Mathstart Series

https://www.mathstart.net

Our library has the MathStart series and I'm starting to read through the Level 2 and Level 3 books with the 2nd grader.  Almost all of these are in our library system (through inter-library loan).

The MathStart website has a list of books by level and then what math concept is taught in the book.

Level 2 Books - these are meant for grades 1-2

• Animals on Board (addition)
• The Best Vacation Ever (collecting data)
• Bigger, Better, Best (area)
• Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes (shapes)
• Coyotes All Around (rounding)
• Elevator Magic (subtraction)
• A Fair Bear Share (addition)
• Give Me Half (half, obviously)
• Mall Mania (addition)
• Comparing Numbers
• 100 Days of Cool (100)
• Pepper's Journal (calendars)
• Probably Pistachio (probability)
• Racing Around (perimeter)
• Spunky Monkeys on Parade (skip-counting)
• Super Sand Castle Saturday (measuring)
• Tally O'Malley (tallying)

Level 3 Books - these are meant for grades 2-4

• Betcha! (estimating)
• Dave's Down to Earth Rock Shop (classifying)
• Dinosaur Deals (equality)
• Divide and Ride
• Game Time
• The Grizzly Gazette (percent)
• Hamster Champs (less than, greater than)
• Jump, Kangaroo, Jump (fractions)
• Lemonade for Sale (bar graphs)
• Less Than Zero (negative numbers)
• The Penny Pot (money)
• Polly's Pen Pal (metrics)
• Ready, Set, Hop (equations)
• Rodeo Time (schedule)
• Room for Ripley (volume)
• Safari Park (solving unknowns)
• Shark Swimathlon (subtraction)
• Slugger's Car Wash (money)
• Too Many Kangaroo Things to Do (multiplication)
• Treasure Map (mapping)

The MathStart website also has videos on how to read the books, printable PDF activity pages, a full list of the books, etc.

Homeschool Week 9/26-9/29

I'm recording things by week, because we were so busy. 

2nd Grader

Math

• We read several chapters of Life of Fred Butterflies
• He played the Mathemagician Game (board game using addition/subtraction)

Reading/Language Arts

• All About Reading - we are crawling through this like snails
• All About Spelling
• Handwriting without Tears

Science

• The Good and the Beautiful Marine Biology
• Finished Sharks
• We started the lesson on Marine Mammals 
• Astronomy
• We looked at Jupiter through the telescope, because it was very close to the Earth this week
• We were able to see 4 moons of Jupiter, which I am assuming were Io, Europa, Callisto and Ganymede (the four largest moons)

Sonlight B World History 1 (Bible, literature and history)

• Read-aloud: The Year of Miss Agnes (what a great book!)
• Time Traveler - almost finished with Ancient Egypt
• The Ology
• Kate and Mack - this book is very enjoyable
• Bedtime read-aloud: Henry and Ribsy

Outsourced Classes

• Ballet
• Lego Engineering (at a homeschool enrichment center)
• Theater (enrichment center)
• Karate

10th Grader

Geometry

• Mathusee Geometry

Bible

• Daily Bible readings
• Mere Christianity (CS Lewis)

Grammar

• 10th Grade Ultimate Grammar workbook

Astronomy

• Smithsonian's The Planets
• She also viewed Jupiter through the telescope this week.  This is the closest it's been to Earth since the 1960s.
• We saw four moons orbiting Jupiter, which I'm assuming were Io, Europa, Callisto and Ganymede
• NASA MicroObservatory - we finally got our picture of the sun (if you go on their website and request a picture, they will take a picture using Harvard's telescope and email it to you)

Bookshark J History of Science (literature and history)

• We dropped The Gammage Cup - I'm realizing that she just really does not like fantasy fiction. Neither of us could get into this book and we're about halfway through the book
• Newton at the Center (Hakim)
• The Clockwork Universe
• I requested our next two books - The Giver and The Westing Game (we are reading the Bookshark books out of order)

Korean

• She is enjoying DuoLingo's Korean

Fine Arts

• Ukulele
• We are going out to buy a capo this weekend, so she can play more complicated songs
• Ballet class
• She is going to a professional ballet performance this evening

STEM

• We did not do our STEM Friday class this week, because of ballet

Physical Education

• Indoor rock climbing

Field Trip: Frontiers of Flight Museum

 This was such a great field trip.  Frontiers of Flight is located near Love Field in Dallas, Texas.  

Website: www.flightmuseum.com

At the time of our field trip, they are open 7 days a week and it's $12 for adults and $9 for kids 3 and over.

With the exception of some aircraft at the entrance, the entire museum is indoors and air conditioned.  If you look at everything, it takes about 2 hours to get through the museum.  There is also an indoor play area for toddlers/preschoolers, so factor that in the time you need to see everything (if you have a preschooler).

They have actual aircraft from early 20th century gliders to the Apollo 7 Command Module.  There are displays on zeppelins, WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, commercial jets...  One of the retired Blue Angels jets is in the museum.  There is a great spacecraft display, including the original Apollo 7, spacesuits, food for astronauts, the phases of spacecraft needed for the Apollo missions to the moon, a piece of rock from the moon, etc.

My kids loved this field trip.

Some pictures from the museum:

  Apollo 7 Command Module

Homeschool Day 9/21

 2nd Grader

Math

• Life of Fred Butterflies

Reading

• All About Reading

Science

• The Good and the Beautiful Marine Biology
• Sharks

Sonlight B World History 1 (Bible, literature, and history)

• All of our usual Sonlight readings (Kate and Mack, Time Traveler, etc)
• The Year of Miss Agnes (read-aloud)
• Henry and Ribsy (bedtime read-aloud)

10th Grader

Geometry

• Mathusee Geometry - Honors pages

Bible

• Mere Christianity (CS Lewis)
• Daily Bible reading

Astronomy

• Smithsonian's The Planets

Bookshark J History of Science (history and literature)

• Newton at the Center
• The Clockwork Universe
• The Gammage Cup
• She worked on her spelling words

Korean

• Duolingo

Fine Arts

• She practiced ukulele

We finished school at 2:30pm. 

Homeschool Day 9/20

 2nd Grader

Math

• Math War card game (addition and subtraction)

Language Arts

• Handwriting without Tears

Karate class (outsourced at enrichment center)

Bedtime read-aloud: Henry and Ribsy (Beverly Cleary)

Trip to the library

10th Grader

Bible

• Mere Christianity (CS Lewis)

Fine Arts

• Collaborative Ukulele/Guitar class (outsourced at enrichment center)

Bookshark J History of Science (history and literature)

• Newton at the Center
• The Clockwork Universe - this is getting interesting!
• The Gammage Cup

She taught gymnastics class (outsourced at enrichment center)

Back to the Grind: 9/19

 2nd Grader

Math

• Life of Fred Butterflies
• Practiced counting by 2s and 5s

Reading/Language Arts

• He didn't feel like reading and honestly, I didn't feel like it, either
• We did Handwriting without Tears

Science

• The Good and the Beautiful Marine Biology
• Lesson on Sharks
• Shark fact puzzle 
• He spent some time working on his robot - getting it to roll into the kitchen, get cat treats and then bring the cat treats to the cat, who was terrified by a cat-treat-bringing robot

Sonlight B World History 1 (Bible, literature and history)

•  Sonlight readings
• The Year of Miss Agnes (read-aloud)- this is a GREAT book!
• Henry and Ribsy (Beverly Cleary) - bedtime read-aloud

Fine Arts

• Easy Peasy Music Appreciation Ancients
• Percussion

10th Grader

Geometry

• Mathusee Geometry
• We reviewed how to find slope from Algebra 1

Bible

• Mere Christianity (CS Lewis)

Easy Grammar 10th Grade Ultimate workbook

Astronomy

• Smithsonian's The Planets

Bookshark J History of Science (literature and history)

• Newton at the Center
• The Clockwork Universe (just started this book)
• The Gammage Cup (read-aloud)
• We worked on:
• Spelling words
• Literary Analysis of Going Solo

Korean

• DuoLingo

Fine Arts

• Ballet class (outsourced)

College Kids Update

• All three of them still have straight As again so far
• Kid #2 has an enormous amount of homework for Anatomy & Physiology 1

9/16: More Tinkercad and 3D Printing

 2nd Grader

• Lego Engineering Class (outsourced at enrichment center)
• Theater Class (also at enrichment center)

10th Grader

STEM/Technology 

• We're going to the library to get help using the 3D Printer
• Printing Tinkercad design from the previous Friday

Tinkercad

I'm finding all kinds of interesting things to learn on this website.  It's completely free to use and create an account.

www.tinkercad.com

You can create:

• 3D designs (similar to autocad, but easier to use)
• Circuits - you can design them, connect the components and then run a simulation showing you how the circuit will work
• Codeblocks - similar to the 3D design, but using coding tabs that can be modified

There are tutorials on the website and "lessons" to work through.  You can also just create a project without any instruction.

Edited to add:

We found out the hard way that you need to make sure your Tinkercad creation has a sturdy base.  We created an object for 3D printing that was a bit top-heavy and it ended up falling over during printing and ruining the project.  We had to go back into Tinkercad and add a square base.

Homeschool Day 9/15

 2nd Grader

Math

• Life of Fred Butterflies

Reading/Language Arts

• All About Reading
• All About Spelling

Sonlight B World History 1 (Bible, literature and history)

• The Year of Miss Agnes (read-aloud)
• Time Traveler
• The Ology
• Henry and Ribsy (bedtime read-aloud)

Physical Education

• We went rollerskating

10th Grader

Geometry

• Mathusee Geometry

Bible

• Mere Christianity (CS Lewis)

Easy Grammar 10th Grade Ultimate workbook

Astronomy

• Smithsonian's The Planets

Foreign Language

• Duolingo Korean (free online)

Bookshark J History of Science (history and literature)

Physical Education

• We went rollerskating

Homeschool Day 9/14

 2nd Grader

We did not get much done, because this kid was losing his mind all day.    

We did our Sonlight B reading (literature, Bible and history).

Bedtime read-aloud: Henry and Ribsy (Beverly Cleary)

10th Grader

Math

• Mathusee Geometry

Bible

• Daily Bible reading (2 Kings)
• Mere Christianity (CS Lewis)

Easy Grammar 10th Grade Ultimate workbook

Astronomy

• Smithsonian's The Planets

Bookshark J History of Science (literature and history)

• The Gammage Cup (read-aloud)
• Usual Bookshark readings

Foreign Language 

• DuoLingo Korean (this was her second time trying this)

Homeschool Day 9/13

 2nd Grader

Math

• We played Mathemagical World again (board game, addition and subtraction)

Reading/Language Arts

• All About Reading
• All About Spelling

Sonlight B World History 1 (Bible, literature and history)

Karate class (outsourced)

10th Grader

Mathusee Geometry

Bookshark J History of Science (literature and history)

She taught gymnastics class (outsourced)

Ukulele/Guitar Collaborative class (outsourced)

Homeschool Day 9/12

 2nd Grader

Math

• Life of Fred Butterflies
• We played the addition and subtraction game Mathemagical World.  He loved it!
• Link for Mathemagical World

Reading/Language Arts

• All About Reading
• All About Spelling

Science

• The Good and the Beautiful Marine Biology
• Finished the unit on Fish

Sonlight B World History 1 (history, Bible and literature)

• History readings
• Started The Year of Miss Agnes (read-aloud)
• Henry and Ribsy (bedtime read-aloud)

We played Four Square outside with a playground ball.

10th Grader

Geometry

• Mathusee Geometry

Bible

• Mere Christianity (CS Lewis)
• Daily Bible reading (2 Kings)

Language Skills

• They Say, I Say writing exercises
• Easy Grammar 10th Grade Ultimate workbook

Bookshark J History of Science (literature and history)

• Starting The Gammage Cup
• Starting The Clockwork Universe
• Starting Story of Science: Newton at the Center

Foreign Language

• She tried out Duolingo Korean

Ballet (outsourced)

2nd Grade Math Woes

 The 2nd grader is just spinning his wheels with Mathusee.  I love Mathusee, especially the high school courses, but he is not making much progress with it.  He does not like worksheets and the curriculum is not moving fast enough through topics for him.

I don't want to waste money on another math curriculum.  So, I am going to teach math without a curriculum for now.  

I made a list of topics I want to cover this school year (for 2nd grade):

• Addition and subtraction math facts 
• Add 2 and 3 digit numbers
• Subtract 2 and 3 digit numbers
• Round to 10
• Place value to 1,000
• Tell time to 5 minutes
• Money
• Length and weight
• Basic geometry
• Review
• Even and odd
• Tally marks
• Simple graphs

Most math curricula has them learning multiplication in 2nd grade, but I think he has enough on his plate with just mastering addition and subtraction.  I'll save multiplication for 3rd grade.

I bought a couple of games to help with addition and subtraction.  I bought Mathemagical World.  I also bought Math War, Addition and Subtraction.

We are continuing Life of Fred math for fun.  I am also planning to get math-themed books from the library to supplement.

So, my plan:

• Life of Fred math
• Living math books
• Math games
• Flashcards for addition/subtraction practice
• Whiteboard - work through problems together on the whiteboard
• I would like to do some math projects

Ideas for living math books:  https://www.livingmath.net/reader-index

https://denisegaskins.com/living-math-books/

Homeschool Day 9/9: Tinkercad and Robotics

 2nd Grader

Outsourced Classes

• Lego Engineering
• Beginning Theater

Robotics

• We spent an hour programming the DASH robot again
• We worked through a number of the challenges until we got stumped and even I wasn't sure what we were doing wrong!
• https://www.makewonder.com/robots/dash/

10th Grader

Writing

• Writing exercises with They Say, I Say

STEM 

• Learning to use a 3D printer
• Created an account on Tinkercad - https://www.tinkercad.com
• Tinkercad is a free, 3D design website that uses online CAD
• She created a 3D rubber duck using Tinkercad
• Saved the STL file and we're going to have it 3D printed at the library

Fine Arts

• A little bit of ukulele practice

Homeschool Day 9/8: Pickleball and Marble Run

 2nd Grader

Physical Education

• We played Pickleball at the park with another homeschool family

Sonlight B World History 1 (history, literature and Bible)

• We did our usual Sonlight reading
• Owls in the Family (read-aloud)

Science

• Using a Keva block kit we checked out from the library, we built a marble run

10th Grader

Physical Education

• She also played Pickleball at the park with a homeschool friend

Bookshark J History of Science (history and literature)

• We finished The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way
• Going Solo (Roald Dahl)
• Archimedes and the Door of Science

Astronomy

• Smithsonian's The Planets

Ballet class (outsourced)

Homeschool Day 9/7

 2nd Grader

Math

• Life of Fred Butterflies
• I've been giving him a choice between Mathusee and Life of Fred and he keeps choosing Life of Fred (oh well.  Sorry, Mathusee)

Reading/Language Arts

• All About Reading
• All About Spelling

Science

• The Good and the Beautiful Marine Biology
• Fish

Sonlight B World History 1 (Bible, history and literature)

• Owls in the Family
• Ancient Egypt

Fine Arts

• We did Easy Peasy Music Appreciation (Ancients)

Wednesday night church activities

10th Grader

Math

• Murderous Maths' Savage Shapes

Bible

• Daily Bible reading

Language Skills

• They Say, I Say writing exercise book

Astronomy

• Smithsonian's The Planets

Bookshark J History of Science (history and literature)

• Bookshark reading
• The printing press
• Archimedes
• Going Solo
• We watched the video "The History of the Book (TED)" on Youtube
• Spelling words

Wednesday night church activities

I ordered the next round of books for Sonlight B and Bookshark J from the library.

Homeschool Day: 9/6

2nd Grader

• Mathusee Alpha (math)
• All About Reading
• He started Karate class at a homeschool enrichment program
• We went to the library

10th Grader

• Daily Bible reading
• Smithsonian's The Planets
• Telescope work - we looked at Saturn and the moon over the weekend using the telescope
• Ukulele/Guitar Collaborative Class (outsourced)
• She taught gymnastics for two hours at a homeschool enrichment program

Homeschool Day 9/2: Robotics, Simple Machines and Writing

 2nd Grader

Robotics

• DASH Robot - we borrowed a Dash Robot from the library and spent several hours learning to program it. 
• Here's the robot: https://www.makewonder.com/robots/dash/
• You can program the robot using an app for iPad, iPhone or Android: https://www.makewonder.com/apps/
• We downloaded the Wonder app, because it seemed the easiest for a 7 year-old to use.  The programming commands use pictures, so small children can figure it out
• This robot was easy to program and the 7 year-old really enjoyed it

Simple Machines

• We borrowed a Simple Machines kit from the library also.  We put together the following simple machines:
• Wedge
• Pulleys
• Lever
• Inclined plane
• Wheel

10th Grader

Writing

• Writing exercises using They Say, I Say

Robotics

• Our final week programming with Ozobot.  https://ozobot.com
• They worked on getting the Ozobot to follow a course using markers + programming on Ozoblockly. https://ozobot.com/create/ozoblockly
• We also borrowed this from our library.  It has been a great robotics kit.  It's more difficult to use than the Dash robot and it uses actual Python or tabs similar to MIT's Scratch

Fine Arts

• She worked on ukulele with her friend (who also has a ukulele)

Homeschool Day 9/1

 2nd Grader

We worked on The Good and Beautiful Marine Biology (we're in the lesson on Fish).  

We also spent a couple of hours building a model from the Cub Scouts Space Derby kit.  It has a propeller, which is wound by tension from three rubber bands.  We sanded the rocket, cut/installed the fins and installed the propeller and rubber bands.  He still needs to paint it.

10th Grader

Geometry

• Horrible Math's Savage Shapes

Easy Grammar 10th Grade Ultimate workbook

Bookshark J History of Science (history and literature)

• Going Solo (Roald Dahl)
• Archimedes and the Door of Science
• Roger Bacon (1200s)
• St. Thomas Aquinas

Physical Education

• Both of them went to a trampoline park