August 2020

Goodness! This was a stressful month. Frankly,  it flew by like a blur.

I taught four science classes during August. The first focused on the properties of air, the second focused on static electricity, the third focused on sound and the fourth focused on rockets.

For the properties of air, we spoke about matter. I demonstrated that air has weight and occupies space.

For static electricity we covered what matter is made out of: atoms. What atoms are made out of: protons, neutrons and electrons. We covered how electrons can leave the atom, and how free electrons can jump (shock). We talked how we can protect ourselves from static electricity: by using special clothes and boots, by touching metal when leaving a car, by being inside during a storm, or making ourselves into a small ball if we are outside. I demoed how charged balloon attracts another balloon, or pieces of paper, or pieces of salt and pepper, or dripping water, or a can of soda.

For sound: we build a popper, a whistle, a popsicle kazoo, a straw kazoo,  a paper flute and noise makers with balloons. We talked about vibrations, how sound waves travel, how our ear works and how to protect it.

For the rockets we reviewed the forces that need to be overcome for a rocket to leave Earth. We made rubber rockets, balloon rockets, straw rockets, and skewer rockets.

We also benefited from some classes that we offered by other people working in my company. S. took an improvisation class, a painting class, a song writing class and a book club. B. took a Lego class. 

We also went on a week long vacation to Michigan. It was very pretty and we needed that vacation very much. Bryant Park is great. Haserot Park on the Old Mission Peninsula is possibly the only public park there. It is very pretty, and not busy on the weekends. The Empire Beach was my favorite in 2010 and 2014, but the beach portion has shrunk substantially. I am not sure why but I was unpleasantly surprised. I do not recommend it.

I starting reading a lot of books, and did not finish any. Grit, It's even worse than you think, So you want to talk about racism, Just Mercy(we also watched the film)(I recommend this TED talk by Bryan Stevenson), The New Jim Crow, Port Chicago 50, Stella by the Starlight, Bob. I need to read Roll of Thunder, Hear my cry and The Birchbark House.

We also continued to homeschool. We are somewhere a third of the way in 5th grade and 7th grade.

August 2020 Homeschool Update:

5th Grade:

Math: PreAlgebra Ch 1

English: IEW 10, 11, 12, EIW-Lessons 1-8, Novel - Front Desk

Portuguese: Simple Past Tense, Simple Present Tense, Lessons

7th Grade:

Math: Geometry-polygons, Competition Math - number theory, Counting & Probability - tricky counting and probability

English: IEW 6, 7 ; Novel - Lu, Hello Universe, Just Mercy

Portuguese: Simple Past Tense, Simple Present Tense, Lessons

Read Aloud: Ghost, Sitting Bull

Social Studies: Just Mercy (Movie)

Movie related to a book: The One and Only Ivan

Exercise: Bike, Basketball, Run, Swim, Hike

Here are our 5th and 7th grade curricula:

5th grade Curriculum:

Music: Daily Piano and Cello practice

Arts: Paper & Scissors recreation of battles

English Writing: IEW- Medieval History and Essentials in Writing 5

English Spelling: All About Spelling 5 & 6

Literature: One book a month (three novel studies - Old Yeller, The Giver, Hatchet), one month focused on non-fiction texts, one month focused on fiction short stories and poetry.

Math: AOPS Pre-algebra and Geometry

Portuguese: Brasileirinho, reading, Gramatica Ativa 1

Social Studies: focus on American history from perspectives of Native Americans and Immigrants, critical look on American history and traditional look on American history.

Science: We will focus on hands-on science using books such as:  Explore Gravity (Physics, Forensics, Blood Bullets and Bones,  Rocketry, Exploring the Solar System, Beyond the Solar System, The Apollo Missions, Scientists in the Field Series (The Manatee Scientist, Sea Turtle Scientist, Inside Biosphere 2, Eclipse Chaser, Mission to Pluto, The Mighty Mars Rovers, etc.)

PE: workouts at home, bike, play outside, basketball, swim, hike, walks

7th grade Curriculum:

Music: Daily Piano and Violin practice

Arts: Whatever she finds on the internet

English Writing: IEW- Modern History

English Spelling: All About Spelling 6 & 7

Literature: One book a month (three novel studies - Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry, The outsiders, The Westing Game), EIL 7

Math: AOPS Algebra, Geometry, Counting and Probability, Competition Math, ACM prep, and MathCounts prep

Portuguese: textbook, reading, Gramatica Ativa 1 & 2

Social Studies: focus on American history from perspectives of Native Americans and Immigrants, critical look on American history and traditional look on American history.

