2022 Goals and Resolution

Checking in with my 2021 Goals and Resolutions -

House Goals/Resolutions

• Tackle at least one big renovation project - Fail. The cost of supplies prohibited us from doing much

• Lay out a kitchen renovation plan - Fail. We talked a lot about it, but didn’t actually do anything.

Life Goals/Resolutions

• Set a treadmill goal for every month ✓ - I made decent progress, but fell off at the end of the year.

• Complete our 52 Weeks of Desserts and Snack - Fail. We only made 26 recipes. We’re going to continue this into next year.

• Plan and Complete a fun summer road trip ✓ - So much fun! We are doing this every year right after Labor Day.

• Plan and complete a reading retreat ✓ - Finally! We went at the end of September.

Reading Goals/Resolutions

• Set up a book buying budget ✓ - I spent a bit more than I planned to, but still didn’t spend that much.

• Read 200 books / 50,000 pages ✓ - I ended up reading 223 books and 67,000 pages.

• Decrease my physical UnRead Shelves by 50 books - Fail. I really want to get on this in 2022.

• Decrease my ebook UnRead Shelves by 30 books ✓ - I did knock off some duds and some good ones.

Craft Goals/Resolutions

• Complete at least 60% of my currently in-progress projects - Fail. I just didn’t craft at all this year.

• Finish organizing my craft space ✓ - My office is really looking good!

• Organize and use my supplies! (limited buying) ✓ - Defacto success as not crafting meant that I didn’t buy much of anything.

And now on to 2022…

House Goals/Resolutions

• Finish One Home Renovation Project - So many things to do. I just want to finish one project.

• Finish Organizing My Craft Room/Library - Now that we’ve shifted some things around, I really want get everything off my floor and in it’s place.

Life Goals/Resolutions

• Get Back into My Treadmill Goals - I’m aiming for 20 miles a month.

• 1000 Hours Outside - This is a challenge for the kids and I. It’s a national movement, and we want to attempt it this year. It might be tricky during the winter and high heat of later summer, but we are going to try to do our best.

Reading Goals/Resolutions

• Read 200 Books / 60,000 Pages

• Decrease my UnRead Shelf by 50 Books - Going to try to do this again. I’m sitting at 305 physical books at the beginning of this year.

Craft Goals/Resolutions

• Get Back into Crafting!

• Finish 2021 Memory Planner

• Keep Up with 2022 Memory Planner

Next up on the TBR pile:

January 2022 Life Goals

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

• Read 15 Holiday Romances! - I didn’t read 15 holiday romances, but at least 50% of my 23 reads were those.

• 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! ✓

January Goals:

• Read 15 Books

• Map Out My Year

• Work on a Craft Project

• Get a Jump on Our 1000 Hours Outside

• Plan a Few Trips

• Plan Out Homeschooling for January - March

• Pull Down Christmas Decorations

Next up on the TBR pile:

2021 Desserts and Snacks Wrap and 2022's Plan

Week 21: Cake Batter Blondies

The kids loved these treats on the Fourth of July. And I thought they were pretty good too.

Recipe used from Sally’s Baking Addiction

Week 22: Mini Apple-Raspberry Cobblers

I also made these on the Fourth of July for the adults. They were good little pies and even better with ice cream.

Recipe used from Food Network

Week 23: Blueberry Muffins

These are the best blueberry muffins that I’ve ever had or made. They are absolutely amazing! These need to go into our regular rotation.

Recipe used from Alton Brown

Week 24: Oatmeal Banana Bread

This turned off very dry and dense. I’m not sure if it was an issue with our oven or the rising agents, but it did not work well at all.

Recipe used from Simply Whisked

Week 25: Blueberry Lemon Upside Down Cake

This was a very yummy breakfast cake. Will make again.

Recipe used from Delish

Week 26: Cranberry Orange Cake

Another good breakfast cake. I best this would be better with fresh cranberries.

Recipe used from The View from Great Island

2022 Plan

2021 did not work out for our plan of making 52 Desserts and Snacks. So I’m breaking all my rules and extending this challenge into 2022. We are going to continue with last year’s plan and just add on.

Winter Bucket List

After taking a bit of a break from bucket lists in 2021 (seriously, that year was a trash fire), I’m back this year. We have a variety of projects that we want to accomplish this coming year and I want to make some intentions for each season. For winter:

1. Check off 150 hours of our 1000 hours outside project - We’re doing this informally with a whole group of friends in town. Which reminds me to go and buy our Nebraska state park pass for 2022.

2. Have a birthday day out for my 40th! - I didn’t get to do my birthday day out last year due to the pandemic. I’m hoping that I can restart this tradition in early March. I’m thinking antiques, bookstores, and a good lunch.

3. Weekend trip to Chicago - We been talking about going to the Field Museum for a few years now. I’m going to try to swing this before school lets out for the summer.

4. Read 50 books - Always have to have a reading goal.

5. Day trip to Des Moines - I’ve been wanting to take the boys for a exploration trip for awhile.

6. At least 6 zoo visits - We love the zoo in the winter!

7. Trip to see the frozen waterfall at Platte - Since hearing about it, I’ve wanted to check it out. We’ve seen the waterfall in spring, summer, and fall; it’s time to see it in winter.

8. Movie Month February - We used to do this in January, but that month is just too hectic. Here’s to February and a month of new-to-us movies.

9. Weekly Game Day/Night with Arthur — We have a ton of card and board games at the house. I want to start playing more regularly with Arthur.

10. Make winter crafts — We can’t really spend a lot of time outside, so it’s prime time for crafting. I need to peruse Pinterest for some ideas.

11. Design board for future kitchen renovation - I really want to start thinking about styles and finishes for our future kitchen renovation. It won’t happen for another few years, but I like getting the general ideas down.

12. Make Valentine’s — I love crafting of course, but want to make some cute Valentine’s for this year.

13. Have a monthly (indoor) picnic — Weather doesn’t allow for outside ones of course, but I want to start this as a monthly tradition.

14. Finish one craft project - Seriously, last year as a desert of crafting. I would love to get back into it in 2022.

15. Monthly bingo/trivia nights - We found a fun little bar that hosts trivia and bingo nights. Definitely need to do this monthly!

16. Go sledding - No real snowfall yet, but I’m sure we will have at least one big one this winter.

17. Buy a new Nebraska State Park permit - We loved exploring last year, but the permits run from January to December. Time for a new one.

18. Do a donation drop - We have clothes, books, and random housewares that I would really love to get out of the house soon.

19. Take the kids bowling - Haven’t done it for years, maybe we should try it!

20. Dye my hair purple - I’ve put it off for years due to the pandemic. I would love to get it done professionally for this year.

21. Log 50 miles on the treadmill - Need to get using it again.

22. Learn to knit - A homeschool friend has offered to teach us. I’m so down for this!

23. Replace 50% of my socks - Silly little goal, but a lot of my socks are old and some have holes. I want new cozy socks!

24. Make homemade cinnamon rolls - Been on my random list for years, maybe 2022 is the year!

25. Complete 3 television series - We’ve been working on a few for awhile now. Time to knock them out!

Christmas Bucket List Final

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

Decorate Mini Tree ✓ (This pic was pre-decoration, but they got it down and started their advent calendars.)

Letter to Santa ✓

Christmas Movies with the Kids x3 ✓

• 8 Bit Christmas - Lovely 80s nostalgia for the parents. Heartwarming for the kids.

• Dr. Sesuss’ The Grinch - Marcus Theaters was having $5 retro Christmas movies.

• The Muppet Christmas Carol - Family favorite!

Make Paper Snowflakes ✓ - Arthur ripped a few, but we managed to make about 6 for the breakfast nook window.

Get New Christmas PJs and Socks ✓

Go See Santa at Cabela’s ✓ - We always have to check out the taxidermy animals and see the aquarium while there. And this year the boys got me to buy them those giant stuffed reindeer. We also ended up visiting Santa at The Durham Museum.

Go See Werner Park Lights ✓

Hot Chocolate bar ✓ - We tried Mint, French Vanilla, and Amaretto. Arthur and Quentin loved the Amaretto best and I really enjoyed the French Vanilla.

Meet the reindeer - We never made it to this activity.

Go for a hike and get pine cones - Ditto

Puzzle Day ✓ - This year’s selection was Christmas cats!

Make Gingerbread Cookies ✓ - Quentin was a big helper coating the cookies with sugar.

Visit Lauritzen Gardens - We never went.

Coop Christmas Party ✓ - No pictures as they feature other kids, but we had a great party right before we left for Indiana.

Decorate Gingerbread Houses ✓ - Always a disaster, but we love it.

Drive around and see the lights ✓

Fantasy of Lights ✓

Botanical Gardens Christmas Display ✓

Cookie Decorating ✓ - We ended up doing this during the coop Christmas Party.

Dinner at Coney Island and Visit to Santa Lights - Line was crazy long so we skipped.

Christmas music dance party ✓ - Always a favorite!

Watch The Grinch ✓ - Always a favorite!

24 Days of Christmas Books

• 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

• 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

• The Nutcracker's Night Before Christmas by Keith Brockett

• Five Busy Elves by Patricia Hegarty

• Snow by Roy McKie

• The Christmas Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood

• Ten Ways to Heart Snow by Cathy Camper

• Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell

• The Littlest Elf by Brandi Dougherty

• The Littlest Reindeer by Brandi Dougherty

• Merry Christmas, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt

• Peppa Pig and the Christmas Party

• Russell's Christmas Magic by Rob Scotton

• The Great Reindeer Rebellion by Lisa Trumbauer

• 12 Days of Christmas by Kate Toms

• Jingle Bells by Rosie Greening

• The Story of the Nutcracker Ballet by Deborah Hautzig

• There's an Elf in Your Book by Tom Fletcher

• Snow Bunny's Christmas Gift by Rebecca Harry

• If Snowflakes Tasted Like Fruitcake by Stacey Previn

• Winter is for Snow by Robert Neubecker

• The Great Santa Stakeout by Betsy Bird

Other Holiday Movies Watched

• The Man Who Invented Christmas

• A Christmas Wish

• Single All the Way

• Love Hard

• Encanto - We went to the movie theater for this one!

• One Royal Holiday

• The Knight Before Christmas

• A Castle for Christmas

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool Christmas Break 2021

What We Studied

While we didn’t completely stop all schooling, we did take it pretty easy this Christmas break. We did a lot of holiday related activities. Plus, we traveled to and from Indiana to visit a few family members. We are getting back at it today, but easing back in.

Literature and Poetry

We kept reading Scary Stories for Young Foxes: The City, but ultimately didn’t get very far. We were distracted by lots of picture books and the ones the boys got for Christmas. So lots of random reading, but not organized.

• Scary Stories for Young Foxes: The City by Christian McKay Heidicker

Math

We mostly played some math games. Arthur also did some math in his independent packet.

Social Studies

No big unit, but Arthur did complete an entire Map Skills book (Grade 1). It was mostly review, but good practice.

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

No coop obviously. We did continue watching random PBS Eons videos, picking up some of the ones we missed and those set during the last Ice Age.

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.

ELA

• High Five issues

Math

Other

• Dinosaur Puzzle Book

Field Trip

Other than just traveling to Indiana, we didn’t really have any field trips. We’ve been laying fairly low due to the pandemic.

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.

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!

• Christmas is Awesome by Sabrina Moyle

• The Last Christmas Tree by Stephen Krensky

• The Crayon's’ Christmas by Drew Daywalt

• Christmas City by Michael Garland

• Goodby Autumn, Hello Winter by Kenard Pak

Picture Books Read

• Freedom Soup by Tami Charles

• Can I Be Your Dog? by Troy Cummings

• Beware of the Crocodile by Martin Jenkins

• No by Claudia Rueda

• No more Cuddles by Jane Chapman

• The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers

• Give Your Cat a Bath in Five Easy Steps by Nicola Winstanley

• Bear Came Along by Richard T. Morris

• Chez Bob by Bob Shea

• Inside Cat by Brendan Wenzel

High

• Beyond the usual Christmas Eve and Day fun, we loved hosting a Christmas party for the coop before we left. The kids did some art, decorated cookies, played bingo and pin the nose on the reindeer, and did hot chocolate tasting. it was chaotic fun!

Low

• I anticipated that this would happen, but was still thrown off when the boys’ attitudes really fell off a cliff right after Christmas. We had a few really rough days and needed to get back into our school routine.

Next Week

• Traveling to Polynesia for History

• Reading more trickster tales and continuing our read aloud

• Starting 3B for math

• Covering famous Nebraskans and Iowans for coop

• Exploring emotions for health

• Beginning concentrated reading lessons for Quentin

• Discovering Hokusai’s paintings and woodcuts

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W17: Last Week of the Semester!

What We Studied

We took it a bit easy for our last week of the fall semester. We wrapped up a few units, had our last coop meeting, and then took Friday off to go to the zoo.

Literature and Poetry

We finished reading The Wind in the Willows. I ended up really enjoying it and reading it out loud is definitely the way to go. We started on our next read aloud selection. It wasn’t on my original list, but we saw it at the library and had to grab it.

• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

• A Snowflake Fell: Poems About Winter by Laura Whipple

• Scary Stories for Young Foxes: The City by Christian McKay Heidicker

• How Santa Got His Job by Stephen Krensky

• How Santa Lost His Job by Stephen Krensky

Math

We mostly wrapped up some math packets and did some extra scale reading practice. Plus, there was lots of play with tangrams this week! And Arthur finished his Primarily Logic book.

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

History Quest wrapped up our semester with a chapter about the Hundred Years’ War. We learned all about the conflict and focused on Henry V and Joan of Arc for our biographies.

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• When on Earth

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• Joan of Arc by Demi

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

We finished our dinosaur unit with more PBS Eons videos. I taught coop this week and we made simple circuits. The kids were very excited to play with the Snap Circuits board I bought. It was a good meeting to end on.

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

We had a park playdate planned for Wednesday but that was canceled when a very dangerous storm blew in. Tornados touched down about 10 miles from our house, but didn’t cause too much damage. To make up for our lost trip, I called school off on Friday and we went to the zoo. I love going in the winter when there are no crowds and you can really linger over the animals. We got to see the penguin feeding. It was a nice morning.

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.

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!

• The Nutcracker's Night Before Christmas by Keith Brockett

• Five Busy Elves by Patricia Hegarty

• Snow by Roy McKie

• The Christmas Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood

• Ten Ways to Heart Snow by Cathy Camper

• Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell

• The Littlest Elf by Brandi Dougherty

• The Littlest Reindeer by Brandi Dougherty

• Merry Christmas, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt

• Peppa Pug and the Christmas Party

• Russell's Christmas Magic by Rob Scotton

• The Great Reindeer Rebellion by Lisa Trumbauer

• 12 Days of Christmas by Kate Toms

• Jingle Bells by Rosie Greening

• The Story of the Nutcracker Ballet by Deborah Hautzig

• There's an Elf in Your Book by Tom Fletcher

• Snow Bunny's Christmas Gift by Rebecca Harry

• If Snowflakes Tasted Like Fruitcake by Stacey Previn

High

• Taking Friday morning off to go to the zoo was the right call. We wandered around and got to interact with lots of animals without the crowds. The mongoose was being playful and the baby gorilla was so adorable.

Low

• Wednesday’s bad weather cancelled all our fun plans! We were supposed to have a park playdate with coop friends and then that evening I was supposed to go to Musicals Bingo with some friends. It was to be my one night out before traveling with the kids. Darn midwest weather!

Next Week

• Nothing! It’s Christmas Break! Although we are going to be doing more holiday activities, puzzles, and games. We will officially start the spring semester on January 10th.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• A scary storm rolled through yesterday. There was a tornado that touched down about 10 miles from here, but it was pretty incomplete and didn’t do any major damage.

• Our last coop meeting is this morning. We’re going to miss our friends over the Christmas break.

• Squeezing in a few more holiday activities before Christmas.

• Packing for our travel next week… So many things to remember and I need to make a master list.

• Tried some whiskey cheddar cheese from Aldi’s and it was terrible. Oh well, at least it was cheap. We try some and we lose some, but it’s always an adventure with picks from Aldi’s.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Christmas Bucket List Update

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

Decorate Mini Tree ✓ (This pic was pre-decoration, but they got it down and started their advent calendars.)

Letter to Santa ✓

Christmas Movies x3

• 8 Bit Christmas - Lovely 80s nostalgia for the parents. Heartwarming for the kids.

• Dr. Sesuss’ The Grinch - Marcus Theaters was having $5 retro Christmas movies.

Make Paper Snowflakes ✓ - Arthur ripped a few, but we managed to make about 6 for the breakfast nook window.

Get New Christmas PJs and Socks ✓

Go See Santa at Cabela’s ✓ - We always have to check out the taxidermy animals and see the aquarium while there. And this year the boys got me to buy them those giant stuffed reindeer. We also ended up visiting Santa at The Durham Museum.

Go See Werner Park Lights ✓

Hot Chocolate bar ✓ - We tried Mint, French Vanilla, and Amaretto. Arthur and Quentin loved the Amaretto best and I really enjoyed the French Vanilla.

Meet the reindeer

Go for a hike and get pine cones

Puzzle Day ✓ - This year’s selection was Christmas cats!

Make Gingerbread Cookies ✓ - Quentin was a big helper coating the cookies with sugar.

Visit Lauritzen Gardens

Coop Christmas Party

Decorate Gingerbread Houses ✓ - Always a disaster, but we love it.

Drive around and see the lights

Fantasy of Lights

Botanical Gardens Christmas Display

Cookie Decorating

Dinner at Coney Island and Visit to Santa Lights

Christmas music dance party

Watch The Grinch

24 Days of Christmas Books

• 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

• 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

• The Nutcracker's Night Before Christmas by Keith Brockett

• Five Busy Elves by Patricia Hegarty

• Snow by Roy McKie

• The Christmas Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood

• Ten Ways to Heart Snow by Cathy Camper

• Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell

Other Holiday Movies Watched

• The Man Who Invented Christmas

• A Christmas Wish

• Single All the Way

• Love Hard

• Encanto - We went to the movie theater for this one!

Next up on the TBR pile:

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: