OLD HOMESCHOOLERS NEVER DIE . . . THEY JUST WRITE CURRICULUM


"Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants."

Deuteronomy 32:2

Courses of Study

To view the Course of Study for each grade level, you can click on the "Course of Study" label
or "Search This Blog" for the specific grade level you wish to see.
To date, I have courses of study completed for kindergarten through fourth grades.

Newsletter Articles

In 2013 the Lord started me producing a newsletter for the homeschool group we are a part of. Every other month I write an article on a topic the Lord has put on my heart. I've decided to add these articles to this blog. I hope you will find encouragement through some of my ramblings. You can click on the label "Newsletter" to find the articles.

Sunday, April 28

Second Grade, Grammar, Set Three

  • Listening Skills
    • I found an idea on line to make a sheet of paper with pictures of seven different fruits and vegetables printed on it. Then I have K. seven two-part instructions, such as, draw a line from the apple to the pear and color the pear yellow.
    • I found a picture on line with instructions. These were three-part instructions, and she did really well.
    • We did one more listening skill activity. I found the idea online, but made up my own pieces and instructions, as theirs were just too detailed for a second grader. Here is the picture.

  • Sentence Structure
    • We added punctuation at the end of sentences and decided if the sentence was a statement, command, question, or exclamation.
    • I had K. draw a line between the who and what of sentences.
    • K. told whether "sentences" were complete or fragments.
  • Mechanics
    • I used Child's Own
      • Comma, pages 157 - 161
      • Apostrophe, pages 163 - 164
      • Contractions, pages 164 - 165
  • Writing Skills
    • Senses Chart -- one day we took a banana and wrote down words for how it smelled, looked, felt, sounded, and tasted. The next day we did the same for a bowl. Then I had K. write a simple paragraph about the bowl from her chart.
  • Writing Project
    • Shape Poem
      • I picked up the book, Doodle Dandies: Poems that Take Shape by J. Patrick Lewis at the library. One day we read the book.
      • Another day we googled "shape poems" and looked at the images of all the different shapes of poems.
      • The other two days we made shape poems. I discovered that the best way to do this is to print or draw with a very heavy outline the shape you want. Then put a piece of clean white paper over the paper with the shape. Tape them together so they stay together easily. In the picture below, K. wrote a poem around the teddy bear shape and then drew the features of the bear inside.

  • Study and Reference Skills
    • I found a unit study online called Dazzling Dictionaries Unit.
      • One page I used has the child use the dictionary to (1) find correct spelling, (2) find the meaning of words, (3) find a synonym, and (4) find the plural spelling of words.
      • The second page has twenty words for the child to put under the correct guide words. K. and I discovered that for one set of guide words there was only one word. The guide words were folk / fool. The words that I think they had planned to go under them were: food, for, foot, and foolish. However, food is really the only word that actually belongs. I had K. look in our dictionary and write three more words that were between folk and fool.

Second Grade, Writing, Set Three

From Writing Hangups:
  • Can of Words page 13 -- I let K. spend a few days writing a story about whatever she wanted. Then we cut a paper that would cover a can and she wrote an advertisement about the story on the paper. We glued the paper to the can and she rolled up the story and placed it in the can.
  • Clothes Lines -- I had an unused white t-shirt, that was sleepwear, so we wrote bedtime slogans on it with some fabric paint that I had.
  • Colossal Card -- K. made a very large Mother's Day card
  • Costume Conversations -- we haven't finished it yet. K. wants a bird costume and we are still working on it. (Week 5) We finished the costume and K. wrote about the bird on it.
From Games for Writing:
  • Forbidden Letters page 130 -- our forbidden letter was j this time. It didn't make any difficulties, so before we play this game again, I will change the choice of letters to the next harder set.
  • My Character -- I was Humpty Dumpty and K. was Mary Poppins
  • Writing to Form page 139 -- I just photocopied a story in the book
  • Acrostic Poem page 69 -- on the inside of the mother's day card
  • Mixed Up and Missing page 107 -- I cut the sentences apart and K. put them together. Then we used all the words from all the sentences to make more sentences.
From Cursive Writing Made Easy and Fun by Kama Einhorn:
  • Cat's Cradle -- I took a length of yarn and tied it in a circle and used it to teach K. how to play Cat's Cradle. The point of this is that if you follow the proper steps you can form many shapes with the yarn, but it is just one continuous piece of yarn. Likewise, cursive writing uses one continuous line to form words, and careful steps taken in the right order form letters.
  • Continuous Line Doodles -- there are examples of different doodles in the book. We used markers and lined paper to doodle on. Sometimes I made the doodle with pencil and she traced over it with the marker. We will be working on this activity many more times as K. doesn't yet have the control she needs.
I wanted to start doing something with cursive because K. has started joining her letters together in an attempt to write in cursive. I found this book at the library (then bought a pdf version at Scholastic's Teacher Express website). I really like it because it has activities for all learning styles.

