Summer Recap and New School Year Go-Ahead

The summer was lovely, mostly spent in swimming lessons and play. We did maintain some light instruction but mostly we enjoyed the break from activities, deadlines and expectations. We also ate a lot of ice-cream.

We focused on science in the summer, mainly on the microscopic world of living things and some of the important non-loving things they depend on: air and water.

We observed for the first time with the microscope and used it to take digital photos of ready slides and slides we made ourselves.


We also carried out a demonstration of bacteria growth in petri-dish with some jelly.

We grew bacteria obtained from variety of places - toys, teeth, places in the house. We also explored some properties of water. Frozen water occupies space and can break cement which explains the potholes on the roads in the spring (water balloon in cement cup).

We observed how cold (color blue) and warm water (colored red) interact and eventually mix. We observed that air takes space (paper towel in the bottom of cup remains dry when the cup is perfectly vertically submerged, bottom last, in container with water) and has a weight (inflated balloon tips the scale to itself against un-inflated balloon).

We also safely observed the solar eclipse from Kentucky. During our trip to Niagara Falls we talked about the destructive power of water (water can dissolve salts and create big holes), as well as the constructive power of water to generate electricity (energy that needs to be consumed as it is generated). During one of our camping we met a family from South Carolina who cannot wait to move away from the limitations of the national power grid and rely on its own energy generation from natural resources (solar).

On our second trip, whose main objective was the viewing of the total solar eclipse, we passed through St. Louis, MO and Springfield, IL. Upon our return I decided that it is best to address history when the memories of the trip are still fresh. So, we began a first-encounter with American history. My focus was on linking together the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, celebrating the era of western expansion, settlement, discovery and turmoil to the Lincoln's civil war challenge. We used the picture books on Lewis and Clark's expedition to give us the quick background.

I used the "Louisiana Purchase" book to talk about what led to the great luck of Thomas Jefferson. We are using the "Which way west?" as a guide into exploring keystone moments.


The "Missouri Compromise" and the books about Lincoln will help us understand the some of the reasons for the war, the development of Lincoln as a president, and the almost inevitable outcome of the war.

I will tap into the Exploration & Conquest, Struggle for a Continent, The New Americans, Liberty or Death, A new Nation, as well as a recap. Since this is just a quick introduction intended to tie in the two remarkable stories we heard about during our trip I intend to keep everything shallow and brief.

I really like "George vs George", "Two miserable  presidents", "King George and what was his problem", but these will serve us well at another time, may be next year.

After this quick introduction to American History I think that we will go back to the end of the Western Roman Empire and the study the Middle Ages. I came across a nice collection of Shakespearian plays summarized for kids and we will slowly make our way through some of them, and talk about the mastery of the playwright who even today entertains audiences. We are starting with Romeo and Juliet and are talking about drama, tragedy, comedy, satire, sarcasm, conflict, communication,  secrets, absurdities, decision making with full information and decision making with limited information. I will try to include videos or live-performances so that even at that young age the art form can be appreciated for what it is.


Portuguese is a bit shaky at the moment as I am struggling to find a direction. I am probably going to weave in some earlier music, interesting cartoons with some acting movies, with real big books and some proper grammar books. I am using Salpicos for both to get them thinking about rules of the language. I am using media and read-aloud to work on expression, vocabulary and comprehension. Both kids are taking a weekly portuguese lesson as well.



Music is the big focus this year. I want both to emerge well rooted into reading music and understanding some music theory. We have 1 violin class, 2 music theory classes and 2 regular piano classes. We are busy with music lessons and practice almost every day.


Math is great. We are going to tackle fifth grade which conceptually should be easy but technically more difficult. We are going to work on computational speed and accuracy, as well as on thinking and translating word problems into equations. I am going to start working on geometry in earnest too. For the little man we are going to tackle third grade math. He is ready. It will not be very difficult as he already knows multiplication and just needs to get used to the few ways of thinking of multiplication which will give him easy routes.

For reading we are focusing on reading multi-syllable words and concentrating on words' origins. We are continuing to use the Learning Press products-All About Reading 4 with both kids, and All About Spelling 3 and 4.

All About Reading has helped my son tremendously with reading so we are continuing on but at a slower pace than with my daughter. She already reads chapter books and can decipher larger words. With her the focus is on recognizing lapse in understanding and resorting to dictionary. My son's reading I will support with additional reading books from the library to keep his interest in reading outside of the mechanics.

Below are some of the books that we will either tap in or will refer to later on when we encounter the respective topics. I have read and liked all listed books.