Currently #19

Reading: I picked up Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie from a list of truly terrifying novels and it’s living up to its reputation. Very, very spooky read for this week.

Watching: J had me start watching Preacher last month and we’ve been loving it so far. Onto season 2 right now.

Listening: When I get an hour or so, I queue up an episode of 99PI or Hello from the Magic Tavern. I’m to 2016 with those shows! Only many many years to go…

Making: For this year’s birthday party, our theme is an art party! I’m busing prepping the art stations all around the house. I have five stations to get ready in time for Saturday’s big event.

Feeling: Between the party, coop, regular activities, and general gigantic to do list, I am a bit stressed right now. I’m going to feel so much better after this weekend. I love doing a big themed party every year, but it is a lot of work.

Planning: Obviously I’m finalizing the birthday party plans. I have a shortlist of supplies to still buy (mostly things I forgot last week) and all the food to prep including baking two simple cakes.

Loving: So far this year, we’ve been to Vala’s three times! I still absolutely love it there. And as we are homeschoolers, buying season passes actually makes sense and is definitely worth the cost. I have five more visits scheduled between now and Halloween. Plus J has to go with us once.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W7: An Exhausting Week

Math & ELA Monday

What We Studied

Another week, another instance of me over-scheduling events and exhausting myself. The kids seem okay. I’m just so tired after last week…

A’s Science

ELA with Apple Until

Literature and Poetry

Arthur kept reading Echo Mountain. This is a gem of a book, but be forewarned, there are lots of big topics discussed. I’m really enjoying a book that I’ve never read before. 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.

• Poetry for Young People: American Poetry

• Poetry for Young People: African American Poetry

• Reading Explorer: Intro

• Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk

Quentin finished our current Zoey and Sassafras book. I decided to mini theme unit about fall and apples to celebrate the season. So we spent our extra time reading picture books about those topics instead of diving into a new big read aloud. He also worked on some basic grammar.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Zoey and Sassafras 4: Caterflies and Ice by Asia Citro

• Where I Live: Poems About My Home, My Street, and My Town

• Apple Picking Day by Candice Ransom

• My Autumn Book by Wong Herbert Yee

• Fall Weather Fun by Martha E.H. Rustad

• Leaf by Leaf: Autumn Poems

• Hello Autumn Shelley Rotner

• The Apple Orchard Riddle by Margaret McNamara

• A is for Autumn by Robert Maass

• Apples by Gail Gibbons

• Kit and Kaboodle Visit the Farm by Michelle Portice

• Enough Apples by Kim Kane and Lucia Masciullo

• Apples A to Z by Margaret McNamara

• Apples to Applesauce by Inez Snyder

• It's Fall by Celeste Bishop

• Amelia Bedelia's First Apple Pie by Herman Parish

• Apples by Jacqueline Farmer

• Fall Apple Fun by Marta E.H. Rustad

• Fall Mixed Up by Bob Raczka

• Leaves by David Ezra Stein

Zipline Fun

Math

Arthur continued to dive into Singapore 5A. We are definitely going to slow down our math lessons a bit to make sure that Arthur achieves mastery. We also continued our next logic book.

• Singapore Common Core 5A

• Orbiting with Logic

Quentin continued working toward the end of Singapore 1B with a unit on math to 120. I’m still debating if we should take a small review break after finishing 1B and before beginning 2A. We also continued our logic book.

• Lollipop Logic Book 3

• Singapore Common Core 1B

Apple Unit

Q ELA and Science

Social Studies

Arthur jumped back into BYL 6 and History Quest: US History with Reconstruction. We covered the time period and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Our curriculum also had us take a step back to reconnect with Native Americans before and during the Civil War. We will be continuing with that storyline next week.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• Red Cloud: A Lakota Story of War and Surrender by S.D. Nelson

Quentin covered the invention of writing with a focus on cuneiform. We took it easy and didn’t immediately jump into the next unit. We will get there.

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• The Genius of the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages by Izzi Howell

• Mesopotamia by Sunita Apte

A’s ELA/Math/Science

Science

Arthur is embarking upon RSO Chemistry this year. We will be doing the experiment portions with a group of coop friends. This week’s class focused on reviewing atoms and elements and taking a look at the first ten Elements on the periodic table. The experiments this week were not anything exciting, but the kids did get to play Periodic Table Battleship. We also covered two chapters in our Story of Science all about Galileo.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

• Story of Science Vol. 2: Newton at the Center by Joy Hakim

• STEMQuest: Astonishing Atoms and Matter Mayhem

• DK The Elements

Quentin caught back up for science with mini units on cnidaria and earthworms.

• RSO Life

• DK Oversimple Biology

• Jellyfish by Kristen Rajczak

• Jellyfish by Mari Schuh

• Jellyfish by Grace Hansen

• How Old is a Whale? Animal Life Spans from the Mayfly to the Immortal Jellyfish by Lily Murray

• Wiggling Worms at Work by Wendy Pfeffer

• This is a Book to Read with a Worm by Jodi Wheeler-Toppen

• Earthworms by Lisa J. Amstutz

• Thank You, Earthworms by Emma Huddleston

• Le's Look at Earthworms by Suzanne Paul Dell'Oro

STEAM Coop

Arthur’s class finished out their 2-week dive into drawing with another great lesson on shading and shapes. He was so excited to take home the sketchbook and writing tools. Quentin’s class was taught by me and we focused on leaves and art. I had the kids make a chalk pastels silhouette of a leaf. We then scoured the park for treasures and made our own leaf men a la Lois Ehlert’s classic book. I’m very excited to not teach for the next weeks as we transition to our winter building and I prep for my board game unit starting in November.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

And I continued not fitting in these subjects. I just could’t seem to get it to fit in our schedueles. I suspect this will be an issue until November, but hoping we can slide it in at least half of the weeks.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• We are Artists by Kari Herbert

Field Trip

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent at Vala’s enjoying the pumpkin patch. It was Quentin’s birthday on Tuesday and he picked the patch. For his birthday dinner, he chose the Chinese buffet. Very yummy all around!

High

Thursday night, Arthur attended his first homeschool dance. A member of our HS community started organizing three yearly dances last school year. Thankfully she has continued it. The kids (6-18) get to have a safe space to hang out and dance the night away. As Arthur is 9, I got to drop him off for his two hour dance period. I popped down the street to the cider house to read and enjoy a spiced apple cider before having to pick him up. He loved it! And he even won one of the raffles collecting a 2 liter bottle of root beer. He was in heaven!

Low

Friday morning we were supposed to do our usual nature hike. I drove all the way before realizing that I had forgotten my wallet home. We had to turn around and drive all the way home. No nature hike for us. Pretty disappointing and threw off our whole day.

Next Week

• Finishing Echo Mountain

• Deciding on Q’s next read aloud

• Finishing 1B for Math (Q) and taking the next lessons in 5A slowly (A)

• Getting back into our history texts

• All the birthday party prep!

October 2023 Life Goals

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

• Read 18 Books ✓

• Plan the Boys’ Birthday Party ✓

• Finish Out Our Summer Bucket List ✓ - We didn’t do great due to illness, but some things were check off.

• Start Our Fall Bucket List ✓ - Focusing on our favorites this year.

October Goals:

• Read 18 Books

• Figure Out Christmas Plans

• Visit Vala’s 5x

• Make a TBR for the Rest of the Year (Hit the shortlist TBR choices!)

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W6: Heading into Our Busy Season

And lots of play areas.

What We Studied

A Flex and a normal week in this post. But, we are also heading into our busy season full of pumpkin patch and fall activities. I’m attempting to find a better balance between our activities, home chores, and curriculum work. But then I have to remember that homeschooling comes in seasons.

Finished our 14th adventure with HeroQuest

Literature and Poetry

Arthur finished The Lightning Thief. We’re very interested in watching the new Disney series when it releases in December. We then started a new read aloud. 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.

• The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

• A Child's Introduction to Greek Mythology

• Poetry for Young People: American Poetry

• Poetry for Young People: African American Poetry

• Reading Explorer: Intro

• Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk

Quentin finished our read aloud and I think we enjoyed it. After, I let him pick our next read aloud and he chose Zoey and Sassafras. He also worked on some basic grammar. I tacked on a mini theme unit about leaves and fall to celebrate the season. And we started the official spelling curriculum this week. It felt like too much on Week 1, but I want to get it going with this cycle. I've been using The Moffatt Girls spelling curriculum for grades 1st-3rd. I love her word lists and activity pages. Makes it really easy to add-on. I just wish that she had lists for 4th and 5th grade.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

• Zoey and Sassafras 3: Merhorses and Bubbles by Asia Citro

• Zoey and Sassafras 4: Caterflies and Ice by Asia Citro

• Where I Live: Poems About My Home, My Street, and My Town

• The Wall in the Middle of the Book by Jon Agee

• The Squirrels’ Busy Year by Martin Jenkins

• In the Middle of Fall by Kevin Henkes

• Taking a Walk in the Country by Sue Tarsky

• Pick a Circle, Gather Squares: A Fall Harvest of Shapes by Felicia Sanzari Chernesky

• Leaves! by Robert Munsch

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

• Fall leaves by Doretta Holland

• A Fall Ball for All by Jamie A. Swenson

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

• Leaves by Grace Hansen

• Lilla's Sunflowers by Colleen Rowan Kosinski

Books of Fall

Q History and ELA

Math

Arthur continued to dive into Singapore 5A. We are definitely going to slow down our math lessons a bit to make sure that Arthur achieves mastery. We also continued our next logic book.

• Singapore Common Core 5A

• Orbiting with Logic

Quentin continued working toward the end of Singapore 1B with a unit on math to 120. I’m still debating if we should take a small review break after finishing 1B and before beginning 2A. We also continued our logic book.

• Lollipop Logic Book 3

• Singapore Common Core 1B

Exploring photography

Park time after pictures

Social Studies

Arthur jumped back into BYL 6 and History Quest: US History with Reconstruction. We covered the time period and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Our curriculum also had us take a step back to reconnect with Native Americans before and during the Civil War. We will be continuing with that storyline next week.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• Red Cloud: A Lakota Story of War and Surrender by S.D. Nelson

Quentin moved onto the the beginnings of Civilization with the Fertile Crescent. We didn’t quite finish the unit like I was hoping and still need to cover cuneiform. History is going a little slower with Q than it did with Arthur, but I have to remember that we have much more on our plates this year. We’ll get though it.

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• The Genius of the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages by Izzi Howell

Glacier Creek Prairie Preserve

Science

Arthur is embarking upon RSO Chemistry this year. We will be doing the experiment portions with a group of coop friends. This week’s class focused on atoms and I taught the experiments. The kids were super squirrely, but we got through it.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

• Story of Science Vol. 2: Newton at the Center by Joy Hakim

Quentin skipped science these two weeks. For Flex Week, we purposely held off. For last week, time just got away from us completely. We’ll catch up soon I know.

• RSO Life

• DK Oversimple Biology

STEAM Coop

Coop resumed with Arthur learning about how to make a fire and Quentin learning about photography. Moving onto his past week, Arthur started a series on art mediums. This week they learned about shading techniques and light sources. He really loved it! Quentin class was taught by me and we talked about the colors of fall. The kids made tissue paper sunflowers and pony bead colorful corn cobs.

ELA and Math

A’s History Books

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

And I finally fell off the art and music train these past two weeks. I just could’t seem to get it to fit in our schedueles. I suspect this will be an issue until November, but hoping we can slide it in at least half of the weeks.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• We are Artists by Kari Herbert

ELA and Math

ELA and Math

Field Trip

On Tuesday two weeks ago, we played at the new Lewis and Clark Landing on the river. There’s a fun new playground tucked into the space by the new science museum (visiting soon!). The kids loved all the structures. I just wish that there was actually some shade… We had coop picture day on this past Tuesday. Our former coop member extended her usual picture taking to include a lesson on photography. The kids learned a bit about the technology she uses and she even let the older ones take a test picture. After, we hit up the nearby park for some playtime with friends.

Beautiful sights at Platte River State Park

High

We got two good nature hikes in (one on a rainy cloudy day that was just perfect) and our first trip to the pumpkin patch. I have us scheduled to go to the pumpkin patch 8 times from now until Halloween. I like to get our money’s worth out of those season passes!

Low

By Friday afternoon, I was exhausted. So much stuff! I didn’t balance my school work expectations and outings and general house chores very well. Something to work on…

Next Week -

• Finishing Echo Mountain

• Finishing our current Zoey and Sassafras book and possibly starting the next one

• Finishing 1B for Math (Q) and taking the next lessons in 5A slowly (A)

• Hosting, but not teaching, the next Chemistry Class

• Getting back into our history texts

• Celebrating Q’s birthday with a trip to the Pumpkin Patch!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Fall Bucket List

My favorite season of the year. We’re diving into the spooky season and planning on soaking up all the fall fun.

1. Visit Vala’s 6x

2. Celebrate Friendsgiving

3. Read 50 Books

4. Complete Spooky Movie Month

5. Execute a Halloween Party for Coop

6. Have an Art/Craft Day

7. Three State Park Visists

8. Two Zoo Visits

9. Pick Out and Carve Pumpkins

10. Go Trick-or-Treating

11. Jump in a Pile of Leaves

12. Go Through a Corn Maze

13. Make 5 Fall Recipes

14. Make Leaf Art

15. Go Pick Apples

16. Go on a 3 Fall Forest Hikes

17. Make 3 Pumpkin Recipes

18. Go Bowling

19. Use our GetOut Pass 2 Times

20. Decorate for Fall

Next up on the TBR pile:

Summer Bucket List Finish

Illness and travel really impacted our bucket list this year.

1. Complete the Library Reading Program ✓

2. Ice Cream Tour of Omaha (in progress)

3. Louisville, Two Rivers, and Fremont SRAs - Unfortunately schedules and illness derailed my plans.

4. Trip to Indiana and Ohio ✓

5. Cookout with Friends ✓

6. Lincoln Day

7. 5 Splash Pad Visits ✓

8. 3 Movies at the Theater (1/3)

9. 3 Omaha Zoo Visits ✓

10. Read 50 Books ✓

11. August Movie Month - Well, that just didn’t happen. Completely got away from me.

12. September Game Month

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #18

Reading: I was disappointed by my current Kindle read, so I picked up Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher. Loving this weird and fractured fairy tale story.

Watching: We’re finished The Misfits S4 and about to start S5.

Listening: I downloaded Nita Strauss’s new album and it’s been on repeat for me lately. I’m loving the variety of guest singers and their particular styles.

Making: It’s officially spooky season and I’m diving into all the spooky books. Making a shortlist for my must-reads.

Feeling: I was feeling very stressed out this weekend, but things have calmed down now. I think getting teaching chemistry off my plate helped.

Planning: It’s school picture time. I realized that the only non-graphic tees that the boys had were the ones that they wore for picture day last fall. So, I guess I need to go buy some new shirts that will work for fall pictures. Maybe a green and blue color scheme.

Loving: Leaning into the fall seasons with all the pumpkin foods. I picked up some pumpkin spice yogurt covered pretzels and they are delicious! My pumpkin cream cheese on bagels isn’t so bad either.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• Our fridge died, became a room-temperature cabinet for 48 hours, but it now back to working after getting a new compressor. Cleaning out the entire defrosted freezer and main cabinet was terrible. 0/10 would not recommend… And now the fridge is incredibly empty and needs to slowly get filled.

• The boys and I finished our two read alouds yesterday. Starting some new ones today!

• We’re back to regularly scheduled coop today and I’m so glad to be back to a routine. We needed it.

• Getting very excited about our first visit to Vala’s next Wednesday! It’s truly my happy place!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W5: Ready for a Calm Week

What We Studied

A strange week. I had everything planned out and then our plans on Thursday and Friday drastically changed. It really threw me off a bit.

Quentin’s history books

Literature and Poetry

Arthur continued reading the Percy Jackson series with The Lightning Thief. We kept reading and have really gotten into the story. 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 the next coop book club selection.

• The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

• A Child's Introduction to Greek Mythology

• Poetry for Young People: American Poetry

• Reading Explorer: Intro

• The Last Human by Lee Bacon

Quentin continued reading a new selection. I think that he finally got into the story more. His reading comprehension answers have gotten more correct. He also worked on some basic grammar.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Quentin’s ELA and Math books

Math

Arthur started Singapore 5A. The book starts with some basic place value review but very quickly moves to multiples, factors, and primes. We are definitely going to slow down our math lessons a bit to make sure that Arthur achieves mastery. We also continued our next logic book.

• Singapore Common Core 5A

• Orbiting with Logic

Quentin continued working toward the end of Singapore 1B with a review on time. I’m still debating if we should take a small review break after finishing 1B and before beginning 2A. We also continued our logic book.

• Lollipop Logic Book 3

• Singapore Common Core 1B

Learning about monarch butterflies

Social Studies

Arthur jumped back into BYL 6 and History Quest: US History starting at the beginning of the Civil War. He finished the war. We’ll be taking a break for our Flex Week before moving on Reconstruction. 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

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

Quentin moved onto the Neolithic time period and focused on the agricultural revolution. We even watched a great NOVA documentary about Stonehenge.

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• Peter Kent’s City Across Time

• The Secrets of Stonehenge by Mick Manning and Britt Granstrom

View from Hitchcock Nature Center

Science

Arthur is embarking upon RSO Chemistry this year. We will be doing the experiment portions with a group of coop friends. That portion starts today. This week we covered Unit 1 with a basic focus on chemistry. The text was super boring, but thankfully I found some good short videos to reenforce the ideas and spark some interest. I found a really good one detailing the chemistry involved in baking cookies. For the Story of Science, we learned about Tycho Brahe.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

• Story of Science Vol. 2: Newton at the Center by Joy Hakim

Quentin continued RSO Life with a lesson about classification systems focusing on the animal kingdom. I actually found the sorting mat pieces I had made for Arthur years ago. Good on me for keeping them and actually knowing where I put them!

• RSO Life

• DK Oversimple Biology

After dinner gelato taste testing. We all agreed that the Limoncello was the best.

STEAM Coop

Coop was cancelled this week due to terrible air quality. We have too many families with medical issues. Unfortunately that means that out of the first five week of coop, we have cancelled twice. Not excited about this turn of events. On a better note, we might have found an indoor location for the winter.

Art books featuring Alma Thomas

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 Erik Satie, a very eccentric composer, but one we have heard a lot as background music. We also covered the colorful art of Alma Thomas. Both of the boys really got into her pieces more than previous weeks.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• We are Artists by Kari Herbert

• Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas by Jeanne Walker Harvey

Free expression art time

Field Trip

On Tuesday, we traveled over to Iowa for a guided field trip at the Hitchcock Center. The kids learned about monarch butterflies and specifically Monarch Watch. Then we attempted to find some monarchs for tagging. We found a few, but were unable to actually catch any. Still it was great day out in nature.

Shapes and colors inspired by Alma Thomas

High

(Reluctant high) Because coop was cancelled on Thursday, we had more time in our week. We ended up spending the entirety of Thursday morning shopping for birthday party supplies, coop supplies, chemistry class supplies, and fall service project donation items. I had been stressing a bit about how to fit all this in and not do the shopping on the weekend (I hate shopping on the weekends). Our impromptu cancelling gave us the opportunity to get it all done (well mostly) in one outing.

Imitating the blocky pieces style of Alma Thomas

Low

I kind of ran out of steam by the end of the week. Because our nature hike was cancelled, we ended up schooling Friday morning and then for the afternoon, I just took the kids to the park. They had been begging for some outside scootering time, so it worked out. I was just very tired by that point.

Arthur’s ELA, math, and science

Q’s history books

Next Week - Will be a Flex Week. It’s our chance to catchup on things we delayed and take a breath from big planning.

• Finishing Percy Jackson and Starting Echo Mountain

• Finishing The One and Only Ivan and Starting a Zoey and Sassafras book

• Reviewing for Math

• Watching a Documentary or two

• Playing a board game or two

• Hosting the first Chemistry Class

• Lots of coop related activities

Sorting animals

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #17

Reading: Nerdy Bookish Friends is reading Timeline by Michael Crichton this month. I’ve never actually read this one. Interested to see how it goes.

Watching: J and I finally started watching Andor. So much better than some of the other Star Wars shows. W'e’ll be finishing it this week. Maybe we will watch Ashoka next.

Listening: I have actually been listening to an audiobook this week. The only version of the book from the library was the audiobook. I’m not usually an audiobook fan, but I managed to listened to most of it this week. Wrapping up soon.

Making: I’ve been making scones lately and really loving it. I want to try a few new scone bases. I think raspberry will be next.

Feeling: After a cooler week, we are back to temps in the 90s. I am not a fan at all. Here’s hoping that the cooler temps come soon.

Planning: Along with two friends, I am teaching the first three weeks of our Chemistry class. I’m working on the plans for the atoms lesson.

Loving: Coop is back in swing and I’m really loving the weekly get together of our friends. Teaching has gone as soon as it can right now. And we even have a lead on an indoor space.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W4: We Went Somewhere Every Day This Week!

What We Studied

We ended up leaving the house every day this week and I very much disliked it. We did managed to cover most of our planned curriculum for the week including a documentary.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur started reading the Percy Jackson series with The Lightning Thief. We kept reading and have really gotten into the story. 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 started the next 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

• The Last Human by Lee Bacon

Quentin started reading a new selection. I’m not sure how engaged he really is right now. It is a big chapter book and he hasn’t listened to many of them. He also worked on some basic grammar.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Be the Bus: The Lost and Profound Wisdom of The Pigeon

• The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

• My Body is a Rainbow: The Color of My Feelings by Mallika Chopra

Math

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

• Orbiting with Logic

Quentin continued working toward the end of Singapore 1B with a unit on time. 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 rest of 1864 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

• Heart and Soul

Quentin continued a journey through the Ice Age focusing on how animals and humans lived together. We even watched a great NOVA documentary about the time period.

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• A Child's Introduction to Natural History by Heather Alexander

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

Science

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 did a bit of review. We also attended an informational meeting about a mousetrap race car project. A close friend organized this large project for our homeschool aquaintances. We chatted about specs and ideas and set some dates. Arthur task for the next few weeks is to brainstorm and make a supply list.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

• 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

• Many Creatures: A Song About Animal Classifications by Laura Purdie Salas

• A Mammal is an Animal by Lizzy Rockwell

• Animal School: What Class are You? by Michelle Lord

• Animal Classification by Jenny Fretland VanVoorst

STEAM Coop

Quentin covered insects even making his own creative insect and going on a bug hunt. The bug hunt was his favorite part of coop. Arthur’s group learned about water filtration and even made their own systems. It was nice to get back into the groove with all our coop friends.

We had a meeting to discuss renting the Volunteer Firefighter’s Hall during the winter months. They are (probably) willing to rent us the space for $100 per week. It’s a chunk of month, but we can handle it. On Thursday, a coop member brought us another potential rental for half the price. We need to get confirmation, but we might just have a space for the winter months.

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 Gabriela Lena Frank, a modern composer, and the art of Jason Lawrence.

• 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

• DK The Arts

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• The Great Migration: A Children's Story by Jacob Lawrence

• Harriet and the Promised Land by Jacob Lawrence

• Jacob Makes a World: Jacob Lawrence, a Young Artist in Harlem by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts

• Jacob Lawrence in the City by Susan Goldman Rubin

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

Field Trip

We didn’t do a big field trip this week, but we did make it out for a few events. On Friday, we had a nature hike at Heron Haven. Lots and lots of frogs were spotted in the pond. A’s friends even caught multiple to check out.

High

On Thursday, the boys made a plan with some friends to get boba tea at the mall. The adults agreed and we had a good old-fashioned social time at the mall food court. We grabbed lunch and boba tea. After social hour, I even snuck in about an hour of schoolwork before we headed home.

Low

Leaving the house every single day this week was not my favorite. I was completely drained by Friday, but had to go to coop book club on Saturday morning.

Next Week

• Continuing Percy Jackson

• Continuing The One and Only Ivan

• 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 Alma Thomas’s art

• Listening to Erik Satie’s music

• Exploring survival skills (A) and photography (Q) for coop

Friday’s book

Next up on the TBR pile:

September 2023 Life Goals

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

• 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 ✓

September Goals:

• Read 18 Books

• Plan the Boys’ Birthday Party

• Finish Out Our Summer Bucket List

• Start Our Fall Bucket List

Next up on the TBR pile:

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.

Q’s color books

Q’s Monday History Books

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

Q’s Tuesday History 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

Q’s Tuesday ELA and Math

A’s Tuesday History, ELA, and Science books

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.

A’s Wednesday books

Q’s Wednesday books

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

Q’s Wednesday History Books

Q’s Thursday ELA Books

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.

Art and Music Books, A’s ELA Books

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

A’s Monday books

Q’s Monday books

Q’s Monday Mo Willems books

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

A and Q’s Tuesday books

A and Q’s Wednesday books

A’s science books

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

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 the idea of the very small to set up our chemistry study.

• 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

Art books

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.

Music books

A and Q’s history books

A and Q’s Thursday books

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.

A’s Friday books

Q’s Friday Mo Willems Books

Q’s Friday books

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…

1. Complete the Library Reading Program ✓

2. Ice Cream Tour of Omaha (in progress)

3. Louisville, Two Rivers, and Fremont SRAs

4. Trip to Indiana and Ohio ✓

5. Cookout with Friends ✓

6. Lincoln Day

7. 5 Splash Pad Visits (4/5)

8. 3 Movies at the Theater (1/3)

9. 3 Omaha Zoo Visits ✓

10. Read 50 Books (44/50)

11. August Movie Month - Well, that just didn’t happen. Completely got away from me.

12. 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

Quentin’s Monday Books

Arthur’s Monday Books

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

Quentin’s Tuesday Books

Arthur’s Tuesday Books

Science

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. We also started the next Story of 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

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

• 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.

Arthur’s Wednesday Books

Quentin’s Wednesday Books

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.

Arthur’s Thursday and Friday Books

Quentin’s Thursday and Friday Books

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.

Music and Art Study W1

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: