Homeschool W19: Finally Back to Activities and Friends!

What We Studied

More of our week was spent in your usual flow with school, co-op, and activities. I think that we ended the week in a really good place, I did implement a more intentional independent work task list to help the boys get on a good track and move quickly. Looking forward to February.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We dove into a new read aloud and it’s been much better than the last one. As an added bonus it appears in Hearth and Story G5 and as a Build Your Library Lit Bite. And it’s our co-op book selection for this month. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvat

Poetry: Alphabestiary selected by Jane Yolen
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur started the second book of the course, diving back into algebraic equations. From there, we’re pivoting to coordinate planes. I am really am liking how Singapore spends a lot of time on what the equations are actually telling us vs just jumping into solving.

Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons.

Singapore Primary 3A
Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. Arthur moved onto the section about Australia and New Zealand. We really enjoyed this detour to place that often doesn’t get covered in history texts.

Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
Birrarung Wilam: A Story from Aboriginal Australia by Aunty Joy Murphy and Andrew Kelly
Welcome To Country: A Traditional Aboriginal Ceremony by Aunty Joy Murphy
Australia and Oceania: True Books: Geography: Continents by Mel Friedman
You Wouldn’t Want to Be an 18th-Century British Convict!: A Trip to Australia You’d Rather Not Take by Meredith Costain
Sun Mother Wakes the World by Diane Wolkstein
Indigenous Australian Cultures by Mary Colson
Great Barrier Reef by Martha London
Uluru: Australia's Aboriginal Heart by Caroline Arnold
Land of the Long White Cloud: Maori Myths, Tales and Legends by Kiri Te Kanawa and Michael Foreman
New Zealand by Alicia Klepeis

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. This week we covered a chapter about two Indian Empires.

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 Explorers

The temps were downright frigid this week…

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall and spring semester courses, 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 some chapters from our Story of Science to keep up.

RSO Biology 1
Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim
Amazing Evolution: The Journey of Life by Anna Claybourne

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 moved on to lessons about galaxies, solar systems, and our sun. We are also still watching the PBS Eons videos here and there.

RSO Earth and Environment
DK First Earth Encyclopedia
RSO Asttonomy 1
DK Eyewitness Astronomy
DK Space
DK First Space Encyclopedia
DK Eyewitness The Planets
The Stuff Between the Stars: How Vera Rubin Discovered Most of the Universe by Sandra Nickel
Solar System By the Numbers by Steve Jenkins
Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space by Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman
The Book of Big Science Ideas by Freya Hardy
Sun: One in a Billion by Stacy McAnulty
13 Planets: The Latest View of the Solar System by David A. Aguilar
The Planets by Gail Gibbons

Academic Co-op

Another week of co-op and one our absent families rejoined us. So exciting to have them back with us! Arthur had a good day learning about neurotransmitters (expansion of week 1), food webs, and drawing techniques. For writer’s workshop, the kids did their first conference. It’s a learning process, but I’m really pleased by how they handled it. Q and I figured out a way to still do our read aloud and poetry. I feel like both boys accomplished so much in those four hours.

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.

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. We moved onto two artists: Pattie Smith and The Replacements. The boys were not huge fans of those artists, but it is always good to expand our musical horizons.

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

Field Trip/Activities

We attended board game club on Friday afternoon . It was a bit of a rough start (Arthur’s besties were not there), both boys settled in and played some games with other kids. I had a lovely time chatting with old, middle, and new homeschool friends. We will definitely be attending next month’s meeting.

High

Wednesday we restarted our Joslyn Art Explorers visits. The kids had a great time exploring color this month. And we visited one of the galleries that we haven’t gotten back into since the museum opened. I think we have now visited all of the galleries at least once. Love our art museum visits.

Low

Q ended up having a bit of an emotional time after board game club and we had to have a big conversation afterwards. It was a bit rough. But we made it through.

Next Week

Continuing our current reads
Moving forward with math lessons
Traveling to Revolutionary France (A) and China (Q) for history
Exploring the rocky planets for Q’s science
Listening to Talking Heads
Playing at an indoor playground to get our wiggles out
Heading back to the dentist, thankfully this time for the kids’ cleaning appointments and not anything about me

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Academic Co-op is back on track and moving along into the spring semester. I’m very excited about helping the kids with their writing.
I think that our terrible January might just be turning a corner. We’re healthy and school is going well.
Yesterday’s visit to Joslyn Art Museum was delightful. We met a new friend and saw some great art. The museum is such a gem for our city.
We finished a ton of shows this week and started a few new ones. Such great media available right now.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W18: Back to a Normal Week

What We Studied

We got over the sickness and went back to our usual schedule. We had some school days, I had a dentist appointment, and we restarted co-op.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We finished our current read aloud. I’m not sure that I really enjoyed it and may just skip this book in a few years when Quentin enters the 5th grade. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

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 one classic and started another classic. I must say that I’m always so surprised how bad of a writer I think C.S. Lewis is when compared to J.R.R. Tolkien.

Poetry: Alphabestiary selected by Jane Yolen
The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur started the second book of the course, diving back into algebraic equations. I am really am liking how Singapore spends a lot of time on what the equations are actually telling us vs just jumping into solving.

Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons.

Singapore Primary 3A
Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. Even though we covered two sections, these two sections were mostly a review focusing on North America and the American Revolution.

Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
A Spy Called James: The True Story of James Lafayette, Revolutionary War Double Agent, by Anne Rockwell
Anna Strong: A Spy During the American Revolution by Sarah Glenn Marsh Eliza: The Story of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, by Margaret McNamara
George vs. George: The American Revolution As Seen from Both Sides by Rosalyn Schanzer
Who Was Daniel Boone? by Sydelle Kramer

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. This week we covered a chapter about the Kingdom of Mali. Lots of fun connections to other chapters in this one.

