Homeschool W16: All the Holiday Fun and Field Trips!

What We Studied

Another week of lots of holiday fun and changes to our schedule. But it’s okay. I love December and want to soak in all the fun while we still can!

Literature and Poetry

We kept at reading The Wind in the Willows. I’m not sure Arthur really loves it, but I’m enjoying his writing style. It sounds lovely when read out loud. We’ve only got one chapter left to read (reading today) and then we’re on to our next selection.

• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

• A Snowflake Fell: Poems About Winter by Laura Whipple

• Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet (Picture Book Study)

• The Secret History of Hot Chocolate by Stephen Krensky

Math

More review, puzzles, and wrap-up. I decided to hold off starting 3B until January. Until then, we are continuing our logic puzzle book and lots of math games.

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

This week was all about Medieval Plague and Cathedrals! I do love infectious diseases, but we kept it light for Arthur.

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• When on Earth

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• The Plague by Lawrence Andrews

• History Smashers: Plagues and Pandemics by Kate Messner

• Chanticleer and the Fox by Barbara Cooney

• The Canterbury Tales adapted by Barbara Cohen

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 packet work and some random building projects.

Science and STEAM Coop

Continuing with our Dinosaur unit from Blossom and Root! We ended up watching a lot of Eons to cover most of the Cenozoic.

• The Story of Life: Evolution by Katie Scott

• Life: The First Four Billion Years by Martin Jenkins

• When the Whales Walked and Other Incredibly Evolutionary Journeys by Dougal Dixon

• DK Dinsoaur

• DK Where on Earth? Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Creatures

• Prehistoric by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

• Dinosaurium by Chris Wormell and Lily Murray

For Coop, we had our Robots and Engineering second week. The big kids finished their hydraulic crane builds and Arthur got to take one home! The little kids made scribble bots and played around with some other robots Ms. Heather had. Next week, is our last coop meeting of the semester and I’m teaching circuits to the little kids. We did a bit of wrap-up Robots packet at home to end the week.

• Rosie Revere Engineer by Andrea Beaty

• Robots, Robots, Everywhere! by Sue Fliess

• Nat Geo Kids: Robots by Melissa Stewart - Read and Packet

Art/Music

Nothing 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. Quentin and I read a lot of books, did some alphabet review, and completed a few math packets. We also played a decent number of dice games and board games.

ELA

Math

Other

Field Trip

On Wednesday, I randomly grabbed the library pass for The Durham Museum to check out the exhibits. We also got see Santa while we were there and did a scavenger hunt to find all the elves hidden in the museum.

Friday was our official coop field trip at DoSpace. We got a great tour of the facility and then the kids explored two different robots. Our tour guide and teacher was great with the kids and really engaged them throughout. Now that we have a membership card, we definitely need to go back and check out some of the games and programs. Maybe January we can put some class on our calendar.

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. We actually did watch a NOVA episode about the great cathedrals of Europe. I learned a lot about various engineering obstacles and our modern exploration of them. Really fascinating episode. We also watched some more PBS Eons videos about the Cenozoic.

24 Days of Christmas Books - It’s become a tradition. I wrap packages of holiday books for each day of December until Christmas. We have a great group of books this year!

• Comet, the Unstoppable Reindeer by Jim Benton

• A Polar Story in the Snow by Mac Barnett

• Snow by Sam Usher

• The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett

• Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett

• Snow is Fun by Steve Henry

• Little Fox in the Snow by Jonathan London

• Good Night, Reindeer by Denise Brennan-Nelson

• How Santa Really Works by Alan Snow

• Snow Friends by Margery Cuyler

• A Chick n Pug Christmas by Jennifer Sattler

• Mouse's Night Before Christmas by Tracey Corderoy

• The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst

• The Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers by Lisa Campbell Ernst

• Last Stop on the Reindeer Express by Maudie Powell-Tuck

• The Christmas Eve Tree by Delia Huddy

• Martin MacGregor's Snowman by Lisa Broadie Cook

• What the Dinosaurs Did the Night Before Christmas by Refe and Susan Tuma

• Hurry, Santa! by Tomie dePaola

• One Wild Christmas by Nicholas Oldland

• Vegetables in Holiday Underwear by Jared Chapman

• T. rex at Swan Lake by Lisa Carrier and Lenore Hart

High

• On Tuesday, we hosted three coop families for a board game day. The kids split into groups and played a variety of board games for about an hour before abandoning them for free play. it was a lovely morning.

• We also went to see the Werner Park Lights on Wednesday night. It was lovely!

Low

• Nothing really. We had a good week!

Next Week

• Finishing The Wind in the Willows and Starting Scary Stories for Young Foxes: In the City

• Covering the Hundred Years’ War for history

• Reviewing our math concepts

• Finishing our Dinosaur videos

• Covering circuits for coop

• Having a park playdate, going to see a movie, and potentially going on a small hike through the bare woods

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W15: We Enjoyed the Warm Weather!

What We Studied

The temperatures this past week were unseasonably warm, in the 50s and 60s for most of the week. We took advantage and had two long afternoons at the park with friends. I doubt we are going to get any more mild days until spring, so we took time out of our homeschooling schedule to play. It was nice to get out and about. As such, our lessons were shortened. Thankfully, I planned for shortened lessons in December to have time to soak in all the holiday magic.

Literature and Poetry

We kept at reading The Wind in the Willows. I’m not sure Arthur really loves it, but I’m enjoying his writing style. It sounds lovely when read out loud. We’ll be finishing that book next week.

• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

• A Snowflake Fell: Poems About Winter by Laura Whipple

Math

More review, puzzles, and wrap-up. I decided to hold off starting 3B until January. Until then, we are continuing our logic puzzle book and lots of math games.

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

This week was all about the East African kingdoms of Ethiopia and Great Zimbabwe. We made lots of connections to empires from the ancient world. Plus, we got to check out two very interesting archaeological sites.

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• When on Earth

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• Great African Kingdoms by Sean Sheehan

• Ancient West African Kingdoms by Mary Quigley

• Great Zimbabwe by Mark Bessire

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 packet work and some random building projects.

Science and STEAM Coop

Continuing with our Dinosaur unit from Blossom and Root! We covered the Paleocene and Neogene Eras. We ended up watching a lot of Eons to cover most of the Cenozoic. We’ll be wrapping up this giant unit next week.

• The Story of Life: Evolution by Katie Scott

• Life: The First Four Billion Years by Martin Jenkins

• When the Whales Walked and Other Incredibly Evolutionary Journeys by Dougal Dixon

• DK Dinsoaur

• DK Where on Earth? Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Creatures

• Prehistoric by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

• Dinosaurium by Chris Wormell and Lily Murray

For Coop, we had our Robots and Engineering first week. Quentin and the littles made a simple dog robot and talked about the concept of robots. Arthur got to start building a large hydraulic robot. Next week, the big kids get to learn a bit of programming to set up the rest of their robot.

Art/Music

Nothing 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. Quentin and I read a lot of books, did some alphabet review, and completed a few math packets and units on Khan Academy.

ELA

Math

Other

Field Trip

We didn’t have an official field trip this week, but we ended up running all around town with other tasks. Plus we had two long park playdate afternoons.

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. We didn’t actually watch anything this week, but made up for it by all the PBS Eons videos for our dinosaur unit.

Picture books read

• All Right Already! A Snowy Story by Jory John

• Little Owl’s Snow by Divya Srinivasan

24 Days of Christmas Books - It’s become a tradition. I wrap packages of holiday books for each day of December until Christmas. We have a great group of books this year!

• Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett

• Gingerbread Christmas by Jan Brett

• Catch that Cookie by Hallie Durand

• Five Little Monkeys by Eileen Christelow

• The Wheels on the Bus at Christmas

• The Library Gingerbread Man by Dotti Enderle

• Who Will Pull Santa's Sleigh by Russ Willms

• The Gingerbread Pirates by Kristin Kladstrup

• Dream Snow by Eric Carle

• Snow Globe Wishes by Erin Dealey

• The Dinosaurs' Night Before Christmas by Anne Muecke

• Olive, the Other Reindeer by J. Otto Seibold

• Santa in the City by Tiffany D. Jackson

• Santa's Secrets Revealed by James Solheim

High

• The boys received their second COVID vaccine on Wednesday! Even with Omicron now circulating, I’m feeling so much better knowing that the boys have at least a baseline protection against the virus. They were amazing at the pharmacy and once again the pharmacist was very impressed. Of course, they got a small toy afterward (Arthur got a Baryonyx and Quentin got a Bluey figure).

Low

• Our lessons are all out of whack this week, but I should expect this during December. I definitely need to remember this for next year and just do half lessons during the month.

Next Week

• Finishing The Wind in the Willows

• Covering the Black Death (and Cathedrals) for history

• Reviewing our math concepts

• Finishing the Dinosaur Unit

• Covering robots and engineering for coop

• Going on our last coop field trip of the year (to DoSpace for robotics theme)

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• Getting the holiday romance ball rolling already this month! I love how I end the year’s reading.

• I need to start thinking about next semester.

• All cooking motivation has really left me this season. I need to get my mojo back.

• Too many piles around the house has me a bit twitchy.

Next up on the TBR pile:

December 2021 Life Goals

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

• Read 15 books, including 5 nonfiction books - Half success. I ended up with 16 books, but only read 3 nonfiction books.

• Make Christmas Plans ✓ - We’re going to Indiana for Christmas. Still deciding on a return date, but mostly got things planned.

• Update Christmas Lists ✓

• Make 50 Christmas cards - Nope. I ended up making 42 cards, but I probably need to make about 18 more.

• Plan out advent activities ✓

• Wrap up Coop Changes ✓

• Make a Homeschool Spring Semester Framework ✓

Goals:

• Read 15 Holiday Romances!

• Prep blog for 2022

• Lay out my reading plan for 2022

• Clean my craft room before leaving for Indiana

• Get library book down to basically 0

• Have a fun Christmas holiday!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Christmas Bucket List

Instead of a separate bucket list, I’m just going to highlight our advent activities for December.

1. Decorate Mini Tree

2. Letter to Santa

3. Christmas Movies x3

4. Make Paper Snowflakes

5. Get New Christmas PJs and Socks

6. Go See Santa at Cabela’s

7. Go See Werner Park Lights

8. Hot Chocolate bar

9. Meet the reindeer

10. Go for a hike and get pine cones

11. Puzzle Day

12. Make Gingerbread Cookies

13. Visit Lauritzen Gardens

14. Coop Christmas Party

15. Decorate Gingerbread Houses

16. Drive around and see the lights

17. Fantasy of Lights

18. Botanical Gardens Christmas Display

19. Cookie Decorating

20. Dinner at Coney Island and Visit to Santa Lights

21. Christmas music dance party

22. Watch The Grinch

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool Thanksgiving Week

What We Studied

While we took time off for Thanksgiving and a bit of a break, we did end up having school Monday and Tuesday, and a bit on Wednesday. The kids benefit from structure and routine, so we kept at time albeit at a relaxed pace.

Literature and Poetry

We finished reading our collections of African folktales before starting our next read aloud, The Wind in the Willows. We also covered a few picture book studies.

• A Pride of African Folktales by Donna L. Washington

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

• Wake Up House! Rooms Full of Poems by Dee Lillegard

• Enemy Pie by Derek Munson

• The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant

• A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon

• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Math

We focused on some math puzzles this week. Both boys progressed in the Khan Academy math program. Arthur also did some multiplication and division practice during independent time. And Quentin got to play some math board games.

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

None this week

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 packet work and some random building projects.

Science and STEAM Coop

Continuing with our Dinosaur unit from Blossom and Root! We covered Pterosaurs, Mesozoic Mammals, and Marine Reptiles.

• Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian

• Monster Fliers: From the Time of the Dinosaurs by Elizabeth MacLeod

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

• DK Find Out

• Life: The First Four Billion Years by Martin Jenkins

• Dinosaurium by Chris Wormell and Lily Murray

• DK Dinosaur

• DK Where in Earth? Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Life

• Dinosaur Bones

• When the Whales Walked and Other Incredibly Evolutionary Journeys by Dougal Dixon

• Giant Sea Reptiles of the Dinosaurs Age by Caroline Arnold

Art/Music

Nothing 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. This week was all about reading and playing games.

ELA

• The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle

• Why Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears by Verna Aardema

• High Five Magazine

Math

Other

Field Trip

No field trips this week on account of it being Thanksgiving week.

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. We didn’t actually watch anything this week, but made up for it by all the PBS Eons videos for our dinosaur unit.

Misc. - Random picture books read

• 20 Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street by Mark Lee

• The Little Auto by Lois Lenski

• Chester’s Masterpiece by Mélanie Watt

• The Gold Leaf by Kirsten Hall

• Vamos! Let’s Cross the Bridge by Raúl the Third

• Go, Go Trucks! by Jennifer Liberts

• The Artists by Canles Porta

• Monster Trucks by Anika Denise

• Dinosaurs in Disguise by Stephen Krensky

• The Luckiest Snowball by Elliot Kreloff

High

• Arthur spent an entire morning and most of an afternoon creating a solar powered robot.

Low

• Too many days off from school has created a bit of a lazy attitude. We need to get back to our routine.

Next Week

• Continuing to read The Wind in the Willows

• Moving back to Europe for history

• Playing more math games and puzzles

• Reviewing the alphabet (for Quentin)

• Moving forward in time for the Dinosaur Unit

• Covering robots and engineering for coop

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W14: A Break Day Threw Off Our Groove

What We Studied

I thought it would be nice to take Tuesday off and spend some time at the park (it was going to be in the 60s). The kids could play and I could get some random planning work done (and maybe read a bit). We didn’t have a coop field trip scheduled, so I thought it would be perfect. Unfortunately things did not turn out well. The kids were really thrown and complained all day. Wednesday felt like we were trying to get back to normal. So not a great week. We did cover some topics and lessons, but attitudes were not great.

Literature and Poetry

We continued reading some African Folktales this week.

• Nobiah’s Well by Donna W. Guthrie

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

• Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermott

• A Story A Story by Gail E. Haley

• The Best Keeper of Lalibela by Cristina Kessler

• The Lions’s Drum by Steven Gregory

• Clever Tortoise by Francesca Martin

• Dinosaur Dinner (With a Slice of Alligator Pie) by Dennis Lee

Math

We moved onto Unit 5 covering measurement. Mainly the chapter focuses on centimeters, meters, kilometers and inches, feet, yards, and miles. We’ll probably circle back to multiplication and division practice after Unit 5.

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

This week we learned about the Khmer Empire. Arthur really enjoyed studying the images of Angkor Wat. We followed up out history lesson with a few pictures books about Cambodia.

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• When on Earth

• DK History

• Explorers (Henri Mouhot)

• DK Timelines of Everything

• Judge Rabbit and the Tree Spirit by Lina Mao Wall

• The Last King of Angkor Wat by Graeme Base

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 packet work and some random building projects.

Science and STEAM Coop

Continuing with our Dinosaur unit from Blossom and Root! We finally got to the Cretaceous period!

• Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Beasts by Mike Lowery

• The Story of Life: Evolution by Katie Scott

• Life: The First Four Billion Years by Martin Jenkins

• When the Whales Walked and Other Incredibly Evolutionary Journeys by Dougal Dixon

• Prehistoric: Before the Dinosaurs by David West

• DK Prehistoric

• Prehistoric by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

• DK Dinosaur

• DK Where on Earth? Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Beasts

• Dinosarium by Chris Wormell

• In Search of Dinosaurs by Dougal Dixon

• The Early Cretaceous

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

Art/Music

Nothing 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 finished our overview of each letter of the alphabet! We’ll do some whole alphabet review for the rest of the semester before starting phonetics in January. In math, Quentin practiced his skills and worked on a Khan Academy unit about basic geometry. We also talked about the seasons.

ELA

• Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

• My “xyz” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Yoko Yak’s Yakety Yakking by Barbara deRubertis

• Zachary Zebra’s Zippity Zooming by Barbara deRubertis

Math

Other

• Smart Start STEM K

Field Trip

No field trip this week, just an ill-fated park visit.

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. We didn’t actually watch anything this week, but made up for it by all the PBS Eons videos for our dinosaur unit.

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Old Tracks, New Tricks by Jessica Petersen

• Car Wash by Sandra Steen

• Float by Daniel Miyares

• The Big Umbrella by Amy June Bates

• Chicken Frank, Dinosaur by S.K. Wenger

• Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

• Monster Trucks by Joy Keller

• Snacks on a Train by Kathryn Dennis

• School Bus by Donald Crews

High

• Finally getting to the Cretaceous for dinosaurs. Arthur has been desperately wanting to talk about the Spinosaurus since we start, but they didn’t live until about 70 million years ago. We got there this week!

Low

• The utter failure of Tuesday. It was bad, real bad.

Next Week

• Finishing a few African folktales before start The Wind in the Willows

• Mastering measurements

• Moving forward in time for the Dinosaur Unit

• Making time for lots of reading and some board games

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W13: First Snow of the Season!

What We Studied

We had a good week full of lessons, a few outings, and a COVID vaccine!

Literature and Poetry

We continued reading Japanese folktales to coincide with this week’s history curriculum. We also covered a few picture book studies for our fall theme.

• Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds

• How I Met My Monster by Amanda Noll

• Are You My Monster by Amanda Noll

• Lily and the Wooden Bowl by Alan Schroeder

• The Crane Girl by Curtis Manley

• Japan ABCs by Sarah Helman

• Yoshi’s Feast by Kimiko Kajikawa

• The Beckoning Cat by Koko Nishizuka

• Bokuden and the Bully by Stephen Krensky

• Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White

• Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper

• The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig

Math

We’re still working through Unit 3 about multiplication and division. We’ll be staying here for another few weeks to gain some mastery.

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

This week was all about the medieval Japan. I really enjoyed learning about women’s lives in the time period.

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK Timelines of Everything

• When on Earth

• Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Traditional Crafts from Japan by Florence Temko

• Japanese Gods, Heroes, and Mythology by Tammy Gagne

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 packet work and some random building projects.

Science and STEAM Coop

Continuing with our Dinosaur unit from Blossom and Root! We covered the Jurassic Period this week. Finally we’re into the more recognizable dinosaurs.

• Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Beasts by Mike Lowery

• The Story of Life: Evolution by Katie Scott

• Life: The First Four Billion Years by Martin Jenkins

• Prehistoric by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

• DK Where on Earth? Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Life

• Dinosaurium by Chris Wormell and Lily Murray

• In Search of Dinosaurs by Dougal Dixon

• Dinothesaurus by Douglas Florian

• National Geographic Kids: Dinosaurs

• DK Dinosaur

• DK Eyewitness Dinosaur

• Sink Your Teeth

• Dinosaur Mountain: Digging into the Jurassic Age by Deborah Kogan
  

Art/Music

Nothing 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 continued our big overview of the alphabet. (Only two more letters to go!) 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

• Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

• My “w” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Walter Warthog’s Wonderful Wagon by Barbara deRubertis

• My “x” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Xavier Ox’s Xylophone Experiment by Barbara deRubertis

Math

Other

• Fall Leaves by Loretta Holland

• Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington

• Why Do Leaves Change Color by Betsy Maestro

Field Trip

After a bit of uncertainty, we did get to tour the Omaha Fire Station #1 on Tuesday. The kids were super excited to see the trucks and watch the firefighters demonstrate fire safety skills. The kids even got to climb through the cab of a real fire truck!

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. We didn’t actually watch anything this week, but made up for it by all the PBS Eons videos for our dinosaur unit.

Misc. - Random picture books read

• The Little Fire Truck by Margery Cuyler

• Fire Truck Dreams by Sharon Chriscoe

• Harbor by Donal Crews

• It’s a Field Trip, Busy Bus by Jody Jesen Shaffer

• Planes Fly by George Ella Lyon

• Airport by Byron Barton

• The Littlest Train by Chris Gall

• Under the Umbrella by Catherine Buquet

• Little Monster Trucks by Doug Cenko

• Jonathan and the Big Blue Boat by Philip C. Stead

• Tiny Little Rockets by Richard Collingridge

• Little Lunch Truck by Charles Beyl

• All Aboard by Bill Mayer

High

• The boys got their first vaccine! One step down! I am so relieved.

Low

• The weather was all over the place. It was fairly warm at the beginning and then it got super cold and rainy and then snowy. Weather in the Midwest is so varied.

Next Week

• Reading African folktales

• Moving to the Khmer Empire for history

• Mastering measurements and conversions

• Moving forward in time for the Dinosaur Unit to the Cretaceous Period!

• Attending coop for our second health themed meeting

• Taking a break day on Tuesday (shh the kids don’t know yet)

It’s Snowing!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• I had not made a single Christmas card. I am so behind this year!

• My November reading is going to be much lower than usual I think. Too many other projects.

• Debating about taking a “sick” day from homeschool next week… maybe I can get some things done around here.

• Changes are coming to my homeschool coop and I’m very optimistic about them.

• But… it would really be nice if the current families could fill out the survey. Seriously, I gave them two weeks and have reminded them every three days. I still have 5 families outstanding. Very annoying.

• Getting excited about my cheesy Christmas-themed romances for December’s TBR.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #9

Reading: Code Name Hèléne by Ariel Lawhon - I had to take a little break after a very graphic section, but I’m back into the book. About 50% of the way through so far. I’m liking it, but it’s a heavy book.

Watching: J and have caught up with Foundation and it’s oh so good! They changed a lot from the books, but kept most of the philosophy and some of the big plot points. I’m so excited to see where the show is going.

Listening: I finally downloaded the new Black Veil Brides album and it’s been on repeat. I really love “Blackbird” and “Torch.”

Making: I had to completely dissemble my homeschool bookshelf to put in a printer station. So now I’m slowly making piles for December and then all the months for the spring semester. So many piles, but I didn’t want to just dump stuff back onto the bookshelf.

Feeling: We are finally into fall around here and all I want to do is wear my snuggliest sweaters. Nothing super heavy (I still like to feel my fingers), but a brisk temperature and a light sweater are my favorites.

Planning: With the kids getting vaccinated by early December, we have decided to go to Indiana for Christmas. Now I need to plan out all the logistics and start making plans.

Loving: During my break from Code Name Hèléne , I picked up Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas. It’s not October anymore, but I’m still loving the gothic horror in this book. Not much has happened plot wise, but I am so invested in the atmosphere.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W12: All About the Dinosaurs!

What We Studied

We are back to our originally schedule curriculum plan and managed to have two outings plus coop. It was a full week, but I feel really good about our routine and what we covered.

Literature and Poetry

We finished with our reading of Race to the Sun early in the week. I loved the story and it definitely held Arthur’s attention throughout. We will be reading more from that imprint soon. After Race to the Sun, we started reading Japanese folktales in anticipation of next week’s history curriculum. We also covered a few picture book studies for our fall theme.

• Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

• K is for Kabuki by Gloria Whelan and Jenny Nolan

• The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks by Katherine Paterson

• The Boy Who Drew Cats by Margaret Hodges

• The Boy from the Dragon Palace by Margaret Read MacDonald

• Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano

Math

We’re still working through Unit 3 about multiplication and division. I think we have one more week with Unit 3-4 before we move on to measurement.

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

This week was all about the Mongols. Crash Course and John Green have been teasing the Mongols for the entirety of their World History series. We finally got to that episode! Arthur is loving going around dramatically pausing and then saying “The Mongols.” We also went a bit past Genghis Kahn to talk about Kublai Khan and Marco Polo.

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK Timelines of Everything

• When on Earth

• DK History

• Explorers

• The Mongol Empire from Britannica

• Genghis Khan by Li Jian

• Marco Polo by Demi

• Kublai Khan: The Emperor of Everything by Kathleen Krull

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 packet work and some independent reading.

Science and STEAM Coop

We’re still covering the dinosaurs! This week was all about the Triassic Period. We have about three weeks left in our personal coverage. But this was the last week that coop was covering the dinosaurs. Next week, we move on to Health.

• Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Beasts by Mike Lowery

• The Story of Life: Evolution by Katie Scott

• Life: The First Four Billion Years by Martin Jenkins

• Prehistoric by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

• DK Where on Earth? Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Life

• Dinosaurium by Chris Wormell and Lily Murray

• In Search of Dinosaurs by Dougal Dixon

• Dinothesaurus by Douglas Florian

• When the Whales Walked by

• National Geographic Kids: Dinosaurs

• DK Dinosaur

• DK Eyewitness Dinosaur

• Sink Your Teeth

Art/Music

Nothing 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 continued our big overview of the alphabet. We had a light week in regards to the other subjects, but still managed to work on some new skills, including cutting!

ELA

• Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

• My “u” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Umma Ungka’s Unusual Umbrella by Barbara deRubertis

• My “v” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Victor Vicuna’s Volcano Vacation by Barbara deRubertis

• Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

Math

Other

• Poem-Mobiles by Patrick Lewis and Douglas Florian

Field Trip

We had two outings this week. On Tuesday, we had a good old-fashioned playdate with some our coop friends. Now that the parks are not really a good option, we are hoping to add in a few playdates throughout the winter. Then on Friday, we drove to Lincoln to visit Morrill Hall and see some actual dinosaur fossils. We love that museum so much! We ended up spending almost 4 hours exploring. Extra fun: the discovery room in the basement was finally reopened. Lots of fun was had!

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. We didn’t actually watch anything this week, but made up for it by all the PBS Eons videos for our dinosaur unit.

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Busy Builders, Busy Week by Jean Reidy

• Choo Choo Clickety-Clack by Margaret Mayo

• Trash Truck by Max Keane

• Sail Away by Donald Crews

• Five Trucks by Brian Floca

• The Leaves Fall All Around

• Leaf Jumpers by Carole Berger

• Cement Mixer’s ABC by Sherry Duskey Rinker

• Little Excavator by Anna Dewdney

• Go, Girls, Go! by Frances Gilbert

• Flying by Donald Crews

• Keeping the City Going by Brian Floca

• Truck by Donald Crews

• Fall Leaves by Don L. Curry

High

• Field trip to Morrill Hall was definitely a highlight! We could spend all day in that museum, but eventually our parking ran out and we needed food. We’ll be back in a few months for sure.

Low

• Nothing really

Next Week

• Continuing to read Japanese Folktales

• Moving to medieval Japan for history

• Mastering multiplication and division

• Moving forward in time for the Dinosaur Unit to the Jurassic Period!

• Attending coop for our health theme

• Getting vaccinated!!!! Both boys are starting the series on Wednesday. I feel so relieved!

Next up on the TBR pile:

November 2021 Life Goals

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

• Read 15 Books ✓

• Plan a Fall/Halloween Party with Coop People ✓

• October Spooky Movie Month ✓

• Make Tentative Christmas Plans

• Update Christmas Lists

• Week in the Life 2021

Goals:

• Read 15 books, including 5 nonfiction books - Trying to up my nonfiction selections for Nonfiction November

• Make Christmas Plans - Still deciding if we want to go to Indiana

• Update Christmas Lists

• Make 50 Christmas cards - Trying to get back into crafting a bit this season

• Plan out advent activities

• Wrap up Coop Changes

• Make a Homeschool Spring Semester Framework

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W11: A Lovely Week Catching Up

What We Studied

It took a few days, but we caught up with our curriculum. We made a lot of progress in all of our subjects and even had a great field trip with our coop friends.

Literature and Poetry

Continuing with our reading of Race to the Sun. We are about 50 pages from the end, but thankfully I built in a break week from our read aloud. We are going to finish Race to the Sun next week and then move into Japanese Folktales. We also covered a few picture book studies for our fall theme.

• Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

• Plum by Tony Mitton

• Scarecrow by Cynthia Rylant

• Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

• I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll

• Hey, That’s My Monster by Amanda Roll

• Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell

• In November by Cynthia Rylant

• “Robin Hood and His Merry Men” from Favorite Medieval Tales by Mary Pope Osborne

Math

We’re still working through Unit 3 about multiplication and division. We probably have one more week in this unit before we will move on.

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

This week was all about the Ancient Puebloans and Cahokia. We covered both of these civilizations last year in our first year of U.S. History, but it was nice to cover them again. We found some great videos about each of these groups and the ruins that are left. We hope to visit at least Cahokia in the next few years.

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• When on Earth

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• Journey to Cahokia by Albert Lorenze and Joy Schleh

• Secrets of Mesa Verde by Gail Foy

• Cliff Dwellings: A Hidden World by Kevin Blake

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 packet work and some random building projects.

Science and STEAM Coop

Continuing with our Dinosaur unit from Blossom and Root! We covered the Carboniferous and Permian periods. We also had a great coop meeting where the kids learned about Big Time and the history of life on earth. Afterward, the kids pretended to be paleontologists and worked on their own fossil digs.

• Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Beasts by Mike Lowery

• The Story of Life: Evolution by Katie Scott

• Life: The First Four Billion Years by Martin Jenkins

• When the Whales Walked and Other Incredibly Evolutionary Journeys by Dougal Dixon

• Prehistoric: Before the Dinosaurs by David West

• DK Prehistoric

• DK Where on Earth? Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Life

• DK Find Out! Dinosaurs

• DK Eyewitness Dinosaur

• Dinosaurium by Chris Wormed and Lily Murray Preface

• Prehistoric by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

• Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian

• Dinosaur Feathers by Dennis Nolan

• I am NOT a Dinosaur by Will Lach

Art/Music

Nothing 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 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. We also finished big unit on transportation.

ELA

• Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

• My “s” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Sammy Skunk’s Super Sniffer by Barbara deRubertis

• My “t” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Tessa Tiger’s Temper Tantrum by Barbara deRubertis

Math

Other

• Let’s Go on a Train by Rosalyn Albert

• Truck and Train by Hannah Stark

• Chugga Chugga Choo Choo by Emma Garcia

• Locomotive by Brian Floca

• Three Grumpy Trucks by Todd Tarpley

• What a Nice Car by Anita Bijsterbosch

• Our Car by J.M. Brum

• Diggersaurus by Michael Whaite

• My Side of the Car by Kate Feiffer

• I Like My Car by Michael Robertson

• Let’s Go on the Plane by Rosalyn Albert

• Let’s Go on a Rocket by Rosalyn Albert

• How Does it Work? Airplanes by Jenny Fretland VanVoorst

• Let’s Go on a Ferry by Rosalyn Albert

• Lightship by Brian Floca

• Boats Speeding! Sailing! Cruising! by Patricia Hubbell

• Let’s Go on a Tractor by Rosalyn Albert

• If I Built a Car by Chris van Dusen

• Red Truck, Yellow Truck by Michelle Robinson

• I Drive a Snowplow by Sarah Bridges

• Race Car Count by Rebecca Kai Dotlich

• Thunder Trucks by Cheryl Klein & Katy Beebe

Field Trip

We headed to Schramm State Park to look for fossils at the geologic site. It was cold and a bit windy, we had a great morning with our friends. We found a ton of crinoids and some coral pieces in the rocks. I love that we we can visit someplace that has exposed rocks from when Nebraska was underwater 350 million years ago.

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. We didn’t actually watch anything this week, but made up for it by all the PBS Eons videos for our dinosaur unit.

Misc. - Random picture books read

• What Kind of Car Does a T. rex Drive? by Mark Lee

• Here we Go Digging for Dinosaur Bones by Susan Lendroth

• Ten Timid Ghosts by Jennifer O’Connell

• Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson

• The Girl and the Dinosaur by Hollie Hughes

• The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming

• Counting on Fall by Lizann Flatt

High

• Looking for fossils was delightful! We will definitely have to revisit Schramm sometime very soon.

Low

• Um… I cannot think of anything right now.

Next Week

• Finishing Race to the Sun and starting Japanese Folktales

• Moving to Asia and the Mongol Empire for history

• Wrapping up multiplication and division

• Finally getting to the Triassic for the Dinosaur Unit

• Covering dinosaurs for coop! (We’re hosting!)

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• Trying desperately to finish a few more spooky books before this month is over…

• I really love learning about dinosaurs. So glad that’s the boys’ current obsession.

• Double book club meetings this week. So much book talk!

• Here’s hoping that we get out to the state parks a few more times before the year ends.

• Oh the tv show Foundation is so good. I don’t want the season to end.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool Fall Break: We Caught Up!

What We Studied

Originally I had scheduled our Fall Break week for this past week. I knew we would get behind on curriculum because of sickness or unexpected disruptions. Thankfully it happened because of the second reason not the first. That meant that we ended up taking this week to catch up on some subjects and do a bit of fill in. The kids had no idea that I scrapped their break week. (To be fair, we have had our share of break days throughout the fall.)

Literature and Poetry

Continuing with our reading of Race to the Sun. We are a bit behind due to lots of random things, but we’re really enjoying the story and will finish soon. We also covered a few picture book studies for our fall theme.

• Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

• Hidden City: Poems of Urban Wildlife by Sarah Grace Tuttle

• I and You and Don’t Forget Who: What is a Pronoun by Brian P. Cleary

• When I was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant

• Piggie Pie by Margie Palatini

• The Adventures of Beekle by Dan Santat

Math

We’re still working through Unit 3 about multiplication and division. We’ll be staying here for another few weeks to gain some mastery. We also read a few math related picture books, including starting the Sir Cumference series.

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

• The Wing Brothers: Carnival de Math by Ethan Long

• Sir Cumference and the First Round Table by

Social Studies

This week was all about the Magna Carta.

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• When on Earth

• DK History

• A Medieval Feast by Aliki

• A Medieval Cathedral by Fiona MacDonald

• The Magna Carta: Cornerstone of the Constitution by Roberta Baxter

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 packet work and some random building projects.

Science and STEAM Coop

Continuing with our Dinosaur unit from Blossom and Root! We covered the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian Periods.

• Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Beasts by Mike Lowery

• The Story of Life: Evolution by Katie Scott

• Life: The First Four Billion Years by Martin Jenkins

• When the Whales Walked and Other Incredibly Evolutionary Journeys by Dougal Dixon

• Prehistoric: Before the Dinosaurs by David West

• DK Prehistoric

• Prehistoric by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

Art/Music

Nothing 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 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. We also continued a big unit on transportation.

ELA

• Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

• My “q” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Quentin Quokka’s by Barbara deRubertis

• My “r” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Rosie Raccoon’s Rock and Roll Raft by Barbara deRubertis

• The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle

• Quick as a Cricket by Dan and Audrey Woods

Math

Other

• Awesome Ambulances by Tony Mitton

• Flash the Little Fire Engine by Pam Calvert

• Emergency Vehicles by Melissa Abramovitz

• Patrolling Police Cars by Tony Mitton

• Dial 9-1-1! by Charles Ghigna

• A Fire Truck Named Red by Randall de Sève

• Emergency Monster Squad by Dave Horowitz

• Counting Cars

• All Kinds of Cars by Carl Johanson

• The Gingerbread Man Loose on the Fire Truck by Laura Murray

• Bunnies on the Bus by Philip Ardagh

• Let’s Build by Julie M. Fenner

• Diggers by Amy Johnson

• Mighty, Mighty Construction Site by Sherry Dusky Rinker

• Let’s Go on a Digger by Rosalyn Albert

• Trucks Galore by Peter Stein

• The Digger and the Flower by Joseph Kuefler

• The Mixed-Up Truck by Stephen Savage

• Truck, Truck, Goose by Tammi Sauer

Field Trip

One last trip to Vala’s for the season! We arrived right when they opened, met up with friends, and spent 6 1/2 hours there! So much fun. Each of the boys picked one thing that they could not miss (bouncy pillows for Quentin and the corn pit for Arthur). Plus, we grabbed a few pumpkins and some cookies on the way out. Another successful season at one of my favorite places.

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. We didn’t actually watch anything this week, but made up for it by all the PBS Eons videos for our dinosaur unit.

Misc. - Random picture books read

• One Leaf, Two Leaves, Count with Me by John Micklos Jr.

• Yellow Time by Lauren Stringer

• Never Ask a Dinosaur to Dinner by Gareth Edwards

• Leaves by David Ezra Stein

Highs and Low

• We loved our fist trip to Vala’s, but were so sad that it was our last one of the season. I might just buy season passes next year. I just love going and that would allow us to do a few mornings instead of three marathon days. And maybe we could go at night with J one time like on a Wednesday or something.

Next Week

• Continuing to read Race to the Sun

• Moving to Cahokia and the Ancient Puebloans for history

• Mastering multiplication and division

• Moving forward in time for the Dinosaur Unit

• Covering dinosaurs for coop! (We’re hosting!)

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W10: Dinosaurs and Trains are Our Favorites

What We Studied

We managed to cover a lot of ground in a week shortened by two field trips.

Literature and Poetry

We started another read about this week. The original language arts curriculum did not have enough read alouds for how fast we actually read in this house. So I ended up adding about 7 more to the list. This one is one of the Rick Riordan imprints for Disney and features Navajo character and myths. This will fit in nicely with our history unit on Cahokia and the Ancient Puebloans in two weeks.

• Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

• Hidden City: Poems of Urban Wildlife by Sarah Grace Tuttle

• 10 Minutes a Day Spelling

Math

We’re still working through Unit 3 about multiplication and division. We’ll be staying here for another few weeks to gain some mastery.

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

• Peg + Cat: The Big Dog Problem by Jennifer Oxley and Billy Aronson

• Peg + Cat: The Pirate Problem by Jennifer Oxley and Billy Aronson

• Peg + Cat: The Race Car Problem by Jennifer Oxley and Billy Aronson

Social Studies

We covered The Crusades for world history this week. Not the nicest of topics, but it was important for Medieval History.

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• When on Earth

• DK History

• DK Castles and Knights

• DK Eyewitness Knight

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

Science and STEAM Coop

We finally started our big dinosaur unit. I bought the Blossom and Root Prehistoric Unit to give us a basis. From there, we are accelerating a few weeks and slowing down for a few weeks.

• D is for Dinosaur: A Prehistoric Alphabet by Todd Chapman and Lita Judge

• Dinosaurs! by Gail Gibbons

• Dinosaur Tracks by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

• The Street Beneath My Feet by Charlotte Guillain

• Fossils by Ann O. Squire

• Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Beasts by Mike Lowery

• The Story of Life: Evolution by Katie Scott

• Life: The First Four Billion Years by Martin Jenkins

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

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

• When the Whales Walked and Other Incredibly Evolutionary Journeys by Dougal Dixon

• Prehistoric: Before the Dinosaurs by David West

• DK Prehistoric

• Prehistoric by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

Art/Music

Nothing 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 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. We also started a big unit on transportation.

ELA

• Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

• My “o” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Oliver Otter’s Own Office by Barbara deRubertis

• My “p” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Polly Porcupine’s Painting Prizes by Barbara deRubertis

Math

Other

• Let’s Go ABC! Things that Go, from A to Z by Rhonda Gowler Greene

• On the Move

• Fast and Slow by Britta Teckentrup

• Little Kids First Big Book of Things that Go by Karen de Seve

• Calling All Cars by Sue Fliess and Sarah Beise

• Two Tough Trucks Get Lost by Corey Rosen Schwartz

• Muddy, Mud, Bud by Patricia Lakin

• Toot Toot Zoom by Phyllis Root

• Trucks Roll by George Ella Lyon

• Tow Truck Joe by June Sobel

• Trucks Zooming By by Pamela Jane

• Trucks Go by Steve Light

• Go! Go! Go! Stop! by Charise Mericle Harper

• Twinkle Twinkle Little Car by Kate Dopirak

Field Trip

We had two great field trips this week. On Tuesday, we headed to Arbor Day Farm for a guided field trip about animals and the forest. After the guided portion, all the kids had a ton of fun playing and exploring. On Friday, we headed to The Durham Museum for a transportation theme tour. We learned about moving to Omaha, homes throughout the ages, and train travel. The kids loved hanging out the various train cars and learning the various parts.

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. We didn’t actually watch anything this week, but made up for it by all the PBS Eons videos for our dinosaur unit.

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Letter Town by Darren Farrell

• Leif and the Fall by Allison Sweet Grant and Adam Grant

• Nothing Fits a Dinosaur by Jonathan Fenske

• Fall Leaves Fun by Martha E.H. Rustad

• Windows by Julia Denos

• It’s So Quiet by Sherri Duskey Rinker

• Monster Hug by David Ezra Stein

• Ty the Dinosaur and the Substitute Teacher by Marcus Tallberg and Jill C. Faulkner

• There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves by Lucille Colandro

• Gus, the Dinosaur Bus by Julia Liu

• Dinosaur Roar! by Paul Strickland

• Lucky Leaf by Kevin O’Malley

• Leaves! Leaves! Leaves! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

• Zero is the Leaves on the Tree by Betsy Franco

• Regina is NOT a Little Dinosaur by Andrea Zulli

• In the Leaves by Huy Voun Lee

Highs

• Not exactly a high point as it’s not much fun, but we did get our flu shots taken care of this week. One big thing checked off my list.

Lows

• All of our activities made us so incredibly tired this week.

Next Week

• Continuing to read Race to the Sun

• Covering the Magna Carta and Robin Hood

• Mastering multiplication and division

• Moving forward in time for the Dinosaur Unit

• Visiting Vala’s one last time for the season

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• Cooler temperatures are amazing! We’re finally into light sweater weather.

• Looking for a new subscription box for the boys. We just did some theme craft boxes, but I’m thinking more about STEM projects.

• Warm rhubarb pie is just the best.

• One more pumpkin patch visit for the season next weekend. I cannot wait!

• I love spooky movie month!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #8

Reading: Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov. I have finally reached the end of the giant series.

Watching: October is always spooky movie month. I make a list of possible selections and then most nights we pick on to watch. (Usually one of us pick three possibilities and then the other person has to choose one of those.) We’ve started the month with a variety of older movies, either new to me or or rewatches. It’s been fun so far.

Listening: I’m diving back into lots of hard rock as my music choice lately. Apparently fall is for hard rock.

Making: With the cooling temperatures, I’m finally back into making new desserts and trying new recipes.

Feeling: The bookish retreat last week really helped me calm my brain and recharge. I’m feeling a lot better right now.

Planning: My homeschool coop has decided to have a Halloween Party in a few weeks. Of course, I’m helping to plan the party. It’s what I do.

Loving: We picked up a gallon of apple cider at the grocery and it was the best decision of the week.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W8-9: Two Light Weeks Create a Strange Schedule

What We Studied

Between my retreat and a lot of field trips, we ended up having two weeks of part-time homeschool. Thank goodness I built in a break week for mid-October. We aren’t going to take that break, but use it to catch up on some parts of schedule.

Literature and Poetry

We covered a variety of Arthurian Tales for week 8 and then moved on to American Trickster Tales for week 9. I really enjoyed reading multiple different versions of the same style of stories.

• Young Arthur by Robert D. San Souci

• Excalibur by Hudson Talbott

• The Kitchen Knight: A Tale of King Arthur by Margaret Hodges

• Favorite Medieval Tales by Mary Pope Osborne

• Trickster Tales by Josepha Sherman

• A Ring of Tricksters by Virginia Hamilton

• 10 Minutes a Day Spelling

Math

We’re deep into Unit 3 focused on multiplication and division. I imagine that we are going to stay on this unit for awhile. I would really like Arthur to attain some mastery of multiplication and division before we move on.

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

For history we covered the British Isles during the early medieval period. This was a great connection to our Arthurian tales.

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK History

• The Duke and the Peasant: Life in the Middle Ages by Sister Wendy Beckett

• DK Eyewitness: Knight

• DK Castles and Knights

• The Hawk of the Castle: A Story of Medieval Falconry by Danna Smith

• Magic the Margins: A Medieval Tale of Bookmaking by W. Nikola-Lisa

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 story writing prompts and packet work.

Science and STEAM Coop

Our theme for these two weeks was camping. We ended up canceling our first week due to a medical emergency and unpredictable weather. Our second week happened, but was a bit abbreviated. The park that we chose was infested with bees. Our lesson was cut a bit short, but we still talked about camping and made a craft project before going and playing at the playground.

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. For ELA, we continued our big overview of the alphabet with the letters K, L, M, and N. We read multiple nursery rhymes and did some math activities.

ELA

• Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

• My “k” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Kylie Kangaroo’s Karate Kickers by Barbara deRubertis

• My “l” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Lana Llama’s Little Lamb by Barbara deRubertis

• My “m” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Maxwell Moose’s Mountain Monster by Barbara deRubertis

• My “n” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Nina Nandu’s Nervous Noggin by Barbara deRubertis

• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff

• If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff

• If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff

Math

Other

• High Five magazine volume

• Smart Start STEM PreK

Field Trip

Multiple field trips these two weeks! We visited Vala’s twice! I love getting as much fall festival visits in that I can. We took advantage of their homeschool days to pick some apples and enjoy all the activities. We also visited Platte River State Park to walk the waterfall trail and play at the playground.

Documentary Selection

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

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Nick and Nack Put on a Puppet Show by Brandon Budzi

• The Legend of King Arthur-a-tops by Mo O’Hara

• Duck and Goose: A Gift for Goose by Tad Hills

• King Arthur’s Very Great Grandson by Kenneth Kraegel

• 100 Cats by Michael Whaite

• The Little Blue Bridge by Brenda Maier

• Never Follow a Dinosaur by Alex Latimer

• How to Potty Train a Dinosaur by Alycia Pace

• Crunch, the Shy Dinosaur by Cirocco Dunlap

• Here Comes the Tooth Fairy Cat by Deborah Underwood

• The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss

• Firefighter Duckies by Frank W. Dormer

• My Leaf Book by Monica Wellington

Highs

• While it isn’t really to do with homeschooling, I did really enjoy a personal break from everything for the bookish retreat.

Lows

• Our days got a bit out of whack. I’m not loving how off schedule we are right now.

Next Week

• Starting a new chapter book

• Covering the Crusades and the Magna Carta

• Learning about transportation for preschool and coop

• Embarking on a big dinosaur unit

• Continuing multiplication and division

Next up on the TBR pile:

October 2021 Life Goals

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

• Read 15 books ✓

• Keep Homeschool and Coop Momentum Up ✓

• Have a Fun Family Road Trip ✓

• Relax at the Book Retreat ✓ - I’m there right now and I’m sure I’m relaxing.

Goals:

• Read 15 Books

• Plan a Fall/Halloween Party with Coop People

• October Spooky Movie Month

• Make Tentative Christmas Plans (including travel, advent activities, and goals)

• Update Christmas Lists

• Week in the Life 2021 - Document and get album started

Next up on the TBR pile: