Karate, Gymnastics and Music Classes: 2/28

 Tuesday is our day of outsourced classes.

2nd Grader

• Wild Math 2
• Perimeter
• Multi-digit addition problems
• Sonlight Reading/Language Arts
• Sonlight B (history, Bible and literature)
• Karate class - he had belt testing and made it to yellow belt

10th Grader

• Teaching gymnastics classes
• Collaborative guitar/ukulele class (at an enrichment center)
• She did some cooking - candied fruit

Photography and Nature Walk: 2/27

 We spent the morning on a nature walk, playing in a creek, playing pickle ball and the 15 year-old photographed birds on the trail with her DSLR camera.

In the afternoon, we did...

2nd Grader

• Played Sleeping Queens (addition card game)
• Sonlight Reading/Language Arts
• Sonlight B (history, literature and Bible)
• Hands-on History Box - he made the Ancient Greek vase from the kit (formed a vase from clay and then we baked it)

15 year-old

• Spent a huge chunk of time reading John Hersey's Hiroshima 
• Photographed cardinals, chickadee, a rodent, squirrels, etc on the nature trail
• Practiced classical guitar
• Worked on rough draft of research paper due for ballet class (outsourced)
• Read Wicked Plants
• Ballet class

Over the Weekend:

• Both kids watched a live theater performance of the play Recommended Reading for Girls (one of the college kids is in the play)

Relaxed Homeschooling

 The term Relaxed Homeschooling isn't used very often, but here are some articles about it and why it works.  

https://homeschoolcompass.com/relaxed-home-schooling/

This is a good interview with Dr. Hood:

https://creation.com/relaxed-homeschooling-an-interview-with-dr-mary-hood

This article talks about Reverse Lesson-Planning, which is something I also do:

https://homeschoolplanet.com/relaxed-homeschooling/

Unschooling vs. Relaxed Homeschooling:

https://www.thissimplebalance.com/relaxed-homeschooling/

Homeschool Day 2/23

 2nd Grader

Wild Math 2

• 3D shape names
• We got out the plastic 3D shapes and looked at them
• He solved multi-digit addition problems with carrying in the hundreds place

Reading/Language Arts

• Sonlight Reading
• Copywork
• He read his reader
• Reading his dyslexia reader at night 

Sonlight B (history, literature, Bible)

• Usborne Book of World History
• The Persians
• Word of Mouse (read-aloud)

Extras

• He drew some pictures from his drawing book 
• Ballet class

10th Grader

Mathusee Geometry

• Radicals

Bible

• Book of Psalms

Grammar & Writing

• She finished revising an essay from They Say, I Say
• Typing practice

Science

• Smithsonian's The Planets
• Wicked Plants

History & Literature

• Days of Elijah

Extras

• DuoLingo Korean
• Ballet class

Homeschool Day 2/22

 2nd Grader

Wild Math 2

• We read The Greedy Triangle
• We drew different shapes again

Reading/Language Arts

• Sonlight Reading
• He read his reader
• Explode the Code
• He reads his dyslexia reader at night (Dog on a Log series)

Sonlight B (history, literature and Bible)

• A Child's History of the World
• Word of Mouse (read-aloud)

Extras

• Ash Wednesday church service

10th Grader

Bible

• Reading through Psalms

Mathusee Geometry

• Honors page

Writing and Grammar

• Easy Grammar 10th Grade Ultimate workbook
• They Say, I Say - class with a friend - she worked on revising an essay

Science

• Smithsonian's The Stars
• Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities

Literature and History

• She read John Hersey's Hiroshima

Extras

• Ash Wednesday church service

Homeschool Day 2/21

 2nd Grader

Sonlight Reading/Language Arts

• He wrote his spelling words
• We read his reader

Sonlight B (history, Bible and literature)

• The Ology
• National Geographic poetry book
• A Child's History of the World
• Word of Mouse (read-aloud)

Extras

• Karate class
• Playing at the park

10th Grader

• Teaching gymnastics classes
• Collaborative guitar/ukulele class
• Ballet class
• We watched the movie Hidden Figures

Technology, Writing & the Park: 2/20

 2nd Grader

Math

• He solved some addition problems with carrying on the dry erase board

Reading/Language Arts

• Sonlight Reading/LA
• Explode the Code
• Handwriting without Tears
• He's still reading his dyslexia reader every night at bedtime (Dog on a Log reader)

Science

• We read My Street Beneath My Feet
• We planted seeds in a mini-greenhouse container
• Basil
• Green peppers
• Green onions

Sonlight B (history, literature and Bible)

• Usborne Book of World History
• Word of Mouse (read-aloud)

Extras

• Playing at the park

10th Grader

Mathusee Geometry

• I needed to do more problems with her on the dry erase board

Grammar & Writing

• They Say, I Say (writing book she's working through with a friend)

Technology

• 30 Days Lost in Space (circuitry and coding kit)
• They created/coded a circuit with LED bulbs that changed color and frequency
• I think they are on Day 9
• She spent most of the morning on this

Music

• She practiced classical guitar

Extras

• Going to the park

Field Trip to Innerspace Caverns

 We took a day-long field trip to Innerspace Caverns in Georgetown, Texas. https://innerspacecavern.com  It's located 30 minutes north of Austin off 35.  We paid about $20 per person for the Adventure Tour (there is a coupon on their website to print out and bring).  They have more intense tours you can take where you need flashlights, kneepads and gear, because you crawl through spaces, etc.  We obviously did not do that with a 7 year-old.  The Adventure Tour was a very safe tour if you're bringing small children and we did walk about a mile through the cave system, going almost 100 feet underground (actually under 35).

This was a great Earth Science or Geology tour!  I did take some pictures, but my phone struggled.  You can't use a flash and there were bats - we saw two of them on the tour.  They don't want camera flashes to scare the bats, for obvious reasons.

The tour starts off very cold, but warms up to 72 degrees with 98% humidity, so we were freezing at the beginning and sweating at the end.

They did completely turn off all the lights for a moment at the deepest part of the cave, which was really cool!

What was interesting about the cave was part of the cave ceiling was a fossilized ocean reef from when Texas was covered in a shallow ocean.

The Animal Room had paintings on the wall from an artist depicting different prehistoric animals that had fallen through the roof of the cave and their skeletal remains were found inside the cave.  White tail deer.

Giant Ground Sloth

Glyptodont - prehistoric armadillo

Prehistoric horses

Sabertooth tiger

Colombian Mammoth

The entrance was an artificial opening blasted into the rock

 

Homeschool Day 2/16

 2nd Grader

Wild Math 2

• We made pictures with tanagrams (plastic shapes)
• We went outside and looked at shapes in nature
• He did some multi-digit subtraction practice problems

Reading

• Reading Eggs

Sonlight B (history, literature and Bible)

• The Ology
• A Child's History of the World
• Kate and Mack Around the World
• National Geographic poetry book
• Word of Mouse (read-aloud)

Extras

• Homeschool rollerskating

10th Grader

Mathusee Geometry

• Surface area of 3D shapes like cylinders
• I needed to help her again with a couple of problems

Grammar & Writing

• They Say, I Say - she really worked on this again for a class she's taking with a friend

Science

• Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities

Literature and History

• We watched the movie Amistad (excellent movie)
• She read Days of Elijah

Extras

• Homeschool rollerskating

Homeschool Days 2/14-2/15

 Tuesday

• This day felt like a bit of a wash.  Oh well.
• 15 year-old taught gymnastics classes
• 7 year-old had karate
• 15 year-old had a collaborative guitar/ukelele class.  They wrote a song together.
• Ballet class in the evening

Wednesday

2nd Grader

Wild Math 2

• We read Triangles (by David Adler)
• He drew different kinds of triangles
• He did some addition problems in the hundreds on the dry erase board

Reading

• Reading Eggs

Science

• We read The First Men Who Went to the Moon

Sonlight B (history, literature and Bible)

• Usborne Book of World History
• Word of Mouse
• National Geographic poetry book

Extras

• We might go on a bike ride
• Wednesday night church activities

10th Grader

Mathusee Geometry

• Volume of cylinders

Bible

• Reading Psalms

Writing and Grammar

• Easy Grammar 10th Grade Ultimate workbook
• She may stop this soon.  I think it's becoming too easy and repetitive.  I told her if she does some SAT prep, that would be plenty
• They Say, I Say - writing class she's taking with a friend

Science

• Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities

History & Literature

• She asked to read Hiroshima, by John Hersey (winner of Pulitzer Prize), so she started that today.  I'm going to tell her about his book A Bell for Adano and see if she wants to read that also (that's the book he won the Pulitzer Prize for).

Extras

• Petting the cat.  Maybe go on a bike ride.
• Wednesday night church activities
• She is thinking about doing dual enrollment at the college next year, so we have been talking about that.  But she has to take the TSI, which she's not sure she feels comfortable taking yet (she's only 15)

Homeschool Day 2/13: Technology and Writing

 2nd Grader

Math

• Practice problems with multi-digit subtraction
• We played Sleeping Queens
• We read Shape Up!
• We made different shapes with popsicle sticks and on the dry erase board

Reading/Language Arts

• Reading Eggs
• He's been reading several pages from a dyslexia reader to me at night before bed

Science

• Zoo in the Sky: A Book of Animal Constellations

Sonlight B (history, literature and Bible)

• The Ology
• National Geographic poetry book
• Word of Mouse

Extras

• I downloaded the video game Trailmakers and we're trying to figure out how to play it

10th Grader

Math

• Mathusee Geometry

Writing & Grammar

• They Say, I Say (writing book she's working on with a friend)

Technology/STEM

• 30 Days Lost in Space (Arduino uno kit, working on coding and circuitry)
• A lesson with the LED light and charging with a light

Extras

• Ballet class

2/11: A Great Night with the Telescope

 I'm pretty sure we saw the Green Comet, C2022/C3.  We used Stellarium https://stellarium.org to find its approximate location (in the night sky near Mars) and used the telescope to find it.  It was faint, but with a greenish tint.

We also used Celestron astronomical binoculars to look at objects in the night sky. Between the telescope, our eyes and binoculars, we looked at:

• C2022/C3 (we think)
• Mars
• A star nebula west of Orion
• Aldebaran
• Cassiopeia
• Orion
• Several aircraft flying overhead

The sky was very clear and it was a great night to use the telescope.

Homeschool Day 2/9

 2nd Grader

Wild Math 2

• More practice problems with multi-digit addition with carrying
• We played Sleeping Queens (card game)

Reading/Language Arts

• Reading Eggs
• He retook the reading assessment and was able to skip about 30 lessons

Science

• Children's First Space Encyclopedia
• We looked up the locations of Voyager 1 and 2
• We looked at simulated footage of Huygen landing on Titan (Saturn's moon)

Sonlight B (history, literature and Bible)

• The Great Wall of China
• National Geographic poetry book
• Word of Mouse (read-aloud)

Extras

• Ballet class

10th Grader

Geometry

• More volume of 3D shapes
• I worked another problem on the dry erase board (volume of a cone)

Bible

• Book of Psalms

Science

• Smithsonian's The Planets
• Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities

Literature and History

• The Days of Elijah

Extras

• DuoLingo Korean
• Ballet class

Homeschool Day 2/8

 2nd Grader

Math

• Practice problems on the dry erase board - multi-digit subtraction
• We deconstructed numbers in the hundreds using Mathusee blocks
• We played The Clumsy Thief (addition card game)

Reading/LA

• Sonlight Reading/LA

Science

• We read Children's First Space Encyclopedia

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

• The Ology
• Kate and Mack 
• Brazil
• The Great Wall of China
• We started Word of Mouse (read-aloud)

Extras

• Wednesday night church

10th Grader

Geometry

• Volume of cylinders, pyramids, etc
• I needed to work several of the problems on the dry erase board

Bible

• Book of Psalms

Grammar & Writing

• They Say, I Say
• Putting things into your own words

Science

• Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities
• Smithsonian's The Planets

History and Literature

• Days of Elijah - a new book she started reading

Extras

• Wednesday night church

A Book I'm Reading: Curious Unschoolers by Sue Elvis

 Here's a link: https://www.storiesofanunschoolingfamily.com/curious-unschoolers/

I've almost finished the book Curious Unschoolers by the author of the Stories of an Unschooling Family blog, Sue Elvis.  This book is a collection of essays on various unschooling topics: getting started, record-keeping, strewing, the question of college, how unschoolers learn math and reading, etc.  

This is an excellent book.  There's something about this author's writing that I really enjoy.  Her writing is very "readable."  I think this is now one of my favorite homeschooling books.

Her homeschooling blog is the best I've seen, also: https://www.storiesofanunschoolingfamily.com  I think I have spent hours reading her blog posts.  She seems to have podcasts, also, but I very much enjoyed reading her book and blog.  

Homeschool Day 2/6: Technology & Writing

 2nd Grader

Wild Math 2

• He learned addition with carrying and did some practice problems
• He measured 3 objects and added them up

Reading/Language Arts

• Reading Eggs
• Handwriting without Tears

Science

• We read The Children's First Space Encyclopedia
• We looked at NASA website showing different items in our solar system
• Space Sticker Book 

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

• We finished Little Pear
• National Geographic poetry book
• I ordered The Great Wall of China and Word of Mouse (our next read-alouds)

10th Grader

Writing and Grammar

• They Say, I Say - persuasive essay

Technology/STEM

• She worked on the Build an FM Radio Kit (Elenco) - soldering the components onto the circuit board - she spent at least an hour soldering 
• 30 Days Lost in Space (circuitry and coding) - she worked on Day 6

Extras

• Ballet class & Strengthening/Conditioning class

Homeschool Day 2/2

 2nd Grader

• He worked some multi-digit subtraction problems on the dry erase board
• He read his Sonlight reader to me
• We read Little Pear
• He played outside in the snow
• James and the Giant Peach (bedtime read-aloud)

10th Grader

• Typing practice
• DuoLingo Korean
• She went outside in the snow and did some photography with her DSLR camera
• She played several board games, including chess with the 17 year-old

Homeschool Day 2/1

 2nd Grader

Math

• More practice with multi-digit multiplication and reading the answers in the hundreds
• We played Snakes and Ladders
• We played Mathemagical World

Reading/Language Arts

• Explode the Code 2
• Handwriting without Tears
• Sonlight Reading/LA
• We played Sight Word Bingo, which he really liked

Science

• The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System

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

• We read about the Great Wall of China
• Little Pear (read-aloud)

Extras

• James and the Giant Peach (bedtime read-aloud)

10th Grader

Math

• Mathusee Geometry - she did the Honors page and I needed to help her with a couple of the problems

Bible

• Reading the Book of Psalms

Writing and Grammar

• Easy Grammar 10th Grade Ultimate workbook

Science

• Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities

History & Literature

• She finished Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie - excellent book
• We looked at pictures of Albert Einstein with Marie Curie
• We talked about radioactive bacteria that were discovered in Oregon
• She wants to read John Hersey's Hiroshima, so I ordered that

Extras

• DuoLingo Korean
• She practiced classical guitar

College Kids Update

• The 21 year-old was accepted as a transfer student to Texas Tech University.  She is also being given a scholarship based on her 4.0 college GPA.  This is her last semester at the community college.  We are estimating she will finish her Bachelor of Science in about 3 semesters.  She plans to continue and finish her Master of Science through Texas Tech or Texas A&M.
• All three college kids still have 4.0 GPAs and were on the Dean's List together for Fall 2022. 
• Kid #3 will have her artwork hanging in the college library through out February and March.  The art pieces are a self-portrait in oil and a portrait of her sister in oil.