Showing posts with label 2024-2025. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2024-2025. Show all posts

Friday, November 15, 2024

Homeschool Update: October 2024

All Grades


Latin

We continued working through Keep Going with Latin, and the girls created their own sentences to translate.


Poetry  

E. worked on memorizing "Merry Are the Bells," C. memorized "In Flanders Fields," and M. worked on "The Highwayman." 


Catechism

E. received her First Holy Communion at the Latin Mass. She and C. and M. worked on memorizing questions and answers about angels and sin.  


Art 

In October, we studied these works of art:

  • The Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks
  • Tiger in a Tropical Storm by Henri Rousseau
  • Improvisation 31 (Sea Battle) by Wassily Kandinsky
  • Wallpaper & Patterned Fabric by William Morris

We also went on a field trip to the Walters Art Museum. 


Music

M., C., and E. finished watching Orchestra!, the 1991 documentary miniseries with Dudley Moore. They continued practicing a four-part arrangement (with dad) of Skye Boat Song on recorder in preparation for a recital. M. and C. did music theory every week, and all three did ear training on the computer. 


5th Grade (M., girl, age 10)


Social Studies

M. completed the first book in the Medieval & Early Modern World series from Oxford University Press and moved into the second, which focuses on Africa. She watched related Great Courses videos and answered workbook questions daily. 


Science

M. watched John Long's Great Courses videos about robotics and did Arduino activities from Arduino for Beginners. 


English 

M. made progress in Editor in Chief, Sentence Diagramming Level 2, Easy Grammar, and Vocabulary from Classical Roots B. 


Math

M. has done one challenging word problem each day, as well as 30 minutes of Khan Academy. She is 77% done with Algebra I. She is also still working through Life of Fred: Pre-algebra 0 with Physics.

3rd Grade (C., girl, age 9)


Social Studies

C. has been studying World War I using World War I for Kids as her spine. She watched several videos and wrote a narration about Franz Ferdinand. 


English

C. continued working on Sentence Diagramming Level 2, Daily Grams, and Vocabulary from Classical Roots 6. 


Science 

We changed C.'s schedule so that she works on both her birds curriculum and her Snap circuits curriculum every week. She read and did workbook pages for two chapters in The Book of Birds and we have nearly completed Lesson 3 in Snap Circuits. 


Math 

C. continued working in Singapore Primary Mathematics 4B and did four chapters in Life of Fred: Honey. She finished Khan Academy Sixth Grade Math and moved on to 7th grade. 

1st Grade (E., girl, age 7)


Social Studies

E. listened to several chapters in Story of Civilization Volume 3. She read Irish Pilgrim, Our Little Frankish Cousin of Long Ago, and Viking Settler and wrote narrations about St. Patrick and Charlemagne. 

Science

We read Let's Read and Find Out books about fossils and dinosaurs, rocks and volcanoes, nocturnal animals, and weight and weightlessness. We watched a video tour of the International Space Station and a Reading Rainbow episode about dinosaur fossils. 

English

E. continued working in Sentence Diagramming Beginning and Easy Grammar Workbook 34. 

Math 

E. continued working on  Singapore Primary Mathematics 2B. We discovered that Life of Fred was really easy for her, so we decided to move more quickly through each book, doing two chapters per day. She finished Apples and moved into Butterflies. She finished fourth grade math on Khan Academy and is now about halfway through fifth. 

Pre-K (R., boy, age 4 & A., girl, age 4)

R. and A. listened to the Let's Read and Find Out read-alouds. We also read aloud Halloween picture books and some other classic picture books. R. slowly began to move from easy readers to very basic chapter books. A. read Pig Wig. 

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Homeschool Update: September 2024

All Grades

Latin

We reached Lesson 60 in Keep Going with Latin, which we started over the summer. Once a week, the girls created their own English sentences to translate into Latin. 

Poetry

E. memorized "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost and began to memorize "Merry are the Bells." C. memorized "A Song of Sherwood" by Alfred Noyes. M. worked on "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes, but has not yet finished memorizing it. 

Catechism

M., C., and E. memorized assigned questions and answers from the first two lessons in the New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism. 

Art

The works of art we studied this month were: 

  • The Blue Vase by Paul Cezanne 
  • Roma by Anne Whitney 
  • Wisconsin Landscape by John Steuart Curry 
  • Plate No. 85, American Robin—Turdus migratorius by John James Audubon

Music

M., C., and E. have been watching Orchestra!, the 1991 documentary miniseries with Dudley Moore. They are also learning a four-part arrangement (with dad) of Skye Boat Song on recorder. 


5th Grade (M., girl, age 10)

Social Studies

M. completed the first 8 chapters in the first book of the Medieval & Early Modern World series from Oxford University Press. She wrote paragraphs comparing the Romans to the Germanic people and explaining the impact of viking invasions on Alfred, King of Wessex and Hugh Capet.  She watched supplemental videos from The Great Courses.

Science 

M. watched videos on the history of computers and finished the Arduino unit on programming. 


English 

M. made progress in Editor in Chief, Sentence Diagramming Level 2, Easy Grammar, and Vocabulary from Classical Roots B. She also wrote an explanation of Otzi the ice man using guidelines from Write Source 2000.


Math

M. has done one challenging word problem each day, as well as 30 minutes of Khan Academy. She is 63% done with Algebra I. She did not pass her most recent bridge in Life of Fred: Pre-algebra 0 with Physics and is in the process of correcting her answers and making a second attempt. 


Field Trips

M. went to the National Museum of Health and Medicine for a forensics class, and to the National Cryptologic Museum for a class on cryptoanalysis. A docent at the Cryptologic Museum was impressed with her and spent an extra hour with her after the tour. 

 

3rd Grade (C., girl, age 9)


Social Studies

C. read about Teddy Roosevelt, The Boxer Rebellion, The San Francisco Earthquake, Marie Curie, the Panama Canal, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, and the Titanic. She wrote one narration each week. 


Science 

C. read the first two chapters in The Book of Birds and completed the accompanying workbook pages. She did all of the first lesson in Student Guide for Electronic Snap Circuits and the first two sections of the second lesson. 


English

C. made progress in Sentence Diagramming Level 2, Daily Grams, and Vocabulary from Classical Roots 6. 


Math 

C. worked on division in Singapore Primary Mathematics 4B and did four chapters in Life of Fred: Honey. She is still working her way through  Khan Academy Sixth Grade Math. 


1st Grade (E., girl, age 6)


Social Studies

E. listened to the first four chapters of Story of Civilization Volume 3. She read A Medieval Monk


Science

Our first four topics covered by books in the Let's Read and Find Out series were: the sun and moon, the human body (bones, heart, blood, skin, and lungs), spiders, ants, and cockroaches, and trees and leaves. E. wrote narrations about the heart  and about the sun. 


English

E. made progress in Sentence Diagramming Beginning and Easy Grammar Workbook 34. 


Math

E. worked on fractions and time in Singapore Primary Mathematics 2B. She did the first four chapters in Life of Fred: Apples and has completed more than 60% of 4th grade Khan Academy. 


Pre-K (R., boy, age 4 & A., girl, age 4)

R. and A. joined in on the Let's Read and Find Out About Science read-alouds.

R. has read over 200 easy readers total. A. has read Rag and Dad and Sam

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

Homeschool Curriculum and Schedule: 2024-2025

Our sixth official year of homeschooling has begun! This year, I have three school-age kids. According to Maryland they are in 5th grade (M., girl, almost 11), 3rd grade (C., girl, almost 9), and 1st grade (E., girl, almost 7), though they all vehemently disagree with these classifications. I also have two four-year-olds (R., boy and A., girl) who are doing Pre-K stuff from September to January and kindergarten stuff from January on.


All Grades 

All school-age children will be memorizing poems, geography, and Catechism questions and answers. They will also also participate in Latin exercises from Keep Going with Latin by William Linney. P.E. will be a combination of bike riding, running laps, and playing at the park. They also swam all summer. For art, we are using an elementary art curriculum from Concordia University. The school-age kids also use Typing.com to practice typing, and they review their math facts using online flashcards. 


5th Grade

Social Studies

  • Medieval & Early Modern World series (with workbooks) from Oxford University Press 
    Daily, plus two narrations per month 

Science

English

  • Editor in Chief Level 1
    Friday

  • Write Source 2000
    Monthly writing assignment

  • Sentence Diagramming Level 2
    Monday 

  • Easy Grammar
    Five pages every Thursday 

  • Vocabulary from Classical Roots B
    Monday and Thursday

Math

  • Life of Fred: Pre-algebra 0 with Physics
    Friday, with Dad

  • Elementary Algebra by Harold W. Jacobs; Khan Academy Algebra
    daily, taught by Dad 

  • Singapore Challenging Word Problems 4
    one problem daily 

Health 

  • The Care and Keeping of You: Body Book for Girls 2 
    monthly or less

Music 

  • Denes Agay Book 3 ; The Soprano Recorder by William M. Weiss
    daily practice of piano and recorder 

3rd Grade 

Social Studies

  • The Century by Peter Jennings and other 20th century resources
    daily, with Dad

Science

  • The Book of Birds (and workbook) and Student Guide for Electronic Snap Circuits
    alternating weeks, Tuesday and Thursday, and sometimes Friday

English

  • Sentence Diagramming Level 2
    Friday

  • Daily Grams
    daily

  • Vocabulary from Classical Roots 6
    Tuesday and Thursday

Math

  • Singapore Primary Mathematics 4B
    daily

  • Life of Fred: Honey
    Friday 
  • Khan Academy Sixth Grade Math
    daily 

Health 

  • The Care and Keeping of You: Body Book for Girls 1
    monthly or less

Music 

  • Denes Agay Book 2; 50 Graded Studies for Recorder, and Recorder Time
    daily practice of piano and recorder


1st Grade


Social Studies

  • The Story of Civilization Volume 2
    Monday 

  • supplemental picture books
    weekly 

Science

  • Let's Read and Find Out About Science series 
    grouped weekly by theme, one book per weekday 

English 

  • Sentence Diagramming Beginning
    daily

  • Easy Grammar Workbook 34
    daily 

Math

  • Singapore Primary Mathematics 2B
    daily 

  • Life of Fred: Apples
    Friday 


Music

  • Denes Agay Primer and Hands on Recorder
    daily practice of piano and recorder  

Pre-K

  • Let's Read and Find Out About Science series 
    grouped weekly by theme, one book per weekday 

  • The Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading
    A. only, daily 

  • Liberty's Kids history video series
    several times per week

  • Other skills: riding a bike, cutting with scissors