What We Studied

We had a Flex Week (so needed this time around) and a normal week in the past two weeks. Beyond the actual teaching, I’ve been thinking about and planning for next year. Things are not going to radically change. I think we’ve hit onto a good system. Just needs some tweaks here and there.

Literature and Poetry

We picked up the next selection and thankfully it is so much better right away.

• The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Arthur tackled his first Shakespeare with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We covered some about Shakespeare himself the time period he lived in before reading a few version of Midsummer. We worked up to the actual Shakespeare at the end of the week and capped off our study with a movie version. We also found some great videos including three episodes from Crash Course Theater specifically about Shakespeare’s plays. The plan is to cover one Shakespeare play a year from now on. Next year I’m planning on having him read a complete scene. Not sure which play yet though.

• Nat Geo Book of Nature Poetry

• Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson

• Shakespeare’s Seasons by Miriam Weiner

• William Shakespeare and the Globe by Aliki

• Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare by Diane Stanley

• Will's Words: How William Shakespeare Changed the Way You Talk by Jane Sutcliffe

• William Shakespeare: Scenes from the Life of the World's Greatest Writer by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom

• A Midsummer Night's Dream retold by Georghia Ellinas

• A Stage Full of Shakespeare Stories by Angela McAllister

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 started the next in the Pooh series and will be sprinkling in the stories when we don’t have a country specific book. He also read me the entire Little Bear book. Getting much better as reading aloud!

• Nat Geo Book of Animal Poetry

• A World Full of Animal Stories by Angela McAllister

• Around the World in 80 Days by Saviour Pirotta

• The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne

• Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik

• Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring by Kenard Pak

• Penny and Her Marble by Kevin Henkes

• Penny and Her Sled by Kevin Hanks

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). Arthur ‘s been working on a review workbook before we move onto a Personal Finance unit. Quentin is moving through 1B now. Both boys finished their logic books this past week. We might take a break and pull out a games book instead of the next logic books.

• Logic Liftoff (Arthur)

• Kumon Geometry and Measurement Grade 4 WB

• Lollipop Logic Book 2 (Quentin)

• Singapore 1B

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 Martin Van Buren, indigenous lives, and the Trail of Tears. Hard week to discuss, but so important.

• 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

• A is for Abigail: F for First Ladies

• Smart About the First Ladies

Quentin continued his study of the world with Build Your Library Level 0. We continued our study of Africa with a focus on West African nations.

• 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

• Africa is Not a Country by Margy Burns Knight and Mark Melnicove

• Jaha and Jamil Went Down the Hill by Virginia Kroll

• Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales

• Ananse and the Lizard by Pat Cummings

• The Hatseller and the Monkeys by Baba Wagué Diakité

• Emmanuel's Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah by Laurie Ann Thompson & Sean Qualls

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. Our joint science class was cancelled due to sickness with the other family. We’ll hopefully get back at it this week. We did read about engines and watch a great Modern Marvels episode about Engines.

• 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 continued 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.

• Nat Geo Wild Animal Atlas

• DK Animal

• Lonely Planet: The Animal Book

• The Tarantula in My Purse by Jean Craighead George

• A Zeal of Zebras: Animal Groups on an African Safari by Alex Kuskowski

• Safari, So Good! All About African Wildlife by Bonnie Worth

• African Acrostics: A Word in Edgeways by Avis Harley

• African Critters by Robert B. Haas

• Elephants of Africa by Gail Gibbons

• Nat Geo Kids Elephants by Avery Elizabeth Hurt

STEAM Coop

The big kids have continued their engineering challenge making land sailboats and pasta bridges. Quentin did a study of time and seasons with a few fun little projects.

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 took a coop trip to see The Stink Cheese Man at The Rose Theater. Very fun production! We had lots of laughs watching the show. And the school rate tickets are only $5 a piece!

High

• We had a lovely Nature Explorers meeting at Chalco this past Friday. The kids got to explore the beach area by the water and the woods. We even walked the southwest portion around the lake. Not a great lake to walk in summer as there’s no shade, but it was great in March.

Low

• We tried to do a winter hike at Neale Woods two Fridays ago, but it was a terrible idea. It was a cold day, but that usually doesn’t stop us. I didn’t realize just how high up Neale Woods is on the bluffs. The wind chill was terrible! We bailed about 15 minutes in and went to the zoo instead. Unfortunately many of the districts had spring break so the zoo was packed. We still managed to see the desert, aquarium, giraffes, and elephants. In fact, the giraffes had a new baby and the elephants had a new baby just a few days after we were there. Can't wait to the see the babies next time we go.

Next Week

• Starting a Midsummer Night’s Dream retelling novel

• Playing some logic games

• Hopefully covering engines for physics

• Moving to Central Africa

Next up on the TBR pile: