do some review and catchup.

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons. Taking it slow but moving along.

• Singapore Primary 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We covered North America and the attempts at colonization.

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. We covered a chapter about Russia and the Ivans.

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• DK Explorers

• The Mongol Empire from Britannica Educational Publishing

• Follow Me Around: Russia by Wiley Blevins

• Let's Explore Russia by Walt K. Moon

• Living In Russia by Jesse Burton

• Russia ABCs by Ann Berge

• Matreshka by Becky Hickox Ayres

• The Flying Witch by Jane Yolen

• The Black Geese by Alison Lurie

• Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave by Marianna Mayer

• Grandma Chickenlegs by Geraldine McCaughrean

• Baba Yaga and the Wise Doll by Hiawyn Oram

• Baba Yaga by An Leysen

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall and spring semester courses, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. Other than co-op, we watched a ton of PBS Eons videos this week.

• RSO Biology 1

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. We started a small unit about weather But we also just watched a ton of PBS Eons videos.

• RSO Earth and Environment

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• Nat Geo Kids: Weather

• The Child's Introduction to the Environment

• What Will the Weather Be? by Lynda Dewitt

• Weather Words and What They Mean by Gail Gibbons

• DK Eyewonder: Weather

• Boy, Were We Wrong About the Weather by Kathleen V. Kudlinski

Academic Co-op

We’re entering the home stretch of this semester of co-op. For biology, the kids learned about reptiles and birds. In art, they covered blind contour drawing. And for writer’s workshop, we conferenced the fictional narratives. Only one week to go!

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We covered Donna Summer and The Bee Gees, so I guess it was disco week. The boys liked The Bee Gees more than Donna Summer, but neither were favorites.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

No specific field trip this week, but we did finally get back to the zoo. We visited the desert, jungle, and aquarium with some friends. It was lovely to get back to our favorites.

High

The boys got to attend the winter homeschool dance on Thursday night and then sketchbook club on Friday afternoon. So two big activities with friends.

Low

I’m getting some attitude and laziness from both of the boys. I’m annoyed…

Next Week

• Starting our new read alouds

• Moving forward with our math textbooks

• Traveling to the Victorian Britain (A) and the Mughal Empire (Q) for history

• Exploring weather and climate for science

• Listening to Madonna

• Moving into the last week of Academic Co-op

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W24: Back to Normal?

What We Studied

We had a pretty normal week. Lots of schoolwork, a few activities, but also weather that interrupted some plans. We had a big blizzard blow through on Tuesday night that cancelled our Wednesday plans. We pivoted by covering more schoolwork and watching some more documentaries. Not a big deal.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. Arthur dove into our next coop book club selection. We’re both really loving it! It’s a gentle story, but with a lot to say. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

• Science Verse by Jon Scieszka

• The Elephant in the Room by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We started our next read aloud that aligns with our Blossom and Root curriculum. We’re both really loved it!

• Poetry: Out of This World: ICE Poems About Polar Life by Douglas Florian

• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. We ended up taking a short break from our textbook to explore more logic and algebraic expressions.

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons. Taking it slow but moving along.

• Singapore Primary 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. Because of our changes in scheduled, we ended up covering three sections of history this week. We learned about the Latin American Revolutions in South America, the revolutions in Brazil and Mexico, and the African Zulu Empire and Central African caliphates

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Simon Bolivar: Latin American Liberator by Frank de Varona

• A Kid’s Guide to Latino History: More than 50 Activities, by Valerie Petrillo

• Latinitas: Celebrating 40 Big Dreamers, by Juliet Menendez

• Where Is the Amazon?, by Sarah Fabiny

• DK Eyewitness: The Amazon

• Fiesta Femenina: Celebrating Women of Mexican Folklore, by Mary-Joan Gerson

• Tales Our Abuelitas Told: A Hispanic Folktale Collection, by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy

• Brazil: Enchantment of the World, by Ann Heinrichs

• Mexico: Enchantment of the World, by Liz Sonneborn

• A Kid's Guide to Latino History by Valerie Petrillo

• Shaka Zulu by Richard Spilsbury

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. We covered two chapters, one about the Inca Empire and one about the Renaissance..

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• DK Explorers

• Ancient Civilizations: Aztecs, Maya, Incas! by Anita Yasuda

• The Inca Empire by Sandra Newman

• 20 Fun Facts About Machu Picchu by Janey Levy

• Inca by Lawrence Kovacs

• Lost Treasure of the Inca by Peter Lourie

• A Look at Renaissance Art by J. Jean Robertson

• Raphael by Mike Venezia

• Leonardo, Beautiful Dreamer by Robert Byrd

• Leonardo da Vinci by Mike Venezia

• The Renaissance by Enzo George

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall and spring semester courses, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. Other than co-op, we watched a ton of PBS Eons videos this week.

• RSO Biology 1

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. We jumped back into RSO Earth & Environment to cover the atmosphere. But we also just watched a ton of PBS Eons videos.

• RSO Earth and Environment

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

Academic Co-op

We’re entering the home stretch of this semester of co-op. For biology, the kids learned about fish and amphibians. For art, they focused on abstract and absurdist art. And for writing, we started our unit on Fictional Narrative. Only two weeks to go!

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

No specific field trip this week.

High

We got a lot of curriculum covered…

Low

The weather brought a fun winter storm and some terrible road conditions that disrupted our week. We had to skip our nature walk due to sleet and soggy ground. And our social meetup was cancelled due to the blizzard.

Next Week

• Finishing our read alouds, probably starting our next ones

• Moving forward with our math textbooks

• Traveling to the United States and Russia (A) and Russia (Q) for history

• Exploring weather for science

• Visiting the zoo

• Attending a nature class

• Moving into the last two weeks of Academic Co-op

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W22-23: Lots of activities, a Flex week, and a trip!

What We Studied

We had a week of a ton of activities. Seriously, we only did book work school one day between a birthday party, a parent meeting, co-op, and the Valentine’s Day party. And then the next week was technically a flex week, but we pushed in some school. So that we could leave on Friday to go on a mini trip to Kansas City and Great Wolf Lodge with friends. We’re back this week on Tuesday, but will be taking a bit of a break from school to regroup. Plus we have co-op as usual on Thursday, so we won’t be just sitting around.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. Arthur started and finished the next Co-op Book Club selection. It was written in verse, so something a little different for him. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

• Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We dove into a modern classic. Q even tried to read it himself, but said that the words were too hard. It is above his independent reading level right now, but we’ll get there.

• Poetry: Out of This World: Star-Studded Haiu by Sally M. Walker

• The Tale of Despeareaux by Kate DiCamillo

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. We took a short break so Arthur could catch up on some independent work, and then dove back into area of polygons and triangles.

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons. Taking it slow but moving along.

• Singapore Primary 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. Arthur covered the Industrial Revolution and the Rise of Romanticism. From there, we learned about Napoleon. We are blazing through this history curriculum this year.

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Crossing on Time: Steam Engines, Fast Ships, and a Journey to the New World by David Macaulay

• Cars, Trains, Ships, and Planes: A Visual Encyclopedia of Every Vehicle, by DK and the Smithsonian Institution

• Train: The Definitive Visual History by DK and the Smithsonian Institution

• Mary Who Wrote Frankenstein by Linda Bailey

• She Made a Monster: How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein by Lynn Fulton

• DK Eyewitness Books: Judaism by DK

• Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers: Ludwig van Beethoven, by Mike Venezia

• Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers: Frederic Chopin, by Mike Venezia

• Gris Grimly’s Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley and Gris Grimly

• Beethoven’s Heroic Symphony, by Anna Harwell Celenza

• Blades of Freedom: A Tale of Haiti, Napoleon, and the Louisiana Purchase (Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales 10), by Nathan Hale

• Napoleon vs. the Bunnies, by J. F. Fox

• Battles that Changed History, by DK and Smithsonian Institution

• The Game of Hope, by Sandra Gulland

• Who Was Napoleon?, by Jim Gigliotti

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. We covered the chapter about the Aztec Empire.

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• DK Explorers

• The Aztec Empire by Sunita Apte

• The Aztec Empire by Ellis Roxburgh

• The Princess and the Warrior: A Tale of Two Volcanoes by Duncan Tonatiuh

• Ancient Aztec: Archaeology Unlocks the Secrets of Mexico's Past by Time Cooke

• Ancient Civilizations: Aztec, Maya, Incas! by Anita Yasuda

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall and spring semester courses, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. We did read some chapters from our Story of Science to keep up. Added science bonus, we watched more PBS Eons videos.

• RSO Biology 1

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. Lots of science this week! We covered Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, and beyond. We finished the documentary series The Planets. But we also just watched a ton of PBS Eons videos.

• RSO Earth and Environment

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• RSO Asttonomy 1

• DK Eyewitness Astronomy

• DK Space

• DK First Space Encyclopedia

• DK Eyewitness The Planets

• 13 Planets: The Latest View of the Solar System by David A. Aguilar

• Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space by Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman

• Goodnight, Astronaut by Scott Kelly

• Starry Messenger by Peter Sis

Academic Co-op

Back at it with weeks 4 and 5. In biology, they covered climate change and started the unit on evolution. Art focused on perspective. And in Writer’s Workshop, we started our opinion writing project.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We listened to Earth, Wind, and Fire and Chic. Not our favorites, but a good exploration.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

So many incredible activiites over the last few weeks. So many activities…

High

It finally snowed properly! The boys got to play outside multiple days. It was even powdery snow, perfect for sledding down to the neighbors yards. Their record was sledding four houses down.

Low

We had our co-op Valentine’s Day party at a bowling alley. A great idea, and the planners did awesome. Unfortunately, there was some logistical miscommunication and my group of boys that wanted to bowl together lost their lane and we had to split them up on other lanes. Q was especially upset that he couldn’t bowl with the kids he had originally wanted to bowl with. The planners and I chatted about how to avoid that issue next time we do a bowling party.

Next Week

• Starting new read alouds

• Moving forward with our math textbooks

• Traveling to Latin America (A) and the medieval Incan Empire (Q) for history

• Exploring the atmosphere for science

• Moving into the last three weeks of Academic Co-op

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W21: More Sickness

What We Studied

Another week of winter 2025, another sickness impacting our scheduled activities. I really hope that we can get back to some activities this next week. As a less of an impact, co-op was cancelled due to multiple families being sick.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We finished our read aloud and doc into a short unit involving the stories of Hans Christian Andersen. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

• The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvat

• Hans Christian Andersen storie collection

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We finished The Hobbit. Q is definitely liking it more than our last one. For Friday movie night, we watched the 1977 animated version of the book.

• Poetry: Out of This World: Poems and Facts About Space by Amy E. Sklansky

• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

• The Tale of Despeareaux by Kate DiCamillo

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur continued the second book of the course, exploring more about coordinate planes. We finished the chapter and took a short break so Arthur could catch up on some independent work.

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons. Taking it slow but moving along.

• Singapore Primary 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. Arthur covered the slave revolts in Haiti and other colonies. We then fit in a chapter about the United States expanding.

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Blades of Freedom: A Tale of Haiti, Napoleon, and the Louisiana Purchase (Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales 10) by Nathan Hale

• Toussaint L’ouvertrue: The Fight for Haiti’s Freedom by Walter Dean Myers

• Haiti: Enchantment of the World by Liz Sonneborn

• Freedom Soup by Tami Charles

• Olaudah Equiano: A Voice for Africa; Nigeria Heritage Series by John Adoga

• No More!: Stories and Songs of Slave Resistance by Doreen Rappaport

• The Kidnapped Prince: The Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano and Ann Cameron

• A New Nation: The United States: 1783–1815, by Betsy Maestro

• Blades of Freedom: A Tale of Haiti, Napoleon, and the Louisiana Purchase (Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales 10), by Nathan Hale

• Brick by Brick, by Charles R. Smith Jr.

• Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library, by Barb Rosenstock

• Worst of Friends: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and the True Story of an American Feud, by Suzanne Tripp Jurmain

• Where Is the White House?, by Megan Stine

• Who Was Alexander Hamilton?, by Pam Pollack

• Buffalo Bird Girl: A Hidatsa Story, by S. D. Nelson

• Gift Horse: A Lakota Story, by S.D. Nelson

• Sacagawea: Journey into the West, by Jessica Gunderson

• Star People: A Lakota Story, by S.D. Nelson

• The Lewis and Clark Expedition, by Jessica Gunderson

• Thomas Jefferson and the Mammoth Hunt: The True Story of the Quest for America’s Biggest Bones, by Carrie Clickard

• 50 Fearless Women Who Made American History: An American History Book for Kids, by Jenifer Bazzit

• Lewis and Clark for Kids: Their Journey of Discovery with 21 Activities, by Janis Herbert

• You Wouldn’t Want to Explore with Lewis and Clark!, by Jacqueline Morley

• Sacajawea, by Joseph Bruchac

• What Was the Lewis and Clark Expedition?, by Judith St. George

• Who Was Sacagawea?, by Judith Bloom Fradin

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. We covered the chapter about the Age of Exploration.

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• DK Explorers

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall and spring semester courses, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. We did read some chapters from our Story of Science to keep up. Added science bonus, we watched more PBS Eons videos.

• RSO Biology 1

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. Lots of science this week! We covered Mercury, Venus, Mars, and the Asteroid Belt. And we started watching the NOVA/BBC series The Planets.

• RSO Earth and Environment

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• RSO Asttonomy 1

• DK Eyewitness Astronomy

• DK Space

• DK First Space Encyclopedia

• DK Eyewitness The Planets

• 13 Planets: The Latest View of the Solar System by David A. Aguilar

• Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space by Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman

• Mars: Earthlings Welcome by Stacy McAnulty

• Mousetronaut by Mark Kelly

• Mousetronaut Goes to Mars by Mary Kelly

• Comets by Kristen Rajczak

• Shooting Stars by Kristen Rajczak

• Caroline's Comets by Emily Arnold McCully

• Comet Chaser: The True Cinderella Story of Caroline Herschel, The First Professional Woman Astronomer by Pamela S. Turner

Academic Co-op

Multiple families were sick, so we canceled this week’s meeting. I’m so glad that the remaining families are understanding and flexible while still communicating with each other.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. The chapter covered the music of Michael Jackson. We listened to some early songs and then dove into the best of the music videos.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

Nothing…

High

It wasn’t the week that I wanted to have, but we managed to finish a ton of school work and get ahead on our lessons. This should mean that the week after our Kansas City trip, we can take a break. The boys are looking forward to that.

Low

Sickness. I really hate having to cancel activities.

Next Week

• Continuing our read alouds

• Moving forward with math lessons

• Traveling to Europe from the Industrial Revolution (A) for history

• Exploring Saturn and Jupiter for Q’s science

• Listening to Earth, Wind, and Fire and Chic

• Hopefully getting back to our activities including a friend’s birthday party

• Starting Opinion Writing for Writer’s Workshop at co-op

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W20: School, Dentist, Car, Co-op, and Play!

What We Studied

I think we are officially back on track for the spring semester. We managed to balance school work, some errands, and a bit of play this week without too much stress. I’m very excited to see how far we got in our curriculum. It will make it easier when we take some days off bookwork to go on our trip at the end of February.

Apparently I was absolutely terrible at taking picture this week. Here’s to doing a better job this week!

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We continued a new read aloud and it’s been much better than the last one. As an added bonus it appears in Hearth and Story G5 and as a Build Your Library Lit Bite. And it’s our co-op book selection for this month. We’ve got just a few more chapters to cover this coming week to finish off the book. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

• The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvat

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We got deeper into The Hobbit and are really enjoying it. Q is definitely liking it more than our last one.

• Poetry: Out of This World: Poems and Facts About Space by Amy E. Sklansky

• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur continued the second book of the course, exploring more about coordinate planes. This chapter has been a lot easier for him to conceptualize than the last one.

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons. Taking it slow but moving along.

• Singapore Primary 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. Arthur covered the French Revolution and Culture Corners on Mozart and Jacques-Louis David. I must say that those French names really throw us off, but we got through it with a little help from some videos.

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Who Was Marie Antoinette? by Dana Meachen Rau

• Joseph Bologne Le Chevalier de Saint-George: The First Black Classical Composer by Amelie-Mai Wright

• The Magic Flute: An Opera by Mozart by Kyra Teis

• Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by Mike Venezia

• Who Was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? by Yona Zeldis McDonough

• You Wouldn’t Want to Be an Aristocrat in the French Revolution!: A Horrible Time in Paris You’d Rather Avoid by Jim Pipe

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. This week we explored Yuan and Ming Dynasties China. He really got into the sections about the Great Wall and the Grand Canal. Plus we watched a NOVA Episode about the construction of the Forbidden City.

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• DK Explorers

• Kublai Khan, The Emperor of Everything by Kathleen Krull

• No Year of the Cat by Mary Dodson Wade

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall and spring semester courses, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. We did read some chapters from our Story of Science to keep up.

• RSO Biology 1

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

• Amazing Evolution: The Journey of Life by Anna Claybourne

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. We moved on to lessons about the Earth and our Moon. For documentary time, we started a series on NOVA with BBC Earth titled Universe Revealed. We watched the episodes about the Age of Stars and the Milky Way. We are also still watching the PBS Eons videos here and there.

• RSO Earth and Environment

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• RSO Asttonomy 1

• DK Eyewitness Astronomy

• DK Space

• DK First Space Encyclopedia

• DK Eyewitness The Planets

• 13 Planets: The Latest View of the Solar System by David A. Aguilar

• The Planets by Gail Gibbons

• Earth: My First 4.54 Billion Years by Stacy McAnulty

• Our Planet! There's No Place Like Earth by Stacy McAnulty

• Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space by Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman

• Storybots: The Moon's Time to Shine by Scott Emmons

• Moon! Earth's Best Friend by Stacy McAnulty

• The Moon by Gail Gibbons

• Moon's First Friends: One Giant Leap for Friendship by Susanna Leonard Hill

Academic Co-op

Another week of co-op with more changes to our line-up. I really hope that we are done with all this and can focus on the lessons. Quentin decided that he was going to pay attention during lessons and so we participated in homeroom and art and listened during biology. Um. I guess so… But it did mean that the stuff I had planned for him to do during co-op did not get done. Not terrible but definitely a chance in plans. Arthur learned about value in art, biomes in biology, and writing with voice in writer’s workshop. Overall we had a good day. And afterward, I got to solidify our travel plans with the two families joining us for the Kansas City trip.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We covered our last artist in the punk chapter: Talking Heads. I love Talking Heads and the boys seemed to also enjoy them. We watched their famous concert Stop Making Sense. I’m excited that we are in the timeline when we get to watch music videos for some of these songs.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

Not a field trip, but we did have an open playdate at Backyard Playworld on Friday afternoon. The boys ran, jumped, and climbed for three hours. I call that a win! Plus they got to hang out with some friends.

High

Not necessarily homeschool related but we did get an estimate to fix the van (late February appointment) and the boys had their dental cleaning. I have literally been in the dentist office every week for an entire month (and I have to go in on Tuesday for my crown). Thankfully the boys had no problems. They even seem to enjoy going to the dentist (weirdos).

Low

Changes in co-op made us recalibrate once again. I am very annoyed with people who try to gaslight me. Some people apparently really want to burn bridges this January.

Next Week

• Finishing our current reads; maybe pivoting to a fun non-study read aloud

• Moving forward with math lessons

• Traveling to Haiti and then the US (A) and all over the oceans (Q) for history

• Exploring the rocky planets for Q’s science

• Listening to Michael Jackson

• Going to the zoo for animal watching, the Luminarium for science play, OPPD Arboretum for a hike, and a friend’s house for a playdate - a busy week ahead!

• Starting Opinion Writing for Writer’s Workshop at co-op

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W19: Finally Back to Activities and Friends!

What We Studied

More of our week was spent in your usual flow with school, co-op, and activities. I think that we ended the week in a really good place, I did implement a more intentional independent work task list to help the boys get on a good track and move quickly. Looking forward to February.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We dove into a new read aloud and it’s been much better than the last one. As an added bonus it appears in Hearth and Story G5 and as a Build Your Library Lit Bite. And it’s our co-op book selection for this month. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

• The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvat

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We got deeper into The Hobbit and are really enjoying it. Q is definitely liking it more than our last one.