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 Explorers

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall and spring semester courses, 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. Co-op restarted and the first week was focused on vocabulary and introducing the ideas of ecology and evolution. We did read some chapters from our Story of Science to keep up.

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 started into our large space unit using RSO Astronomy as our backbone. We are also still watching the PBS Eons videos here and there.

RSO Earth and Environment
DK First Earth Encyclopedia
Boy, Were We Wrong About the Solar System by Kathleen V. Kudlinski
RSO Asttonomy 1
The Big Beyond: The Story of Space Travel by James Carter
DK Eyewitness Astronomy
The Big Beyond: The Story of Space Travel by James Carter
Find the Constellations by H.A. Rey
Galaxies, Galaies! by Gail Gibbons
The Book of Big Science Ideas by Freya Hardy
DK Space
Once Upon a Starry Night by Jacqueline Mitton
What Miss Mitchell Saw in the Stars by Hayley Barrett

Academic Co-op

We restarted co-op this week with some big changes. The changes created a lot of stress for me, but the remaining members managed to pull together and successfully have a normal day. This semester we are learning 2D Design and Art History, Biology (focusing on ecology and evolution), and Writing Workshop. Because of some scheduling, I ended up teaching Homeroom and Closing along with my actual class of Writing Workshop. We focused on neurotransmitters and ways to push our brain into releasing those chemicals.

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.

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. We moved onto the next artist: The Clash! Arthur has decided that he likes them better than The Ramones while Quentin prefers The Ramones.

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

Field Trip/Activities

None this week

High

It was so nice to get back into a normal schedule for us. Hopefully next week we can re-introduce activities to our weekly schedule.

Low

I had a dentist appointment. Those are always a schedule disruption. The lingering pain impacted my ability to read with the kids and teach.

Next Week

Attempting to read around my dental issues
Moving forward with math lessons
Traveling to Australia (A) and Indian (Q) for history
Exploring the solar system for Q’s science
Listening to The Replacements and Patti Smith
Appreciating the art museum
Going on a nature hike
Playing some board games with friends

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W17: Sickness Changed All Our Plans

What We Studied

The entire family came down with that norovirus that’s been going around the country. And let me tell, it was horrible. We had plans for activities and meetings with friends that all had to be cancelled. This did open up the week for more school work and we powered through a ton. Ultimately, we all lost steam on Friday and just took it easy.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We started our next read aloud, a classic that has been on my list for awhile. We’re about halfway through it and I still don’t know what I think about the book. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

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 another classic. Q isn’t the biggest fan of C.S. Lewis, but we’re going to proceed through The Magician’s Nephew and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe before we move on.

Poetry: Alphabestiary selected by Jane Yolen
The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

Math

Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons.

Singapore Primary 3A
Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We dove into Volume 2 and managed to cover two sections this week because of sickness. We covered Russia under Catherine the Great and Captain Cook’s exploration of the South Pacific and Hawai’i.

Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
Catherine the Great by Elizabeth Raum
A Royal Ride: Catherine the Great's Great Invention by Kristen Fulton
You Wouldn’t Want to Live Without Vaccinations!, by Anne Rooney
Dr. Jenner and the Speckled Monster: The Discovery of the Smallpox Vaccine, by Albert Marrin
The Adventures of Tupaia, by Courtney Sina Meredith
The Shark King, by R. Kikuo Johnson
Famous Lives: Captain Cook, by Rebecca Levene
DK Explorers - James Cook
Butterfly for a King: Saving Hawaii’s Kamehameha Butterflies, by Cindy Trumbore and Susan L. Roth
A True Book: My United States: Hawai’i, by Joanne Mattern
Kamehameha: The Boy Who Became a Warrior King, by Ellie Crowe

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. This week we covered a chapter about the settlement of Polynesia. Oddly, Q’s history connected with Arthur’s history chapters.

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 Explorers
Oceania by Martha London

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall and spring semester courses, 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. Co-op restarts next week, so no biology lesson this week. We did read some chapters from our Story of Science to keep up.

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 switched gears slightly to tackle Blossom and Root’s Prehistory Unit. We officially finished the Prehistory unit this week; although we still have a ton of Eons episodes to watch here and there through the winter.

RSO Earth and Environment
DK First Earth Encyclopedia
DK Dinosaur
DK Where on Earth? Dinosaurs
DK Eyewitness Dinosaur
The Story of Life: Evolution by Katie Scott
Life: The First Four Billions Years by Martin Jenkins
Stones and Bones: Fossils and the Stories They Tell by Rob Wilshaw
When the Whales Walked by Dougal Dixon
Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs an Other Prehistoric Beasts! by Mike Lowery
Dinosaurs: Fact and Fable by Seymour Simon
Prehistoric by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
Nat Geo Kids Dinosaur Atlas
Dinosaurium by Chris Wormell and Lily Murray
The Colorful World of Dinosaurs by Matt Sewell
Dragon Bones: The Fantastic Fossil Discoveries of Mary Anning by Sarah Glenn Marsh
My Mastodon by Barbara Lowell and Antonio Marinoni
Thomas Jefferson and the Mammoth Hunt: The True Story of the Quest for America's Biggest Bones by Carrie Clickard
I Used to be a Fish by Tom Sullivan
Sapiens: Our Human Evolution by J.R. Becker and Max Rambaldi
Amazing Evolution: The Journey of Life by Anna Claybourne Pg. 40-43
Mary Leakey: Archaeologist Who Really Dug her Work by Mike Venezia

Academic Co-op

We restart co-op next week.

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 covered a Harbor + Sprout module about textile art.

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. We moved onto the next chapter focusing on Punk Rock. We started with my favorite, The Ramones!

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

Field Trip/Activities

None… We quarantined to limit the spread of infection.

High

All the Eons episodes! We just hunkered down and watched a ton of documentaries while sick to relax and still learn.

Low

Sickness. Enough said.

Next Week

Restarting academic co-op for spring
Finishing our read alouds and starting new ones
Moving forward with math lessons
Covering the American Revolution (A) and African Empires (Q) for history
Diving into RSO Astronomy for Q’s science
Listening to The Clash

Next up on the TBR pile:

2025 Goals and Resolutions

Checking in with my 2024 Goals and Resolutions -

House Goals/Resolutions

Paint the living room (and maybe playroom) - FAIL
Downsize the playroom ✓

Life Goals/Resolutions

Complete 52 Hikes ✓ - We don’t ever get to 52 hikes, but the idea is to focus on getting out into nature often.
Add More Vegetarian Dishes to Our Rotation ✓
Work on a Better Budget ✓

Reading Goals/Resolutions

Read 200 Books/60,000 Books ✓
Clear Off 50 Books from My UnRead Shelf ✓ - Between my read books and unloading some that I will never read, I definitely got to this number.
Skip at Least 50% of BOTM Months ✓ - I really stuck to my idea of only ordering books I was actually excited about.

Homeschool Goals/Resolutions

Be a Leader for the Secular Homeschool Community ✓
Move the Coop into the Next Era ✓
Complete Another Year of Homeschooling ✓

And now on to 2025…

I’m not actually going to make any goals and resolutions this year. 2024 was hard and I really want to focus on the everyday victories instead of lofty goals. I want to try to live in the moments this year.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Christmas Bucket List Finish

Another year, another Christmas bucket list! This season I’m still embracing the mantra of “Take it easy.” As such, I’m filling our bucket list with all my favorite things and not reaching too far. Sickness at the beginning of the month made me switch a few things around. Hopefully we can get back to all our activities by the end of the month.

Go see Santa! ✓ - We had our yearly visit to Santa at Cabela’s. Of course we had go see the fish afterward.

Decorate the mini tree ✓

Decorate the house ✓ - Being sick pushed this back a few days, but we did it.

See the Christmas tree at the Durham Museum - Never made it…

Visit the Holiday display at Lauritzen Gardens - Didn’t get to it this year. Travel impeded some of our plans.

See A Christmas Story @ The Rose ✓ - We really enjoyed the performance! As a bonus, we got student tickets for very few dollars.

See The Nutcracker @ The Orpheum - We didn’t end up going due to the weather.

Listen to A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens ✓

Make Christmas cookies

Drive through the Santa Rock n Lights ✓

Visit the reindeers Dancer and Dasher ✓

Watch 10 Christmas Movies (8/10)

Dear Santa
Uncle Buck (close enough, it’s set in winter)
Hot Frosty
Red One
The Merry Gentlemen
Carry-on
Die Hard
Holiday Inn

Go to Zoolightful at the zoo ✓

Go to Fantasy of Lights at Franke Park ✓

Dinner at Coney Island and see the Santa lights ✓

Read 10 Christmas books (10/10) ✓

The Holiday Honeymoon Switch by Julia McKay
All I Want is You by Falon Ballard
The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen
The Best Cowboy Christmas Ever by June Faver
Jingle All the Way by Sarah Everly
26 Ways to Come Home for the Holidays by Jennifer Joy
Under the Mistletoe Collection
Kringle Down by Shane Lacy Hensley
The Revenge by Shane Lacy Hensley
Krampus by Shane Lacy Hensley
Snowed in with Benefits by Misha Horne
The Wedding Witch by Erin Sterling

Make paper snowflakes

Make Christmas cocktails

Hot Chocolate tasting

Finish a Christmas puzzle

Find a new Christmas album

Make a Christmas craft

Decorate a gingerbread house

Take a photo of all four boys together

Finish 2024’s December Daily album

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W15-16: That's a Wrap on the Fall Semest

What We Studied

We wrapped up our fall semester in a great place. We managed to cover a ton of material while engaging in so many activities and fun outings. We are so ready for a bit of a break before diving back in in January.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We finished our next read aloud and moved on. It’s another featured book from Hearth & Story G5. We are really enjoying that program. From there, we started our next read aloud from our own shelves. I had picked up a literature unit about the book to guide our reading. We’ll be taking the book to Indiana to finish. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

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 our next selection. I really love everything Katherine Applegate has put out and Wishtree is no exception. It’s a quiet story, but one with lots of thinking points and emotion. From there, we picked up another Tim Collins book to read in tandem with our dinosaur unit. We finished that one and then will be diving into a classic.

Poetry: Dinosaur Dinner (with a Slice of Alligator Pie) by Dennis Lee
Poetry: Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian
Wishtree by Katherine Applegate
The Long-Lost Secret Diary of the World’s Worst Dinosaur Hunter by Tim Collins
The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur finished the first book of the course. We spent some time doing a bit of math review and catching up before starting the next book in January..

Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. I’m not going to start on Singapore 3B until January, so we are focusing on review and mastery until then.

Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We wrapped up Volume 1. We’ll be starting Volume 2 in January.

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 as his main history curriculum. This week we covered a chapter about the Hundred Years’ War.

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 Explorers
Joan of Arc by Demi

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall and spring semester courses, 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. Arthur covered a few body systems at co-op. At home, we read a bit chapter in our Story of Science about...

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

RSO Earth and Environment
DK First Earth Encyclopedia
DK Dinosaur
DK Where on Earth? Dinosaurs
DK Eyewitness Dinosaur
The Story of Life: Evolution by Katie Scott
Life: The First Four Billions Years by Martin Jenkins
Stones and Bones: Fossils and the Stories They Tell by Rob Wilshaw
When the Whales Walked by Dougal Dixon
Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs an Other Prehistoric Beasts! by Mike Lowery
Dinosaurs: Fact and Fable by Seymour Simon
Prehistoric by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
Nat Geo Kids Dinosaur Atlas
Dinosaurium by Chris Wormell and Lily Murray
The Colorful World of Dinosaurs by Matt Sewell
Barnum's Bones: How Barnum Brown Discovered the Most Famous Dinosaur in the World by Tracey Fern
When Sue Found Sue: Sue Hendrickson Discovers Her T. rex by Toni Buzzeo
Mary Anning and the Sea Dragon by Jeannine Atkins
The Fossil Whisperer: How Wendy Sloboda Discovered a Dinosaur by Helaine Becker
A Dinosaur Named Ruth: How Ruth Mason Discovered Fossils in Her Own Backyard by Julia Lyon
Dragon Bones: The Fantastic Fossil Discoveries of Mary Anning by Sarah Glenn Marsh
Prehistoric: Dinosaurs, Megalodons, and Other Fascinating Creatures of the Deep Past by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

Academic Co-op

We finished the fall semester. For math, the student finished the semester with a personal budget project. It was difficult, but the kids made it through. For biology, they finished their anatomy and physiology section. Next semester, they will be covering evolution and ecology. For civics, the kids presented their active citizenship biographies and posters. We also did a big review of the entire class.

Art and Music

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. We finished the next section of the book covering Deep Soul. We listened to Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Marvin Gaye, and The Staple Sisters.

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

Field Trip/Activities

We attended our first Homeschool in the Hills session at Hitchcock Hills. The subject was art and nature. It was absolutely freezing on that day, but we powered through. The actual outside section was only about 15 minutes. I thought the program was interesting. Q was not on board. Arthur enjoyed himself. We’re scheduled for their January and March sessions also.

High

We got to see the reindeer at Mulhall’s after a car repair estimate. Seeing actual live reindeers are one of the highlights of the season for me.

Low

The drive to Indiana was not fun. The wind gusts and crazy drivers made it much more stressful.

Next Week - Taking a few weeks off for the holidays.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Christmas Bucket List Update #2

Go see Santa! ✓ - We had our yearly visit to Santa at Cabela’s. Of course we had go see the fish afterward.

Decorate the mini tree ✓

Decorate the house ✓ - Being sick pushed this back a few days, but we did it.

See the Christmas tree at the Durham Museum

Visit the Holiday display at Lauritzen Gardens

See A Christmas Story @ The Rose ✓ - We really enjoyed the performance! As a bonus, we got student tickets for very few dollars.

See The Nutcracker @ The Orpheum - We didn’t end up going due to the weather.

Listen to A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens ✓

Make Christmas cookies

Drive through the Santa Rock n Lights ✓

Visit the reindeers Dancer and Dasher ✓

Watch 10 Christmas Movies (6/10)

Dear Santa
Uncle Buck (close enough, it’s set in winter)
Hot Frosty
Red One
The Merry Gentlemen
Carry-on

Go to Zoolightful at the zoo ✓

Go to Fantasy of Lights at Franke Park

Dinner at Coney Island and see the Santa lights

Read 10 Christmas books (7/10)

The Holiday Honeymoon Switch by Julia McKay
All I Want is You by Falon Ballard
The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen
The Best Cowboy Christmas Ever by June Faver
Jingle All the Way by Sarah Everly
26 Ways to Come Home for the Holidays by Jennifer Joy
Under the Mistletoe Collection

Make paper snowflakes

Make Christmas cocktails

Hot Chocolate tasting

Finish a Christmas puzzle

Find a new Christmas album

Make a Christmas craft

Decorate a gingerbread house

Take a photo of all four boys together

Finish 2024’s December Daily album

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Our last Academic Co-op meeting of the fall today. I’m ready for a bit of a break and reset for spring.
I really need to ration out the holiday goodies. Aldi’s has way too many good things out right now.
Looking forward to our book and bottle exchange this Saturday. I’m making spinach and artichoke dip!
We did an outdoor homeschool activity yesterday and it was about 15 degrees. So so cold! But we made it through somehow.
It’s just about packing time for our trip to Indiana.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Christmas Bucket List Update #1

Go see Santa! ✓ - We had our yearly visit to Santa at Cabela’s. Of course we had go see the fish afterward.

Decorate the mini tree ✓

Decorate the house ✓ - Being sick pushed this back a few days, but we did it.

See the Christmas tree at the Durham Museum

Visit the Holiday display at Lauritzen Gardens

See A Christmas Story @ The Rose ✓ - We really enjoyed the performance! As a bonus, we got student tickets for very few dollars.

See The Nutcracker @ The Orpheum

Listen to A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Make Christmas cookies

Drive through the Santa Rock n Lights ✓

Visit the reindeers Dancer and Dasher ✓

Watch 10 Christmas Movies (2/10)

Dear Santa
Uncle Buck (close enough, it’s set in winter)

Go to Zoolightful at the zoo

Go to Fantasy of Lights at Franke Park

Dinner at Coney Island and see the Santa lights

Read 10 Christmas books (7/10)

The Holiday Honeymoon Switch by Julia McKay
All I Want is You by Falon Ballard
The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen
The Best Cowboy Christmas Ever by June Faver
Jingle All the Way by Sarah Everly
26 Ways to Come Home for the Holidays by Jennifer Joy
Under the Mistletoe Collection

Make paper snowflakes

Make Christmas cocktails

Hot Chocolate tasting

Finish a Christmas puzzle

Find a new Christmas album

Make a Christmas craft

Decorate a gingerbread house

Take a photo of all four boys together

Finish 2024’s December Daily album

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W14: A play, board games, and lots of schoolwork!

What We Studied

Back to our normally schedule program. We managed to fit in a decent amount of school work along with a few activities with friends. Trying to make the most of the weeks leading up to our Christmas break.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We started another read aloud this week. Only got through part 1, but we’re moving along. It’s another featured book from Hearth & Story G5. We are really enjoying that program. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments. We also finished our main poetry collection.

Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

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 our next selection. I really love everything Katherine Applegate has put out and Wishtree is no exception. It’s a quiet story, but one with lots of thinking points and emotion.

Poetry: Dinosaur Dinner (with a Slice of Alligator Pie) by Dennis Lee
Wishtree by Katherine Applegate

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur started the chapter on Algebraic Expression. It’s easing us in, in a very systematic way. Loving this curriculum right now.

Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We finished our Financial Literacy G2 book. I’m not going to start on Singapore 3B until January, so we are focusing on review and mastery until then.

Primarily Logic
EM Financial Literacy G2

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We wrapped up Volume 1 with a section about the Seven Years War. A bit of a review from U.S. History, but we also learned about the Carnatic Wars in India.

Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
Struggle for a Continent: The French and Indian Wars by Betsy Maestro
Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin by Gene Barretta
Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos by Robert Lawson
The Salem Witch Trials: An Interactive History Adventure by Matt Doeden
The Salem Witch Trials: An Unsolved Mystery from History by Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Stample
The Salem Witch Trials (Graphic History) by Michael J. Martin

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. This week we covered a chapter about the Black Death.

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 Explorers

Science

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

RSO Earth and Environment
DK First Earth Encyclopedia
DK Dinosaur
DK When on Earth? Dinosaurs
DK Eyewitness Dinosaur
The Story of Life: Evolution by Katie Scott
Life: The First Four Billions Years by Martin Jenkins
Stones and Bones: Fossils and the Stories They Tell by Rob Wilshaw
When the Whales Walked by Dougal Dixon
Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs an Other Prehistoric Beasts! by Mike Lowery
Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian x4
How the Dinosaur Got to the Museum by Jessie Hartland
Dinosaurs by the Numbers by Steve Jenkins
Dinosaur Feathers by Dennis Nolan
Fossil by Fossil: Comparing Dinosaur Bones by Sara Levine
Dinosaurs: Fact and Fable by Seymour Simon
I am NOT a Dinosaur by Will Lach
Bone Wars: The True Story of an Epic Battle to Find Dinosaur Fossils by Jane Kurtz
Prehistoric by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
Nat Geo Kids Dinosaur Atlas
Dinosaurium by Chris Wormell and Lily Murray
The Colorful World of Dinosaurs by Matt Sewell

Academic Co-op

For math, Arthur and the few students there on Thursday took a trip around the world to celebrate the holiday season. They worked together to make purchase decisions for each leg of the trip while staying in budget. For biology, they covered two more body systems. I had to emergency teach civics due to illness and we learned about social movements and collective action. The kids were given an assignment to do a bio and protest sign based on a living activist. Arthur got Greta Thunberg. Only one more week for the fall semester!

Art and Music

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. We moved into the next section of the book covering Deep Soul. We listened to Ray Charles and Solomon Burke.

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

Field Trip/Activities

We got to see A Christmas Story musical at The Rose Theatre on Friday. Love that we can access the student tickets price to see some great live theater. It was a big performance almost 2 1/2 hours long with an intermission, but we loved it.

High

Because I had an errand to get done, a friend took the boys to board game club at Coffee Alley. I met them there after my errand. They got some great socialization time with friends, and so did I. Plus they make good coffee. Loved it!

Low

Nothing really. It was a good week!

Next Week

Completing our read alouds
Reviewing math for Q
Finishing 1A Math book for A
Covering the Hundred Years’ War (Q)
Learning about the Jurassic and Cretaceous Eras (Q)
Wrapping up the fall semester of academic co-op
Seeing Act II of The Nutcracker ballet at the Orpheum (another student ticket show!)

Next up on the TBR pile:

Christmas Bucket List

Go see Santa!
Decorate the mini tree
Decorate the house
See the Christmas tree at the Durham Museum
Visit the Holiday display at Lauritzen Gardens
See A Christmas Story @ The Rose
See The Nutcracker @ The Orpheum
Listen to A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Make Christmas cookies
Drive through the Santa Rock n Lights
Visit the reindeers Dancer and Dasher
Watch 10 Christmas Movies
Go to Zoolightful at the zoo
Go to Fantasy of Lights at Franke Park
Dinner at Coney Island and see the Santa lights
Read 10 Christmas books
Make paper snowflakes
Make Christmas cocktails
Hot Chocolate tasting
Finish a Christmas puzzle
Find a new Christmas album
Make a Christmas craft
Decorate a gingerbread house
Take a photo of all four boys together
Finish 2024’s December Daily album

Next up on the TBR pile:

December 2024 Life Goals

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

Read 18 Books - Just made it! ✓
Take It Easy ✓

December Goals:

Read 18 Books
Complete Our Christmas Bucket List
Layout Our 2025 Calendar
Plan Our February Great Wolf Lodge Trip
Start Planning the Retreat

Next up o the TBR pile:

Homeschool W13: Lots of Schoolwork and Sickness

What We Studied

A flex week and a regular week all rolled into one post. I took to heart my November goal of Take It Easy. We have continued our activities, but I lessened the frequency of a few to slow everything down. It has definitely helped in the wake of world events this past few weeks. And an extra bonus: when the boys got sick during last week, we didn’t have too much that we had to cancel. We ended up getting ahead in our schoolwork allowing us to take off the entirety of Thanksgiving week.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We finished our current read aloud and moved onto the next one. This book is actually our coop book club selection for November. We needed to finish it by the first week of December, so I switched around our books to accommodate. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg
The Goblin’s Puzzle by Andrew Chilton
A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga

Poetry: The Alligator's Smile and Other Poems by Jane Yolen
Poetry: Dinosaur Dinner (with a Slice of Alligator Pie) by Dennis Lee
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Zoey and Sassafras: Gnomes and Sneeze by Asia Citro (Q independent read)
Write Shop B
Eggasaurus by Jennifer Wagh
If Dinosaurs Had Hair by Dan Marvin
The Long Lost Secret Diary of the World's Worst Dinosaur Hunter by Tim Collins (Q independent read)

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur finished a chapter on percents. We only have one more chapter of 1A left.

Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. He started with the lessons in 2B. He finished the entirety of 2B last week. We switched over to our Financial Literacy G2 book. We should finish that book the week after Thanksgiving.

Primarily Logic
Singapore Primary Common Core 2B
EM Financial Literacy G2

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. Arthur learned about Britain and Ireland focusing on the Glorious Revolution and the Act of Union. We also covered a Culture Corner about John Locke which dovetailed nicely into our co-op civics study. Because we suddenly had more home time because of sickness, we moved onto the next few sections of history. We covered a section about the Ottoman Empire and Russia (focusing on Peter the Great), a section about West Africa and slavery, and a section about the Caribbean including pirates.

Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
A Pot O’ Gold: A Treasury of Irish Stories, Poetry, Folklore, and (of Course) Blarney by Kathleen Krull
Lives of the Scientists: Experiments, Explosions (and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull
The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Marianna Mayer
Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock, by Eric A. Kimmel
Anansi and the Talking Melon, by Eric A. Kimmel
Anansi and the Magic Stick, by Eric A. Kimmel
Anansi Goes Fishing, by Eric A. Kimmel
Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott
I Lay My Stitches Down: Poems of American Slavery by Cynthia Grady
If You Lived When There Was Slavery in America, by Anne Kamma
Blackbeard the Pirate King, by J. Patrick Lewis
A Pirate’s Life for She: Swashbuckling Women Through the Ages by Laura Sook Duncombe
Sea Queens: Women Pirates Around the World by Jane Yolen
Lives of Pirates: Swashbucklers, Scoundrels (Neighbors Beware!) by Kathleen Krull
The Whydah: A Pirate Ship Feared, Wrecked, and Found by Martin W. Sandler
The Golden Age of Pirates: An Interactive History Adventure (You Choose: History) by Bob Temple
Pirate by Gail Gibbons
How to Live Like a Caribbean Pirate by John Farndon

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. This week we covered a chapter about Great Zimbabwe and Ethiopia.

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 Explorers
Great African Kingdoms by Sean Sheehan
Ancient West African Kingdoms by Mary Quigley
Great Zimbabwe by Mark Bessire

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. 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. Arthur covered the digestive and excretory systems in co-op. Last week had to miss co-op because of sickness. Instead of learning more biology, we caught back up with our Story of Science chapters. We supplemented with some extra materials at home. We also caught back up in our Story of Science, covering multiple chapters about physics and chemistry. And we watched a documentary about Einstein and Quantum Theory.

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 switched gears slightly to tackle Blossom and Root’s Prehistory Unit. we covered the first couple of eras and epochs of Earth’s history and did a big picture overview of Big Time. We ended up getting through all the wonder stories the end of the Paleozoic Era. Thus, we dove back into Eons and covered a lot of videos during our documentary time. We also watched a NOVA episode about volcanoes.

RSO Earth and Environment
DK First Earth Encyclopedia
Older Than the Stars by Karen C. Fox
One Million Oysters on Top of the Mountain by Alex Nogues
Out of the Blue: How Animals Evolved from Prehistoric Seas by Elizabeth Shreeve
Fossil by Bill Thomson
Stones and Bones: Fossils and the Stories They Tell by Rob Wilshaw
Fossils by Cynthia Light Brown & Grace Brown
Fossils by Ann O. Squire
DK My Book of Fossils
Fossil Type Sort
DK Eyewitness: Fossil
Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story by Lisa Westberg Peters
Grandmother Fish: A Child's First Book of Evolution by Jonathan Tweet
Annabelle and Aiden in The Story of Life by J.R. Becke
The Story of Life: Evolution by Katie Scott
Life: The First Four Billions Years by Martin Jenkins
Stones and Bones: Fossils and the Stories They Tell by Rob Wilshaw
When the Whales Walked by Dougal Dixon

Academic Co-op

For math, Arthur covered perimeter and area, creating a entire city. In biology, they covered the digestive and excretory systems. In civics, we finished the election project with presentations and a discussion about candidate evaluations.

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 monthly Joslyn Art Museum visit and focused on light and shadow. We covered a Harbor + Sprout module about World Art.

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. We covered Pink Floyd (a house favorite), Black Sabbath, Yes, and Cream. Lots of music these past two weeks.

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

Field Trip/Activities

Not a field trip, but we did get in a nature hike at Platte River. I didn’t want to go, but it really did us good to be out in the fresh air and hang out with friends for a few hours.

High

Q and I have been butting heads a bit over basic language arts and math skills. I decided to try a different tactic and signed him up for IXL. He’s engaging with the lessons as supplementary class time, but it’s been going really well. We’re going to continue through the winter and see where it takes us.

Low

The boys both caught a cold (it’s been going around all our friends) and we had to cancel plans this past week including missing the Homeschool Dance. The boys look forward to the dances and I was looking forward to getting a drink with J while they were at the dance. But alas, we ended up staying home to rest and get better.

Next Week - We got so far ahead on school that I decided we would take the entirety of Thanksgiving week off school.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W12: Slowing Down was Helpful

What We Studied

After the whirlwind that was August, September, and October, we hit November and everything slowed down. So so helpful for us. We grabbed a few minutes to breath before diving back into curriculum. (The fact that the election was this week really solidified the need to slow down and take a breath.) As such, I didn’t take many photos this week. We focused on our pace and tried to incorporate our usual activities.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We started our new read aloud that is an intriguing fantasy. I cannot wait to see where this story goes. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg
The Goblin’s Puzzle by Andrew Chilton

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. Monday we wrapped up our spooky season reading with a collection of books about an imaginary monster. On Tuesday, we moved onto a classic read.

Poetry: The Alligator's Smile and Other Poems by Jane Yolen
How I Met My Monster by Amanda Noll
Hey, That's My Monster by Amanda Noll
I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Write Shop B

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur finished a chapter on rates, ready to move onto percents. We also finished the Financial Literacy G5 boo.

Math in Focus Course 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 started the last chapter in 2B, a chapter on geometry. We’re slowing working through it and will finish next week.

Primarily Logic
Singapore Primary Common Core 2B
EM Financial Literacy G2

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We covered the section on Natives and Colonists in North America. Most of this chapter was a review for Arthur, but it was good to review and learn about it from a different perspective.

Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
Brave Wolf and the Thunderbird: Tales of the People by Joseph Medicine Crow
The People Shall Continue by Simon J Ortiz
Spanish Missions (A True Book) by John Perritano
Samuel de Champlain by Liz Sonneborn
Explore with Samuel de Champlain by Cynthia O'Brien

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 supporting. We moved onto a chapter covering the ancient Khmer Empire.

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 Explorers

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. 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. Arthur covered the nervous system during co-op. We supplemented with some extra materials at home. Specifically we covered Blossom and Root’s Bookseed about Gregor Mendel. We finished watching the documentary series One Strange Rock. We all really enjoyed this series.

RSO Biology 1
The Smallest Spot of a Dot: The Little Ways We're Different, The Big Ways We're the Same by Lindsey Davis and Michael Tyler
Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas by Cheryl Bardoe
Remembering Rosalind Franklin by Tanya Lee Stone
The Code of Life: All About Genes, DNA, Genetic Engineering, and Why You are the Way You Are by Carla Hafner
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. Q covered earthquakes and volcanoes. We are ready to switch gears slightly to tackle Blossom and Root’s Prehistory Unit.

RSO Earth and Environment
DK First Earth Encyclopedia
Earth by Quinn M. Arnold
From a Super Continent to Seven: The Pangaea and the Continental Drift
First Earth Encyclopedia 18-19
Plate Tectonics Lab 3: Forces that Shape Earth - Earthquakes
Fault Lines and Tectonic Plates by Kathleen M. Reilly
Geo Detectives: Volcanoes and Earthquakes by Anita Ganeri
Danger! Earthquakes by Seymour Simon
The Magic School Bus Presents Volcanoes and Earthquakes
Zhang Heng and the Incredible Earthquake Detector by Randel McGee
Nat Geo Kids Volcanoes
Volcanoes by Gail Gibbons
The Magic School Bus Blows Its Top by Joanna Cole
Danger! Volcanoes by Seymour Simon
Muse Magazine: Eruption
When Plant Earth was New by James Gladstone

Academic Co-op

For math, Arthur covered equivalent fractions. They even got to make trail mix for a practical application. In biology, they covered the nervous system. In civics, we covered the election results and the electoral college. And the kids continued their election project.

Art and Music

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. We got back to music covering Jimi Hendrix. He wasn’t their favorite, but it was an interesting exploration.

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

Field Trip/Activities

On Friday, we traveled to Lincoln to visit Morrill Hall for exploration and a presentation. Q’s group (the younger kids) saw a show about the Sun, Earth, and Moon system. Arthur’s group saw a show about how light enters our eyes. So an astronomy focus and a biology focus for the day. In between and opposite of the showings, we explored the museum. It was a very cold and rainy day, but perfect one to be inside a museum.

High

Wednesday was such a tough day in our house. I did force us to get outside and enjoy the sunshine just a bit. And we met up with some friends at the park, so extra perk.

Low

The election results really really brought us down.

Next Week

Continuing our read alouds
Finishing our next math chapters, Q finishing 2B
Potentially Q starting an online language arts supplement
Completing our homework (A) from co-op
Learning about Britain and Ireland (A) and prehistory (Q) for history
Listening to Pink Floyd and more for music
Visiting Joslyn for some art time

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #19

Reading: I finally started reading the November book club selection, To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose. I’m really intrigued by the story.

Watching: I finally started No One Wants This and am absolutely loving it!

Listening: I’ll admit that I’m listening to all politics podcasts. This is going to consume my entire week.

Making: The weather turned, so it’s soup time. I’m pulling out all he cold wether recipes to put on our meal plan. This week, I made ham and potato soup.

Feeling: It’s time to snuggle up with a blanket and be cozy.

Planning: Christmas is getting close and it’s time to make definitely holiday travel plans. We will be traveling to Indiana like usual, but the specific days shift around.

Loving: I finally managed to make flu shot appointments and get them taken care of. I also got my COVID booster. (None of the local places have COVID boosters for kids.) I love being able to cross essential tasks off my list.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W11: Celebrating the Last Autumn Fun

What We Studied

We celebrated the last fun bits of autumn before the weather turned. Two last visits to Vala’s, a fun Halloween night, and more outdoor activities. We even managed to cover a ton of schoolwork in between the events.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We finished our Edgar Allan Poe collection. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

The Complete Stories of Edgar Allan Poe
Poetry for Young People: Edgar Allan Poe
Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

Poetry: Spectacular Science
Poetry: The Alligator's Smile and Other Poems by Jane Yolen
The Littlest Witch by Brandi Dougherty
The Littlest Mummy by Brandi Dougherty
Bonaparte Falls Apart by Margery Cuyler
Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds
A World Full of Spooky Stories by Angela McAllister
The Little Old Lady Who was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
In a Dark, Dark Room retold by Alvin Schwartz
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 continuing his review of ratios. I do love how the chapter tied ratios to real-life situations. It wasn’t just random problems.

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 sped through the chapter on data, getting close to finishing the entire textbook.

Primarily Logic
Singapore Primary Common Core 2B
EM Financial Literacy G2

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We covered the section on East Africa covering Ethiopia and Mutapa and N’dongo.

Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
Kings and Queens by Fiona Macdonald

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 supporting. We moved onto a chapter covering Japan.

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

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. 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. Arthur covered inheritance during co-op. We supplemented with some extra materials at home. 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
Genetics by Chrstine Petersen
DNA and Heredity by Casey Rand
The Secret Code Inside You: All About Your DNA by Rajani LaRocca
The Code of Life: All About Genes, DNA, Genetic Engineering, and Why You are the Way You Are by Carla Hafner
Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

RSO Earth and Environment
DK First Earth Encyclopedia
Earth by Quinn M. Arnold
How Mountains are Made by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
Fault Lines and Tectonic Plates by Kathleen M. Reilly

Academic Co-op

For math, Arthur did a Halloween project. Really math is all a review of him, but it’s good practice. In biology, they covered inheritance. In civics, we covered voting. And the kids started their election project.

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 didn’t have a Harbor + Sprout module this week.

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. We got back to music covering Led Zeppelin. The boys really loved them.

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

Field Trip/Activities

I hosted a rock and fossil exploration day at Schramm. I taught a little lesson about rocks and fossils. The kids then got to uncover gems, sort fossils, and explored at the Geologic Site. I think it was a big success! It is a lot to plan, but thankfully I don’t have another until January.

High

We got two more Vala’s visits in before the month ended. The last one was supposed to be our big campfire night. Unfortunately, the burn ban was still in effect so the campfire had to be canceled. We still met up with a group of homeschool friends and spent many hours having fun. It was tiring, but oh so much fun.

Low

Um… Halloween is over?

Next Week

Slowing down to regroup
Starting our new read alouds
Finishing our next math chapters
Completing our homework (A) from co-op
Learning about North America (A) and Khmer Empire (Q) - history
Listening to Jimi Hendrix, and more for music

Next up on the TBR pile:

November 2024 Life Goals

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

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! ✓

November Goals:

Read 18 Books
Take It Easy! The last few months have been a lot. November is going to be about slowing down a bit and focusing on school and house stuff.

Next up o the TBR pile:

Homeschool W9-10: Too Busy to Make a Weekly Post!

What We Studied

I had to combine two homeschooling weeks into one post. We were just too busy for me to get around to documenting. Fairly last minute, I actually planned the boys’ joint birthday party and that took up a lot of time. In between tasks and now after, we did get some school done. But this month has really been all about the activities and enjoying the fall season.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We finished Coraline last week. In fact, we are attended a stage production of the story on Friday at our local children’s theater. Love that we can get discounted student tickets as a homeschool group. We then moved onto one of my favorite authors, Edgar Allan Poe. We’re sitting with his stories through this week. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman
The Complete Stories of Edgar Allan Poe
Poetry for Young People: Edgar Allan Poe
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 our current read aloud and changed gears slightly. Instead of a big novel, we’ve been reading spooky stories and one-off Halloween themed books we have laying around the house.

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graeme
Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds
Flat Stanley and the Haunted House
Ten Timid Ghosts by Jennifer O’Connell
Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola
Monster School: First Day Frights by Dave Keane
A World Full of Spooky Stories by Angela McAllister
Poetry: Spectacular Science
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. Q continued the chapter on Money and moved onto Fractions and Time.

Primarily Logic
Singapore Primary Common Core 2B
EM Financial Literacy G2

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We covered a section on the Rise and Fall of Empires featuring the Thirty Years’ War and the Manchi Empire in China. We also moved onto the Question of Kings featuring the English Civil Wars and France’s Sun King. It was a jam packed two weeks of history.

Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
Kings and Queens by Fiona Macdonald

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 supporting. We moved onto a chapter covering Ancestral Puebloans and Cahokia and one covering the Mongol Empire. Somehow we’re fitting in history every week still. I call that I huge win!

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
Genghis Khan by Demi

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. 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. He covered two weeks of biology focusing on animals cells and DNA. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. 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 skipped book science these two weeks as we adjusted to our new schedules. We watched an episode of One Strange Rock.

RSO Earth and Environment
DK First Earth Encyclopedia

Academic Co-op

Two more weeks of academic co-op completed! We have really begun to work out the kinks and settle into a routine. For math, Arthur did a road trip project and reviewed grocery store math. Really math is all a review of him, but it’s good practice. In biology, they covered animal cells and structure and moved onto DNA and chromosomes. In civics, we covered the responsibilities of citizens one wee and the rights of citizens the other week. The kids really responded to the rights week with lots of good questions and answers.

Art and Music

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. Music just didn’t happen these two weeks. I’m sure that we’re catch up soon. Time just got away from us.

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

Field Trip/Activities

We had our monthly Joslyn Art Explorers trip. This month, we talked about light and shadow and focused on Baroque art in the European galleries. We then compared the Baroque art to Renaissance art from before and Neo-classical art from after. Arthur decided to take one of his characters and create a tableau featuring elements from other paintings we saw.

Last week, we finally made it to a sketchbook hang. Arthur had been wanting to go, but the timing just wasn’t right for us. We made it work and spent a few hours at the coffee shop with friends drawing and socializing.

And this past Friday we traveled downtown to see a production of Coraline and then went south to the Co-op Halloween party. Such a busy day! So busy in fact that I didn’t take a single picture all day.

High

It was time for our bi-annual Arbor Day Farm excursion. We love exploring all the nature play areas and treehouses, but hate doing it with 90 degrees temperatures. Planning a trip in early spring and late fall is the perfect plan. Ourselves and many many homeschool friends all met up for an entire day of play. It was such a lovely visit.

Low

We haven’t managed to get a ton of book work done these two weeks. I knew we go through cycles, but this one is wearing on me. Thankfully November is looking much slower and less full of activities. I’m going to try and keep it that way.