4/17: Tons of Science Today

 2nd Grader

Math

• Singapore Math
• We played Snakes and Ladders

Sonlight Reading/Language Arts

• Copywork
• He read his Sonlight reader
• Handwriting practice- capitals

Science

• Our butterfly chrysalises from Insect Lore hatched and five butterflies survived!
• Apologia's Land Animals of the Sixth Day
• Bears

Sonlight B (history, Bible and literature)

• Gooney Bird Greene (read-aloud)
• Time Traveler
• The Ology
• Hands-on History Box
• We made the final project - the Roman chariot!

10th Grader

Writing & Grammar

• They Say, I Say writing course she's taking with a friend - persuasive essay

STEM/Technology

• 30 Days Lost in Space circuitry/coding kit
• She programmed the hero board to accept a code on a keypad
• This took a big chunk of the morning

Science

• DNA Extraction Lab Kit from Home Science Tools
• This worked wonderfully
• We extracted DNA from her cheek cells and suspended it in a 95% alcohol solution

Extras

• She is choreographing a short dance from the Royal Ballet's Romeo & Juliet to perform on stage during the homeschool center's end of year recital
• Ballet classes (at the ballet school)

Homeschool Day 4/10

 2nd Grader

Math

• Singapore math

Sonlight Reading/Language Arts

• Introduced the new words in the lesson
• He read his reader
• Copywork

Sonlight B (history, Bible and literature)

• We started Gooney Bird Greene (read-aloud)
• Time Traveler
• National Geographic poetry

Science

• Apologia's Land Animals of the Sixth Day
• Wolves
• Caterpillar to Butterfly kit
• The caterpillars have attached themselves to the lid of the container and have formed chrysalises
• One of the chrysalises fell and we super-glued it back onto the lid

Art

• Draw, Write, Now

10th Grader

Mathusee Geometry

STEM/Technology

• Coding/Circuitry projects from the kit 30 Days Lost in Space
• Coded into the keypad and a buzzer would go off on the circuit
• She spent a good hour on this

Grammar & Writing

• They Say, I Say writing course with a friend
• Persuasive essay

Science

• She finished enough astronomy last week for me to give her 1 credit Astronomy on her transcript
• DNA
• We watched the video Genetics 101 by National Geographic
• We made a DNA model of base pairs in the shape of a double helix
• We looked at pictures of the staircase at the UIC's molecular biology building: https://www.instagram.com/p/BFVAWA4SuQ1/

Extras

• Ballet class (at the ballet school)

Homeschool Day: 3/20

 2nd Grader

Math

• We just played games with the math dice

Reading/Language Arts

• Reading Eggs
• He did several of the "driving tests" and a spelling test
• Reading his dyslexia reader at night (which is becoming a huge success)

Sonlight B (Bible, history and literature)

• The Ology
• Usborne Book of World History
• Kate and Mack
• National Geographic poetry reader
• Babe, The Gallant Pig

10th Grader

Technology/STEM

• 30 Days Lost in Space
• She worked on a gradient LED code 
• She spent a couple of hours on this

Writing & Grammar

• They Say, I Say (writing course with a friend)
• Essay editing
• She worked on writing another essay for ballet class

Extras

• Ballet class

Homeschool Day 3/6

 2nd Grader

Wild Math 2

• Multi-digit addition practice on the dry erase board
• We read Snowflake Bentley
• We did some of the symmetry exercises

Reading/Language Arts

• Sonlight Reading/LA
• He's reading his dyslexia reader every night before bed

Science

• We read Dangerous Tornadoes (and literally saw one last Thursday)

Sonlight B (history, Bible and literature)

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

Extras

• He watched a live production of The Cat in the Hat at the college

10th Grader

• She worked on the writing course They Say, I Say with a friend
• 30 Days Lost in Space (circuitry and coding course from Inventr IO)
• Coding the light sensor and battery 
• This took a couple of hours, even though it doesn't look like a lot
• DuoLingo Korean
• Practiced Classical Guitar
• Typing practice
• Ballet class 
• Movie: Jesus Revolution (in theater)

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

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

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 1/23: Technology and Writing

 2nd Grader

Math

• Wild Math 2
• We read The Action of Subtraction
• Math dice (subtraction)

Reading/Language Arts

• We played Scrabble Junior

Science

• We read National Geographic Kids: Planets
• In his sketchbook, he drew the sun and the Milky Way with colored pencils

Extras

• James and the Giant Peach (read-aloud)

10th Grader

Math

• Mathusee Geometry

Technology

• She spent two hours on the Arduino Uno kit 30 Days Lost in Space
• Learned about resistors
• Did the project where she added a switch to the breadboard

Foreign Language

• DuoLingo Korean

Grammar & Writing

• She started writing an essay from They Say, I Say writing book
• Typing practice

Homeschool Day 1/16: Technology & Writing

 2nd Grader

Wild Math 2

• Multi-digit multiplication
• We played Blokus

Sonlight Reading & Language Arts

• He wrote his spelling words
• He read his reader
• Grammar worksheet

10th Grader

Mathusee Geometry

• Circles and Pi

Writing & Grammar

• They Say, I Say (writing book)

Technology

• 30 Days Lost in Space 
• This is our second week working on this.  It's a kit that is a combination of an Arduino Uno and a breadboard/circuitry set.  You have to download Arduino software to work through the 30 challenges (you are repairing your spacecraft using coding and circuitry)
• There was a moment of panic this morning and we had to do some serious problem-solving.  Even I was panicking.  This course is going to be difficult!
• I didn't realize the kit basically included an Arduino

30 Days Lost in Space

 Here's the link:  https://inventr.io

If you buy, look for a sale. They regularly have one on their website.

You're in your spaceship, trapped on an alien planet and you have 30 days to repair your control panel.  You learn circuitry and coding while you work through the projects.  

Ours arrived and the 15 year-old is going to start this kit next week.

No tools needed. No soldering.

There are videos on their website that walk you through the challenges.

Here's what the kit looks like:

Homeschool Week 12/5-12/9

 2nd Grader

Math 

• We read 365 Penguins
• We played Math War (addition and subtraction game)
• We backed off on math to really concentrate on reading this week

Reading/Language Arts

• Sonlight Reading/LA 
• Handwriting without Tears
• Explode the Code

Science

• Monday's nature walk
• Identified species of trees
• Eastern red cedar
• Osage-orange
• Mesquite
• Shumard oak
• Identified lichen and moss
• Looked at five species of live tarantulas
• Several old world and several new world
• Looked at baby preying mantises
• Lego Engineering class (outsourced)

Sonlight B (History, Literature and Bible) World History 1

• Greek Myths
• A Child's History of the World
• Sparta
• The Olympics
• National Geographic Poetry book
• I ordered our next read-aloud

Physical Education

• Karate class (outsourced)
• Ballet class (outsourced)

Fine Arts

• Theater class (outsourced)

10th Grader

Bible

• The Book of Psalms

Math

• Mathusee Geometry

Writing and Grammar

• They Say, I Say 
• Typing

Science (astronomy and biology)

• Tree identification
• Shumard oak
• Osage-Orange
• Cedar
• Mesquite
• Lichen and Moss
• Photographed trees, leaves, etc
• Smithsonian's The Planets
• Wicked Plants
• She researched Coyotillo (a deadly plant from Texas and Mexico)

Literature and History

• The Westing Game (read-aloud)
• Marie and Pierre Curie

Foreign Language

• DuoLingo Korean
• Watching Korea No 1 on Netflix

STEM Thursday

• She continued soldering the components onto the circuit board for her FM Radio Kit that she's building from Elenco
• Two of the metal disc connectors pulled up from the circuit board after soldering.  We contacted the company and now we're trying to figure out how to fix it

Physical Education

• Gymnastics (outsourced)
• Ballet class (outsourced)

Fine Arts

• Photographing scenery during our nature walk on Monday
• Collaborative Ukulele and Guitar class (outsourced)

WeMake (Elenco) Learn to Solder European Siren Kit

 We bought this on Amazon, but I'm showing a link from Wal-Mart.  It's the same kit.  WeMake Learn to Solder European Siren Kit.  It's from Elenco (the company that makes Snap Circuits).  www.elenco.com

The kit came with almost everything we needed to build the siren: solder, pliers, circuit board, components, wire, speaker...  We needed a 9 volt battery (kit didn't include the battery) and a heat-resistant soldering mat is very helpful (we bought one on amazon, also).  A solder holder is also helpful, but the kit came with a simple one.

Here's our finished siren:

The kit was really good quality.  Everything worked.  The components, wires and circuit board were good quality.  The instructions were great.  The soldering iron it came with didn't get very hot, so we bought another soldering iron, since we planned to do more circuitry projects.  Soldering irons are very inexpensive.  

Overall, this was a great project.  It worked, it was inexpensive and the quality was good.  

Homeschool Week 10/31-11/4

 2nd Grader

Math

• We played Math War (addition and subtraction game)
• We worked on money, coins, dollars, etc
• We read Money Math: Addition and Subtraction
• Counted coins up to $1

Reading/Language Arts

• Reading Eggs
• He read a couple of easy readers from the library
• Handwriting without Tears

Science

• Field Trip to botanical garden
• We watched butterflies in a pollinator garden
• The Everything Book of Cats

Sonlight B (history, Bible and literature)

• Usborne Book of World History
• National Geographic poetry
• The Year of Miss Agnes (read-aloud)

Fine Art

• He did some sketches from a drawing book 
• Homeschool theater class

Physical Education

• Homeschool karate class
• Ballet class

10th Grader

Bible

• She finished 2 Kings

Geometry

• Mathusee Geometry

Writing/Grammar

• Easy Grammar 10th Grade Ultimate workbook
• She wrote an argumentative essay from They Say, I Say
• She started learning to type (typing.com)

Science

• Field trip to botanical gardens and pollinator garden
• We toured a greenhouse with edible plants
• Foraging Texas (Falcon Guides) - we looked at the section on poisonous plants of Texas and identified one of them at the botanical garden
• Took pictures of migrating butterflies at pollinator garden
• Smithsonian's The Planets

STEM

• She finished the WeMake/Elenco European Siren Kit
• She finished all the soldering and tested it with a 9 volt.  It worked!  Here's a video:

 

Literature and History (we rabbit-trailed our way out of Bookshark J)

• She finished The Giver
• Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie
• The Westing Game (read-aloud)

Foreign Language

• DuoLingo Korean

Fine Arts

• She practiced ukulele and classical guitar
• Ukulele/Guitar Collaborative Class (outsourced)

Physical Education

• Homeschool gymnastics class
• Ballet

STEM Friday 10/14

 2nd Grader

• Lego Engineering class (outsourced)
• Theater class (outsourced)

10th Grader

• STEM 
• She finished soldering the components onto the circuit board (Blink v1.1 Learn to Solder Kit sold on Amazon)
• Everything worked!  All three LEDs lit up when the button was pushed
• This was a great kit!  The instructions are online.  The components and the circuit board are really good quality.  Solder and soldering iron were not included in the kit we bought, though.  Also, buying a good quality heat-resistant soldering mat helped, too.

Homeschool Day 10/6

 2nd Grader

Math

• We played the Mathemagician Game (addition and subtraction)

Reading/Language Arts

• Reading Eggs - he is really enjoying this website
• All About Spelling

Science

• The Good and the Beautiful Marine Biology

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

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

Fine Arts

• Ballet class (outsourced)

10th Grader

English

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

Bookshark J History of Science (history and literature)

• Newton at the Center
• The Clockwork Universe
• The Westing Game (read-aloud)
• The Giver

STEM - we moved STEM Friday to Thursday

• BLINK Learn to Solder Kit
• This was very fun and well put-together
• It's a circuit connecting a battery to 3 resistors, 3 LEDs and 3 switches
• They learned to solder and started connecting the three resistors to the circuit board
• Continuing this project next Thursday
• They spent over an hour just connecting the resistors to the board

Fine Arts

• Practicing classical guitar
• Ballet class (outsourced)

Homeschool Day 10/3

 2nd Grader - we did school outside today

Math

• Life of Fred Butterflies

Reading/Language Arts

• All About Reading 
• All About Spelling - he wrote his spelling words on the driveway outside with chalk

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

• Usborne World History
• Year of Miss Agnes (read-aloud)
• National Geographic poetry book

STEM 

• DASH robotics - we did more programming and he made it play the xylophone attachment
• Here are a couple of videos of him playing with DASH

10th Grader

Math

• Mathusee Geometry

Bible

• Daily Bible reading (2 Kings)

Grammar

• 10th Grade Easy Grammar Ultimate workbook

Bookshark J History of Science (literature and history)

• Newton at the Center
• The Clockwork Universe
• We watched the TED video of Tycho Brahe on You Tube
• We also watched the Crash Course Science video of Newton and Leibnitz (founders of Calculus)

Fine Arts

• Classical Guitar - we bought a classical guitar over the weekend and she's beginning to learn how to play it
• Ballet class (outsourced)

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

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 9/9: 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 8/26: Robotics and Writing

 2nd Grader

• Lego Engineering class (outsourced)
• Theater class (outsourced)
• Building with K'Nex

10th Grader

STEM/Technology (co-op'ing with another homeschool family)

• Ozobot - they completed a couple of the programming challenges on Ozoblockly

Writing (co-op'ing with another homeschool family)

• They Say, You Say - writing exercises