• Poetry: Alphabestiary selected by Jane Yolen

• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur started the second book of the course, diving back into algebraic equations. From there, we’re pivoting to coordinate planes. I am really am liking how Singapore spends a lot of time on what the equations are actually telling us vs just jumping into solving.

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons.

• Singapore Primary 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. Arthur moved onto the section about Australia and New Zealand. We really enjoyed this detour to place that often doesn’t get covered in history texts.

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Birrarung Wilam: A Story from Aboriginal Australia by Aunty Joy Murphy and Andrew Kelly

• Welcome To Country: A Traditional Aboriginal Ceremony by Aunty Joy Murphy

• Australia and Oceania: True Books: Geography: Continents by Mel Friedman

• You Wouldn’t Want to Be an 18th-Century British Convict!: A Trip to Australia You’d Rather Not Take by Meredith Costain

• Sun Mother Wakes the World by Diane Wolkstein

• Indigenous Australian Cultures by Mary Colson

• Great Barrier Reef by Martha London

• Uluru: Australia's Aboriginal Heart by Caroline Arnold

• Land of the Long White Cloud: Maori Myths, Tales and Legends by Kiri Te Kanawa and Michael Foreman

• New Zealand by Alicia Klepeis

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. This week we covered a chapter about two Indian Empires.

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World

• DK Explorers

The temps were downright frigid this week…

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall and spring semester courses, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. We did read some chapters from our Story of Science to keep up.

• RSO Biology 1

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

• Amazing Evolution: The Journey of Life by Anna Claybourne

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. We moved on to lessons about galaxies, solar systems, and our sun. We are also still watching the PBS Eons videos here and there.

• RSO Earth and Environment

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• RSO Asttonomy 1

• DK Eyewitness Astronomy

• DK Space

• DK First Space Encyclopedia

• DK Eyewitness The Planets

• The Stuff Between the Stars: How Vera Rubin Discovered Most of the Universe by Sandra Nickel

• Solar System By the Numbers by Steve Jenkins

• Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space by Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman

• The Book of Big Science Ideas by Freya Hardy

• Sun: One in a Billion by Stacy McAnulty

• 13 Planets: The Latest View of the Solar System by David A. Aguilar

• The Planets by Gail Gibbons

Academic Co-op

Another week of co-op and one our absent families rejoined us. So exciting to have them back with us! Arthur had a good day learning about neurotransmitters (expansion of week 1), food webs, and drawing techniques. For writer’s workshop, the kids did their first conference. It’s a learning process, but I’m really pleased by how they handled it. Q and I figured out a way to still do our read aloud and poetry. I feel like both boys accomplished so much in those four hours.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We moved onto two artists: Pattie Smith and The Replacements. The boys were not huge fans of those artists, but it is always good to expand our musical horizons.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

We attended board game club on Friday afternoon . It was a bit of a rough start (Arthur’s besties were not there), both boys settled in and played some games with other kids. I had a lovely time chatting with old, middle, and new homeschool friends. We will definitely be attending next month’s meeting.

High

Wednesday we restarted our Joslyn Art Explorers visits. The kids had a great time exploring color this month. And we visited one of the galleries that we haven’t gotten back into since the museum opened. I think we have now visited all of the galleries at least once. Love our art museum visits.

Low

Q ended up having a bit of an emotional time after board game club and we had to have a big conversation afterwards. It was a bit rough. But we made it through.

Next Week

• Continuing our current reads

• Moving forward with math lessons

• Traveling to Revolutionary France (A) and China (Q) for history

• Exploring the rocky planets for Q’s science

• Listening to Talking Heads

• Playing at an indoor playground to get our wiggles out

• Heading back to the dentist, thankfully this time for the kids’ cleaning appointments and not anything about me

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W18: Back to a Normal Week

What We Studied

We got over the sickness and went back to our usual schedule. We had some school days, I had a dentist appointment, and we restarted co-op.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We finished our current read aloud. I’m not sure that I really enjoyed it and may just skip this book in a few years when Quentin enters the 5th grade. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We finished one classic and started another classic. I must say that I’m always so surprised how bad of a writer I think C.S. Lewis is when compared to J.R.R. Tolkien.

• Poetry: Alphabestiary selected by Jane Yolen

• The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur started the second book of the course, diving back into algebraic equations. I am really am liking how Singapore spends a lot of time on what the equations are actually telling us vs just jumping into solving.

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons.

• Singapore Primary 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. Even though we covered two sections, these two sections were mostly a review focusing on North America and the American Revolution.

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• A Spy Called James: The True Story of James Lafayette, Revolutionary War Double Agent, by Anne Rockwell

• Anna Strong: A Spy During the American Revolution by Sarah Glenn Marsh Eliza: The Story of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, by Margaret McNamara

• George vs. George: The American Revolution As Seen from Both Sides by Rosalyn Schanzer

• Who Was Daniel Boone? by Sydelle Kramer

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. This week we covered a chapter about the Kingdom of Mali. Lots of fun connections to other chapters in this one.

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World

• DK Explorers

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall and spring semester courses, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. Co-op restarted and the first week was focused on vocabulary and introducing the ideas of ecology and evolution. We did read some chapters from our Story of Science to keep up.

• RSO Biology 1

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. We started into our large space unit using RSO Astronomy as our backbone. We are also still watching the PBS Eons videos here and there.

• RSO Earth and Environment

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• Boy, Were We Wrong About the Solar System by Kathleen V. Kudlinski

• RSO Asttonomy 1

• The Big Beyond: The Story of Space Travel by James Carter

• DK Eyewitness Astronomy

• The Big Beyond: The Story of Space Travel by James Carter

• Find the Constellations by H.A. Rey

• Galaxies, Galaies! by Gail Gibbons

• The Book of Big Science Ideas by Freya Hardy

• DK Space

• Once Upon a Starry Night by Jacqueline Mitton

• What Miss Mitchell Saw in the Stars by Hayley Barrett

Academic Co-op

We restarted co-op this week with some big changes. The changes created a lot of stress for me, but the remaining members managed to pull together and successfully have a normal day. This semester we are learning 2D Design and Art History, Biology (focusing on ecology and evolution), and Writing Workshop. Because of some scheduling, I ended up teaching Homeroom and Closing along with my actual class of Writing Workshop. We focused on neurotransmitters and ways to push our brain into releasing those chemicals.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We moved onto the next artist: The Clash! Arthur has decided that he likes them better than The Ramones while Quentin prefers The Ramones.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

None this week

High

It was so nice to get back into a normal schedule for us. Hopefully next week we can re-introduce activities to our weekly schedule.

Low

I had a dentist appointment. Those are always a schedule disruption. The lingering pain impacted my ability to read with the kids and teach.

Next Week

• Attempting to read around my dental issues

• Moving forward with math lessons

• Traveling to Australia (A) and Indian (Q) for history

• Exploring the solar system for Q’s science

• Listening to The Replacements and Patti Smith

• Appreciating the art museum

• Going on a nature hike

• Playing some board games with friends

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W17: Sickness Changed All Our Plans

What We Studied

The entire family came down with that norovirus that’s been going around the country. And let me tell, it was horrible. We had plans for activities and meetings with friends that all had to be cancelled. This did open up the week for more school work and we powered through a ton. Ultimately, we all lost steam on Friday and just took it easy.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We started our next read aloud, a classic that has been on my list for awhile. We’re about halfway through it and I still don’t know what I think about the book. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We started another classic. Q isn’t the biggest fan of C.S. Lewis, but we’re going to proceed through The Magician’s Nephew and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe before we move on.

• Poetry: Alphabestiary selected by Jane Yolen

• The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur started the second book of the course, diving back into algebraic equations. We’re starting close so he can catch up on some back-work.

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons.

• Singapore Primary 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We dove into Volume 2 and managed to cover two sections this week because of sickness. We covered Russia under Catherine the Great and Captain Cook’s exploration of the South Pacific and Hawai’i.

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Catherine the Great by Elizabeth Raum

• A Royal Ride: Catherine the Great's Great Invention by Kristen Fulton

• You Wouldn’t Want to Live Without Vaccinations!, by Anne Rooney

• Dr. Jenner and the Speckled Monster: The Discovery of the Smallpox Vaccine, by Albert Marrin

• The Adventures of Tupaia, by Courtney Sina Meredith

• The Shark King, by R. Kikuo Johnson

• Famous Lives: Captain Cook, by Rebecca Levene

• DK Explorers - James Cook

• Butterfly for a King: Saving Hawaii’s Kamehameha Butterflies, by Cindy Trumbore and Susan L. Roth

• A True Book: My United States: Hawai’i, by Joanne Mattern

• Kamehameha: The Boy Who Became a Warrior King, by Ellie Crowe

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. This week we covered a chapter about the settlement of Polynesia. Oddly, Q’s history connected with Arthur’s history chapters.

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World

• DK Explorers

• Oceania by Martha London

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall and spring semester courses, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. Co-op restarts next week, so no biology lesson this week. We did read some chapters from our Story of Science to keep up.

• RSO Biology 1

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. We switched gears slightly to tackle Blossom and Root’s Prehistory Unit. We officially finished the Prehistory unit this week; although we still have a ton of Eons episodes to watch here and there through the winter.

• RSO Earth and Environment

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• DK Dinosaur

• DK Where on Earth? Dinosaurs

• DK Eyewitness Dinosaur

• The Story of Life: Evolution by Katie Scott

• Life: The First Four Billions Years by Martin Jenkins

• Stones and Bones: Fossils and the Stories They Tell by Rob Wilshaw

• When the Whales Walked by Dougal Dixon

• Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs an Other Prehistoric Beasts! by Mike Lowery

• Dinosaurs: Fact and Fable by Seymour Simon

• Prehistoric by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

• Nat Geo Kids Dinosaur Atlas

• Dinosaurium by Chris Wormell and Lily Murray

• The Colorful World of Dinosaurs by Matt Sewell

• Dragon Bones: The Fantastic Fossil Discoveries of Mary Anning by Sarah Glenn Marsh

• My Mastodon by Barbara Lowell and Antonio Marinoni

• Thomas Jefferson and the Mammoth Hunt: The True Story of the Quest for America's Biggest Bones by Carrie Clickard

• I Used to be a Fish by Tom Sullivan

• Sapiens: Our Human Evolution by J.R. Becker and Max Rambaldi

• Amazing Evolution: The Journey of Life by Anna Claybourne Pg. 40-43

• Mary Leakey: Archaeologist Who Really Dug her Work by Mike Venezia

Academic Co-op

We restart co-op next week.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies. We covered a Harbor + Sprout module about textile art.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We moved onto the next chapter focusing on Punk Rock. We started with my favorite, The Ramones!

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

None… We quarantined to limit the spread of infection.

High

All the Eons episodes! We just hunkered down and watched a ton of documentaries while sick to relax and still learn.

Low

Sickness. Enough said.

Next Week

• Restarting academic co-op for spring

• Finishing our read alouds and starting new ones

• Moving forward with math lessons

• Covering the American Revolution (A) and African Empires (Q) for history

• Diving into RSO Astronomy for Q’s science

• Listening to The Clash

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W15-16: That's a Wrap on the Fall Semest

What We Studied

We wrapped up our fall semester in a great place. We managed to cover a ton of material while engaging in so many activities and fun outings. We are so ready for a bit of a break before diving back in in January.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We finished our next read aloud and moved on. It’s another featured book from Hearth & Story G5. We are really enjoying that program. From there, we started our next read aloud from our own shelves. I had picked up a literature unit about the book to guide our reading. We’ll be taking the book to Indiana to finish. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

• The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We finished our next selection. I really love everything Katherine Applegate has put out and Wishtree is no exception. It’s a quiet story, but one with lots of thinking points and emotion. From there, we picked up another Tim Collins book to read in tandem with our dinosaur unit. We finished that one and then will be diving into a classic.

• Poetry: Dinosaur Dinner (with a Slice of Alligator Pie) by Dennis Lee

• Poetry: Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian

• Wishtree by Katherine Applegate

• The Long-Lost Secret Diary of the World’s Worst Dinosaur Hunter by Tim Collins

• The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur finished the first book of the course. We spent some time doing a bit of math review and catching up before starting the next book in January..

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. I’m not going to start on Singapore 3B until January, so we are focusing on review and mastery until then.

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We wrapped up Volume 1. We’ll be starting Volume 2 in January.

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. This week we covered a chapter about the Hundred Years’ War.

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World

• DK Explorers

• Joan of Arc by Demi

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall and spring semester courses, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. Arthur covered a few body systems at co-op. At home, we read a bit chapter in our Story of Science about...

• RSO Biology 1

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. We switched gears slightly to tackle Blossom and Root’s Prehistory Unit. We covered the wonders about the Mesozoic Era. Lots of fun stuff in there.

• RSO Earth and Environment

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• DK Dinosaur

• DK Where on Earth? Dinosaurs

• DK Eyewitness Dinosaur

• The Story of Life: Evolution by Katie Scott

• Life: The First Four Billions Years by Martin Jenkins

• Stones and Bones: Fossils and the Stories They Tell by Rob Wilshaw

• When the Whales Walked by Dougal Dixon

• Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs an Other Prehistoric Beasts! by Mike Lowery

• Dinosaurs: Fact and Fable by Seymour Simon

• Prehistoric by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

• Nat Geo Kids Dinosaur Atlas

• Dinosaurium by Chris Wormell and Lily Murray

• The Colorful World of Dinosaurs by Matt Sewell

• Barnum's Bones: How Barnum Brown Discovered the Most Famous Dinosaur in the World by Tracey Fern

• When Sue Found Sue: Sue Hendrickson Discovers Her T. rex by Toni Buzzeo

• Mary Anning and the Sea Dragon by Jeannine Atkins

• The Fossil Whisperer: How Wendy Sloboda Discovered a Dinosaur by Helaine Becker

• A Dinosaur Named Ruth: How Ruth Mason Discovered Fossils in Her Own Backyard by Julia Lyon

• Dragon Bones: The Fantastic Fossil Discoveries of Mary Anning by Sarah Glenn Marsh

• Prehistoric: Dinosaurs, Megalodons, and Other Fascinating Creatures of the Deep Past by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

Academic Co-op

We finished the fall semester. For math, the student finished the semester with a personal budget project. It was difficult, but the kids made it through. For biology, they finished their anatomy and physiology section. Next semester, they will be covering evolution and ecology. For civics, the kids presented their active citizenship biographies and posters. We also did a big review of the entire class.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies. We covered a Harbor + Sprout module about visual styles.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We finished the next section of the book covering Deep Soul. We listened to Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Marvin Gaye, and The Staple Sisters.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

We attended our first Homeschool in the Hills session at Hitchcock Hills. The subject was art and nature. It was absolutely freezing on that day, but we powered through. The actual outside section was only about 15 minutes. I thought the program was interesting. Q was not on board. Arthur enjoyed himself. We’re scheduled for their January and March sessions also.

High

We got to see the reindeer at Mulhall’s after a car repair estimate. Seeing actual live reindeers are one of the highlights of the season for me.

Low

The drive to Indiana was not fun. The wind gusts and crazy drivers made it much more stressful.

Next Week - Taking a few weeks off for the holidays.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W14: A play, board games, and lots of schoolwork!

What We Studied

Back to our normally schedule program. We managed to fit in a decent amount of school work along with a few activities with friends. Trying to make the most of the weeks leading up to our Christmas break.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We started another read aloud this week. Only got through part 1, but we’re moving along. It’s another featured book from Hearth & Story G5. We are really enjoying that program. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments. We also finished our main poetry collection.

• Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

• Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We started our next selection. I really love everything Katherine Applegate has put out and Wishtree is no exception. It’s a quiet story, but one with lots of thinking points and emotion.

• Poetry: Dinosaur Dinner (with a Slice of Alligator Pie) by Dennis Lee

• Wishtree by Katherine Applegate

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur started the chapter on Algebraic Expression. It’s easing us in, in a very systematic way. Loving this curriculum right now.

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We finished our Financial Literacy G2 book. I’m not going to start on Singapore 3B until January, so we are focusing on review and mastery until then.

• Primarily Logic

• EM Financial Literacy G2

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We wrapped up Volume 1 with a section about the Seven Years War. A bit of a review from U.S. History, but we also learned about the Carnatic Wars in India.

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Struggle for a Continent: The French and Indian Wars by Betsy Maestro

• Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin by Gene Barretta

• Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos by Robert Lawson

• The Salem Witch Trials: An Interactive History Adventure by Matt Doeden

• The Salem Witch Trials: An Unsolved Mystery from History by Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Stample

• The Salem Witch Trials (Graphic History) by Michael J. Martin

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. This week we covered a chapter about the Black Death.

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World

• DK Explorers

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall semester course, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. Arthur covered a few body systems at co-op. At home, we read a bit chapter in our Story of Science about the years leading up to World War II.

• RSO Biology 1

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. We switched gears slightly to tackle Blossom and Root’s Prehistory Unit. We covered the wonders about What is a Dinosaur and the Triassic Era. Lots of fun stuff in there.

• RSO Earth and Environment

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• DK Dinosaur

• DK When on Earth? Dinosaurs

• DK Eyewitness Dinosaur

• The Story of Life: Evolution by Katie Scott

• Life: The First Four Billions Years by Martin Jenkins

• Stones and Bones: Fossils and the Stories They Tell by Rob Wilshaw

• When the Whales Walked by Dougal Dixon

• Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs an Other Prehistoric Beasts! by Mike Lowery

• Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian x4

• How the Dinosaur Got to the Museum by Jessie Hartland

• Dinosaurs by the Numbers by Steve Jenkins

• Dinosaur Feathers by Dennis Nolan

• Fossil by Fossil: Comparing Dinosaur Bones by Sara Levine

• Dinosaurs: Fact and Fable by Seymour Simon

• I am NOT a Dinosaur by Will Lach

• Bone Wars: The True Story of an Epic Battle to Find Dinosaur Fossils by Jane Kurtz

• Prehistoric by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

• Nat Geo Kids Dinosaur Atlas

• Dinosaurium by Chris Wormell and Lily Murray

• The Colorful World of Dinosaurs by Matt Sewell

Academic Co-op

For math, Arthur and the few students there on Thursday took a trip around the world to celebrate the holiday season. They worked together to make purchase decisions for each leg of the trip while staying in budget. For biology, they covered two more body systems. I had to emergency teach civics due to illness and we learned about social movements and collective action. The kids were given an assignment to do a bio and protest sign based on a living activist. Arthur got Greta Thunberg. Only one more week for the fall semester!

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies. We covered a Harbor + Sprout module about math and art.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We moved into the next section of the book covering Deep Soul. We listened to Ray Charles and Solomon Burke.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

We got to see A Christmas Story musical at The Rose Theatre on Friday. Love that we can access the student tickets price to see some great live theater. It was a big performance almost 2 1/2 hours long with an intermission, but we loved it.

High

Because I had an errand to get done, a friend took the boys to board game club at Coffee Alley. I met them there after my errand. They got some great socialization time with friends, and so did I. Plus they make good coffee. Loved it!

Low

Nothing really. It was a good week!

Next Week

• Completing our read alouds

• Reviewing math for Q

• Finishing 1A Math book for A

• Covering the Hundred Years’ War (Q)

• Learning about the Jurassic and Cretaceous Eras (Q)

• Wrapping up the fall semester of academic co-op

• Seeing Act II of The Nutcracker ballet at the Orpheum (another student ticket show!)

Neighborhood photo op!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W13: Lots of Schoolwork and Sickness

What We Studied

A flex week and a regular week all rolled into one post. I took to heart my November goal of Take It Easy. We have continued our activities, but I lessened the frequency of a few to slow everything down. It has definitely helped in the wake of world events this past few weeks. And an extra bonus: when the boys got sick during last week, we didn’t have too much that we had to cancel. We ended up getting ahead in our schoolwork allowing us to take off the entirety of Thanksgiving week.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We finished our current read aloud and moved onto the next one. This book is actually our coop book club selection for November. We needed to finish it by the first week of December, so I switched around our books to accommodate. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

• The Goblin’s Puzzle by Andrew Chilton

• A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We continued with our classic read finishing it at the end of the week. Perfect for a break for Thanksgiving.

