Homeschool Day 10/26

 1st Graders

• Math
• We read The Wing Wing Brothers Math Spectacular and he answered the addition/subtraction problems
• He played with the cuisinaire rods for a long time
• Reading
• Explode the Code
• He read See Pip Point
• Copywork
• Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day
• I read Winnie the Pooh
• Gymnastics (outsourced)

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• Kafka's Metamorphosis
• Windows to the World Literary Analysis
• German together
• Economics
• Marginal Revolution Microeconomics (free course online)- we watched more videos on the Demand Curve
• Physics 
• LAB - Calculating work and power.  We calculated weight of each person, distance up a flight of stairs and timed each person going up the stairs.  Then, we calculated and compared the amount of work and power it took each person to get up the stairs.  Good lab!
• Gymnastics (outsourced)

Homeschool Day 10/19

 1st Grader

• Math
• We played store and he counted dollar bills and change
• Reading
• He read See Pip Flap
• Copywork
• Gymnastics class
• PE - Basketball at the park

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• Window to the World: Literary Analyis (Allusions)
• Economics: Marginal Revolution Economics - Microeconomics course
• The Supply Curve
• The Equilibrium Price and Quantity
• We answered the questions at the end of each video
• Physics
• Conceptual Physics chapter 6: Action and Reaction
• Newton's 3 Laws of Motion
• Video: "Mythbusters Car vs Car, Same Force as One Hits Wall"
• Gymnastics class
• PE - Basketball at the park

Homeschool Day 10/12

 1st Grader

• He is still very sick, so no school for him today

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th) and Stewardship (11th)
• English
• Animal Farm (read-aloud)
• Windows to the World: Literary Analysis (new curriculum)
• Annotations
• Bible reading 
• German together
• 9th grader - Komm Mit 1
• 11th grader - finishing up Des Teufels russiger Bruder
• Microeconomics
• https://mru.org/courses/principles-economics-microeconomics/demand-curve-shifts-definition
• We watched the Intro to Microeconomics video plus "The Demand Curve"
• Physics
• Inertia
• Inertia experiment with beaker, card and coins
• Video - Mythbusters Tablecloth Chaos (inertia): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK1ci50DUgc

Homeschool Day 10/11 - 3 new subjects + a curriculum change

 1st Grader

• He's very sick today, so he did not do anything.  Mostly watched cartoons and napped.

9th and 11th Graders

• Algebra 1 (9th grader) and Stewardship (11th grader)
• English
• Elements of Style together on the dry erase board
• Animal Farm (read-aloud)
• Written narration of Night
• Bible
• Bible readings
• Apostle Study: Judas
• The 12 Outlaws
• Rose's Book of Bible Charts and Graphs
• Gladys Aylward
• US Government (new subject)
• Research our city government
• What kind of government does our city have?
• Who is the mayor?  Party affiliation?
• How many districts is our city broken into?  Which district are we in?
• Chemistry (curriculum change - we dropped Masterbooks Chemistry and switched to Apologia)
• Module 2: Energy, Heat and Temperature
• LAB 2.1 - Calibrating Your Thermometer

Since we finished World Geography, I've added three new subjects for this term:

1. US Government - my plan is to start with our city and county government and learn work our way into state and federal government.  I'm not using curriculum, just using research-based learning.
2. Economics - we are going to try videos from here: https://mru.org  We are starting with the Microeconomics course.
3. Project-Based History - we are going to work backwards through time using our family tree to study different time periods and events that occurred with each generation...what life was like, etc and how past events relate to current events.

Curriculum change for Chemistry

    We switched from Masterbooks.  We were almost halfway through the course and my kids just weren't learning anything.  The labs were difficult to do at home.  We were halfway through chemistry and had never even boiled anything.  If I use that course again, it would be for middle school.  We switched to Apologia.  It's cumbersome, but I can teach the book myself + the labs are very homeschool-friendly.

Frustrated with a few of our curriculum selections

 Trail Guide to World Geography

I absolutely love this unit study for high school. My high schoolers are really enjoying it, too.  I'm actually learning a ton.  But it says K-12 on the description and I'm trying to use it with my 1st grader.  He really likes what we've done so far (he's on Week 4), but 99% of it is very much over his head.  I think I need to set up a geography unit study for him on his level.  He obviously likes geography, but he won't like it if it's too overwhelming/difficult.  

I'm thinking of either buying Beautiful Feet's Around the World with Picture Books   , Guest Hollow's Jr. Geography Curriculum, or just setting up my own unit study.  Either way, I need to sit down with it and come up with a plan.

Government & Economics

I feel like a serious failure in this department.  The 11th grader has read a number of living books about government and economics, including reading original source documents like the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, etc, and watching a Senate hearing's live broadcast.  But, I really feel like our coverage of these two subjects is pretty abysmal.  I don't like government and economics and it's hard to creatively and lovingly put together wonderful unit studies on a topic you absolutely hate (and think is boring).  At this point, I'm so burned out from even hearing about politics and government, that I don't actually want to teach it.  Ever.

I'm thinking of using this as a springboard for economics https://mru.org/teacher-resources/courses/high-school-economics , but I think I might be too dumb even for these videos.  

I'm thinking of going through Notgrass Economics together with the high schoolers (I already own it).