Homeschool W3: A Week Indoors

What We Studied

The temperatures soared past 100 degrees almost every single day this past week. We even had to cancel coop because of the high heat. And so, we ended up spending basically the entire week indoors at home. We did get out for a few hours on Friday morning, but it soon got too hot and we cut it short. Silver lining: We caught up on all our curriculum.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur started reading the Percy Jackson series with The Lightning Thief. We finished the first section and Arthur called Percy’s parentage very early on in the story. Love that he’s starting to really get foreshadowing and clues dropped by authors. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills and starting our writing journey. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root. And finally, we finished reading the coop book club selection.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
A Child's Introduction to Greek Mythology: Intro through Gods Galore
Poetry for Young People: American Poetry
Reading Explorer: Intro
Wildoak by CC Harrington

Quentin explored all the books of Doreen Cronin this week. He especially liked the books featuring duck and read a majority of them outloud to me. His reading skills are really coming along. He also worked on some basic grammar.

Sing a Song of Seasons
Doreen Cronin books
Bears Sees Colors by Karma Wilson
The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons by Natascha Biebow
True Colors: The Story of Crayola by Jesse Burton
How the Crayons Saved the Unicorn by Monica Sweeney
Blue Chameleon by Emily Gravett
Every Color of Light by Hiroshi Osada
Hidden Animal Colors by Jane Park
Colors in Nature by Magdalena Konecna
Every Color by Erin Eitter Kono
Color the Sky by David Elliott
The Color Monster by Anna Llenas
Monsters Love Colors by Mike Austin
Color Blocked by Ashley Sorenson

Monday’s ELA, History, and Science books

Math

Arthur continued his math year with some review packets. We will start his next Singapore book next week or the week after. We’ll see how that goes. We also started our next logic book.

Orbiting with Logic

Quentin jumped back into Singapore 1B to covering the basics of fractions. I’m still debating if we should take a small review break after finishing 1B and before beginning 2A. I’m still deciding. We also continued our logic book.

Lollipop Logic Book 3
Singapore Common Core 1B

Social Studies

Arthur jumped back into BYL 6 and History Quest: US History starting at the beginning of the Civil War. He covered the Battle of Gettysburg this week. We’ll be sprinkling in various historical fiction readers to reinforce the time periods.

DK American History
We were There Too! Young People in US History
Two Miserable Presidents by Steve Sheinkin
Words that Build a Nation
The Not So Boring Letters of Private Nobody by Matthew Landis
What was the Battle of Gettysburg? by Jim O'Connor
Heart and Soul
If You were a Kid During the Civil War by Wil Mara

Quentin moved onto the origins of life on earth into the Paleolithic Period. We also listened to a few podcasts about the beginnings of life and evolution. On Thursday, we snuck in a documentary about the ice age. We also covered cave art as a side lesson to our main history lessons.

History Quest Early Times
DK When on Earth?
It Started with a Big Bang by Floor Bar
How Did I Get Here? By Philip Bunting
Life by Martin Jenkins and Grahame Baker-Smith
Continental Drift by Martin Ince
Grandmother Fish by Jonathan Tweet
I Used to be a Fish by Tom Sullivan
Archaeologists Dig for Clues by Kate Duke
We Dug Up the World by Alexandra Stewart
DK Archaeology
Amazing Archaeologists
Human Wold
Our Family Tree by Lisa Westberg Peters
Evolution Revolution
A Child's Introduction to Natural History by Heather Alexander
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK A Child Through Time
The Secret Cave by Emily Arnold McCully
A History of Western Art
DK Science Year by Year
Painters of the Caves by Patricia Lauber

Science

We covered a small nature science lesson on Monday with a focus on trees and reviewing nocturnal animals. Our visit to the Platte River State Park last Friday for their Nightfall Celebration really highlighted our nature science lessons.

Nature Connection by Clare Walker Leslie
Hike by Peter Oswald
One World: 24 Hours on Planet Earth by Nicola Davies
Can You Hear the Trees Talking? Discovering the Hidden Life of the Forest by Peter Wohlleben

Arthur is embarking upon RSO Chemistry this year. But before we officially start the curriculum, we are covering some basic Chemistry and Science lessons. Once we start the actual book, we will be doing the experiment portions with a group of coop friends. This week we focused on microscopes and the very small.

RSO Chemistry
DK Super Simple Chemistry
Usborne Internet-linked Complete Book of the Microscope
Out of Sight: Pictures of Hidden Worlds by Seymour Simon
Cells Up Close by Maria Nelson
Story of Science Vol. 2: Newton at the Center by Joy Hakim

Quentin continued RSO Life with a lesson about cells. He will also be engaging in various nature science lessons and explorations throughout the year. We did a fun little experiment looking at a chicken egg and labeling the parts.

RSO Life
DK Oversimple Biology

STEAM Coop

Coop was cancelled due to the high heat.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

Another week that I actually fit in art and music! I am on a roll! We covered the music of Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier Saint-George, and the art of Tyree Guyton.

Swatch by Julia Kenos
The Science of Song: How and Why We Make Music by Alan Cross, Emme Cross, and Nicole Mortillaro
A Child's Introduction to the Orchestra by Robert Levine
DK Music and How it Works
Before There was Mozart: The Story of Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-George by Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome
DK The Arts
Why is Art Full of Naked People by Susie Hodge
13 Art Movements Chldren Should Know
Women in Art by Rachel Ignotogsky
DK Timelines of Everyone
13 Women Artists Children Should Know
13 Artists Children Should Know
Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

Field Trip

No field trips this week due to the heat

High

On Friday, we had finished all of our curriculum, so we had a board game afternoon. We played a variety of games and sneakily worked on our math skills and strategy. I need to keep this one tap for random afternoons.

Low

The heat made everyone a bit tired and cranky.

Next Week

Continuing Percy Jackson
Starting a big chapter book for Q
Getting close to finishing Singapore 1B (Q)
Starting Singapore 5A (A)
Moving into the last stages of the Civil War
Covering the Neolithic Period
Admiring colorful art
Listening to ???

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #16

Reading: I’m continuing with Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress series. I hope to finish it soon-ish. Maybe by October.

Watching: I finally watch the movie adaptation of Red, White, and Royal Blue. I had heard such mixed feelings on this one. After schooling my expectations, I actually found that I enjoyed it. Not as much as the book, but still enjoyed it.

Listening: I’m still binging Hello from the Magic Tavern podcast episodes. Only a few episodes at a time, but still absolutely loving it.

Making: Quentin has requested banana bread. Guess I should make it for him, but definitely need to do it in the morning before the temps get super high.

Feeling: Speaking of, it’s so incredibly hot. I’m beyond hot and irritable this week.

Planning: I need to review our schedule for next week’s activities. Not quite sure what we are going to do.

Loving: With the ridiculous temperatures, I am so thankful and loving of air conditioning. And the fact that we have a basement to hide in when the upstairs get stuffy.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W2: Another Over Scheduled Week

What We Studied

Our second week and I, once again, over scheduled our curriculum. It’s going to take me a few weeks to settle into a good sustainable routine, but we will get there! We did fit in multiple outings and nature walks this week. And we tried to school outside a few times, once at the Gene Leahy Mall and once at the zoo. It went okay. Unfortunately, it started raining at the Gene Leahy Mall, so that cut our school work short that day. We did manage to fit in a bit of school work. I want to try to do this every few weeks, especially as the weather changes. I don’t want to be a house hermit this winter.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur finished reading Mrs. Frisby. It was a good first book to start discussing The Hero’s Journey. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills and starting our writing journey. He also started his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root. And finally, we continued reading the coop book club selection.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O’Brien
Poetry for Young People: American Poetry
Reading Explorer: Intro
Wildoak by CC Harrington

Quentin explored all the books of Mo Willems this week. We all really love his books so much. I read the Piggie sections and Q read the Gerald sections in the Elephant and Piggy collection. We didn’t get to all the theme week books on color, but covered a few throughout the week. (Guess we’ll be continuing that theme into next week.) He also worked on some basic grammar.

Sing a Song of Seasons
Silver Seeds by Paul Paolilli and Dan Brewer
Vivid: Poems and Notes About Color by Julie Paschkis
Color Me a Rhyme by Jane Yolen
All the Mo Willems books
Harold and Hog Pretend for Real! by Dan Santat
My World of Science: Color by Angela Royston
Colors by Shelley Rotner and Anne Woodhull
Summer Color! by Diana Murray
I Spy Colors in Art by Lucy Micklethwait

Math

Arthur continued his math year with some review packets. We will start his next Singapore book next week or the week after. We’ll see how that goes. We also started our next logic book.

Orbiting with Logic

Quentin jumped back into Singapore 1B to tackle multiplication and then division before we move on. Based on his work this week, we might take a small review break after finishing 1B and before beginning 2A. I’m still deciding. We also continued our logic book. While at the zoo, Q and I played a Pirate Place Value game.

Lollipop Logic Book 3
Singapore Common Core 1B

Social Studies

Arthur jumped back into BYL 6 and History Quest: US History starting at the beginning of the Civil War. We’ll be sprinkling in various historical fiction readers to reinforce the time periods.

DK American History
We were There Too! Young People in US History
Two Miserable Presidents by Steve Sheinkin
Abraham Lincoln: Lawyer, President, Emancipator by Pamela Hill Nettleton
Abe Lincoln's Dream by Lane Smith
The Not So Boring Letters of Private Nobody by Matthew Landis

We started Quentin’s formal history curriculum with a basic discussion of the beginnings of the universe and speeding through up to the point that life starts to populate the Earth.

History Quest Introduction
DK When on Earth?
Annabelle and Aiden: Worlds Within Us by JR Becker
Older Than the Stars by Karen C. Fox
Annabelle and Aiden: The Story of Life by JR Becker
Annabelle and Aiden: Sapiens Our Human Evolution by JR Becker

Science

We managed to sneak in a joint nature science lesson while at the zoo on Tuesday. We talked about living and nonliving entities and used the zoo as our plot study.

Nature Connection by Clare Walker Leslie
Backyard by Donald Silver
Let’s Investigate with Nate: The Life Cycle by Nate Ball
Nature is an Artist by Jennifer Lavallee
A Year with Mama Earth by Rebecca Grabill
The Prairie That Nature Built by Marybeth Lorkiecki

RSO Chemistry
DK Super Simple Chemistry
Story of Science Vol. 2: Newton at the Center by Joy Hakim
Nano: The Spectacular Science of the Very (Very) Small by Dr. Jess Wade
What’s Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew? by Robert E. Wells

Quentin started RSO Life with a basic lesson defining life and thinking about science in a larger sense. He will also be engaging in various nature science lessons and explorations throughout the year.

RSO Life
DK Oversimple Biology

STEAM Coop

Arthur’s class covered more foraging and plant identification. They focused on poisonous plants this week. Q’s class explored leaves and trees and explored the different types. They also made a cute leaf rubbing wreath. I ended up helping Q’s group as a floater.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

Another week that I actually fit in art and music! I am on a roll! We covered the music of Ali Farka Toure and the art of Frida Kahlo.

The Science of Song: How and Why We Make Music by Alan Cross, Emme Cross, and Nicole Mortillaro
DK Music and How it Works
DK The Arts
Why is Art Full of Naked People by Susie Hodge
13 Art Movements Chldren Should Know
The Two Fridas: Memories Written by Frida Kahlo
Women in Art by Rachel Ignotogsky
DK Timelines of Everyone
13 Women Artists Children Should Know
13 Artists Children Should Know
Frida Kahlo: The Artist Who Painted Herself by Margaret Frith
The Story of Paintings: A History of Art for Children by Mick Manning and Brita Granstorm
Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos by Monica Brown
Modern art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw
Portrait of an Artist: Frida Kahlo by Lucy Brownbridge

Field Trip

Beyond our out-school attempts at the Gene Leahy Mall and the zoo on Monday and Tuesday, we did get in a short nature hike on Friday morning. In addition, as a family, we attended a nightfall celebration at the Platte River State Park on Friday night. The kids ate s’mores, learned about fire (the science of), played at the playground, and went on a night hike. The night hike portion was a ton of fun and the boys loved using the small flashlights to spot interesting animals and plants. They even found some glow-in-the-dark moss under the waterfall. We’ll be talking more about this night hike next week during our nature science.

High

Schooling at the zoo actually went really well. Part of our success was not inviting a ton of friends. We explored part of the zoo and then had two school sessions in sparsely populated areas.

Low

(Just repeating what I said last week) I over scheduled our curriculum for the week. Definitely need to reevaluate my plan of next week…

Next Week

Continuing our forest skills unit for coop (A) and starting insects (Q)
Starting a new read aloud for A
Moving forward with our study of the Civil War
Starting Singapore 5A?
Reading a lot Doreen Cronin books
Covering the basics of fractions
Admiring Tyree Guyton’s art
Listening to Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier Saint-Georges’s music

Next up on the TBR pile:

Summer Bucket List Update #2

I missed making this post last week as I was in the middle of a medical issue. But I’m back and feeling a bit better, so let’s see what we have on our summer bucket list this year…

Complete the Library Reading Program ✓
Ice Cream Tour of Omaha (in progress)
Louisville, Two Rivers, and Fremont SRAs
Trip to Indiana and Ohio ✓
Cookout with Friends ✓
Lincoln Day
5 Splash Pad Visits (4/5)
3 Movies at the Theater (1/3)
3 Omaha Zoo Visits ✓
Read 50 Books (44/50)
August Movie Month - Well, that just didn’t happen. Completely got away from me.
September Game Month

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Today is our second coop of the semester. Thankfully the temperatures are a bit better this week. It was so hot last week!
I think I need to permanently make Thursday leftover night. Coop really takes it out of me.
I promised Q banana bread this week. Guess I need to add that to my to dos on Friday.
Definitely need to do a library run tomorrow…

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W1: Full Force into Another Year!

What We Studied

Arthur started 4th grade and Quentin started 1st grade this Monday. Of course, I over scheduled us and overestimated how much curriculum we would actually get through. But the first week is always a time to learn our limits and our rhythms. We’ll get to a better schedule soon.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur began his literature and language arts journey by reading Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. We should finish next week. So far, we are really enjoying this story. And it’s amazingly easy to read out loud. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills and starting our writing journey. He also started his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root. And finally, we started reading the coop book club selection.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Richard O’Brien
Poetry for Young People: American Poetry
Reading Explorer: Intro
Wildoak by CC Harrington

Quentin started with a week of nursery rhymes and poetry. I didn’t want to dump him into a big chapter book, so we started easy. He also worked on some basic grammar.

Mother Goose Collection
Sing a Song of Seasons
Our Big Home by Linda Glaser

Math

Arthur began his math year with some review packets. We will start his next Singapore book next week or the week after. We’ll see how that goes. We also started our next logic book.

Orbiting with Logic

Quentin jumped back into Singapore 1B to tackle multiplication and then division before we move on. Based on his work this week, we might take a small review break after finishing 1B and before beginning 2A. I’m still deciding. We also did start the next logic book. And we even put in a math game, Picnic Party.

Lollipop Logic Book 3
Singapore Common Core 1B

Social Studies

Arthur jumped back into BYL 6 and History Quest: US History starting at the beginning of the Civil War. We’ll be sprinkling in various historical fiction readers to reinforce the time periods.

DK American History
We were There Too! Young People in US History by Phillip Hoose
Two Miserable Presidents by Steve Sheinkin
Bull Run by Paul Fleischman

I held off Quentin’s formal history lessons for an introduction to the world and map skills.

Follow that Map by Scot Ritchie
A Child’s Introduction to the World by Heather Alexander

Science

RSO Chemistry
How to Think Like a Scientist by Stephen Kramer
Notable Notebooks: Scientists and Their Writings by Jessica Fries-Gaither
Story of Science Vol. 2: Newton at the Center by Joy Hakim

RSO Life
Many: The Diversity of Life on Earth by Nicola Davies
A Child’s Introduction to Natural History by Heather Alexander
DK Supersimple Biology

STEAM Coop

We started with a great nature based lesson at Schramm State Recreation Area. We now have four different levels that we teach each week. Quentin is now in the young class, now known as the Running Rhinos. They learned about trees. Arthur is in the oldest class. They learned about foraging and edible plants.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

We actually started a joint art and music study. Our first week was all about introducing art in a general sense and the orchestra for music. Moving on, we will be choosing one artist and one composter/musician per week to learn a bit about.

The Art Lesson by Tomie dePaola
Why is Art Full of Naked People by
A Child’s Introduction to Art by Heather Alexander
DK Music and How it Works
The Story of the Incredible Orchestra by Bruce Koscielniak
DK The Arts
A Child’s Introduction to the Orchestra by Robert Levine

Field Trip

We had multiple nature excursions and a playground session this week. Two more nature hikes was just what we needed to get our year start right! One was at a favorite, Fontenelle Forest, and another was at the related nature area, Neale Woods. Our playground time was at a favorite close-by park. We’ll be back soon I imagine.

High

Our high was definitely the first week of coop! Except for a few direction hiccups for a few families, we had a very successful and smooth meeting. All the kids seemed to enjoy themselves.

Low

I over scheduled our curriculum for the week. Definitely need to reevaluate my plan of next week…

Next Week

Continuing our plant study for coop
Finishing Mrs. Frisby
Moving forward with our study of the Civil War
Starting Singapore 5A?
Reading a lot Mo Willems books
Covering the basics of division
Admiring Frida Kahlo’s art
Listening to Ali Farka Toure’s music

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #15

Reading: I picked up another old BOTM selection from my Unread Shelf and started reading The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker. I’m only a few chapters in and am still a bit unsure about this book. We’ll see how this goes.

Watching: We finally started Get Back, The Beatles documentary. It’s surprisingly interesting for not being a linear documentary.

Listening: Slowly slowly working my way through Hello from the Magic Tavern. I’m only like 5 years behind, but eventually I’ll get caught up (if they stop recording the show soon).

Making: Coop starts on Thursday and I’m busy prepping the supply bag. Lots of random supplies to collect and put into the correct bins and bags.

Feeling: The weather has been so humid for the past few days and I’m just feeling so muggy. It’s terrible and I hate it.

Planning: I know I’ll be teaching W7-8, nocturnal animals for the preschoolers, and I might just have to teach W5-6, photography for the preschoolers. All of this before I teach W13-18, board games for the oldest kids. I’m really trying to only teach 8 weeks this semester, but it’s not looking good. So now I need to really buckle down nd start planning.

Loving: We officially started our next school year yesterday and I’m so excited that we’re back to our school routine. Having a basic schedule for the week really helps calm my anxiety.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

We are just a few days away from the start of school. Better get my supplies all in line…
My current read is extremely depressing. I’ll need a pick-me-up read after this one.
The fridge needs a good cleaning out. And the freezer also. Better get on that.
This week my head has been hurting a lot. Really need to get that doctor appointment made.

Next up on the TBR pile:

August 2023 Life Goals

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

Read 18 Books ✓
Indiana/Ohio Road Trip ✓
Finish Prepping for 2023-2024 School Year ✓

August Goals:

Read 18 Books
Kick-Off Our Homeschool Year and Coop
Knock Out 5 More Items from Our Summer Bucket List
Limit My Personal Library Check-outs

Next up on the TBR pile:

We're Homeschooling - Year 4! Planning and Schedule

Our Schedule

So now I have the supplies, it’s time to start planning and gathering everything I want to do. I’m a Type A planner that always feels better with a good plan going in. I’m always up for flexibility and change in the spur of the moment, but I need a plan to reference when things change. Last year, I made a large scale scope and sequence for reference. This should help me keep Arthur and Quentin straight as I dive in each year.

Back around April, I started with making a simple list of of the various curriculum we will be using. I definitely watch the sales to grab curriculum I know we want at the best price. And we are now recycling curriculum from Arthur’s previous years for Quentin’s current year. That definitely helps for our bottom line.

I’m a big fan of time blocking, but we have multiple events outside of our house to account for. This coming year, we have our STEAM coop, chemistry class, and weekly nature explorers/nature hikes. My first pass at scheduling our day began with the outside items. From there, I came up with this basic schedule. Note that I built in Flex Time for our coop related field trips. None are scheduled yet, but I know the committee is working on three trips a month. Our tentative date is Tuesday so I built in some open time. We can shift Tuesday’s plan to Wednesday if we have a field trip that week.

Next, I broke the week schedule down into days to better see if everything would fit. Arthur’s schedule is set and I am still tweaking Quentin’s schedule. I primarily use Roam to accomplish my day to day planning. This is our basic weekly template of blocks. I can easily copy and paste this into each week’s page for easy planning. I only need to modify as special events pop onto our calendar (e.g. dentist appointments, special activity).

I then broke down each day’s blocks. I don’t go back to these pages very often, but I do like to write everything out to make sure.

My next step was to create an overview calendar with our big themes. I used index cards cut into smaller pieces laid out on my desk so I could see everything at once and move things around. Very low tech solution, but sometimes paper really is better. I always end up shifting some weeks to take advantage of the calendar and/or align with the other kid’s schedule. For example, I moved Arthur’s reading of Ramayana to coincide with Quentin’s week that includes covering ancient India and the Ramayana story.

I usually buy a paper planner as my brain really likes the act of writing things down to commit to memory. I grabbed this new planner to try out after hearing about it from many homeschool bloggers. I like the amount of space available and the fact that it’s undated. My biggest complaint right now is that the month pages and weekly pages are completely separated from each other. We’ll see how this one goes for basic planning and reference. On second thought, I also do not like the binding. I would prefer spiral bound for each of opening and laying flat. I could cut off the binding and make it a spiral bound, but that might be too much work for any benefit.

My last big planning step is to create very detailed lesson plans including videos, books, and details. This will be my third year using a special note talking app called Roam. I’ve been actively using Roam to collect all my notes, lesson plans, scheduling, and other miscellaneous items. (Also, you can see from the sidebar that I use Roam for a wide range of projects, not just homeschooling.) I’m still exploring the various tools on Roam and I’m sure that my planning with get more advanced and efficient as this year goes on. This screenshot is the start of our first week.

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

We’re officially starting our homeschool adventure the second week of August. Starting August 14th, I’ll post a weekly wrap-up. I hope to do weekly updates highlighting our highs and lows on this journey.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #14

Reading: I think summer is the perfect time to read Silent Came the Monster by Amy Hill Hearth. It’s a fictionalized account of the shark attack off of New Jersey a century ago.

Watching: The Righteous Gemstones S3 dropped a few weeks ago and we finally started it. So good!

Listening: My current favorite podcast, Maintenance Phase, dropped another great episode this past week. Seriously, they are always so good!

Making: I filled my meal plan with lots of crockpot meals to lessen the cooking and heat in the kitchen.

Feeling: This week’s temperatures are looking brutal. It’s supposed to be over 100 degrees most of the days. I’m just always hot and sticky right now…

Planning: Working on solidifying our homeschool lessons and plans. Getting close to our August 7th start date.

Loving: With the temperatures, I am so grateful for air conditioning.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Summer Bucket List Update #1

I missed making this post last week as I was in the middle of a medical issue. But I’m back and feeling a bit better, so let’s see what we have on our summer bucket list this year…

Complete the Library Reading Program ✓
Ice Cream Tour of Omaha (in progress)
Louisville, Two Rivers, and Fremont SRAs
Trip to Indiana and Ohio ✓
Cookout with Friends
Lincoln Day
5 Splash Pad Visits (2/5)
3 Movies at the Theater (1/3)
3 Omaha Zoo Visits (2/3)
Read 50 Books
August Movie Month
September Game Month

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Back home and our schedule is really off right now. But we’re getting back on track.
Jigsaw puzzles really calm me down.
I just saw the temperatures for next week. Over 100 degrees! I am not looking forward to any of that.
Sometimes all I need is a good baked cookie.

Next up on the TBR pile:

We're Homeschooling - Year 4! Our Curriculum First Grade

We’re ready for another year of homeschooling! In fact, it’s our fourth year of homeschooling and we’ve found our groove. We’re continuing with most of the curriculum choices from last year, just changing the level. This year Arthur will be in 4th grade and Quentin will be in 1st grade. My big challenge this year is to make less work for me while giving each child individual time.

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

secular
rigorous
wide world perspective
not necessarily all-in-one
at least some physical items, not all online
cheap (not necessarily the cheapest, but not expensive)

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

Primarily Quentin will be using Blossom & Root’s Grade 1 Language Arts curriculum and Build Your Library Level 1. BYL 1 is a dive into Ancient History. Hopefully by combining these two curriculums, we will get to the amount of reading the we accomplish normally.

Language Arts

Blossom and Root and Build Your Library has some basic language lessons and activities, but my kids both seem to love workbook style for grammar lessons and such. We use these as supplemental material. I create little weekly packets that I help the kids work through. Quentin is not good at working independently yet, but we will get there.

Highlights First Grade Activity Book
Summer Bridge 1-2
Summer Fit 1-2
BrainQuest Grade 1
Second Grade
Sylvan Jumbo Language Arts Success G1
Spelling and Writing Grade 1
Mad Libs Grade 1 Reading

More language arts books and some fun activity books.

Highlights Amazing Mazes
Highlight Amazing Mazes
How to Draw Cars and Trucks
Big stack of Highlights mgazaines
Tinkeractive English Grade 1
Scholastic Writing G2
Cricket: Click magazine
The Big Book of Reading Comprehension Activities Grade 1
Evan Moor Daily Higher Order Thinking Grade 1
Evan Moor Smart Start Read and Write G1
Beginning Phonics G1-2
Phonics G1-2
Phonics for First Grade

Literature

Quentin will have a variety of picture books and chapter books plus poetry of course!

This will be Quentin’s first year where we are going to try to read longer chapter books. I curated this collection from the Build Your Library and Blossom & Root curriculums and oTalur own bookshelves.

This picture includes more of our literature this year. These are some of the picture book style choices for the year.

Social Studies

Social studies is coming straight from the Build Your Library Level 1 curriculum. As such, we will be exploring the ancient world. We will be using History Quest has our main spine, but we have a variety of other reference texts to add.

Science

Primarily we will be using RSO Life as our spine, but we have a variety of animal related references to add.

DK Where on Earth? Atlas
DK Animal
Lonely Planet The Animal Book
Nat Geo Kids Wild Vet Adventures by Gabby Wild
The World’s Most Dangerous Animals Sticker Book
Stack of Nat Geo Kids magazines
Nat Geo Kids Ferocious Animals Sticker Book
Target Animals of the World workbook

And we have a ton of nature science related books for supplements.

Even more nature related reference books and human anatomy books.

Math

Math is definitely an issue in this house as both boys are at least one grade advanced in math. I am always trying to scramble to find the best choices for them. Quentin is going to be finishing the Grade 1 books before moving on to Grade 2. We will also be adding in some math board games.

Art

This is actually all the art books for Quentin and Arthur. I took just one picture. Each one of their Build Your Library levels has a related art book to dip in and out of. We are just going to pick a variety of composers and artists to study over the course of the year.

We're Homeschooling - Year 4! Our Curriculum 4th Grade

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

secular
rigorous
wide world perspective
not necessarily all-in-one
at least some physical items, not all online
cheap (not necessarily the cheapest, but not expensive)

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

Math

We will be continuing with Singapore Math Common Core Edition as our base curriculum. Arthur will be starting with 5A and push through 5B. Beyond the basic text, we will be supplementing with lots of math games, random workbooks, and packets. New this year, we’re continuing with some Financial Literacy using the Evan Moor workbooks and a money management workbook. We will also be continuing with our logic puzzles.

Language Arts

This is Arthur’s grammar workbook selections for this year. We don’t do every page and question, but bounce around between some of them. We’re going to try and focus on writing this year.

BrainQuest Grade 4
Grade 4 Workbook
21st Century Communication
Reading Comprehension Grade 3 (from Five Below)
Evan Moor Grammar and Punctuation Grade 4
Sylvan Super Reading Success Grade 4 (similar title)
Writing Skills Grade 4
Evan Moor Daily Fundamentals Grade 4
Evan Moor Poetry Patterns
The Highlights Book of Things to Write
Writing Down the Days by Lorraine Dahlstrom
Evan Moor Read World Writing
Pathways

Arthur’s readers will be a mix of Blossom and Root’s Grade 4 Language Arts, Build Your Library 6, and our home library selections.

Social Studies

As our history base, Arthur is using Build Your Library Level 6 (U.S. History) combined with History Quest’s new U.S. History release. We are actually covering the second half of US History starting at the Civil War.

DK American History
DK History
DK Timeline of Everything
We Were There Too by Phillip Hoose
Two Miserable Presidents by Steve Sheinkin
Which Way to the Wild West by Steve Sheinkin
A Different Mirror for Young People by Ronald Takaki
The First Ladies
Words that Build a Nation by Marilyn Miller
Cricket: Cobblestone magazine

We always have a bit of geography going for each level of history.

The 50 States by Gabrielle Balkin
The 50 States Workbook by Gabrielle Balkin
License Plates Across the America
My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States
Nat Geo Kids U.S. Road Trip Atlas
Target US Workbook
The Geography Book by Caroline Arnold
Nat Geo Kids United States Atlas
Evan Moor Geography Skill Sharpeners Grade 5
Scholastic Map Skills for Today Grade 4
Scholastic Map Skills for Today Grade 5

Our history curriculum has a ton of extra readers. I’m very excited to get to all of these.

Science

Our science is going to be a combination of Build Your Library Level 8 (history of science), Level 3 (Chemistry), and RSO Chemistry. Lots of interesting combinations. We will actually be doing the chemistry experiments with some of the other families in coop.

Here’s just a smattering of our random science texts that we pull little items from:

In Space
Map Your Way
Science Art + Drawing Games for Kids by Karyn Tripp
Math Art + Drawing Games for Kids by Karyn Tripp
Geek Dad by Ken Denmead
Geek Dad: Mad Scientists by Ken Denmead
Awesome Science Experiments for Kids
Awesome Engineering Activities for Kids
Awesome Physics Experiments for Kids

And even more random science resources…

Art

Currently #13

Reading: Making my way through Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman for our July book club selection. I loved The Bookish Life of Nina Hill and this is a sorta sequel.

Watching: Being at my mom’s house, there’s just random things on television. I haven’t actually really watched anything.

Listening: Lots of kids playing noises right now

Making: I brought my Memory Planner pages for May. Started working on those last night. Hopefully I can finish by the time we make it back home.

Feeling: Tomorrow we’re leaving Indiana and starting our mini, four day road trip as we make our way back home. I’m very ready to get going on this trip.

Planning: I didn't bring a lot of actual work, but I have been just making a few notes here and there about planning for next year’s homeschool.

Loving: While in Fort Wayne, I got to meet with two old friends for kid-free chatting time. It was so lovely!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Finally feeling better after the migraine (maybe something more?) that wouldn’t stop.
I’m feeling so much better that the boys and I are on the road today driving to Indiana for a visit.
Looking forward to the zoo, Coney Island, and Pizza Hut
Afterward, the boys and I are doing another mini road trip on the way back home. We’ll be stopping in Dayton Ohio, Champaign IL, Decatur IL, Springfield IL (how have I never seen Lincoln’s tomb?), and Hannibal MO. Should be a fun mini trip.
A week into July and I’ve read three books from my Unread Shelf. A record I think?

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #12

Reading: The Widow of Pale Harbor by Hester Fox; I thought it was going to be a moody ghost story, but I don’t think there’s going to be anything actually supernatural in this book.

Watching: I’ll admit that I’m actually looking forward to Charity’s season of The Bachelorette.

Listening: J got me started listening to Hello from the Magic Tavern. So very funny!

Making: Yesterday, I finally felt good enough to make food. Along with dinner, I made pasta salad for today and tomorrow’s lunch.

Feeling: It has taken many days, but I’m finally feeling better.

Planning: I’m feeling so much better that I’m probably going to actually follow through with my plans to travel to Indiana and Ohio later this week.

Loving: Getting a good night’s rest has really been a game changer this week. Sleep is good.

Next up on the TBR pile:

July 2023 Life Goals

Let’s check in on June’s goals and my progress. Despite a big medical issue towards the end of the month, I managed to hit all of my goals.

Read 18 Books ✓
Enjoy the Mini Road Trip with the Boys ✓
Enjoy the Retreat ✓
Pause and Reevaluate Library Holds ✓
Knock Out 5 Items on the Summer Bucket List ✓

July Goals: After my last few weeks, I’m going to take it easy in the goals department.

Read 18 Books
Indiana/Ohio Road Trip
Finish Prepping for 2023-2024 School Year

Next up on the TBR pile:

Summer Bucket List

I missed making this post last week as I was in the middle of a medical issue. But I’m back and feeling a bit better, so let’s see what we have on our summer bucket list this year…

Complete the Library Reading Program
Ice Cream Tour of Omaha
Louisville, Two Rivers, and Fremont SRAs
Trip to Indiana and Ohio
Cookout with Friends
Lincoln Day
5 Splash Pad Visits
3 Movies at the Theater
3 Omaha Zoo Visits
Read 50 Books
August Movie Month
September Game Month

Next up on the TBR pile: