What We Studied
Another week full of fall fun. We didn’t get a ton of school work done, but did make some progress on certain things. But we had a ton of fun with friends and catching up on life. So I will say that we had a good week.
Literature and Poetry
Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G6 for his language arts this year. While I love H&S, there’s never enough literature in there. Thankfully we have a stack of books just waiting to be picked up and read. Beyond H&S, we are focusing on expanding vocabulary and reading comprehension this year. We started our current book club selection which is perfect for fall spooky season.
Poetry: Hearth & Story G6
Poetry: A Child’s Introduction to Poetry by Michael Driscoll
The Vocabulary Workbook for 6th Grade by Kelly Anne McLellan
The Bellwoods Game by Celia Krampien
Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G3 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 3 and random books that we have around the house. We are also starting the Reading Explorer series to focus on reading comprehension and word choice. We took a break from our read alouds to catch up on some other language arts and math work.
Poetry: National Geography Book of Nature Poetry
In the Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World by Virginia Hamilton
Math
Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 2. Effectively this is Singapore’s 7th grade math text. We covered a chapter about algebraic expressions. We don’t have formal logic book this year, but are focusing on lots of critical thinking and math puzzles.
Math in Focus Course 2 Book A
Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 3B and 4A. We finished up our logic book before moving to more complicated puzzles. We began a chapter about fractions.
Primarily Logic
Singapore Primary Common Core 3B
Social Studies
Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Modern History Vol. 1. Unfortunately CC only has volume 1 published so far. This will take us to Christmas break. If they don’t release volume 2 by then, I’m going to have to do it myself. We skipped history this week in favor of science.
Curiosity Chronicles Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
A Journey Through Art
Quentin is using Build Your Library Level 5 to begin our two year exploration of American History. We skipped history this year in favor of science.
History Quest United States History
DK When on Earth?
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
DK American History
Science
Arthur is using RSO Earth and Environment 2 and later RSO Astronomy 2 for science. We managed to do all our prep for Academic Co-op’s Physics class. The videos and practice problems took an entire science block but it was a good lesson. We even had time to fit in our next Earth Science lesson in between.
RSO Earth and Environment 2 (August-November; March-May)
RSO Astronomy 2 (November-March)
DK Eyewitness Energy
Quentin is using RSO Physics 1. We covered our next chapter about planes and wedges. We will stay with simple machines for the next month or so.
RSO Physics 1
The Story of Science Vol. 1 by Joy Hakim
Physics: Investigate the Mechanics of Nature by Jane Gardner
Physics for Curious Kids Introduction
The Way Things Work Now
Energy by Matt Mullins
Energy by Nancy Dickmann
Physics by Jane Gardner
Life, Mix, Fling! Machines Can Do Anything by Lola M. Schaefer
Enrichment STEAM Co-op /Academic Co-op
We had our second week of Academic Co-op. Things went much better this week than the previous week. Hopefully we are getting our groove. Arthur had a good week learning about physics and prehistoric Nebraska and playing chess and mancala. Quentin learned about bats and played some games.
Art and Music
We are doing something a little different this year. Instead of trying to do music and art every week, we will be trading off. I realized last year these subjects were always the first to be cut when we had time constraints. We managed a short lesson about Ancient Asian art for this week.
DK Music and How it Works
DK The Arts
Why is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge
The Story of the Incredible Orchestra by Bruce Koscielniak
Field Trip/Activities
We had another visit to Vala’s for our weekly fun.
High
On Friday, a friend hosted a curriculum planning event. It’s a chance for us adults to body double and/or socialize while planning our homeschool journey. It’s also a chance for the kids to hang out without any agenda or activity planned. It was a short event, but a lovely event.
Low
I ended the week very tired. Still struggling with our balance of activities and school.
Next Week
Continuing our read aloud (A) and starting a new read aloud (Q)
Moving forward with our math chapters
Learning about the New England and Atlantic English colonies (Q) and Colonization in Southeast Asia (A) for history
Covering Newton’s Laws (A) and more simple machines (Q) for science
Going to Academic Co-op for Week 3
Visiting Vala’s, celebrating the Co-op Halloween Party, and exploring the SAC Museum for a field trip
Next up on the TBR pile:
