Fifth Grader
Book Basket
Tales of Ancient Egypt
Exploring Creation with Botany - seed germination
Math
Multiplication flash cards
Life of Fred Farming
Language Arts
McGuffey's Third Eclectic Reader - he read a story out loud
Dictation
Bible
My First Hymnal - "What a Friend We Have in Jesus"
Action Bible Everyday Devotions
The Action Bible
Art
The Arts - dance
We watched a video on Tahtib, Egyptian Stick Dancing
Latin
Prima Latina - he took a Latin test on lesson 7 and got 100%
Today, we did Mark Rober's Crunch Lab project Vortex Cannon.
https://www.crunchlabs.com/products/vortex-cannon
We are in the middle of Year 2 of Crunch Labs (our last year). It's a subscription box that comes each month with a new engineering project. The kit is very good quality and there is a video for each box explaining the physics concepts behind the project and instructions on how to build it.
Here's the vortex cannon.
Fifth Grader
Book Basket
Archimedes and the Door of Science
Exploring Creation with Botany
Little House in the Big Woods
Math
Subtraction flash cards
Life of Fred Goldfish
Language Arts
Queen's Language Lessons for the Elementary Child
Copywork from McGuffey's Third Eclectic Reader
Ancient History
Tales of Ancient Egypt
WE FINISHED HISTORY POCKETS ANCIENT EGYPT!!!! This took all summer.
Latin
Prima Latina lesson 7 - he drew pictures of each item next to the Latin word
Physics
Mark Rober's Crunch Labs - we made the vortex cannon
Fifth Grader
Book Basket
Tales of Ancient Egypt
Exploring Creation with Botany
Math
Life of Fred Goldfish
Language Arts
Queen's Language Lessons
Spelling words from McGuffey Third Eclectic Reader
Bible
My First Hymnal - Luther's Morning Prayer
The Action Bible Anytime Devotions
The Action Bible - Jacob and Esau
Geography
Countries of the World Coloring Book - Egypt
Geography from A to Z
Music
Story of the Orchestra - Stravinsky
Latin
Reviewed vocab from Prima Latina lesson 7
Fifth Grader
Book Basket
Archimedes and the Door of Science
Exploring Creation with Botany - seeds
Little House in the Big Woods
Math
Addition flashcards
Life of Fred Goldfish
Language Arts
Cursive Success
Queen's Language Lessons
McGuffey Third Eclectic Reader - we read the story and the spelling words
Ancient History
Tales of Ancient Egypt
History Pockets Ancient Egypt - we made the Egyptian home
Logic
Mindbenders book 4 - we got it wrong *sigh*
Cat Crimes - we got this wrong, too. Apparently, we are not logical.
Latin
Prima Latina lesson 7
Maybe these will be useful to someone.
Here are my personal notes on a Friday physics enrichment class I'm going to teach to a small group of homeschooled boys (around 5th grade) one morning a week. This will be a supplement to what we are doing during the week.
I'm planning to spend a few minutes introducing a new physics concept to the kids (like force or momentum). Then, we will do a lab, demonstration or project. It should take about 45 minutes. I'm also bringing some of our previous Crunch Labs projects and physics kits (like the bridge-building kit or crossbow kit) for the boys to try out if we have extra time. At the end of the school year, I want to spend a month or so on MIT's Scratch (free coding online), learning to fly a drone and a robotics car kit I found on Amazon.
I'm leaving a big buffer of time for projects or if we take longer than one week on something.
I'm supplementing with the Max Axiom science comics. I'm using Focus on Middle School Physics textbook for reference.
Week 1: The Scientific Method
Steps:
Lab:
Week 2: The Six Simple Machines
The six simple machines and their uses:
Lab:
Famous Scientist: Archimedes
Week 3: Newton’s First Law
Newton’s First Law: An object will remain at rest or continue moving at a constant velocity unless acted on by an outside force
Lab:
Famous Scientist: Sir Isaac Newton
Reading: Max Axiom - A Crash Course in Forces and Motion
Week 4: Newton’s Second Law
Newton’s Second Law: A larger force causes greater acceleration and objects with more mass require more force to accelerate
Video: Newton’s Second Law of Motion (Science of NFL Football)
Lab: Measure the time it takes three cars of different masses to travel down a track. Vary the angle of the track and time the cars again.
Practice using the scale and weighing the cars.
Week 5: Newton’s Third Law
Newton’s Third Law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Video: Newton’s 3 Laws with a Bicycle (TED ED)
Lab:
Week 6: Potential and Kinetic Energy
Potential Energy: stored energy
Kinetic Energy: energy of an object in motion
Rollercoaster model, Pendulum
Types of Potential Energy:
Lab: Rubber band car project
Reading: Max Axiom- The Powerful World of Energy
Week 7: Friction and Momentum
Define Friction - the resistance that one object encounters when moving over another
Define Momentum - the quantity of motion of a moving body, momentum = mass x velocity
Formula 1 Cars and their tires
Video: Oscar Piastri’s Pole Lap 2025 Spanish Grand Prix
Video: Verstappen’s Amazing Rain Save in Brazil
Lab: Use a spring scale connected to a wooden block to measure how much force it takes to move across a surface. Change surface types and measure the force needed to pull the block.
Reading: Max Axiom- The Science of Basketball
Week 8: Electrical Energy and Charge
What is electricity?
Model of an atom - electrons, neutrons and protons
Charges of subatomic particles
Rules for Charges:
Like charges repel each other
Unlike charges attract each other
Lab: Electricity Investigation Kit
#1: A Simple Circuit
#2: Resistors
#3: Motors
#4: Series Circuits
Reading: Max Axiom - The Shocking World of Electricity
Week 9: Electrical Energy and Charge
Review electric charges
Static Electricity - standing electric charge
Electrical current is like water in a hose
Voltage - electrical pressure pushing charges through a wire (like turning on a hose)
Conductors - materials that allow electrons to hop from atom to atom
Insulators - materials that don’t allow electrons to hop from atom to atom
What materials conduct electricity? Metals - silver, copper, gold, tap water/impure water with minerals and salts (pure water doesn’t conduct electricity), saltwater
Lab: Electricity Investigation Kit
#5: Parallel Circuits
#6: Voltage Regulation
#7: Solar Power
#8: Battery Charger
Famous Scientist: Benjamin Franklin
Video: The Science of Lightning (National Geographic)
Week 10: Magnets, Magnetic Fields, Electromagnets
Explanation in book pgs 46-48
Usually made of nickel or iron
North and south poles
Unequal number of spinning electrons on each pole, causing something similar to a charge
Like poles repel, unlike poles attract
Magnetic field - area around the magnet is affected by the magnet
Electromagnet - electric current flowing through a wire creates a magnetic field around it
Electromagnetic Induction - generating an electric current by moving a magnet up and down inside a coil of electrical wire
Video: Our World: Magnetic Fields (by Adventure Academy)
Lab: Electricity Investigation Kit #9 Electromagnet, Bar magnets, Does a magnet affect a compass
Reading: Max Axiom - The Attractive Story of Magnetism
Week 11: Chemical and Nuclear Energy
How does a battery work? - explanation on pg 31 in book
Chemical energy - energy that comes from nuclear reactions
Nuclear energy - explanation on pg 33
Video: How a Car Starts
Video: Engines 101: The Basics of How Engines Work (Toyota)
Lab: How an engine works/engine model
Famous Scientist: Albert Einstein
Week 12: Light, Waves and Visible Light
Light is a combination of electric fields and magnetic fields - make an electromagnetic wave (pg 53)
Height of the wave from the middle- amplitude
Length from one peak to another - wavelength
Every color of light has a different wavelength (red is shorter than blue)
Humans can’t see certain wavelengths of light
Video: Light waves, visible and invisible (TED ED)
Video: What if you could see the entire electromagnetic spectrum (middle part of video)
Lab: Prisms, how optics work (light will bend and follow water), refraction illusion
Reading: Max Axiom - The Illuminating World of Light
Week 13: Sound Waves
Sound waves are moving air particles
Vibration (like a guitar string) causes movement in the air
Intensity of sounds is measured in bels and decibels
0 decibels is the threshold of human hearing
Hearing can be damaged above 85 decibels
Video: “What Does Sound Look Like?”
Video: “How Your Ear Works - Inside the Human Body - BBC”
Video: “20-20,000 Herz Audio Sweep”
Lab: Tuning fork demonstration
Reading: Max Axiom- Adventures in Sound with Max Axiom
Week 14: Thames and Kosmos Plane/Glider Kit
Weeks 15-25: Drones, Arduino Car, Cubelets, MIT’s Scratch - whatever there is time for
