What We Studied

We were excited to start our week off with a bowling date and wanted to continue the fun with other activities. Unfortunately, we got hit with an ice storm (minor) and below zero temperatures (major). Our outside activities were all cancelled for the week. Here’s hoping next week is a bit more mild and offers opportunities to get outside.

Literature and Poetry

For the coop book club, we received the book (from the library), but have been reading a Terry Prachett book instead of starting it.

Another read aloud was started. This time, I started the book, but have been Arthur read it independently during his work time. We’re attempting to do more retelling and comprehension.

• Nat Geo Book of Nature Poetry

• One World, Many Religions by Mary Pope Osborne

• Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson

• Emily Dickinson: Letters to the World by Jeanette Winter

• The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis

Quentin focused on reading animal stories from around the world. I’m trying to line them up with our continents as we move across the world. We finished our read aloud. He didn’t seem super sad that it was over, but we did a conversation about the characters and the plot. So win!

• Nat Geo Book of Animal Poetry

• A World Full of Animal Stories by Angela McAllister

• Around the World in 80 Days by Saviour Pirotta

• Heartwood Hotel: A True Home by Kallie George

Math

For both boys, we have scheduled math for three days a week. One day is focused on logic, games, puzzles, and special projects. The two other days are focused on covering the main math curriculum (Singapore 4A and 4B for Arthur and Singapore 1A and 1B for Quentin).

• Logic Liftoff (Arthur)

• Singapore 4B

• Lollipop Logic Book 2 (Quentin)

• Singapore 1A

Social Studies

Arthur continued his large study of United States history using a combination of Build Your Library Level 5 and History Quest United States History. We covered the Presidency of James Madison and the War of 1812. I’m not going super in-depth with a lot of these topics, but we are hitting the high points.

• A Kid’s Guide to Native American History by Yvonne Wakim Dennis

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

• We were There Too by Philip Hoose

• Words that Built a Nation

• History Quest: U.S. History

• A Different Mirror

• DK American History Visual Encyclopedia

• Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• What the Eagle Sees

• The White House is Burning by Jane Sutcliffe

• Long May She Wave: The True Story of Caroline Pickersgill and Her Star-Spangled Creation by Kristen Fulton

• Our Flag was Still There: The True Story of Mary Pickersgill and the Star-Spangled Banner by Jessie Hartland

• Words that Built a Nation Pg. 66–69 – The Star-Spangled Banner and Francis Scott Key

• The Star-Spangled Banner by Peter Spier

• The National Anthem by Elaine Landau

Quentin continued his study of the world with Build Your Library Level 0. We’re continuing with our Asian country study. We covered more of Asia and moved into the Middle East.

• Nat Geo Beginner’s World Atlas

• DK Countries of the World

• DK Children Just Like Me

• DK Children Just Like Me: A School Like Mine

• Everybody Says Shalom by Leslie Kimmelman

• Snow in Jerusalem by Deborah Da Costa

Arthur Independent Time

We are working on following a checklist in a planner for weekly independent work. There’s usually some math workbook pages, an ELA packet, weekly writing prompts (1-2 times a week), independent reading time, and a special creative project. There has been many drawing projects lately.

Science

Arthur is focusing on Physics this year. We are covering the text and related videos at home and then joining friends for experiments and extra projects. Continuing our physic study with lessons on atoms and sensors. We moved to studying atoms and molecules (very briefly) and then moved onto static electricity.

• RSO Physics

• The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way by Joy Hakim

• The Way Things Work Now

Quentin will be focusing on animal science with BYL Level 0. We started watching a new documentary series called Magic of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It’s a behind the scenes look at caring for the animals at the park. Each episode is less than 30 minutes, so it’s a perfect length for Q. We also talked a lot about what animals do in winter.

• Nat Geo Wild Animal Atlas

• DK Animal

• Lonely Planet: The Animal Book

• The Tarantula in My Purse by Jean Craighead George

• A Drop Around the World by Barbara McKinney

STEAM Coop

Arthur’s group finished their stop-motion animation project with finished videos. So exciting! Quentin’s group covered the moon and planets this week and then played some board games. Next week, all the groups are moving to Engineering Challenges.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

We’re planning one doing on art project and one cooking project each week as well as picking a composer or musician to listen to and enjoy.

Field Trip

We didn’t have a coop field trip and our first Nature Explorers meeting was cancelled due to weather.

High

• I took the boys bowling for the first time on Monday! We met ups with two friends and their kids to have two hours of bowling. The alley was packed as it was Presidents’ Day. Thankfully I prepid for a lane so we slid right in. The boys really enjoyed it. We will have to take advantage of our Get Out Pass that includes a free monthly game at a local bowling alley.

Low

• Super sad that our first Nature Explorers meeting was cancelled. I didn’t particularly want to be outside for a few hours in below zero temperatures, but still we were sad to cancel.

Next Week

• Continuing a new read aloud (A)

• Finishing Singapore 4B for math (A)

• Covering electrical circuits for physics

• Moving to J. Monroe for US History

• Watching a few more animal documentaries

• Hoping to get outside for a hike

Next up on the TBR pile: