Pretty Fall

This year the fall in Chicago has been splendid. We have enjoyed walks outside. One of our favorite spots is Lake Katherine, which is about 30 minuts from home. We enjoyed a pumpkin patch visit with Leka, Danielle and Sarah, as well as pumpkin party at Orland Park with Julia and Sol. We visited the Museum of Science and Industry twice in two weeks, and Navy Pier on the most beautiful of all fall days with our wonderful friends from Indiana-Alex, Krissi and Didka.

October has been good to us.

Piano Girl Update:

The young lady has started to read music. In addition to her regular weekly classes, she has two 30-minute classes per week dedicated to reading music, rythm, music theory and extra practice. I already see tremendous improvement with both the piano and the violin. The extra help has accelerated her forward. We read every day at home as well.
Math is moving at a comfortable place. For her it is mostly review of multi-digit multiplication. Next month will add on a new material. This month's breather was a nice welcome.
For English I ask her to read and retell a short story or fable every day. Then she reads and retells the same story in portuguese. It has worked well. Below, I have linked some of the most useful resources we use at the moment.

Inventor Boy Update:

The inventor is also reading music. I am going to push for him to read well by the end of this year. Music reading opens the door to independent study. I am moving him forward on my own, and we use the lessons mostly to polish the pieces, work on technique and hand positions.
Math is great. We are reviewing second grade material already. Once done with this, possibly by the end of December, we will start Singapore 3A and 3B. To be more specific we are spending time learning to subtract more efficiently. Addition for the little man is a breeze. We need to accomplish that for subtraction. There is no rush. I have given given him three method for checking his work-the standard algorithm, the one going up and one which is sort of in the middle of these two. Also mixed in this is the introduction to the multiplication table. I taught him how to derive the x4 from the x2, and the x8 from the x4. We will take that idea to the x3 and the x6.
English reading has been improving steadily. The young man already recognizes some sight words. We are still using All About Reading 1 which I have found wonderful except for the books. I think we will continue with the worksheets from All About Reading 2 but will not use the books. I decided that it is time to switch to real books every day. We are starting with the level 1 Charle the ranchdog books. As we go through we analyze the words that we encounter and note any new rules or exceptions. I am approaching reading at the moment by brute force-he has enough tools at the moment to get it at a comfortable pace. The AAR program is great but I feel that teh accompanying texts are dull and unmotivating, hence the switch.
The gentleman spells fairly well too. We are moving slowly but steadily. I can easily see us in All About Spelling 2 by February.
Portuguese has been all about consistent exposure. He has been listening mostly and answering questions. Music is key for this boy. I have found a lot of told stories and will upload them all to his Kindle. Let's see if that will help. This is still on the to-do but hopefully will be in full swing in November.

In Science we have concentrated on learning about Simple Machines and Light. September was challenging so we did not carry out many of the Simple Machines as intended, but I decided to move on to the concepts in Light and come back to Simple Machines in November. There was no real science learning in October. Mostly we read and watched videos. November will be all about light and familiarizing ourselves with the microscope.

We have used the following resources to learn about light:
Light Absorption
Convex Lense
Lenses
MIT Rainbow



Still in Science related to our Social Studies we revisited the evolution of our planet. We touched on the process of evolution and natural selection but I intend to carry out a more detailed study in the spring.









This month in Social Studies we are reviewing prehistory and ancient history. For us this is a review of what we studied last year.  When we study evolution in the spring, we will use Billions of Years of Amazing Changes.

We will emphasize ancient Greece and will set the stage for next month's visit to Ancient Rome. We did not finish the revisit to the ancient world and I don't think we should rush. I am going to resume the journey with Greece in November and finish the other interesting parts of the world then as well. Ancient Rome will have to wait.











In the midst of this month's social science reading, we are inserting snippet of US history relevent for the presidential election.
I decided to emphasize the importance of the right to vote and decided to focus on two groups that continue to be descriminated against-Women and people of color. I included some national geographics and PBS segments about these women and their role for securing women's right to vote. 





My kids are outraged when they hear about the descrimination as it had occurred. My kids have friends from all over the world-Egypt, Indonesia, Poland, Brazil. My kids play with black kids. I hope that for more kids the mistakes from the past are uncomfortable too. I do not like the Sit-in book. I do love the concept. I just did not like the way it is presented. However, we read it, and we discussed it. The civil rights issues is extremely important and my kids need to understand that they do not live in a country which is just. They need to understand that they need to be vigilent and fight and defend their rights.



My favorite Portuguese Resources discovered this week are linked here:

Bedtime Sources

Colecao Taba

Brinque-Book Conta

Colecao Disquinho

A Arvore Generosa

The kids' favorite brasilian book has been Bruxa Bruxa venha a minha festa!