labfs39kids starts year three of homeschooling

Hello, I am new to this group and hoping that there are still homeschoolers out there who would like to chat and revive the group. I started homeschooling my nieces three years ago, when the oldest started kindergarten. She is now in second grade, and her younger sister is three and wants desperately to "do school too".

I use bits and pieces from many different curriculums, aiming for project-based learning with a fair amount of experiential education and nature study. This year we are studying Space (using Blossom & Root as a starting point) and continuing geography beginning with Africa (using Build Your Library level 0 and building from there). The little one participates as she wishes, and I incorporate the Child's World curriculum as appropriate.

For math we use Singapore Math, and language arts is a hodge-podge of all sorts of things (Handwriting without Tears, a random spelling book, Grammar Made Easy, and novel studies from a Child's World second grade).

I would love to hear what you are up to this year. Please stop by and say hello.

Lisa

Update: We are now in year 5! The oldest is starting the 4th grade and the youngest kindergarten. Where does the time go?

Currently Reading

SSR:

Spy School: British Invasion (#7 in the Spy School series) by Stuart Gibbs


Restart by Gordon Korman

Audiobook:

Clementine and the Spring Trip by Sara Pennypacker

Second grader's list of books read since July 1:

1. Real Pigeons Fight Crime by Andrew McDonald (410L)
2. The Toad by Elise Gravel (690L)
3. Creature Campers: The Secret of Shadow Lake by Joe McGee (570L)
4. Dragon Masters: Rise of the Earth Dragon by Tracey West (510L)
5. Galaxy Zack: Hello, Nebulon! by Ray O'Ryan (580L)

SQUILT's Music Curriculum summer reading program:

"Skimbleshanks" from T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
Duke Ellington : the piano prince and his orchestra by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Stories of William Tell and his Friends by H.E. Marshall
Jazz Baby by Lisa Wheeler
Do Re Mi: If You Can Read Music, Thank Guido D'Arezzo by Susan L. Roth
Because by Mo Willems
Vivaldi and the Invisible Orchestra by Stephen Costanza
Vivaldi's Four Seasons by Anna Harwell Celenza
Some Creatures Have All the Luck (Antonio Vivaldi) by Ana Gerhard
God Bless America: The Story of an Immigrant Named Irving Berlin by Adah Nuchi
Bach's Big Adventure by Timothy Bush
Becoming Bach by Tom Leopard
Scalatti's Cat by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer
That's My Piano, Sir! by Ana Gerhard
Play, Mozart, Play! by Peter Sis
Before There was Mozart by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Mozart Finds a Melody by Stephen Costanza
Moonlight on the Magic Flute by Mary Pope Osborne
I am Mozart, too: The Lost Genius of Maria Anna Mozart by Audrey Ades
Poppy and Mozart by Magali le Huche
The 39 Apartments of Ludwig van Beethoven by Jonah Winter
Pitch Perfect and Persistent: The Musical Debut of Amy Cheney Beach by Caitlin Deems
Itzhak: A Boy Who Loved the Violin by Tracy Newman
Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma by Joanna Ho
Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, a Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion by Shannon Stocker
Little Melba and Her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russel-Brown
Before John Was a Jazz Giant (Coltrane) by Carole Boston Weatherford
Trombone Shorty by Troy Andrews
John Philip Duck by Patricia Polacco

Space books read so far:

Spine
DK Findout! Solar System
Space for Kids Who Really Love Space by Sarah Powell
What We See in the Stars by Kelsey Oseid
Professor Astro Cat's Solar System by Dominic Walliman
Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space by Dominic Walliman
DK Smithsonian Space!
The Mysteries of the Universe by Will Gater

Astronauts
Little Critter Astronaut by Mercer Meyer
Space Traveler Sally Brown by Ximena Hastings
I am Neil Armstrong by Brian Meltzer
Gutsy Girls Go for Science: Astronauts by Alicia Klepeis
Astronaut Training by Aneta Cruz
If I Were an Astronaut by Eric Mark Braun (videobook from space!)
Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed
The Astronaut with a Song for the Stars: The Story of Dr. Ellen Ochoa by Julia Finley Mosca
The Planets in Our Solar System by Franklyn M. Branley
There's No Place Like Space: All About Our Solar System by Tish Rabe
My Journey to the Stars by Scott Kelly
Leaders Like Us: Leland Melvin by J.P. Miller
Buzz Aldrin: Pioneer Moon Explorer by Jessie Alkire

