What We Studied

We left the house every single day this week. Exhausting! But we had a great time exploring some places.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur started reading Through the Looking-glass this week. We hope to finish next week so we can watch one (or two) movie versions of Alice. He also has a weekly poetry selection. We continued our Myths and Maps extra curriculum from B&R. We began covering creation stories from around the world. I’m liking these short retellings of myths. Eventually we will add our squares to a world map and see where all the civilizations are. We started our next book club selection, Word of Mouse, and will probably finish late next week.

• Through the Looking-glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll

• Nat Geo Book of Nature Poetry

• In the Beginning by Virginia Hamilton

• Word of Mouse by James Patterson

Quentin finished reading The Very Very Far North for his read aloud. We are to going to take a break from a long read aloud book in favor of some picture books for the next few weeks.. We also started sprinkling in animal stories from around the world. I’m trying to line them up with our continents as we move across the world.

• Nat Geo Book of Animal Poetry

• The Very Very Far North by Dan Bar-El

• A World Full of Animal Stories by Angela McAllister

• Around the World in 80 Days by Saviour Pirotta

• Biscuit and the Great Fall Day by Alyssa Satin Capucilli (Q reads)

• You are a Beautiful Beginning by Nina Laden

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). I also found a fun packet of logic puzzles based on Alice in Wonderland. We will be spreading these out over our reading of the text.

• Logic Liftoff (Arthur)

• Singapore 4A

• Alice in Pastaland: A Math Adventure by Alexandra Wright

• Tinkeractive Math Kindergarten

• Lollipop Logic Book 2 (Quentin)

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 did a bit more exploration of the various groups of Native Americans. Arthur also continued reading a graphic novel collections of Native American tales as part of his independent work.

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

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

• The Earth Under Sky Bear’s Feet: Native American Poems of the Land by Joseph Bruchac

• Turtle Island: The Story of North America’s First People by Eldon Yellowhorn and Kathy Lowinger

• What the Eagle Sees: Indigenous Stories of Rebellion and Renewal by Eldon Yellowhorn and Kathy Lowinger

• Trickster: Native American Tales by Matt Dembicki

• History Quest: U.S. History

Quentin began his study of the world with Build Your Library Level 0. We did a study of Canada complete with a Canada food night. We had Maple Chicken, Wild Rice, Bannock Bread, and Blueberry Crisp. I had saved a Sunnie Press map featuring Banff, Alberta, Canada that was perfect for the week.

• Nat Geo Beginner’s World Atlas

• DK Countries of the World

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• DK Children Just Like Me

• DK Children Just Like Me; A School Like Mine

• Carson Crosses Canada by Linda Bailey Kass Reich

• Canada ABCs by Brenda Haugen

• Follow Me Around Canada by Wiley Blevins

• Canada through Time: Canada Today

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. Beyond the paperwork, Arthur focused on his game he’s been making (Lord of the Book) and some random side creative projects.

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. This week the boys learned about Newton’s Second Law of Motion. Their engineering project was to make a solar powered windmill. For our history of science, we read a chapter more about the Greeks and the three “A”s.

• RSO Physics

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

Quentin will be focusing on animal science with BYL Level 0. We talked about animals of North America.

• Nat Geo Wild Animal Atlas

• DK Animal

• Lonely Planet: The Animal Book

STEAM Coop

Coop continued with a slightly smaller group (thank goodness). We had a great week where the older kids learned about minerals and gems. They got to dig for their own gems. Simple, and yet, loads of fun. The younger groups finished their theme of reptiles and amphibians. Quentin make a frog and frog life cycle.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking

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. This week, art and music just didn’t happen. But that’s okay. This is why I have built in flex weeks to catch up on some of the things that get pushed aside during a normal week.

Thursday as a bit of a slog and we didn’t make it to art class. But I put it as a definite for next week.

Field Trip

On Monday, I grabbed a library pass for The Durham Museum so we could check out the dinosaur exhibit before it closes on Sept. 4th. We had to go through that particular section three times before we moved on to the rest of the museum. This visit, the boys really got interested in checking out the 1898 Exposition models.

On Tuesday, we had a coop field trip to Heron Haven to spy animals (specifically reptiles and amphibians). We ended up seeing a heron, lots of ducks, turtles, and some frogs. I loved spying the frogs in the algae on the pond.

High

• Tween Gaming - On Friday, we met some other homeschoolers at a local game shop and played some games. I was impressed by the variety of games they stock (that I’ve never heard of). We ended up buying Pokemon: Battle Academy. The shop has open Pokemon play on Sunday afternoons. We will have to check it out soon.

• Family Trivia Night - Tuesday night, we headed over to the cafe/bar for General Trivia night. We had fun, but ultimately came in second. It was still fun.

Low

• Um… there was a bit of bickering between the boys this week and we had to separate often.

Next Week

• Finishing the sequel to Alice in Wonderland (A)

• Learning about Native American cultures of the West Coast (A)

• Moving on to Newton’s Third Law for Physics (A)

• Reading some animal stories (Q)

• Covering United States and Mexico (Q)

• Covering geology (A) and fungi (Q) for coop

• Introducing the art of John Singleton Copley?

• Finishing Word of Mouse for coop book club

• Listening to Bach

• Going to the Nebraska State Fair!

Next up on the TBR pile: