Homeschool Day 1/31

 1st Grader

• We did all of his schoolwork outside, because it was very pretty out.  We used the sidewalk chalk on the driveway to do his math and reading.
• Miquon Math Orange
• Reading
• Explode the Code
• Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading
• Ancient Greek and Roman Unit Study
• Usborne Greek Myths
• Pompeii: Buried Alive
• National Geographic Kids: Planets
• Activity: He told me a monster myth story and I wrote it on paper.  He decorated it with markers.
• The Dragons of Blueland (read-aloud at bedtime)
• He played outside at the park

9th and 11th Graders

• Stewardship (11th) and Algebra 1 (9th)
• TSI Reading practice test - the 11th grader and I did it together
• English
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Discussion of the author and how we came up with the idea of the book
• Windows to the World - literary analysis
• The Outsiders (T.S. Hinton) - read-aloud
• Bible reading
• German (together)
• German Demystified
• Vocabulary - parts of the body
• Chemistry
• Mystery of the Periodic Table (9th grader)
• LAB: Acids, Bases and Ph
• The had 4 unknown solutions and had to identify them as acids, bases, water or phenolthalien

Ancient Greeks and Romans Unit Study (1st Grader)

 I'm just going to post my entire plan for the 1st grader's unit study on the ancient Greeks and Romans.  We already did Week 1 (I'm planning to do this for 4 weeks).

History Spines:

1. Usborne Time Traveler (Ancient Rome chapter)
2. Usborne Greek Myths

Literature

1. King Midas: the Golden Touch (Demi)
2. Pompeii, Buried Alive
3. The Trojan Horse (Little)

History

1. You Wouldn't Want to Be a Slave in Ancient Greece
2. You Wouldn't Want to Be a Roman Gladiator

Science

1. National Geographic Kids: Planets

Activities

• Make a play dough map of Greece and Italy
• Write a monster myth
• Research Greek weapons and shields, make a Greek shield from cardboard and paint it
• Make a poster of the planets in our solar system, learn about each planet
• Greek Olympics - research the events and try some of the events outside
• Make a playdough facade of the Parthenon
• Make a clay vase and paint it
• Archaeology Activity
• I'm not sure if I'm going to do this, but I got the idea from the book Brave Learner (by Julie Bogart).  I'm going to make a clay vase, have it harden, break it into pieces and my 1st grader will need to put the pieces back together.
• A study of the constellations would probably be good, too.

Homeschool Day 1/27

 1st Grader

• He didn't get much done, because he wanted to watch Winnie the Pooh.
• He read a BOB book
• Dragonbox Numbers
• Ancient Greece and Rome Unit Study
• Usborne Greek Myths
• Heracles

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• English
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde
• Windows to the World - literary analysis
• Bible
• Individual reading
• Study of Book of Revelation
• Chapters 21-22 (we finished)
• German
• German Demystified
• Names of countries in Europe
• Chemistry
• The Mystery of the Periodic Table (9th)
• LAB: Acids and Bases - learning to use Ph paper
• Theater (9th grader - outsourced)

Homeschool Day 1/26

 1st Grader

• Math
• Miquon Math Orange
• Adding dice x2s
• Reading
• Explode the Code
• Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading
• Random House Book of Bible Stories
• Ancient Greek and Roman Unit Study
• Usborne Greek Myths
• Arachne
• King Midas, the Golden Touch
• You Wouldn't Want to Be a Slave in Ancient Greece
• Activity: We looked at weapons and shields from Ancient Greece
• Project: He made and painted a shield from cardboard

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• English
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Windows to the World - literary analysis
• Bible
• Individual reading
• Study of Book of Revelation
• Chapter 20
• German
• German Demystified (together)
• Chemistry
• LAB: Acids and Bases
• Shakespearean Theater (11th grader - outsourced)

Homeschool Day 1/25

 1st Grader

• Math
• Adding 2's to the cuisinaire rods
• Miquon Math Orange
• Handwriting without Tears
• Elmer and the Dragon (read-aloud)
• Ancient Greek and Rome Study
• You Wouldn't Want to Be a Slave in Ancient Greece
• Usborne Greek Myths
• Persephone
• Gymnastics

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• English
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Bible
• Study of Book of Revelation
• Chapter 19 (group discussion)
• Chemistry
• Notebooking through the Periodic Table
• The Noble Gases
• The Elements
• Properties, atomic model, valence electrons, melting point/boiling point, states, reactivity, uses, radioactivity, etc
• Gymnastics
• Piano practice (11th grader - I always forget to add that)

Homeschool Day 1/24

 1st Grader

• Math
• Miquon Math Orange
• We went through adding 1's (which was too easy for him)
• Reading
• Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading
• Explode the Code
• Elmer and the Dragon (read-aloud)
• Random House Book of Bible Stories
• Ancient Greece and Rome Unit Study
• Located Greece and Italy on the atlas
• Activity: We made play dough maps of Italy, Greece and the Mediterranean
• Read
• You Wouldn't Want to Be a Slave in Ancient Greece
• Usborne Greek Myths
• Nature walk in the afternoon at the park

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• English
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Windows to the World - literary analysis
• Bible
• Individual reading
• Study of Revelation (together)
• Chapter 18
• German (together)
• German Demystified
• Vocabulary 
• Gospel of Matthew in German
• From Youtube's German Picture Bible Matthew chapter 2
• Chemistry
• Notebooking through the Nonmetals
• Characteristics
• Rutherford model of Silicon
• Conductivity, boiling points, melting points, valence electrons, etc
• The Elements - Bromine, Iodine, Silicon, Tellurium
• Voice lesson - outsourced (11th grader)
• Nature walk in the afternoon at the park (9th grader)

Homeschool Day 1/20

 1st Grader

• Reading
• Explode the Code
• He read a BOB book - and did not cry, so it was a success!
• Miquon Orange Math
• Addition with cuisinaire rods
• Elmer and the Dragon
• Random House Book of Bible Stories
• He played for hours with stuffed animals.  He actually cried when he realized we had finished our human body unit study (ha ha)

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th)
• 11th grader spent two hours working on a SAT practice essay
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• The Mystery of the Periodic Table (9th grader)
• Physics
• How Things Work Now (wrapping this up)
• Building the engine project
• We finished the engine!!  And it worked!  
• We talked through the four cycles of an internal combustion engine
• Discussed all the parts and how they work
• Cylinder
• Pistons
• Spark Plugs
• Intake/exit for air/fuel mixture

Homeschool Day 1/19

 1st Grader

• Miquon Math Orange 
• Adding up to 5 with cuisinaire rods
• Reading
• Explode the Code
• Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading
• Elmer and the Dragon
• He rode his bike and played basketball outside

9th and 11th Graders

• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Stewardship (11th) and Algebra 1 (9th)
• The 9th grader needed all of her problems worked out with me on the dry erase board (fraction-exponents)
• Physics - building the engine 
• They worked on the engine again for a loooong time. It's almost finished
• Bike-riding
• Piano - 11th grader played the piano for about an hour

We are taking it easy with school, because they had been sick last week.

Homeschool Day 1/18

 1st Grader

• Math
• He worked on the Montessori 100 Board - putting all the numbers on the board
• He counted by 5s and 10s
• Reading
• We played Bananagrams
• He read a BOB book
• Elmer and His Dragon
• Human Body 
• We finished 50 Wacky Things Humans Do
• This wraps up our study of the human body
• He played outside

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Bible: Study of Book of Revelation
• Revelation 14-16
• Physics: Building an engine activity
• They worked on the engine again for about an hour.  They're still not finished.  This is going to take all week
• The kit is Smithsonian Motor Works
• It's kind of a rough project - daddy had to start helping us

Homeschool Day 1/17

 1st Grader

• Math
• We threw lawn dice and added the numbers
• Miquon Math Orange
• Reading
• He read a BOB book
• 50 Wacky Things Humans Do
• Elmer and the Dragon
• He colored an art card with pastels
• We went on a nature walk

9th and 11th Graders

• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Stewardship (11th grader)
• Bible Study: Book of Revelation - we read and discussed chapters 12 and 13
• Art
• Pastels
• Physics
• We started building the engine (Smithsonian Motorworks Engine)
• Built about half the engine  - we had a hard time and needed to watch some YouTube videos on how to build it
• We went on a nature trail

QSL Physics Lab Kit - we finished and a review

https://www.qualitysciencelabs.com/qsl-physics/

This is the link for the QSL Physics lab kit.  It's designed for high school homeschool physics, so you could add the kit to a physics text and have a lab component that's possible to be done at home.  It has labs that cover movement, friction, momentum, pendulums, force, electronics, magnetism, motors, light, etc.  

I had a love/hate relationship with this lab kit.  

The drawbacks I felt right away:

1. It's very expensive.  I usually can not afford one kit for $300.  A dear homeschooling friend loaned the kit to us and that was the only way I was able to use it for our physics course.
2. The early labs were difficult to figure out (for us).  It didn't seem like the book explained the labs very well.  More pictures, especially in the electronics section, would've been helpful.
3. We had a hard time with the electronics labs.  I had to get help from a family member who used to be an electrician.  He was able to do the labs with us and show us how to use the multimeter, etc.
4. Some of the motion labs were more fun to do with toys.  We used matchbox cars and ramps for a couple of the labs.

I absolutely did not like the kit in the beginning and almost packed it up and put it away.  But, I tried a couple more labs and over the course of the semester, I fell in love with this lab kit.  I actually offered to buy the kit from my friend, because I know I would use it again with my youngest when he's in high school.  

The things I loved about the kit:

1. I took physics in high school and college and we never, ever got to actually USE electronic breadboards and components to try out different circuits.  The teens and I learned a ton about circuitry through this lab kit.  The breadboard is excellent and they give you extra components in case you drop a resistor or jumper wire.  All of the electronic labs WORKED.  I was very impressed.  I had to have the laptop open when we did the electronics labs, because we were trying to learn more about the components.
2. Lenses, Mirrors, Reflection/Refraction, Laser Beam Labs.  Another thing that seemed to be overlooked when I took physics in school.  There was never time to play with a prism and a laser beam.  The girls and I enjoyed the lens labs.
3. The Speed of Sound in Air lab.  Without giving away too much, this was also an excellent lab that I've never seen done in school.  
4. The math focus.  Every lab does have math to it.  Graphing, making charts, equations....  It IS physics, so there's math.  But it wasn't overwhelming.  Graphing, averages, etc are good skills to practice in the lab.

This kit is going to really be missed when I have to return it to my friend.  I'm pretty good at coming up with science labs and activities, but I don't think I would've been able to put together physics labs like this kit did.  It definitely added a lot to our physics course.

STEM Thursday 1/13

 1st Grader

• Dragonbox's Numbers (math app)
• Teach Your Monster to Read (reading app)
• Elmer and the Dragon
• The Random House Book of Bible Stories
• Zometools - he played with these for a long time.  He even built a two-story vehicle for his plastic animal guys

• We went to the park and built ultra-gliders and flew them
• We played pickleball again at the park

9th and 11th Graders

• 11th grader wrote an SAT practice essay
• 9th grader finished the literary analysis essay from Windows to the World
• Chemistry
• Notebooking through the periodic table (properties, atomic structure, melting points, boiling points, etc)
• Metals
• Metalloids
• Lanthanides
• Actinides
• Mystery of the Periodic Table (9th grader)
• Physics
• How Things Work Now
• QSL Physics Lab Kit
• Magnetism lab - we explored magnets, how they're made and how they affect magnetic compasses
• This was our final lab for that kit
• Ultraglider Lab - we set a blanket down in the grass at the park and made a few different ultra-glider designs from the Thames & Kosmos Ultraglider Kit and flew them to see which ones flew the best
• We played pickleball at the park again

Homeschool 1/12

 I was a little sick again, today, so we didn't get very much done.  

1st Grader

• Miquon Orange Math
• Reading
• Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
• Explode the Code
• Human Body
• 50 Wacky Things Humans Do
• Biology for Every Kid 
• Activities on hearing and magnification
• Elmer and the Dragon
• Random House Book of Bible Stories
• Physical Education: Pickleball 
• We went hiking in the woods and they played in a creek, looked for fish, etc.

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• 9th grader worked on the literary essay from Windows to the World
• They finished The Infographic Guide to American Government
• Physical Education: We played pickle ball
• We went hiking in the woods and they played in a creek, looked for fish, etc.

Homeschool Day 1/11

 I'm sick, so our school days might be sporadic, depending on how I feel.

1st Grader

• Miquon Orange Math
• Reading
• Explode the Code
• Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading
• Human Body
• 50 Wacky Things Humans Do
• We made muscle groups from play dough and placed them on a paper outline of the human body
• The Random House Book of Bible Stories
• Elmer and the Dragon
• He played outside

9th and 11th Grader

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• Windows to the World - they wrote the final and rough drafts of their literary essays on the short story "Contents of a Dead Man's Pocket"
• The Infographic Guide to American Government
• We did a Mock Trial.  Even the 6 year-old helped.  There are several mock trial scripts available for free online.  I printed copies for everyone and we acted out the trial together.

Homeschool Day 1/10

 1st Grader

• Miquon Math Orange
• Reading
• Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading
• Explode the Code
• Handwriting without Tears
• Bible
• The Legend of the Poinsettia
• The Random House Book of Bible Stories
• Human Body
• 50 Wacky Things Humans Do
• Activity: We made all of the major organs of the body out of play dough and placed them in their relative correct positions on a paper outline of a body.  We did the digestive system, lungs, heart, kidneys, bladder, brain, etc.
• Played outside
• Cub Scouts' Pinewood Derby

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th)
• English
• Windows to the World
• Read "Contents of a Dead Man's Pockets" (short story)
• Annotated the story and began a rough draft literary analysis essay
• Finished The Little Prince and did a group discussion of the book
• American Government
• Finished You Decide! Applying the Bill of Rights to Real Cases (EXCELLENT!!)
• The Infographic Guide to American Government
• Bible
• Revelation 10 and 11
• German (together)
• German Demystified, lesson 1 (pronunciation)
• Vocabulary - 5 nouns
• Listened and read Matthew chapter 1 from the Luther Bible

Our 3rd Has Now Applied to College

 Oldest two are still in college.  Both are straight A students and on the Dean's List.  The third will most likely be joining them in the fall (that will be my oldest daughter's last semester at that college, since she will be transferring in January 2023.  Oldest has also decided that she would like to continue with her Master's in Fine Arts, so she's going to be in school for quite a while yet.)  

My third plans to double major (like her sister) in Studio Art and Theater.  She also wants to take music classes at the college. 

We are going to work on essay-writing practice tests all next week to get her ready for the TSI. 

Homeschool Day 1/6

 9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• The Way Things Work Now
• Chemistry
• The Mystery of the Periodic Table
• Notebooking through the periodic table
• Alkaline Earth Metals
• The Elements
• Characteristics
• Electron orbitals
• Rutherford Models
• Boiling point, melting point
• Density
• Reactivity
• Radioactivity
• The Little Prince (deSaint Exupery)

Homeschool Day 1/5

 1st Grader

• Reading
• Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
• Explode the Code
• Miquon Math Orange
• Literature
• The House on Pooh Corner
• The First Adventures of Spider
• Practiced his address
• Human Body
• First Human Body Encyclopedia
• 50 Wacky Things Humans Do
• Lab - sugar tasting lab
• Tested the taste of sugar on different parts of our tongues (in the name of science)

9th and 11th Graders

• 11th grader took a TSI English practice test - only missed one question
• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• English
• Windows to the World - outlining the literary essay
• The Little Prince (discussion and reading)
• Bible
• Study of Book of Revelation - chapter 9 reading and discussion
• American Government
• The Infographic Guide to American Government
• You Decide! Applying the Bill of Rights to Real Cases
• 8th Amendment
• 2 Supreme Court cases
• Discussion of death penalty in the US
• Physics
• The Way Things Work Now
• QSL Physics Lab
• Transistor lab - measuring voltage around a circuit with a transistor in place on the breadboard
• This is actually our last electronics lab

Homeschool Day 1/3

 1st Grader

• Reading
• Explode the Code
• Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
• Miquon Math Orange - he did several pages - he likes math
• Literature
• The House at Pooh Corner
• First Adventures of Spider (African folktales)
• Human Body
• First Human Body Encyclopedia
• 50 Wacky Things Humans Do
• Van Cleeve's Biology for Every Kid (labs)
• Optical illusions labs

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• English
• The Little Prince (Saint Exupery)
• Windows to the World - literary essay
• The Way Things Work Now
• Mystery of the Periodic Table (9th grader)
• American Government
• You Decide! Applying the Bill of Rights to Real Cases
• Fifth and Sixth Amendment
• Discussed 2 Supreme Court cases
• The Infographic Guide to American Government
• Bible
• Revelation chapter 7

2022 -New Year, End of Year Tasks, etc

Records

 I keep records by the calendar year.  This weekend, I updated and finalized everyone's end of year records for 2021.  

On these EOY records, I include what we did for the year in these topics:

• Math
• Language Arts
• Literature
• Bible
• History/Geography
• Science
• Art & Music
• Extras
• Physical Education
• Field Trips
• Extracurricular Activities

Organizing

In our school room is a rolling book cart.  I cleaned everything off the cart that we are finished with and put it back on the book shelves.  

I filled in the month of January on our dry erase board calendar.

Planning: High Schoolers

Because we school year round, nothing is going to end in May.  I'm guessing we'll be finished with everything. except Stewardship at the end of March.  

My plan is to have them continue with:

1. Literature - I have a list of modern novellas that look interesting
2. Algebra 1 - she is almost finished with this.  I might have her finish and then either immediately start Geometry or take a break and work on some fun math or something
3. Stewardship/Personal Finance - I think she is only about halfway through this
4. Windows to the World
5. American Government - continue with Bill of Rights and Infographic Guide.  I'm going to do a mock trial with them and I want to take a field trip, but with Covid, I don't know how possible that will be.
6. Chemistry - I have two more science kits + finish periodic table
7. Physics - We still need to build our engine, launch our Estes rockets, finish the last 3 labs in the QSL Physics kit and do the ultra glider kit
8. Coding  

Another thing I need to do this semester is have the 11th grader apply to college and take the TSIs.  As soon as she passes those, she's going to graduate at the end of the semester.  She's very much ready for college.

Planning: 1st Grader

We followed The Well-Trained Mind this semester.  This is the first semester we've done that, because I usually put together unit studies.  I'm going back to unit studies this semester.  I've noticed a couple of things:

• He is not progressing in reading this semester.  I need to put half of what we're doing away and really, really focus on reading.  
• Our set-up had way too many moving parts and I prefer the continuity of unit studies.
• Life of Fred is being dropped, because he has absolutely no idea how to answer the questions.  It's too conceptual for him.

My first unit study for him will be the Human Body, because we were already studying that and I had more plans for it.

After that, I plan to do a study on the Ancient Greeks.

Homeschool Day: 1/1

 9th and 11th Graders

• Physics
• Capacitors Lab (from the QSL Physics Kit)
• Use a breadboard, LED, battery, resistor and 3 electronic capacitors to light an LED after a battery is disconnected
• Showing that capacitors store electrical charge
• Used a stopwatch to time how long it takes for the capacitors to run out of energy

    

Lutheran Bible Translators Living Water: New Testament through Music

https://lbt.org/livingwater-2/

Starting January 7 (it looks like from their website), Lutheran Bible Translators is offering the entire New Testament (ESV) set to music.  They are planning to release a chapter a day.