Life
You're Aboard Spaceship Earth by Patricia Lauber
Living and Nonliving Things by Kevin Kurtz
Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life by Molly Bang
What's Alive? by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfield
Our Planet! There's No Place Like Earth by Stacy McAnulty

Spacecraft

Africa books read so far:

Spine
Africa Amazing Africa: Country by Country by Atinuke
Amazing World Atlas (Lonely Planet Kids)
Geography (DK)
Wild Animal Atlas (National Geographic Kids)
Countries of the World (DK)
This is My World (Lonely Planet Kids)
Cool African cooking : fun and tasty recipes for kids by Lisa Wagner

Africa
Africa is Not a Country by Margy Burns Knight
Jambo Means Hello by Muriel Feelings
Princess and the Pea by Rachel Isadora
There Was a Tree by Rachel Isadora
Ashanti to Zulu : African traditions by Margaret Musgrove

Egypt
Pyramid by David Macaulay
The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo
The day of Ahmed's secret by Florence Parry Heide
Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile by Tomie dePaola

Morocco
"The Clever Snake Charmer" from Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales

I dislike cooking, but the girls love it so I do what I can! The frog cupcakes were horrid, but my first attempt at African cooking was okay. We made Moroccan Carrot Salad from Cool African cooking : fun and tasty recipes for kids by Lisa Wagner.



The recipe called from carrots, cilantro, olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, garlic, and paprika. I didn't think the girls would like it, but the 2nd grader thought it wasn't bad. They both took a turn peeling carrots, and the older one chopped them. The younger picked the cilantro stems and leaves apart and mixed the ingredients.

Next week: Algerian Chickpea Salad

Although I am not homeschooling, I'm starring this thread! I am in awe of your commitment: there are so many ideas, and it must be so much work... The world cooking series is a fantastic concept, especially if it's done sensitively.

Hi Dilara, thanks for stopping by! The girls love to cook, and do so with one of their grandmothers, starting with biscuits and working their way up to bread. Last year the older niece did a project called Apple Pie from around the World, where they made a pie but investigated where each ingredient was from. I would like to expand that idea this year with more cooking related to the countries we are studying. They loved smelling and tasting the ingredients and enjoyed the fact that the garlic we used was from the garden. The problem is that I am a horrible cook. Even following a recipe seems problematic. But my failures are good modeling for resilience, right? LOL.

This looks like an incredible amount of work but also rewarding. You have so many great ideas. I gifted my granddaughter the Little Passports cooking program, and she has really enjoyed that.

>10 BLBera: The Little Passports cooking program sounds great. In fact, I got looking around the site at their different offerings and am going to subscribe to the Space one. Thanks for the tip!

I am always on the lookout for science books featuring women and girls as role models, and recently stumbled across Gutsy Girls Go for Science. It's a series of books that features five or six biographies of famous scientists in that field and after each one is an experiment. So, for instance, after reading about Bonnie Dunbar in Gutsy Girls Go for Science: Astronauts, we made a "robotic" hand out of cardboard, straws, and string. (Dunbar used a 50' long robotic arm to guide a satellite into the space shuttle with only 6" of extra room on each side.) I've also purchased Paleontologists, because the 3 year old is wild about dinosaurs. Other titles in the series include Engineers and Programmers.

Stopping by to say hello and drop a star. I'm looking forward to hearing more about your space explorations.

And kudos to you for the cooking when you don't enjoy it.

Hello, Ardene, thanks for stopping by. We've started reading about different types of spacecraft (probes, satellites, rockets, shuttles) and will start designing our own next week.

Because the kids love doing "kitchen science", today we made casein by pouring vinegar in warm milk. We strained out the lumps, squeezed out the water, and flattened them. After drying over the weekend, they will be able to paint their "plastic milk".

Lisa - Scout loved the Zoe and Sassafras books, which are (loosely) based on the scientific method. They are fiction and probably second grade level? It's been a while since we read them.

>15 BLBera: Thanks, Beth, I'll check them out!

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Here are the last of the SQUILT summer reading books:

Swan Lake by New York City Ballet
Song in a Rainstorm: The Story of Musical Prodigy Thomas "Blind Tom" Wiggins by Glenda Armand
The extraordinary music of Mr. Ives by Joanne Stanbridge
When Marian sang: the true recital of Marian Anderson: the voice of a century by Pam Munoz Ryan
Peter Tchaikovsky (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers) by Mike Venezia
Born to swing : Lil Hardin Armstrong's life in jazz by Mara Rockliff
Little People Dream Big: Stevie Wonder

I came across an excellent series of four picture books on digital literacy and online safety by Jeanne Willis and illustrated by Tony Ross. I read two of them with my nieces, and they loved them. Excellent springboards to some important conversations that can never begin too early.


Chicken Clicking

Part of an excellent series of picture books on digital literacy, this one focuses on the ease in which online purchasing can lead to extravagance, the dangers of posting personal information online without your parents knowledge, and how online "friends" can turn out to be predators. Although the dangers are real, the story is told in very kid-friendly, accessible verse with adorable illustrations. This book led to lively discussions with my four- and seven-year-olds about online safety. Highly recommended for introducing these issues to young children.


#Goldilocks: A Hashtag Cautionary Tale

Part of a series of picture books on digital literacy, this one deals with the seduction of social media and how the desire for more likes can lead to increasingly dangerous behaviors. Goldilocks initially posts a few innocuous photos, but when funny cat photos cease increasing her following, she begins posting photos of others in embarrassing situations. When that grows stale, she posts selfies while breaking into a house, eating the porridge, etc. The Bears call the police, and Goldilocks has to do community service cleaning up the Bears' house. She realizes that she now has a record and that the online posts will never completely go away: forever she will be remembered as the girl who broke into the Bears' house. The book is a fun way to talk about online safety and etiquette with young children. Excellent lessons to begin teaching early.

Boy Here, Boy There by Chuck Groenink
Published 2024, 56 p.

A beautifully illustrated book about a young Neanderthal boy who encounters a family of homo sapiens. Told in simple phrases, perhaps an attempt at capturing a pre-verbal child, the real magic of the story is the illustrations. An author's note at the end gives some background on the overlap between the two species and the time period. A lovely book, but also a nice addition to our study of prehistory.

>18 labfs39: Wishlisted! There are so many great kids' books out there...

I'm saddened to see this group so all alone. Nice to see you plugging away, anyhow. I know there are many homeschoolers on LT, because I recognise their books.

>20 EGBERTINA: Thanks for dropping a line. I thought I would try reinvigorating this group, but I've had no takers. You are the first poster that didn't follow me from Club Read. Are you a homeschooler too?

>21 labfs39: I homeschooled back in the 80's. Such a different landscape for homeschoolers then. I taught half my grandchildren to read before they started their traditional school adventures. Additionally, I have done substituting in the past and am, currently, accepting a student to tutor. I found that homeschooling gave me a confidence that went beyond the rewards of spending educational time with my children.

I, too, have noticed that the homeschoolers seem very quiet. I like to check in and see what is happening. Hope that you and yours are having a fun and productive year.

Another school year is just around the bend. I'm getting excited to get started! Here's the plan for the older one. The younger follows along with science and history, but will be using level appropriate math and handwriting books, etc. She loves Reading Eggs.

Language Arts:

and our first two novel studies:

Science:


Math:


Social Studies:

Continuing from where we left off. First up: Vedic Age then Zhou Dynasty. Includes too many supplementary books to list here.

Art:


Music:


Library Skills:

Outdated but fits our need

And other stuff like Scratch and Keyboarding with Tears, SEL4ME, and more! See why I'm excited?

Some recent purchases for the girls from Better World Books:



And Amazon:

looks fun. i'd be excited, too. such a fun time of year.

>25 EGBERTINA: Thanks! Do you still tutor kids during the school year?

I was- but my last young man just stopped showing up. You put your heart and soul in to wanting someone to succeed; sometimes, they lack the motivation to be moved by your enthusiasm.

>27 EGBERTINA: I hear you. I do everything I can to make "school" interesting and exciting for my nieces, but when they get in a rut of "I don't want to go to school", I feel terrible. I know it's normal kid behavior, but I begin wondering what I could do differently.

>28 labfs39: I must confess that I loved school my whole life. There were some bad schools- but i didn't hate school just those schools. I just dont relate to not enjoying learning. my kids were "normal kids", too. Its a complex quandary.

>29 EGBERTINA: I did too, and I kept going to school at least part-time until I was 30! I think part of my oldest niece's thinking is due to the fact that she has no frame of reference. For her, the choice is between school and staying home on her iPad. She doesn't understand that if she didn't come here, she would need to go to public school. And she has no idea what public school is like.

I always loved getting ready for the new school year. Your girls are lucky.