• Poetry: The Alligator's Smile and Other Poems by Jane Yolen

• Poetry: Dinosaur Dinner (with a Slice of Alligator Pie) by Dennis Lee

• The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

• Zoey and Sassafras: Gnomes and Sneeze by Asia Citro (Q independent read)

• Write Shop B

• Eggasaurus by Jennifer Wagh

• If Dinosaurs Had Hair by Dan Marvin

• The Long Lost Secret Diary of the World's Worst Dinosaur Hunter by Tim Collins (Q independent read)

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur finished a chapter on percents. We only have one more chapter of 1A left.

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. He started with the lessons in 2B. He finished the entirety of 2B last week. We switched over to our Financial Literacy G2 book. We should finish that book the week after Thanksgiving.

• Primarily Logic

• Singapore Primary Common Core 2B

• EM Financial Literacy G2

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. Arthur learned about Britain and Ireland focusing on the Glorious Revolution and the Act of Union. We also covered a Culture Corner about John Locke which dovetailed nicely into our co-op civics study. Because we suddenly had more home time because of sickness, we moved onto the next few sections of history. We covered a section about the Ottoman Empire and Russia (focusing on Peter the Great), a section about West Africa and slavery, and a section about the Caribbean including pirates.

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• A Pot O’ Gold: A Treasury of Irish Stories, Poetry, Folklore, and (of Course) Blarney by Kathleen Krull

• Lives of the Scientists: Experiments, Explosions (and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull

• The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Marianna Mayer

• Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock, by Eric A. Kimmel

• Anansi and the Talking Melon, by Eric A. Kimmel

• Anansi and the Magic Stick, by Eric A. Kimmel

• Anansi Goes Fishing, by Eric A. Kimmel

• Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott

• I Lay My Stitches Down: Poems of American Slavery by Cynthia Grady

• If You Lived When There Was Slavery in America, by Anne Kamma

• Blackbeard the Pirate King, by J. Patrick Lewis

• A Pirate’s Life for She: Swashbuckling Women Through the Ages by Laura Sook Duncombe

• Sea Queens: Women Pirates Around the World by Jane Yolen

• Lives of Pirates: Swashbucklers, Scoundrels (Neighbors Beware!) by Kathleen Krull

• The Whydah: A Pirate Ship Feared, Wrecked, and Found by Martin W. Sandler

• The Golden Age of Pirates: An Interactive History Adventure (You Choose: History) by Bob Temple

• Pirate by Gail Gibbons

• How to Live Like a Caribbean Pirate by John Farndon

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. This week we covered a chapter about Great Zimbabwe and Ethiopia.

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World

• DK Explorers

• Great African Kingdoms by Sean Sheehan

• Ancient West African Kingdoms by Mary Quigley

• Great Zimbabwe by Mark Bessire

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall semester course, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. Arthur covered the digestive and excretory systems in co-op. Last week had to miss co-op because of sickness. Instead of learning more biology, we caught back up with our Story of Science chapters. We supplemented with some extra materials at home. We also caught back up in our Story of Science, covering multiple chapters about physics and chemistry. And we watched a documentary about Einstein and Quantum Theory.

• RSO Biology 1

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. We switched gears slightly to tackle Blossom and Root’s Prehistory Unit. we covered the first couple of eras and epochs of Earth’s history and did a big picture overview of Big Time. We ended up getting through all the wonder stories the end of the Paleozoic Era. Thus, we dove back into Eons and covered a lot of videos during our documentary time. We also watched a NOVA episode about volcanoes.

• RSO Earth and Environment

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• Older Than the Stars by Karen C. Fox

• One Million Oysters on Top of the Mountain by Alex Nogues

• Out of the Blue: How Animals Evolved from Prehistoric Seas by Elizabeth Shreeve

• Fossil by Bill Thomson

• Stones and Bones: Fossils and the Stories They Tell by Rob Wilshaw

• Fossils by Cynthia Light Brown & Grace Brown

• Fossils by Ann O. Squire

• DK My Book of Fossils

• Fossil Type Sort

• DK Eyewitness: Fossil

• Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story by Lisa Westberg Peters

• Grandmother Fish: A Child's First Book of Evolution by Jonathan Tweet

• Annabelle and Aiden in The Story of Life by J.R. Becke

• The Story of Life: Evolution by Katie Scott

• Life: The First Four Billions Years by Martin Jenkins

• Stones and Bones: Fossils and the Stories They Tell by Rob Wilshaw

• When the Whales Walked by Dougal Dixon

Academic Co-op

For math, Arthur covered perimeter and area, creating a entire city. In biology, they covered the digestive and excretory systems. In civics, we finished the election project with presentations and a discussion about candidate evaluations.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies. We had our monthly Joslyn Art Museum visit and focused on light and shadow. We covered a Harbor + Sprout module about World Art.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We covered Pink Floyd (a house favorite), Black Sabbath, Yes, and Cream. Lots of music these past two weeks.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

Not a field trip, but we did get in a nature hike at Platte River. I didn’t want to go, but it really did us good to be out in the fresh air and hang out with friends for a few hours.

High

Q and I have been butting heads a bit over basic language arts and math skills. I decided to try a different tactic and signed him up for IXL. He’s engaging with the lessons as supplementary class time, but it’s been going really well. We’re going to continue through the winter and see where it takes us.

Low

The boys both caught a cold (it’s been going around all our friends) and we had to cancel plans this past week including missing the Homeschool Dance. The boys look forward to the dances and I was looking forward to getting a drink with J while they were at the dance. But alas, we ended up staying home to rest and get better.

Next Week - We got so far ahead on school that I decided we would take the entirety of Thanksgiving week off school.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W12: Slowing Down was Helpful

What We Studied

After the whirlwind that was August, September, and October, we hit November and everything slowed down. So so helpful for us. We grabbed a few minutes to breath before diving back into curriculum. (The fact that the election was this week really solidified the need to slow down and take a breath.) As such, I didn’t take many photos this week. We focused on our pace and tried to incorporate our usual activities.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We started our new read aloud that is an intriguing fantasy. I cannot wait to see where this story goes. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

• The Goblin’s Puzzle by Andrew Chilton

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. Monday we wrapped up our spooky season reading with a collection of books about an imaginary monster. On Tuesday, we moved onto a classic read.

• Poetry: The Alligator's Smile and Other Poems by Jane Yolen

• How I Met My Monster by Amanda Noll

• Hey, That's My Monster by Amanda Noll

• I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll

• The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

• Write Shop B

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur finished a chapter on rates, ready to move onto percents. We also finished the Financial Literacy G5 boo.

• Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

• EM Financial Literacy G5

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. He started with the lessons in 2B. I imagine that we will be slowing working through that this semester. Q started the last chapter in 2B, a chapter on geometry. We’re slowing working through it and will finish next week.

• Primarily Logic

• Singapore Primary Common Core 2B

• EM Financial Literacy G2

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We covered the section on Natives and Colonists in North America. Most of this chapter was a review for Arthur, but it was good to review and learn about it from a different perspective.

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Brave Wolf and the Thunderbird: Tales of the People by Joseph Medicine Crow

• The People Shall Continue by Simon J Ortiz

• Spanish Missions (A True Book) by John Perritano

• Samuel de Champlain by Liz Sonneborn

• Explore with Samuel de Champlain by Cynthia O'Brien

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 supporting. We moved onto a chapter covering the ancient Khmer Empire.

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World

• DK Explorers

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall semester course, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. Arthur covered the nervous system during co-op. We supplemented with some extra materials at home. Specifically we covered Blossom and Root’s Bookseed about Gregor Mendel. We finished watching the documentary series One Strange Rock. We all really enjoyed this series.

• RSO Biology 1

• The Smallest Spot of a Dot: The Little Ways We're Different, The Big Ways We're the Same by Lindsey Davis and Michael Tyler

• Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas by Cheryl Bardoe

• Remembering Rosalind Franklin by Tanya Lee Stone

• The Code of Life: All About Genes, DNA, Genetic Engineering, and Why You are the Way You Are by Carla Hafner

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. Q covered earthquakes and volcanoes. We are ready to switch gears slightly to tackle Blossom and Root’s Prehistory Unit.

• RSO Earth and Environment

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• Earth by Quinn M. Arnold

• From a Super Continent to Seven: The Pangaea and the Continental Drift

• First Earth Encyclopedia 18-19

• Plate Tectonics Lab 3: Forces that Shape Earth - Earthquakes

• Fault Lines and Tectonic Plates by Kathleen M. Reilly

• Geo Detectives: Volcanoes and Earthquakes by Anita Ganeri

• Danger! Earthquakes by Seymour Simon

• The Magic School Bus Presents Volcanoes and Earthquakes

• Zhang Heng and the Incredible Earthquake Detector by Randel McGee

• Nat Geo Kids Volcanoes

• Volcanoes by Gail Gibbons

• The Magic School Bus Blows Its Top by Joanna Cole

• Danger! Volcanoes by Seymour Simon

• Muse Magazine: Eruption

• When Plant Earth was New by James Gladstone

Academic Co-op

For math, Arthur covered equivalent fractions. They even got to make trail mix for a practical application. In biology, they covered the nervous system. In civics, we covered the election results and the electoral college. And the kids continued their election project.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies. We covered a Harbor + Sprout module about Art in Nature.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We got back to music covering Jimi Hendrix. He wasn’t their favorite, but it was an interesting exploration.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

On Friday, we traveled to Lincoln to visit Morrill Hall for exploration and a presentation. Q’s group (the younger kids) saw a show about the Sun, Earth, and Moon system. Arthur’s group saw a show about how light enters our eyes. So an astronomy focus and a biology focus for the day. In between and opposite of the showings, we explored the museum. It was a very cold and rainy day, but perfect one to be inside a museum.

High

Wednesday was such a tough day in our house. I did force us to get outside and enjoy the sunshine just a bit. And we met up with some friends at the park, so extra perk.

Low

The election results really really brought us down.

Next Week

• Continuing our read alouds

• Finishing our next math chapters, Q finishing 2B

• Potentially Q starting an online language arts supplement

• Completing our homework (A) from co-op

• Learning about Britain and Ireland (A) and prehistory (Q) for history

• Listening to Pink Floyd and more for music

• Visiting Joslyn for some art time

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W11: Celebrating the Last Autumn Fun

What We Studied

We celebrated the last fun bits of autumn before the weather turned. Two last visits to Vala’s, a fun Halloween night, and more outdoor activities. We even managed to cover a ton of schoolwork in between the events.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We finished our Edgar Allan Poe collection. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

• The Complete Stories of Edgar Allan Poe

• Poetry for Young People: Edgar Allan Poe

• Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We continued reading spooky stories and one-off Halloween themed books we have laying around the house.

• Poetry: Spectacular Science

• Poetry: The Alligator's Smile and Other Poems by Jane Yolen

• The Littlest Witch by Brandi Dougherty

• The Littlest Mummy by Brandi Dougherty

• Bonaparte Falls Apart by Margery Cuyler

• Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds

• A World Full of Spooky Stories by Angela McAllister

• The Little Old Lady Who was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams

• Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson

• In a Dark, Dark Room retold by Alvin Schwartz

• Write Shop B

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur focused on a chapter continuing his review of ratios. I do love how the chapter tied ratios to real-life situations. It wasn’t just random problems.

• Math in Focus Court 1 Book A

• EM Financial Literacy G5

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. He started with the lessons in 2B. I imagine that we will be slowing working through that this semester. Q continued sped through the chapter on data, getting close to finishing the entire textbook.

• Primarily Logic

• Singapore Primary Common Core 2B

• EM Financial Literacy G2

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We covered the section on East Africa covering Ethiopia and Mutapa and N’dongo.

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Kings and Queens by Fiona Macdonald

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 supporting. We moved onto a chapter covering Japan.

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall semester course, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. Arthur covered inheritance during co-op. We supplemented with some extra materials at home. We continued watching the documentary series One Strange Rock. We will continue watching sporadically throughout the fall. I’m counting this as science for kids.

• RSO Biology 1

• Genetics by Chrstine Petersen

• DNA and Heredity by Casey Rand

• The Secret Code Inside You: All About Your DNA by Rajani LaRocca

• The Code of Life: All About Genes, DNA, Genetic Engineering, and Why You are the Way You Are by Carla Hafner

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. Q covered plate tectonics and changing earth. We watched an episode of One Strange Rock.

• RSO Earth and Environment

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• Earth by Quinn M. Arnold

• How Mountains are Made by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

• Fault Lines and Tectonic Plates by Kathleen M. Reilly

Academic Co-op

For math, Arthur did a Halloween project. Really math is all a review of him, but it’s good practice. In biology, they covered inheritance. In civics, we covered voting. And the kids started their election project.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies. We didn’t have a Harbor + Sprout module this week.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We got back to music covering Led Zeppelin. The boys really loved them.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

I hosted a rock and fossil exploration day at Schramm. I taught a little lesson about rocks and fossils. The kids then got to uncover gems, sort fossils, and explored at the Geologic Site. I think it was a big success! It is a lot to plan, but thankfully I don’t have another until January.

High

We got two more Vala’s visits in before the month ended. The last one was supposed to be our big campfire night. Unfortunately, the burn ban was still in effect so the campfire had to be canceled. We still met up with a group of homeschool friends and spent many hours having fun. It was tiring, but oh so much fun.

Low

Um… Halloween is over?

Next Week

• Slowing down to regroup

• Starting our new read alouds

• Finishing our next math chapters

• Completing our homework (A) from co-op

• Learning about North America (A) and Khmer Empire (Q) - history

• Listening to Jimi Hendrix, and more for music

Next up on the TBR pile: