Homeschool W1: A Return to Routine

What We Studied

We have officially started our second year of homeschooling. This year, I have added Quentin into the mix. We’re still trying to find a balance of together and separate subjects while adding in our STEAM coop, field trips and the usual errands.

Literature and Poetry

We started reading The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum in alignment the Blossom and Root 2nd Grade Language Arts curriculum. The curriculum doesn’t actual start with The Wizard of Oz, but I reordered everything to align closer to our history this year. We also started a new book of poems, a spelling curriculum, and some random grammar pages.

• The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

• I Invited a Dragon to Dinner

Math

We spent the week doing a bit of math review and math games. Monday was all about shapes and playing with tangrams. On Wednesday, we focused on time. Quentin joined us for part of the big math review. He especially loved playing with tangrams.

• Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh

• If You were a Quadrilateral by Molly Blaisdell

• About Time: A First Look at time and Clocks by Bruce Koscielniak

Social Studies

Instead of starting our big history curriculum, we focused on a review of map skills and talks about where we live this week. We also dove into the concept of a city and did some city planning projects.

• Got Geography! poems

• Follow that Map by Sheri Tan (Arthur read)

• Cities: Discover How They Work by Kathleen M. Reilly

Arthur Independent Time

To allow for one-on-one time with Quentin, I have added an hour of independent work time for Arthur. Each week, he will have a mix of packet work (mostly grammar and math review), independent reading time, and special projects. Many of his projects will be aligned with our literature selections (some taken from B&R Language Arts curriculum) and history. This week, he focused on some packet work and a creative project. He made shadow puppets for The Wizard of Oz. Hopefully we can use those next week to act out various scenes from the book.

Science and STEAM Coop

We officially started our STEAM coop this week with a theme of Math in Nature! Definitely a learning curve, but I think we had a great first meeting. The older kid group had five kids and the younger kid group had five kids. I taught the little kids and we focused on spirals and the Fibonacci sequence. We made spirals on our boards and in the grass using found objects. We used Fibonacci boxes to make an art project. The kids lasted about an hour before they were done. The older kids did a more in depth exploration of Fibonacci and his sequence. Arthur joined the big kids and loved the lesson! According to the teacher, he was a great student and asked some great questions. I think it went really well! Afterward, the kids played at the playground until it go too hot. We will be continuing the theme into next week and I will once again be teaching the younger group.

• Nature Math by Penny Dowdy

• Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature by Sarah C. Campbell

• Math Art + Drawing Games for Kids by Karyn Tripp

• STEM Quest: Fabulous Figure and Cool Calculations by Colin Stuart

• Shapes in Math, Science, and Nature by Catherine Sheldrick Ross

• Math Lab for Kids by Rebecca Rapoprt and J.A. Yoder

• Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman

• Math Everywhere Get in Shape: Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Shapes by Rob Colson

Art/Music

None this week

Quentin

I have scheduled at least four 1-hour time blocks for one-on-one time with Quentin. I bought Blossom and Root’s Early Years Volume 2 curriculum to use as our base. I love the variety of activities and some of the bigger projects included. After giving Q a PreK assessment, I am going to have to accelerate the curriculum. He only missed a few questions and is probably closer to a Kindergarten curriculum than PreK. We are going to condense the letter work to one semester instead of one year and add in phonics. I’m debating about how to accelerate the math portion. He might start Singapore Math 1 in October or so. For this week, I focused on getting him used to the idea of school time. We review the alphabet and counting while also playing some games and working on map skills.

ELA

• R is for Rocket by Tad Hills

• Those Darn Squirrels by Adam Rubin

• Alphamals by Graham Carter

• I Spy Letters by Jean Marzollo

• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault

Math

• Richard Scarry’s Best Counting Book Ever

• Counting by Joanna Brundle

• It’s About Time by Stuart J. Murphy

Other

• High Five magazine volume

• August by K.C. Kelley and Bob Ostrom

Field Trip

Our field trip this week was another visit to the zoo. We got to visit the newly opened aviary as well as stopping at the splash pad. Before leaving, we stopped into the theater and the boys got to participate in the lesson about how the zoo trains animals. Q was super excited to see the dog they used. It got really hot so we didn’t stay super late, but it was fun.

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. This week, we picked a seemingly random NOVA episode about the alphabet, but in reality, I thought it would be a good starting point as we are reviewing the alphabet with Quentin and it connects to a lot of ancient history Arthur studied last year.

• NOVA S47 E11: A to Z The First Alphabet

Misc. - Random picture books read

• 1001 Creatures by Laura Merz translated by Emily Jeremiah

• Numbers Everywhere by Linda Leopold Strauss

• Old MacDonald Had a Boat by Steve Goetz

• Pajama Pirates by Andrew Kramer

• 10 Reasons to Love an Elephant by Catherine Barr

• Iguanodon by Lucia Raatma

• Giant Pandas by Jill Anderson

• The Z was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg

Highs

• We loved our first STEAM coop meeting! Hoping to keep up the excitement and momentum.

• We skipped out on Friday morning and did a splash pad visit. We had a friend join us and it was nice for the boys to have some socialization time.

Lows

• Both boys had a few meltdowns throughout the week. Our break (most of July) was probably a bit too long and the boys had trouble making the transition. Hopefully we get over this small hiccup.

Next Week

We’re still going to take it a bit easier next week. I’ve decided to plan for half weeks through the month of August. I want to get in as much outdoor time while the weather holds. We’re just going to keep plugging along and see where we get next week. I am hoping to take a bit more of a relaxed and flexible approach this semester.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• Our first STEAM coop is today! I’m so excited, but a little worried. Hope everything goes well.

• After one night of beautiful, cool, open window weather, we are back to very warm temperatures. I’m not loving this at all.

• I need to bake more, but the heat is really impeding my motivation…

• Joined a literary society and it’s been lovely talking books with other like-minded folks every few weeks.

Next up on the TBR pile:

August 2021 Life Goals

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

• Read 15 Books ✓

• Plan August Homeschooling Lessons and Coop ✓

• Stick to My Time Blocking ✓

• Weekly Field Trips ✓

• Cross Off 7 Items on Our Summer Bucket List - Eh. Close, but not quite.

• Get My Email Inbox to 0 ✓

August’s Goals:

• Read 15 books

• Kick off our 2nd year of homeschooling!

• Kick off our STEAM coop

• Make 3-4 desserts for our food project

Next up on the TBR pile:

We're Homeschooling - Year 2! Planning and Schedule

Our Schedule

So now I have the supplies, it’s time to start planning and gathering everything I want to do. I’m a Type A planner that always feels better with a good plan going in. I’m always up for flexibility and change in the spur of the moment, but I need a plan to reference when things change. I started with making a simple list of of the various curriculum we will be using.

I’m a big fan of time blocking, but we have the added complications of Quentin’s preschool curriculum, our new STEAM coop, and our weekly field trips. My first pass at scheduling our day began with these three items. From there, I came up with this basic schedule:

From there, I broke the week schedule down into days to better see if everything would fit:

My next step was to create an overview calendar with our big themes. I used index cards cut into smaller pieces laid out on my desk so I could see everything at once and move things around. Very low tech solution, but sometimes paper really is better.

I’ve been experimenting with the idea of loop scheduling to help Arthur stay on task while I work with Quentin. I made a very long and detailed week loop (on the left) for myself and a much simpler daily/weekly loop (on the right) for Arthur to check off. We’ll try this out and see how it goes for the first few weeks.

From here, I pulled out my trusty cheap paper planner and started jotting down basic plans for the week. I love to make things easy to see at a glance, so I color coded all the different subjects. in case you are wondering:

• Pink is ELA

• Purple is math

• Orange is history

• Light green is Quentin’s preschool

• Light blue is music/art (not on this spread)

• Dark blue is coop/science

• Red is field trips/games/crafts.

Because there was too much to shove onto the small lines of my paper planner, I pulled out Quentin’s curriculum onto a separate paper planner sheet. This has helped me wrap my brain around all the different activities that I’m hoping to accomplish during one-on-one time with Q.

My last big planning step is to create very detailed lesson plans including videos, books, and details. Last year, I started in August with just a simple Pages document. Sometime in the late fall, J downloaded and started using a special note talking app called Roam. He really loved it and turned me onto using the system. I’ve been actively using Roam since January to collect all my notes, lesson plans, scheduling, and other miscellaneous items. (Also, you can see from the sidebar that I use Roam for a wide range of projects, not just homeschooling.) I’m still exploring the various tools on Roam and I’m sure that my planning with get more advanced and efficient as this year goes on.

And that’s it! My planning and scheduling process seems very complicate but most of it is prep work before the year begins. Once we start, I mainly use the paper planner as reference and work inside Roam for the day-to-day planning. As usual, I tweak the process as I go along but this is my starting place.

We’re officially starting our homeschool adventure the first week of August. Starting August 9th, I’ll post a weekly wrap-up. I hope to do weekly updates highlighting our highs and lows on this journey.

Next up on the TBR pile:

We're Homeschooling - Year 2! Our Curriculum 2nd Grade and PreK

We did it! We made it through our first year of homeschooling! Right now we are taking a “break” and doing a pirate unit full of fun, games, crafts, and books. We have planned to start our next year’s curriculum the first week of August along with our STEAM coop. In the meantime, I’ve been deep into planning our this coming year. We are entering new territory as I am officially adding in Quentin to the mix. That means we will have a child in 2nd grade and a child in PreK. Quentin’s PreK curriculum will be much lighter than Arthur’s 2nd grade curriculum, but I want to make sure that I have resources for both.

As a reminder, we are a pretty eclectic household with a strong literature base. My criteria when looking for curriculum:

• secular

• rigorous

• wide world perspective

• not necessarily all-in-one

• at least some physical items, not all online

• cheap (not necessarily the cheapest, but not expensive)

Let’s take a look at what I’ve bought for curriculum for next year!

Arthur - 2nd Grade

Math

We will be continuing with Singapore Math Common Core Edition as our base curriculum. Arthur will be starting with 3A and will probably push through 3B, 4A, and 4B by the end of the school year. Beyond the basic text, we will be supplementing with Khan Academy, lots of math games, and random workbooks and packets. I’m really excited to dive into Primarily Logic and Logic Countdown.

• Singapore Math 3A and 3B

• Singapore Math 4A and 4B

• Target dollar spot workbooks

• Primarily Logic

• Logic Coundtown

• Bedtime Math

• STEM Starters for Kids: Math Activity Book

Language Arts

I bought Blossom & Root’s 2nd Grade Language Arts curriculum for our base. The theme is Fantastic Journeys and Perilous Quests. I was very excited about the read aloud list, but we did make a few substitutions. We have read a few of the selections, and I added some more to our big list.

• Trickster Tales by Josepha Sherman

• Thunder Rose by Jerdine Nolen

• American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osborne

• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

• Sal & Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez

• Pushing Up the Sky by Joseph Bruchac and Teresa Flavin

• City of the Plague God by Sarwat Chadda

• Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

• Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia

• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

• Sarah Journey’s West by Nikki Shannon Smith (this is actually a book we won from the library and will use for our U.S. History curriculum)

• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

• Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

• The Storm Runner by J.C. Cervantes

• Dragon Pearl by Yoon Lee

In addition to our big read alouds and projects,

• Visual Guide to Second Guide (grabbed at Half Price Books)

• 10 Minutes a Day Spelling Grade 2 (grabbed at Half Price Books)

• Scholastic Reading Comprehension Grade 2

• Scholastic Writing Grade 2

• Scholastic Grammar Grade 2

• Tinkeractive English Grade 2

• Sightwords Grade 1-2

• Journeys Grade 2 (grabbed at Half Price Books)

• Mad Libs Grade 1 Reading

Social Studies

It’s not pictured as it’s in ebook form, but we are using Pandia Press’s History Quest Middle Times as our base. I really enjoyed their Ancient Times and thankfully the Middle Times volume was just released this summer. Hopefully, Blossom & Root’s A River of Voices Volume 2 will release soon. We’ll fit that in sometime later this fall or winter. The above books (except DK History, that’s new) were all ones that we bought last year and will continue to use.

• Curiositree’s The Human World

• When on Earth

• DK History

• Explorers

• The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia

• Myths, Legends, & Sacred Stories

I also grabbed this collection of Map Skills books to work through. Arthur will start on Grade 1 and just work through the first couple. I imagine Quentin will also get into the Grade 1 book at some point this year.

• Map Skills for Today Grade 1

• Map Skills for Today Grade 2

• Map Skills for Today Grade 3

• Map Skills for Today Grade 4

• Map Skills for Today Grade 5

Science

Our science will be a collection of unit studies correlated to our coop themes. Some of these texts are carry overs from last year. And some I ended up buying new this year.

• DK Human Body

• The LEGO Ideas Book

• The Tarantula in My Purse by Jean Craighead George

• STEM Starters for Kids: STEM Activity Book

• Exploring Nature by Kim Andrews

• The Nature Connection by Clare Walker Leslie

• STEM Starters for Kids: Geology Activity Book

• Smart Start STEM PreK

• Smart Start STEM K

• Smart Start STEM 1

• STEM Starters for Kids: Robotics Activity Book

• Sofia Valdez, Future Prez by Andrea Beaty

• Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty

• Geo Detectives: Volcanoes and Earthquakes

• DK Animal

• National Geographic On Safari

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

• Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner

• National Parks of the U.S.A. Activity Book

• When Sue Found Sue by Toni Buzzeo

• One Small Square: Backyard by Donald Silver

• One Small Square: Woods by Donald Silver

• Heroes of the Environment by Harriet Rohmer

• Dinosaurs on My Street by David West

• United Tastes of America by Gabrielle Langholtz

• The Complete Baking Book for Young Chefs by America’s Test Kitchen

• The Julia Rothman Collection: Farm Anatomy, Nature Anatomy, Food Anatomy

• STEMQuest: Astonishing Atoms and Matter Mayehm

• STEMQuest: Tools, Robotics, and Gadgets Galore

• STEMQuest: Fantastic Forces and Incredible Machines

• STEMQuest: Fabulous Figures and Cool Calculations

• Math Art + Drawing Games for Kids by Karyn Tripp

Quentin - PreK

Primarily Quentin will be using Blossom & Root’s Early Years Vol. 2 curriculum. This includes early literacy and math, art and music exposure, and kitchen and nature explorations. We will be adding a ton of activity books I had laying around and a few new titles.

• Highlights Amazing Mazes

• I Spy Learn and Go

• My First Book of Tracing

• Busy Day Sticker Book

• Color Cut Create: Dinosaurs

• Scissor Skills

• Lots of back issues of High Five magazine

• Zany Zoo Sticker Face

• I Can Color

• 30 Minutes a Day: Preschool

• Highlights: Thinking and Reasons Grade K

• Preschool Handwriting Workbook

• Summer BrainQuest PreK and K

• Mother Goose Collection

• BrainQuest K (we are also using BrainQuest PreK but I didn’t include it in the photo)

• Big Preschool Workbook

• Tinkeractive Science K

• Tinkeractive English K

• Highlight Amazing Mazes

• Big Mazes

• Tinkeractive Math K

• Singapore Math 1A and 1B

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• The heat is terrible again. I’m not a fan at all…

• I’m in a weird reading rut. I’ve read some decent books lately but nothing has really grabbed me.

• Multiple field trips in one week has drained my energy levels.

• I’m a bit nervous for the first week of coop. I have my lesson prepped, but as it’s the first coop meeting, I’m unsure of how this is going to go.

• Closing in on completing the plan for our family road trip. Very excited about our possibilities for this fall!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #6

Reading: Wintering by Katherine May… I’ve been taking this book slowly and definitely need to own it to reread every few years.

Watching: We’re still working through Hustle. Up to Season 4 now.

Listening: The kids are not doing well this month and have been spending a lot of time bickering. I think it’s a combination of quarantine months, the heat, and non-routine days. I’m hoping August will be better for all of us.

Making: I’m currently working on a variety of coop lessons for the fall. I have our Math in Nature lessons prepped, but need to finish Birds, Mammals, Dinosaurs, and a few others.

Feeling: After a brief cool down, we’re back to temperatures in the upper 90s. I’m so very hot and tired.

Planning: Before we start our next year of homeschooling, I have a few more field trips scheduled. Today we are heading to Morrill Hall in Lincoln. Later we will take another trip to Lincoln for a zoo visit and a few more zoo visits.

Loving: We had bulgogi last night from a new-to-us Korean restaurant. It was just what I wanted!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• Took the boys to a movie yesterday. It’s been almost 18 months since we were in a theater. It was a nice excursion. We took advantage of the $2 second run kid’s movie for a cheap morning.

• Time blocking is going well… just need to keep up the routine.

• Day 1 of our fall road trip is planned (well, except for booking the hotel). Making progress!

• Sad that Q broke my pretty beaded bookmark. I can probably fix it, but it’s going to take some ingenuity.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #5

Reading: Continuing the Shadow and Bone trilogy with Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo. I needed something a bit more light after finishing Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Watching: Wednesdays are blocked out for Loki watching! Oh I am all in knots after last week’s episode. So incredibly good!

Listening: No big music this week, but I have been trying to catch up on some podcasts. Currently Reading is always a must-listen for the week!

Making: Our meal plan has gotten very much out of hand. I need to take some time this week and get everything under control. I also need to schedule some more 52 Desserts and Snacks to catch up a bit.

Feeling: The above 90 degrees days are really wearing on me. I am tired and hot almost all of the time…

Planning: I have so many fall projects on the horizon (book retreat, family road trip, kids’ birthday party) and the start of our second year of homeschooling. Plus all the usual house things. I’ve resorted to time blocking through July to get a jump on planning and organization for those. Once we hit August, I will be very busy so I’m taking advantage of my time this month.

Loving: I’ve been taking my book and coffee out to the back deck in the mornings and it’s been lovely. Thankfully the deck is shaded in the mornings and I can enjoy myself without feeling like I’m on the surface of the sun.

Next up on the TBR pile:

2021 Desserts and Snacks - May and June

Week 14: Sicilian Orange Breakfast Cake

Definitely going on our top list! This was oh so yummy and easy to make. Our friends even appreciated it when we shared!

Recipe used from The View from Great Island

Week 15: Blueberry Breakfast Cake

I liked the overall taste of this one, but it ended up being a bit dry.

Recipe used from Amanda’s Cookin’

Week 16: Lemony Lemonies

Amazing! This recipe was loved by everyone in the family. Definitely going on our favorites list.

Recipe used from Bakerella

Week 17: Pesto Twists

These were so incredibly easy and a great side to our gazpacho.

Recipe used from a Facebook video

Week 18-19: Strawberry Pie and Strawberry Rhubarb Pie made on the new grill

J made these to try out his new grill and they turned out amazing. So incredibly good!

Recipe used from Joy the Baker and Traeger

Week 20: Chocolate Pound Cake

I’ve had some great recipes these two months, and this might be my favorite. This cake was amazingly moist and flavorful. I will be making this all the time now!

Recipe used from Cake Whiz

July 2021 Life Goals

I threw out all my goals for June and spent a lot of time really sorting through the brain fog. I’m tweaking my usual goals concepts for July and trying to time block. I have multiple projects coming this fall and I need concentrated time to work on each.

July Goals:

• Read 15 Books

• Plan August Homeschooling Lessons and Coop

• Stick to My Time Blocking

• Weekly Field Trips

• Cross Off 7 Items on Our Summer Bucket List

• Get My Email Inbox to 0

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W38: We're Done!

What We Studied

We’re officially done with our first year of homeschooling! For next week and July, we will be taking it easy. Arthur will be working on his Highlights and BrainQuest summer bridge workbooks. We will be continuing our read alouds and picture books at night. Beyond that, we are going to focus on downtime, games, and fun excursions.

Literature and Poetry

We’re still reading Scary Stories for Young Foxes and really enjoyed it, even if it is really scary. Beyond our reading selection, Arthur completed his end of Grade 1 spelling assessment. Not too shabby! Especially considering that spelling has not really been a focus this past year. (I’m debating about adding it in for next year.) Finally, he’s been working on his Highlights and BrainQuest summer bridge workbooks. These pages are the focus of our language arts and math for the summer.

• Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker

Math

Highlights and BrainQuest summer bridge workbooks

Social Studies

None

Science

We covered motion and forces for our last official week of the school year. I was amazed at how quickly Arthur got the concepts of potential and kinetic motion. Definitely a science kid! We also watched two Magic School Bus episodes about energy and motion.

• Forces Make Things Move by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

• Give It a Push! Give It a Pull! A Look at Forces by Jennifer Boothroyd

• Why Do Moving Objects Slow Down? A Look at Friction by Jennifer Boothroyd

• Cece Loves Science: Push and Pull by Kimberly Derting

• Experiments with Motion by Susan H. Gray

Art

None

Music

We continued listening to the Beatles. We covered recordings from 1964 to 1966. Arthur has only been a fan of a few songs (seriously, is he even my kid?). His favorites have been “Help” and “Nowhere Man.”

Unit Theme

We did a simple unit theme based on ice cream. We read a ton of ice cream books (fiction and Nonfiction), plus watched a great Modern Marvels documentary about the making of ice cream. Of course, had to also eat some ice cream!

• Ice Cream: The Full Scoop by Gail Gibbons

• Ice Cream Soup by Ann Ingalls (Arthur Read)

• Sweet Success by Liz and Jimmy Reed

• Ice Cream Summer by Peter Sís

• The Scoop on Ice Cream by Bonnie Williams

• Ice-Cream Cones for Sale! by Elaine Greenstein

• Saffron Ice Cream by Rashin

• Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems (Arthur read)

• Francesco Tirelli's Ice Cream Shop by Tamar Meir

• Vanilla Ice Cream by Bob Graham

• Fox Tails: The Giant Ice Cream Mess by Tina Kügler

• I Scream Ice Cream by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

• The Little Ice Cream Truck by Margery Cuyler

• Chuggington: Wilson and the Ice Cream Fair by Mara Conlon (Arthur read)

• Curious George Goes to an Ice Cream Shop by Margret Rey and Alan J. Shalleck

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Sealed with a Kiss by Beth Ferry

• Be Who You Are by Todd Parr

• Rainbow: A First Book of Pride by Michael Genhart

• Welcome Home, Whales by Christina Booth

• Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love

• Trapped! A Whale's Rescue by Robert Burleigh

• Phoenix Goes to School by Michelle and Phoenix Finch

• Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress by Christine Baldacchino

• Curious George Good Night, Zoo by Gina Gold

• Whale Trails: Before and Now by Lesa Cline-Ransome

Highs

• We took advantage of a day with below 90 degree temperatures and went to the zoo. Apparently we had the same idea as everyone else in Omaha. But it was still fun. We finally got to ride the train (it’s been closed since summer 2019)!

Lows

• The heat got to all of us and it wasn’t pretty. Lots of grouchiness and terrible attitudes.

Next Week

We’re officially on summer break. We have a stack of library books and our summer workbooks. Plus we have our summer bucket list to check off. And we have made sure to schedule lots of outings and field trips.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W37: We Finished Our U.S. History Curriculum!

What We Studied

Literature and Poetry

We finished one read aloud and started the next one. I was super excited about reading The Phantom Tollbooth and Arthur was excited about reading Scary Stories for Young Foxes. We also did some journal writing.

• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

• Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker

Math

Another week of math review and Khan Academy.

Social Studies

We finished our U.S. History curriculum for the year with a lesson on the Bill of Rights and one on the native groups of the Northwest and the Plateau.

• We the People: The United States Constitution Explored and Explained by Aura Lewis & Evan Sargent

• Flags Over America by Cheryl Harness

• Northwest Coast Indians by Liz Sonneborn

• The Eagle’s Song: A Tale from the Pacific Northwest by Kristina Rodanas

• Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest by Gerald McDermott

• Nez Perce by Sarah Tieck

• Plateau Indians by Christin Ditchfield

Science

We covered energy in the form of sound and light. Arthur got pretty interested and made some great connections to previous lessons. We also watched two episodes of Magic School Bus to review our information.

• Light is All Around Us by Wendy Pfeffer

• The Energy We See: A Look at Light by Jennifer Boothroyd

• Invention Hunters: Discover How Light Works by Korwin Briggs

• Light Waves by David A. Adler

• Science Experiments with Light by Alex Kiskowski

• Let's Ride a Wave! Diving Into the Science of Light and Sound Waves with Physics by Chris Ferrie

• Sounds All Around by Wendy Pfeffer

• The Sound of Silence by Katrina Goldsaito

• Science Experiments with Sight and Sound by Alex Kuskowski

• Can You Hear Sounds in Space? and Other Questions About Sound by Anna Claybourne

• All About Sound by Angela Royston

Art

Nothing formal

Music

We continued with The Beatles by listening to A Hard Day’s Night and Beatles for Sale.

Unit Theme

We spent some time learning about Juneteenth and connecting history to our current social issues. I’m amazed that Arthur really connected and make conclusions as much as he did.

• Let's Talk About Race by Julius Lester

• Juneteenth for Mazie by Floyd Cooper

• All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom by Angela Johnson

• Juneteenth Jamboree by Carole Boston Weatherford

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Squid Kid the Magnificent by Lynne Berry

• Alistair and Kip’s Great Adventure by John Segal

• Together by Emma Dodd

• The Whale in My Swimming Pool by Joyce Wan

• The Magic School Bus in the Time of the Dinosaurs by Joanna Cole

• There’s a Dolphin in the Grand Canal by John Bemelmans Marciano

• A Perfect Day by Sarah S. Brannen

• Trucks Roll by George Ella Lyon

• Lenny the Lobster Can’t Stay for Dinner by Finn Buckley with Michael Buckley

• Whale Shines by Fiona Robinson

• The Old Mermaid Who Swallowed a Shark by Lucille Colandro

• A Home for Leo by Vin Vogel

• I’m a Shark by Bob Shea

• Introducing Teddy by Jessica Walton

• The Whale the Sea and the Stars by Adrián Macho

Highs

• We had a lovely park playdate with friends on Tuesday. We are really enjoying shady parks right now due to the high temperatures.

Lows

• The temperatures were absolutely ridiculous… and we lost all motivation to go anywhere or do anything.

Next Week

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• The heart is really getting to me… I never want to eat food (even though I really should) and I’m having so much trouble sleeping.

• Thankful that we replaced the AC last fall. So much better than last summer!

• Watermelon is amazing. That’s all.

• I have so many projects in the works. I really need to make a few Gantt charts to help me out.

• Working on our fall schedule and I just keep moving everything around. Really need to just commit to something for peace of mind right now.

• Speaking of, I need to pull all my material for Quentin and rethink some things. He’s been just passively learning this past year and I think some of it will be beneath him.

• Over the last week I have put in a Book Outlet order for 26 books and two Amazon orders a total of 30 books. Five were for the reading retreat and one was for me. The rest are for the kids for homeschooling. So many books will be arriving!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W36: It's Too Hot to School...

What We Studied

Literature and Poetry

We continued reading The Phantom Tollbooth and many other picture books. We also worked on some basic grammar review and more journal writing.

• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

• Silver Seeds by Paul Paolilli and Dan Brewer (poems)

• We Need More Nuts by Jonathan Fenske (Arthur read)

• Hello Crabby by Jonathan Fenske (Arthur read)

Math

Continuing with our big review and games. We finished Lollipop Logic Book 3. Now I need to find some other logic puzzle series for Arthur.

• Max Explains Everything: Grocery Store Expert by Stacy McAnulty

• Last to Finish: A Story About the Smartest Boy in Math Class by Barbara Esham

Social Studies

We covered three different U.S. History lessons this week. We started with a lesson on African Americans after the War featuring Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, Paul Cuffee, and Ona Judge. We moved on to a lesson on Benjamin Banneker. And finished with a lesson about John and Abigail Adams.

• Answering the Cry for Freedom by Gretchen Woelfle

• 100 African Americans Who Shaped American History by Chrisanne Beckner

• America’s Black Founders by Nancy Sanders

• The Escape of Oney Judge by Emily Arnold McCully

• Runaway: The Daring Escape of Ona Judge by Ray Anthony Shepard

• Molly Bannaky by Alice McGill

• Tick Tock Banneker’s Clock by Shana Keller

• The Revolutionary John Adams by Cheryl Harness

• A Picture Book of John and Abigail Adams by David A. Adler

• Abigail Adams by Alexandra Wallner

• Leave It to Abigail: The Revolutionary Life of Abigail Adams by Barb Rosenstock

Science

We learned all about matter and changing states of matter this week. I’m amazed at how quickly Arthur (and even Quentin) caught on to this concept.

• Matter: See It, Touch It, Taste It, Smell. It by Darlene Stille

• Change It! Solids, Liquids, Gases, and You by Adrienne Mason

• Solids, Liquids, Gases, and Plasma by David A. Adler

• Experiments with States of Matter by Trevor Cook

Art

Nothing formal

Music

We started our big unit on The Beatles. We are going to listen to all the songs from the Beatles and trace their musical growth through the years. This week we covered everything from 1962 and 1963.

• The Beatles by Mike Venezia

• The Beatles were Fab (and They were Funny) by Kathleen Krull

Unit Theme

We celebrated Pride Month this week by learning about gender identity, the rainbow flag, and the history of Pride. I found some really good basic books to introduce this topic.

• It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity by Theresa Thorn

• The Gender Wheel: A Story About Bodies and Gender for Everybody by Maya Gonzalez

• This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman

• Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag by Rob Sanders

• Sewing the Rainbow: The Story of Gilbert Baker and the Rainbow Flag by Gayle E. Pitman

• The Rainbow Flag: Bright, Bold, and Beautiful by Michelle Millar Fisher

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Pup 681: A Sea Otter Rescue by Jean Reidy

• To the Sea by Cale Atkinson

• Ebb & Flo and the Baby Seal by Jane Simmons

• The Boy and the Whale by Mordicai Gerstein

• Beachy and Me by Bob Staake

• Inky's Amazing Escape by Sy Montgomery

• Wake Up, Crabby! by Jonathan Fenske

• Always Remember by Cece Meng

• The Storm Whale by Benji Davies

• A Whale of a Mistake by Ioana Hobai

• A Whale in the Bathtub by Kylie Westaway

• Star of the Sea by Janet Halfmann

• Peanut Butter and Jellyfish by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

• Little Whale by Jo Weaver

• The Heart of a Whale by Anna Pignataro

• Starfish, Where are You? by Barroux

• All the Water in the World by George Ella Lyon and Katherine Tillotson

Highs

• We braved the very high temperatures to go berry picking on Monday. Unlike last year, we actually came home with a ton of strawberries. J made a strawberry pie and a strawberry rhubarb pie out of them. Yum!

Lows

• The very high temperatures meant that we didn’t spend that much time outside this past week. I wanted to go to another state park, but knew we wouldn’t be able to handle the heat.

Next Week

We are going to finish The Phantom Tollbooth as well as our U.S. History Curriculum. For science we will be studying light and sound. We will continue listening to the Beatles and doing a math review. And we will cover Juneteenth for our unit theme.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #4

Reading: Broken (in the best way possible) by Jenny Lawson. J said that I can’t read it in bed as I was laughing too loudly and shaking the bed. It’s just that funny!

Watching: J signed us up for a 30 day engineering course with Mark Rober. Arthur has been enjoying his various videos on YouTube. The squirrel ninja course is his current favorite video.

Listening: I’ve gotten a bit behind on a lot of my favorite podcasts. I’m attempting to run the backlog this week.

Making: I tried a new dessert recipe for a chocolate pound cake and it basically grew and exploded in the oven. Not sure if it was the recipe or my oven that caused the issues (our oven is a bit wonky right now). I had to scrape off burnt cake from the bottom of the oven and all over a cookie sheet and my pyrex. I’m going to try it again using a different container.

Feeling: The daily temperature has been hitting 90 every day for the past weekly. I’m just constantly hot and sweaty and I don’t like it.

Planning: I’m deep into planning the Reading Retreat for the end of September. I’ve got the book selections form ready to go and have started doing my expenses spreadsheet. Also, I’m putting the finishing touches on the book swap I’m hosting on Saturday. We didn’t get to do our Christmas swap so we’re doing it in June!

Loving: We got a new patio set! I can now sit on our back deck and enjoy a cup of coffee and a chapter of my current read in the morning before we start school. It’s been delightful.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool Memorial Day Break

What We Studied

For the last week in May, Memorial Day, and the first week in June, we ended up taking a semi-break. For us, that means we only did school about an hour a day and added in more outings, activities, field trips, games, and crafts. We are schooling year round which easily lends itself to these types of lighter weeks to change things up. We’ve realized that both boys really do well with routine and structure. Dropping all school for two weeks is a terrible idea. Going a bit lighter works perfectly for us!

Literature and Poetry

We read the four book Frog and Toad collection by Arnold Lobel and started reading The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster. Frog and Toad are some of my favorite childhood characters so it was nice to revisit with Arthur. I’ve never actually read The Phantom Tollbooth, but have heard so many amazing things about it as an adult. Arthur’s not completely sold on the story, but I am loving the word play and silliness. Beyond our read alouds, we read a ton of picture books, Arthur tackled some early readers, and focused on reading comprehension. We also completed a sample standardized test meant to close out First Grade. It was a nice review for Arthur and work on some test taking skills.

• Frog and Toad Collection by Arnold Lobel

• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster

• At the Beach by Alexa Andrews (Arthur read)

• Otter: Hello, Sea Friends! by Sam Garton (Arthur Read)

New playground just opened!

Math

We did a ton of review, some skill building, logic puzzles, and Khan Academy. We’re going to continue with all that throughout the rest of the summer up until we start Level 4 in August.

Social Studies

Nothing formal, but we did a ton of local exploration

Loggerhead

Science

See Unit Theme

Green Sea Turtle

Art

Nothing formal, but a lot of drawing and free expression

Mermaid’s purse and a wobbegong shark (very camouflaged against the wall of the tank)

Music

We finished our American Folk Music unit with lots of bands and songs from the 1960s and 1970s. We could keep going, but have decided to switch focus a bit for June.

Unit Theme

We finally wrapped up our giant Ocean unit. We focused on specific animals on different days along with a trip to the zoo to check out the aquarium. Arthur was super excited to spot both species of sea turtles (loggerhead and green), three species of shark, a couple mermaid purses, and a wobbegong shark! Plus Arthur watched a ton of videos from Brave Wilderness highlighting encounters with various sea creatures.

• DK Ocean

• Nat Geo Ocean Animals

• Ocean Anatomy by Julia Rothman

• Sea Turtles by Gail Gibbons

• Nat Geo Kids: Sea Turtles by Laura Marsh

• Nat Geo Kids: Mission Sea Turtle Rescue by Karen Romano Young

• Octopuses by Elizabeth R. Johnson

• Nat Geo Kids: Ink! by Stephanie Warren Drimmer

• Giant Squid and Octopuses by Ruth Owen

• Giant Squid by Mary M. Cerullo and Clyde F.E. Roper

• Giant Squid by Candace Fleming

• Here There Be Monsters: The Legendary Kraken and Giant Squid by HP Newquist

• Crabs by Ann Herriges

• Hermit Crabs by Ellen Lawrence

• Jellyfish by Grace Hansen

• A Day in the Life: Jellyfish by Louise Spilsbury

• Becoming a Jellyfish by Grace Hansen

• A Day in the Life Sea Animals: Seal by Louise Spilsbury

• Sea Lions by Colleen Sexton

• A Day in the Life Sea Animals: Leopard Seal byKatie Marsico

• Walruses by Renee C. Rebman

• Super Swimmers by Caroline Arnold

• Sea Otters by Nathan Sommer

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Abracadabra It’s Spring by Anne Sibley O’Brien

• Swashby and the Sea by Beth Ferry

• Good Thing You’re Not an Octopus by Julie Markes

• Ocean Soup by Meeg Pincus

• Shark Nate-O by Tara Luebbe and Becky Cattie

• Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle

• Nugget and Fang Go to School by Tammi Sauer

• I'm the Best Artist in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry

• Octopuses One to Ten by Ellen Jackson

• Squid and Octopus Friends For Always by Tao Nye

• I am Not a Fish by Peter Raymundo

• Inky the Octopus by Erin Guendelsberger

• Day at the Beach by Tom Booth

• Crabby Crab by Chris Raschka

• Shark Detective by Jessica Olien

• The Hermit Crab by Carter Goodrich

• You're a Crab by Jenny Whitehead

• After Squidnight by Jonathan Fenske

• The Fisherman and the Whale by Jessica Lanan

• Don't Worry Little Crab by Chris Haughton

• The Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort

• Following Papa's Song by Gianna Marino

• Sink or Swim by Valerie Coulman

• Flip & Fin: We Rule the School by Timothy Gill

• Compost Stew by Mary McKenna Siddals

• There Might Be Lobsters by Carolyn Crimi

• Whale in a Fishbowl by Troy Howell

• Ida and the Whale by Rebecca Gugger

• Adelita: A Sea Turtle's Journey by Jenny Goebel

• Melissa's Octopus and Other Unsuitable Pets by Charlotte Voake

• A Small Blue Whale by Beth Ferry

• President Squid by Aaron Reynolds

• Mabel: A Mermaid Fable by Rowboat Watkins

Highs

So many to choose from these past two weeks!

Snapping turtle!

• We spent a lovely day at Schramm State Park hiking the 3 mile trail, checking out the education center, observing the fish hatcheries, looking for fossils, and enjoying a picnic. Now that we have a state park pass, we’ll be back!

• We watched a fun Book Blast presentation from the library highlighting some great new children’s books. Arthur made me put almost half of them on hold. At the end, they did a raffle and we won a book bundle of four of the selections. So exciting! They are doing it again July with different books and we definitely going to be attending.

Making magic wands

• The local maker space is doing a summer STEM challenge with projects and activities. We picked up our passports, watched the kick-off, and made our first project! We will be having fun completing activities all summer long and earning prizes.

• Speaking of summer challenges, we signed up for the library’s summer reading program and got our free book to kickstart our summer reading.

• We made our summer bucket list and opened our summer basket! Schooling year round doesn’t mean that we skip summer activities. We just incorporate them into the school days.

Lows

• It’s been super hot around here (in the 90s) and I really don’t want to go anywhere any afternoon. I have messed up our schedule a few days and cause us to be outside after noon. Not making that mistake again.

Next Week

We’re back to a normal-ish schedule for us. I want to get close to finishing our U.S. History curriculum (only 6 more lessons), start our new music unit (The Beatles), complete another read aloud, and continue reviewing for math and language arts. Plus we have a few extra topics for the week including Pride Month and States of Matter. Also, we have strawberry picking and a park playdate scheduled for the week as well as working on a 30 day engineering course as a family.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• The boys conquered a 3 mile hike on Tuesday and I am so proud of them.

• I three big events tentatively scheduled for fall. Things are happening!

• Eyeglasses are next on my big life list of things to take care of.

• I started reading Broken by Jenny Lawson in bed and realized that was a bag choice. I was laughing so hard, it felt like one of those vibrating beds. Guess that will be my daytime read.

Next up on the TBR pile:

June 2021 Life Goals

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

• Read 15 books, including 5 Unread Shelf reads - Well, I read 19 books, but only 2 of those were from my Unread Shelf. Darn.

• Make Four 52 Dessert Recipes - Fail, but I’ll make up for it soon.

• Weekly Field Trips - Success!

• Create a summer bucket list - Fail, although I have it on our schedule for Friday…

• Finish the Laundry Room - Success! I am so happy with how functional it is now.

• Try two new dinner recipes - Fail

Goals:

I am officially throwing the goals out the window for June. (I also threw out my TBR list) We’re going to take it slow in June and just see where the days go.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W35: Rays, Whales, and Dolphins, Oh My!

What We Studied

Beyond our studies, we had two park playdates this week along with a grocery store visit and a library stop. Park playdates can be tiring for me, but we’re trying to get out more and meet new friends for our fall STEAM coop. Also, I really dropped the ball on taking pictures this week. Oh well.

Literature and Poetry

We finished reading The One and Only Bob for our read aloud. I liked it a little less than The One and Only Ivan, but still a really good book. There’s a lot of serious danger in this one and lots of talk of death. Be cautious.

• The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate

• Rainbow Soup by Brian P. Cleary (poems)

Math

A mishmash of review pages, little projects, and Khan Academy. We covered graphing, fractions, and multiplication with our homemade packets. Plus, we’re almost at the end of Lollipop Logic Book 3. I need to find some harder logic puzzles for both kids.

Social Studies

We finally reached the end of the Revolutionary War. In addition to covering the end, the Articles of Confederation, and the formation of the Constitution, we did biographies on a few African Americans during the war. I loved learning more about Elizabeth Freeman and Phillis Wheatley. I read some of Wheatley’s poetry in college and enjoyed her voice.

• 100 African Americans Who Shaped American History

• Phillis Wheatley: Poet of the Revolutionary Era by Molly Aloian

• Phillis Sings Out Freedom: The Story of George Washington and Phillis Wheatley by Ann Malaspina

• Phillis's Big Test by Catherine Clinton

• America's Black Founders by Nancy Sanders

• Answering the Cry of Freedom by Gretchen Woelfle

• Mumbet's Declaration of Independence by Gretchen Woelfle

• Fight for Freedom by Benson Bobrick

Science

See Unit Theme

Art

Nothing formal, but lots of random drawing.

Music

We covered Pete Seeger on Monday. Arthur loved his songs for kids, but not so much when it came to the adult stuff. From there we did a sampling of music from the 1960s (Joan Baez, The Byrds, Dave Von Ronk, and Janis Ian). Arthur wasn’t really a fan of any of them, but I am. We’ll continue the 1960s next week.

• Stand Up and Sing: Pete Seeger, Folk Music, and the Path to Justice by Susanna Reich

Unit Theme

For Oceans, we focused on rays, dolphins, and whales. How did I not know that orcas are genetically dolphins? I love it when I get to learn something new.

• Rays by Valerie Bodden

• Thomas & Friends: Thomas and the Shark (Arthur read)

• Ocean Anatomy by Julia Rothman

• Nat Geo Ocean Animals

• DK Oceans

• DK Whales and Dolphins

• Dolphins! Strange and Wonderful by Laurence Pringle

• How Do Dolphins Sleep? by Nancy Furstinger

• Nat Geo Absolute Expert Dolphins by Jennifer Swanson

• Ranger Rick: I Wish I was an Orca by Sandra Markle (Arthur Read)

• Wild Orca: The Oldest, Wisest Whale in the World by Brenda Peterson

• Amazing Whales! by Sarah L. Thomson (Arthur read)

• Whales by Grace Hansen

• 10 Reasons to Love a Whale by Catherine Barr

• Blue Whales by Grace Hansen

• How Long is a Whale? by Alison Limentani

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Shawn Loves Sharks by Curtis Manley

• A Surprise for Mrs. Tortoise by Paula Merlan

• Violet and the Eggplant Painting Problem by Cynthia Wylie and Courtney Carbone

• Also an Octopus by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

• Inky's Great Escape: The Incredible (and Mostly True) Story of an Octopus Escape by Casey Lyall

• This is a Seahorse by Cassandra Federman

• Larry Gets Lost Under the Sea by Eric Ode and John Skewes

• Beach by Elisha Cooper

• Deep Underwater by Irene Luxbacher

• Flip & Fin: Super Sharks to the Rescue! by Timothy Gill

• Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea by Jan Peck

• Jurassic World: Danger Dinosaurs

• Dario and the Whale by Cheryl Lawton Malone

• Stories in a Seashell by Alex Nogués Otero

• Dinosaur Tracks by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

Highs

• We got to listen to a few episodes of The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd on our way across the river on Tuesday. All of us really love that show. We’re almost at the end of season six. There are only eight seasons, so we should be done with the series sometime this summer.

Lows

• I’m losing all motivation for school. It’s such a weird month for our family.

Next Week

For the next two weeks, we are on a semi-break. Originally we were going to be traveling to Indiana for family stuff, but that isn’t happening. Instead, we will just be home. But I hope to include more craft projects, art, and games into the next two weeks. We’ll be reading our next selection (Frog and Toad collection by Arnold Lobel), working through various ocean animals, listening to the folk music of the 1960s and 1970s, and doing some basic math review. I might even add a few more outings beyond the already scheduled park playdates.

Next up on the TBR pile: