Homeschool W10: In Which We Switch the Schedule Every Day

What We Studied

Every single day, we switched the schedule and what we did per Arthur’s request. It made for an interesting week for homeschooling.

Literature and Poetry

We kept reading Winnie the Pooh and started reading The House at Pooh Corner. We didn’t get as far as I would have liked, but we’re plugging through the book next week also. Good thing too as our next book didn’t yet come off hold at the library. That’s okay. I think we are going to substitute with a different book the next week instead. We also grabbed a new poetry book featuring seasonal poems.

• Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

• The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne

• Pumpkin Butterfly: Poems from the other Side of Nature by Heidi Mordhorst

Math

This week was all about fractions! Arthur caught on pretty quickly, so we went further than I thought we would go. We even covered improper and equivalent fractions a bit. We’ll circle back in a few weeks.

• Fraction Action by Loreen Leedy

• Fraction Fun by David A. Adler

• Working with Fractions by David A. Adler

• Fractions, Decimals, and Percents by David A. Adler

• If You Were a Fraction by Trisha Speed Shaskan

Social Studies

We covered a few U.S. History lessons this week. On Monday, we learned about Indigenous Peoples’ Day and talked about why we don’t celebrate Columbus Day anymore. From there, we covered Jamestown, Roanoke, and the Pilgrims’ arrival. We also watched another episode of Native America. Only one more in the documentary series. So sad! It’s just so so good! Arthur actually requested history multiple times this week. It was a good week.

• The Lost Colony of Roanoke by Jean Fritz

• 1607: A New Look at Jamestown by Karen E. Lange

• The Jamestown Colony by Peter Benoit

• The Mayflower by Mark Greenwood

• Mayflower 1620: A New Look at a Pilgrim Voyage by Peter Arenstam

• Fact Tracker: Pilgrims by Mary Kate Osborne

• 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving by Catherine O’Neill Grace

• Pilgrim Cat by Carol Antoinette Peacock

Science

Science was all about nocturnal animals this week! It dovetailed nicely with our weekly unit theme of owls.

• When the Stars Come Out by Nicola Edwards

• Nocturnal Animals by Abbie Dunne

• While the World is Sleeping by Pamela Duncan Edwards

• Daylight Starlight Wildlife by Wendell Minor

• The Night is for Darkness by Jonathan Stutzman

• After Dark: Poems About Nocturnal Animals by David L. Harrison

• Night Animals by Gianna Marino

• Daytime Nighttime by Diane Lang

• Nighttime by Jill Esbaum

• The Night Box by Louise Greig

• Lucy’s Light by Margarita del Mazo

• Night Animals Need Sleep Too by Gianna Marino

Art

We didn’t end up with any formal art lessons this week.

Music

Our composer of the week was John Philip Sousa. Arthur enjoyed him a lot more than Puccini and opera from last week. We need to watch The Music Man this week to keep up our march theme.

• Biography by Mike Venezia

Nature Play Day

Our nature play was all about fall this week! We walked down to the forest to notice the seasonal changes and search for animal tracks. Because it was such a nice day, we spent some time at the playground before heading back to the house. After lunch, we made fun seasonal shapes stained glass and compared some leaves. Such a lovely day!

Unit Theme

Our weekly theme was owls! Lots and lots of owl books, some owl facts, and fun owl videos. We also covered the chapters in The Tarantula in My Purse that talked about a screech owl.

• Owls by Mary R. Dunn

• Berkeley’s Barn Owl Dance by Tera Johnson and Tania Howells

• Whobert, Whoever Owl Detective by Jason Gallagher

• Knight Owls by Eric Seltzer

• Little Owl Lost by Chris Haughton

• Hooray for Today by Brian Won

• The Happy Owls by Celestino Piatti

• Owl Sees Owl by Laura Godwin and Rob Dunlavey

• Little Owl’s Night by Divya Srinivasan

• Good Luck Baby Owls by Giles and Alexandra Milton

• Little Owl’s Orange Scarf by Tatyana Feeney

• Owls are Good at Keeping Secrets by Sara O’Leary

• A Snowy Owl Story by Melissa Kim

• The Owl and Other Night Creatures

• Owls by Valerie Bodden

• Owl Babies by Martin Waddell

• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

• Baby Owl’s Bakery by Ji-hyeon Kim

• Baby Owl’s Rescue by Jennifer Keats Curtis

• Whoo-ku Haiku by Maria Gianferrari

• Otto the Owl Who Loved Poetry by Vern Kousky

Misc. - Random picture books read

• it’s Pumpkin Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond

• Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli by Barbara Jean Hicks

• Little Tree by Loren Long

• Dinosaur Lady: The Daring Discoveries of Mary Anning, the First Paleontologist by Linda Skeers

• By the Light of the Moon by Fran Preston-Gannon

• The Perfect Pumpkin Pie by Denys Cazet

• Moon Rabbit by Natalie Russell

• Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

• How to Be on the Moon by Viviane Schwarz

• Hey, Hey, Hay! by Christy Mihaly

• Scarecrow by Cynthia Rylant

• Tractor Mac: Autumn is Here by Billy Steers

• The Pumpkin Mystery by Carol Wallace

• The Magic School Bus Ride Again: Hide-and-Seek

• Charle the Ranch Dog: Rock Star by Ree Drummond

• The Ghosts Go Haunting by Helen Ketteman

• Pinky and Rex and the Perfect Pumpkin by James Howe

• Little Muir’s Song by John Muir

• Pattan’s Pumpkin by Chitra Soundar

• WonderFall by Michael Hall

• Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell

Highs

• Arthur’s birthday was on Thursday! We had sundaes and a shortened school day.

• Loved the owl theme this week!

Lows

• We ran out of steam a few times this week…

Next Week

Our weekly theme is bats and spiders! Celebrating the spooky for the month. In history, we are going to cover ancient Babylon and Assyria, plus a continent study for Asia.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• Cooler temperatures are so much nicer for playing outside and sleeping.

• I need to read at least one more scary book before the month ends.

• Pumpkin pie this weekend? I’m thinking yes.

• My new house shoes are so comfortable. Definitely a great purchase.

• Thinking about Thanksgiving plans. Where and who?

Next up on the TBR pile:

Fall Bucket List Update #1

It’s going to be another strange season still in the midst of the pandemic. And we’re homeschooling. Being at home does allow for some other fun activities, I just need to be more intentional about doing the activities. And we need to lower our expectations this year, just a bit… We managed to knock out a few items from our list already!

1. Visit Vala’s ✓

2. Read 5 Chapter Book Read-alouds

   • Half Magic by Edward Eager

3. Carve Pumpkins

4. Go Apple Picking ✓

5. Read 15 Books from My UnRead Shelf (1/15)

6. Hike at Fontenelle Forest

7. Go on a Hayride ✓

8. Take Pictures of Boys in a Pile of Leaves

9. Bake a Pie

10. Watch 10 Fall/Spooky Movies

11. Watch It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

12. Decorate the Front Porch (in progress)

13. Make a Leaf Craft

14. Buy Halloween Pajamas ✓

15. Read 15 Spooky Kids Books (1/15)

    • Chicken on a Broom by Adam Lehrhaupt

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W9: Few Pictures, But We Did Do School!

Not really sure what happened, but I took a total of seven pictures for the entire week. I was so exhausted this week… I just forgot to document. But we did do school!

What We Studied

We focused on Pumpkins and some U.S. History this week.

Literature and Poetry

We started reading Winnie the Pooh this week. A classic! Arthur liked this selection much more than last week’s book. We’ll be carrying this book into next week and moving on to The House at Pooh Corner. Plus, once we finish, we will watch the movie versions and compare.

• Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

• Winnie: The True Story of the Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh by Sally M. Walker

• Leaf by Leaf: Autumn Poems

Math

Our unit this week was all about time. Mostly a review for Arthur, but always good to review concepts. We also did a math review packet on Thursday and completed a few Khan Academy units this week. Next week is fractions which is relatively new to Arthur. We’ve been reading some books to introduce the topic and next week we will learn the basics.

• Charlie Piechart and the Case of the Missing Pizza Slice by Eric Comstock and Marilyn Sadler

• Fractions in Disguise by Edward Einhorn

• Charlie Piechart and the Case of the Missing Hat by Eric Comstock and Marilyn Sadler

Social Studies

We switched around the schedule again this week (seems like a weekly occurrence at this point) and focused on A River of Voices Lessons #2-3 focusing on Spanish Exploration and Settlement. I also added in a lesson on Monday about the various Native American groups of the Southwest. And we watched another episode of the PBS documentary Native America. So good! For the art component, Arthur colored a traditional Navajo rug and made some pictures inspired by the paintings in A Rainbow at Night. I also added in a lesson about the Taino people of the Caribbean and what happened to them after Columbus arrived. I was taught that they were wiped out, but that’s not true. They had to move to other islands, but some of their numbers survived and have held on to the culture and traditions all these centuries.

• First Nations of the North America: Southwest Indians

• The Southwest Indians: Daily Life in the 1500s by Mary Englar

• The Navajo by Kevin Cunningham and Peter Benoit

• A Rainbow at Night by Bruce Hucko

• The Precious Gift by Ellen Jackson

• Arrow to the Sun by Gerald McDermott

• A Kid’s Guide to Latino History

• The Conquistadores by R. Conrad Stein

• Early Explorations by Roger E. Hernandez

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

• Johonaa’ei: Bringer of Dawn by Veronica Tsinajinnie

• Encounter by Brittany Luby

• Southwest Sunrise by Nikki Grimes

Science

Our topics this week were Animal Migration, Animal Survival, and Animal Camouflage. We went outside one day to spot animals using the various techniques and to say goodbye to some of the birds flying south. We also watched a great NOVA episode, “Journey of the Butterflies,” about the migration of the monarch butterflies. We also read a chapter from The Tarantula in My Purse about geese. We’ll be sprinkling in these chapters over the next few months.

• Animal Migration by Jeanie Mebane

• On the Move by Scott Cohn

• Going Home by Marianne Berkes

• Why Do Geese Fly South in Winter? by Kathy Allen

• How Do Birds Find Their Way? by Roma Gans

• Animal Migrations by Vicky Franchino

• The Tarantula in My Purse by Jean Craighead George

• Little Home Bird by Jo Empson

• Is This Panama? by Jan Thornhill

Art

We did mini artist studies of Henri Rousseau and Andy Warhol this week. Arthur really loved the jungle paintings of Rousseau. He even made his own version. And he colored some fun Andy Warhol-esque pages.

• The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau by Michelle Markel

• Henri Rousseau Biography by Mike Venezia

• Andy Warhol Biography by Mike Venezia

• Andy Warhol Pop Art Painter by Susan Goldman Rubin

• Uncle Andy’s by James Warhola

• Uncle Andy’s Cats by James Warhola

Music

Our composer for this week was Giacomo Puccini. Arthur was not a fan of his compositions or opera in general. I’ll admit that I didn’t appreciate opera until adulthood so no big deal. We’ll be doing Sousa next week. Hopefully that’s more interesting to him.

Nature Play Day

None this week. We instead went over to a friend’s house and had an old-fashioned playdate. The kids really need to just hang out and blow off some steam.

Unit Theme

It was pumpkin week! We read a ton of pumpkin books and do some pumpkin activities. We didn’t get to our pumpkin investigation (cutting on up, etc), but we’ll slot that into our Halloween week along with carving our jack-o-lanterns.

• The Pumpkin Painter by Jennifer Matthai Garner

• From Seed to Pumpkin by Crystal Sikkens

• The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis

• Flat Stanley and the Missing Pumpkins by Lori Haskins Houran

• The Pumpkin Man by Judith Moffat

• Mystery Vine by Cathryn Falwell

• The Very Best Pumpkin by Mark Kimball Moulton

• Marley and the Runaway Pumpkin by Susan Hill

• Fall Pumpkin Fun

• Find a Pumpkin by Tad Hills

• Autumn Orange by Christianne C. Jones

• Pumpkin Day by Candice Pansom

• Pumpkin Harvest by Calvin Harris

• From Pumpkin to Pie by Lisa Owings

• The Story of Jack O’Lantern by Katherine Tegen

• The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin by Margaret Wise Brown

Misc. - Random picture books read

• The Amazing Planet Earth by Scott Emmons (Arthur read this one to me)

• Armadilly Chili by Helen Ketterman

• Mela and the Elephant by Dow Phumiruk

• Thomas and Friends Easter Engines

• The Magic School Bus Rides Again Rock Man Vs. Weather Man

• Croc and Ally Friends Forever by Derek Anderson

• Lofty and the Giraffe

• Muck on Ice

• The Ants Go Marching by Priscilla Burris

• Chicken on a Broom by Adam Lehrhaupt (Arthur read this one to me)

• How the Sphinx Got to the Museum by Jessie Hartland

• The Bean Team

• Monkey: A Trickster Tale from India by Gerald McDermott

• You Can Be Anything by Charles M. Schulz

Highs

I loved how much Arthur got into Henri Rousseau’s art. And the Native America documentary is always a win.

Lows

I was so tired this week. It was a struggle.

Next Week

We are going to continue our U.S. History lessons with ones focused on Jamestown and the Mayflower and the Pilgrims. For our unit theme, I chose Owls which will pair nicely with the science lessons on nocturnal animals and the moon. We’re planning on doing a moon tracking lesson starting with the New Moon on October 16th. Plus, Arthur’s 7th birthday is on Thursday… We’ll have to plan something special for that day. Maybe a zoo visit?

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #16

Reading: Lumberjanes Vol. 12-13. I needed some fun comfort reads for this week. I love this series so much!

Watching: The Great British Bake-Off is back!!! And I finally got to watch the first episode. I’ll miss Sandy, but Matt is a nice addition.

Listening: All the politics podcasts, I needed a break. Thankfully I had a few back episodes of Currently Reading (and What Should I Read Next) to listen to this week. I love their discussions about books and only books.

Making: We’re going to attempt fry bread this week to go along with our lessons about Native Americans of the Southwest.

Feeling: I’m so out of sorts this week and I just don’t even know why. Things are all just topsy-turvy. I think I need to get outside more and enjoy the fall season. I really do love this time of the year usually.

Planning: No trick-or-treating for us this year. I’m continuing to plan some fun Halloween party items instead.

Loving: I am enjoying the beautiful leaves in our neighborhood. I was very excited to move into a neighborhood with mature trees. They are so pretty!

Next up on the TBR pile:

October 2020 Life Goals

Let’s check in on September’s goals and my progress. Things did not go as planned as we unexpectedly had to travel to Indiana for over a week in the middle of the month.

• Get a Notary for the Trash Cans - Fail

• Preplan the next four weeks of homeschooling ✓

• Check out the new note taking app - Fail

• Read 15 books - Fail. So close with 14 reads!

• Organize my end of year reading plan - Fail

• Plan Saturday art projects - Fail

October’s Goals:

• Walk at least 20 miles on the treadmill/outdoors

• Read 15 books

• Cross off at least 5 items on my Fall Bucket List

• Plan out October and 1/2 of November for Homeschool - This includes my library book rotation, theme activities, nature play, and literature.

• Line up November’s TBR pile

• Start planning Christmas gifts

• Thanksgiving plans?

• Plan a Halloween party for the kids (and maybe one friend)

Next up on the TBR list:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• Thankful for getting back into our schedule.

• All 6 of my family members now have library cards!

• Flu shots are done for the year and I’m so happy that’s over.

• I really need to get back into a workout routine for October.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #15

Reading: Lovely War by Julie Berry - one of my Modern Mrs. Darcy Summer Reading Guide choices

Watching: We’re close to finishing S2 of The Orville. Pretty darn good.

Listening: Arthur has really been enjoying The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd. Such a fun radio play!

Making: It’s apple season! We’re going apple picking on Thursday and I’m lining up all the apple recipes. First up is definitely apple crumb with homemade caramel sauce.

Feeling: After the last few weeks, I’ve been feeling really weird. Grief is a strange thing to get a grasp on.

Planning: There will be no trick-or-treating for my family this year. We’re just not willing to take the risk. Instead, I’m planning some kind of Easter Egg hunt activity (but with Halloween stuff of course), spooky movie marathon, possible glow stick dance party, and maybe some other fun things…

Loving: After multiple weeks of over 90 degree weather, we’re experiencing beautiful fall weather!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W6-7: A Big Interruption

I ended up combining two different weeks into one post after we had to take an emergency trip over to Indiana. My father died a few weeks back and we traveled over to attend the funeral. My carefully set schedule went out the window for a few weeks as we traveled and came home. I made sure we took some curriculum just to keep busy, but mostly let our plans go for the time. We’re back home and getting back into schedule for the coming weeks.

What We Studied

Literature and Poetry

• Egyptian Diary by Richard Platt

• Hey You! Poems to Skyscrapers, Mosquitos, and Other Fun Things

• Half Magic by Edward Eager

• Sharing the Seasons

Math

We started 1B Unit 11, which was basically a review of two digit addition and subtraction. And we covered Unit 12 about an introduction to multiplication. Arthur quickly grasped the concept. We will be circling back to it in a few weeks after introducing division next week.

Social Studies

It was Ancient Egypt week(s)!

• Mummies, Pyramids, and Pharaohs by Gail Gibbons

• Egypt in Spectacular Cross-Section by Stephen Biesty

• The Egyptian Pyramid by Elizabeth Longley

• People Who Made History

• Tut’s Mummy Lost and Found by Judy Donnelly

• Temple Cat by Andrew Clements

• The Mummy Makers of Egypt by Tamara Bower

• The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo

• Ancient Worlds

Science

We finished out Mary Anning Book Seed once returning to Nebraska.

• Stone Girl, Bone Girl by Laurence Anholt

We also continued out ongoing study of biodiversity, biomes, ecosystems, and habitats. We watched a Bill Nye episode on biodiversity, an oldie but a goodie!

Art

We didn’t do any dedicated art lessons, but did make crafts for ancient Egypt. Arthur loved decorating a sarcophagus.

• Jackson Pollock Splashed Paint and Wasn’t Sorry by Fausto Gilberti

Music

None these two weeks

Nature Play Day

None these two weeks due to travel

Unit Theme

Week 6’s unit theme was deserts to go along with Africa from W5 and Egypt from W6. We learned about the various animals in desert habitats along with some plants and general facts. We visited the zoo before leaving Omaha specifically to go to the desert dome. Arthur was excited to connect the Namib and Sonoran deserts to the two sections in the desert dome. Magic School Bus had a great episode about deserts: All Dried Up!

• The Dry Desert by Philip Johansson

• Desert by Cassie Mayer

• Desert Baths by Darcy Pattison

• Desert Song by Tony Johnston

• The Desert is Theirs by Byrd Baylor

• A Day and Night in the Desert by Caroline Arnold

• D is for Desert by Barbara Gowan

• Desert by Elizabeth Haldane

• Animal Camouflage in the Desert by Martha E.H. Rustad

• Let’s Visit the Desert by Buffy Silverman

• Desert by Fleur Star

Week 7’s unit theme was Fall and Leaves to celebrate the Autumnal Equinox. We ended up just reading a ton of books.

• Talking a Walk: Fall in the Country by Sue Tarsky

• Oak Leaf by John Sandford

• Come Next Season by Kim Norman

• Signs of Autumn by Colleen Dolphin

• Counting on Fall by Lizann Flatt

• My Autumn Book by Wong Herbert Yee

• Fall leaves Fun by Martha E.H. Rustad

• Fall Harvest Fun by Martha E.H. Rustad

• The Squirrel’s Busy Year by Martin Jenkins

• Hello Fall by Deborah Diesen

• Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn by Kenard Pak

• I Love Fall by Alison Inches

• Mouse’s First Fall by Lauren Thompson

• In the Middle of Fall by Kevin Henkes

• Fall Weather Fun by Martha E.H. Rustad

• Hello Autumn by Shelley Rotner

• The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri

• Autumn by Gerda Muller

• Leaves by David Ezra Stein

• Four Friends in Autumn by Tomie DePaola

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Pretty Salma by Niki Daly

• Counting on Letters by Lizann Flatt

• The Leopard’s Drum by Jessica Souhami

• Koi and the Kola Nuts by Verna Aardema

• Mama Miti by Donna Jo Napoli

• Chicka, Chicka, 1, 2, 3 by Bill Martin Jr.

Highs

• More great podcasts this week! We found a Storynory spin-off about the writings of Herodotus. We listened to the Egypt related episodes. We also found some good 60 Second Science episodes about archaeology.

• We managed to fit in two zoo visits with focuses on the desert and African animals. And we made it to Vala’s for their special homeschooling day.

Lows

• All the travel…

Next Week

Maybe we will get back into a normal schedule this week. We focusing on Ancient India along with scarecrows and corn.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Fall Bucket List

It’s going to be another strange season still in the midst of the pandemic. And we’re homeschooling. Being at home does allow for some other fun activities, I just need to be more intentional about doing the activities. And we need to lower our expectations this year, just a bit…

1. Visit Vala’s

2. Read 5 Chapter Book Read-alouds

3. Carve Pumpkins

4. Go Apple Picking

5. Read 15 Books from My UnRead Shelf

6. Hike at Fontenelle Forest

7. Go on a Hayride

8. Take Pictures of Boys in a Pile of Leaves

9. Bake a Pie

10. Watch 10 Fall/Spooky Movies

11. Watch It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

12. Decorate the Front Porch

13. Make a Leaf Craft

14. Buy Halloween Pajamas

15. Read 15 Spooky Kids Books

Next up on the TBR pile:

Summer Bucket List Update #3

As predicted, our summer bucket list did not go well. We spent so much time trying to manage our daily lives and then starting homeschool that we didn’t get to special things. Oh well.

1. Visit Heron Haven

2. Comic Book Day

3. Make Ice Cream Sundaes

4. Hitchcock Nature Center

5. Read aloud 5 chapter books ✓

   • Oh Say, I Can’t See by Jon Scieszka

   • Amazon in the Afternoon by Mary Pope Osborne

   • Dolphins at Daybreak by Mary Pope Osborne

   • Buffalo Before Breakfast by Mary Pope Osborne

   • Tornadoes on Tuesday by Mary Pope Osborne

6. Board Game Day

7. Scatter Joy Acres

8. Finger Paint

9. Read 50 books (50/50) ✓

10. Have a Backyard Picnic ✓

11. Weekly Sprinkler Time ✓

12. Go to the Zoo 5x (3/5)

13. Make S’mores

14. Tie Dye Something

15. Hopscotch in Driveway

16. Hike at the River ✓

17. Complete Two Jigsaw Puzzles

18. Make Doughnuts

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• Driving 630 miles in one long shot is a lot to handle… I do not love the drive at all, but driving straight through seemed the best option given current times.

• I now have a pair of nice skinny black pants. Not an addition I was looking for, but at least they were fairly cheap and are comfortable.

• I miss my own bed. It’s just so incredibly comfy.

• Redoing the library holds takes time…

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W5: It was Apple Week!

What We Studied

Literature and Poetry

We had fun reading and attempting the cases in Encyclopedia Brown’s first story collection. Arthur enjoyed the stories but was less interested in actually solving the cases. We started a new poem collection filled with fun short poems. We’ll be continuing this collection next week.

• Encyclopedia Brown by Donald Sobol

• Hey You! Poems to Skyscrapers, Mosquitos, and Other Fun Things

Math

As we finished 1A last week, we took this week to play some math games and do some Khan Academy lessons. The favorite part was playing with tannegrams on Monday.

Social Studies

The first part of the week we focused on the Native American tribes of the Northeast before European contact. We read some classic tales, watched some videos, and learned about various tribes and their cultures. On Wednesday, we watched the first episode of the PBS documentary Native America. Although it focused on the cultures of the Southwest and Mesoamerica, we still learned a lot. I can’t wait to watch the rest of the series over the next couple of weeks.

• First Nations of North America: Northeast Indians

• Children of Native America Today

• Skywoman by Joanne Shenandoah

• Rabbit’s Snow Dance by James and Joseph Bruchac

• The Iroquois by Danielle Smith-Llera

• The Iroquois by Emily J. Dolbear

• The Iroquois by KaaVonia Hinton

• Hiawatha Messenger of Peace by Dennis Brindell Fradin

• D is for Drum by Debbie and Michael Shoulders

• Song of the Hermit Thrush by Gloria Dominic

• Bowwow Powwow by Brenda J. Child

The second half of the week we started our continent study. First up: Africa! We learned about the African geography, some traditional stories, and the animals. My favorite part was learning about a few of the natural wonders of the continent.

• Here is the African Savanna by Madeleine Dunphy

• A is for Africa by Ifeoma Onyefulu

• Africa by Mary Lindeen

• African Culture

• Wangari’s Trees of Peace by Jeanette Winter

• The Spider Weaver by Margaret Musgrove

• Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermott

• Zomo the Rabbit by Gerald McDermott

• The Amazing African Animal Alphabet by Kristina Jones

• The Lonely Lioness and the Ostrich Chicks by Verna Aardema

• Anansi Does the Impossible by Verna Aardema

Science

We had a bit of a light science week. We started with a study of ecosystems and habitats. Thankfully Magic School Bus had two great episodes about ecosystems and habitats to reinforce our learning. Later in the week we started Blossom and Root’s Book Seed about Mary Anning. I do so love learning about women scientists.

• Mary Annin and the Sea Dragon by Jeannine Atkins

Art

No formal art lessons this week. All of our projects were tied to our unit theme or social studies.

Music

Our composer for the week was Johann Sebastian Bach. Arthur still prefers Beethoven, but I love Bach. Beyond our usual composer podcasts and listening journal, we did a special music lesson on Wednesday. We listened to Camille Saint-Saen’s The Carnival of the Animals and drew the animals we heard in each movement.

• The Carnival of the Animals Jack Prelutsky

Nature Play Day

As it was apple week, most of our nature play activities focused on apples. We did an apple taste, investigated an apple, stamped with apples, made a coffee filter apple, and ____. It was raining on Wednesday so we skipped our outdoor hike.

• Apple Harvest by Jenna Lee Gleisner

• Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr. Seuss

• The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall

Unit Theme - Apples

I thought the second week of September would be the perfect week to learn about apples. The fresh vs. frozen apples experiment was a lot of fun even if we didn’t actually eat the frozen one. It was disgusting… Beyond the experiment, we read a ton of apple themed books and did a deeper dive into the life of Johnny Appleseed.

• How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman

• The Apple Doll by Elisa Kleven

• From Apple Trees to Cider Please by Felicia Sanzari Chernesky

• Bad Apple by Edward Hemingway

• Our Apple Tree by Gorel Kristina Naslund

• The Apple Orchard Riddle by Margaret McNamara

• The Apple Pie that Papa Baked by Lauren Thompson

• Johnny Appleseed Plants Trees Across the Land by Eric Braun

• 12 Amazing American Myths and Legends

• Johnny Appleseed by Jane Yolen

• A is for Autumn by Robert Maass

Misc. - Random picture books read

• The Piano by Marika Maijala and Juha Virta

• Good Morning City by Pat Kiernan

• Welcome Home Bear by Il Sung Na

• The Ocean in Your Bathtub by Seth Fishman

• Beautiful by Stacy McAnulty

• The Hike by Alison Farrell

• Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg

• Silent Kay and the Dragon by Larry Dane Brimner

• The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt

• Math Fables Too by Greg Tang

Highs

• We listened to great podcasts this week including the end of the Gilgamesh series, WOW in the World, and multiple Dr. Floyd episodes.

• Quentin loves doing his school work! Guess I need to print more.

Lows

• Arthur had a few attitude moments throughout the week. We are working on good attitudes and asking for help when frustrated instead of breaking down.

Next Week

Depending on the situation, we may be taking a few days off this coming week. Things are very much up in the air right now. I do have W6 and W7 already planned out if I need it. We are going to focus on Egypt, Deserts, Fall and Leaves, and the Southwest Native American tribes.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W4: We finished Math 1A!

What We Studied

Literature and Poetry

Our read aloud this week was Home Price by Robert McCloskey. I had never read it, but the collection of stories appeared on many a First Grade reading list. Overall we really liked the six stories of Homer’s adventures in and around Centerburg, Ohio. I liked the story about doughnuts the best.

For poetry, we read I am Someone Else: Poems About Pretending

• Homer Price by Robert McCloskey

• I am Someone Else: Poems About Pretending collected by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Math

Arthur officially finished Singapore Math 1A this week. It was mostly a big review for him, but review is always a good idea before moving forward. We are going to do some math projects next week before starting 1B. I also bought 2A and 2B as I imagine that 1B will not last for the rest of the year. On Friday we read a fun measuring book and made a poster.

• Me and the Measure of Things by Joan Sweeney

Social Studies

I rearranged our schedule a bit and we covered History Quest Ch. 3 Civilizations Begin and Ch. 4 Sumer this week instead of breaking it into two different weeks. So we covered Mesopotamia and Sumer including cuneiform, King Sargon, ziggurats, and the Epic of Gilgamesh. For our night reading, we read Lugalbanda retold by Kathy Henderson which is a translated and retold version of an ancient story. Arthur loved making a cuneiform tablet and a ziggurat out of Legos.

• Technology of the Ancients: The Mesopotamians by Wil Mara

• Picturing the Past Mesopotamia Iraq in Ancient Times by Peter Chrisp

• Ancients in Their Own Words Mesopotamians by Michael Kerrigan

• Lugalbanda retold by Kathy Henderson

• Hands-on History Mesopotamia by Lorna Oakes

• Lost Cities by Neil Morris

• Sunset of the Sabertooth by Mary Pope Osborne (Magic Tree House night reading selection)

Science

We did some free exploration early in the week. We also did a bit of review of animal classifications. On Friday, we did a mini unit on growing food in the cities using Heroes of the Environment Ch. 1 . Arthur is now convinced that we need to create an entire backyard garden. First we need to replace the deck and re-landscape the backyard. Maybe in two years…

• Watch Me Grow by Deborah Hodge

• Grow! Raise! Catch! How We Get Our Food by Shelley Rotner

• The Children’s Garden by Carole Lexa Schaefer

Art

Beyond doing some projects relating to our nature play, we did a mini study of Leonardo da Vinci on Friday. We read some books about him, looked at his works, modernized the Mona Lisa, and watched a few NOVA episodes about his works (S39E4 and S46E21 in case you were wondering). Arthur decided to recreate the painting in question from the NOVA episode. He drew and colored then cut it out, pasted to a cream piece of cardstock, and then added it to a yellow paper “frame.” Very inventive!

• Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo da Vinci by Gene Barretta

• Leonardo da Vinci biography by Mike Venezia

• Steal Back the Mona Lisa by Meghan McCarthy

• If da Vinci Painted a Dinosaur by Amy Newbold

• Fly Kite Fly: A Story of Leonardo and a Bird Catcher by John Winch

Music

Our Classics for Kids composer for the week was Johannes Brahms. Arthur liked his music, but prefers Beethoven. There were only four Brahms episodes, so on Friday we read a book about musical instruments and the orchestra.

• The Story of the Incredibly Orchestra by Bruce Koscielniak

Nature Play Day

We had another fun nature play day with our friends. We made some cotton swab paintings, baking soda and vinegar creations, a large collaborative drawing, and sun prints outdoors. We also created some animals tracks in the play sand and read a few books about animal tracks. We wrapped up our morning with a few Doreen Cronin books and an epic snack lunch!

• Step by Step by Loreen Leedy

Unit Theme

We picked author Doreen Cronin for our weekly theme. We checked out almost all of her books and read them throughout the day. I found some fun little puzzle pages to go with some and some ELA pages to go with others. Arthur’s favorite was Diary of a Worm.

• Duck for President

• Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type

• Click, Clack, Moo: I Love You!

• Click, Clack, Ho, Ho, Ho

• Click, Clack, Surprise!

• Click, Clack, Quack to School

• Giggle, Giggle, Quack

• Dooby Dooby Moo

• Duck Stays in the Truck

• Pool Party

• Click, Clack, Boo!

• Diary of a Worm

• Diary of a Spider

• Diary of a Fly

• Boom Snot Twitty

• Click, Clack, Peep!

• Click, Clack, ABC

• Smick!

• Rescue Bunnies

• Bloom

• Bounce

• Stretch

• Wiggle

Misc. - Random picture books read

• P is for Pterodactyl by Raji Haldar and Christ Carpenter

• Maybe Something Beautiful by F. Isabel Campoy

• Finding Shortest and Longest by Amy Rauen

• Bug in a Vacuum by Melanie Watt

• Ol’ Mama Squirrel by David Ezra Stein

• Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner

Highs

• Finished The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd S1 podcast and started S2. Arthur is really enjoying this old-style radio play.

• Arthur requested multiple NOVA episodes to watch throughout this week. We watched one on the Secrets of Stonehenge, one about an Ice Age Death Trap, one about the last extinction (ice age), and two about Leonardo Da Vinci and his works.

Lows

• Grocery store weeks really throw off our schedule. Because of COVID, I don’t take the kids to the store with me. Which means that I need to leave with J and he needs to be somewhat available to monitor the kids. So mornings are my only real option. I rush out and hit multiple stores to stock up for two weeks. Add in that we don’t get takeout that often and I make three meals a day plus snacks, I’m buying a lot of food each trip. This takes up the entire morning, meaning no real school work is done. Arthur is not independent enough to do things without me monitoring…

Next Week

We are going to read Encyclopedia Brown next week (the first volume). I’m certain Arthur is going to love the mysteries. We are going to spend a week doing math projects instead of starting the next textbook. For history, we are going to switch gears and start A River of Voices (U.S. History) and then do a continent study for Africa. Our science unit includes starting the Blossom and Root Book Seed: Mary Anning. I foresee some dinosaur and fossil related activities for the next two weeks. Our weekly theme will be apples. I can’t wait!

Next up on the TBR pile:

2020 Soups and Stews from Around the World - July and August

Week 25: Kharcho (Beef Stew) from Georgia

Decent but not a punch of flavor like we love.

Recipe used from Natasha’s Kitchen

Week 26: Paplou Soup (Fish Soup) from Oman

I liked this but needed more broth. Possibly simmering it on the stove longer…

Recipe used from International Cuisine

Week 27: Prawn and Sweet Potato Curry from Jamaica

This might be J’s favorite so far. Very spicy (I did add more spice than the recipe called for)!

Recipe used from Olive Magazine

Week 28: Fish Chowder from Australia

I liked this basic fish chowder. More subtle flavors. This would be great in the dead of winter.

Recipe used from Recipe Tin Eats

Week 29: Mang Cua (Crap and Asparagus Soup) from Vietnam

This was oh so yummy! A nice light broth filled with crab, egg, and asparagus. I will definitely make this one again. The quail eggs were a nice touch.

Recipe used from A Taste of Joy and Love

Week 30: Cawl Cennin (Potato Leek Soup) from Wales

A lovely basic leek soup. I enjoy the simple recipes sometimes.

Recipe used from All Recipes

Week 31: Bariis Maraq (Beef Stew) from Somalia

This was okay, but not amazing.

Recipe used from Epicurious

Week 32: Dovga from Azerbaijan

This was pretty good. I think with a little tweaking, this could be really great.

Recipe used from Golubka Kitchen

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• Two mediocre books in a row has me in a blergh mood. Here’s so hoping the next one is better.

• We’re finishing our first math text tomorrow… next week I have to organize some math projects as an in-between.

• Iced water is so incredibly good. I can’t get enough lately.

• Hoping the library processes my returns today. Seriously, I have so many that were turned in but haven’t been processed yet. My numbers are way too high right now… seriously process my books already.

• Yesterday’s snack lunch was a great idea. Need to do it again today and maybe tomorrow.

Next up on the TBR pile:

September 2020 Life Goals

Let’s check in on August’s goals and my progress.

• Read 20 Books - So close! I ended up reading 17 books.

• Send out Exchange Cards ✓

• Walk 30 miles on the treadmill ✓

• Start homeschooling! ✓

September’s Goals:

• Get a Notary for the Trash Cans

• Preplan the next four weeks of homeschooling

• Check out the new note taking app

• Read 15 books

• Organize my end of year reading plan

• Plan Saturday art projects.

Next up on the TBR list:

Homeschool W3: We Took Two Field Trips!

What We Studied

Literature and Poetry

Our read aloud was Stuart Little. I had never actually read the book before. It’s more of a series of vignettes instead of one cohesive story. We also read the Summer themed poems from Outside Your Window.

• Stuart Little by E.B. White

• Outside Your Window by Nicola Davies

Math

We flew through two more units in Singapore Math 1A. We’ll be close to finishing the book next week. Still lots of review and solidifying concepts of basic number theory.

Social Studies

This week we covered Paleolithic and Neolothic eras including the Agricultural Revolution. We did a little map work to help understand the areas we read about. We walked some great videos on YouTube showing the time periods. We learned about various ice age animals including the domestication of wolves. Arthur’s favorite is the Saber Tooth Cat. We also watched the NOVA episode about the mystery of Otzi the Iceman. Finally we learned about the first cities (Catalhoyuk and Jericho) as well as some notable Stone Age sites (Stonehenge and Skara Brae).

• The Secret Cave by Emily Arnold McCully 

• Painters of the Caves by Patricia Lauber

• You Wouldn’t Want to be a Mammoth Hunter

• Kali’s Song by Jeannette Winter

• Caveboy Crush by Beth Ferry

• Peter Kent’s City Across Time

•  The First Drawing by Mordicai Gerstein

• There was an Old Man Who Painted by Teri Sloat

• The Secrets of Stonehenge by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom

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

• Hands-on History Stone Age by Charlotte Hurdman

• The First Dog by Jan Brett

• How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth by Michelle Robinson

• Mammoths on the Move by Lisa Wheeler

Science

This week’s science was a catch-all of mini lessons on animal habitats, water conservation, Alexander von Humboldt (talking about being a naturalist), the water cycle, and landforms. For extra fun, we did a mini study of the Missouri River. We traveled the few miles down the to the riverwalk. We met the troll that lives under the bridge, played in the splash pad, explored the garden, and walked across the bridge to Iowa.

Art

During our study of prehistoric times, the boys made their own cave paintings. Q loved coloring his bull purple while Arthur made an entire scene.

Otherwise we did some fun side art projects dealing with color.

• Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd

Music

We listened to Classics for Kids episodes about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Arthur really like some of his pieces.

• Mozart Biography

• Play, Mozart, Play by Peter Sis

Nature Play Day

We took a field trip with our friends to the Tree Adventure in Nebraska City. We had a ton of fun exploring the natural areas as well as the nature classroom. The tree houses were still tons of fun, but I preferred the trail. We even got to see two deer in the woods! In total, we spent over 5 hours exploring and playing with our friends. A great day!

Unit Theme

No unit theme this week

Misc. - Random picture books read

• When Planet Earth was New by James Gladstone

• On Duck Pond by Jane Yolen

• What’s Your Favorite Bug?

• The Mission of Addition by Brian P. Cleary

Highs

• I’m loving the flexibility to venture out to various places during school hours. Our field trips were so much fun (even if I was tired afterward). I’m hoping to do a field trip once every two weeks.

• We upped our picture book game this week and I love reading all the books!

• The boys were excited to see another frog hiding in the sign posts at the Tree Adventure.

Lows

• I’m not used to going out so much in a few days. I was exhausted!

Next Week

We are studying the beginning of civilization and Mesopotamia for our world history. We’re also starting A River of Voices with a lesson on Native American groups of the Northeast. Our weekly theme is the books of Doreen Cronin.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #14

Reading: Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt. It’s number three in the Maiden Lane series. Loving my historical romance breaks.

Watching: J and I are finally watching The Orville S1. I initially resisted because Family Guy Seth McFarlane bothers me. This one is much more awkward humor and I’m really enjoying it.

Listening: The kids have started listening to WOW in the World podcast from NPR. I even enjoy it!

Making: Trying to make cookies, but our oven has some strange hot and cold spots. Very annoying…

Feeling: It’s so fucking hot here, still. I hate it.

Planning: I’m looking at some potential field trips to sprinkle into our homeschooling weeks. COVID is making is hard to plan, as we really are trying to avoid indoor places. Today we are going doing to the Missouri River to walk across the pedestrian bridge and then check out the Oregon Trail statue park downtown. Tomorrow we’re going to Tree Adventures in Nebraska City for our nature play day. I’m hoping we can go apple picking next month and are scheduling a homeschooling day at Vala’s. Making a list of some others.

Loving: I’m so hot… drinking lots of iced tea.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W2: In Which I Learn I Need to Change Something Big

This week, I hit a huge obstacle with our science curriculum. Actually our problem was two fold. 1) I had scheduled too many science activities for each day. 2) The flow of activities as prescribed by Build Your Library did not make sense to me. Let’s break this down a bit more.

1) Too many activities

I started following the Build Your Library schedule of activities, but also had added some related lessons and some other pieces like the Blossom and Root Profiles in Science. Unfortunately, it was just too much! Arthur really does get into the science activities and wants to spend some time in one little thing. That’s great! But it was leaving a huge schedule backlog and I was scrambling to finish. Not a good feeling. I needed to drastically decrease the activities per day.

2) Flow doesn’t make sense

I had just started the BYL activities without looking at the larger scope. Late last week I started wondering if I needed to take a look at all the weeks and their lessons. And I realized that some of the lessons were just not where I would like them to be. I liked the lessons, just not the schedule.

This weekend, I spent a lot of time looking at all the science lessons, reordering them, and laying out a more manageable schedule for us to follow. We’ll see how this next week goes…

Making a Lego Minecraft pig and zombie

What We Studied

Even with the obstacles stated above, I still feel like we had a very successful homeschooling week. The obstacles were felt by me, not really by the kids.

Literature and Poetry

We finished The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. I ended up really enjoying the book. And Arthur seemed to finally settle in and enjoy the read aloud. We kept the activities to a minimum, but did draw our favorite scene from the book. Arthur chose Despereaux being born for his scene. I also sprinkled in some summer themed poems.

• The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

• Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature by Nicola Davies

• Our Big Home by Linda Glaser

Math

We sailed through another couple of units in our review. We’ll be finished with 1A very soon…

Social Studies

This was a big week for social studies! We officially started our history curriculum. We read about the general concept of history and quickly moved onto archaeology and evolution. The evolution days tied in nicely to our science unit about Charles Darwin from Blossom and Root. As an extra special activity on Saturday, I made Arthur a small archeology dig. He had to use the tools to uncover the “artifacts” (like coins, legos, and cars) and chart his findings on graph. Kinetic sand for the win.

As we studied the family tree for life on Earth and specifically the human race, we decided to make our own family tree. Arthur really got into creating this little tree. He had to have help to spell everyone’s names correctly, but did the rest himself.

• One Day a Dot by Ian Lendler

• Archaeologists Dig for Clues by Kate Duke

• Mary Leakey Biography

• I Used to be a Fish by Tom Sullivan

• It Started with a Big Bang by Floor Bal

• How Did I Get Here? By Philip Bunting

• Life by Martin Jenkins and Grahame Baker-Smith

• Continental Drift by Martin Ince

• Life on Earth by Steve Jenkins

• Darwin’s Tree of Life by Michael Bright

• Galapagos George by Jean Craighead George

• You are Stardust by Elin Kelsey

• Our Family Tree by Lisa Westberg Peters

• Who’s In My Family? By Robie H. Harris

• Me and My Family Tree by Joan Sweeney

• Grandmother Fish by Jonathan Tweet

• The World’s Most Amazing Lost Cities by Ann Weil

Science

This week’s science was a bit all over the place. We did spend some time outdoors looking for colors, finding predators and prey, and talking about summer.

• Hike by Pete Oswald

• Pollen by Darcy Pattison

Art

A lot of our art this week came from looking at various color books. We really got into the picture book Dancing Through Fields of Color about artist Helen Frankenthaler. We decided to use her art as inspiration for a project. We played around with adding different colors to our art projects.

• Pocket Full of Colors: The Magical World of Mary Blair, Disney Artist Extraordinaire by Amy Guglielmo

• The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons by Natascha Biebow

• Dancing Through Fields of Color: The Story of Helen Frankenthaler by Elizabeth Brown

• Swatch by Julia Kenos

Music

We covered Beethoven this week with Classics for Kids, various picture books, and lots of listening for our journal. Arthur liked Beethoven more than Copland. Wonder how he’ll respond to Mozart next week?

• The 39 Apartments of Ludwig van Beethoven by Jonah Winter

Nature Play Day

We started our day making our own trail mix to take on our expeditions. Once we had loaded up, we went to explore the woods near our house. We looked for lots of colors, animal tracks, and various leaf shapes. We let the kids play at the playground for awhile before coming back to the house. We read some books about color and did some fun color activities. The littles had fun making a rainbow out of punched shapes. We finished up our Wednesday with some pool time.

• A Year with Mama Earth by Rebecca Grabill

Unit Theme

This week’s theme was colors! We played color games, sorted color teddy bears (really Quentin did this about 50 times this week), read books about colors, and found some cool videos about the artist and items from the picture books.

• Blue Chameleon by Emily Gravett

• Color Dance by Ann Jonas

• How the Crayons Saved the Unicorn by Monica Sweeney

• Cat’s Colors by Airlie Anderson

• Colors by Shelley Rotner and Anne Woodhull

• Festival of Colors by Kabir Sehgal

• Sky Color by Peter H. Reynolds

• Living Color by Steven Jenkins

• Neon Leon by Britta Teckentrup

• Colors by Felicia Law

• The Color Monster by Anna Llenas

• Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert

• White Rabbit’s Colors by Alan Baker

• Bears Sees Colors by Karma Wilson

• Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox

• Walk and See Colors

• The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

• Red by Michael Hall

• Vivid by Julie Paschkis

• Green is a Chile Pepper by Roseanne Greenfield Thong

• Monsters Love Colors by Mike Austin

• Duck & Goose Colors by Tad Hills

• Colors Versus Shapes by Mike Boldt

• Every Color Soup by Jorey Hurley

• Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd

Misc.

Quentin has really gotten into sorting his color teddy bears. We’re going to make patterns next week.

Highs

• Another successful nature play day! Complete with backyard wading pool time!

• We finished The Tale of Despereaux, our first read aloud for the year!

Lows

• Not so much a Homeschool problem, but I developed a migraine Wednesday afternoon that affected the last few parts of school that day and most of Thursday. I was hurting and subsequently annoyed by Arthur’s inability to focus on the task at hand.

• Q’s a little behind on his letter work, but that’s ultimately okay.

Next Week

Our themes are Paleolithic and Neolithic Times for history and the Letter C for Quentin. We won’t have a unit theme (I’ve built in some lesser weeks to give us a rest). For Wednesday’s nature play day, we are going to Tree Adventure in Nebraska City to explore the outdoors and enjoy the weather before it gets cold. And we’re going to go see the Missouri River as a part of Tuesday’s science lesson.

Next up on the TBR pile: