Homeschool Day 9/30

 1st Grader

• Dragonbox's Numbers (math app)
• Teach Your Monster to Read (app)
• Wrote a letter to his ballet teacher and mailed it
• Did a connect the dots math page and colored it
• First Language Lessons 1
• Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day
• Wild animals coloring book

9th and 11th Grader: World Geography Week

• Night (Elie Wiesel)
• Animal Farm (read-aloud)
• World Geography
• Trail Guide to World Geography (Asia)
• Mapwork (Asia)
• Mapping the World with Art (North America)
• Red Scarf Girl (read-aloud)
• Researched and discussed Mao Zedong, genocide in China and the Chinese Cultural Revolution
• Reader's Theater (9th grader - outsourced class)

Homeschool Day 9/29

 1st Grader

• Go, Otto, Go (he read this to me)
• Winnie the Pooh (read-aloud)
• Explode the Code
• Sang his ABCs while we pointed to the alphabet
• Story of the World 1 (Egypt)
• Beginner's Bible
• First Language Lessons 1
• Math
• What's the Time, Mr. Wolf?
• Practiced telling time with the clock

9th and 11th Graders: World Geography Week

• Night
• Animal Farm (read-aloud)
• World Geography
• Trail Guide to World Geography (Asia)
• Mapwork (Asia)
• Mapping the World with Art (Hawaii)
• Shakespearean Theater (11th grader -outsourced class)

Homeschool Day 9/28

 1st Grader

• Winnie the Pooh (read-aloud)
• Go, Otto, Go (he read to me)
• Handwriting practice on the whiteboard app on the iPad
• Math
• Counted to 100
• Counted by 10s to 100
• Added lawn dice after we threw them in the grass
• Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day
• Bats
• Gymnastics
• Played outside

9th and 11th Graders - Geography Week

• Gandhi (movie)
• Night (Elie Wiesel)
• World Geography
• Mapping the World with Art (Antarctica)
• Red Scarf Girl
• Trail Guide to World Geography (Asia)
• Mapwork (Asia)
• Country Fact Report 
• Brazil - 11th grader
• Peru - 9th grader
• Gymnastics class
• Played outside

Homeschool Day 9/27

 1st Grader

• P.E. - we played disc golf together
• Math
• Telling time on the hour 
• Balance scale with gram weights
• Copywork
• He copied a sentence from his reading
• Reading
• Go, Otto, go (he finished reading this to me)
• Winnie the Pooh (read-aloud)
• First Language Lessons 1
• Story of the World 1 (Ancient Egypt)
• MetKids: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Looked at virtual exhibits of ancient Egypt
• Cub Scouts

9th and 11th Graders: World Geography Week (finishing our geography credit)

• Animal Farm (read-aloud)
• Night (Elie Wiesel)
• World Geography
• Mapping the World with Art (South America)
• Red Scarf Girl (audiobook)
• Trail Guide to World Geography (Asia)
• Map of the world puzzle
• Country Fact Reports - North America
• 9th grader did Canada
• 11th grader did the U.S.
• P.E. - we played disc golf at the park
• Piano Practice
• 11th grader did Driver's Ed and practiced driving (Aceable for driver's ed)

Homeschool Day 9/23

 1st Grader

• Winnie the Pooh (read-aloud)
• Wrote a letter to his cousin (wow, he really likes to write letters)
• First Language Lessons 1
• Story of the World 1
• Bible
• Paul Writes a Letter (Chris Raschka)
• Wild Math
• Tablespoon, teaspoon, half and a quarter
• Used rice to make measurements
• Played with the rice for H O U R S.
• Basketball at the park

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• Bible readings (Job - 11th, Joshua - 9th)
• Night (Elie Wiesel)
• Physics
• University of Colorado Boulder Projectile Motion Simulator
• "Projectile Motion and Parabolas - Science of NFL Football" (Youtube video)
• Conceptual Physics chapter 3 - I taught this on the dry erase board
• LAB
• Penny Dropped versus Pushed experiment on pg 35
• Catapult Experiment - we launched different weighted objects from a catapult and compared the distance.  The lighter objects traveled farther.
• Reader's Theater (9th grader - outsourced class)

Homeschool Day 9/22

 1st Grader

• Winnie the Pooh (read-aloud)
• See Otto (he read this to me)
• Explode the Code
• Copywork - copied two sentences from See Otto
• First Language Lessons 1
• Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day
• Megabats
• Played at the park

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• Bible reading (Job - 11th, Joshua - 9th)
• Night (Elie Wiesel)
• German
• Komm Mit 1 (9th)
• "Des Teufels russiger Bruder" (11th)
• Chemistry
• Masterbooks Chemistry
• Chemical Equations 2
• CE 2 Lab
• Coding
• Python
• Scratch
• Red Scarf Girl
• Shakespearean Theater (outsourced class - 11th grader)
• Played at the park (9th grader)

Homeschool Day 9/21

 1st Grader

• Playing at the park
• Winnie the Pooh (read-aloud)
• See Me Play (he read this to me)
• Handwriting practice - capitals on the whiteboard app on his iPad
• Story of the World 1 (we just started this)
• Wild Math 
• Practiced telling time to the hour
• Weight/Volume with plastic beakers.  He poured water back and forth into plastic beakers to see which ones held the most water.  We also weighed the water.  We weight 200ml of ice versus 200ml of water to see which weighed more (the water weighed more).

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• Night  (Elie Wiesel)
• Bible reading (Esther - 11th, Joshua - 9th)
• World Geography
• Mapping the World with Art
• Trail Guide to World Geography (finished Africa)
• Notebooking/notetaking
• Animal Farm (read-aloud)
• Gymnastics class

Homeschool Day 9/20

 1st Grader

• No school, because he was sick

9th and 11th Graders

• P.E. - Pickleball outside on the pickle ball courts at the park
• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• Bible reading (Joshua - 9th and Esther - 11th)
• English
• Night (Elie Wiesel)
• Strunk & White's Elements of Style - worked through examples on the dry erase board
• Animal Farm (Orwell)
• Red Scarf Girl (audiobook)
• Bible Study
• Apostle Study: Thaddeus
• Apostle Study: Simon the Zealot
• Gladys Aylward

Homeschool Day 9/17

 1st Grader

• School outside again, because it was so nice out
• Reading
• Winnie the Pooh
• Teach Your Monster to Read (app)
• Math
• Moose Math (app)
• Land Animals of the Fifth Day
• Piano

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• Bible readings (Joshua - 9th, Esther - 11th)
• SAT Prep - Khan Academy - 11th grader
• Animal Farm (read-aloud)
• German
• Komm Mit 1 (9th)
• "Des Teufels russiger Bruder" (11th)
• Physics - Free Fall Physics (these are videos on YouTube)
• "Galileo in a Nutshell"
• "Galileo Tower of Pisa Experiment"
• "Apollo 15 Hammer and Feather Drop"
• "The Stewardess Who Fell 33,000 Feet and Survived"
• "Mythbusters: Flight Attendant Freefall"
• "Mythbusters: Bullet Dropped versus Bullet Fired"
• No lab today, because I can't shoot in my house and drop something from an airplane.

Homeschool Day 9/15

 1st Grader

• Reading
• Winnie the Pooh (read-aloud)
• Moo Bird (finished)
• Writing
• He wrote a letter to his cousin and mailed it
• Beginner's Bible
• Ancient History
• Read a book about ancient Egypt
• German
• Learned the names of 5 animals
• Wednesday night church

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• Bible reading (Joshua - 9th, Esther - 11th)
• SAT Prep (11th)
• Animal Farm
• Coding
• Python projects
• Chemistry
• Masterbooks Chemistry, chapter 8: Chemical Equations 1
• Chemical reaction lab
• Shakespearean Theater (11th grader - outsourced class)
• Wednesday night church

Homeschool Day 9/14

 1st Grader

• Reading
• Winnie the Pooh (read-aloud)
• Moo Bird 
• Math
• We learned how to tell time by the hour
• Land Animals of the Fifth Day (bats)
• Ancient History
• Tutankhamen's Gift
• Gymnastics class
• Played at the park

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• Bible readings (Deuteronomy - 9th, Esther - 11th)
• Animal Farm
• World Geography
• Red Scarf Girl
• Mapping the World with Art (Africa)
• Trail Guide to World Geography (Africa)
• German
• "Des Teufels russiger Bruder" (11th)
• Komm Mit 1 (9th)
• Teaching Gymnastics class
• Played at the park

Homeschool Day 9/13

 1st Grader

• Reading
• Winnie the Pooh (read-aloud)
• Moo Dog (he read this to me)
• Copywork
• Math
• Measured 5 items outside with a tape measure 
• Graphed their sizes on the driveway using sidewalk chalk
• +2 math facts
• Beginner's Bible
• Ancient Egypt
• P.E. - Volleyball at the park
• Boy Scouts

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• English
• Animal Farm (read-aloud)
• Creative writing
• Strunk & White's Elements of Style
• Bible
• Bible reading (Esther - 11th, Numbers - 9th)
• Gladys Aylward
• Saint James the Lesser, the Apostle
• bio
• The 12 Outlaws
• Rose's Book of Bible Charts and Graphs
• P.E. - Volleyball at the park
• Piano - both practiced 

Homeschool Day 9/9

 1st Grader

• Teach Your Monster to Read
• Handwriting practice on the whiteboard app on the iPad
• Winnie the Pooh (read-aloud)
• Math
• Rolled yard dice, lined the dice up in order from smallest to largest
• Rolled four yard dice and added them
• Beginner's Bible
• History
• Read Egyptian Gods and Goddesses
• Read How People Lived in Ancient Egypt
• He did better with school today.  He seemed to be less shocked by history.

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• Animal Farm
• Movie: Hotel Rwanda (ok, not for kids, but I let the teens watch it - it's a true story about the genocide in Rwanda in 94)
• Bible reading (9th grader is in Leviticus/11th grader is in Esther)
• Physics
• Acceleration - discussed on the whiteboard
• Mythbusters episodes
• "Mythbusters vs. Race Car"
• "Cutthroat Race"
• Video: "The insane speed of F1 cars"
• LAB: Acceleration lab using a physics cart, an inclined plane and weights
• Calculated acceleration of a cart as it travels 1.5m down an incline plane
• Calculated acceleration of a cart loaded with 150g of weight as it travels 1.5m down an incline plane
• Calculated the difference in acceleration.  Obviously, the weighted cart had a faster acceleration
• Reader's Theater (9th grader - outsourced class)

1st Grader's Changes/Mid-week Review

 I normally do not curriculum hop and change my plans frequently - at least not this frequently.  But, I am really trying to find something that works for the 1st grader.  I'm dealing with vision issues, a fear of reading (from the vision issues) and his neediness and wanting me to do "school" with him constantly.

I spent this week taking The Well-Trained Mind for a test drive.  Here's my thoughts.

Language Arts

• It's just way too much Language Arts for a 6 year-old.  
• He does not like First Language Lessons.  He looked at me like I was absolutely crazy when I tried to go through the first couple of lessons.
• He does not like All About Reading (long story if you've read the other posts on my blog, but he thinks the readers will give him a headache, because that's what happened before we got his glasses - sigh)
• The perfect combination for him right now seems to be:
• Explode the Code
• A beginning reader book (like Moo Dog) that he can try to read to me and we sound out the words together
• Copywork/Handwriting

History: Ancients

• I got some great kids books about Ancient Egypt from the library.  We started to read one of them.  It was mostly about the Egyptian gods.  He FREAKED out.  His questions were like this:
• Are these monsters??
• Are they real?
• Did this really happen??
• Why would they talk to these monsters???
• Why are you saying they're gods??  They're not God!
• As you can imagine, we could not finish the book and I am basically sitting here with my head in my hands.  I do not know what to do.  

Flying Creatures of the 5th Day (Apologia)

• He actually likes this - a lot.  

Literature

• I added real literature to his day - not just picture books (we read those at bedtime anyway).  I'm reading Winnie the Pooh and he loves it.  He's been sitting on the floor making pretend pizzas while I read.  I was surprised he liked this so much.  We read a big chunk of the book in just one week.  

Music

• I picked up Beethoven's Wig from the library - very cool!
• He is so excited to learn how to play the piano.

Art

• He loves art.

So, the hits:

•  Real children's literature
• Actually reading a book to me- instead of a reading curriculum
• Science
• Music & Art

I actually learned a lot about what he likes this week.  Could he be more of a Charlotte Mason guy?? 

Homeschool Day 9/8

 1st Grader

• Winnie the Pooh
• Moo Dog (he read this to me)
• First Language Lessons 1
• Explode the Code
• Apologia's Land Animals of the Fifth Day
• Wednesday night church

9th and 11th Graders

• Animal Farm
• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• Bible reading
• German
• Komm Mit 1 (9th)
• "Des Teufels russiger Bruder"
• Chemistry (Masterbooks)
• Chapter 7: Chemical Reactions
• I taught the lesson
• We did the lab
• We watched a video showing the reaction via chemical equations
• Happy Atoms
• Coding/Programming
• 9th grader worked with MIT's Scratch
• 11th grader downloaded Idle onto the Raspberry Pi and did one of the graphics projects from the Python project book
• They spent a GOOD hour and a half just on coding today
• Shakespearean Theater (11th grader - outsourced class)
• Wednesday night church

Homeschool Day 9/7

 1st Grader

• Gymnastics Class
• Winnie the Pooh (read-aloud)
• Moo Dog (reader)
• Phonogram Bingo
• Explode the Code
• Beginner's Bible
• Math
• Math War Game from www.educationunboxed.com

9th and 11th Graders

• Animal Farm
• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• Bible reading
• World Geography
• Countries of the World Geography puzzle
• Red Scarf Girl (China)
• Trail Guide to World Geography (Africa)
• Mapping the World with Art
• Teaching gymnastics

Homeschool Day 9/6

 1st Grader (our first day giving The Well-Trained Mind a trial run)

• Winnie the Pooh (read-aloud)
• Moo Dog (reader)
• Copywork - he copied a couple of words from Moo Dog
• First Language Lessons 1
• Apologia's Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day (Bats)
• The Great Animal Search
• Bat - connect the dots coloring page

9th and 11th Graders

• Animal Farm
• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship/Personal Finance (11th)
• English
• Strunk & White's Elements of Style (went over clauses and commas/semi-colons)
• Written narration of Diary of a Young Girl 
• Went over outlining when writing
• Bible
• Bible reading
• Gladys Aylward (read-aloud)
• St. Thomas the Apostle
• biography
• discussion using Rose's Bible Charts and Graphs, also The 12 Outlaws
• German
• 9th grader - Komm Mit 1
• 11th grader - "Des Teufels russiger Bruder"
• Khan Academy's SAT Prep (11th grader)

Changes to 1st Grade

I'm giving The Well-trained Mind a trial run week with the 1st grader.  Throughout the day, he's crying and interrupting the high schoolers' school time.  He's begging to do the high schoolers' chemistry and physics labs.  A couple of days ago, he was climbing all over the kitchen island while the girls were trying to do their Chromatography lab.  Yesterday, he cried because the 9th grader was working with Python and well, he wanted to program with Python, too.  *rolling my eyes*

I am basically tripling his school, which I've never had to do with a kid before.  He seems to need more structure and more challenge.

This is a great thing about homeschooling - you can try new things and adjust their workload to meet the needs of your child.

I've put together a curriculum based off The Well-Trained Mind 1st grade/Grammar Stage.  It was the most structured method of homeschooling that I could think of.  

3 Daily Subjects

• Language
• Read-aloud and a Reader
• All About Spelling
• First Language Lessons 1
• Writing
• Copywork (1-2x per week)
• Writing letters to grandma (1x per week)
• Math
• Continuing Wild Math 1

Subjects 2-3x a Week

• History 
• Ancient History
• Library books, projects, etc
• Science
• Land Animals of the 6th Day
• Wild Animals Coloring Book
• The Great Animal Search
• Bible
• Keep doing what we're doing

Fridays

• Art - outsourced at an enrichment center
• Music
• Starting piano
• Beethoven's Wig series
• German
• I'm looking around

I'll update at the end of next week and see how these changes went - if he liked them or disliked them.

Homeschool Day 9/2

 1st Grader

• Read some CVC words using wooden letter blocks
• Wooden lawn dice - we threw the dice and added the numbers
• Beginner's Bible
• We read DK Children's Encyclopedia: Volcanos
• He built a volcano from clay, poured red-colored vinegar in the volcano and added baking soda to make it "erupt"

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship/Pers Fin (11th)
• Bible reading
• Physics (we spent hours on physics today)
• Mythbusters: Penny Drop Mini-Myth
• Mythbusters: Bus Chaos from the Speed movie
• Discussions
• Center of gravity
• Maximum acceleration of a falling object
• LAB: Whirlybird Speed
• Made a helicopter from paper
• Dropped from about 3 m
• Calculated average speed after 3 trials
• Made alterations to each helicopter
• Retested the new helicopters/calculated average speed
• Found that adding weight increased the speed the helicopters fell

Homeschool Day 9/1

 1st Grader

• Reading
• We went over the alphabet again and each letter sound.  He practiced writing each letter with his finger on the Whiteboard app on his iPad
• Math
• We played "What's in the box?" http://www.educationunboxed.com/whats-in-the-box-part-one/
• Rolled dice, listed numbers from smallest to largest
• Summer's Lab Science
• Lab workbook about mountains
• Started the Volcano section
• Looked at igneous rocks from our rock kit

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship/Personal Finance (11th)
• Bible reading
• Animal Farm (read-aloud)
• Chemistry
• Lesson 6: Atomic Theory - I taught this lesson on the dry erase board and answered questions
• Chromatography Lab
• Coding
• Boy, they really went nuts with this one.  One of them tried out a project from a Python project book from the library.  One of them spent hours writing code for a game on MIT's Scratch.  She even watched some videos on how to program Sprite movements she was unsure of.
• Red Scarf Girl (world geography)
• We listened to the audiobook for about an hour
• Discussed Communism, China, the Communist Revolution in China, how the communists tried to erase traditional culture in China, etc.  
• Shakespearean Theater class (outsourced - 11th grader)