Homeschool W6: A Pretty Normal Week

What We Studied

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

Literature and Poetry

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

• Mars One by Jonathan Maberry

• Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

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

• Lucy and the Rocket Dog by Will Buckingham

• Excalibur by Hudson Talbott

• King Arthur and the Round Table by Hudson Talbott

• The Hero Beowulf by Eric A. Kimmel

• Poetry: Firefly July

• Write Shop B

Math

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

• Math in Focus Court 1 Book A

• EM Financial Literacy G5

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

• Primarily Logic

• Singapore Primary Common Core 2B

• EM Financial Literacy G1

Social Studies

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

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Johannes Vermeer by Alix Wood

• The Vermeer Interviews by Bob Raczka

• Corpse Talk by Adam & Lisa Murphy (chapter about Guy Fawkes)

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

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World

• What Did the Vikings Do for Me? by Elizabeth Raum

• DK Eyewitness: Viking

• Myths, Legends, & Sacred Stories

Science

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

• RSO Biology 1

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

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

• RSO Earth and Environment

• Earth by the Numbers by Steve Jenkins

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• Young Water Protectors: A Story About Standing Rock by Aslan Tudor

Enrichment STEAM Co-op

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

Art and Music

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

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

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

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

High

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

Low

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

Next Week

• Starting a new spooky read aloud (A)

• Starting a new read aloud featuring a lovable robot Q)

• Learning about the British Isles (Q)

• Taking a dive into the makeup of the Earth (Q)

• Listening to The Supremes and James Brown

• Heading to Vala’s again and out for a nature walk

Next up on the TBR pile:

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

What We Studied

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

Literature and Poetry

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

• Mars One by Jonathan Maberry

• Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

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

• Lucy and the Rocket Dog by Will Buckingham

• Poetry: Firefly July

• Write Shop B

Math

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

• Math in Focus Court 1 Book A

• EM Financial Literacy G5

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

• Primarily Logic

• Singapore Primary Common Core 2B

• EM Financial Literacy G1

Social Studies

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

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

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

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World

• The Explosive Story of Fireworks by Kama Einhorn

• Fireworks and Gunpowder by Phil Amara and Oliver Chin

• Liang and the Magic Paintbrush by Demi

• Hildegard of Bingen: Scientist, Composer, Healer and Saint by Demi

• We're Riding on a Caravan by Laurie Krebs

Science

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

• RSO Biology 1

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

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

• RSO Earth and Environment

• Earth by the Numbers by Steve Jenkins

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

Enrichment STEAM Co-op

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

Art and Music

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

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

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

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

High

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

Low

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

Next Week

• Continuing our read aloud (A)

• Finishing our read aloud and Starting a new one (Q)

• Learning about the Dutch and the English (A) and the Vikings (Q)

• Listening to The Rolling Stones

• Heading to Vala’s for our first visit of the season

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W4: Catching Up a Bit

What We Studied

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

Literature and Poetry

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

• Mars One by Jonathan Maberry

• Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

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. This week, we took a bit of a departure to finish reading a book that aligns with our history.

• The Long-Lost Secret Diary of the World’s Worst Knight by Tim Collins

• Poetry: Mites to Mastodons by Maxine Kumin

• Write Shop B

Math

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

• Math in Focus Court 1 Book A

• EM Financial Literacy G5

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

• Primarily Logic

• Singapore Primary Common Core 2B

• EM Financial Literacy G1

Social Studies

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

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Taj Mahal: A Story of Love and Empire by Elizabeth Mann

• Whole Wide World: Taj Mahal by Kristine Spanier

• Amazing Landmarks by Rekha S. Rajan

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

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• If You were a Kid in a Medieval Castle by Josh Gregory

• A Medieval Feast by Aliki

• Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World

Science

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

• RSO Biology 1

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

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 continued with water and the hydrosphere.

• RSO Earth and Environment

• Earth by the Numbers by Steve Jenkins

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• Sometimes I Feel Like a River by Danielle Daniel and Josee Bisaillon

• Water Dance by Thomas Locker

• Water by Seymour Simon

• Water: A Deep Dive of Discovery by Christy Mihaly

• What on Earth? Water by Isabel Thomas and Pau Morgan

• The Magic School Bus: At the Waterworks by JOanna Cole

• It's Raining by Gail Gibbons

Enrichment STEAM Co-op

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

Art and Music

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

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

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

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

High

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

Low

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

Next Week

• Continuing our read aloud (A)

• Finishing our read aloud (Q)

• Learning about Japan (A) and China (Q)

• Listening to The Beatles!

• Getting school pictures taken!

Next up on the TBR pile:

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

Q’s History

What We Studied

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

A’s ELA

Q’s ELA and Math

Literature and Poetry

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

• Over the Moon by Natalie Lloyd

• Mars One by Jonathan Maberry

• Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

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. This week, we took a bit of a departure to start reading a book that aligns with our history.

• The Long-Lost Secret Diary of the World’s Worst Knight by Tim Collins

• Poetry: Mites to Mastodons by Maxine Kumin

• Write Shop B

Fun with shadows

Math

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

• Math in Focus Court 1 Book A

• EM Financial Literacy G5

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

• Primarily Logic

• Singapore Primary Common Core 2B

Fun with gears

Social Studies

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

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

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

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

Q’s ELA and Math

A’s ELA

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our coverage will be spotty until October. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall semester course, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. We did read another chapter in the Story of Science. Right now, the book is setting the stage for Einstein’s Miracle Year.

• RSO Biology 1

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

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

• RSO Earth and Environment

• Earth by the Numbers by Steve Jenkins

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

Q’s ELA and Math

A’s ELA and Math

Enrichment STEAM Co-op

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

Art and Music

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

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. This week was all about Johnny Cash. The boys weren’t sold on his music.

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

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

High

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

Low

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

Next Week

• Continuing our read aloud (A)

• Finished our read aloud (Q)

• Learning about Eastern Europe (A) and Western Europe (Q) - pretty funny that I’m covering both sides of Europe next week

• Listening to The Shirelles and Frankie Lymon

• Exploring the zoo

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W2: Activities Took Over!

A’s science and ELA

What We Studied

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

Q’s ELA and Math

Pond Study

Literature and Poetry

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

• Over the Moon by Natalie Lloyd

• Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

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

• Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman

• Song of the Water Boatman by Joyce Kidman (poetry)

• Write Shop B

Math

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

• Math in Focus Court 1 Book A

• EM Financial Literacy G5

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

• Primarily Logic

• Singapore Primary Common Core 2B

Social Studies

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

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

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

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our coverage will be spotty until October. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall semester course, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. We did read three more chapters in the Story of Science. Right now, the book is setting the stage for Einstein’s Miracle Year.

• RSO Biology 1

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

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

• RSO Earth and Environment

• Earth by the Numbers by Steve Jenkins

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• Beyond the Pond by Joseph Kuefler

• On Duck Pond by Jane Yolen

• Tadpoles by Matt James

• Pond Circle by Betsy Franco

• Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner

• Life in a Pond by Craig Hammersmith

• Life in a Pond by Allan Fowler

• Look Inside a Pond by Louise Spilsbury

Water testing at the pond

Enrichment STEAM Co-op

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

Art and Music

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

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

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

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

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

High

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

Low

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

Next Week

• Finishing his read aloud and starting a new one (A)

• Starting a new read aloud (Q)

• Learning about the Spanish Empire (A) and Byzantine Empire (Q)

• Listening to Johnny Cash

• Exploring the local science museum and another state park

• Covering engineering for co-op, last week for this cycle

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W1: Year 5 has begun!

What We Studied

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

Music

Literature and Poetry

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

• Over the Moon by Natalie Lloyd

• Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg

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

• Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss (Q reads)

• Song of the Water Boatman by Joyce Kidman (poetry)

• American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osborne

• Thunder Rose by Jerdine Nolen

• Write Shop B

Elizabethan England

Math

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

• Math in Focus Court 1 Book A

• EM Financial Literacy G5

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

• Primarily Logic

• Singapore Primary Common Core 2B

Q's ELA (Monday)

Social Studies

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

• Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• Lives of Extraordinary Women by Kathleen Krull

• Frenemy in the Family by Kathleen Krull

• The Tudors: Kings, Queens, Scribes, and Ferrets by Marcia Williams

• 100 Facts You Should Know: Kings and Queens

• Mary Tudor: Bloody Mary by Gretchen Maurer

• You Wouldn’t Want to Sail in the Spanish Armada by John Malam

• You Wouldn’t Want to be Mary, Queen of Scots by Fiona Macdonald

• Corpse Talk: Groundbreaking Rebels by Adam & Lisa Murphy

• What was Queen Elizabeth I?

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

• History Quest Middle Times

• DK When on Earth?

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK A Child Through Time

• About Time: A First Look at Time and Clocks by Bruce Koschielniak

• Mosque by David Macaulay

A's ELA

Science

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

• RSO Biology 1

• Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

• Tiny Creatures: The World of Microbes by Nicola Davies

• The Universe in You: A Microscopic Journey by Jason Chin

• The Three Little Tardigrades by Sandra Fay

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. For our first week, we didn’t have any formal science.

• None

Q's History

Q's Math and ELA

Enrichment STEAM Co-op

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

A's Science

A's ELA and Math

Art and Music

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

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

• Music Lab: We Rock!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• Elvis: The Story of the Rock and Roll King by Bonnie Christensen

• Elvis is King by Jonah Winter

A's ELA and Science

Q's ELA and Math

Field Trip/Activities

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

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

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

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

High

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

Q's roly poly friend

Low

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

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

Next Week

• Finishing his read aloud (A)

• Starting Fortunately, the Milk (Q)

• Learning about the Spanish Empire (A) and Byzantine Empire (Q)

• Listening to Chuck Berry and Fats Domino

• Exploring ponds and hydrology

• Covering engineering for co-op

• Celebrating the year at the homeschool picnic

Next up on the TBR pile:

Raising Critical Thinkers by Julie Bogart

Title: Raising Critical Thinkers: A Parent’s Guide to Growing Wise Kids in the Digital Age

Author: Julie Bogart

Publisher: TarcherPerigree 2022

Genre: Nonfiction - Education

Pages: 352

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; Nonfiction Reader

Where I Got It: Bookworm in Omaha NE March 2024

Education is not solely about acquiring information and skills across subject areas, but also about understanding how and why we believe what we do. At a time when online media has created a virtual firehose of information and opinions, parents and teachers worry how students will interpret what they read and see. Amid the noise, it has become increasingly important to examine different perspectives with both curiosity and discernment. But how do parents teach these skills to their children?

Drawing on more than twenty years’ experience homeschooling and developing curricula, Julie Bogart offers practical tools to help children at every stage of development to grow in their ability to explore the world around them, examine how their loyalties and biases affect their beliefs, and generate fresh insight rather than simply recycling what they’ve been taught. Full of accessible stories and activities for children of all ages, Raising Critical Thinkers helps parents to nurture passionate learners with thoughtful minds and empathetic hearts.

For co-op adult book club, we followed up Julie Bogart’s The Brave Learner with her newer book. Overall, I totally see the need for this book and know that many of my fellow co-op parents really benefitted from the information presented. For me, it was a bit like being back in education classes in college. For goodness sakes, Bogart name drops Maria Montessori, John Dewey, and Paolo Freire. Many of the big explanations about critical thinking were a review from my college days. From those, Bogart tries to give some activities and examples, but they were very long and drawn out. I would have liked more practical advice on how to implement critical thinking skills into our education plans. A few of us did meet last weekend to discuss the book. Thankfully the discussion veered more towards practical applications than theory. Worthwhile read, but not going to end up being a favorite.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W32-34: We Made It!

What We Studied

We finally made it through our regular year of curriculum. We never really stop schooling, but we have finished with this year’s big curriculum pieces. For the next few months, we will be engaging in a lighter schoolwork load with small units and lots of activities.

Making caves at coop

Literature and Poetry

Arthur finished his current read aloud and started the next one. Our next read aloud is turning out to a great one. We are very into the mystery.

• Hidden Figures for Young Readers by Margot Lee Shetterly

• The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Quentin finished his read aloud. We are moving onto a variety of stories and shorter books.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin

• Dragons Love Tacos 2 by Adam Rubin

• Zoey and Sassafras: Wishypoof and Hiccups by Asia Citro

• Encyclopedia Brown by Donald Sobel

Math

Arthur finally finished Singapore 5B. We will be doing a lot of math review throughout the summer.

• Singapore Common Core 5B

Quentin has moved onto math review and will continue solidifying those skills.

Social Studies

Arthur finished his study of U.S. History with a few weeks covering the 1970s to the early 2000s.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• A Different Mirror for Young People

• This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK History

• Map Skills for Today G4

Quentin has already finished his history curriculum. We’ll be focusing on some geography skills for a summer units. We got started this past week.

• Map Skills for Today G1

Science

Arthur finished up Volume 2 of The Story of Science. We have really enjoyed this book series so much. Cannot wait to get the last volume come August.

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

Quentin is covering a variety of science packets and review. We’ll be engaging in some nature science throughout the summer before starting our next year’s science curriculum.

Coolest picture of a water drop and Quentin from the Luminarium

STEAM Coop

We finished our spring semester with a study of bats and caves for Quentin and conservation for Arthur. This is going to be a very strange year. The coop is transitioning to warm months only and will begin the summer session in early June. We’ll continue to meet until early October and then break until the next April. Arthur will be attending a new academic coop October through March to take the place of the enrichment coop.

Arthur’s Math, ELA, and Science

Quentin’s ELA

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

Documentaries are going to be sprinkled throughout our summer sessions. The past few weeks, we covered a few including a doc about the First Man on the Moon,

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• DK Art and How It Works

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• Iconic Composers by Nicholas Csicsko & Emi Ferguson

• 13 Art Movements Children Should Know

• 13 Artists Children Should Know

• 13 Modern Artists Children Should Know

• The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning & Brita Granström

• Why is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge

Field Day silliness!

Field Trip

We had our last two coop field trips for the year. We visited the Wildlife Safari to explore the Ice Age Animals exhibit. And we had a great picnic with friends seeing all the animals. It was a great outing. We also revisited a local Urban Farm. The farmer taught the kids about specific plants in her garden and care of the various crops. We really enjoyed our time at her farm.

Arthur’s ELA and Geography

Quentin’s ELA

High

We had a wonderful Coop Field Day acting as an end cap to our year. Our field day is all about organized game play instead of competition. Quentin won the award for Best Neck Hula Hooper. Arthur won the award for Best Duck Walk (Limbo). It was a very tiring day, but amazing.

Low

The weather has caused a few schedule interruptions. Oh well.

Next Week - We will be continuing our schooling with summer units and a higher workload.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W30-31: Nearing the End...

A’s ELA and Math

What We Studied

We are nearing the end of this year’s school. Okay that’s not true. We school year round, but we are nearing the end of our big curriculum pieces. Then, we will move to some summer units before starting our next curriculum round in August.

Q’s History nit

A’s History Unit

Literature and Poetry

Arthur finished his current read aloud and started the next one. We took it a bit easy with our ELA these two weeks. We finished our poetry collection and won’t start a new one until August. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

• My America poem collection

• Much Ado About Baseball by Rajani LaRocca

• Hidden Figures for Young Readers by Margot Lee Shetterly

Quentin finished his read aloud. It took us a few days, but we got through it eventually. He also worked on his reading and comprehension skills.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Homer Price by Robert McCloskey

Q’s Science Unit

A’s Math and ELA

Math

Arthur moved through most a unit about angles. We slowed down a bit these past two weeks, but are still on track to finish 5B before the end of May.

• Singapore Common Core 5B

• Orbiting with Logic

Quentin has moved onto math review and will continue solidifying those skills.

Q’s ELA and Math Unit

A’s History Unit

Social Studies

Arthur continued with the 1960s with a focus on the Civil Rights Movement and then the Space Race. We’re inching our way to the present slowly, slowly.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• A Different Mirror for Young People

• This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK History

• March by John Lewis

• The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist by Cynthia Levinson

• Liberty's Civil Rights Road Trip by Michael W. Waters

• Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney

• Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation by Andrea Davis Pinkney

• Malcolm X: A Fire Burning Brightly by Walter Dean Myers

• Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Catherine Thimmesh

• Moonbound: Apollo 11 and the Dream of Spaceflight by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm

Quentin finished his History Quest Ancient Times curriculum with a chapter about Arabia. We will be taking a break from our big history curriculum by shifting to geography.

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Find the Journeys Around the World by David Long

• Ancient Worlds

• A Journey Through Art by Aaron Rosen

• DK Eyewitness Wonders of the World

Science

We got back into chemistry with two weeks of lessons. Only one more to go! Beyond the chemistry, we continued reading our Story of Science. Nearing the end of that book as well.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

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

• DK The Elements

Quentin finished his RSO Life curriculum with a review of the plant kingdom. We’ll be doing some science pieces here and there and obviously we have coop.

• RSO Life

• DK Trees, Leaves, Flowers & Seeds

• It Starts with a Seed by Laura Knowles

• Stems and Trunks by Melanie Waldron

• Roots by Melanie Waldron

• Muse: Secrets of Trees

• We Planted a Tree by Diane Muldrow

• What on Earth? Trees by Kevin Warwick

• A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston

STEAM Coop

We had one coop lesson in the rain (the radar lied to me) and one coop lesson indoors due to weather. I was teaching archaeology to the Chatty Cheetahs. Neither one of the boys are in that class, but we needed a teacher and I enjoy the topic. Arthur focused on Environmental Science and Quentin learned about paleontology.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

Another two weeks, another couple of documentaries covering topics from our history lessons. Quentin watched one about the ancient city of Petra and one about the Emperor’s Ghost Army (the Terra Cotta Warriors). Arthur watched a great Modern Marvels episode about the Space Shuttle program.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• DK Art and How It Works

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• Iconic Composers by Nicholas Csicsko & Emi Ferguson

• 13 Art Movements Children Should Know

• 13 Artists Children Should Know

• 13 Modern Artists Children Should Know

• The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning & Brita Granström

• Why is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge

Field Trip

We had a great field trip to Morrill Hall in Lincoln. The museum has been closed for a few months for renovations. There wasn’t a ton of visible changes, but I know that they updated a ton of the internal systems. Still, we had a great guided field trip learning about animals of the prehistoric past. Post field trip, some of our friends and we went to Prehistoric Putt for some mini golf fun.

We also attended another great theater performance. This time, we got to see Charlotte’s Web. Quentin really enjoyed the performance.

High

Our field trip coordinator for coop set up a great guided tour of Ashfall Fossil Beds in Royal. It was absolutely amazing to be guided by one of the one-site paleontologists. We had the place completely to ourselves and it was amazing. Three families and myself decided that three and a half hours of driving to and then three and a half hours of driving back in one day was too much. We decided to book an AirBnB nearby and spent a weekend exploring north central Nebraska. (While there, tornadoes hit Omaha and caused a decent amount of damage. Thankfully none of our coop families suffered any damage.) On Saturday we explored a beautiful state park right on the Missouri River and had lots of fund social time. Sunday, one of the families joined us on a side tour to Sioux City. It was a great weekend.

Low

Weather created some interruptions and concern for our activities, families, and coop.

Next Week

• Stating a new read aloud for Quentin

• Continuing Arthur’s read aloud

• Moving through the end of the 1960s and 1970s

• Continuing learning about angles and moving to percentages

• Starting our math review

• Covering more chapters in the Story of Science

• Spending more time outdoors

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W29: Rain Rain Go Away

What We Studied

We had a week of schedule changes and weather issues. We rescheduled the park playdate for the next day. Unfortunately coop could not be rescheduled and we had to cancel. Hopefully the weather will cooperate next week.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur started reading a modern book playing off of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. We finished the first Reading Explorer book which focuses on reading comprehension. We’ll hold off book two for next August. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

• My America poem collection

• Reading Explorer 1

• Much Ado About Baseball by Rajani LaRocca

Quentin finished his read aloud. He also worked on his reading and comprehension skills.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Charlotte’s Web by EB White

Math

Arthur moved into a unit about angles. We will definitely be finishing 5B by the end of this “school year.”

• Singapore Common Core 5B

• Orbiting with Logic

Quentin finished his volume of Singapore Math with more about multiplication and division and a review. We’ll be switched gears to a financial literacy unit.

• Singapore Common Core 2A

Social Studies

Arthur continued with the Cold War Era by moving into the 1960s. We covered Kennedy’s administration and broached Civil Rights.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• A Different Mirror for Young People

• This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK History

• A Time to Act: John F. Kennedy's Big Speech by Shana Corey

Quentin covered the chapter about the Byzantine Empire. We’re so close to finishing this year’s history curriculum.

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Find the Journeys Around the World by David Long

• Ancient Worlds

• A Journey Through Art by Aaron Rosen

• DK Eyewitness Wonders of the World

Science

We had a break week from chemistry class. Only three more Chemistry weeks to go for the year! We made sure to read more chapters in our Story of Science book.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

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

• DK The Elements

Quentin continued the Plant Kingdom section of his curriculum. We talked about leaves.

• RSO Life

• DK Trees, Leaves, Flowers & Seeds

• What Do Roots, Stems, Leaves, and Flowers Do? by Ruth Owen

• From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons

• Plants on the Move by Emilie Vast

• Before We Stood Tall by Jessica Kulekjian

• Seeds and Trees by Brandon Walden

• What Kinds of Seeds are These? by Heidi Bee Roemer

• Little Dandelion Seeds the World by Julia Richardson

• Every Little Seed by Cynthia Schumerth

STEAM Coop

Coop was cancelled due to the weather

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

We snuck in a mini lesson about cutouts and learned about the compositions about Franz Schubert. And we slipped in some documentaries. Quentin watched one about the Hagia Sophia to go with our history chapter about the Byzantine Empire.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• DK Art and How It Works

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• Iconic Composers by Nicholas Csicsko & Emi Ferguson

• 13 Art Movements Children Should Know

• 13 Artists Children Should Know

• 13 Modern Artists Children Should Know

• The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning & Brita Granström

• Why is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge

Field Trip

With coop being cancelled, I grabbed a library pass for the Durham Museum. We really wanted to visit the Toytopia exhibit. The boys had fun playing all the classic games.

High

Thankfully our park playdate was able to rescheduled to the next door. The boys needed some running time with friends. And I need to just relax a bit.

Low

My body was very angry and created some issues for me. I am thankful for the flexibility of homeschooling to work around these issues.

Next Week

• Stating a new read aloud for Quentin

• Reading a Shakespeare-inspired story for Arthur

• Moving through the Civil Rights Movement

• Continuing learned about angles

• Switching to a financial literacy unit

• Covering more chapters in the Story of Science

• Learning more about the Arabian Peninsula

• Exploring more parts of the plant kingdom

• Bringing back some art and music

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W28: We Took It Easy

What We Studied

We ended up taking it a bit easy this week. My body was in a lot of pain, so I eased off our workload. Instead, we spent more time with some easy activities.

Q’s ELA and Math

A’s ELA and Math

Literature and Poetry

Arthur covered another of Shakespeare’s play. We are continuing with a light study of the actual play with focus on the story and a good short experience with the language of the 17th century. We continued the first Reading Explorer book which focuses on reading comprehension. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

• My America poem collection

• Reading Explorer 1

• Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare

Quentin started the next read aloud. He also worked on his reading and comprehension skills.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Charlotte’s Web by EB White

Q’s History Unit

Q’s Science Unit

Math

Arthur moved into looking at averages, line graphs, and plotting. We will definitely be finishing 5B by the end of this “school year.”

• Singapore Common Core 5B

• Orbiting with Logic

Quentin got back into Singapore with a unit on multiplication and division concepts. He then started on 2 and 3s.

• Singapore Common Core 2A

Another park explored

Social Studies

Arthur stared on the Cold War with a large scale overview. We then moved onto the politics and Korean War.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• A Different Mirror for Young People

• This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK History

• Dwight D. Eisenhower by Mirella S. Miller

• The Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi

• The Korean War by Andrew Santella

Quentin covered the second chapter about Ancient China. And we even watched a documentary. We’re still moving through our Ancient Times curriculum.

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Find the Journeys Around the World by David Long

• Ancient Worlds

• A Journey Through Art by Aaron Rosen

• Ancient China by Dale Anderson

• D is for Dragon Dance by Ying Chang Compestine

• 20 Fun Facts About the Great Wall of China by Therese Shea

• Great Wall of China by Kristine Spanier

• DK Eyewitness Wonders of the World

Science

We had a break week from chemistry class. Only three more Chemistry weeks to go for the year! We made sure to read more chapters in our Story of Science book.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

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

• DK The Elements

Quentin continued the Plant Kingdom section of his curriculum. We talked about seeds.

• RSO Life

• DK Trees, Leaves, Flowers & Seeds

• A Seed Grows by Antoinette Portis

• Seeds and Fruit by Melanie Waldron

• Seeds We Eat by Katherine Rawson

• Seeds by John Wood

• Seeds by Carme Lemniscates

• A Seed is the Start by Melissa Stewart

• Seeds Move by Robin Page

• Seeds by Grace Hansen

• The Journey of Seeds by Soo-bok Choi

• Sprout, Seed Sprout! by Annika Dunklee

• A Seed in Need by Sam Godwin

• Spring is Here! A Story About Seeds by Joan Holub

STEAM Coop

We had coop outdoors. Unfortunately the wind was incredibly high. It made things a bit complicated. Oh well, we survived. Arthur and Quentin both covered conservation.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

No formal music or art this week. But we did slip in some documentaries. Arthur watched on about D-Day and underwater archaeology. Quentin watched one about Ancient Chinese chariots.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• DK Art and How It Works

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• Iconic Composers by Nicholas Csicsko & Emi Ferguson

• 13 Art Movements Children Should Know

• 13 Artists Children Should Know

• 13 Modern Artists Children Should Know

• The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning & Brita Granström

• Why is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge

Field Trip

We took Wednesday off to hit up a park for the Omaha Parks Challenge. We spent some time there with friends. Afterwards, we moved over the Omaha Children’s Museum to use one of our GetOut Passes. The kids enjoyed their time, but I was reminded why we don’t go there often. I was very overstimulated by the time we left. We also got in a nature walk on Friday morning with some friends that we haven’t seen for awhile.

Moping (I think) and the newest baby elephant Hondo

Elephant baby backsides: Eugenia, Hondo, and Moping (I think)

High

After coop on Thursday, I didn’t feel like going home and doing schoolwork. So we decided to go to the zoo. I finally got to see the new baby elephant! We also visited the jungle, aquarium, and kingdoms of the night.

Low

My body was very angry and created some issues for me. I am thankful for the flexibility of homeschooling to work around these issues.

Next Week

• Continue Quentin’s read aloud

• Reading a Shakespeare-inspired story for Arthur

• Moving through the early Cold War years

• Continuing our math units

• Covering more chapters in the Story of Science

• Learning more about the Byzantine Empire

• Exploring more parts of the plant kingdom

• Bringing back some art and music

Heron Haven exploration

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W27: Two Weeks of Relaxed Yet Productive School

A’s ELA, Math, and Science

What We Studied

This post actually contains a Flex Week and a regular week. We’re definitely getting to the point in the year when our schooling rhythm changes once again. We took advantage of some outside exploration and fun with friends. We also didn’t stress about the curriculum, but made sure that we were plugging away.

Q’s Math and ELA

A’s WWII Unit

Literature and Poetry

Arthur continued and then finished our current read aloud. I absolutely loved it. He was a much harsher critic. For this one, I bought a new-to-me ELA curriculum unit and tried it out. The unit focused on paragraph writing and analysis of text. I’m really liking it. It’s not fancy or colorful, but has worthwhile activities. I think I’m going to pick up a few more lit studies for other books we are going to read. We continued the first Reading Explorer book which focuses on reading comprehension. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

• My America poem collection

• Reading Explorer 1

• Amari and the Night Brothers by BB Alston

Checking out the Dinos at Lauritzen Gardens

Quentin finished two read aloud this past two weeks. We covered a bunch of short stories with Frog and Toad. I even added on some language arts activities to expand. From there, we started and finished a short read aloud. Bonus points as it’s our next coop book club selection.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel

• Days with Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel

• Frog and Toad All Year by Arnold Lobel

• Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel

• Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr

Math

Arthur moved into looking at averages, line graphs, and plotting. We will definitely be finishing 5B by the end of this “school year.”

• Singapore Common Core 5B

• Orbiting with Logic

Quentin got back into Singapore with a unit on multiplication and division concepts. He then started on 2 and 3s.

• Singapore Common Core 2A

Park Exploration - Levi Carter

Social Studies

Arthur wrapped his study of World War II. We also snuck in a documentary about The Manhattan Project. I’m super excited to get into the Cold War era this week.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• A Different Mirror for Young People

• This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK History

• DK Eyewitness World War II

• The US Navy in World War II by Peter Benoit

• The US Army is World War II by Peter Benoit

• Big Battles of World War II by Peter Benoit

• The Great Depression and World War II by Susan E. Hamen

• Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm

Park Exploration - Elmwood

Quentin covered the African kingdoms of Aksum and Kush. He then started his two-part unit on Ancient China. We’re still moving through our Ancient Times curriculum.

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Find the Journeys Around the World by David Long

• Ancient Worlds

• A Journey Through Art by Aaron Rosen

• Ancient China by Dale Anderson

Q’s ELA

A’s ELA and Math

Science

I taught our chemistry lesson about acids and bases. I even created my own homemade indicator paper for the experiments. And then we had a break week. Only three more Chemistry weeks to go for the year! We made sure to read more chapters in our Story of Science book.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

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

• DK The Elements

Quentin started the Plant Kingdom section of his curriculum. We talked about the basics of plant life and flowers.

• RSO Life

• An ABC of Flowers by Jutta Hilpuesch

• Flowers by Gail Gibbons

• Flowers by Grace Hansen

• Flowers by Jennifer Colby

• Fantastic Flowers by Susan Stockdale

• Have You Ever Seen a Flower by Shawn Harris

• The Flower by John Light

• Bloom Boom by April Pulley Sayre

• Flowers by Elaine Pascoe

• What are Flowers by Kelley MacAulay

• Tell Me Why Flowers Bloom by Nancy Robinson Masters

• Flowers We Eat by Katherine Rawson

Park Exploration - Flannagan Lake

STEAM Coop

We had one coop meeting inside at one of the local libraries and one outside at a park (finally!). For Arthur covered the last two weeks of Spring Growth by creating a composter and sun prints. Quentin focused on botany with a seed planting and flowers.

Q’s ELA

A’s History Unit

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

We covered oil painting the Frederic Chopin this week.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• DK Art and How It Works

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• Iconic Composers by Nicholas Csicsko & Emi Ferguson

• 13 Art Movements Children Should Know

• 13 Artists Children Should Know

• 13 Modern Artists Children Should Know

• The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning & Brita Granström

• Why is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge

Q’s Math and ELA

A’s Math and ELA

Field Trip

We had a lovely field trip to Lauritzen Gardens (our local botanical garden and conservatory). I got to hang out with the littles class where we did a lot of plant observation as well as enjoyed the dinosaurs models made out of Lego. Arthur’s class got to learn about the evolution of plants from prehistoric times until now. This past Friday, we had a free explore day at Arbor Day Farm with lots of coop friends. When we go, you better believe that we spend all day there! It’s great. I even convinced the boys to do the trail around the back when their friends left.

Q’s Science Unit

High

We are trying to complete the Omaha Parks Challenge. They give us 10 parks to visit and take pictures. Completing a certain number gets you a goody bag and another number gets you entered into a drawing for pool passes. We have until May 12th to complete our visits. So far, we’ve hit three parks, but we have two more parks this week on our schedule. Some of these parks I didn’t even know existed! It’s a great way to explore.

Fun at Arbor Day Farm

Low

The wind and cold temps made coop (and then book club on Saturday) not a hugely pleasant experiences. In particular, we attempted a new-to-us park and had to leave after 15 minutes. The 30mph wind gusts on top of low 40s temps pushed us back into our cars and home. Oh well. We do live in the Midwest!

Next Week

• Starting a new read aloud for Quentin

• Beginning our yearly Shakespeare unit for Arthur

• Moving through the early Cold War years

• Continuing our math units

• Expanding upon chemical reactions and acids and bases

• Learning more Ancient China

• Exploring more parts of the plant kingdom

• Bringing back some art and music

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W26: Activities Rearranged Our Schedule

Q’s ELA

What We Studied

Unfortunately weather caused us a few problems with this week and we had to cancel coop. Instead, we planned a few activities to fill our time. Coupled with a decent amount of school, and we had a good week.

A’s ELA and Math

Q’s Rome Unit

Literature and Poetry

Arthur finished the last bit of our read aloud and started the next one. The new one is feeling very promising. For the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills. We continued the first Reading Explorer book which focuses on reading comprehension. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

• My America poem collection

• Reading Explorer 1

• Sweep by Jonathan Auxier

• Amari and the Night Brothers by BB Alston

Quentin finished another read aloud. He absolutely loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Apparently, Dahl’s sense of whimsy and humor really appeals to him. He also worked on some basic grammar with some fun books.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Hike at Fontenelle

Math

Arthur wrapped up his unit on volumes.. We’re flying through the lessons. We also finished the Grade 4 Financial Literacy book.

• Singapore Common Core 5B

• Orbiting with Logic

• Evan Moor Financial Literacy G4

Quentin took a break from Singapore to do some review math packets. I wanted a better mastery of basic arithmetic before we dove into multiplication and division.

• Singapore Common Core 2A

Social Studies

Arthur covered more of World War II. We focused on Japanese Interment and the treatment of African Americans during the war.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• A Different Mirror for Young People

• This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK History

• The Great Depression and World War II by Susan E. Hamen

• Write to Me: Letters from Japanese American Children to the Librarian They Left Behind by Cynthia Grady

• Rad American History A-Z by Kate Schatz & Miriam Klein Stahl

• Fred Korematsu Speaks Up

• Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker's Story by Joseph Bruchac

Quentin finished his big unit on Rome. We had to finish out with our favorite episode of NOVA about the colosseum. Even Arthur wanted to rewatch it with us!

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Find the Journeys Around the World by David Long

• Ancient Worlds

• A Journey Through Art by Aaron Rosen

• Ancient Rome by Peter Chrisp

• The Ancient Romans Cohn

• DK Eyewitness: Ancient Rome

• Stephen Biesty's Ancient World

• The Genius of the Romans

• Whole Wide World: Colosseum by Kristine Spanier

• 20 Fun Facts About the Colosseum by Drew Nelson

Obligatory neighborhood blow-up picture

A’s Math and ELA

Science

We had a break week from chemistry class, so science was light this week. We made sure to read more chapters in our Story of Science book.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

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

• DK The Elements

Quentin wrapped up RSO Life’s Human Anatomy unit with a section on growth and genetics. We did a bit of big review before putting away those books. The last big section of RSO Life is all about the Plant Kingdom.

• RSO Life

• DK Oversimple Biology

• DK Human Body

• Know and Glow Human Body

• DK Eyewitness: Human Body

• iDiscover The Body by Carolyn Scrace

Q’s Rome Unit

Q’s Science

STEAM Coop

Coop was cancelled due to weather.

A’s History

A’s ELA and Math

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

No formal art and music this week.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• DK Art and How It Works

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• Iconic Composers by Nicholas Csicsko & Emi Ferguson

• 13 Art Movements Children Should Know

• 13 Artists Children Should Know

• 13 Modern Artists Children Should Know

• The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning & Brita Granström

• Why is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge

Field Trip

On Friday, a fellow homeschooler organized a big group trip the Science Center of Iowa in Des Moines. A group of about 20 kids and parents caravanned to the museum for a few hours of exploration. We had been once about a year ago. It was fun to revisit and re-explore. We even caught a planetarium show. After the museum, most of the families headed back home. I decided to take the kids to the Monsterama Arcade for a few hours of playtime. They have been begging to go back for months. We had dinner at the attached pizza place and played until 7pm before driving back home. It made for a 12+ hour day, but it was worth it!

High

We managed to fit in a nature hike on Tuesday (just us) and an open bounce time at Bounce U on Thursday (with friends). Even with the activities, we had a good school week.

Low

Cancelling of coop created some frustration.

Driving a Mars rover

Next Week

• Reading more of our read aloud (A) and starting a new collection of stories (Q)

• Moving through World War II

• Continuing our math units

• Exploring some new concepts about the periodic table

• Learning more Ancient African Kingdoms

• Starting with the plant kingdom for science

• Bringing back some art and music

Arcade Time!

Pizza Time

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W24-25: Still trucking along...

What We Studied

We ended up taking a bit of a break for W24. All three of us were a bit burned out and needed to scale back our school work to reenergize. For W25, we were back to normal. All throughout, we focused on reading our read alouds and enjoying our activities.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur dove into another read aloud and enjoyed the time. We have just a little bit left to finish this week and then move into a new book. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills. We continued the first Reading Explorer book which focuses on reading comprehension. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

• My America poem collection

• Reading Explorer 1

• Sweep by Jonathan Auxier

Quentin started and finished another read aloud. And then we started our newest read aloud. He is very excited to read another Roald Dahl book. He also worked on some basic grammar with some fun books.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Math

Arthur moved onto a few lessons about finding volume of rectangles. We’re flying through the lessons. We also continued the Grade 4 Financial Literacy book. We have one more lesson to finish in there.

• Singapore Common Core 5B

• Orbiting with Logic

• Evan Moor Financial Literacy G4

Quentin continued Singapore 2A with a unit on measurements. We also finished our logic book!

• Lollipop Logic Book 3

• Singapore Common Core 2A

A’s ELA, Math, and Science

Social Studies

Arthur covered the beginning of World War II. We discussed the political and economic situations of various countries in the 1930s and talked about the beginnings of the war. The week ended with Pearl Harbor.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• A Different Mirror for Young People

• This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK History

• The Great Depression and World War II by Susan E. Hamen

• Dorothy the Brave by Meghan P. Browne

Quentin continued with Rome moving into the Empire. We found a good balance of videos, textbooks, and small readings.

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Find the Journeys Around the World by David Long

• Ancient Worlds

• A Journey Through Art by Aaron Rosen

• Ancient Rome by Peter Chrisp

• The Ancient Romans Cohn

• DK Eyewitness: Ancient Rome

• Stephen Biesty's Ancient World

• The Genius of the Romans

• Cleopatra by Diane Stanley

• Pompeii: Lost and Found by Mary Pope Osborne

• Pompeii... Buried Alive! by Edith Kunhardt

Q’s ELA and Math

Science

We covered the next few lessons in chemistry. This week is a break and then we will move onto acids and bases. We made sure to read more chapters in our Story of Science book.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

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

• DK The Elements

Quentin got back into the RSO Life curriculum moving into the unit on Human Anatomy. We covered the nervous system this week.

• RSO Life

• DK Oversimple Biology

• DK Human Body

• Know and Glow Human Body

• DK Eyewitness: Human Body

• iDiscover The Body by Carolyn Scrace

• The Museum of Odd Body Leftovers: A Tour of Your Useless Parts, Flaws and Other Weird Bits by Rachel Poliquin

• Click: The Inner You

• Build a Brain by Kirsty Holmes

• The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses by Joanna Cole

Q’s Rome Unit

STEAM Coop

Arthur continued his unit on spring growth. Their big project this week was creating a mini biome in a plastic bottle. Quentin learned about deserts and then about Emily Roebling, architect of the Brooklyn Bridge.

A’s World War II Unit

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

We managed to fit in a few documentaries to complement our book work. Arthur watched one about the mystery of the Hindenburg. Quentin watched one about the mystery of Roman catacombs and one about the eruption of Vesuvius.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• DK Art and How It Works

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• Iconic Composers by Nicholas Csicsko & Emi Ferguson

• 13 Art Movements Children Should Know

• 13 Artists Children Should Know

• 13 Modern Artists Children Should Know

• The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning & Brita Granström

• Why is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge

Q’s Math and ELA

Field Trip

For my birthday day, we ventured to the zoo. I really wanted to see the new baby elephant, but he was still sequestered in the back. We did get to the see the other four babies. And we enjoyed the jungle, aquarium, giraffes, and butterfly and insect building.

A’s Math and ELA

High

We managed to fit in a few nature hikes. Getting outside and enjoying the signs of spring was exactly what I needed to uplift my spirits.

Q’s Anatomy Unit

Low

The weather took some wild swings these last two weeks. I am not a fan.

A’s ELA and Math

Next Week

• Finishing our current read aloud and starting some new ones

• Moving through World War II

• Continuing our math units

• Exploring some new concepts about the periodic table

• Learning more about Ancient Rome

• Wrapping up human anatomy for science

• Traveling to Des Moines for a group field trip and visit to the arcade

Lovely walk on the prairie

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W23: Ready for a Break!

What We Studied

Our week went well and we accomplished a lot of school work. But, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we needed a bit of a break. Makes sense in the we haven’t had a real break since Christmas. We made sure to knock out some lessons so next week can be a bit of a break.

A’s ELA and Math

Literature and Poetry

This week Arthur read one of my favorite childhood books, The Witches by Roald Dahl. I don’t think he enjoyed it as much as me, but thanks okay. We did get to watch the movie version for family movie night as an extra treat. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills. We continued the first Reading Explorer book which focuses on reading comprehension. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

• My America poem collection

• Reading Explorer 1

• The Witches by Roald Dahl

Quentin finished another in his favorite series. We covered a few different lessons from the Blossom and Root curriculum. He also worked on some basic grammar with some fun books.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Zoey and Sassafras: Grumplets and Pests by Asia Citro

• If You were an Interjection by Nancy Loewen

• If You were a Conjunction by Nancy Loewen

• If You were an Antonym by Nancy Loewen

• If You were a Preposition by Nancy Loewen

• If You were Homonym or a Homphone by Nancy Loewen

• The Little Mermaid by Jerry Pinkney

• The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen

• The Other Side of the Story

• The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen

• Grandmother Winter by Phyllis Root

• The Story Blanket by Ferida Wolf

• Good Night Wind by Linda Elovitz Marshal

• Rumpelstitlskin by Paul Galdone

• The Elves and the Shoemaker

• Rumpelstiltskin

• The Elves and the Shoemaker by Paul Galdone

• The Elves and the Shoemaker by Jim Lamarche

• Frankly I'd Rather Spin Myself a New Name by Jessica Gunderson

• Rumplestitlskin by John Cech

• Rumplestiltskin's Daughter by Diane Stanley

• Rattlestiltskin by Eric A. Kimmel

• The Girl Who Spun Gold by Virginia Hamilton

• Beaver Steals Fire by Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes

• The Water Dragon by Li JIan

Q’s ELA and Math

Math

Arthur finished a unit on Decimals. Most of it was review, but it was a good review for him. We’re flying through the lessons. We also dove into the Grade 4 Financial Literacy book and covered another units.

• Singapore Common Core 5B

• Orbiting with Logic

• Evan Moor Financial Literacy G4

Quentin continued Singapore 2A with a unit on measurements. We also continued our logic book; almost finished with this one!

• Lollipop Logic Book 3

• Singapore Common Core 2A

Q’s ELA and Math

Social Studies

Arthur covered more about the Great Depression with a focus on the American Dust Bowl. I found some great resources and we even started watching Ken Burns’ The Dust Bowl documentary.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• A Different Mirror for Young People

• This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK History

• The Great American Dust Bowl

• The Dust Bowl Through the Lens: How Photography Revealed and Helped Remedy a National Disaster by Martin W. Sandler

• A Day that Changed America: The Black Sunday Dust Blizzard by Bruce Berglund

• Voices of the Dust Bowl by Sherry Garland

• This is the Rope: A Story from The Great Migration by Jacqueline Woodson

Q’s Rome Unit

Quentin began the chapters of Ancient Rome with the founding and the Republic. We found a good balance of videos, textbooks, and small readings.

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Find the Journeys Around the World by David Long

• Ancient Worlds

• A Journey Through Art by Aaron Rosen

• Ancient Rome by Peter Chrisp

• The Ancient Romans Cohn

• DK Eyewitness: Ancient Rome

• Stephen Biesty's Ancient World

• The Genius of the Romans

A’s Dust Bowl Unit

Science

We’re back at Chemistry class. This week they talked about the relationship between Hydrogen and Oxygen. We made sure to read another chapter in our Story of Science book.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

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

• DK The Elements

Quentin got back into the RSO Life curriculum moving into the unit on Human Anatomy. We covered the digestive system this week.

• RSO Life

• DK Oversimple Biology

• DK Human Body

• Know and Glow Human Body

• DK Eyewitness: Human Body

• iDiscover The Body by Carolyn Scrace

• The Museum of Odd Body Leftovers: A Tour of Your Useless Parts, Flaws and Other Weird Bits by Rachel Poliquin

• Click: The Inner You

• Click: Tastes Good

• Shape of a Stomach by Kirsty Holmes

• Blueprint for a Bladder by Kirsty Holmes

Q’s Anatomy Unit

STEAM Coop

Arthur started his unit on spring growth. This week they talked abut soil composition and basic planting techniques. Quentin learned about deserts and had fun making a sand painting.

A’s ELA and Math

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

We covered a bit of art and music and managed to start watching a documentary. We covered frescos and etching/printmaking/woodcuts for art and Verdi and Gershwin for music.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• DK Art and How It Works

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• Iconic Composers by Nicholas Csicsko & Emi Ferguson

• 13 Art Movements Children Should Know

• 13 Artists Children Should Know

• 13 Modern Artists Children Should Know

• The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning & Brita Granström

• Why is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge

Q’s ELA and Math

Field Trip

We didn’t have any field trips these week. But we did accomplish two nature hikes and two park playdates with friends. The weather was beautiful this past week and we took advantage of it!

Q’s ELA

High

We finally bought a membership and made it down to the Luminarium, the new local hands-on science museum. We spent a few hour after coop exploring with some friends. Even being there for a few hours, we didn’t actually get to see everything! We will definitely be back soon.

Learning about deserts at coop

Low

Nothing. We had a great two weeks!

Next Week

• Continuing our current read alouds

• Hopefully starting and finishing the coop book club selection

• Moving through the 1930s for history, focusing on the Dust Bowl

• Continuing our math units

• Exploring some new concepts about the periodic table

• Diving into Ancient Rome for science

• Hopefully heading outside for a nature walk

Art and Music

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W22: Two Great Weeks of School and Activities

Art and music time!

What We Studied

This post actually covers a Flex Week and a regular week. Right now, we are actually ahead of schedule for some of our curriculum and it’s really giving me life. I don’t want to push too hard, but I love having some wriggle room for more activities, games, and documentaries.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur finished a complete read aloud during Flex Week, covered another during the regular week, and even started a third. We are on a roll. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills. We continued the first Reading Explorer book which focuses on reading comprehension. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

• The Water Horse by Dick King-Smith

• Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

• My America poem collection

• Reading Explorer 1

• The Witches by Roald Dahl

• Ramayana: Divine Loophole by Sanjay Patel

Art and Music

A’s ELA

Quentin finished a collection of stories from the Odyssey, completed a short read aloud, and started another in his favorite series. We are pushing our Blossom and Root lessons out another week. He also worked on some basic grammar.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Tales from the Odyssey Part Two by Mary Pope Osborne

• Ramayana: Divine Loophole by Sanjay Patel

• Zoey and Sassafras: Grumplets and Pests by Asia Citro

• 365 Penguins by Jean-Luc Fromental

Q’s ELA

Music Time

Math

Arthur continued with a unit on Decimals. Most of it was review, but it was a good review for him. We’re flying through the lessons. We also dove into the Grade 4 Financial Literacy book and covered a few units.

• Singapore Common Core 5B

• Orbiting with Logic

• Evan Moor Financial Literacy G4

Q’s Ancient Greece Unit

Q and A’s ELA and Math

Quentin continued Singapore 2A with a big review of numbers to 1000. We also continued our logic book.

• Lollipop Logic Book 3

• Singapore Common Core 2A

• Addition on the Menu by Kirsty Holmes

• Place Value Prize by Kirsty Holmes

• Groups in the Garden by Kirsty Holmes

Q and A’s ELA and Math

Q’s Anatomy Unit

Social Studies

Arthur covered the 1920s from Boom to Bust and into the Great Depression. We covered all the high points. We even found a way to include a few documentaries.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• A Different Mirror for Young People

• This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK History

• Cobblestone: Hollywood and the Rise of Motion Pictures

• The Roaring Twenties by Marcia Amidon Lusted

• Children of the Great Depression by Russell Freedman

• Dorothea's Eyes by Barb Rosenstock

• Thanks to Frances Perkins: Fighter for Workers' Rights by Deborah Hopkinson

• The Only Woman in the Photo: Frances Perkins and Her New Deal for America by Kathleen Krull

A’s History

Quentin finished the chapters on Ancient Greece and then moved onto the chapters on Ancient India. We found a good balance of videos, textbooks, and small readings.

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Find the Journeys Around the World by David Long

• Blast Back! Ancient Greece by Nancy Ohlin Pg. 1-31

• Ancient Worlds

• Ancient Greece by Sandra Newman

• DK Eyewitness Ancient Greece

• Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greece by Danielle Smith-Llera

• A Child's Introduction to Greek Mythology Heather Alexander

• Ancient Greek Art by Susie Hodge

• A Journey Through Art by Aaron Rosen

Science

We were back at Chemistry class two weeks. I taught them all about liquids and density and we even attempted to make oobleck. This past week was a chemistry flex week, so we had a little break. But we made sure to read another couple of chapters in our Story of Science book.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

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

• DK The Elements

Quentin got back into the RSO Life curriculum moving into the unit on Human Anatomy. We covered the circulatory and respiratory systems.

• RSO Life

• DK Oversimple Biology

• DK Human Body

• Know and Glow Human Body

• DK Eyewitness: Human Body

• iDiscover The Body by Carolyn Scrace

• The Museum of Odd Body Leftovers: A Tour of Your Useless Parts, Flaws and Other Weird Bits by Rachel Poliquin

• Click: The Inner You

• Parts of a Heart by Kirsty Holmes

• Lay Out the Lungs by Kirsty Holmes

A and Q’s Math and ELA

Art Time

STEAM Coop

Arthur covered geometry and art with two lessons featuring perspective and line drawing He got to play with compasses and rulers. Quentin’s class was all about magnets. He really got into the lessons these two weeks which just makes my heart happy.

Q’s Anatomy Unit

Q’s Ancient India Unit

A’s History Unit

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

We covered a bit of art and music and managed to watch a few documentaries. Arthur got on an aviation history kick watching one about the Wright Brothers, one about the Red Baron, and one about the Great Air Race of 1924. He also chose a Modern Marvels episode about the building the Panama Canal. Quentin watched a documentary about Archimedes of Ancient Greece..

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• DK Art and How It Works

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• Iconic Composers by Nicholas Csicsko & Emi Ferguson

• 13 Art Movements Children Should Know

• 13 Artists Children Should Know

• 13 Modern Artists Children Should Know

• The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning & Brita Granström

• Why is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge

A’s History

A’s ELA, Math, and Science

Q’s Math and History

Field Trip

We didn’t have any field trips these week. But we did accomplish two nature hikes and two park playdates with friends. The weather was beautiful this past week and we took advantage of it!

Q’s ELA and Math

A’s Math and ELA

High

We finally bought a membership and made it down to the Luminarium, the new local hands-on science museum. We spent a few hour after coop exploring with some friends. Even being there for a few hours, we didn’t actually get to see everything! We will definitely be back soon.

Walk on the prairie at Glacier Creek

The creek at Glacier Creek

Low

Nothing. We had a great two weeks!

Next Week

• Continuing our current read alouds

• Hopefully starting and finishing the coop book club selection

• Moving through the 1930s for history, focusing on the Dust Bowl

• Continuing our math units

• Exploring some new concepts about the periodic table

• Diving into Ancient Rome for science

• Hopefully heading outside for a nature walk

Beautiful walk at Schramm SRA

Neighborhood tradition

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W20-21: Finding Our Groove Finally!

My example project

What We Studied

We had a great two weeks of easy school and limited activities. I didn’t want to push it too much or over-schedule us. Thankfully coop events were few and far between these few weeks.

A’s ELA, Math, and History

Q’s ELA and Math

Literature and Poetry

Arthur finished two read alouds these two weeks. We wrapped a book about censorship and then finished a book mentioned in the previous. Also, we dove into the topic of death. It was a heavy read, but a good one for this age. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills. We continued the first Reading Explorer book which focuses on reading comprehension. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

• Ban This Book by Alan Gratz

• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

• Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

• My America poem collection

• Reading Explorer 1

Quentin dove into a collection of stories from the Odyssey. We are pushing our Blossom and Root lessons out another week. He also worked on some basic grammar.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Tales from the Odyssey Part One and Part Two by Mary Pope Osborne

• Winter, Winter, Cold and Snow by Sharon Gibson Palermo (Quentin read)

• If You Happen to Have a Dinosaur by Linda Bailey & Colin Jack (Quentin read)

• Lettuce Introduce You: Poems About Food by Laura Purdie Salas

Q’s History

Q’s History

Math

Arthur dove into 5B with a unit on Decimals. Most of it was review, but it was a good review for him. We’re flying through the lessons.

• Singapore Common Core 5B

• Orbiting with Logic

Quentin continued Singapore 2A with a big review of numbers to 1000. We also continued our logic book.

• Lollipop Logic Book 3

• Singapore Common Core 2A

A’s History

A’s ELA, Math, and Science

Social Studies

Arthur finished our study of World War I and moved onto the Harlem Renaissance. We even found a way to include a few documentaries.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• A Different Mirror for Young People

• This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration

• Come On I, America: The United Staes in World War I by Linda Barrett Osborne

• Knit Your Bit by Deborah Hopkinson

• Military Aircraft of WWI by Ole Steen Hansen

• DK Find Out World War I

• Unraveling Freedom: The Battle for Democracy on the Home Front During World War I by Ann Bausum

• DK Eyewitness World War I

• Fearless Flyers

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK History

Quentin dove back into the chapters on Ancient Greece. We found a good balance of videos, textbooks, and small readings.

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Find the Journeys Around the World by David Long

• Blast Back! Ancient Greece by Nancy Ohlin Pg. 1-31

• Ancient Worlds

• Ancient Greece by Sandra Newman

• DK Eyewitness Ancient Greece

• The First Olympics by Lisa M. Bolt Simons

• The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky

Q’s Science

A’s History, Math, ELA, and Science

Science

We were back at Chemistry class this week. They talked and explored states of matter. The kids had fun exploring the changes by making ice cream and root beer floats. Plus we read another chapter in our Story of Science book.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

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

• DK The Elements

Quentin got back into the RSO Life curriculum moving into the unit on Human Anatomy. We did a big overview and then covered the skeletal and muscular system.

• RSO Life

• DK Oversimple Biology

• DK Human Body

• Know and Glow Human Body

• DK Eyewitness: Human Body

• iDiscover The Body by Carolyn Scrace Pg. 6-7, 14-15

• How to Build a Human Body: Set Up the Skeleton by Kirsty Holmes

• The Museum of Odd Body Leftovers: A Tour of Your Useless Parts, Flaws and Other Weird Bits by Rachel Poliquin Pg. 54-58

Q’s ELA and Math

Q’s Science

STEAM Coop

Arthur covered geometry and art with two lessons featuring tessellation and Islamic geometric art. He got to play with compasses and rulers. Quentin’s class was all about World Cultures. Each week the class covered three different countries with some information, art, and taste testing.

Q’s ELA, Math, and History

A’s ELA and Math

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

We didn’t actually cover any art or music this week. But we did manage to watch a few documentaries. Arthur started and finished a long American Experience episode about Zora Neale Hurston. It was mostly about her travels and anthropology work, but also covered the Harlem Renaissance. Quentin watched two docs on Ancient Greece. One was about the Parthenon featuring the engineering aspects. The second one was all about the antikythera device, an ancient computer.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• DK Art and How It Works

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• Iconic Composers by Nicholas Csicsko & Emi Ferguson

• 13 Art Movements Children Should Know

• 13 Artists Children Should Know

• 13 Modern Artists Children Should Know

• The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning & Brita Granström

• Why is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge

Field Trip

We didn’t have a field trip this week.

Fun at Heron Haven

High

We have started to set up a social gathering for after coop at a variety of locations. The weather was decent so we made two park playdates. It was very lovely to be out and allow the kids to run around. W also had a lovely nature walk at Heron Haven. It was the perfect weather for a little walk in the woods.

Low

I was so tired. This really took a bit of wind out of my sails.

Beautiful day at the pond

Next Week

• Finishing one read aloud and starting a new one

• Moving onto the 1920s for history

• Continuing new our math units

• Exploring some new concepts about the periodic table

• Wrapping up Greece with some myths and stories and Alexander the Great

• Taking a break for science

• Hopefully heading outside for a nature walk

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W19: Back to Normal Somehow

What We Studied

The snow storms finally calmed down and we got back outside for some activities. Unfortunately, coop was cancelled due to a scheduling issue with the city. But we did see friends at other events and got some school work completed.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur has really gotten into our read aloud. It’s led to questions about censorship and increased interest in the other books the text mentions. In fact, our next read aloud is name dropped in the book. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills. We continued the first Reading Explorer book which focuses on reading comprehension. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

• Ban This Book by Alan Gratz

• Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

• My America poem collection

• Reading Explorer 1

Quentin picked up another Zoey and Sassafras book to read this week instead of the scheduled book. That’s fine by me. I’m still really focused on Quentin’s enjoyment when it comes to literature selections. We are pushing our Blossom and Root lessons out another week. He also worked on some basic grammar.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Zoey and Sassafras: Unicorns and Germs by Asia Citro

• Little Penguin's New Friend by Tadgh Bentley

Math

Arthur dove into 5B with a unit on Decimals. Most of it was review, but it was a good review for him. We’re flying through the lessons.

• Singapore Common Core 5B

• Orbiting with Logic

Quentin continued Singapore 2A with a big review of numbers to 1000. We also continued our logic book.

• Lollipop Logic Book 3

• Singapore Common Core 2A

Social Studies

Arthur started learning about World War I this week. We did a big overview of the conflict and talked about Woodrow Wilson. Our curriculum only spends one week on the war, but I’m going to expand it out for 2-3 weeks of topics and coverage.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• A Different Mirror for Young People

• This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration

Instead of a big chapter on Greece, we started reading the story of The Odyssey to ease into the topic.

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Find the Journeys Around the World by David Long

• Tales from the Odyssey Book One by Mary Pope Osborne

Science

We were back at Chemistry class this week. They talked and explored molecules and bonds. Plus we read another chapter in our Story of Science book. This one was about alchemy.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

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

• DK The Elements

Quentin got back into the RSO Life curriculum and covered mammals this week.

• RSO Life

• DK Oversimple Biology

• A Mammal is an Animal by Lizzy Rockwell

• Mammals by Ann O. Squire

• About Mammals by Cathryn Sill

STEAM Coop

None this week

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

We didn’t actually cover any art or music this week. But we did manage to watch two documentaries. Arthur and I watched a NOVA episode about aviation during World War I. I learned a ton! Quentin and I were going to watch one about Ancient Greece, but the file was corrupted. Instead, we watched on about The Life of Mammals. The episode focused on marsupials. He actually paid attention to the documentary, so I’m calling it a win!

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• DK Art and How It Works

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• Iconic Composers by Nicholas Csicsko & Emi Ferguson

• 13 Art Movements Children Should Know

• 13 Artists Children Should Know

• 13 Modern Artists Children Should Know

• The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning & Brita Granström

• Why is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge

• Andy Warhol: Pop Art Painter by Susan Goldman Rubin

• Andy Warhol Pop Art Painter by Susan Goldman Rubin

• Uncle Andy’s by James Warhola

• Uncle Andy’s Cats by James Warhola

• Fabulous! A Portrait of Andy Warhol by Bonnie Christensen

• Art is Everywhere: A Book About Andy Warhol by Jeff Mack

• Biography Book by Mike Venezia

Field Trip

Not an organized field trip, but we did spend an entire morning at the zoo with some friends. We had actually been since December, and really since October before that, so it was nice to rediscover our favorite displays. Extra fun, there were a ton of docents out and hardly any visitors, so we got to chat with a ton of people about specific animals. The desert dome was a big hit this week. .

High (and Low)

• Coop was cancelled this week due to the city basically overruling our contract and taking the space. Very annoying! We pivoted and spent three hours playing at Backyard Playworld. Sometimes it’s really nice to just let the kids engage in free play while I get to chat with adults.

Next Week

• Finishing our current read aloud

• Continuing our World War I study for history

• Moving forward into new our math units

• Exploring some new concepts about the periodic table

• Easing into Greece with some myths and stories

• Transitioning to human anatomy for science

• Hopefully heading outside for a nature walk and field trip

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W18: More Cancelled Activities

What We Studied

The weather threw us for another loop and we had to cancel a variety of activities this week. On the flip side, we got a ton of random school bookwork done this week instead of going out.

A’s ELA, Math, Science, and History

Literature and Poetry

Arthur finished both our read aloud and the coop book club selection. And we started the next read aloud. It’s related to our previous one and should spark some interesting discussions about censorship. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills. We started the first Reading Explorer book which focuses on reading comprehension. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

• From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by EL Konigsburg

• Band This Book by Alan Gratz

• The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm

• My America poem collection

• Reading Explorer 1

Quentin finished our read aloud. He gave it three stars out of five stars. But he claims that he really liked it. We are pushing our Blossom and Root lessons out two weeks. He also worked on some basic grammar.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Just Beyond the Very Very Far North by Dan Bar-El

• Fox Versus Winter by Corey R. Tabor

• Winter is for Snow by Robert Neubecker

• Little Penguins by Cynthia Rylant

• Penguin Problems by Jory John & Lane Smith

• Winter White by Christianne C. Jones

• Five Flying Penguins by Barbara Barbieri McGrath

• A Polar Bear in the Snow by Mac Barnett

• Penguins Don't Wear Sweaters by Marikka Tamura

• The King Penguin by Vanessa Roeder

• Pirate & Penguin by Mike Allegra

• Winter Lullaby by Dianne White

• Virgil & Owen Stick Together by Paulette Bogan

• The Trouble with Penguins by Rebecca Jordan-Glum

• When Winter Comes by Aimee M. Bissonette

Q’s ELA and Math

Math

Arthur finished the last unit for Singapore 5A. We covered ratios this week. We will move on to 5B.

• Singapore Common Core 5A

• Orbiting with Logic

Quentin continued Singapore 2A with a big review of numbers to 1000. We also continued our logic book.

• Lollipop Logic Book 3

• Singapore Common Core 2A

Q’s Bird Unit

Social Studies

Arthur covered the Spanish American War this week. This sets use everything for our World War I study next week.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• A Different Mirror for Young People

• This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration

• Cobblestone: The Spanish-American War

Quentin took a little break from our regular history chapters and covered the ancient city of Troy this week.

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Find the Journeys Around the World by David Long

• The Wooden Horse of Troy by Cari Meister

• The Trojan Horse: How the Greeks Won the War by Emily Little

Q’s ELA, Math, and History

Science

We ended up not going to chemistry class due to the weather and my migraine. We did cover the text information and should be good for next week’s meeting. Plus we read two chapters in our Story of Science book.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

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

• DK The Elements

Quentin got back into the RSO Life curriculum and covered birds this week.

• RSO Life

• DK Oversimple Biology

• Birds by Ann O. Squire

• Birds by Jon Wood

• Birds by Carme Lemniscates

• Birds by Kevin Henkes

• Birds by Pamela Hickman

• Birds by Miranda Krestovnikoff

• Bird Count by Susan Edwads Richmond

• The Last Rainbow Bird by Nora Brech

A’s ELA and Math

STEAM Coop

The weather gave us a bit of a break the meant we actually got to meet this week. Quentin’s class takes about shapes and made some 3-D shapes using toothpicks and clay. I taught Arthur’s class and we covered symmetry. Along with a name symmetry graphing activity, we started an origami project to carry over to next week.

Art and Music Time

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

Because of the weather, we ended up bumping art and music into our plan this week. The boys really got into the art from Andy Warhol, especially loving the soup paintings. And they enjoyed the music for the week also.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• DK Art and How It Works

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• Iconic Composers by Nicholas Csicsko & Emi Ferguson

• 13 Art Movements Children Should Know

• 13 Artists Children Should Know

• 13 Modern Artists Children Should Know

• The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning & Brita Granström

• Why is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge

• Andy Warhol: Pop Art Painter by Susan Goldman Rubin

• Andy Warhol Pop Art Painter by Susan Goldman Rubin

• Uncle Andy’s by James Warhola

• Uncle Andy’s Cats by James Warhola

• Fabulous! A Portrait of Andy Warhol by Bonnie Christensen

• Art is Everywhere: A Book About Andy Warhol by Jeff Mack

• Biography Book by Mike Venezia

Art nad Music Unit

Field Trip

The weather cancelled our planned field trip. Thankfully we got it rescheduled for later in the month.

Q’s ELA

High

• Getting stuck in the house was not exciting, but we did get a ton of book work done. And we had lots of cozy time reading and playing games.

Low

• The weather was killing us once again. Snow storms and temperatures below zero really hindered our plans.

A’s ELA

Next Week

• Starting our new read aloud

• Beginning our World War I study for history

• Jumping into new our math units

• Exploring some new concepts about the periodic table

• Easing into Greece with some myths and stories

• Learning about mammals for science

• Hopefully heading outside for a nature walk and field trip

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W17: Winter Arrived with a Vengeance

What We Studied

After a few weeks of light schoolwork and complete break, we were back at it last week with a full curriculum load. We had planned on chemistry class, a field trip, coop, and a nature hike, but the weather took a turn. Everything except for coop was cancelled due to two winter storms and below zero temps with whiteout conditions. So, I had to seriously modify our schedule and pulled in a lot more curriculum. Even with the heavier load, the boys ended up playing outside for hours most days. We are trying to enjoy the snow while it lasts.

Q’s Science

Q’s Science, ELA, and Math

Literature and Poetry

Arthur started one of my favorite childhood books. We should finish next week.. We also moved on to starting the next coop book club selection. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills. We finished the first Reading Explorer book which focuses on reading comprehension. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

• From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by EL Konigsburg

• The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm

• Reading Explorer: Intro

• My America poem collection

Quentin started a very winter themed book with me. We are pushing our Blossom and Root lessons out two weeks. He also worked on some basic grammar.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Just Beyond the Very Very Far North by Dan Bar-El

• Polar Bear by Candace Fleming

• Polar Bear Morning by Lauren Thompson

• Polar Bear Night by Lauren Thompson

• Polar Bear Postman by Seigo Kijima

• Polar Bear's Underwear by Tupera Tupera

• The Little Polar Bear Tales a Stand by Hans de Beer

• Polar Bear Island by Lindsay Bonilla

• Once Upon a Winter Day by Liza Woodruff

• My Winter City by James Gladstone

• Bright Winter Night by Alli Brydon

• Winter is Here by Kevin Henkes

A’s ELA, Math, Science, and History

Q’s Bedtime Books

Math

Arthur started the last unit for Singapore 5A. We covered ratios this week. We will finish this unit next week and move on to 5B.

• Singapore Common Core 5A

• Orbiting with Logic

Quentin started Singapore 2A with a big review of numbers to 1000. We also continued our logic book.

• Lollipop Logic Book 3

• Singapore Common Core 2A

Q’s History, ELA, and Math

A’s ELA and Math

Social Studies

Arthur covered two weeks worth of history lessons because of our snow days. We talked about the Progressive Era reforms as well as Teddy Roosevelt and Taft.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• A Different Mirror for Young People

• This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration

• Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom

• Alice Paul and the Fight for Women’s Rights

• The Remarkable Rough-Riding Life of Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Empire America by Cheryl Harness

Quentin also covered two weeks of history with a chapter on the Hebrews and Phoenicians and a chapter on the Minoans and Mycenaeans.

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Find the Journeys Around the World by David Long

Science

Chemistry class was canceled due to the first winter storm. Instead, we read two chapters in our Story of Science book.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

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

• DK The Elements

Quentin took a detour from our RSO curriculum to learn about the Arctic, Antartica, polar bears, and penguins. We talked a lot about winter and how animals survive.

• The Coldest Places on Earth by Jennifer M. Besel

• Plants in Winter by Jenny Fretland VanVoorst

• Weather in Winter by Jenny Fretland VanVoorst

• All About Winter Weather by Kathryn Clay

• Why Do Bears Seep All Winter? A Book About Hibernation by Mary Englar

• Polar Bears by Gail Gibbons

• Nat Geo Kids: Polar Bears

• Polar Bears by Valerie Bodden

• Polar Bear by Dee Phillips

• Do You Really Want to Meet a Polar Bear? by Marcie Aboff

• Polar Bears by Elaine Landau

• Polar Bear Fur Isn't White and Other Amazing Facts by Thea Feldman

• The Polar Bear by Jenni Desmond

• Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner

• Click Magazine: No Place Like Home

• Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman & Rick Allen

• Frozen Wild: How Animals Survive in the Coldest Places on Earth by Jim Arnosky

• Penguins by Seymour Simon

• Penguins by Ann O. Squire

• Penguin Chick by Betty Tatham

• RSO Life

• DK Oversimple Biology

Art and Music

Q’s Math, ELA, and Science

STEAM Coop

Another January, another coop semester begins. It was a little touch and go for a few days as to if we would actually have coop, but the weather settled enough to get to our meeting hall. All the levels explored Geometry and Art for their first theme. I taught the oldest class and we learned about how artists use basic shapes, played the shape game, and then made collages with shapes.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

This was another area that I pulled from later weeks to take advantage of the time. We ended up covering two artists (Picasso and Chagall) and two composers (Haydn and Debussy). This will help us when we hit a week and I cannot fit in art and music.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• DK Art and How It Works

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• Iconic Composers by Nicholas Csicsko & Emi Ferguson

• 13 Art Movements Children Should Know

• 13 Artists Children Should Know

• 13 Modern Artists Children Should Know

• The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning & Brita Granström

• Why is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge

• Just Behave, Pablo Picasso! by Jonah Winter

• Pablo Picasso by Mike Venezia

• Paris in the Spring with Picasso by Joan Yolleck

• Papa Chagall Tell Us a Story by Laurence Anholt

• Marc Chagall by Jude Welton

• Through the Window: View of Marc Chagall's Life and Art by Barb Rosenstock

Field Trip

The weather cancelled our planned field trip. Thankfully we got it rescheduled for later in the month.

A’s ELA and Math

High

• January always makes me want to hibernate. The winter storm really added to it, but I was okay with it. The boys got to spend a lot of time playing in the snow. I got to spend a lot of time reading and drinking hot tea.

Low

• The schedule changes did throw me a bit, but we managed to make it through.

Art and Music

Next Week

• Finishing our two read alouds

• Covering the Spanish American War and American Imperialism

• Competing our math units

• Exploring some new elements on the periodic table

• Easing into Greece with some myths and stories

• Learning about birds for science

• Hopefully heading outside for a nature walk and field trip

A’s History and ELA

Q’s ELA, History, and Science

Next up on the TBR pile: