Homeschool W15: Turkey Day and the Start of Christmas

What We Studied

We had a break week for Thanksgiving and a normal week. But with the start of December, our activities increased dramatically. The amount of actual schoolwork that we will get done this month will be small.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur and I started our next read aloud. This will take us toward the end of the year. Even a third of the way in, we are really enjoying this one.

• Nat Geo Book of Nature Poetry
• In the Beginning by Virginia Hamilton
• Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia
• The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
• Many Lucious Lollipops by Ruth Heller

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 continued Europe and covered stories from Poland, ___. We also read a ton of random picture books to supplement.

• Nat Geo Book of Animal Poetry
• A World Full of Animal Stories by Angela McAllister
• Around the World in 80 Days by Saviour Pirotta
• Four Good Friends by Margaret Hillert (Quentin Reads)
• Beatrice Likes the Dark by April Genevieve Tucholke
• How to Catch a Witch by Alice Walstead and Megan Joyce
• How to Catch a Monster by Adam Wallace and Andy Elkerton
• A Spoonful of Frogs by Casey Lyall
• Sir Ladybug and the Queen Bee by Corey R. Tabor
• Fall Leaves by Loretta Holland
• Babushka Baba Yaga by Patricia Polacco
• Sir Ladybug and the Bookworms by Corey R. Tabor
• Wonder Walkers by Micha Archer
• Creepy Crayon by Aaron Reynolds
• Shape Shift by Joyce Hesselberth
• The Cookie House by Margaret Hillert (Quentin Reads)
• The Glass Mountain: Tales from Poland by David Walser
• The Little, Little House by Jessica Souhami
• Luba and the Wren by Patricia Polacco
• The Cats in Krasinski Square by Karen Hesse
• The Mitten by Jan Brett

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 started 4B this section. I don’t imagine that it’s going to take us all that long to finish.

• Logic Liftoff (Arthur)
• Singapore 4B
• Lollipop Logic Book 2 (Quentin)
• Smart Start Math Grade 1

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’ve started the section covering the Revolutionary War. I’m loving one of our read aloud resources.

• 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
• Cobblestone: North American Beaver Fur Trade
• Struggle for a Continent: The French and Indian Wars by Betsy Maestro
• King George: What was His Problem? How to Start a Revolution
• Map Skills for Today Grade 3

Quentin continued his study of the world with Build Your Library Level 0. We moved onto studying Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, .

• 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
• P is for Poland by Agnieszka Mrówcyzńska & Prodeepta Das

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. We took a bit of a break from Physics to explore paper making and print making. The boys even got to make their own homemade paper. After thinking about it, we’re going to recycle (heehee) that idea for coop for spring.

• 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.

• Nat Geo Wild Animal Atlas
• DK Animal
• Lonely Planet: The Animal Book
• The Tarantula in My Purse by Jean Craighead George

STEAM Coop

We are running right up tot he end of the semester Arthur is continuing the genetics unit while Quentin is learning about mental health.

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 music just didn’t happen. But that’s okay. Arthur’s continued with the Outschool drawing class. This week’s animal was a fox and flamingo together. We actually had our last class until probably January Life is just a little hectic right now.

Field Trip

During Thanksgiving week we joined some coop friends at the zoo. We haven’t been the zoo since August. It was nice to get out and the weather was perfect for our excursion.

High

• We had a small get together to work on our service project. The coop chose to make no-tie fleece blankets for the local animal shelter. I only finished two blankets, but we had a great chat while cutting and tying.

Low

• Not much actual schoolwork was finished this past two weeks. That’s okay, but I had hoped to get a little further in our curriculum.

Next Week

• Continuing our new read aloud (A)
• Learning more about the Revolutionary War for US History (A)
• Moving forward with 4B for Math (A)
• Coming back to physics air and air pressure (A)
• Covering more of Eastern Europe for social studies and science (Q)
• Covering genetics, (A) and mental health (Q) for coop - it’s the last coop meeting of the semester!

Next up on the TBR pile: