Monday, August 31, 2020

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

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Monday, July 20, 2020

July 2020

We have ten more days of July left. So far July has blown my mind. July exhausted me. I know I burdened myself but July did extra burdening too. July was expected to be low key because my nephew was in town for the first week, and the kids had Portuguese camp together the second, and one of the kids is having another week of Portuguese camp now. But low key has translated into watching TV which is undesirable, so some structure has returned.

5th Grader:

  • We are finishing Beast Academy
  • We are reading and discussing Front Desk
  • We are reading Pippi Meialonga for Portuguese
  • He is playing daily piano and cello
  • We take daily bike rides for a few hours
7th Grader:

  • We are moving through Intro to Counting
  • We began EIL - nonfiction, memoire
  • We read and discussed Illegal, which is a graphic novel
  • Daily practice of piano and violin
  • Daily Portuguese camp
  • We take daily bike rides

I have the agenda for the next school year. Put together aligned curriculum. We will focus more on science than in history, beginning in August. We will begin with focus on Racism in America. We will read Which Way West, the 7th grader will read Just Mercy, and the 5th grader will read Ghost boys. We will begin science with a study of anatomy, and models of the main systems.

  • Biology




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    Monday, June 15, 2020

    June 2020

    What a weird year!!!!

    Usually in the summer we do everything we would like to do but cannot do during the school year. Not this year. Everything is upside down. So, we are moving on with homeschooling. Basically, we are in the first month of 5th and 7th grade.

    Fifth Grade:

    1. Math: We are finishing Beast Academy. We spent the last few months reviewing all of Beast Academy. We are currently busy with finishing decimals, percents and square roots.
    2. English: We are reading and discussing one book a month.  This month's book was the Soldier and the Tortoise which tells a story from WWI. We have not yet discussed the book but since we finished it, we are moving on to the next one - Front Desk.
      • For spelling, we are sluggishly moving through All About Spelling, Level 5
      • For writing, we are steadily advancing through IEW's Medieval History. I like this curriculum because it is laying down the foundation for good writing, starting with taking notes, making outlines, and original writing based on these skills. We are learning editing, which is a difficult skill, because kids want to write once and be done, and they don't take criticism easily.
    3. Portuguese: Portuguese is back. We have daily grammar lessons, and we have a weekly 40-minute lesson. So far so good!
    4. Music: Orchestra camp for two weeks, plus weekly cello and piano lessons.
    Seventh Grade:

    1. Math: We are taking a brief break from Algebra to focus on counting and probability for the next two months. We are continuing with geometry, currently working on quadrilaterals. While my nephew is in town we will do daily ACM8 exams. 
    2. English: We are reading and discussing one book a month.  This month's book was Wednesday's Wars. We have not fully finished discussing the book but since we finished it, we are moving on to the next one - Amal Unbound.
      • For literature analysis, we are using EIL Level 7. We just wrapped up the short stories unit, which is the first of the four units in the program. The program is fairly simple which means very little input from me. 
      • For writing, we are steadily advancing through IEW's World History. I like this curriculum because it is laying down the foundation for good writing, starting with taking notes, making outlines, and original writing based on these skills. We are learning editing, which is a difficult skill, because kids want to write once and be done, and they don't take criticism easily. If we homeschool for 8th grade, I will probably go with EIL and EIW, Level 8 just to get a variety of writing instruction.
    3. Portuguese: Portuguese is back. We have daily grammar lessons, and we have a weekly 40-minute lesson. So far so good!
    4. Music: Orchestra camp for two weeks, plus weekly violin and piano lessons.
    My nephew is in town for two weeks and I intend to do a sciency camp with all three of the kids
    Update: We did not get a chance to do the science listed below
    1. Biology
    2. Chemistry
    3. Physics
    Together:

    We are reading Home Sweet Motel. It is silly book which I figured we needed after a few months of intense history.


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    Friday, May 1, 2020

    May 2020



    Reading aloud: 

    We are moving from the American Revolutionary War to the Civil War.

    We just finished reading about the American revolution, what led to it, what exactly the regular folks in the colonies thought they fought for, what the rich colonists incited a war for, and  how this is all reflected in the constitution.

    Now, we are moving to the next big episode, the Civil War. We are using the Two Miserable Presidents as our spine to set the background. We are going to read about Gettysburg, and also about spies and code breakers in the civil war.



    We will probably refer to the information on spies and codes later on when we study these as part of the math curriculum. It is unfortunate that fundamental issues of war are not often taught in the school textbooks. Another unfortunate truth about textbooks is that they do not speak much of the impact on civilians, and the organizations or way of thinking that are still with us today that originated in response to the big event that is being discussed. We are using real books rather than textbooks for a first round through world history.

    Individual Readings:


     This will be the first month when the kids will read the same books and will swap them. The sixth grader already read Day of Tears and the Life of Frederick Douglas.

    The kids will read The War Within and Bull Run.

    The War Within tells the experience of a Jewish family which immigrated from Germany and settled in the South, and how this family was treated in 1861 under the expulsion of Jewish in the territories controlled by Grant. It speaks to conforming and the unintended consequence of good intentions; it speaks to confirmation bias; it speaks to the necessary failure of generalizations. The book covers a lot that is relevant to today and young kids know about.

    The fourth grader one day will be asked to read the books below, but he does not need to read them now. He will be asked to read Who was George Washington Carver.











    Science:


     We will do a qualitative study of the Human Body through this comic book. The kids will read it independently, and we will read it as a read aloud together. There are a few other books that I have on the human body that we will use. My intention for the summer is to take the kids through a complete First Aid course.

    We will begin our study of Science with chemistry. Both kids know enough math to go through some of the scientific concepts in quantitative way but first we will examine the ideas. The summer will be dedicated to science.


    We are in a stable homeschooling mode. We operate on a five days per week schedule. We begin on Sunday and end on Thursday. Friday we usually catch up on the. reviews we did not complete on Thursday, so Fridays are easy days. Saturdays are music days, so these are easy as well.

    We are covering English: reading and writing. The 6th grader has a literature curriculum and both have a writing curriculum which is focused on history. In the fall I will bring back spelling. No need for it now since we are working on vocabulary and spelling through the independent readings.

    We are covering Math. We are on track to finish Algebra with the 6th grader by December. The 4th grader is on track to finish Beast Academy by July.

    We are covering Portuguese. This is a little subtle as I don't have a curriculum. I alternate between reading, watching videos and grammar exercises. I will need to add more direct one-on-one conversations with the kids. We have been adding little pieces to our program over the last month and a half. This piece is next. We are also reading a Portuguese read aloud.

    We are covering history as a read aloud and through independent reading.

    We have just begun science. The summer will be dedicated to science. We will ease off in July and August. June will be a full home-school month.


    The Pandemic:

    The bummer about the pandemic is the lack of human-to-human interactions. The kids miss that and I miss that. I would not mind homeschooling when I know I can send them to a camp or to an activity where they will hang out with friends and forge relationships. It is also unpleasant that with the looming good weather we cannot travel and visit the marvels of the country or even travel abroad. Very unfortunate. Our passports are also expiring this year and we wont be able to renew them properly for many reasons.



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    Wednesday, April 1, 2020

    April 2020

    March 2020 will be remembered with the stress brought on by the Coronavirus-2019. I pulled the kids completely from their schools, spend a week idling and putting things for a proper homeschool together. We have successfully homeschooled for two weeks now. Our subjects have been English (reading, copy-work, vocabulary, little grammar as the need arises), Math, and music-two instruments per kid.

    Now that we are in an stable state, here is what is in store for April. May we make it through this pandemic without any of us five getting sick.

    PE: we have been cooped in. We have been taking briefly walks outside. Now that the weather is warming up, my parents will be spending more time in the garden. I have three new bikes in the mail, so hopefully, we will be able to ride on the neighboring trails soon. During the days we have been walking anywhere from a mile to 3-5 miles.

    Read Aloud: We have been reading about the constitution. Hopefully, we will soon begin reading about the US history. King George-What was wrong with him?

    Portuguese: Turma da Monica em Toquio, learning about the cities where the Olympic games will eventually take place.

    English: We are focusing on the second world war, and in particular on the terror scattered by the NAZI. The kids read one chapter per day. We discuss the vocabulary in each day. They do copy work once a week, one day we do dictation, and one day we review key grammar structures. We are moving towards writing simple paragraphs as responses to questions based on the text.

    Math: The fourth grader is currently working on finishing Beast Academy 5. He is currently reviewing Integers and Expressions(5A), and is working on Fractions and Ratios(5C), and Sequences(5C). The 6th grader is learning Problem Solving Strategies(AoPS Pre-Algebra-Ch15), Logarithms (AoPS Algebra-Ch 19), and Special features of triangles (AoPS Geometry-Ch 7).

    Portuguese is a bit on hold, but it will come back with a sequence of reading, grammar, and videos.

    Music is in full force. We are using Zoom for orchestra and piano lessons, and Skype for the cello and the violin lessons.

    Engineering: the kids play with Turing Tumbles, and many board games.


    Update 4/20/2020:

     PE: we got a basketball hoop and three bikes -  one for me, one for my daughter and one for my mom. It has been cold so we haven't been much outdoor, but the weather is improving. The kids have played some but mostly briefly.

    Read Aloud: We read King George - What was his problem?, and we began reading Aru Shah and the End of Time this one in Portuguese. Aru has some complex vocabulary so I am translating more. We are moving at about a chapter a day. We will hopefully read about the Louisiana Purchase before moving on to the Two Miserable Presidents, and What Was the battle of Gettysburg.

    English:
    We used the Last Train and Surviving Hitler to learn about the Holocaust.

    The fourth grader mainly read alone, copied a page a day, and learned new vocabulary. Then we discussed the story, and how it fits into the sequence of books he read: Number the Stars, What was the Holocaust, The Last Train. I explained that Number the Stars is fairly friendly, but a nice painless introduction to the horror of the Holocaust; What was the Holocaust brought some important historical facts and historical background, but it was too general to be relatable. The Last Train gave us the human perspective from one point of view, that of a lucky survivor. We talked about the many points of view that exist, and how combined they make the history. We talked about the real toll of the war, by looking at statistics of human life losses per country. We even compared the US toll to the the life lost during the first month of the Covid-19 pandemic. Gives quite a perspective.

    The sixth grader read alone, learned vocabulary, wrote short answers to questions about the chapters. We discussed the reality and the logistics of the war from the point of view of the Germans, as well as the prisoners. We talked about the groups that were discriminated against. We will cover the statistics, just as the fourth grader did. The sixth-grader finished the book by putting together a mini project: a collection of questions she would ask Jack, a collection of facts she learned about the Holocaust, and a collection of objects/words she associated with the book. She moved on to reading another heavier novel: The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise

     Writing and Critical Thinking of Literature:
    We are using the Essential in Literature for 7th grade program. It consists of 4 major units. The first focuses on Fiction Short Stories; the second unit focuses on Non-Fiction excerpts; the third unit focuses on analyzing a Novel, and the last unit focuses on Poetry. It is designed to be a 34-week program, but we are going to cut it short by reading only 4 out of the 7 short stories.

    For writing we are going with the Institute of Excellence programs. For the fourth grader we are going with the Medieval History program. The fourth grader is into this kind of history, and even though the program is geared towards 6-8 graders, we will take it as slow as needed. For the sixth grader we are going with the Modern History program. History is not her best suit but I feel that this program covers wonderful life-long skills such as note-taking, narrating, re-producing information from notes, that I myself learned through my history classes as a child. I hope this will work. My plan is to alternate between Essentials in Writing and the writing program, and possibly cover them in one and a half school years.


    Math:
    The fourth grader finished: Beast Academy A: expressions; Beast Academy C: sequences and ratios.
    I am moving him to MOEMS, division E problems; BA -B  fractions and BA-D exponents.

    The sixth grader finished: AOPS Geometry Ch7. She will review Ch 5 by the end of the month, and we will move on to Ch 8 - Quadrilaterals. She also finished AOPS Intro to Algebra Ch 19 - Logarithms.  We are reviewing her work on Ch 9 (inequalities) and will move on to Ch 21 - Sequences and Series.

    Portuguese: 
    Portuguese was re-introduced gradually, after about a month of homeschooling. We are starting with review of what we covered earlier in the academic year : tenses, demonstratives, possessives, basically A1-B1 grade. We are using the Salpicos books with some enthusiasm, Gramtatica Ativa exercises, books from our home library for reading, and movies. Last week they watched Mente Divertida e Touro Ferdinando.

     Dynamics/Logistics:
    Every evening we review the work they have done during the day, so the kids get immediate feedback. They also immediately receive the work for the following day. The wonderful thing is that they manage their time so that they would complete their work on time. 

    1. One nice benefit of homeschooling is that the kids are left with plenty of free time. Some of it is used wisely, some not, but one cannot be efficient all the time. 
    2. Another benefit is that they can pursue their own interests, and request tools to help them pursue their interests. B. asked for a subscription to the Great Courses.
    3. Yet another benefit is that there is no stress to wake up early, to prepare for a test, to eat fast, to run out of the house. Everyone is calm.
    4. And there is plenty of time for recess, whenever they want it. 

    Social Science:
    Here is the approach:
    • We read together a book focusing on a historical episode, and each kid reads a related book at their reading level. 
    • The kids writing programs, while focusing on writing and not history, are teaching writing within a historic context. One focuses on Medieval History, the other focuses on Modern History.
    • We also have a subscription to the Great Courses: which is unlimited streaming. In the three days that we have had this subscription we have already watched a few classes. In fact, we finished one full class, "1066, the year that changed everything". I am sitting through the German language class, and with my mom we are sitting through the appreciation of music class. For folks struggling with English these courses are phenomenal. 





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    Wednesday, January 22, 2020

    January 2020

    These books are our read-alouds in January.  They could not be more different.
    The Bridge Home is the story of four poor children in a large city in India. The book focuses on their daily life and their friendship. It is told by one of the characters, as if she is speaking to her sister. It is a moving story.
    The second one we picked because we have liked the books by David Williams. We like this one too, although it is somewhat predictable, at least for now, and not nearly as absurd and silly as "Vove deu no pe" and "Vovo vagarista"



    These are the books the kids are reading for pleasure. The fourth grader is reading the Secret Coder books. He is liking them which means that they are a perfect set for this grade level. My daughter read them in fourth grade as well. She was hooked on them and could hardly wait for the next books to be published. Now she is reading slightly darker books. This one I have not read so I cannot comment, but she likes it.



    Math for the sixth-grader is from these Art of Problem solving books. In Geometry she just finished the chapter on the Pythagorean theorem. In Algebra she finished the chapters on quadratics. January is dedicated to preparation for MathCounts so the official books are picking some dust at the moment. Back to business in February. The fourth grader is half way through the Beast Academy books. I am quite pleased with his progress. I switched the sequence in which I teach the fifth grade books. We covered fractions, all operations. Then we moved to decimals and covered all operations, and only then we moved to ratios and rates. I am not sure why the topics are scattered across the 4 books, but this is the order which sticks. The book order leads to pain and suffering. In preparation for Mathcounts I am using the tests listed in this website.

    The sixth grader had a piano recital. She played Knight Ruppert, Tarantela by Pieczanka and a repertoire from Suzuki books 3 and 4.  She is three pieces into Suzuki violin book 4. She loves music. This is almost her lifeline. The fourth grader is just one half of a piece away from his piano recital. He will officially finish Suzuki book 2. The cello is going great as well. He is half way book 1, and he attends weekly practices with a local youth orchestra. As a special treat we attended a concert at CSO which featured Anne Marie Mutter perform three of Beethoven's sonatas for violin and piano+2 extra pieces.


    We have fallen behind with science and social studies. I am going to resume science in February. We will focus on chemistry and then we will focus on electricity. With  regards to chemistry we carried out several experiments. I will summarize the findings and the facts. For electricity I have a book that I intend to follow. For chemistry I am using this book. I like them both and I think they are perfect with respect to detail, theory and practice.


    Portuguese has taken a back stage for the last two months. I will need to bring it back, but time is just short. I read to them, and occasionally they watch a video or a movie, but we need to bring back the systematic learning and practice of the language.

    I have not decided what we will be reading and focusing on in February. We have a whole one week in January to enjoy.




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    Thursday, October 3, 2019

    September 2019

    Back in the swing of things, in a mostly steady state.


    Fourth Grade


    1. English
      • Read: Nick and Tesla, Solar-Powered Showdown, Women who launched the Computer Age (Ready-to-Read series), and Rickshaw Girl.
      • Resume: All About Spelling 4 - reviewing what we covered last year, while also moving along with lessons we did not have time to cover. I expect to finish level 4 by the end of December and to cover all of level 5 until the end of May.
      • Will read Tiger Rising in October.






    1. Math
      • Finished 4D-probability
      • Covered 5A-integers
      • Began 5A-solids (surface area and volume)
      • In October will finish 5A-solids, and 5A-expressions, and will begin 5B
    2. Portuguese
      • Read short stories
      • Covered adjectives, and possessive as adjectives, reviewed the present tense of irregular verbs, as well as pair of verbs whose English translation is the same but the connotation is different.
      • Will work on more grammar and reading from the same sources in October.
      • We may start French.
    3. Music
      • Lessons once a week
      • Daily practice, very little exceptions and this has proven very productive, so we will stick with that expectation from now on.
      • First time in orchestra!!!
    4. Sport
      • playtime with friends every day after school. He gets his work done first thing coming from school, and immediately leaves to play outside, and plays for a good 2-3 hours.  I am glad that the boys few houses down the block are his age. Unfortunately, the sixth grader does not have anyone close to her age living nearby.



    Sixth Grade

    1. English
      • Read Tangerine, Scythe, Fred Korematsu speaks out and some comics books. We discussed Tangerine in depth. Tangerine is a great book and I highly recommend it for this age group.
      • In October will read The Giver, and maybe the second in the Scythe trilogy.
      • Resumed All About Spelling Level 5, planning on completing it by December, and working on level 6 until the end of May.
    2. Math
      • MathCounts and Alcumus on AoPS
      • Algebra: Ch8-linear equations and Ch 10-quadratic equations
      • PreAlgebra: Ch 14-counting and probability; Ch 12-right triangles
      • In October the plan is to cover Ch 11 and Ch 12 from Algebra, and Ch 5 from Geometry, as well as work on preparation for AMC8 which will take place in November, as well as MathCounts which is not until January.
    3. Portuguese
      • Read from Wonder
      • Grammar included adjectives, irregular verbs, first encounter with . the subjunctive
      • The plan is to continue. She knows a lot from having naturally encountered it but there is no harm done now with introduction to the actual structure and rules.
      • We may start Chinese soon.
    4. Music
      • Regular practice is the key. We are in a good place especially with the violin. Book 4 and a bunch of other books. The teacher is dedicated and fully believes and recognizes the potential. Astounding progress in just a couple of short months.
      • 6th grade school orchestra only
      • We will participate in the IMA in the spring
    5. Sports
      • 6th grade basketball

    Together

    1. English
      • We discussed banned books
      • We are reading Animal Farm. We did not have a consistent read-aloud in September because things were just slow to reach .a steady state.
    2. Portuguese
      • We are continuing with Vovo deu no pe. We should finish it in October.
    3. Science
      • I showed them the yeast-sugar experiment
      • We did not do much more than that
      • In October, we will speak about light, and about the solar system and phenomena within it.
    4. Other
      • We did not travel anywhere in September. I don't have plans for travels in October either, but maybe we can take a trip to the city and visit some pumpkin patches nearby.


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