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

August 2018

Portuguese

We finished reading Matilda and moved on to reading O BGA. I stopped translating it as I noticed that both kids' comprehension has improved tremendously.

Literature

We are concentrating on social topics. We read Side by Side: The story of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez (US Labour); The Good Garden: How One Family Went from Hungry to Having Enough (Honduras; a good time to mention the Peace Corps); Ada's Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay (Bryan and I are making a cello); Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions (we will be making small air-pressure water guns).

Third Grader is reading: Diva & Flea



Fifth Grader is reading: A long walk to water; Me & Jack; and Roller Girl.

Mom is reading: Illegal











Summer Camps

The kids attended one week-long soccer camp under the patronage of Chicago Fire. They loved it and asked to participate next year as well. If all goes well, they will.

I also enrolled them in Ivy League Kids for several days of the week. It was not cheap, especially as it was a last minute deal, but it was worth it. The kids loved going each day. We will keep this place in mind as the need arises.

Music

Well, we talked about how it is OK to reach a plateau. This is one reason I love the book "The Roller Girl". The girl is excited but get started is not a piece of cake; requires grit. Same with piano, at this stage, requires grit to keep moving. Violin too.

There was a nice concert by the music school that the fifth grader participated in. It was lovely.

Summer Travels




We are going to Arizona and Utah. We are taking advantage of fourth grade's free passport to all national parks. We are going to the Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce. We will spend some time with relatives. It will be nice. We are going to read about geology and the states of Arizona and Utah.

New Year

This year we will focus on slowing down. Before proceeding, before committing, before reacting, we will ask: is it useful? The goal is to eliminate unnecessary pressures and to focus on enjoying the journey, and not focusing on the end of the destination.

It has been cold, bitterly cold, yet we found time to venture out. Last weekend we went to 'hunt' for bald eagles. We saw two, we some lots of other birds and spotted various critters. We went to Four Rivers Environmental Center for the first time. It is about 45 minutes away from home, on the Des Plaines river, and is a good 45 minutes closer than the next best spot in the state-Starved Rock. I hope to make a trip to Starved Rock once the weather improves a bit. It will be nice to see the waterfalls frozen. The last two Sundays we also went ice-skating in the afternoon. It has been very peaceful both times. This past weekend, both on Saturday and on Sunday, we took two hour walks around our own neighborhood. We played in the in-and-out-of-freeze hockey field, we observed and listened to birds' conversations, and just enjoyed being out in fresh air, in peace, with no objectives and no time constraints.

In history we are focusing on the Native Americans societies on the American continent. I try to point out similarities, relations, and impact from encounter with europeans. We first talked about the the civilization at Cahokia, and we saw a documentary about Cahokia. The kids (8 and 10) enjoyed it. We moved on to reading about particular tribes. We started with the Apaches because we have heard a story about them. We moved on around their neighbors before finishing with the Indians of the northwest. The Indians of the northwest offered a wonderful opportunity to think about how geography effects history; here, the intrusion of the European settlers was delayed, the harsh impact was inevitable.

1. The Apaches
2. The Navajos
3. The Hopi
4. If you lived with the Indians of the Northwest Coast
5. Cahokia (and for adults this)

For portuguese the kids resumed their weekly lessons with my friend Renata. The lessons are an Vovo Vigarista which is funny and touching. We have not finished because it is a little sad and I worry how my daughter will react. Maybe I will just shorten the ending for her sake. With my daughter, during her portuguese time with me, we read

hour long and are done over skype. The kids enjoy them and are benefitting from them. Together we continue to read in the evenings. This month we read
Diario de um banana 1. We have been dragging this book for a while but I hope to finish it in February and to begin the second book. With my son we are reading and almost finished with
Diario de um Zumbi. It is nothing special but because he likes Minecraft for him this is the most excellent book.

In Math for fourth grade we are working in Beast Academy 5B finishing Fractions, and Multiples & Factors, as well as our first encounter with proper algebra. We also covered train problems. We covered two mental math strategies-multiplication by 11, and multiplication of two numbers whos last digits add up to ten, and who first digits are the same. Next month the focus will be on rates and ratios. For second grade we are finishing BA3B-perfect squares, and will move on to the distributive property. So far so good.

In Science we started talking about electricity. I introduced the periodic table of elements. I talked about the structure of the table corresponding to similarities in the structures of the atoms; in particular I mentioned how certain atoms tend to lose easily electrons from their outer shell and how other atoms tend to gain easily electrons in their outer shells. I emphasized the role of neutrons in keeping the nucleus together. I emphasized the weight difference between the electrons and the constituents of the nucleus. I emphasized how fast the electron moves and how uncertain one is about where the electron actually is. (We will watch videos on the reactivity of elements later. We will also listen in some crash Chemisty videos.) Next month we are going to carry about the science fair experiments. The boy wants to explore batteries in a series. The girl wants to explore Ohm's law.

• We did the double slip experiment to demonstrate the wave nature of light. (we will demonstrate the particle nature of light later). We talked about how waves add constructively and destructively.
• The kids played with their snap-circuit sets. My daughter noticed the polarity if the motor and the polarity of the LED.
• We investigated that battery alone in a circle drains the battery i.e shot circuit.
• We investigated that batteries in series add up their voltage.
• We investigated static electricity and induction using a balloon and cans of soda. (we will do the experiment with water eddy).

We played the following Games:
Sport It-my dad agreed that this is a great game to practice concentration and to practice foreign language vocabulary
Origami Revolution and Origami Shapes-quite delighted that my daughter took to this hobby with desire. I told her about all the practical uses of origami, from medicine to space. She was thrilled. I expect to hook her on to the mathematical way to looking at origami.
Minecraft Paper Crafts-quite delighted that my son found this site; yes, there is a lot to print, but it is better to have him build this way than to buy plastics. My son has started putting small pieces of lego inside the paper craft pieces for stability. His intuition is amazing to me.

Music  was my motivation to let go of the reins and to enjoy the ride. Since the shift in attitude all lessons have been enjoyable. Both children are progressing beautifully. My daughter is going to participate in a piano competition in late spring, and a violin group concert in mid-March; and both kids will participate, hopefully, in the Bulgarian piano festival in May.

Local Artists: The Forsman-Sondag Duo

I support local artists who present beautiful music. I support musicians who share their passion for music with children and enrich their lives. I especially support individuals who do both, and do both well.


Ms. Mindy Sondag has been teaching Bryan and Sophia at the Music Connection for two years. She is an amazing teacher. She is very patient, gentle, and thorough.
Sophia has a lot of intuition about music which Ms.Mindy has built on wonderfully with a lot of patience since this daughter of mine tends to be stubborn.
Bryan started slowly, but with tweaks here and there, references to stories, movies and games, piano started to click for him and now he too makes good music.



Today we heard The Forsman-Sondag Duo in concert. It was a lovely performance. The music - french romantics to modern - was beautifully presented.

I know that all of Chicago will benefit tremendously from hearing the music the Forsman-Sondag duo brings to life.

So, here is the beginning of spreading the word.

Janaury 2017

BITTER WInTERY COLD

We have not celebrated New Year's. Technically it has happened, but for my family, one tradition was not held as we were travelling, so we are postponing our personal New Year's celebration until the end of the month. Hopefully, our hearts will be warmed up and cheered up by the splendid music of Maestro Gustavo Dudamel and the Vienna Philharmonic. Until, then "Happy New 2017 to you", and "still a grumpy 2016 to us"!

Winter Break was mostly wonderful. It was an honest break. We did not do any educational work, only fun and laziness were allowed. The kids spent good time with their cousins. There the girls went to a horse-care camp; altogether we toured NYC for a day, and mostly took small walks and hikes.

The cold has occupied Chicagoland in the last few days, so we are crammed indoors. I am looking for the freedom that an extra 10F degrees would bring to us over the next few days. There are a few hikes in the Palos Hills and Indiana Dunes are that I am interested in. I think, that for this weekend we will be satisfied with viewing Hidden Pictures(1/8/17), the movie. The books, both the original and the adapted youth version, were terribly dry and uninspiring; both read like a fact-infested catalogue. This sad remark aside, the movie is expected to be well done. 

The book that I have displayed to the left was suggested to me as an additional inspirational read aloud. I am still to find and read it. Commentary to follow in due time. Update: "I dissent" is a fabulous picture book. It is inspirational for young girls to work hard and to achieve their passion. It talks about disagreement and conviction, learning with and from others' opinions which you may or may not share; it talks about women's abilities and contribution to our world. All human beings begin life on the same footing, out of the same gate; there is nothing inherent in preventing one from being significant contributor. While I was researching this book I came across the statement that Susan B. Anthony ran the women's suffrage campaign on the grounds that white women should count as more than all black human beings. I have not researched this and I will update when I do, but I think this is an interesting remark that if shown true I want to share with my children.

I am hoping throughout this year to emphasize to both my boy and my girl that both genders are capable of great deeds, and both genders are capable of utter stupidity. 

Our study of ancient societies is already helping us along these lines. Rome with its preferences for boys to girls resembles current India. Rome's treatment of the poor resembles the ancient China and ancient Egypt strategies to keep their poor and farmers always occupied with work. Lack of information and lack of education for the suppressed is a hallmark from the ancient world, through the ages into today, a bad habit we need to break.  

We are back in the swing of things. First week! Together, as a group, we are moving on in history and learning about Ancient Rome. Most of the discussing is comparison and contrast between Ancient Rome and the civilizations existing before it. This is a nice format allowing me a lot of review of past readings, and also development of critical thinking. The children already have established opinions about the gladiator type entertainment. My daughter objected to them due to the deaths of the animals. I pointed out that this covers the animals on both side so it is indeed sad for that reason. She laughed. 

Since Rome is famous for its gigantic projects, we are talking more extensively about its citizens, buildings, roads and bridges. As of 1/16 we have read and enjoyed all of the featured books. I highly recommend them as a trampoline to information, critical thinking and further discussion on Rome and other ancient societies. Update:  We read the book but we did not watch the video.

In Science we will begin to talk about the enviornment. On my list for this month is to view the movie The Lanfill Harmonic  . (We viewed it and we liked it. I would not necessary recommend purchasing it, as its more inspiring version is available on the youtube.) 

We have already read the picture book, but there is no harm in revisiting it again. The story of the girl depicted in the book is also available on youtube.  

It is important for me to emphasize to my children that trash does not need to be trash. It can be reused and can be labelled treasure instead.  

My daughter is very concerned about animals and I think that a few picture books adressing this issue will be a nice reading addition to our routine. 



Trash, slums and poverty walk hand in hand, so I will take this topic further into the world of child exploitation and child labour. I do want my children to understand that they are indeed priviledged, but with these rights and luxuries come responsibilities. I want them to understand that and take actions in their daily routines to make some impact towards maintaining their world cleaner and uncluttered. 

Human exploitation, period, on any scale, by anyone, cannot be acceptable and tolerated. This is my opinion and I want to pass it along to my children. "Sugar changed the world" is my reading but I will add on information from it to the children's learning. "Breaker Boys" is not terribly well written, but it contains key illustration to drive the main message home. "Sugar changed the world" is well written; however it skips over key historical moments in a rush. I think this book would have been more successful as a series, each component devoted to a particular era. The information that is contained within, the final essay regarding the manner in which the topic was researched, and the included list of sources are all very valuable to all educators. I think this is an excellent resource for further reading. If you read about the story of sugar, you have to read about the story of Salt-a basic necessity for the human phisiology. It is quite wonderful to learn from both, that the era of science eliminated the harshness and brutality brought by these simple chemicals.

Speaking of the era of science. It is Science Fair season, so we will be reviewing how science works and how scientists think. It is very important to begin drilling that into kids from this early, so they are neither afraid of the scientific concept, nor are intimidated, as the current society is, of the tools and reports of science.

Hopefully, this book will help us. I have a print out of ideas to explore. I hope that the kids will pick their own projects and we can begin chugging along to some fruitful research and hopefully some real learning.

This book is quite a good first introduction to the scientific method. It talks about statistics and warns about how difficult it is to be certain of your conclusions, which makes sharing information important.

Lessons have resumed-violin, piano and portuguese. For Portuguese we are reading the little prince. The kids saw the Netflix film and liked it, but the book will offer us the opportunity to discuss what the author means, or at least how we interpret/see the story. 

My daughter:

• English: she is reading the BoxCar Children, books 1-4. She is also working on finishing AAS3.
• Math: she is working in Beast Academy Book 4B, chapter 1(counting) and chapter 2(division). We are also chugging along some mental math tricks. She already took the math challenge test but we don't know how she did overall.She passed and will take the district exam in February.
• Portuguese: weekly lessons and daily exercises in grammar.
• Piano and Violin, both require daily practice. Each instrument is allowed one day off per week.
• She is participating in her school choir this year, and she is loving it.
• She can choose to participate in two piano competition, and the piano guild audition. It will be her choice. We are taking it easy performance wise because last year was a bit of an overkill and slowed us down with advancing in the repertoire; in addition Book 1 for violin is in sight.

My son:

• English: he is reading well now. He is in AAR2 which I think is great. He is also finishing up AAS1 and by the middle of next month may be in AAS2.
• Math: multiplication is learned. He is now going through the advanced word problems for Grade 2. He is learning about the different interpretations of multiplication. We will also move into division and explore that. I am very optimistic and that the muck we found ourselves in December is overcome.
• Portuguese: daily readings and prompts for answers.
• Piano requires daily practice.
• I am not certain if I should ask him to participate in a piano competition. I don't think it is necessary. He is approaching the end of book 1 and we will be working on a piano recital, so that would be sufficient.

We will hike more as long as the temps are around 30F. We will go to three operas this winter/spring season. We will may throw in a trip to Arizona. The kids are expecting to become an aunt and an uncle in a couple of weeks. Super exciting.


I discovered Jack and Louisa this winter. I did not do any discovering. The series was recommended to me by the consultants at Random House books during the holiday season. I cannot praise enough these, so far, two books. Act 1 and Act 2. I even watched the original Guys and Dolls with Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra. I did not like the music but I enjoyed the humour and the acting.

 These three books were recommended to me as "issue books". "There is a boy in the girls' bathroom" talks about a boy who is shunned as hopeless by the entire school system, and all other students. He is bullies and lonely. He misbehaves in response to aggression but he does not want to be noticed. A counselor, whom the "concerned parents" whose of the "good"  kids who either bully or ignore the main character, is the only person who works with the boy in a gentle, friendly way. This little book made me cry. It was genuine and powerful. It is mostly dialogue so it is easy for late-elementary, early-middle school kids to understand and relate.  "Counting by 7's" is a late middle-school, early high school type of book. It uses a lot of literary means and requires a more sophisticated and life-experienced reader. It is the story of a 12-year old girl, who is adopted and who loses her adoptive parents in a tragic accident. She survives with the help of unlikely characters. There is one main character around whom the story is centered, but the main supporting characters also undergo deep evolution as the story progresses. It is a wonderful book warning about the reality of real life, the struggles, the sacrifices, the complex fabric of our society, and the interconnectivity that ultimately binds us all together. I was considering this book for my niece, as she too at the age of 12 suddenly lost one parent. I don't think my niece is ready for this book, but I think that in a year or two, she should read it. "El Deafo" is a comic-style book. It is about a girl who has deficient hearing due to an early-childhood illness and is supported in her life by hearing aids. The story is about her perception of her experiences growing up-interactions with friends, doctors, parents, school. It is beautifully illustrated, the story is tender, and accessible to young audiences too. I would recommend it to late-elementary-school to late-middle-school kids. I am deeply impressed by the variety and power of the new literature for children. I think it is wonderful that parents read and recommend to their children the books they enjoyed as children, but I think it is important to accept and swim with the present as well. There is a lot of trash out there, but there is also real quality, and it is worthwhile sifting through the flashy garbage in order to emerge with the real gems.

President Trump is such a wonder. The world history has seen plenty of narcissists, but never with so much power in their hands as this one. One of his many anti-social, anti-human, anti-world agendas is to fight vaccines. Social media, in the last decade or so, has given voice to a small, but nonetheless very vocal minority, who has coined non-existent connections between vaccines and medical conditions. Science is not part of the equal, opinion - yes. So, since we have settled into the comfort of world free of deadly and espensive viral diseases thanks to medical, preventative measure, we no longer emphasize the importance and the historical significance of these measures. This book, for me, was a nice refresher, and I consider sending Trump a friendly copy, or maybe an audio book. 

Hands-on with reality

This is the year we are going to focus on the engineering disciplines. The aim is to learn about the engineering process and to start noticing the great engineering solutions which are all around.

We begin with civil engineering. Why? In our history readings we finished reading about Ancient Egypt and China, and  we are nearing the time of the Roman Empire - all times full of examples of superb engineering advancements. Let's not forget that grandpa and grandma are here on hand to reinforce the conversation backed by two-lifetimes of professional experience.

We have started with learning about bridges. The following books have been remarkably well put together and full of insightful and inspirational directions. We have learned about the basic types of bridges and we have conducted some of the experiments in order to learn more about the weaknesses and strengths of the different solutions. We have also learned about the importance of considering the available materials and the environment.

These are the books with which we began to gain appreciation for the diversity of structural solutions.  This book offered us an opportunity to bring out the map and check out the locations of this marvels of human ingenuity.

We continued by focusing on the Brooklyn Bridge. The history of the bridge is remarkable and inspirational. The books we used were considered wonderful by civil engineers.







We are going to watch the following DVDs. We have the VHS but it will be a hassle to hook up the VHS player so DVDs it is. I have watched these films about 5-6 years ago, or maybe more, and I am excited to watch them with new eyes, ears and intention.








Ballet girl is interested in the solar system. She and a friend are going to try to build a model of the solar system for the science fair in February. There are plenty of solar system kits on the market, and plenty of home-made alternatives, but I am keen on taking advantage of the mountain of legos we own. Everything can be prototyped with legos. Here are a bunch of links - NASA link and MIT link - which I hope we use for this year's science fair.


I recommend this series of books to get brief exposure to engineering process and the different engineering disciplines. We are going to read the civil engineering book this month. Next month, we may continue with looking at buildings, and I will concentrate more on materials.






January is the month I dedicate to learning about money. Money is a very subtle concept that we do not ponder often, but it is unquestionably one of the greatest inventions of humankind. We will talk about what money means and as we proceed in history we will talk about the importance of money in all historical episodes.






As far Portuguese goes, we just finished Pippi Meialonga which we loved. We are going to move to Os Egipcios and then to the first adventure of Lobinho. I am delighted that both kids are paying attention during reading time and can answer questions on the spot.







This month the kids are going to play at Smith Crossing retirement home in Orland Park which I am very happy about since the next concert opportunity is in May. In May during this year's IMA competition Ballet girl will play Minuet in G-Allegretto by J.S.Bach from Easy Classic to Moderns Vol 17, a selection at the Junior 1 level. This will be followed by the Piano Guild Auditions we will review all of Ballet Girl's book 2 and hopefully, the year will conclude with the book2 graduation.

We attended a ISO concert in December which featured holiday favorites. The way the little man experienced the music during the performance impressed a lot of people. He also went up to the singer to let her know that while he enjoyed her singing, he found her singing to be very loud.  We attended a fundraising concert for the South Suburban Youth Orchestra last week which we loved and which further inspired Ballet Girl to pick up the violin. We are probably going to attend the High School Musical presented by the Lockport Youth Theatre at the end of the month.

Ballet girl said that her school is going to distribute Charlotte's web for this year's One-School-One-Book initiative. I was surprised because her teacher has been reading it to the kids as a read-aloud during snack time already. Ballet girl asked me to start reading it because she is not always there for snack time. I and the kids love this edition because it has colorful pictures. I found an interesting list of questions.