What We Studied

We left the house every single day this week (again). This wee was the Nebraska State Fair and I randomly decided on Saturday to take the kids on Monday. The fair location in Grand Island is about a 2 hour drive from home. So we left the house early on Monday morning to spend the day at the fair. Fun, but my goodness, it was exhausting when you add on a lake trip on Tuesday, science on Wednesday, coop on Thursday, and a Fontenelle Forest trip on Friday. A full week of activities!

Literature and Poetry

Arthur finished reading Through the Looking-glass this week. He didn’t like the sequel as much as the first book, but we wanted to cover the two volumes before watching a movie version. 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 continued our next book club selection, Word of Mouse. Trying to finish this coming 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 covered some interesting books focused on Native American cultures. 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

• A World Full of Animal Stories by Angela McAllister

• Around the World in 80 Days by Saviour Pirotta

• We are Grateful / Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell

• A Boy Called Slow: The True Story of Sitting Bull by Jospeh Bruchac

• Fry Bread by Kevin Noble Maillard

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

• Tinkeractive Math Kindergarten

• Lollipop Logic Book 2 (Quentin)

Social Studies

Arthur skipped history this week in favor of science. No problem, we’ll pick up where we left off next week.

Quentin began his study of the world with Build Your Library Level 0. We did a study of the United States. To celebrate, we made s’mores.

• 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

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 Third Law of Motion and conversation of momentum. They had fun making balloon rockets for their challenge level.

• 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

This was our first week post-closing registration. We have 21 families that have joined coop with a total of 38 students participating. We are just about at capacity! But I’m very excited about creating deeper bonds with everyone in coop. The older class continued their geology lessons this week with a focus on weathering and erosion. The younger two classes learned about fungi. Quentin was super excited to paint with mushrooms.

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.

For our cooking, Quentin made s’mores. Pretty basic for the U.S., but it was tasty. Next week’s Mexico menu will be better.

Field Trip

Our actual field trip was Friday’s visit to Fontenelle Forest. All the kids were tasked with spotting mushrooms along our hike. We found many different kinds and took tons of pictures. Of course the kids had to play at the playground after our walk and have a picnic before seeing the birds at Raptor Rescue.

High

• The State Fair was an experience! The boys are already asking if we can go next year. Only 360 days to wait…

Low

• So many activities meant that we are a bit behind on our book work. We’ll catch up (that’s why I build in flex weeks), but I’m not a fan of feeling behind.

Next Week

• Starting an ELA read aloud and a History read aloud (A)

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

• Moving on to Friction for Physics (A)

• Reading some animal stories (Q)

• Covering Mexico (Q)

• Covering geology (A) and fungi (Q) for coop - last week for geology (and me teaching!)

• Introducing the art of John Singleton Copley?

• Finishing Word of Mouse for coop book club

• Listening to Bach

Next up on the TBR pile: