Homeschool W7: Our Usual Routine for Fall

What We Studied

Today’s post actually includes a Flex Week and a normal week. We’re deep in Vala’s season, so our weeks are a bit shorter and bit busier than usual. Still, We accomplished a ton of school and moved all our skills forward. Overall, I’m really happy with our progress so far this fall.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We started reading one of our “spooky” reads for this fall. We haven’t finished it yet, but getting very close to the end. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street by Lindsay Currie
Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We started a new classic for us. Quentin saw a trailer for the new The Wild Robot movie and wanted to bump up the book to read before seeing the movie. I’m always up for that.

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
Poetry: Firefly July
Poetry: Cricket in the Thicket by Carol Murray
Write Shop B

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur focused on a chapter reviewing multiplying and dividing decimals and fractions.

Math in Focus Court 1 Book A
EM Financial Literacy G5

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. He started with the lessons in 2B. I imagine that we will be slowing working through that this semester. Q continued covering the chapter about Multiplication and Division. We then moved on to the chapter on Money.

Primarily Logic
Singapore Primary Common Core 2B
EM Financial Literacy G1

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We covered an entire section about the kingdoms of West Africa.

Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 supporting. We stayed in Western Europe and covered the British Isles. Our big story was the Norman invasion of 1066. We also covered the chapter about the Crusades. It wasn’t super detailed, but covered the basics. We also watched a documentary, NOVA’s Building the Great Cathedrals.

History Quest Middle Times
DK When on Earth?
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World
DK Eyewitness: Knight
DK Castles and Knights
The Hawk of the Castle: A Story of Medieval Falconry by Danna Smith
Castle by David Macaulay
A Year in the Castle by Rachel Coombs
Ms Frizzle's Adventures: Medieval Castle by Joanna Cole
Knights by Sally Lee
Craco: The Medieval Ghost Town by Lisa Owings
Find the Knights by David Long

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our coverage will be spotty until October. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall semester course, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. We did do a bit of introduction to biology to prep for this week’s Academic Co-op. We read three chapters in the Story of Science, learning about Einstein and his miracle year. We continued watching the documentary series One Strange Rock. We will continue watching sporadically throughout the fall. I’m counting this as science for kids.

RSO Biology 1
Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

RSO Earth and Environment
Earth by the Numbers by Steve Jenkins
DK First Earth Encyclopedia
Planet Earth Inside Out by Gail Gibbons
The Magic School Buss Inside the Earth by Joanna Cole

Enrichment STEAM Co-op

We finished out the 2024 year for the STEAM co-op. I taught Arthur’s class two weeks about cryptography. Quentin’s class learned about watercolor and symmetry. The STEAM Co-op will be on break until early April 2025. This week we will be jumping right into the Academic Co-op for Arthur.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies. We continued our Harbor + Sprout Visual Arts modules with one about color theory and one about aspects of art techniques.

Music Lab: We Rock!
DK Music and How it Works
DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

No real field trips, but we did visit Vala’s twice and the zoo once. Our Vala’s visits are always a highlight of the fall. We hit all of our favorite attractions. At the zoo, we met some new friends. We went to the aquarium for the first time since spring. We are moving into our fall/winter plan of more buildings.

High

We wrapped up the 2024 mini summer session of the Enrichment STEAM Co-op. This was our fourth “year” and things have gotten easier as the sessions fly by. We will be taking a break over the winter (for academic co-op), but will start our 2025 session in April. Hopefully we will still see all our friends at events throughout the winter.

Low

We had a bit of a shake-up with Academic Co-op that required a member and myself to redo the entire plan for math. We managed to work up a plan fairly quickly, but teaching two classes was not on my plan this fall.

Next Week

Continuing our math lessons
Finishing our read alouds and started new ones
Learning about Art and Science in Europe (A) and the Magna Carta (Q)
Listening to Jefferson Airplane and The Byrds
Exploring rocks and minerals for science (Q)
Heading to Vala’s again
Starting the Academic Co-op!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

It’s the last week of enrichment co-op for the year! As sad as I am about the ending, I am also looking forward to a break.
Printing our academic co-op math curriculum and I’m actually getting pretty excited about this. Big turn around from the scramble after a teacher dropped.
Getting back into spooky reading and I’m loving it.
Looking forward to Junkstock with a friend on Saturday!

Next up on the TBR pile:

October 2024 Life Goals

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

Read 18 Books
Wrap up Enrichment Co-op
Prep Start of Academic Co-op
Enjoy Spooky Reading Season

October Goals:

Read 18 Books
Launch the Academic Co-op
Wrap-up Enrichment Co-op (finalize all forms)
Plan and Execute the Boys’ Birthday Party
Enjoy Vala’s throughout the Month!

Next up o the TBR pile:

Homeschool W6: A Pretty Normal Week

What We Studied

This week is our current normal: a few activities, some days of schoolwork. We got to visit Vala’s for the first time this season and it was amazing. The boys even got to bring two of their friends. A weekly visit to Vala’s will be our new normal through October.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We finished reading our current read aloud about space. Overall, we really enjoyed this journey story featuring a normal American teenager. It definitely sparked some interesting discussions. We continued with our spelling and completed our week 4 list. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

Mars One by Jonathan Maberry
Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We finished a space-themed read aloud to align with Arthur’s selection. We moved onto Arthurian stories and Beowulf to align with our history.

Lucy and the Rocket Dog by Will Buckingham
Excalibur by Hudson Talbott
King Arthur and the Round Table by Hudson Talbott
The Hero Beowulf by Eric A. Kimmel
Poetry: Firefly July
Write Shop B

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. We dove back into our textbook to cover most of the chapter about Multiplying and Dividing Fractions and Decimals.

Math in Focus Court 1 Book A
EM Financial Literacy G5

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. He started with the lessons in 2B. I imagine that we will be slowing working through that this semester. We finished our Financial Literacy book and dove back into our main textbook. Q started covering the chapter about Multiplication and Division.

Primarily Logic
Singapore Primary Common Core 2B
EM Financial Literacy G1

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We covered an entire section about the Dutch trading empire and England’s first colonies in North America. For our culture corner, we learned about Johannes Vermeer and his art.

Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
Johannes Vermeer by Alix Wood
The Vermeer Interviews by Bob Raczka
Corpse Talk by Adam & Lisa Murphy (chapter about Guy Fawkes)

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 supporting. We continued history with a chapter about the Norse. We explored some books and videos about the Vikings and their influences on history. We also watched a NOVA documentary about a lost Viking army.

History Quest Middle Times
DK When on Earth?
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World
What Did the Vikings Do for Me? by Elizabeth Raum
DK Eyewitness: Viking
Myths, Legends, & Sacred Stories

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our coverage will be spotty until October. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall semester course, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. We read a chapter in the Story of Science, learning about Max Planck and the discovery of quanta. We continued watching the documentary series One Strange Rock. We will continue watching sporadically throughout the fall. I’m counting this as science for kids.

RSO Biology 1
Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. We didn’t have a formal lesson, but did watch an episode of One Strange Rock. We also covered the Blossom and Root Book Seed Young Water Protectors. We learned about why water is so important and how some people are helping to protect access to water.

RSO Earth and Environment
Earth by the Numbers by Steve Jenkins
DK First Earth Encyclopedia
Young Water Protectors: A Story About Standing Rock by Aslan Tudor

Enrichment STEAM Co-op

We started our last mini session for coop focusing on art and mathematics. Quentin’s class learned about shapes and art. I taught Arthur’s class all about probability.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies. We had our fist visit to the Joslyn Museum. Along with a few friends, we explored part of the modern art wing and a few historical art galleries to focus on space and perspective. The boys lasted about two hours before being done. I’m excited by the possibilities for future visits. We are going to love going monthly.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. This week was all about The Rolling Stones. I fully admit that they are not my favorite, but I do enjoy their early work.

Music Lab: We Rock!
DK Music and How it Works
DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

We skipped the field trips that were planned in the social co-op for more school time at home. We did end up visiting the Joslyn on Wednesday, so I’m counting it.

High

Tuesday was our first visit to Vala’s for 2024. The boys got to invite two friends and we ended up spending 5 1/2 hours exploring. The boys rode the new roller coaster and found the newly refurbished attractions. We each grabbed a slice of pie as our treat. I tried the strawberry rhubarb (the special this week) and it was great. The boys got salted caramel apple.

Low

By Friday, I was slightly burned out. We decided to skip the apple orchard excursion to relax at home. We ended up covering more schoolwork and watching some documentaries. I think it was a good call.

Next Week

Starting a new spooky read aloud (A)
Starting a new read aloud featuring a lovable robot Q)
Learning about the British Isles (Q)
Taking a dive into the makeup of the Earth (Q)
Listening to The Supremes and James Brown
Heading to Vala’s again and out for a nature walk

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

I got my reading back on track with a whole string of great atmospheric and/or spooky books!
We started our weekly Vala’s visits. They make me so happy!
Very strange co-op week. I went from a class of 12 to a class of 4 with basically no warning. This always happens at the end of the session. I should know better.
A friend’s kid who was in the hospital is out and on the mend. So glad for that entire family.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W5: Meh. I Guess It was a Normal Week.

What We Studied

Oddly this past week just feels very meh for me. We covered a decent amount of schoolwork and had a few activities. But we also had a big car appointment and had to change our Tuesday plans after an unexpected hours change. I ended the week with a big feeling of meh. I think the boys are very much with me on that feeling.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We continued reading our current read aloud about space. We continued with our spelling and completed our week 4 list. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

Mars One by Jonathan Maberry
Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We dove into a space-themed read aloud to align with Arthur’s selection. We should finish it early next week.

Lucy and the Rocket Dog by Will Buckingham
Poetry: Firefly July
Write Shop B

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. We paused our lessons from the textbook in favor of Evan Moor’s Financial Literacy G5 book and random math packets.

Math in Focus Court 1 Book A
EM Financial Literacy G5

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. He started with the lessons in 2B. I imagine that we will be slowing working through that this semester. He also started his next logic book and did some math packets for practice and review. This week was really about math practice and financial literacy.

Primarily Logic
Singapore Primary Common Core 2B
EM Financial Literacy G1

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We covered an entire section learning about Korea and Japan.

Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 supporting. We continued history with a chapter about the Tang and Song Dynasties of China.

History Quest Middle Times
DK When on Earth?
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World
The Explosive Story of Fireworks by Kama Einhorn
Fireworks and Gunpowder by Phil Amara and Oliver Chin
Liang and the Magic Paintbrush by Demi
Hildegard of Bingen: Scientist, Composer, Healer and Saint by Demi
We're Riding on a Caravan by Laurie Krebs

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our coverage will be spotty until October. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall semester course, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. We did read two chapters in the Story of Science, learning about Marie Curie and her discoveries. We continued watching the documentary series One Strange Rock. We will continue watching sporadically throughout the fall. I’m counting this as science for kids.

RSO Biology 1
Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. We didn’t manage to fit science in this past week. At least we watched one episode of our science documentary.

RSO Earth and Environment
Earth by the Numbers by Steve Jenkins
DK First Earth Encyclopedia

Enrichment STEAM Co-op

We started our last mini session for coop focusing on art and mathematics. I taught Quentin’s class about tangrams and geometry. Arthur’s class explored origami.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. (The Joslyn Art Museum is reopening in September after being closed for two years!) And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies. We did cover the second module in our visual arts curriculum. We covered a quick history of art styles and choose a few favorites.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. This week was all about The Beatles. Always a favorite in our house. We focused a lot on how The Beatles influenced so many other artists. We also did some comparison of original Beatles songs and covers.

Music Lab: We Rock!
DK Music and How it Works
DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

Our planned visit to the Luminarium was scrapped as they unexpectedly changed their hours. Unfortunately we couldn’t fit back into the schedule this week. We will have to wait until our October scheduled visit to go.

High

On Monday, we had our annual school photo session. A former homeschool parent has a side business doing photography and has offered her services every year. She takes great pictures and they are a highlight of the fall season. I can’t wait to see the pics soon.

Low

I absolutely hate taking the car into the dealership for oil changes and work. We had to get that oil change, fluids, tire rotation, and transmission flush. I packed a ton of school stuff to settle into the long haul. It wasn’t fun hanging out in their waiting room. But thankfully the dealership finished quickly.

Next Week

Continuing our read aloud (A)
Finishing our read aloud and Starting a new one (Q)
Learning about the Dutch and the English (A) and the Vikings (Q)
Listening to The Rolling Stones
Heading to Vala’s for our first visit of the season

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #16

Reading: I’m currently deep into Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology. It’s giving me all the spooky vibes that I was looking for. There are some truly terrifying tales in here.

Watching: J and I have been on a game show kick. We’ve been binging episodes of Game Changer and Make Some Noise along with Breaking News and Um, Actually. It’s been a comedy week in this house.

Listening: J also got me started on a new podcast called Conspiracy She Wrote. There’s only a few episodes out, but they are good dives into famous women and conspiracies.

Making: We’ve almost finished our first homeschool section of the year. Time to make piles for the next 6 week session.

Feeling: Securing a location for the Academic Co-op has gotten ridiculous. Add in that fact that not everyone in the group is actually helping and I am frustrated.

Planning: Tomorrow we have to take the car in for an oil change and lots of other regular maintenance issues. We’re going to camp out in the waiting room and do schoolwork. Maybe we will actually get it done with the distractions of home.

Loving: The wind has finally kicked up a bit heading into fall and it’s making my life so much better.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W4: Catching Up a Bit

What We Studied

This was our off week for co-op and we took advantage catching up on bookwork. We also ended up having a very light activity work. It was actually pretty nice to slow down a bit and stay home.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We continued reading our current read aloud about space. We continued with our spelling and completed our week 3 list. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

Mars One by Jonathan Maberry
Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

The Long-Lost Secret Diary of the World’s Worst Knight by Tim Collins
Poetry: Mites to Mastodons by Maxine Kumin
Write Shop B

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. We covered another chapter and did some practice. We will also be working through Evan Moor’s Financial Literacy G5 book and random math packets.

Math in Focus Court 1 Book A
EM Financial Literacy G5

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. He started with the lessons in 2B. I imagine that we will be slowing working through that this semester. He also started his next logic book and did some math packets for practice and review. This week was really about math practice and financial literacy.

Primarily Logic
Singapore Primary Common Core 2B
EM Financial Literacy G1

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We managed to cover two more sections (four chapters) in our history book. We talked about Russia, Poland, the Persian Empire, and the Mughal Empire.

Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
Taj Mahal: A Story of Love and Empire by Elizabeth Mann
Whole Wide World: Taj Mahal by Kristine Spanier
Amazing Landmarks by Rekha S. Rajan

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 supporting. We continued history with a chapter about the Charlemagne and the Medieval period in Western Europe.

History Quest Middle Times
DK When on Earth?
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
If You were a Kid in a Medieval Castle by Josh Gregory
A Medieval Feast by Aliki
Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our coverage will be spotty until October. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall semester course, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. We did read another chapter in the Story of Science, learning about JJ Thomsen and the discovery of electrons. We also started watching the documentary series One Strange Rock. We will continue watching sporadically throughout the fall. I’m counting this as science for kids.

RSO Biology 1
Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

RSO Earth and Environment
Earth by the Numbers by Steve Jenkins
DK First Earth Encyclopedia
Sometimes I Feel Like a River by Danielle Daniel and Josee Bisaillon
Water Dance by Thomas Locker
Water by Seymour Simon
Water: A Deep Dive of Discovery by Christy Mihaly
What on Earth? Water by Isabel Thomas and Pau Morgan
The Magic School Bus: At the Waterworks by JOanna Cole
It's Raining by Gail Gibbons

Enrichment STEAM Co-op

This was our off week for co-op due to Labor Day. We are going into our four last weeks of enrichment co-op.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. (The Joslyn Art Museum is reopening in September after being closed for two years!) And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies. We did cover the first module in our visual arts curriculum. We covered the variety of art mediums and chatted about some of our favorites.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. This week was all about The Shirelles and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. I had a lot of fun listening to the origins of doo-wop and the girl and boy vocal groups.

Music Lab: We Rock!
DK Music and How it Works
DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

No real field trip this week, but we did go to the zoo on Tuesday. We’re aiming for a monthly zoo visit. This time, we focused on the jungle building (a new baby pygmy hippo!), elephants and giraffes, Asian Highlands, and the gorillas and oranguatns. It was a nice morning of observing animals.

High

It was nice to take this week a bit slower than normal. Sometimes I just really want to get cozy at home.

Low

By the end of the week, I think that the boys were really missing their activities and friends. Thankfully next week is back to our normal.

Next Week

Continuing our read aloud (A)
Finishing our read aloud (Q)
Learning about Japan (A) and China (Q)
Listening to The Beatles!
Getting school pictures taken!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Yesterday was a no good day for me. I must say that we can only go up today…
Getting excited for spooky season reading and visits to the pumpkin patches.
Obsessed with weird trivia and improv shows right now. Yep, we’re nerds over here.
Really hoping that we can get this room situation figured out for academic co-op. It’s stressing me out.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W3: Another Week of Activities, But We Caught Up Mostly

What We Studied

We had another week that was full of activities. In fact, we ended up taking a break on Friday due my health issues. Even with all the activities, we managed to mostly catch up on our work.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We finished our first read aloud and even started on the second read aloud for the year. We caught up with our spelling and completed our week 2 list. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

Over the Moon by Natalie Lloyd
Mars One by Jonathan Maberry
Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

The Long-Lost Secret Diary of the World’s Worst Knight by Tim Collins
Poetry: Mites to Mastodons by Maxine Kumin
Write Shop B

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. We covered the another lesson and did some practice. We will also be working through Evan Moor’s Financial Literacy G5 book and random math packets.

Math in Focus Court 1 Book A
EM Financial Literacy G5

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. He started with the lessons in 2B. I imagine that we will be slowing working through that this semester. He also started his next logic book and did some math packets for practice and review.

Primarily Logic
Singapore Primary Common Core 2B

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We got back on track with our history with the next section about Spain. We also learned about Miguel de Cervantes.

Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 supporting. We got back into history with a chapter about the Byzantine Empire.

History Quest Middle Times
DK When on Earth?
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time

Science

RSO Biology 1
Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. We covered the first lesson and pivoted to B&R’s Book Seed: Over and the Under the Pond. I rearranged some of the RSO units to make sense for our weather. We are starting with water. We ended up skipping science this week to accommodate activities.

RSO Earth and Environment
Earth by the Numbers by Steve Jenkins
DK First Earth Encyclopedia

Enrichment STEAM Co-op

Enrichment co-op has shifted from warm months only (April to October). We are in the middle of our transitionary “Summer Session.” This week both Arthur and Quentin’s class covered engineering. Q’s class focused on making a machine to save a toy and A’s class made balloon rockets.

Art and Music

Music Lab: We Rock!
DK Music and How it Works
DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

We had an excursion day downtown at the Lewis and Clark Landing and the Luminarium. It was a very warm day which made everyone a bit cranky. We did have some fun at the playground. Our time in the museum was cut a bit short due to attitudes. We plan on going to the Luminarium once a month until our membership expires in February.

High

On Friday night, J took off work early to join us at the Luminarium for their last late Friday for the summer. It was the first time that he was able to join us. We had fun even with my health issues this week.

Low

The boys had Pokemon club on Wednesday that was seemingly a waste of time. They don’t really play Pokemon like we had envisioned. Add in the fact that I drove basically an hour and a half to the locale, and I’m just about done with this. I think we need to reevaluate.

Next Week

Continuing our read aloud (A)
Finished our read aloud (Q)
Learning about Eastern Europe (A) and Western Europe (Q) - pretty funny that I’m covering both sides of Europe next week
Listening to The Shirelles and Frankie Lymon
Exploring the zoo

Next up on the TBR pile:

September 2024 Life Goals

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

Read 18 Books ✓ - I just made it!
Schedule a Meeting for All of Secular Omaha - pushing to October
Finish Academic Co-op Lesson Plans - So close
Plan the Boys’ Birthday Party - Utter fail

September Goals:

Read 18 Books
Wrap up Enrichment Co-op
Prep Start of Academic Co-op
Enjoy Spooky Reading Season

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #15

Reading: I’m deep into Kate Quinn’s new book The Briar Club. This is a different type of book for her. Still historical fiction, but this time we have a murder mystery that folds in an episodic way by exploring each character’s story.

Watching: We’re deep into S2 of Star Trek: Discovery. It’s so dramatic and good.

Listening: We’re loving our music study this year. This week we covered Johnny Cash. The boys liked him more than Elvis, but not as much as Fats Domino.

Making: This past week has been about trying new-to-us dinner recipes. I made a good spring green spaghetti carbonara, Mexican street corn totchos, and buffalo chicken chili. Two of those were hits. The chili was a bit disappointing.

Feeling: The temperatures spiked again this week and it’s terrible. I hate the heat.

Planning: I’m now teaching the last four weeks of enrichment co-op. Our theme is art + mathematics. I’m leaning on the math side to teach geometry puzzles to the Running Rhinos and then probability and cryptography to the Buff Gorillas.

Loving: We broke open the package of Key Lime Oreos (off brand from Aldis) and they were delicious. Now I have to wait another year to get another package.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W2: Activities Took Over!

What We Studied

All my big talk of balance the first week went out the window last week. Except for Monday, we had activities that took up most of our time. They were worthwhile activities, but it meant that we only did schoolwork two days in the week.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. Our read aloud has continue along with poetry and grammar. Our spelling list 2 will be stretched to two weeks to accommodate.

Over the Moon by Natalie Lloyd
Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. It took us all week, but we finished our very short read aloud. Q also read two chapter books independently in that time. I think he’s finally caught the reading bug.

Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman
Song of the Water Boatman by Joyce Kidman (poetry)
Write Shop B

Math

Math in Focus Court 1 Book A
EM Financial Literacy G5

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. He started with the lessons in 2B. I imagine that we will be slowing working through that this semester. He also started his next logic book and did some math packets for practice and review.

Primarily Logic
Singapore Primary Common Core 2B

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We skipped history this week due to time constraints.

Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 supporting. We skipped history this week due to time constraints.

History Quest Middle Times
DK When on Earth?
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time

Science

RSO Biology 1
Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. We covered the first lesson and pivoted to B&R’s Book Seed: Over and the Under the Pond. I rearranged some of the RSO units to make sense for our weather. We are staring with water. To learn more, we covered some readings and videos about ponds before spending most of Friday doing an exploration and experiments day with friends.

RSO Earth and Environment
Earth by the Numbers by Steve Jenkins
DK First Earth Encyclopedia
Beyond the Pond by Joseph Kuefler
On Duck Pond by Jane Yolen
Tadpoles by Matt James
Pond Circle by Betsy Franco
Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner
Life in a Pond by Craig Hammersmith
Life in a Pond by Allan Fowler
Look Inside a Pond by Louise Spilsbury

Enrichment STEAM Co-op

Enrichment co-op has shifted from warm months only (April to October). We are in the middle of our transitionary “Summer Session.” This week both Arthur and Quentin’s class covered engineering. Q’s class focused on simple machines while Arthur’s class made balloon powered cars.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. (The Joslyn Art Museum is reopening in September after being closed for two years!) And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies. We did some art-related activities while at the pond on Friday. Arthur made an amazing clay rendition of the pond. I snapped a picture before he destroyed it.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. This week was all about Chuck Berry and Fats Domino. I’m a Chuck Berry fan; the boys preferred Fats Domino.

Music Lab: We Rock!
DK Music and How it Works
DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

Not a guided field trip, but we did have a lovely day at the zoo on Tuesday. It rained, but lightly, which meant that many of the animals were very active!

On Friday, I hosted a pond exploration day at Platte River State Park. They have a set of cascading shallow ponds called Crawdad Creek that you can actually wade into and explore. We caught (and released) some critters, learned about ponds, tested the water, and engaged in some free art. Afterward, we had to have a picnic and playtime at the playground. It has ziplines!

High

Wednesday we spent all day at the park with the No (we’re not supposed to be in) School Picnic with many of our homeschool friends. It was a nice way for some new families to join and make some connections. The boys’ favorite part was the axe throwing.

Low

Not getting to a ton of schoolwork? Nah, that’s not. a low, just a reality.

Next Week

Finishing his read aloud and starting a new one (A)
Starting a new read aloud (Q)
Learning about the Spanish Empire (A) and Byzantine Empire (Q)
Listening to Johnny Cash
Exploring the local science museum and another state park
Covering engineering for co-op, last week for this cycle

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

The weather has taken a turn for the windy, cloudy, and cooler. Thank goodness! I am going to enjoy it for the next few days because next week it’s going to be back into the 90s.
Tomorrow I’m leading a pond exploration for 23 kiddos ages 4 to 12. I foresee so much chaos!
A friend asked some of us if an adult’s night at Vala’s would be something interesting. Oh hell yeah! My favorite place during my favorite time of the year and no kids with me. Sign me up! (I’m hosting a family campfire night there in October, but this is completely different!)
One of my co-op supply bags has acquired multiple holes in the bottom. Duct tape to the rescue, but I’m sad. I may need to watch the website for sales and buy some new ones.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #14

Reading: After social media pressure, I started reading The Idea of You by Robinne Lee. I’m not quite sure what I think about the book so far, but I will say that it’s an easy read.

Watching: J convinced me to jump back into Star Trek: Discovery. We sped through the second half of the first season and are ready to start the second season this week.

Listening: The boys and I are embarking on a great music curriculum this year based on Music Lab: We Rock! This wee we covered Chuck Berry and Fats Domino. The boys decided that they love Fats Domino. I’m more of a Chuck Berry fan myself.

Making: I’ve been working on creating academic co-op lessons for the civics course I’m teaching. I’ve got about half of them done completely. The rest have basic outlines and brainstormed ideas.

Feeling: We finished our first week of school strong. I’m feeling very accomplished with what we have done and the balance between school and activities that we created.

Planning: We’re going full force into fall with lots of social co-op activities. I’m very excited about the reopening of the Joslyn Art Museum in September. We are going to do a monthly art exploration meetup there.

Loving: Every time we go to Aldis, I have to get the kitchen sink cookies if they have any. I absolutely love them!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W1: Year 5 has begun!

What We Studied

We hit the ground running on Monday with a full week of curriculum and activities. My focus word for the year is balance. Last year, I felt like we let activities take over our life at many points throughout the year and then never really recovered. I felt very rushed and behind. I don’t want to feel that way. One thing that I pinpointed was the fact that we didn’t have a dedicated home day. Every week was different in terms of flow. This year I am reserving Mondays for home. If something amazing comes up, we will jump on it. But otherwise, we will stay home and be chill on Mondays. I like to get that big jump on our curriculum after our weekend breaks. This should help.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We started all the components on Monday and we’re really enjoying it so far. We read about half of our literature selection, analyzed a poem, learned a spelling list, covered some grammar, and wrote a sample essay. We made a ton of progress in just one week!

Over the Moon by Natalie Lloyd
Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. He bean his B&R study with a unit about American tall tales. Arthur really enjoyed starting the year with those tales and I think Quentin agrees. We learned about tall tales, imagery, exaggeration, and descriptive language.

Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss (Q reads)
Song of the Water Boatman by Joyce Kidman (poetry)
American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osborne
Thunder Rose by Jerdine Nolen
Write Shop B

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. We covered the first lesson and did some practice. We will also be working through Evan Moor’s Financial Literacy G5 book and random math packets.

Math in Focus Court 1 Book A
EM Financial Literacy G5

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. He started with the lessons in 2B. I imagine that we will be slowing working through that this semester. He also stated his next logic book and did some math packets for practice and review.

Primarily Logic
Singapore Primary Common Core 2B

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We started the year with the first section all about Elizabethan England. I’m very excited that his history has a ton of extras and projects associated with it. For the culture corner, he learned about Hans Holbein and anamorphosis. He even tried his hand at the technique with a drawing.

Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
Lives of Extraordinary Women by Kathleen Krull
Frenemy in the Family by Kathleen Krull
The Tudors: Kings, Queens, Scribes, and Ferrets by Marcia Williams
100 Facts You Should Know: Kings and Queens
Mary Tudor: Bloody Mary by Gretchen Maurer
You Wouldn’t Want to Sail in the Spanish Armada by John Malam
You Wouldn’t Want to be Mary, Queen of Scots by Fiona Macdonald
Corpse Talk: Groundbreaking Rebels by Adam & Lisa Murphy
What was Queen Elizabeth I?

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 supporting. We started with the first chapter about Islamic Innovations.

History Quest Middle Times
DK When on Earth?
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
About Time: A First Look at Time and Clocks by Bruce Koschielniak
Mosque by David Macaulay

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. We did cover the first lesson this week, but our coverage will be spotty until October. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall semester course, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. We did started Volume 3 of The Story of Science and will be working through that this year.

RSO Biology 1
Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim
Tiny Creatures: The World of Microbes by Nicola Davies
The Universe in You: A Microscopic Journey by Jason Chin
The Three Little Tardigrades by Sandra Fay

None

Enrichment STEAM Co-op

Enrichment co-op has shifted from warm months only (April to October). We are in the middle of our transitionary “Summer Session.” This week both Arthur and Quentin’s class covered engineering by talking about gravity and building egg drop units. It was nice to get back to co-op after two weeks away while traveling.

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. (The Joslyn Art Museum is reopening in September after being closed for two years!) And I incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. For the first week, we covered Elvis Presley. The boys likes the rhythm and beat of the music, but not so much Elvis as a singer.

Music Lab: We Rock!
DK Music and How it Works
DK The Arts
Elvis: The Story of the Rock and Roll King by Bonnie Christensen
Elvis is King by Jonah Winter

Field Trip/Activities

On Monday, Arthur had a dentist appointment to take care of a baby tooth that wouldn’t come out. Not fun, but necessary appointment.

Wednesday we were supposed to have a splash pad birthday party for a friend, but weather cancelled it. We did get to have Pokemon club that afternoon.

Thursday after co-op will always be errands and/or extra activities. This week we used out Get Out pass with friends to visit Papio Fun Park. Quentin is finally tall enough to drive the go-karts by himself. The boys enjoyed go-karts and laser tag while there. We stayed for almost five hours!

Friday morning we had our biweekly nature walk. This time one other friend joined us at Fontennelle Forest for a “board hike” as our friend called it. A hike on the boardwalk. We also ran into two other families that we knew. They were there for a blood drive.

High

Despite coming off of traveling the week before, we accomplished a ton for our first week. I always like to dive straight in and see what happens. We covered almost everything I had on the schedule and spent a ton of time with friends and outside in nature. I’d say that we had a great first week!

Low

The changing weather interrupted our plans for one last water park day. Oh well. We did spent a ton of time in pools this summer.

Tree at Fontenelle - most likely broke and twisted in the last storm

Next Week

Finishing his read aloud (A)
Starting Fortunately, the Milk (Q)
Learning about the Spanish Empire (A) and Byzantine Empire (Q)
Listening to Chuck Berry and Fats Domino
Exploring ponds and hydrology
Covering engineering for co-op
Celebrating the year at the homeschool picnic

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Back to leading co-op. It went well today, but my goodness, it was humid.
I’m a bit out of sorts today we we we out of the house from 9am to 6pm. That’s a long day away for us.
Looking forward to our walk in the woods tomorrow morning.
Longing for fall weather….

Next up on the TBR pile:

Summer Adventures - July

Instead of a summer bucket list, we are just taking the weeks as they come. But we ended up having many adventures this month.

Stormy weather caused us to pivot to the Mahoney Activity Center for an afternoon

Saw Trolls 2 at the theater for the cheap movies series

Pool party at a friend’s house for the 4th of July

Multiple hikes around town - Glacier Creek, Heron Haven,

Exploration at the Luminarium

Multiple pool visits

Second session of swim lessons - A passed Level 2, Q did not

Playing Pokemon at club

Ice cream at Dairy Twist

Sleepover at a friend’s house!

Visited the Omaha Zoo complete with splash pad fun

Old fashioned park playdate

Video games playdate with friends

Sushi train visit

Trip to Indiana!

We popped into the Putnam Museum in Davenport on the way. (Free admission using our Morrill Hall membership pass.)

Due to a plane delay, we found ourselves in Indianapolis for an extra day. Explored the Indiana State Museum and walked along the canal. (Free admission using our Morrill Hall membership pass.)

Next up on the TBR pile:

August 2024 Life Goals

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

Read 18 Books ✓
Finish Planning Indiana Trip - Considering that I am here, I’m going to say that it’s planned. ✓
Complete Our Summer Bucket List ✓
Prep August and September Homeschool Plans ✓
Get Academic Coop Off the Ground - Still working on this one.

August Goals:

Read 18 Books
Schedule a Meeting for All of Secular Omaha
Finish Academic Co-op Lesson Plans
Plan the Boys’ Birthday Party

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Summer is winding down. Many of our places are closing (so early!) but we do have some things still on our bucket lists.
Excited for the Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo (in two weeks). I really like Maritime history places.
Temperatures are back in the 90s with high humidity. I do not like.
We met some new homeschool friends this week. Here’s hoping they come to another event soon.

Next up on the TBR pile: