Homeschool W7: Lovely Weather for a Walk!

What We Studied

We’re back to a routine and easy back into homeschooling. Thankfully the weather was gorgeous this week for our field tip and for coop.

Literature and Poetry

We started reading our Trickster Tales collection with the section on Europe. The Blossom and Root Language Arts curriculum only has us reading 1-2 tales per section, but we are a big reading family. Instead of 1-2, we read the entire section over the course of the week. Really that’s only like 6 stories and less than 30 pages of reading. It was nice to cover more stories and talk about the variety. We also added in more read aloud selections to our history study.

• Trickster Tales Retold by Josepha Sherman

• 10 Minutes a Day Spelling

Math

We started Unit 3 in math with focuses on multiplication and division. Arthur already understands the concepts, so we are going to focus on mastery. I imagine that we will be in this unit of study for a few weeks. I want. to really hammer down before moving on to other topics.

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

Social Studies

We covered the Norse and the Vikings this week in medieval history. Our road trip unintentionally fit right in with. a visit to a Norse longhouse recreation and the Norwegian-American museum in Decorah. Along with the history text, we watched a few really good NOVA episodes about the Vikings and read some myths and stories from the culture. Arthur got excited to learn about the differences between the actual myths and the Marvel iterations of the characters.

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everyone: Leif Erikson

• When on Earth?

• Myths, Legends and Sacred Stories

• Kingfisher Atlas of Medieval World

• Thor Speaks! A Guide to the Realms of the Norse God of Thunder by Vicky Alvear Shecter

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. He mostly focused. on packet work and LEGO creations this week.

Science and STEAM Coop

Art/Music

Our music study was cut this week. We just ran out of time and other things got prioritized.

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. For ELA, we continued our big overview of the alphabet. We are getting through the alphabet two letters per week and have made it to the letter J. Beyond ELA, we have worked on a variety of math concepts (heavy and light, same and different, bi and small) as well as started on the next Khan Academy unit. We also did a mini science experiment unit on sink or float. Arthur acted as an assistant and record keeper. To follow-up, we watched a great Magic School Bus episode about the topic.

ELA

• Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

• Izzy Impala’s Imaginary Illnesses by Barbara deRubertis

• My “i” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Jeremy Jackrabbit’s Jumpin Journey by Barbara deRubertis

• My “j” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

Math

Other

• Poetry selections from Mother Goose

• Packet about My World

Field Trip

We missed the first week our coop theme about bridges, but made it home in time for a field trip to the Bob Kerry Bridge . The kids walked all the way across it to Iowa, checked out the plaza there, and walked all the way back. They then proceeded to roll down the hills at the Nebraska plaza. Great fun was had by everyone and we got in a great walk on a beautiful day. Afterward, I treated the kids to a stop at Hollywood Candy before we headed home.

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. This week, we watched two episodes about the Vikings.

• NOVA S43 E9: Vikings Unearthed

• NOVA S46 E10: Lost Viking Army

• NOVA S46 E17: Why Bridges Collapse

Misc. - Random picture books read

• A Little Book About Colors by Leo Lionni

• Ducks Run Amok! by J.E. Morris

• Mary Wrightly, So Politely by Shirin Him Bridges

• Wordy Birdy by Tammi Sauer

• Fall Pumpkin Fun by Martha E.H. Rustad

• Iggy Iguanodon: Bath Time and Bedtime by Maryann Macdonald

Highs

• The weather was absolutely gorgeous. The temps were a bit cooler, but it was still nice and sunny. Perfect for our field trip to the river and for our coop meeting.

Lows

• Nothing really… We had a good week overall.

Next Week

• Reading Arthurian Tales

• Continuing Unit 3 in Math

• Moving on to Camping for Coop

• But following up on bridges for Science

• Learning about the British Isles and 1066 for history

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #7

Reading: In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren. I finally picked it up off the library stack and dug right in.

Watching: I need to catch up with the antics on Bachelor in Paradise. I cannot wait!

Listening: We started listening to the Magic 2.0 series from Scott Meyer on our road trip. We finished the first book, Off to Be the Wizard, and have almost finished the second book, Spell or High Water.

Making: October is traditionally our spooky movie month. I usually make a list of options that we choose from each day. I’m making that list this week and I’m really excited for some of the entries.

Feeling: I love our family road trips, but it’s just so good to be home…

Planning: I’m less than 2 weeks away from the bookish retreat so I’m planning my packing lists. I have good to pack, food to buy on the way, personal items to pack, alcohol to pack, crafts. to pack, and all the miscellaneous stuff.

Loving: After a week sleeping in hotels, I’m so excited to sleep in my own bed. My back thanks me for being back.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• We’re away on our much delayed road trip this week. I am loving just being out of my house.

• It’s been so incredibly nice to not cook multiple times every day.

• Getting a bit of renewed energy when it comes to planning out the coop.

• Focusing on light and fun reads for the rest of September in anticipation of spooky books for October.

• Getting a bit nervous about the all the tasks I have to prep for the retreat the end of the month.

• So much to do!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W6: We Found Our Groove!

What We Studied

I finally planned out a week and didn’t overload us or leave a ton of activities on the table! I think we have found our groove, just in time to leave for our road trip…

Literature and Poetry

We continued reading The Hobbit. We’re almost at the end of the story. We’ll finish it at the beginning of our road trip. Arthur is loving the action sequences. I’m really enjoying the spelling curriculum that I bought from The Moffatt Girls on Teachers Pay Teachers. And Arthur has taken to doing one spelling list spread out over the course of the week.

• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

• In Aunt Giraffe’s Green Garden by Jack Prelutsky

Math

The usual for Arthur. We did add in a Khan Academy day and worked on multiplication and division strategies. The next two units are on those topics and are pretty meaty. We will probably take it slow and stretch them out for September and part of October. I don’t want to push Arthur too fast. We need to focus on mastery before moving on.

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

Social Studies

This week’s unit was about Tang and Song Dynasty China. We made some good connections to our ancient times studies and did a study of the Silk Road.

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK History

• DK When on Earth

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 creating LEGO creations.

Science and STEAM Coop

Photos were taken; not by me as I was teaching. Unfortunately the pictures all had pictures of other people’s kids so I can’t post them on here.

We finished our study of mammals this week at coop. I didn’t have to teach and it was lovely to just participate this week.

• DK Eyewitness: Mammal

• DK Animal

• DK Did You Know?

• Stink Fights, Earwax, and Other Marvelous Mammal Adaptations by Laura Perdew

Art/Music

Our music study was cut 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. For ELA, we covered the letters F, G and H. We covered counting and some basic addition for math. Q also demanded to do math on the computer so we completed a few unit in Khan Academy.

ELA

• My “f” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Frances Frog’s Forever Friend by Barbara deRubertis

• Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

• My “g” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Gertie Gorilla’s Glorious Gift by Barbara deRubertis

• After the Fall by Dan Santat

• My “h” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

Math

• Where’s the Pair? by Britta Teckentrup

Other

• High Five magazine volume

• Summer Song by Kevin Henkes

• The Great Big Green by Peggy Gifford

• Summer by Ann Herriges

Field Trip

This week our field trip was a guided tour of a working farm. We had a personal tour from the farmer herself and learned a lot about the various animals she keeps. Seriously, all of the adults were very excited to learn at the farm. The kids got to feed a baby calf, help with the mama goat, switch the irrigation hoses, and petted a ton of animals. The baby goats were so adorable!

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. We didn’t watch a documentary this week.

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Be a Friend by Salina Yoon

• Owls are Good at Keeping Secrets: An Unusual Alphabet by Sara O’Leary

• Construction Countdown by KC Olson

Highs

• We took off Friday morning for a park visit and then haircuts and bathtime. We still got our work done that day, but eased into the morning. Loved it!

Lows

• Nothing. Really, it was a good week.

Next Week

• Road trip!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W5: Our Busiest Week Yet!

What We Studied

Oof. This week was a killer. We had something every single day of the week that took out of the house. It was absolutely exhausting. Consequently, we didn’t accomplish as much as I would have liked when it comes to our schoolwork.

Literature and Poetry

We continued reading The Hobbit. The story has really picked up and has gotten really good. Arthur is loving the action sequences. I’m really enjoying the spelling curriculum that I bought from The Moffatt Girls on Teachers Pay Teachers. And Arthur has taken to doing one spelling list spread out over the course of the week.

• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

• In Aunt Giraffe’s Green Garden by Jack Prelutsky

Math

Moving onto the next unit in math.

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

Social Studies

We covered Western Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire this week.

• The Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK History

• Medieval Tales

• The Medieval World by Rebecca Stefoff

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 finished up his Geography of Home project..

Science and STEAM Coop

Photos were taken this week of all our fun. Unfortunately the pictures all had pictures of other people’s kids so I can’t post them on here.

This week was our first week of the mammals theme. And it was the first week that I didn’t have to teach. It was nice to sit back a bit and just jump in and help when help was needed. I hung out with the young group and we did a stuffed animal show and tell, learned about coyotes and badgers, and did some animal races.

• DK Did You Know?

• A Mammal is an Animal by Lizzy Rockwell

• Why Do Mammals Have Fur? by Pat Jacobs

• DK Mammals

• Whose Tracks are These? A Clue Book of Families Forest Animals by Jim Nail

Art/Music

Our music study was cut this week. We just ran out of time and other things got prioritized.

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. For ELA, we covered the letters A through E. We covered counting and some basic addition for math. Q also demanded to do math on the computer so we completed a few unit in Khan Academy.

ELA

• Alpha Boats by Samantha R. Vamos

• Corky Cub’s Crazy Caps by Barbara deRubertis

• My “c” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

• My “d” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

• My “e” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Eddie Elephant’s Exciting Egg-Sitting by Barbara deRubertis

• Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran

Math

• 7 Ate 9 by Tara Lazar

• Teddy Bear Subtraction by Barbara Barbieri McGrath

• Where’s the Baby? by Britta Teckentrup

Other

• High Five magazine volume

• Follow the Line Around the World by Laura Ljungkvist

• Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni

Field Trip

We headed to the zoo specifically to see the newly renovated Gorilla Valley. It was great to see these majestic creatures up close again. The kids really enjoyed the interactive exhibits. We had some friends join us and it was a great morning at the zoo. After the gorillas, we stopped at the sea lions and the jungle building.

Documentary Selection

None this week

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Unbeatable Beaks by Stephen R. Swinburne

• Otto Blotter Bird Spotter by Graham Carter

• How to Find a Bird by Jennifer Ward

Highs

• I didn’t love all the appointments, but we did knock a ton of things off our big to do list I am loving the flexibility of homeschooling.

Lows

• Between a dentist appointment and a super long eye appointment (Arthur’s getting glasses!), we lost a ton of time this week. This next week will hopefully be less full and busy.

• No one showed for board games morning at the park. The boys were disappointed.

Next Week

• Continuing The Hobbit

• Finishing Unit 3 in math.

• Continuing with our mammal theme for coop

• Heading to China for history

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• The cooler temperatures this week have been amazing! Going to the zoo and not sweating buckets was great.

• Really getting a bit annoyed by people who keep avoiding my messages and un-RSVPing right before events. Blergh!

• So incredibly excited about our road trip and then my retreat. September is jam packed!

• Need to step up my dessert game this month.

Next up on the TBR pile:

September 2021 Life Goals

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

• Read 15 books ✓

• Kick off our 2nd year of homeschooling ✓

• Kick off our STEAM coop ✓

• Make 3-4 desserts for our food project - Fail. I keep missing this mark.

Goals: We’re taking it easy as far as goals for September as we have two large events happening.

• Read 15 books

• Keep Homeschool and Coop Momentum Up

• Have a Fun Family Road Trip

• Relax at Book Retreat

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W4: All About Birds!

What We Studied

A much more normal week for us! We had some fun field trip adventures and focused on our studies.

Literature and Poetry

We started reading The Hobbit! I haven’t read it for years, so it was nice to revisit. We’ve moved our daily read aloud time back and forth from morning to right before bed. I am liking the flexibility. Reading before bed gives us more than 30 minutes back into our “school day,” but it’s definitely not an everyday switch.

• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

• In Aunt Giraffe’s Green Garden by Jack Prelutsky

• 10 Minutes a Day Spelling

Math

We started Singapore Math Common Core 3A this week. We’re shooting for one unit every week or so. Unit 1 is complete!

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

Social Studies

This week’s History Quest focus was on the Fall of the Byzantine Empire. Arthur actually remembered some things from last year’s study of the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the rise of the Byzantine Empire. So yeah for remembering!

• DK History

• DK When on Earth?

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 mostly packet work and did a few tasks for his creative project: Geography of Home book.

Science and STEAM Coop

Photos were taken; not by me as I was teaching. Unfortunately the pictures all had pictures of other people’s kids so I can’t post them on here.

We finished our bird theme this week. For the bigger kids, I had them complete the bird beak adaptation lab and then they made bird feeders with the little kids. Simple and easy but the lab was a lot of fun.

• Birds by Paul McEvoy

• DK Animal

• The Big Book of Birds by Yuval Zommer

• Nature All Around: Birds by Pamela Hickman

• The Egg by Britta Teckentrup

• DK Eyewitness Bird

• Bird Watch by Christie Matheson

• Bird Builds a Nest by Martin Jenkins

• Birds by Kevin Henkes

Art/Music

Our music study was cut this week again. We just ran out of time and other things got prioritized. I need to figure out how to add this back in easily.

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. For ELA, we continued our big overview of the alphabet. Q really wanted to do math on the computer, so we jumped on Khan Academy and he finished the entire first unit. (He really likes math!) For an extra science lesson, we talked about animal classifications.

ELA

• Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

• My “b” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Bobby Baboon’s Banana Be-Bop by Barbara deRubertis

• Feathers for Lunch by Eric Carle

Math

• The Odd One Out by Britta Teckentrup

• Mother Goose: Numbers on the Loose by Leo and Diane Dillon

Other

• High Five magazine volume

• Our Earth by Anne Rockwell

• Many Creatures by Laura Purdie Salas

• Feathers and Hair: What Animals Wear by Jennifer Ward

Field Trip

We visited Fontenelle Forest and learned all about the birds housed at the Raptor Rescue. We arrived right at feeding time completely on accident. The worker was great about engaging the kiddos and talking about each bird as he fed them. We even got to see him give an owl eye drops for a detached retina. My favorite was seeing him interact with Charlotte the Peregrine Falcon. She is just gorgeous! We had intended to walk the trails afterward, but the kids ended just spending almost an hour and a half playing at the nature classroom. After, we and another family had a picnic lunch. It was a beautiful field trip.

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. This week, we watched an episode about birds, specifically peregrine falcons.

• NOVA S45 E16: World’s Fastest Animal

Misc. - Random picture books read

Highs

• Our one-two punch of Raptor Rescue trip and coop on Thursday really breathed some life into me this week. We are loving our group of coop friends. I’m excited that next week I don’t have to teach.

Lows

• I had a dentist appointment that messed up our Wednesday. In fact, we have dentist appointments for the next two weeks. I don’t love that they are spread out right now. Hoping next time, the boys’s appointments are together at least.

Next Week

• Continuing The Hobbit

• Moving on to Unit 2 in math.

• Starting Mammals for science

• Western Europe is up next for history

• Hoping to add in some music study (or at least listening while working)

• Board game morning with coop friends!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W3: Lots of Outdoor Fun

What We Studied

I really need to find our groove this fall. I cut back even more to allow for more flexibility. We’ll see how it goes going forward.

Literature and Poetry

We finished 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. I’m really enjoying the spelling curriculum that I bought from The Moffatt Girls on Teachers Pay Teachers. And Arthur has taken to doing one spelling list spread out over the course of the week.

• The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

• The Road to Oz: Twists, Turns, Bumps, and Triumphs int he Life of L. Frank Baum by Kathleen Krull

• I Invited a Dragon to Dinner

Math

We started Singapore Math Common Core 3A this week. We’re shooting for one unit every week or so. Unit 1 is complete!

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

• Millions, Billions, and trillions: Understanding Big Numbers by David A. Adler

• Mind-Boggling Numbers by Michael J. Rosen

Social Studies

We started History Quest Middle Times this week with Ch. 1 Islamic Innovations. I really loved this chapter. I even learned some things.

• OMAR Finds a Home

• DK Eyewitness: Islam

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• The Arab World Thought of It by Saima S. Hussain

• Looking Back: The World of Islam Before 1700 by Hazel Mary Martell

• Islamic Art & Culture by Nicola Barber

• The Arabian Nights

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 started his next creative project: Geography of Home book.

Science and STEAM Coop

Photos were taken; not by me as I was teaching. Unfortunately the pictures all had pictures of other people’s kids so I can’t post them on here.

We started our bird theme this week and I taught the older kids. We talked about birds in general and birds of prey specifically. Then we joined the younger kids and dissected owl pellets. I was so proud of the older kids as they assisted the younger kids in their dissection. This week really solidified the idea of mixing up the age groups some weeks. Next week we are continuing the birds theme with beaks and feathers.

• Bird Count by Susan Edwards Richmond

• Robin Where are You? by Harriet Ziefert

• Animal School: What Class are You? by Michael Garland

• The Animal Book by Steve Jenkins

• Nature Files: Animal Groupings by Anita Ganeri

• Carl Linnaeus: Genius of Classification by Margaret J. Anderson

Art/Music

Our music study was cut this week. We just ran out of time and other things got prioritized.

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. For ELA, we continued our big overview of the alphabet. We covered more counting and some basic math concepts as well as simple map skills. And we had some puzzles to round out the week.

ELA

• Ten Apples Up on Top by Theo LeSieg

• Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

• The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall

• The Wheels on the Bus

• Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman

Math

• One is Not a Pair by Britta Teckentrup

• No Two Alike by Keith Baker

• Know Your Numbers: Food by Mary Elizabeth Salzmann

• Know Your Numbers: Nature by Mary Elizabeth Salzmann

• Know Your Numbers: Animals by Mary Elizabeth Salzmann

• Know Your Numbers: Toys by Mary Elizabeth Salzmann

Other

• High Five magazine volume

Field Trip

We had a great two event day on Tuesday with our coop friends. In the morning, we visited Heron Haven and explored nature. We saw turtles, frogs, fish, birds, butterflies, and caterpillars. We loved it and will definitely go back soon. In the afternoon, we met some coop friends at the park for playground time and board games. My kids really loved playing with someone else. We’re aiming to schedule two board games days a month.

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. This week, we watched a great episode about math.

• NOVA S42 E7: The Great Math Mystery

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Vivi Loves Science by Kimberly Derting

Highs

• Tuesday was so much fun! The boys loved the nature walk and especially loved the board games afternoon.

Lows

• Some things fell by the wayside this week. I’m reconfiguring our schedule for next week to help this out.

Next Week

• Starting The Hobbit

• Moving on to Unit 2 in math.

• Continuing with our birds theme for coop

• Fall of the Byzantine Empire is up next for history.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• I am so hot all the time. The temps really need to get cooler now.

• Making my way through the Foundation series. I’ve got a bit of momentum now.

• Coop has been great so far. We’re loving our new friends.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W2: I'm So Tired...

What We Studied

Two weeks of fairly intense field trips has left me extremely tired. While we are loving the fun, we need to better structure our weeks to allow for time to recharge. I am extremely tired going into our third week. We did tackle some great lessons this week and made progress on our projects.

Working on character traits with his emerald glasses

Literature and Poetry

We continued 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. I’m really enjoying the spelling curriculum that I bought from The Moffatt Girls on Teachers Pay Teachers. And Arthur has taken to doing one spelling list spread out over the course of the week.

• 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. And we started our new logic book: Primarily Logic. I am liking the different type of logic problems from our previous series, Lollipop Logic.

• Millions, Billions, and trillions: Understanding Big Numbers by David A. Adler

• Mind-Boggling Numbers by Michael J. Rosen

Social Studies

We continued with our map skills and did a review of our last year’s study of ancient history.

• Got Geography! poems

• If Maps Could Talk by Erika L. Shores

• How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz

• It’s a Round, Round World by Ellie Peterson

• Archaeologists Dig for Clues by Kate Duke

Dinosaur scene in LEGOs

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 emerald glasses with which to visit the Emerald City of Oz.

Science and STEAM Coop

No photos as I was busy teaching…

The second week of our Math in Nature theme. We had a bit of a hiccup with the older kids leader calling in sick the day before. Totally understandable! But it meant that I had to scramble for a new plan Instead of teaching the littles group, I switched to the older group and found another member to teach the littles. In the older group, we covered symmetry and tessellation. I was proud of my quick thinking and ability to be flexible.

• Nature Math by Penny Dowdy

• 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

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

Art/Music

We started our music study this year with Fanny Mendelssohn. Our actual lesson was mostly just listening to her work, but we did find a good biography video to watch.

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. For ELA, we continued our big overview of the alphabet. We covered more counting and some basic math concepts as well as simple map skills. And we had some puzzles to round out the week.

ELA

• Creature ABC by Andrew Zuckerman

• LMNO Peas by Keith Baker

• LMNO Pea-quel by Keith Baker

• Llamas with Lemonade by Ariana Koultourides

• I Spy A to Z by Jean Marzollo

Math

• 10 Little Rubber Ducks

• Animal Numbers by Christopher Silas Neal

• Chicka Chicka 123 by Bill Martin Jr.

• Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh

• Patterns by Joanna Brundle

• Shapes Around Us by Daniel Nunn

• Shapes by Joanna Brundle

• Shaping Up Summer by Lizann Flatt

Other

• High Five magazine volume

• Follow that Map: A First Book of Mapping Skills by Scot Ritchie

Field Trip

Our field trip this week was our first with the STEAM coop. It was a terribly hot day, but we did spend a bit over an hour at the OPPD Arboretum exploring nature and reminding ourselves of various shapes in nature. Wednesday was Zoo Member Appreciation Day so we had to stop in to get our ride tickets and special events. It was very hot, but we still enjoyed many animals, carousel, tram, stingray beach, and the splash pad.

Fossil hunting at the Arboretum

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. This week, we watched the second of the series about A to Z. This episode focused on book making and specifically the advent of the Guttenburg printing press.

• NOVA S47 E12: A to Z

Nature hike

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Beyond the Dinosaurs: Monsters of the Air and Sea by Charlotte Lewis Brown

• Heavy Equipment: Cranes by David Armentrout

• Infinity and Me by Kate Hosford

• Nick and Nack Float a Boat by Brandon Budzi

• N is for Nebraska: A Cornhusker State ABC Primer by Christin Farley

• Omaha ABCs by Ashlee Coffey

• Snappsy the Alligator by Julie Falatko

• Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci by Joseph D’Agnese

Highs

• Although it was very warm, I loved our visit to the OPPD Arboretum. We will definitely go back. Maybe in the fall when the colors start changing?

Lows

• I’m still figuring out the scheduling aspect. How much is too much to aim for getting done in a day. It’s different from last year in that Q is in the mix and we have weekly activities and field trips (with coop). I overestimated this week…

We spotted three wobbegong sharks at the zoo! (one is not pictured here) We thought there was only one.

Next Week

• Finishing The Wizard of Oz

• Starting birds for coop and science

• Listening to Beethoven for music

• Covering A and B for Quentin’s letter work

• Diving into the Middle Ages with the Islamic Empire

Hello Lion!

Next up on the TBR pile:

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: