Homeschool Update: October 2023

Group Activities

Geography/Art 

From The Complete Book of Marvels by Richard Halliburton, Dad read the sections about the Boulder (Hoover) Dam, Niagara Falls, New York City, and Washington, DC. Then we watched these videos: 

• America's Most Powerful Dam
• Thundering Waters
• New York, the Wonder City
• District of Columbia

Latin 

We continued working our way through Getting Started with Latin: Beginning Latin for Homeschoolers and Self-Taught Students of Any Age by William E. Linney. After we learned a few verbs and how to conjugate them, we took a break from the book to make sure all three girls were solid in their understanding of how to identify and translate each verb. E. took a bit to catch up. C. is our strongest Latin student right now. 

Shakespeare

The girls spent October memorizing some of the three witches' lines from Macbeth. They recorded a performance on Halloween. 

Read-Alouds

In October, Dad read aloud The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis Mcgraw and Egyptian Adventures by Olivia Coolidge. I read aloud A Lemon and a Star by E. C. Spykman and we played the audiobook of The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury. 

Catechism

M. and C. continued to memorize answers to questions in the New St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism Volume 1 and E. continued to memorize the answers to questions in  The St. Joseph First Communion Catechism. 

Poetry

We are reading Poem-making: Ways to Begin Writing Poetry by Myra Cohn Livingston on Fridays. 

Science 

C. and E. read about birds and insects in The Golden Treasury of Natural History. In Secrets of the Universe, M. and I read three chapters: "Planetary Motion," "Pendulums and Falling Objects - Galileo's Laws of Motion," and "Newton's Three Laws of Motion." She watched several demonstrations by Julius Sumner Miller, and did two experiments from Janice VanCleave's Physics for Every Kid, one about buoyancy and one about gravity. 

Health 

E. watched the episodes of How the Body Works about the tongue and the nervous system. M. visited the orthodontist. 

History 

E. and I read about Egypt in A Child's History of the World by V.M. Hillyer. We also read Pharaoh's Boat by David Weitzman and The Great Pyramid by Elizabeth Mann. On her own, she read: 

• Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki
• Pepi and the Secret Names by Jill Paton Walsh 
• Hatshepsut, His Majesty, Herself by Catherine M. Andronik
• Zekmet, the Stone Carver: A Tale of Ancient Egypt by Mary Stolz
• Seeker of Knowledge by James Rumford 
• The Shipwrecked Sailor: An Egyptian Tale with Hieroglyphs by Tamara Bower
• Sokar and the Crocodile by Alice Howard 

She also acted out an Egyptian burial using a homemade paper mummy and a shoebox sarcophagus she decorated herself using drawing instructions from Ralph Masiello's Ancient Egypt Drawing Book. 

M. and I finished The Early Human World and read most of The Ancient Near Eastern World. She watched most of the episodes of the Great Courses class, Between the Rivers. She wrote a narration about Hammurabi and read The Three Brothers of Ur by J. G. Fyson. 

C. and Dad continued reading The World of Captain John Smith by Genevieve Foster, covering these sections: 

• John Smith, Sightseer in Italy (1600)
• Galileo
• A Royal Wedding (1600 - Henry IV & Maria de Medici)
• Grand Opera and the Violin
• John Smith and the Terrible Turks (1601-1603)
• John Smith, Slave (1603)
• Cervantes and Don Quixote
• Boris Godunov
• The Queen Is Dead (1603)
• King James I
• The Globe Theater
• Ben Jonson
• Sir Walter Raleigh a Prisoner (1603)
• Sir Francis Bacon Rings the Bell
• The King James Bible (1604)
• Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot (1605)
• A Meeting in Scrooby Village
• A Frenchman Reports on New Spain (Champlain)
• Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Champlain Visits Canada
• Off to Virginia (1606)
• New France, the First Colony
• The Great Chief Powhatan
• John Smith at Jamestown (1607)
• A Compass and Talking Paper
• Pocahontas and John Smith
• John Smith Draws a Map of Virginia (1608)
• Half Moon on the Hudson River
• French and Indians on Lake Champlain
• President John Smith (1608)
• Starvation and Shipwreck
• (Tobacco to the Rescue)
• A Synagogue in Amsterdam
• At Home in Leyden
• (The Telescope (1608))
• Galileo and the Planets
• Henry IV is Dead
• Galileo in Rome (1611)
• French Missionaries in Canada
• Pocahontas Is Married
• The Royal Couple
• King Gustav Adolf
• Russia's New Tsar, Michael Romanov (1613)
• The Naming of New England
• In Memory of Shakespeare (d. 1616)
• Pocahontas in England
• The Law vs. the King?
• Raleigh's Last Adventure (1616)
• The House of Burgesses (1619)
• Servants and Slaves (1619)
• They Knew That They Were Pilgrims
• John Smith, Unhappy Admiral
• The Mayflower Sails (1620)
• Anchored at Plymouth

C. also read Puritan Adventure by Lois Lenski. 

English 

M. continued working on Vocabulary from Classical Roots A and Rex Barks. E. continued working in Grammarland. C. continued working in the Beginning book of Sentence Diagramming. 

R. started sounding out consonant-vowel-consonant words. 

Math

M. continued working on Challenging Word Problems 3. She finished the reviews in Singapore 5A and moved on to 5B. She also continued with Khan Academy 6th grade math, Life of Fred: Decimals and Percents and drilling math facts with flashcards online every Friday. 

C. continued with Singapore 3B, Khan Academy 3rd grade math, and Life of Fred: Farming.

E. continued with Singapore 1A and Khan Academy early math. 

Music

All three girls practiced piano and recorder daily. 

Physical Education

The girls rode bikes and played on the playground. They also did an exercise video from the Ten Thousand method once or twice. 

Read-at-Home Mom Report: October 2023 Wrap-Up

October Favorites

A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler
Anne Tyler's talent for characterization never ceases to amaze me. I became totally immersed in the life of her main character, Barnaby Gatlin, and was fascinated by his every move, no matter how mundane, from beginning to end of this novel. Absolutely no one writes like Anne Tyler, and every book of hers so far has been a delight. 

The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin
This was an enjoyable book not for the mystery plot, but for all the literary allusions and witty repartee between characters. I read this with Close Reads, and it's one of my favorites of the books they did this year. 

It Was an Ugly Couch Anyway by Elizabeth Passarella
I loved this memoir about the trials and tribulations the author and her husband endured trying to buy an apartment in Manhattan from an elderly woman. The author read the audiobook, and that made me feel like I was having a chat with her whenever I listened. There is also a charming interview at the end of the audiobook with the lady who sold her the apartment, and I loved hearing that. 



Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
The dark humor in this is spot-on. I figured out the big reveal at the end pretty early on, but that in no way spoiled the reading experience. Eleanor is a one-of-a-kind character and seeing her come into her own years after significant trauma was heartwarming in a quirky way. 

The Puppets of Spelhorst by Kate DiCamillo
Kate DiCamillo's latest is the perfect example of why I read everything she writes. Her prose is beautiful, and there is a depth to the story beyond just entertainment. I'm so excited to know this is the first of a trilogy because I want more! 

My Family and Other Skaters by Fiorella de Maria
I'm reviewing this for Catholic Mom, and it is a delight. It absolutely would have been my favorite book if it was around when I was 9 or 10, and my girls are eating it up as well. 

Glass Helix by Katee Stein
My friend Katee wrote this sci-fi romance, and I could not put it down. I loved the world of the story, and the way the love story unfolded within the difficulties the characters faced. 

Where Darkness Dwells by Andrea Renae
This fantasy novel by my friend Andrea is a beautiful meditation on good and evil, darkness and light. Images from this book are lingering in my mind days after I finished it.  

Read-Aloud & Homeschool 

• A Lemon and a Star by E.C. Spykman (4 stars)
• The Early Human World by Peter Robertshaw (4 stars)

Series Books

• Fool Moon (Dresden Files Book 2) by Jim Butcher (4 stars)
• The Princess Diaries (Princess Diaries Book 1) by Meg Cabot (4 stars)
• Townshipped (Getting Shipped! Book 3) by Savannah Scott (5 stars)
• In the Company of Witches (Evenfall Witches B&B Book 1) by Auralee Wallace (4 stars)
• Until the Celebration (Green Sky Trilogy Book 3) by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (3 stars)
• Losing the Field (Field Party Book 4) by Abbi Glines (4 stars)
• Can't Help Falling (Sweater Weather Book 3) by Courtney Walsh (4 stars)
• Meet Me on Love Lane (Hopeless Romantics Book 2) by Nina Bocci (3 stars)
• Grave Peril (Dresden Files Book 3) by Jim Butcher (4 stars)
• A Spoonful Of Spice (Seasons of Love Short Story 2) by Liwen Ho (4 stars)

Stand-Alone Books

• Howards End by E.M. Forster (5 stars)
• The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G.K. Chesterton (4 stars)
• St. Francis Society for Wayward Pets by Annie England Noblin (4 stars)
• Snow Place Like Home by Lacey Baker (4 stars) 
• Truth on Trial: Liberal Education Be Hanged by Robert K. Carlson (4 stars)
• The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic by Breanne Randall (3 stars)

Family Reading Lists 

M. (girl 9 years, 11 months)

• The Three Brothers of Ur by J. G. Fyson
• The Heir of Mistmantle by M. I. McAllister

C. (girl, 8 years, 1 month)

• Wayside School under the Cloud of Doom by Louis Sachar
• Then Came Adventure by Emma L. Brock
• The Far Side of The Loch by Melissa Wiley
• Ramona Quimby Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
• Stella Endicott and the Anything is Possible Poem by Kate DiCamillo
• Eugenia Lincoln and the Unexpected Package by Kate DiCamillo
• All-of-a-kind-family Downtown by Sydney Taylor
• Catwings by Ursula K. LeGuin
• Catwings Return by Ursula K. LeGuin
• Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings by Ursula K. LeGuin
• Jane on her Own by Ursula K. LeGuin
• Puritan Adventure by Lois Lenski
• The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden 

E. (girl, 6 years) 

• The Book of Hob Stories by William Mayne 

R. (boy 3 years, 7 months)

• The Monsters on the Broom by Annemarie Riley Guertin
• Knock Knock, Trick or Treat! by Amy E. Sklansky
• Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection by Rev. W. Awdry 

A. (girl, 3 years 7 months)

• All About Alfie by Shirley Hughes 
• Babybug magazines
• Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection by Rev. W. Awdry

My husband

• Jane on Her Own by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Past Eight O'Clock: Goodnight Stories by Joan Aiken
• The Winged Colt of Casa Mia by Betsy Byars 

Homeschool Update: September 2023

Group Activities

Geography/Art  

Dad is reading aloud geography this year from The Complete Book of Marvels by Richard Halliburton. This month, he read the sections about the Transbay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon. After each section, the kids all watched a related video. The videos were:  

• Building the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge (1937)
• BUILDING THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE 1960s BETHLEHEM STEEL PROMOTIONAL MOVIE SAN FRANCISCO MD65664
• Let's See Yosemite, 1938
• 1940s SANTA FE RAILROAD GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK PROMOTIONAL FILM 46014

The architectural landmarks covered in this book are our focus for art this year.

Latin 

We completed the first 20 lessons of Getting Started with Latin: Beginning Latin for Homeschoolers and Self-Taught Students of Any Age by William E. Linney, and it's going well so far. E. (almost 6) struggled at first, but she is holding her own. The girls take turns translating the exercises each day, and we use the audio recordings to help with pronunciation. Even the twins have picked up a little bit. 

