Homeschool Days 3/30 & 3/31

 Kindergartener

• Lots of reading - probably 4-5 picture books a day
• Playing at the park 
• P.E. today - we played baseball for PE.  We worked on catching, throwing and batting skills
• He went to an Easter egg hunt at church and his Wednesday night class at church

13 Year-old

• Gospel of John
• Algebra
• Language Lessons for the Secondary Child
• Free reading
• To Kill a Mockingbird and Mrs. Frisby
• Apologia Anatomy - reading from the text
• History 
• video: "Brutal Execution of the Romanovs"
• video: "The Revolution that Shaped Russia"
• movie depicting life around WWI: Legends of the Fall (we fast forwarded the Brad Pitt love scenes 😬)
• Group discussions during the two days we watched the videos and movie
• trench warfare
• mustard gas
• the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
• Austria-Hungary and its alliance with Germany
• Prohibition
• the draft 
• the murder of the Romanov's - also specifically talked about the daughters
• Ballet 
• Confirmation class at church
• P.E. - baseball
• EasterNow app - following Jesus' activities during Holy Week in real time

History was very productive this week for both teens.

16 Year-old

• 2 Samuel
• Algebra 2
• Language Lessons for the High School Student - I'm, once again, getting pushback from this kid, because the program is too easy.  This time, she wrote an essay on how to write a really bad essay - it was an instruction guide.  She's asking to do more creative writing, so after we finish this batch of stuff, it's time for more creative writing, I guess.
• Apologia Biology - reading all week about spiders and other arachnids
• German together
• History 
• video: "Brutal Execution of the Romanovs"
• video: "The Revolution that Shaped Russia"
• movie depicting life around WWI: Legends of the Fall (fast forwarded the Brad Pitt love scenes)
• Group discussions during the two days we watched the videos and movie
• trench warfare
• mustard gas
• the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
• Austria-Hungary and its alliance with Germany
• Prohibition
• the draft
• the murder of the Romanov's - also specifically talked about the daughters
• Communism
• Scarlet Letter Unit Study
• Read Scarlet Letter
• Whatever Happened to Justice
• The Fallacy Detective
• Viewed The Mayflower Collection from the Pilgrim Hall Museum
• "The Mayflower on Her Arrival in Plymouth Harbor"
• "The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth"
• Ballet
• Youth Group at Church
• P.E. - baseball
• EasterNow app - following Jesus' activities during Holy Week in real time

Here is the EasterNow app:  https://easternow.com

Homeschool Day 3/29

 Five more weeks left of this "semester" - even thought we school year-round and it really doesn't matter.  But, I have been keeping track.

Kindergartener

• Summer's Lab science - what is living and what is non-living (kinda obvious, right?).  This led to a discussion of cells, looking at onion cells under a microscope, looking at a model of a cell and watching an animation of the inner life of a cell.  This is actually a fun video - made by Harvard.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_zD3NxSsD8  We also watched a video of bacteriophages attacking an E. coli bacteria.  (He's really interested in cells for some reason)
• We read I Am a Booger: Treat Me With Respect - yes, it was gross
• We read Far North in the Arctic: Counting Alaska's Animals
• I Spy! Extreme Challenger - we did one of the challenges
• Ballet class today

13 Year-old

• Gospel of John
• Algebra video
• Language Lessons for the Secondary Child
• Free reading
• She read To Kill a Mockingbird, I read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
• History video: "WWI: The Aftermath"
• I'm going to try to find All Quiet on the Western Front tonight on streaming
• Anatomy reading
• Ballet class today

Our cat sleeping on To Kill a Mockingbird.  Maybe the title of the book was interesting to her.

16 Year-old

• 2 Samuel
• Algebra 2 video
• Also Ballet Class
• Language Lessons for the High School Student
• History video: "WWI: The Aftermath"
• She'll also watch All Quiet on the Western Front if I can find it tonight 
• Scarlet Letter Unit Study
• Read The Scarlet Letter
• Researched Cotton Mather and write a short narration about who he was
• Read "The Witches of Salem" from The New Yorker
• Whatever Happened to Justice
• The Fallacy Detective
• Apologia Biology: Crayfish Dissection lab.  We followed along with this video during the dissection:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ79ivCgNe8

This was probably one of the more disgusting dissections.  Its leg and claw popped off right away and the smell lingered around for several hours.  We were able to find everything in the dissection video, though.  A success!  

Planning Ideas

 Although we school year-round and our school year doesn't usually coincide with normal school years....this time it will.  We will probably be finished with almost everything in May.  I feel a bit unfortunate about this, because summer is usually a bad time to order homeschool materials - especially since so many people have pulled their kids from school this year.  I remember trying to order things last summer and everything was out of stock, etc.

I can not decide what to do after May.

I really wanted to combine the 13 and 16 year-olds, but after talking to them and thinking about it, there is no way I can combine them.  It's way too much of an age and ability gap, especially since teens take huge developmental leaps at 16/17.  The younger one wouldn't be able to keep up.

I'm thinking about following The Brave Learner for the summer and see how we like it.  This isn't really a curriculum, but more of an eclectic routine.

I plan to sit down with the book this weekend and take notes/map out my ideas.

Homeschool Day 3/25

Kindergartener

• Summer's Lab - he drew and colored a Panda Ant in his lab workbook
• He worked on Teach Your Monster to Read
• He went with us to the college to help his older brother get ready for the semester

13 Year-old

• Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee
• Free reading from her book crate
• To Kill a Mockingbird, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
• Anatomy reading
• History
• We looked at the CDC website about mustard gas, what it's made of, what it smells like, how it behaves in the air, what are the symptoms, etc.
• History Channel: "Life in the Trench"
• Video: "WWI The First Modern War: the Germans Release the First WMD"
• Video: "World War One Tanks"

16 Year-old

• Honors page for Algebra 2
• 2 Samuel
• Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee
• History of Medicine
• German together
• History
• We looked at the CDC website about mustard gas, what it's made of, what it smells like, how it behaves in the air, what are the symptoms, etc.
• History Channel: "Life in the Trench"
• Video: "WWI The First Modern War: the Germans Release the First WMD"
• Video: "World War One Tanks"
• Scarlet Letter Unit Study
• We went through the Progeny Press Lit Guide together
• She finished everything for the week.  Next week, we start reading about the Salem Witch Trials

I talked with the two teens about our plans for the summer and fall.  This conversation went nowhere.  The 13 year-old wants to take the summer off.  The 16 year-old does not.  The 13 year-old wants to do something that's more like unschooling in the fall, the 16 year-old wants to do more unit studies.

*sigh*

Homeschool Day 3/24

 Kindergartener

• Beginner's Bible
• I brought out the blocks that have tinted windows and he built/played with those for quite awhile
• We played Alphabet Soup (reading - lol)
• Summer's Lab: Insects.  We discussed the results of yesterday's lab.  We read the DK Children's Encyclopedia entry on insects and watched several videos on ants and what their colonies look like underground.  One video was a time lapse video of ants building a colony
• DK Children's Encyclopedia: Europe.  We watched a video of wolverines.
• P.E. - we went to the park and went walking on a trail.  He played on the playground.

13 Year-old

• The Gospel of John
• Language Lessons for the Secondary Child
• Free reading from her book crate
• She read To Kill a Mockingbird - I read Mrs. Frisby
• Anatomy reading - the respiratory system
• History - she watched the video "World War I Facts: Summary of WWI for Kids"
• We did German together
• P.E. - we went walking on a trail with her homeschool friends

16 Year-old

• Algebra 2
• 2 Samuel
• Language Lessons for the High School Student
• Biology reading
• History - she watched the video "World War I Facts: Summary of WWI for Kids"
• P.E. - we went walking on a trail with her homeschool friends
• Scarlet Letter Unit Study
• The Scarlet Letter
• Whatever Happened to Justice
• The Fallacy Detective
• She read a summary of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense"

Homeschool Day 3/23

 Kindergartener

• StoryCubes - you roll these dice with pictures on them and then tell a story based on which pictures you get.  He loved doing this.
• Finished 100 Animals - the counting book he started last week.  He still can't count to 100.  I think his brain just can't handle it.  I'm putting that task away until he's older.
• Follow Finn: A Search and Find Maze Book - he finished this
• Summer's Lab - Insects - we did the lab where you place different foods on a paper plate outside an ant mound and record which food the ants preferred.  Well, they all preferred the honey.
• Nature walk at the park, skipped rocks in the creek (fell into the creek) and played on the playground

13 Year-old

• You Do the Math: Solve a Crime - she worked on this again today.  It's clear to me that she needs a review of decimals
• Language Lessons for the Secondary Child - copywork with her beautiful fountain pens
• Free reading from her book crate
• She read To Kill a Mockingbird - I read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
• Anatomy reading - the respiratory system
• History - she watched a video about the race to the South Pole in the early 20th century
• Gymnastics class

16 Year-old

• Algebra workbook page
• 2 Samuel
• Language Lessons for the High School Student - the Narrative Essay
• Biology reading
• German together 
• History - she also watched the video about the race to the South Pole in the early 20th century
• Scarlet Letter Unit Study
• Read The Scarlet Letter
• Whatever Happened to Justice
• The Fallacy Detective
• Artwork from the Mayflower Collection at the Pilgrim Hall Museum
• "The Mayflower and Speedwell in Dartmouth Harbour"
• "The Mayflower at Sea"
• "The Signing of the Compact in the Cabin of the Mayflower"
• Gymnastics class
• Went to a youth activity where they knitted hats for themselves

College Students

The sophomore visited her horticulture teacher on campus, came home and declared that she is changing her major and plans to open her own business after graduation.  *sigh*  

Homeschool Day 3/22

 Kindergartener

• Beginner's Bible - story of Ruth and Naomi
• Explode the Code - I could only get him to write one word, which was fine
• DK Children's Encyclopedia: we read the entry on Asia and searched some of the animals online
• Summer's Lab - we read Day 1 about Insects, did the coloring page and then watched some videos about preying mantises and different species of ants
• Follow Finn: A Search and Find Maze Book - I happened to pick this up at the library last week.  It's similar to Where's Waldo.  It gives you a riddle and then you have to find the item/items it talks about in the riddle.  He LOVED this.  We did most of the book in one sitting.
• Ballet class

13 Year-Old

• Gospel of John
• For math, she's taking a break and working through a book called: You Do the Math: Solve a Crime.  It walks you through a crime scene and you have to do various math word problems to solve the crime.
• Languages Lessons for the Secondary Child
• Free Reading from her book crate - she's finished most of her books now
• She read To Kill a Mockingbird - I read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
• Anatomy & Physiology - the respiratory system
• Ballet class

16 Year-old

• 2 Samuel
• Algebra 2 video
• Language Lessons for the High School Student
• Biology reading and Lab - we observed a Planarian under the microscope - located its eyespots, intestines and pharynx.  Our planarian looked like it was winking.
• She read a short bio of Albert Einstein
• Scarlet Letter Unit Study
• Read The Scarlet Letter
• Read a short bio of Jonathan Edwards
• Read the sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"
• Wrote a short narration about the sermon
• Whatever Happened to Justice
• The Fallacy Detective

College Students

The college students actually had a very busy week.  

The freshman registered for all of his classes for the summer semester.  He's taking New Student Orientation, Kinesiology, Speech and American Music.  By the time August rolls around, he'll already have 8 credit hours.  He tried to register and we found out that they did not receive some of his paperwork, so we resubmitted it (ALWAYS do things early when it comes to college, because things go wrong, they lose paperwork, etc).  Their website crashed when he was trying to register.  He was up until 2am trying and then gave up and we registered the next morning.  He also had to take a long learning assessment that told him his strengths and weaknesses, what kind of learner he was, etc.  I now need to take him to the campus and get his ID and he wants a college hoodie (lol).  A couple of weeks before class starts, I need to get his books.

The sophomore met with her advisor and was told that she qualifies for the Chancellor's Scholarship at the private university about 10 miles from our house.  It's 3 years of tuition covered by the scholarship.  

She is also thinking about changing her major to horticulture with a business emphasis and opening her own nursery, so she is going on campus this morning to talk to her teacher about going into that field, instead of nursing.  I honestly hopes she changes her major.  I think she would be happier and she would be a great business owner.