Homeschool W3: We Took Two Field Trips!

What We Studied

Literature and Poetry

Our read aloud was Stuart Little. I had never actually read the book before. It’s more of a series of vignettes instead of one cohesive story. We also read the Summer themed poems from Outside Your Window.

• Stuart Little by E.B. White

• Outside Your Window by Nicola Davies

Math

We flew through two more units in Singapore Math 1A. We’ll be close to finishing the book next week. Still lots of review and solidifying concepts of basic number theory.

Social Studies

This week we covered Paleolithic and Neolothic eras including the Agricultural Revolution. We did a little map work to help understand the areas we read about. We walked some great videos on YouTube showing the time periods. We learned about various ice age animals including the domestication of wolves. Arthur’s favorite is the Saber Tooth Cat. We also watched the NOVA episode about the mystery of Otzi the Iceman. Finally we learned about the first cities (Catalhoyuk and Jericho) as well as some notable Stone Age sites (Stonehenge and Skara Brae).

• The Secret Cave by Emily Arnold McCully 

• Painters of the Caves by Patricia Lauber

• You Wouldn’t Want to be a Mammoth Hunter

• Kali’s Song by Jeannette Winter

• Caveboy Crush by Beth Ferry

• Peter Kent’s City Across Time

•  The First Drawing by Mordicai Gerstein

• There was an Old Man Who Painted by Teri Sloat

• The Secrets of Stonehenge by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom

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

• Hands-on History Stone Age by Charlotte Hurdman

• The First Dog by Jan Brett

• How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth by Michelle Robinson

• Mammoths on the Move by Lisa Wheeler

Science

This week’s science was a catch-all of mini lessons on animal habitats, water conservation, Alexander von Humboldt (talking about being a naturalist), the water cycle, and landforms. For extra fun, we did a mini study of the Missouri River. We traveled the few miles down the to the riverwalk. We met the troll that lives under the bridge, played in the splash pad, explored the garden, and walked across the bridge to Iowa.

Art

During our study of prehistoric times, the boys made their own cave paintings. Q loved coloring his bull purple while Arthur made an entire scene.

Otherwise we did some fun side art projects dealing with color.

• Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd

Music

We listened to Classics for Kids episodes about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Arthur really like some of his pieces.

• Mozart Biography

• Play, Mozart, Play by Peter Sis

Nature Play Day

We took a field trip with our friends to the Tree Adventure in Nebraska City. We had a ton of fun exploring the natural areas as well as the nature classroom. The tree houses were still tons of fun, but I preferred the trail. We even got to see two deer in the woods! In total, we spent over 5 hours exploring and playing with our friends. A great day!

Unit Theme

No unit theme this week

Misc. - Random picture books read

• When Planet Earth was New by James Gladstone

• On Duck Pond by Jane Yolen

• What’s Your Favorite Bug?

• The Mission of Addition by Brian P. Cleary

Highs

• I’m loving the flexibility to venture out to various places during school hours. Our field trips were so much fun (even if I was tired afterward). I’m hoping to do a field trip once every two weeks.

• We upped our picture book game this week and I love reading all the books!

• The boys were excited to see another frog hiding in the sign posts at the Tree Adventure.

Lows

• I’m not used to going out so much in a few days. I was exhausted!

Next Week

We are studying the beginning of civilization and Mesopotamia for our world history. We’re also starting A River of Voices with a lesson on Native American groups of the Northeast. Our weekly theme is the books of Doreen Cronin.

Next up on the TBR pile:

August 2020 Wrap-up

August TBR Pile (17/44):

1. Book of the Month Club: One Day in December by Josie Silver

2. BOTM: The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

3. BOTM: One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

4. Girly Book Club: My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite ✓

5. Friend Book Club: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia ✓

6. Unread Shelf Random (Jan): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

7. UnRead Shelf Selection (Feb): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

8. UnRead Shelf Random (June): Craft a Life You Love by Amy Tangerine

9. Unread Shelf Random (July): Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel

10. Goodreads To Read Random (Jan): Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

11. Goodreads To Read Random (August): The Ship of Dreams by Gareth Russell ✓

12. TBR Jar Random (August): Delirium by Lauren Oliver ✓

13. May Theme Wrap-up: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

14. May Theme Wrap-up: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

15. May Theme Wrap-up: The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

16. May Theme Wrap-up: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

17. May Theme Wrap-up: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

18. June Theme Wrap-up: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

19. June Theme Wrap-up: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

20. July Theme Wrap-up: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

21. July Theme Wrap-up: The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

22. Theme 1: Partials by Dan Wells

23. Theme 1: The End of October by Lawrence Wright ✓

24. Theme 1: The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov ✓

25. Theme 2: Sanctum by Madeleine Roux

26. Theme 2: Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams ✓

27. Theme 2: TBD

28. YA: Wicked as You Wish by Rin Chupeco ✓

29. Nonfiction: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

30. Horror: The Asylum Novellas by Madeleine Roux

31. Horror: Catacomb by Madeleine Roux

32. MMD: Beach Read by Emily Henry ✓

33. MMD:: Redhead By the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler ✓

34. MMD: Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen

35. Library: The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

36. Library: City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

37. Library: The Fifth Avenue Story Society by Rachel Hauck

38. Library: Seven Endless Forests by April Genevieve Tucholke ✓

39. Romance: Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

40. Romance: Notorious Pleasures by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

41. Added: Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

42. Added: The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov ✓

43. Added: Dreamland by Nancy Bilyeau ✓

44. Added: Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding by Rhys Bowen ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 6012 pages
Pages Remaining: 521,019 pages

Current Read - Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt

Books I Gave Up On (0) 

Books bought/received (1) - I chose The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson for my BOTM selection.

September TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

2. Girly Book Club: Gods of Jade and Shadows by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

3. Friend Book Club: The Holdout by Graham Moore

4. Unread Shelf Random (Jan): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

5. UnRead Shelf Selection (Feb): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

6. UnRead Shelf Random (June): Craft a Life You Love by Amy Tangerine

7. Unread Shelf Random (July): Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel

8. Unread Shelf Random (Sept): Catacomb by Madeleine Roux

9. TBR Random (Sept): The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

10. Goodreads To Read Random (Jan): Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

11. Goodreads To Read Random (Sept): Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt

12. May Theme Wrap-up: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

13. May Theme Wrap-up: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

14. May Theme Wrap-up: The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

15. May Theme Wrap-up: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

16. May Theme Wrap-up: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

17. June Theme Wrap-up: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

18. June Theme Wrap-up: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

19. July Theme Wrap-up: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

20. July Theme Wrap-up: The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

21. August Theme Wrap-up: Sanctum by Madeleine Roux

22. August Theme Wrap-up: The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender

23. Theme 1: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

24. Theme 1: Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

25. Theme 1: Bear Town by Fredrik Backman

26. Theme 2: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

27. Theme 2: Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

28. Theme 2:

29. Nonfiction: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

30. Horror: The Asylum Novellas by Madeleine Roux

31. Library: City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

32. Library: Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

33. Library: Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power

34. Ebook: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown

35. Ebook: The Robots at Dawn by Isaac Asimov

Movies watched

• Jack Reacher - Very meh movie

• Max Reload and the Nerf Blasters - Cute little indie film

• Dynamite Warrior - Such a weird movie that J made me watch.

• Bill & Ted Face the Music - Decent movie, but very earnest.

TV Shows watched 

• Battlestar Galactica S2

• The Umbrella Academy S2

• Holey Moley S2

• Below Deck Med S5

• Below Deck S7

• The 100 S7

• The Orville S1

Comments - A decent showing this month for reading. I figured my reading numbers would go down because of homeschooling. And it happened. That’s okay. I still read a decent amount this week and am going into September with renewed motivation.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov

Title: The Naked Sun

Author: Isaac Asimov

Publisher: 

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 257

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual - NPR Scifi/Fantasy; Ebook

A millennium into the future, two advancements have altered the course of human history:  the colonization of the Galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain.  On the beautiful Outer World planet of Solaria, a handful of human colonists lead a hermit-like existence, their every need attended to by their faithful robot servants.  To this strange and provocative planet comes Detective Elijah Baley, sent from the streets of New York with his positronic partner, the robot R. Daneel Olivaw, to solve an incredible murder that has rocked Solaria to its foundations.  The victim had been so reclusive that he appeared to his associates only through holographic projection.  Yet someone had gotten close enough to bludgeon him to death while robots looked on.  Now Baley and Olivaw are faced with two clear impossibilities:  Either the Solarian was killed by one of his robots--unthinkable under the laws of Robotics--or he was killed by the woman who loved him so much that she never came into his presence!

I loved this one! In the last book, we got to see the culture on Earth and Baley started to see what lay beyond. In this book, Baley travels to another world and gets a whole new perspective. I loved the change of setting and the expansion of the book universe. Plus we get more information about the state of the universe and the relationship between the various planets. The murder mystery itself was sufficiently interesting, but was used to illustrate the larger problems facing humanity. So so good!

Next up on the TBR Pile:

Life Right Now #30

As I look outside my window: It’s overcast and cool. Thank goodness!

Right now I am: Prepping to go outside and weed the yard. Then it’s time to meal plan and get our grocery list made.

On my bedside table: Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt (loving the Maiden Lane series!) and Uprooted by Naomi Novik

On my tv this week: We watched a fair amount of The Orville and a few episodes of Battlestar. Last night we watched Bill and Ted Face the Music. It was okay; a very earnest movie.

Listening to: Mostly podcasts, although I did have a heavy metal evening when going to and from bookclub. I sped through some Asking Alexandria, Palaye Royale, Black Veil Brides, 10 Years, and A Day to Remember.

On the menu for this week:

• Monday - Ranch Cheddar Chicken

• Tuesday - Leftovers

• Wednesday - Chicken Pad Thai Nachoes

• Thursday - Fish and Chips

• Friday - Chorba Frik

• Saturday - Blackened Salmon with Blue Cheese Sauce

• Sunday - BBQ Ribs

On my to do list: I need to find a notary for our stupid trash cans… The city is switching services and giving everyone a trash can and a recycling can. If you want another trash can, you have to get the large family form (5+ people in a household) notarized. Tricky with all the COVID restrictions right now.

Happening this week: We have our usual nature play day on Wednesday and library pickup on Saturday. I do need to grocery shop on Tuesday, but that’s about it for plans. Otherwise, it’s homeschooling like usual. We’re going to study the beginning of Mesopotamia and Sumer plus a separate lesson on the native tribes of the Northeast in what is now the United States.

What I am creating: Just lesson plans really. J has turned me onto a new note-taking, organization app called Roam. He had me watch the intro video last night and I am intrigued. Hoping to be able to play around with it later today.

My simple pleasures: A good soft baked chocolate chip cookie, breezes at nighttime, a good romance book.

Looking around the house: I need to tackle the kitchen today. Everything needs a good wipe down and the sweep the floor.

From the camera: Meeting Omar, the troll under the bridge

Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt

Title: Scandalous Desires (Maiden Lane #3)

Author: Elizabeth Hoyt

Publisher: Grand Central 2011

Genre: Romance

Pages: 400

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library; Perpetual - NPR Romance

CAN A PIRATE LEARN . . .

River pirate "Charming" Mickey O'Connor has lifted himself from the depths of the slums to be the king of St. Giles. Anything he wants he gets-with one exception. Silence Hollingbrook has been haunting his dreams ever since she spent a single night in his bed.

THAT THE ONLY TRUE TREASURE . . .

Once Silence was willing to sacrifice anything to save the man she loved. Now a widow, she's finally found peace when Charming Mickey comes storming back into her life with an offer she can't refuse. But this time she won't be the only one paying the price for his sins.

LIES IN A WOMAN'S HEART?

When his past comes back to torment him, Mickey must keep Silence safe from a merciless enemy, while wrestling with the delicious hold this widow has on his heart. And in the face of mounting danger, both will have to surrender to something even more terrifying . . . true love.

A better story than number two, but still not as good as number one. I loved Temperance and Lazarus. I didn’t really love Hero and Griffin. Silence and Michael are a much better character, but I must say that there were parts of their characters that I still did not love. Michael was a bit too arrogant even after he fell for Silence. I just was annoyed by his alpha male attitude. But I did enjoy their romance and the underlying conflict with the Vicar. All told, it was a good romance and I can’t wait until the the next volume in the series.

Maiden Lane

• #1 Wicked Intentions

• #2 Notorious Pleasures

• #3 Scandalous Desires

• #4 Thief of Shadows

• #5 Lord of Darkness

• #6 Duke of Midnight

• #7 Darling Beast

• #8 Dearest Rogue

• #9 Sweetest Scoundrel

• #10 Duke of Sin

• #10.5 Once Upon a Moonlit Night

• #10.7 Once Upon a Christmas Eve

• #11 Duke of Pleasure

• #12 Duke of Desire

• #12.5 Once Upon a Maiden Lane

Next up on the TBR pile:

My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Title: My Sister, the Serial Killer

Author: Oyinkan Braithwaite

Publisher: Anchor 2019

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 240

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Ebook

Korede’s sister Ayoola is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola’s third boyfriend in a row is dead, stabbed through the heart with Ayoola’s knife. Korede’s practicality is the sisters’ saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood (bleach, bleach, and more bleach), the best way to move a body (wrap it in sheets like a mummy), and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures to Instagram when she should be mourning her “missing” boyfriend. Not that she gets any credit.

Korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. She dreams of the day when he will realize that she’s exactly what he needs. But when he asks Korede for Ayoola’s phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she’s willing to go to protect her.

I really enjoyed this book until the last chapter. I was along for the increasing tension as the story moves on. I wanted to know more about the history of the sisters and their family and the coma patient. I was hoping that actions would be confronted. But the story did not end the way I wanted it to end. And more importantly, the ending felt incredibly unfinished. Not ambiguous (I don’t mind those ending), unfinished. I would have liked to see an actual resolution to anything in the story. I disliked the ending, but I think that Braithwaite did an amazing job creating such atmosphere in just a few pages.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding by Rhys Bowen

Title: Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding (Royal Spyness #12)

Author: Rhys Bowen

Publisher: Berkley 2018

Genre: Mystery

Pages: 299

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library

If only Darcy and I had eloped! What I thought would be a simple wedding has been transformed into a grand affair, thanks to the attendance of the queen, who has offered up the princesses as bridesmaids. Silly me! I thought that withdrawing from the royal line of succession would simplify my life. But before Darcy and I tie the knot in front of queen and country, we have to find a place to live as man and wife...

House hunting turns out to be a pretty grim affair. Just as we start to lose hope, my globetrotting godfather offers us his fully staffed country estate. Mistress of Eynsleigh I shall be! With Darcy off in parts unknown, I head to Eynsleigh alone, only to have my hopes dashed. The grounds are in disarray and the small staff is suspiciously incompetent. Not to mention the gas tap leak in my bedroom, which I can only imagine was an attempt on my life. Something rotten is afoot--and bringing the place up to snuff may put me six feet under before I even get a chance to walk down the aisle...

Finally we got back into some good Georgie mysteries. I loved the central mystery to this book. And as much as I was annoyed by Claire and Belinda in the past, I really enjoyed them in this volume. And we get Georgie’s grandfather returning. I loved the coming together of the family. Plus a new setting (and home) for Georgie and the reappearance of a talked about character. Really enjoyed this one, even if Darcy’s gaslighting still bothers me.

Her Royal Spyness:

• #0.5 Masked Ball at Broxley Manor

• #1 Her Royal Spyness

• #2 A Royal Pain

• #3 Royal Flush

• #4 Royal Blood

• #5 Naughty in Nice

• #6 The Twelve Clues of Christmas

• #7 Heirs and Graces

• #8 Queen of Hearts

• #9 Malice at the Palace

• #10 Crowned and Dangerous

• #11 On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service

• #12 Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding

• #13 Love and Death Among the Cheetahs

• #14 The Last Mrs. Summers

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #14

Reading: Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt. It’s number three in the Maiden Lane series. Loving my historical romance breaks.

Watching: J and I are finally watching The Orville S1. I initially resisted because Family Guy Seth McFarlane bothers me. This one is much more awkward humor and I’m really enjoying it.

Listening: The kids have started listening to WOW in the World podcast from NPR. I even enjoy it!

Making: Trying to make cookies, but our oven has some strange hot and cold spots. Very annoying…

Feeling: It’s so fucking hot here, still. I hate it.

Planning: I’m looking at some potential field trips to sprinkle into our homeschooling weeks. COVID is making is hard to plan, as we really are trying to avoid indoor places. Today we are going doing to the Missouri River to walk across the pedestrian bridge and then check out the Oregon Trail statue park downtown. Tomorrow we’re going to Tree Adventures in Nebraska City for our nature play day. I’m hoping we can go apple picking next month and are scheduling a homeschooling day at Vala’s. Making a list of some others.

Loving: I’m so hot… drinking lots of iced tea.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W2: In Which I Learn I Need to Change Something Big

This week, I hit a huge obstacle with our science curriculum. Actually our problem was two fold. 1) I had scheduled too many science activities for each day. 2) The flow of activities as prescribed by Build Your Library did not make sense to me. Let’s break this down a bit more.

1) Too many activities

I started following the Build Your Library schedule of activities, but also had added some related lessons and some other pieces like the Blossom and Root Profiles in Science. Unfortunately, it was just too much! Arthur really does get into the science activities and wants to spend some time in one little thing. That’s great! But it was leaving a huge schedule backlog and I was scrambling to finish. Not a good feeling. I needed to drastically decrease the activities per day.

2) Flow doesn’t make sense

I had just started the BYL activities without looking at the larger scope. Late last week I started wondering if I needed to take a look at all the weeks and their lessons. And I realized that some of the lessons were just not where I would like them to be. I liked the lessons, just not the schedule.

This weekend, I spent a lot of time looking at all the science lessons, reordering them, and laying out a more manageable schedule for us to follow. We’ll see how this next week goes…

Making a Lego Minecraft pig and zombie

What We Studied

Even with the obstacles stated above, I still feel like we had a very successful homeschooling week. The obstacles were felt by me, not really by the kids.

Literature and Poetry

We finished The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. I ended up really enjoying the book. And Arthur seemed to finally settle in and enjoy the read aloud. We kept the activities to a minimum, but did draw our favorite scene from the book. Arthur chose Despereaux being born for his scene. I also sprinkled in some summer themed poems.

• The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

• Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature by Nicola Davies

• Our Big Home by Linda Glaser

Math

We sailed through another couple of units in our review. We’ll be finished with 1A very soon…

Social Studies

This was a big week for social studies! We officially started our history curriculum. We read about the general concept of history and quickly moved onto archaeology and evolution. The evolution days tied in nicely to our science unit about Charles Darwin from Blossom and Root. As an extra special activity on Saturday, I made Arthur a small archeology dig. He had to use the tools to uncover the “artifacts” (like coins, legos, and cars) and chart his findings on graph. Kinetic sand for the win.

As we studied the family tree for life on Earth and specifically the human race, we decided to make our own family tree. Arthur really got into creating this little tree. He had to have help to spell everyone’s names correctly, but did the rest himself.

• One Day a Dot by Ian Lendler

• Archaeologists Dig for Clues by Kate Duke

• Mary Leakey Biography

• I Used to be a Fish by Tom Sullivan

• It Started with a Big Bang by Floor Bal

• How Did I Get Here? By Philip Bunting

• Life by Martin Jenkins and Grahame Baker-Smith

• Continental Drift by Martin Ince

• Life on Earth by Steve Jenkins

• Darwin’s Tree of Life by Michael Bright

• Galapagos George by Jean Craighead George

• You are Stardust by Elin Kelsey

• Our Family Tree by Lisa Westberg Peters

• Who’s In My Family? By Robie H. Harris

• Me and My Family Tree by Joan Sweeney

• Grandmother Fish by Jonathan Tweet

• The World’s Most Amazing Lost Cities by Ann Weil

Science

This week’s science was a bit all over the place. We did spend some time outdoors looking for colors, finding predators and prey, and talking about summer.

• Hike by Pete Oswald

• Pollen by Darcy Pattison

Art

A lot of our art this week came from looking at various color books. We really got into the picture book Dancing Through Fields of Color about artist Helen Frankenthaler. We decided to use her art as inspiration for a project. We played around with adding different colors to our art projects.

• Pocket Full of Colors: The Magical World of Mary Blair, Disney Artist Extraordinaire by Amy Guglielmo

• The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons by Natascha Biebow

• Dancing Through Fields of Color: The Story of Helen Frankenthaler by Elizabeth Brown

• Swatch by Julia Kenos

Music

We covered Beethoven this week with Classics for Kids, various picture books, and lots of listening for our journal. Arthur liked Beethoven more than Copland. Wonder how he’ll respond to Mozart next week?

• The 39 Apartments of Ludwig van Beethoven by Jonah Winter

Nature Play Day

We started our day making our own trail mix to take on our expeditions. Once we had loaded up, we went to explore the woods near our house. We looked for lots of colors, animal tracks, and various leaf shapes. We let the kids play at the playground for awhile before coming back to the house. We read some books about color and did some fun color activities. The littles had fun making a rainbow out of punched shapes. We finished up our Wednesday with some pool time.

• A Year with Mama Earth by Rebecca Grabill

Unit Theme

This week’s theme was colors! We played color games, sorted color teddy bears (really Quentin did this about 50 times this week), read books about colors, and found some cool videos about the artist and items from the picture books.

• Blue Chameleon by Emily Gravett

• Color Dance by Ann Jonas

• How the Crayons Saved the Unicorn by Monica Sweeney

• Cat’s Colors by Airlie Anderson

• Colors by Shelley Rotner and Anne Woodhull

• Festival of Colors by Kabir Sehgal

• Sky Color by Peter H. Reynolds

• Living Color by Steven Jenkins

• Neon Leon by Britta Teckentrup

• Colors by Felicia Law

• The Color Monster by Anna Llenas

• Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert

• White Rabbit’s Colors by Alan Baker

• Bears Sees Colors by Karma Wilson

• Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox

• Walk and See Colors

• The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

• Red by Michael Hall

• Vivid by Julie Paschkis

• Green is a Chile Pepper by Roseanne Greenfield Thong

• Monsters Love Colors by Mike Austin

• Duck & Goose Colors by Tad Hills

• Colors Versus Shapes by Mike Boldt

• Every Color Soup by Jorey Hurley

• Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd

Misc.

Quentin has really gotten into sorting his color teddy bears. We’re going to make patterns next week.

Highs

• Another successful nature play day! Complete with backyard wading pool time!

• We finished The Tale of Despereaux, our first read aloud for the year!

Lows

• Not so much a Homeschool problem, but I developed a migraine Wednesday afternoon that affected the last few parts of school that day and most of Thursday. I was hurting and subsequently annoyed by Arthur’s inability to focus on the task at hand.

• Q’s a little behind on his letter work, but that’s ultimately okay.

Next Week

Our themes are Paleolithic and Neolithic Times for history and the Letter C for Quentin. We won’t have a unit theme (I’ve built in some lesser weeks to give us a rest). For Wednesday’s nature play day, we are going to Tree Adventure in Nebraska City to explore the outdoors and enjoy the weather before it gets cold. And we’re going to go see the Missouri River as a part of Tuesday’s science lesson.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - I Prevail feat. Delaney Jane "Every Time You Leave"

A different sound for I Prevail. I dig it.

