ivey league homeschool: week in review

Here's what we did last week!

Eclipse:  On Monday we did our schoolwork in the morning, then watched live coverage of the total eclipse!  Caleb was especially very excited.  I had decided not to try to view it outside, and as a result we were able to watch six different total eclipses across the country!  I printed out a few activities in case they got bored while we waited.  While we weren't in the path of totality, it did get very dark at one point!

Reading:  We continued in Hooked on Phonics and started the "bossy r" sounds such as "ar," "er," "ir," and "ur."

Language Arts:  We had our first English test on Monday and Caleb did pretty well.  I think his main issue is understanding the directions and stressing out too much.  We began the second unit after that; in this unit, Caleb will learn how to plan, draft, and proofread a story.  I helped him with word webs and also wrote a sample paragraph and showed him how to find and correct mistakes.

Word of the Week/Journal:  Our word of the week was "donate."  Caleb opted to write about the eclipse for one journal entry, and then copied down a portion of an animal poem for the other.

Spelling:  Caleb learned Week 3's spelling words and got 9 out of 10 correct on his test!

Read-Aloud:  We started reading The 13 Story Treehouse by Andy Griffiths.  There are a lot of fun illustrations so we'll finish it pretty quickly.  I already requested a couple of the sequels from the library!

Math:  We continued in his Horizons Math workbook.

Bible:  We began Lesson 2 in our curriculum, which focuses on the question, "How do I know what's true?"  We discussed different ways God tells us the truth (through His creation, through His Word, and through Jesus), and also that our senses can usually tell us the truth but can sometimes play tricks on us (there were a few optical illusions to illustrate this point!).  One of the fictional stories we read had two friends discussing how they thought the world began.  The boy who believed in what the Bible says used a plate of brownies his mom had left for them as an example; he joked with his friend (who believed in the theory of evolution) that the brownies just made themselves!  Caleb thought that was funny.  He did a few activities in his journal and at the end of the week he helped me make brownies (with mint chocolate chip frosting from the freezer!) as a reminder that only God can make something out of nothing!

Zoology:  This was our second week in the African grasslands.  We learned about elephants and giraffes.  We filled out animal reports for each one, and also finished up our habitat report sheet and "diorama" (really just a copy of a grassland landscape and animal stickers!).  We also filled in our food chart for the week (both animals are herbivores) and did a "giraffe saliva" demonstration.  I sent the boys out in the backyard to find twigs an leaves.  We had one bowl of plain water (to represent human saliva) and one bowl with a cornstarch/water mixture (to represent giraffe saliva).  Caleb put a few leaves and twigs in each one and mixed them around.  I told him to feel the leaves in each bowl and see which ones seemed softer and less "poky."  And of course, the giraffe saliva's leaves and twigs did.  The giraffe especially enjoys eating from the acacia tree, which has thorns on it, so its thick saliva helps protect the giraffe's mouth as it chews.

World Cultures:  This week's country was Cuba.  We read a few library books and Caleb filled out a country fact sheet.  We made a mango shake as well as Cuban sandwiches.  Both boys enjoyed the sandwiches (though I left the pickles out for them), while only Caleb liked the mango shake.  We still have to complete a fun tody bird art activity, which we'll do early next week before we move on to the next country.

Links:
Solar Eclipse Phase Wheel (Only Passionate Curiosity)
Solar Eclipse Tracing Worksheet (That Bald Chick)
Solar Eclipse Craft (Books and Giggles)
Cuban Mango Shake Recipe (All Done Monkey)
Cuban Sandwiches Recipe (De Su Mama)

ivey league academy: week in review!

Here's what we did this week!

Reading:  We continued in Hooked on Phonics and learned more long vowel sounds, such as "ee," "ea," "ow," "oa," "ai," and "ay." Caleb does well as long as he doesn't rush!

Language Arts:  We finished Chapter 1 on Friday and did a review of what we've learned so far (sentences vs. fragments, finding the subject and action of a sentence, types of sentences, correct punctuation, and alphabetical order).  The next step is a test for Chapter 1, which we'll probably try on Monday.  I don't want Caleb to stress himself out but I also want him to get used to taking tests.

Journal/Word of the Week:  Our word of the week was "askew."  On Tuesday, Caleb wrote about his calendar being askew, and on Thursday he selected another part of an animal poem for his journal.

Spelling:  We did our Week 2 spelling list and activities and Caleb got 10 out of 10 words right on his test!

Bible:  We finished Lesson 1 ("Where Am I Building My Life?") this week.  The next lesson will focus on how we know what is true.

Math:  We continued in Caleb's math workbook and he had his first math test on Friday.  He only missed 5 points out of 149 possible points!  I think he could have done even better than that only he kept getting distracted and tried to talk to me or his brother.

Zoology:  We went to the African grasslands this week.  The curriculum focused on lions and cheetahs.  Caleb filled out animal information sheets in his workbook (the children in the story are required to enter accurate data on each animal in order to progress to the next thing!), and we also read several library books on them.  We also made a chart to use from here on out; we'll sort all the animals we learn about into groups based on what they eat (carnivores, herbivores, omnivores).  The teacher's manual has animal pictures in the back, so I copied them and cut them out so Caleb could glue them next to the animal names.  There are also pictures of each habitat, so after printing out the picture of the grasslands, I printed out the animal pictures on a full-sheet label to make them into stickers (I also gave them a little color!).  We'll be staying in the grasslands next week, so Caleb can then color in the habitat and stick the appropriate animal stickers on there.  Finally, we did a fun demonstration about how a cat's eyes reflect light; we covered one toilet paper tube with construction paper and one with foil, then shone a flashlight on each in a dark room.  The foil reflected the light better than the paper, just like a cat's eye would.

World Cultures:  This week's country was Mexico.  Caleb filled out a country fact sheet based on library book information plus more current information from the internet.  For our craft, we made pinata suncatchers using construction paper, tissue paper squares, and contact paper; I drew a rough outline of a donkey (the classic pinata shape!) onto the paper, cut it out from the middle, then stuck it onto the sticky contact paper.  Caleb stuck tissue paper squares all inside the donkey shape until there were no spaces, then I stuck another piece of contact paper over it.  It was cloudy outside that afternoon, but when I held the finished product up to the light, it was pretty!  Micah made a similar one in the shape of a snake.  For food, Caleb learned how to make guacamole and baked churros.  That same day, I made pork carnitas in the slow cooker and Mexican rice in my pressure cooker so we really had yummy food that night (and leftovers the next night!).

Art:  We didn't get to our art lesson this week, which is fine because the boys' Kiwi and Koala Crates came in that Wednesday so we worked on those.  Caleb's crate had a puppetry theme; I helped him construct a marionette puppet as well as a talking puppet (both kinds have interchangeable parts so the marionette can be three different animals and the talking puppet can be two).  Micah's was music-themed.  We made a xylophone and a little tambourine!

Links:
Country Notebook Page (Teachers Pay Teachers)
Pinata Suncatcher Craft (Inner Child Fun)
Baked Churros Recipe (Everyday Dishes and DIY)

ivey league academy: welcome to second grade!

School started back up this past week!  Here are this year's curriculum choices:

Reading/Phonics:  Hooked on Phonics, 2nd grade level
Language Arts:  BJU Press English 2
Spelling:  Building Spelling Skills 2 by Evan-Moor
Handwriting/Journaling: Primary Journal + Words I Use When I Write booklet
Vocabulary:  Word of the Week Pocket Chart

Math: Horizons Math 2

Bible:  Apologia "Who is God?" Volume 1

Science: Sassafras Science Adventures Volume 1 (Zoology) + recommended resources

Social Studies:  A few atlases + Pinterest-inspired activities and recipes + Eat Your Way Around the World for other recipes

Art:  The Usbourne Art Treasury

Other:  Since this was our first week, I decided to focus on the above subject areas to see if there is time or even need to add anything else.  We will probably add in a read-aloud chapter book soon like we have done for previous grades.  I also want to add more outside time (this week was overcast and rainy so it didn't happen!).

Our First Week!

You can't tell from this photo, but Caleb was actually excited to start second grade on Monday.  He just wasn't in the mood to smile.  :)

Reading/Phonics:  We jumped right into Hooked on Phonics.  Caleb had moved through the kindergarten and first grade levels pretty quickly before, but we hit a wall with the second grade level back in first grade.  Now that he has a little more reading experience under his belt, we returned to it.  He's doing so much better!  This first week focused on silent-e words; we pretended that the "e" was really a sneaky ninja.  He doesn't make a sound himself, but he makes the other vowel in the word say its name!  Caleb successfully read this week's stories and even read the first HOP book on Friday!

Language Arts:  This curriculum is great.  Each lesson is just a page, front and back, and each unit will focus on something different so hopefully it won't get too monotonous.  This week Caleb learned the difference between a sentence and a fragment, how to find the subject and action in the sentence, and different types of sentences (telling, command, and exclamation).

Spelling:  Since Caleb doesn't feel very confident with his spelling abilities, I got a separate workbook for that.  Each week has 10 new spelling words (plus an option to add in your own 2 bonus words), plus several activities to help memorize them.  I added a hands-on stamping activity as well since the "cover and spell" activity was more like a pre-test and made Caleb nervous.  He ended up getting all ten words correct on Friday's test!

Handwriting/Journaling:  Caleb completed two separate journal entries this week; he wrote about our "word of the week" and also copied a short poem about butterflies from our book Animals, Animals.  The booklet "Words I Use When I Write" has a list of commonly used words for each letter of the alphabet, plus more spaces to fill in additional words, so it acts like Caleb's own private spelling dictionary.

Vocabulary:  Since our pocket chart came with words more on level with third or fourth grade, I decided to create my own list of words for this year.  This week's word was "eager."

Math:  I think this is the area where Caleb feels the most comfortable right now!  Math comes pretty easily for him, plus the curriculum kind of has a built-in review at the beginning of the year, so no new concepts yet.

Bible:  The curriculum is a little more involved, so right now we're doing three lessons a week in case we have to catch up on something by Friday.  This week we started learning about the parable of the wise and foolish builders, and what is means to build your life on the Rock.

Science:  We read Chapter 1 of the Sassafras Science Adventures book.  It's a fictional story with animal facts mixed in, so I'm hoping it'll be a fun way to learn.  Caleb wrote down the definitions of "classification" and "observation" in his logbook's glossary, and we also read a couple of books from the library about how animals are sorted into groups.  I added in a fun sorting activity as well.

World Cultures:  This week's country was Canada.  Caleb filled in a notebook page about Canada based on information provided in a library book plus Mommy's tablet.  We also read a couple of library books featuring some of Canada's animals, and Caleb constructed six different paper bag animal puppets (puffin, owl, moose, beaver, fox, and bear).  We also got into the kitchen to make two recipes inspired by Canada; the first was "poutine," which is french fries with cheese and gravy on top.  This was a hit with everyone, though Micah requested ketchup with his.  The second was a maple-iced oatmeal cookie.  We actually made these when we studied Vermont last year, but Caleb pointed out that Canada makes a lot of maple syrup too (and there's a maple leaf on their flag!) so we made them again.

Art:  I decided to try to do Art on Fridays.  The Usbourne book I got has a different artist and/or style for each lesson.  This first lesson was about the painting style of Vincent Van Gogh.  Caleb learned about how Van Gogh used intense colors, and kept his paint very thick with the brush strokes showing.  The inspiration for his "swirly landscape" was from Van Gogh's "Starry Night."  He used posterboard, washable paint, paintbrushes, and a plastic fork for texture.  He really enjoyed this!

Links:

Animal Sorting Activity (Teachers Pay Teachers)

Country Notebook Page (Teachers Pay Teachers)

Canadian Animal Puppet Activity (CBC Parents)

Easy Poutine Recipe (Family, Food, and Travel)

Maple-Iced Oatmeal Cookies Recipe (Lovely Little Kitchen)