Science: We will focus on hands-on science (making observations, taking measurements and drawing conclusions)  using books such as:  Explore Gravity (Physics, Forensics, Blood Bullets and Bones,  Rocketry, Exploring the Solar System, Beyond the Solar System, The Apollo Missions, Scientists in the Field Series (The Manatee Scientist, Sea Turtle Scientist, Inside Biosphere 2, Eclipse Chaser, Mission to Pluto, The Mighty Mars Rovers, etc.). We have a subscription to MEL Chemistry and will follow the experiments for an introduction to chemistry.

PE: workouts at home, bike, play outside, basketball, swim, hike, walks

Study of Lincoln

Since we took a trip to Springfield and since Ballet girl was quite impressed and walked away with a good chunk of information I decided that it is worthwhile to pursue learning about Lincoln as a next step. (I did intend to study history in chronological order, but as it turns out, history did not happen in geographical and convenient today's-travel-way order.)

So, Lincoln it is.

First round, the Magic Tree books-Abraham Lincoln at last! and Abraham Lincoln, facts tracker. The first book is easy-going fictional story which tells very little about Lincoln but sets the stage for the rest and reminds us of what Lincoln is known for historically. The second book aggregates all the information you will be exposed to if you go and visit Lincoln's home in Springfield. Between the video presentations, the ranger narrations and the various brochures sprinkled all over, this book can and has been easily composed.

One interesting fact mentioned is that Lincoln did serve in a militia in Illinois during the Black Hawk war. We have a picture with the only one statue of Lincoln in military uniform which we took last summer in Decatour, IL. I am so glad we travel!
Another interesting note is about the milk that cows in IN produced which was contaminated within toxins because of the grass which the animals ate. This will allow me to talk about how animals can spread disease among human and cause sicknesses (and in general one species can harm another) and how this was not known back then but is known and regulated today (hello, salmonella!).





For a deeper look into the persona of Lincoln, I recommend Russell Freedman's two books-Lincoln, a photobiography, for which the author, deservingly, was awarded the Newbery medal, and the second book about the Lincoln-Douglas debates.






During our visits south we acquired a lincoln-log type of playset and I intend to use it to build houses without nails to demonstrate how this was done and how clever it was. I also intend to show the kids how to make tiranti to hold pants in the absence of belts. I was also thinking of trying building a mattress from corn cobs but instead we will do an analogous build with legos to test the comfort.

I am excited!

New year-new approach to learning

The goal is learning, not teaching, not meeting deadlines and expectations. The target is a moving target, nothing set in stone.

For Ballet girl the following have changed:

1. Math: We have clear topics to cover and for each topic we will go from easy concept, to medium difficulty to challenging problems. While the topics are set, the timeline over which learning will be accomplished is flexible. I also incorporate games and Beast Academy.
2. Portuguese: We have one-on-one time each day dedicated to learning the basics of colloquial Portuguese. We are using Salpicos 2.
3. English Reading: We are choosing books by interest and by reading level including books mixing them from easy, to comfort, to challenging level in order to help her move up. I read the books to her in Bulgarian upfront so she understands what the story is all about. Then she reads the book in parts over several days. Then we read the entire book and after that move on to the next book.  I have reserved to read well one book per week.  

For Sunlight boy the following have changed:

1. Portuguese: We have one-one-one time each day dedicated to learning the basics of colloquial Portuguese. We are using Salpicos 1.
2. English: We are using dry-erase books to practice writing and I have started to instruct him in the sounds of the letters. I show him the letters (capital and lower case), tell him the sounds the letter can make, and ask him among a few words which ones begin with that sound(s). The school is not doing a good job teaching him English-he speaks well, so I admit that this is a huge advancement, so I am grateful.

This month and next month, we are going to learn about topics we encountered during our road trip. We are going to learn about native Americans, first people and settlements in the Americas. We are going to learn more about Abraham Lincoln and the Lewis and Clark expedition. We are also going to learn about Charles Darwin(next month) and slavery(also next month). I am excited about the new year.

We are also looking for a new home and I have one in mind. I am excited to have enough room to have a proper home school room and Portuguese immersion environment at home.

November

Books

A very good book. Well written, well paced, interesting, simple and yet can lead to wonderful conversations and explorations. I recommend it both as a read aloud for kids as young as Kindergartners and as a self-read for a child 9 years and above. Adults will enjoy it too. The European vs the American theme is a bit too naive and silly

After very little thinking, completely spontaneously, despite having intended to preserve this story for next month, I dove into it last night. As I was reading chapter one, the kids did express interest but mid second chapter asked for a break. We will go on because this will be a fabulous journey which will get better and better as we go on.

Every once in a while Ballet Girl interrupts, Her teachers at school have taught her to 'guess' what is coming next, what's the story is about, etc,etc. Sorry, while I do see some value in this 'technique' when one is learning to read, when a text is being read fluently, it is better to just sit back, relax and concentrate on what the author is presenting. Very simple.

This is the first book in the Narnia series and provides some answers to questions that may come after reading the LWW. It was a good, fast and interesting read but definitely not better than the LWW. I am glad that I read it, I recommend it but it's not a star book. This is the extent of my review.

I have found myself undoing a lot of unnecessary damage produced by the school. Also last night, while Ballet Girl was practicing her reading, upon encountering an unknown, not-easily recognizable word, she would lift her head from the text and her eyes would stare around but not in the text. After observing this a few times, it was time to interject and repair the damage-the word is not written on the fridge, on the ceiling or on my shirt. The word is written on the paper, you are better of looking there and putting some thinking into deciphering the word. Aye, Aye, Aye! What a major headache! The schools with their 'techniques' and 'strategies' are making the simple things be unnecessarily difficult. 

This is the first book I read this month. The paper used for this edition is pretty poor so on first glance I thought the book will not be interesting. It most certainly is. I don't know about accurate, but interesting-yes.

It is a Newbery Medal winner. I tend to be cautious with these awards. For instance, I object to the deCamillo's books, A Year Down Under, Holes, Maniac Magee, Secret of the Andes, Strawberry girl and the Voyages of Dr. Dolittle. King of the Wind deserves an award. 

This is what Ballet Girl is reading now. There are a few more books in the series for her to read before we find another series. So far the stories from the series that she has read have been very interesting. The stories are about horses, and girls interactions with horses; some feature 'real' girls, others feature princesses. For a beginning reader with interest in horses, I recommend this book. The reading level is 2.3-2.5. My daughter is 7 years old and in first grade.

LegoFest

We went to Indianapolis to visit friends, celebrate kids' birthdays and to enjoy LegoFest. I liked the event but I think this is the last LegoFest we will go to. It's the equivalent of LegoLand in Schaumburg with more sculptures, perhaps. From hiegene/health perspective, both the event and LegoLand are a brow-raiser. The bricks on the ground were not clean, as could be expected so we travelled with a hand-held sanitzer bottle.

No more BALLET

Ballet girl has not shown enthusiasm for dance this year. Is she tired? I don't know. It is hard to say, but the classes were not giving her much joy. So, after missing three weeks straight, I took the decision to remove her from all classes, along with Sunlight boy who was taking the boys' class.

Thus we are left with one weekly activity and much calmer existence. Wednesdays the little man can enjoy his entire nap and Fridays I do not need to rush but I can begin my weekend calmly.

Schoolish Things

For History this month we are reading about the conquest of America by the Europeans. We are looking at the European treatment of the locals, the life of the locals up to that moment, and we talked about pilgrims and The Pilgrims but we will talk more about them over Thanksgiving. 

For Science this month we haven't done much yet but we plan to talk about the seasons and health issues.

For Portuguese: we have read on and off because we have been busy with out bulgarian guest, but now we are back on track. We have listened/read Peter and the Wolf; we have read a few books; we have watched a few Disney animated movies. All good! Now we are going to proceed with reading the book again using different versions from the library, and we will listen to the Disquinho version. Next we will read Snowwhite and we will listen to Disquinho and we will watch the Disney move.

For Math: With Ballet girl we are learning about the concept of area, slowly, and she is learning the multiplication table by doing exercises (she has understood multiplication for well over a year already). With Sunlight boy we are learning about adding three digit numbers.

Both kids are reading bulgarian 3-4 times per week.

Piano-Ballet girl had a Halloween concert on November 1st and Barnes & Noble. It did not go well initially but ended well. She played her piece beautifully despite forgetting how it started; I helped her. This weekend she is performing at the schools fall's recitals. She is performing the next longer piece. She is ready and I hope this experience proves positive for her.

Burned Out Already?!

We started school six weeks ago.

For Sunlight Boy nothing changed but the frequency of homework. While during the summer we were casually skipping and skimming, now we stick to a 5-homework days per week. Our school days are Monday-Thursday and Sunday.

For Ballet Girl things have only mildly changed. She reads some Bulgarian and some English  and plays piano 20 minutes per day during our school days. The new is that I introduced spelling twice a week (Sunday and Thursday).

The evenings have been slightly stressful (for me) because I have tried to cram in some history and science-half month dedicated to history and half a month dedicated to some scientific concept. In addition, I have been strict about the presence of Portuguese in our lives-we now dedicate at the minimum 15 minutes per night to it.

Since the weather has been keeping steady and good for the most part of the last six weeks, we have emphasized outdoor play too. So, we should not be burned out. Yet, we are. So, next week is our vacation week. I looked at the school calendar of the kids and it more or less follows the same pattern-six weeks on, one week off- and for once I agree with the school, but conditionally-and the condition is that learning continues year round.

Our next planned vacations are for the weeks of 11/24, 12/22, 12/29, 2/16, 4/6, 5/25. The summer we will go to a reading/math/piano routine only, and only  4 times a week.