Second Grade, Spelling, Set Three

Completing the one workpage on her own is teaching K. to read directions carefully. When I find a word for her "Climbers", I write it on the back of my planning sheet so I won't forget it.

Second Grade, Fine Arts, Set Three

Crocheting:
  • We worked on crocheting one day.
Piano:
  • We worked in the piano theory book, completing one assignment which was three pages long.
  • We practiced the next page in her lesson book.
  • K. practicing the next page in the lesson book.
Art:
  • We decorated K.'s artist's smock for her costume in a program at church.
  • Art Museum book -- pages 12, 13 -- we talked about a still life, found one in a book, and K. drew one.
  • We finished painting the rocks that we started painting in Set Two.
  • We did the Paint a Night Sky in My Art Book

Second Grade, Science, Set Three

Now we are learning about air.

We started out with The True Book of Science Experiments. We completed pages 6 - 22 over three days. This wasn't rushing, as the experiments are very simple. K. would read the text and then we would do it. Here are pictures of some of our experiments.

 
The glass is full of water. Air pushing against the paper keeps the water from running out.

 
Put your finger on the end of the straw to keep air from entering and pushing the water out.

 
Our siphon worked!!! Air pushing on the water in the bowl forces it into the tube to fill the bucket. After we emptied the bowl, we switched the bowl and bucket and emptied the bucket into the bowl.
 
 
Here is our weather vane.
 
 
I'm planning on doing a project from Projects with Air each week. This is our Land Yacht. We used the raft we made in history in Set Two because we didn't have balsa wood. We haven't had enough wind to see if it works.
 
 
We completed pages 4 - 13 in the book What Happens If? These were experiments with balloons. It is really hard to get pictures of balloons that are speeding around the room or through water in the bathtub, so we have no pictures of them. But they were a lot of fun to do!
 
We did two projects from Projects with Air. The first was a Balloon Powered Racer. We were supposed to use balsa wood to make it, but we didn't have any, so in order not to spend money, we used Tinker Toys. At first we had a regular size straw, but it didn't allow the air to escape fast enough to move the racer. I found an old lip balm tube. We disassembled it and sawed one end off. Then the racer worked, although if I blew the balloon up too big it would sit on the wheels and not allow them to roll. Here are some pictures.


 
 
Our second project was making a pinwheel. We took it outside and let it spin in the wind.
 
In Fun with Science we did pages 29 - 33, learning the effects of fast moving air. Then we made and flew a boomerang.
 
For our parachute experiments, we started with the book 365, page 29. When we had completed that, we switched over to Projects with Air. It had us cut holes in the parachute until it no longer floated down, but jut fell. When we stopped, the parachute was more holes than plastic, but it was still working.
 
Here are a couple videos of other experiments from 365. In The Talking Coin as the cold air in the bottle warms up and expands, it makes the the coin on top pop up a bit as it lets the air out. With Launch Your Astronauts, the air from the blow dryer pushes the ping pong ball up as gravity pulls it down. Because the air from the dryer is flowing faster than the air around it (lowering the air pressure), the ball stays above the dryer.
 
The Talking Coin
 
Launch Your Astronauts
 
From Projects with Air we did an experiment, tacking wrapping paper, lined paper, cloth, and yarn to pencils. Then we put them out in the wind to see which blew best.
 
We completed more experiments from 365 this week.
  • The Collapsing Bottle -- use very hot water to get the air inside a 1 or 2-liter bottle hot. Then screw the cap on tightly and put it in the freezer. The bottle will collapse because hot air takes up more space than cold air.
  • The Wonderful Whistle-Stick -- put a hole in one end of a paint stirrer and tie string or yarn to it. Then in the other end put one, two, or three holes. Swing the stick around fast and listen to it whistle. You can try having different sticks with different numbers of holes and listen to the different sounds. The air passes through the holes at a higher speed than the air going around the stick, which causes the whistling sound.
  • The Collapsing Tent -- take a small sheet of paper and fold it once, creasing it like a tent. Blow a steady stream of air through the tent. The tent collapses because the air pressure above the tent is greater than the pressure of the moving air through the tent.
  • The Singing Balloon -- blow up a balloon, stretch the neck while you let the air escape to hear it sing. The air exiting the balloon causes the balloon to vibrate, which causes the sound.
  • The Rising Notebook Trick -- put a balloon under a book, blow up the balloon. The air pressure in the balloon causes the book to rise.
  • Real String Soap in a Bottle -- take an old dish soap bottle, or other soft bottle with a small hole in the lid. We used a shampoo bottle. Remove the lid and put the string (we actually used a piece of round elastic) through the whole. Tie a knot in each end of the string that is large enough so it won't go through the hole. Put the lid back on the bottle. Put the string into the bottle. Quickly squeeze the bottle and the string flies out. The air pressure leaving the bottle pushes the knot that is covering the hole and makes the string fly out.
This week we did more reading than experiments. The following experiments are from 365.
  • Oddballs -- blow up two balloons to about the size of large oranges. Tie each to the end of a string, about 1 yard long. Arrange the string over a fixture so the balloons hang evenly and about two inches apart. Blow a rapid stream of air between the balloons. The balloons move toward each other. This is because moving air has lower air pressure than stationary air, so the higher air pressure on the outside of each balloon pushed them together.
  • High Rollers: A Big Wind! -- put two cardboard toilet paper rolls about an inch apart. use a straw to blow a steady stream of air between them. The rolls move together. Same reason as Oddballs.
  • Spinning Wheel: It's Wheel Science at Work! -- this one has a lot of instructions, so here is the video.

Books we read:
  • The Boxcar Children: The Mystery of the Hot Air Balloon #47 -- fun story, and it does teach about hot air balloons.
  • Air: Outside, Inside, and All Around by Darlene Stille -- easy reading picture book that teaches what air is made of
  • The Air Around Us by Eleonore Schmid -- picture book that teaches about wind
  • Spy in the Sky by Kathleen Karr -- a historical fiction chapter book about the Balloon Corps during the Civil War
  • Sally's Great Balloon Adventure by Stephen Huneck -- picture book, fun story about a dog that accidentally goes up in a hot air balloon
  • The Balloon Boy of San Francisco by Dorothy Kupcha Leland -- historical fiction story that takes place in 1853. This is also a good book if you are studying California history.
  • Catch the Wind! All About Kites by Gail Gibbons -- at the end of the book it tells how to make your own kite.
  • Wind Power by Norman F. Smith -- we just read through page 29. It was getting too detailed for second grade interest level. However, it had a demonstration for us to do that really helped K. understand that cold air sinks. Open your refrigerator a couple inches. Where do you feel the cold air coming out? It is at the bottom on your feet, not at the top on your face.
  • Air is Everywhere by Melissa Stewart -- if you wanted to do just a one week unit on air, this is the book. It has large colorful pictures, large print (not too much on each page), and fun, simple activities.
  • The Amazing Air Balloon by Jean Van Leeuwen -- picture book of historical flight in 1784
  • The Glorious Flight by Alice and Martin Provensen -- picture book of Louis Bleriot's flight across the English Channel.

Second Grade, History, Set Three

I read chapter 66 of Child's History. It covered:
  • Renaissance
  • Michelangelo
  • Sistine Chapel
  • Raphael
  • Leonardo da Vinci
In addition we read/watched:
  • Exploration and Conquest by Maestro -- we are continuing to use this book to make our timeline.
  • Leonardo da Vinci -- dvd in the series Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists by Mike Venezia
  • Michelangelo -- dvd in the series Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists by Mike Venezia
    • In these videos when they show sculptures or painting that are of unclothed people, they either don't show the private parts (just show the torso of David), or they cover it up with a banner or person, etc.
  • The Renaissance by Rupert Matthews -- look through it before hand. There may be a few pages you want to skip, but it has great illustrations and information.
  • Leonardo's Monster by Jane Sutcliffe -- a picture book about Leonardo da Vinci's boyhood
  • Michael the Angel by Laura Fischetto -- a picture book about the boyhood of Michelangelo
  • Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo da Vinci by Gene Barretta -- this book takes many of Leonardo's ideas and drawings and tells about when they were actually built.
I read chapter 67 of Child's History. It covered:
  • Reformation
  • Martin Luther
  • King Henry VIII
I was able to refer back to the books we read in Bible about Martin Luther and William Tyndale (which had Henry VIII in it).

In addition we read:
  • Raphael by Mike Venezia -- interesting book about the artist Raphael Sanzio. Look through it first to make sure you are okay with all the pictures. There was one I stuck a small sticky note on.
  • The World in the time of Leonardo da Vinci by Fiona Macdonald -- in this book we mostly looked at the pictures and read the captions about them.
  • Christianity by Nancy Martin -- we read pages 10 - 13 about the church in the Roman Empire and the reformation
  • Christianity by Philip Wilkinson -- we looked at pages 28 - 35 regarding Catholicism and the Reformation
  • Monday with a Mad Genius by Mary Pope Osborne -- the is a book from the Magic Tree House series about Leonardo da Vinci.
During week 5 I wanted to consentrate on what what happening in the Americas during this time period. However, most of the books about Native Americans that I found are about the 1800s. Here are the books we used:
  • North American Indians by Marie and Douglas Gorsline -- this book tells how some of the Indian tribes lived when the European settlers first came.
  • Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -- this is a picture book with pictures by Susan Jeffers
  • If You Lived with The Hopi by Anne Kamma -- easy reading, nice illustrations

Evaluation of Second Grade, Set Two

  • Bible -- this subject is working very well. K. really enjoys singing hymns. I wondered if we would enjoy reading God and a Boy since it was our third time. It was just as good and exciting this time! K. enjoys the books in the Trailblazers series. We are on schedule with our Bible memory and catechism. Searching for Treasure is more enjoyable and takes less time than I had thought.
  • Math -- we are having so much fun with math and K. is learning so much! It does take quite a bit of time to prepare. But it is well worth the time investment! I had divided the fact family triangles into three groups instead of five groups. That way we can cover all of them practicing them three days a week.
  • Reading -- K. understood sequence of events before we started, so it was mostly fun review. We are enjoying the book Story Train.
  • Grammar -- this is another subject that takes time to find ways to teach the concepts without  using worksheets too much, but it makes our time more enjoyable.
  • Writing -- I'm so glad I found Writing Hangups. These writing projects are just what K. needs.
  • Spelling -- K. is learning the spelling words great.
  • Fine Arts -- I have to be careful to keep this subject enjoyable. Sometimes I need to ignore my plans and just paint or color read poetry with her.
  • Science -- WOW! I didn't know we were going to have so much fun this year! The hardest thing for me is to keep to simple experiments that K. can participate in and understand.
  • History -- here is another subject where I need to be flexible and ready to change my plans to keep it interesting for K.