Shakespeare 

Our play this month was Macbeth. We read the children's version from Shakespeare Stories by Leon Garfield, and the girls started to memorize the "double, double toil and trouble" passage in parts. 

Read-Alouds 

We are doing two read-alouds at a time this year. Dad reads a historical fiction novel and I read an additional novel. September's books were Attar of the Ice Valley by Leonard Wibberley, The Axe of Bronze by Kurt Schmeltzer, The Crystal Tree by Jennie D. Lindquist, and Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson (which we finished on St. Francis's feast day owing to his role in the end of the book.) 

Catechism

M. and C. memorized the answers to the questions in Lesson 1 of the New St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism Volume 1 and E. memorized the answers to the questions in the first few lessons of The St. Joseph First Communion Catechism. 

Science 

C. and E. are having science with me every morning before breakfast. We're reading The Golden Treasury of Natural History, and we have covered the formation of rocks, early animals (such as trilobites), and creatures of the seashore (including mollusks). 

M. and I read two chapters from Secrets of the Universe: "What is a natural law?" and "Archimedes' Principle." She watched a Demonstrations in Physics video with Julius Sumner Miller and did two experiments from Janice VanCleave's Physics for Every Kid, one about electricity and one about magnets. 

Health

E. watched the KidsHealth How the Body Works videos about the ear, nose, eye, and teeth. M. read some of the later chapters in The Body Book for Girls (she's almost done) and C. started reading it. C. and M. also both had orthdontist visits. 

History 

E. and I read the first four chapters in A Child's History of the World by V.M. Hillyer. We also read They Lived Like This in the Old Stone Age by Marie Neurath and The First Farmers by Leonard Weisgard, and she created some cave art with crayons on brown paper. 

M. and I read all but the final 5 chapters in The Early Human World. She wrote a narration about archaeologist Mary Leakey. She also watched supplemental videos: 

• Science Odyssey: Origins 1
• First Peoples - Africa
• Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life
• Becoming Human Episode 1
• Science Odyssey: Origins 2
• Dr. Leakey and the Dawn of Man
• Life on Earth Episode 13
• Becoming Human Episode 2
• First Peoples - Europe
• Becoming Human Episode 3
• Neanderthals: Meet Your Ancestors 
• Lapedo Child 
• First Peoples - Australia
• Cave of Forgotten Dreams
• Lascaux: How to Save 18,000 Years of History
• Ice Age Art
• First Peoples - America
• Prehistoric Animals of the Tar Pits

C. and Dad are reading The World of Captain John Smith by Genevieve Foster. They have covered these sections: The Queen's Little Pirate; Queen Elizabeth; Philip II; A Declaration of Independence; The Virgin Queen and Her Frog Prince; Mary Stuart; The Three Henrys and the Queen Mother of France; Young Walter Raleigh and Virginia; No Gold - But Tobacco; Little John Smith; To and From Holland; Mary Stuart and the Honest Man; James; Lord Roanoke and Virginia Dare; Spanish Armada; War of the Three Henrys; The Lost Colony; John Smith, Schoolboy; The Faerie Queen; The Upstart Crow (Shakespeare); The White-Plumed Henry (of Navarre); El Greco and Philip II; John Smith, Would-Be Knight; El Dorado, City of Gold; Akbar of India; Mr. Pilot in Japan; Entrance to China; Sun, Moon, and Stars; A Star Gazer, Tycho Brahe and His Dog; Gustav Adolf, Star of the North. 

Independently, C. read The Lost Colony and she wrote a narration about Roanoke as well. 

English 

M. worked on Vocabulary from Classical Roots A. C. started working in the Beginning book of Sentence Diagramming. E. did the first three chapters of Grammarland and the corresponding worksheets. 

All three girls read independently pretty much every day.

Math

M. continued working on Challenging Word Problems 3 and started doing the reviews in Singapore Primary Mathematics 5A. She is also working on Life of Fred: Decimals and Percents and she drills math facts with flashcards online every Friday. 

C. is working on Singapore Primary Mathematics 3B and Life of Fred: Farming, and she also does flashcards online. 

E. is working on Singapore Primary Mathematics 1A as well as Khan Academy Early Math.

M. and C. also continue to work on Khan Academy.

Music

All three girls practiced piano and recorder daily. 

Physical Education

The girls rode bikes many afternoons and played on the playground across from our house. 

Read-at-Home Report: September 2023 Wrap-Up

September Favorites

I only had two five-star reads in September, and both were 2023 releases. 

Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other by Bethany Turner 
This enemies-to-lovers small-town celebrity romance has great characters and a charming setting. I had an ARC from Netgalley but ended up listening to the audiobook, which was excellent. I'm looking forward to the companion book coming out next year!

Fire and Rain (Country Club Murder Book 16) by Julie Mulhern
This series is always fun, and it never stops making me laugh. This was another great installment. 

Read-Alouds

• Old Mother West Wind by Thornton Burgess (3 stars)
• The Crystal Tree (Golden Name Day Book 3) by Jennie D. Lundquist (4 stars)

Series

• Death Checked Out (Larkspur Library Mysteries Book 1) by Leah Dobrinska (4 stars)
• Commit by Kortney Keisel (The Sweet Rom"Com" Book .5) (3 stars)
• Compared (The Sweet Rom"Com" Book 1) by Kortney Keisel (4 stars)
• In the Company of Others (Mitford Book 11) by Jan Karon (3 stars)
• The Madness of Crowds (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Book 17) by Louise Penny (2 stars)
• Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good (Mitford Book 12) by Jan Karon (4 stars)
• And All Between (Green Sky Trilogy Book 2) by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (3 stars)
• Come Rain or Come Shine (Mitford Book 13) by Jan Karon (4 stars)
• Just Don't Fall (Sweater Weather Book 1) by Emma St. Clair (3 stars)
• The Vanderbeekers Ever After (The Vanderbeekers Book 7) by Karina Yan Glaser (3 stars)
• The Fall Back Plan (Sweater Weather Book 2) by Melanie Jacobson (4 stars)
• Faithful Place (Dublin Murder Squad Book 3) by Tana French (4 stars)

Stand-alone Books

• Paradise Lost by John Milton (3 stars)
• Frederica by Georgette Heyer (4 stars)
• Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar (3 stars)
• When Sharks Attack With Kindness by Andrés J. Colmenares (4 stars)
• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (3 stars)
• The Only Purple House in Town by Ann Aguirre (2 stars)

Family Reading Lists

M. (girl, 9 years, 10 months old)

• The Fall of the Soviet Union by Miles Harvey
• Three Margarets by Laura Richards
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
• The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards
• Every Bone Tells a Story: Hominin Discoveries, Deductions, and Debates by Jill Rubalcaba and Peter Robertshaw

C. (girl, 8 years)

• Pollyanna Grows Up by Eleanor H. Porter
• More Wishing Chair Tales by Enid Blyton

E. (girl, 5 years 11 months)

• The Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann 

R. (boy, 3 years, 6 months)

• In the Sea by David Elliot, illustrated by Holly Meade
• Little Blue Truck's Valentine by Alice Schertle 

A. (girl, 3 years, 6 months)

• Old Babybug magazines 

My husband 

• Attar of the Ice Valley by Leonard Wibberley
• The Axe of Bronze, a Story of Stonehenge by Kurt Schmeltzer
• The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford 

Read-at-Home Mom Report: August 2023 Wrap-Up

August Favorites

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
I did a slow read of this book with a group on Instagram that took most of the summer. Because of trips and other summer activities, I fell behind a few times and went long stretches without reading, and I know the stopping and starting caused me to miss things, but I loved the main character, Isabel Archer, and the writing, and I liked knowing I was reading a novel that was loved by one of my favorite writers, Flannery O'Connor. 

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene

Though this is quite different from the other novels I've read by this author, I really enjoyed the reading experience. The way Greene incorporates religious themes into the story is similar to the approach he takes in my favorite novel of his, The End of the Affair, but in a totally different setting.  

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
This was the stand-out book of the month. The audiobook is read by Meryl Streep, the story involves many references to Our Town, and the author manages to tell the story of two timelines in a single narrative. I have read a few other books by Ann Patchett and felt they were just okay, but this was truly delightful. 

Zero Days by Ruth Ware
Ruth Ware is an author who has always been very hit or miss for me, but this ended up being my favorite of hers. She builds suspense in such an organic and believable way, and I didn't want to put the book down. Imogen Church who reads the audiobook is also excellent. 

Share Your Stuff, I'll Go First by Laura Tremaine 
I gave this 5 stars not for the self-help angle, but because I enjoyed the memoir-style anecdotes the author used to illustrate the different areas about which she suggests women share with each other. 

Stand-Alone Books

• Welcome to Beach Town by Susan Wiggs (4 stars)
• Must Love Flowers by Debbie Macomber (4 stars) 
• The Life Council by Laura Tremaine (4 stars)
• Hello, Stranger by Katherine Center (4 stars)

Short Stories

• The Girl in the Plane by Katherine Center (5 stars)
• All Roads Lead to Here by Abby Jimenez (5 stars)

Series Books

• Wishes (Heartbooks Book 1) by Brittany Eden (4 stars)
• Well Matched (Well Met Book 3) by Jen De Luca (4 stars)
• Below the Root (Green Sky Trilogy Book 1) by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (4 stars)
• Positively, Penelope (Skymar Book 2) by Pepper Basham 

Read-Alouds

• The Midnight Horse by Paul Fleischman (3 stars)
• Friendly Gables by Hilda van Stockum (5 stars)
• The Story of Science: Einstein Adds a New Dimension by Joy Hakim (3 stars)

Family Reading Lists

M. (girl, 9 years, 9 months old)

• Americans to the Moon by Gene Gurney 
• Reaching for the Moon by Buzz Aldrin
• Moonshot by Brian Floca
• The War in Vietnam by Don Lawson
• Women of Courage by Dorothy Nathan
• The Three Investigators in the Mystery of the Coughing Dragon by Nick West
• The Space Shuttle by George Fichter

C. (girl, 7 years, 11 months old) 

• More All-of-a-Kind-Family by Sydney Taylor 
• Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar 

E. (girl, 5 years, 10 months old)

• The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton
• The Secret Staircase by Jill Barklem
• The High Hills by Jill Barklem

R. (boy, 3 years, 5 months old)

• Anthology of Aquatic Life 
• Shimmer and Splash by Jim Arnosky
• If You See a Kitten by John Butler 
• A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle 

A. (girl, 3 years, 5 months old)

• Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy
• What Shall We Do with the Boo Hoo Baby? by Cressida Cowell 
• Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle 
• Owl Babies by Martin Waddell 

My husband 

• Fingal's Quest by Madeleine Polland
• Pictured Worlds: Masterpieces of Children’s Book Art by 101 Essential Illustrators from Around the World by Leonard Marcus 
• Dexter by Clyde Robert Bulla

Homeschool Plans: 2023-2024

This school year will be my fifth official year of homeschooling, and I will have three students - M., C., and E. Because these three girls have fall birthdays, they all did a year of kindergarten the year they turned five, so while the state of Maryland classifies them as 4th grade, 2nd grade, and kindergarten, we think of them as being in 5th, 3rd, and 1st, and they work at all different levels in all different subjects. 

Social Studies 

M. has completed the first phrase of the trivium, so she will be doing the Ancients at the logic level this year. E. will be doing the same time period at the grammar level. 

M. will be reading The World in Ancient Times textbook series, including the volume of primary documents, and we will discuss the material and supplement with related video series, including Between the Rivers, History of Ancient Egypt, History of India, From Yao to Mao, Ancient Greek Civilization, History of Ancient Rome, Maya to Aztec and Lost Worlds of South America. 

With E., I will be reading aloud A Child's History of the World by V.M. Hillyer and supplementing with  most of the same picture books and videos M. and C. read their first year.

C. is in year three of the grammar stage, and she will be studying the Late Renaissance and Early Modern periods with Daddy using books by Genevieve Foster and the same videos and supplemental reading M. used two years ago. 

Together, all three girls will learn about important geographical and architectural landmarks from The Book of Marvels. 

Science

We designed our own physics curriculum for Meg with Secrets of the Universe by Paul Fleisher as her spine. She will be watching video demonstrations starring Julius Sumner Miller and simulations from PhET at the University of Colorado, and doing experiments independently using Janice VanCleave's Physics for Every Kid. 

Though we are still technically using Building Foundations for Scientific Understanding as our science curriculum for C. and E., I wanted a change, so we chose The Golden Treasury of Natural History as our spine for learning about our main subjects of plants and animals. At the end of the year, we will do a quick unit on magnetism to finish out the two-year course we've been on. 

English

M. will continue her work with Rex Barks, as well as with Vocabulary from Classical Roots. She will also be writing narrations to accompany her history, with the goal of learning to identify and communicate the main ideas of the chapters she reads. 

C. will begin sentence diagramming this year. She will also do some narrations.

E. will work through Grammarland by listening to the lessons and completing the worksheets for each one. She will work on narrating her history and science lessons. 

Additionally, we will have daily read-alouds. The plan is to have one historical fiction and one realistic or fantasy title going at all times. We will also read one Shakespeare play per month and do a weekly poetry lesson from Poem Making by Myra Cohn Livingston. 

Latin 

All three girls will begin Latin together this year. We'll be using Getting Started with Latin. We will also continue to memorize prayers and psalms in Latin and to attend the Latin Mass once a month. 

Math 

The girls kept up with math all summer, so everyone is already well into their work for this year. 

M. is doing algebra on Khan Academy and will be doing the review sections of Singapore Primary Mathematics 5A. 

C. is working on third grade math on Khan Academy and Singapore 3B. 

E. is working on Early Math on Khan Academy and will be working on Singapore 1A. 

M. will move into Life of Fred: Decimals and C. will begin Life of Fred: Farming. M. and C. will continue to drill math facts using online flashcards, but we will be reducing the frequency from daily to weekly. 

Religion 

E. will begin her two-year preparation for First Communion using The St. Joseph First Communion Catechism. M. and C. who have received First Communion, will move into the New St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism Volume 1, and we will take that at whatever pace they can manage it. 

Health

M. will be finishing The Body Book for Girls, and C. will begin to read it. 

E. will study human body systems using the resources from Kids Health. 

Art 

This year, art will mainly be covered by the material in The Book of Marvels, but the girls will also create art using how-to-draw videos, craft kits, and various media. 

Music

All three girls will continue playing piano and recorder and learning to sing. E. is using the Denes Agay Primer and Hands on Recorder, C. is using Denes Agay Book 2, 50 Graded Studies for Recorder, and Recorder Time, and M. is using Denes Agay Book 3 and The Recorder Guide.

Music appreciation will most likely include a mix of ballet, opera, and musicals.

Physical Education 

We got a good jump-start on PE with all three girls practicing their swimming at the pool this summer. They will continue to ride bikes and play on the playground, and hopefully they will get a chance to practice more with their basketball. We may also reintroduce the morning warm-up exercises they did a few years back. 

Preschool 

R. and A. are three and a half, so this year is preschool for them. We will be doing some good read-alouds and making sure to review their letters and numbers. I expect their learning to pick up a lot more in the second half of the year, as they are still quite young compared to their sisters when they were starting preschool. 

Homeschool Update: Summer 2023

Group Activities

The girls continued to work on memorizing Anima Christi. We also chose seven additional prayers to practice on a weekly rotation: 

• The St. Michael Prayer (Sunday)
• Memorare (Monday)
• Hail, Holy Queen (Tuesday)
• Come, Holy Spirit (Wednesday)
• Apostle's Creed (Thursday)
• Glory Be (Friday)
• Domine Non Sum Dignus (Saturday)

Our June read-alouds were I Will Adventure by Elizabeth Janet Grey and Canadian Summer by Hilda van Stockum. Our July read-alouds were: Shadow of the Hawk by Geoffrey Trease, Summer at Buckhorn by Anna Rose Wright, and The Road to the King's Mountain by Margaret Ann Hubbard. Our August read-alouds were: The Midnight Horse by Sid Fleishman, Friendly Gables by Hilda van Stockum, and Bambi by Felix Salter. (E. had a very strong emotional reaction to a certain chapter in Bambi.)

Our June poet was Carl Sandburg. In July, we read American Poems from the Poetry for Young People series, and in August, we read Animal Poems from the same series.

We read children's versions of Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Tempest. The girls watched animated and live-action productions of the plays as well as Kiss Me Kate. 

History 

M. continued reading about the 20th century using The Century by Peter Jennings as a spine. She is ending August with the Reagan presidency. 

She has read many history and historical fiction titles: 

• Ben-Gurion and the Birth of Israel by Joan Comay
• Other Sandals by Sally Watson
• The Garden by Carol Matas
• Exploring the Himalaya by William O. Douglas
• The Ark by Margot Benary Isbert
• The Korean War by Tom McGowen
• The Korean War Soldier at Heartbreak Ridge by Carl R. Green
• The Shoes from Yang Son Valley by Yong-ik Kim
• The Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi 
• Echoes of the White Giraffe by Sook Nyul Choi
• Rowan Farm by Margot Benary Isbert
• Alexander Fleming by Richard Tames
• The School Segregation Cases by Janet Stevenson
• Brown v. Board of Education by Diane L. Good
• The Story of Jonas Salk and the Discovery of the Polio Vaccine by Jim Hargrove
• You Choose: The Civil Rights Movement by Heather Adamson
• Americans Into Orbit by Gene Gurney
• Walk in Space by Gene Gurney

She also watched a variety of videos, including episodes of Days that Shook the World and the following documentaries: 

• Korea: The Never Ending War 
• Festival of Britain 
• Planet Earth: Mountains (about Mt. Everest)
• Exploring the Himalayas
• Nine from Little Rock
• Space Race 
• Suez: A Very British Crisis
• Cold War Roadshow 
• The Man Who Saved the World 
• Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment  
• Martin Luther King and the March on Washington 
• Dancing in the Street (part of episode 3)
• A Hard Day's Night
• Neil Armstrong: First Man on the Moon 
• People's Century: Freedom Now 
• Simple Justice: The History of Brown vs. Board of Education  
• Polio Crusade 

C. finished her history in June with the printing press and Shakespeare. 

She read:  

• Shakespeare: His Work and His World by Michael Rosen
• The King's Beard by Leonard Wibberly
• Crossbows and Crucifixes by Henry Garnett

Math 

M. continued Algebra Basics and Get Ready for Alegebra I on Khan Academy. She continued working through Life of Fred: Fractions and she drilled multiplication and division facts daily.  

C. moved into Singapore Primary Mathematics 3B and finished Life of Fred: Edgewood. She also drilled her math facts daily. 

E. continued working on Early Math on Khan Academy. 

Science 

M. and I finished reading  The Story of Science: Newton at the Center and then read The Story of Science: Einstein Adds a New Dimension. All three girls watched some episodes of Watch Mr. Wizard. 

English 

M. continued working in Rex Barks and Vocabulary from Classical Roots A. Everyone read independently all summer. 

P.E. 

The girls rode bikes and practiced their swimming. All three girls improved their swimming skills. M. and C. can now go in the deep end independently and E. is almost there. 

Art 

We finished reading A Child's History of Art. The girls made birthday cards for their aunt and a friend whose birthday party they attended. M. made paper cube animals. 

Music

Everyone practiced piano and recorder all summer, and occasionally did some singing.