Life Right Now #29

As I look outside my window: It’s sunny and humid outside right now… I’m not excited about how hot I’m going to be today.

Right now I am: Trying to organize our science curriculum for the year. I realized that the way things were laid out initially doesn’t make much sense to me. So I need to reorder.

On my bedside table: The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov, a library book?

On my tv this week: We’re working our way through Battlestar S3 and The Orville S1, so lots of space tv shows right now.

Listening to: Podcasts and more podcasts. I started listening to Grim and Mild’s newest podcast, American Shadows. It shows promise, but the first episode is all about the radium girls and I know a lot about that topic. Still hopeful for the future of that podcast.

On the menu for this week:

• Monday - Jerk Pork with Caribbean Salsa

• Tuesday - Mongolian Beef

• Wednesday - Avocado, Bruschetta Chicken

• Thursday - Leftovers

• Friday - Buffalo Chicken Sliders

• Saturday - Shrimp Scampi

• Sunday - Calulu

On my to do list: I’m certain I have many little things to do. Sounds like I need to take some time today to do a brain dump.

Happening this week: We’re heading back to the Tree Adventure in Nebraska City for Wednesday’s nature play day. Otherwise, we’ll be home.

What I am creating: Lesson plans like usual. I do want to take some time to craft this week.

My simple pleasures: All the ice water.

Looking around the house: Blergh! I need to clean the bathrooms this week and I’m not excited.

From the camera: Last week was color week! Lots of art this past week.

The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

Title: The Caves of Steel

Author: Isaac Asimov

Publisher: 1953

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 276

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual - NPR Scifi; Monthly Theme - August

Like most people left behind on an over-populated Earth, New York City police detective Elijah Baley had little love for either the arrogant Spacers or their robotic companions. But when a prominent Spacer is murdered under mysterious circumstances, Baley is ordered to the Outer Worlds to help track down the killer.  

The relationship between Life and his Spacer superiors, who distrusted all Earthmen, was strained from the start. Then he learned that they had assigned him a partner: R. Daneel Olivaw.  Worst of all was that the “R” stood for robot—and his positronic partner was made in the image and likeness of the murder victim!

J finally got me started reading Asimov again by showing me the preview of the new Foundations TV series. I must read the books first! I’ve already read I, Robot so I picked up the next book in the big chronology of Asimov’s books. This was a good old fashioned murder mystery set in our distant future. We get the intriguing world building of all of the Earthers living in giant metal cities while the Spacers live in open-air domes. The conflict between the two ways of living is clearly part of Asimov’s larger discussion about our future. The murder is intriguing and I loved how he gives you all the clues as to who done it, but the reveal is still dramatic and fun. But most of all, I enjoyed Asimov’s discussion of the differences between robots and humans, Earthers and Spacers, and medievalists and futurists. We get some great talks between characters. I am interested in seeing where this society goes in the next books.

Next up on the TBR Pile:

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Delirium (Delirium #1)

Author: Lauren Oliver

Publisher: HarperCollins 2016

Genre: YA SciFI

Pages: 422

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual - 365 YA; TBR Random

In an alternate United States, love has been declared a dangerous disease, and the government forces everyone who reaches eighteen to have a procedure called the Cure. Living with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in Portland, Maine, Lena Haloway is very much looking forward to being cured and living a safe, predictable life. She watched love destroy her mother and isn't about to make the same mistakes.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena meets enigmatic Alex, a boy from the Wilds who lives under the government's radar. What will happen if they do the unthinkable and fall in love?

This was just boring… Right away, I knew that the main premise of the world was going to be boring. Another recycled scifi dystopian plot. And sometimes, I can get over the boring recycled plot if the characters are interesting. Unfortunately, I just found Lena super boring. Alex was better, but seemed to dull as the story moved on. I wanted to know more about Lena’s friend, but alas, we had to focus on the “romance” in the story. I won’t be reading on in this series.

Delirium

• #! Delirium

• #2 Pandemonium

• #3 Requiem

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• Homeschooling is going pretty well. We’re adjusting, but that was to be expected.

• I’m surprised about how much I’m loving reading The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. I’ve never read it before.

• Planning another visit to Tree Adventure, but this time with friends.

• Migraines suck. Especially when attempting to homeschool…

• Looking forward to hot tea season.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Title: Mexican Gothic

Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Publisher: Del Rey 2020

Genre: Horror

Pages: 320

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: UnRead Shelf

After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find—her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region.   
 
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.
 
Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness. 
 
And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.

Our book club selection and this was just what I needed this week. I dove into this book wondering if everything was in Noemi’s head or if weird things were really happening. The tension built and built and built over the course of the book. I just wanted to keep reading until I got to the end. The was incredibly creepy. I love how much the house became a character in the book. I could see every inch of High Place, all of the creepy darkness and moldy walls. The characters are appropriately sinister. Of course we know that Virgil is a bad guy from the first chapter. But I loved how much was kept hidden until right towards the very end. And Uncle Howard! Goodness he was beyond creepy. The ending was incredibly satisfying. I will definitely have to revisit this one someday.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #13

Reading: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Oh so good and super creepy!

Watching: We finally started The Orville S1. Not bad, not bad.

Listening: I’ve put Black Veil Brides’s new album Restitch These Wounds on repeat this week. So good!

Making: This week we are studying history, archaeology, and evolution. For the archaeology bit, I’m making a small archaeological dig for us to practice. Should be fun.

Feeling: The first week of homeschooling is over and I feel like I’ve made some good choices for our schooling. Feeling much more prepared for the coming weeks.

Planning: Along with our homeschool plans, I’m planning a little field trip for next week’s nature play day. We’re going to get out into nature (and not just the neighborhood)!

Loving: I’ve made plum cake twice in the last two weeks. Oh so good!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W1: Here We Go!

We officially started homeschooling on Monday. And I feel like I’ve started a full time job… because I have.

What We Studied

Overall, we managed to get a great start on all our subjects. I’m hoping to keep the momentum up into next week.

Literature and Poetry

We started reading The Tale of the Despereaux for our literature selection. We will be continuing this read aloud into next week.

• The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Math

We started Singapore Math 1A Common Core edition and realized very quickly that Arthur knows the entire book. So we’re going to treat 1A as a review. In our first week, we have reviewed and worked through Units 1-3. Good thing that I bought 1B two weeks ago. We’ll be there by week 3. We also have daily ELA and Math pages that we are doing. The above page will make an appearance a few times a week. Each time, I will pick a random number to work through. Arthur really likes working with numbers.

Social Studies

We didn’t have a formal history unit this week, but we did do some map skills work. We read some books about maps, did some review about maps, and created a few maps of our own. This was a nice easy start to our social studies year.

• Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney

• Follow that Map by Scot Richie

• A Child’s Introduction to the World by Heather Alexander

• Geography A to Z by Jack Knowlton

Science

For science, we started a few different things. We started Blossom and Root’s Charles Darwin Book Seed. The boys learned about Darwin and aspects of evolution and natural selection. The kids really got into a lesson about beak adaptations amongst birds. We also started working through the Nature Connection book for our basic nature science. And we reviewed some basic concepts relating to doing science and being a scientist.

• Charles Darwin’s Around the World Adventure by Jennifer Thermes

Art

Our art projects were related to our unit theme or science this week. My personal favorite was our watercolor resist iguanas for our Charles Darwin unit.

Music

We started listening to Classic for Kids podcast. My plan is to choose one composer each week. We will listen to the podcast episodes and then do a small listening journaling with a few of the composer’s famous pieces. This week we listened to Aaron Copland. Arthur’s (and my) favorite piece was “Appalachian Spring. “ He seems to really enjoy this subject.

• Barn Dance by Pat Hutchins

Looking at a grasshopper

Faux Tinkergarten Nature Play Day (not sure what I want to call this)

Every Wednesday, we plan on having a friend and her daughter over for some lessons and play time. The little girl is 2, so we’re doing activities that can involve all three kids (and ages). We'll probably tweak the schedule in the next few weeks, but this first one went pretty well. We started with a science lesson, created a nature journal and talked about being a naturalist. We went on a walk around our yard investigating. The kids really seemed to enjoy themselves.

Then we came back inside to do a few art projects. We made watercolor resist iguanas (part of the Darwin unit) and did a more open-ended art lesson about the month of August.

Finally, we read a few Mo Willems books and created a paper plate Piggie while Arthur made a bus for our pigeon, duckling, and bus driver cutouts.

So much fun! We had lunch and the kids got to play for awhile. So nice during this quarantine time.

• A Big Garden by Gilles Clement

Unit Theme

Our unit theme was Mo Willems. We ended up reading almost every Mo Williems book and doing some fun activities. This was our easing into school unit. I purposefully picked a theme that I knew the kids would love. We love the pigeon in this house!

• All the Mo Willems books

Misc.

Every morning we started our day with the calendar and a podcast. We started (and are loving) The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd. Plus we listened to a episode of WOW in the World (Arthur really loves) and an episode of Tumble Science (less of a fan). Quentin worked with the letter A this week. He got into the Letter A song, daubing the various papers with the Bingo daubers, and reading the alphabet books.

• A Busy Creature’s Day Eating by Mo Willems

Highs

• Decent attitudes all through the week. I was concerned with Arthur, but we only had a few small meltdowns. I’d say this week was a win.

• Quentin is excited to do his letter work. We don’t do a ton, but we’re focusing on one letter every week. He really got into doing some fun things associated with the Letter A.

• Our faux Tinkergarten Wednesday with a friend was a big hit! All the kids seemed to enjoy themselves and I got to spend time with a friend. Looking forward to our next time.

• Not so much a high point, but an exciting point. Right as we started school on Monday, a derecho storm blew through our area. It was over and done with in 15 minutes, but it was a scary 15 minutes with very high wind gusts.

Lows

• I’m so tired… seriously. We had a very lax routine throughout the summer. We added more things and it’s taking more work for me to prep everything. I know that things will get better as we settle in.

• Friday we ran out of steam in the afternoon. Not a huge deal, but it meant that we ended up doing some science on Saturday morning.

Next Week

We are starting our more formal history curriculum next week with History Quest. Before we dive into a time period, we are going to talk about the concepts of history, archaeology and then evolution. In addition, we will be finishing our Book Seed: Profile in Science Charles Darwin unit and The Tale of Despereaux read aloud. For our unit theme, we are going to study colors. This will be a huge part of our Wednesday day. Quentin will be covering the Letter B.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - Bastille feat. Graham Coxon "What You Gonna Do???"

Loving this new song.

Notorious Pleasures by Elizabeth Hoyt

Title: Notorious Pleasures (Maiden Lane #2)

Author: Elizabeth Hoyt

Publisher: Grand Central 2011

Genre: Romance

Pages: 371

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: UnRead Shelf Project; Perpetual - NPR Romance

Their lives were perfect . . .
Lady Hero Batten, the beautiful sister of the Duke of Wakefield, has everything a woman could want, including the perfect fiance. True, the Marquis of Mandeville is a trifle dull and has no sense of humor, but that doesn't bother Hero. Until she meets his notorious brother . . .

Until they met each other.
Griffin Remmington, Lord Reading, is far from perfect - and he likes it that way. How he spends his days is a mystery, but all of London knows he engages in the worst sorts of drunken revelry at night. Hero takes an instant dislike to him, and Griffin thinks that Hero, with her charities and faultless manners, is much too impeccable for society, let alone his brother. Yet their near-constant battle of wits soon sparks desire - desire that causes their carefully constructed worlds to come tumbling down. As Hero's wedding nears, and Griffin's enemies lay plans to end their dreams forever, can two imperfect people find perfect true love?

Not quite as satisfying as the first book in the series, but I still really enjoyed it. I loved the overall story and mostly loved Hero. My biggest problem with the novel was the sex scenes. They were a bit problematic with Griffin basically forcing himself on Hero. I just couldn’t get past those scenes to absolutely love the book.

Maiden Lane

• #1 Wicked Intentions

• #2 Notorious Pleasures

• #3 Scandalous Desires

• #4 Thief of Shadows

• #5 Lord of Darkness

• #6 Duke of Midnight

• #7 Darling Beast

• #8 Dearest Rogue

• #9 Sweetest Scoundrel

• #10 Duke of Sin

• #10.5 Once Upon a Moonlit Night

• #10.7 Once Upon a Christmas Eve

• #11 Duke of Pleasure

• #12 Duke of Desire

• #12.5 Once Upon a Maiden Lane

Next up on the TBR pile:

Life Right Now #28

Right now I am: Putting away homeschooling supplies for the week and getting out next week’s supplies.

Thinking and pondering: Which NOVA episode should we watch to cover the origins of the human race? So many choices…

On my bedside table: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

On my tv this week: We finally started The Orville this past week. Pretty good. Like a continuation of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I finished a season of Below Deck: Med and have almost caught up on The 100.

Listening to: Black Veil Brides’s newest album, Restitch These Wounds has been on repeat in my house.

On the menu for this week:

• Monday - French Onion Pork Chops

• Tuesday - Salsa Chicken

• Wednesday - Lemon Butter Garlic Shrimp and Asparagus

• Thursday - Sesame Chicken, Rice, Broccoli

• Friday - Leftover

• Saturday - Ranch Cheddar Chicken

• Sunday - Jerk Pork with Caribbean Salsa

On my to do list: Just focusing on Homeschooling again this week. We’re easing into this whole thing.

What I am creating: I need to prep an archaeology dig for Arthur for Tuesday. I have all the ingredients, just need to put it together tonight or Monday night.

My simple pleasures: Plum cake, a good book, a cool breeze, weeding the yard when it’s only 70 degrees outside.

Looking around the house: I need to do a big pickup today. Arthur needs to help clean his playroom. And I need to put away the laundry. All that so we can go into another week of homeschool without piles everywhere.

From the camera: We enjoyed Mo Willems week. So many books!