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, August 4

Second Grade, Bible, Set Five

Week One:
  • Hymn: Take My Life
  • Memory Verse: John 3:4
  • Searching for Treasure: Study 14, Intro - #4
  • Prayed daily
  • Started reading Listen for the Whippoorwill about Harriet Tubman
Week Two:
  • Hymn: It Took a Miracle
  • Memory Verse: John 3:5
  • Searching for Treasure: Study 15, Intro - #4
  • Bible Reading: Exodus 25 - 30
  • Reviewed this year's catechism
  • Prayed daily
  • Continued reading Listen for the Whippoorwill
Week Three:
  • Hymn: He Leadeth Me
  • Memory Verse: John 3:6-7
  • Searching for Treasure: Study 16, Intro - #4
  • The Princess and the Kiss: Lesson 13 in the Life Lessons book. This lesson is about not making decisions based on your feelings, but on God's Word and giving Him your whole heart and about reaping what you sow (or plant). We did two art projects with this lesson.
    • The first was to remind us that our feeling change and are "blown about" by circumstances. We took paper and colored an ocean scene with a wavy ocean. Then we took brown paper and drew a boat and cut it out and wrote "FEELINGS" on it. We used a brad to attach the boat to the ocean scene, so it would rock back and forth.
    • For the second project, I drew four seeds on a large piece of paper and colored them. We named them faithfulness, love, kindness, and joy. K. drew a stem and flower from each seed. We talked about what we reap if we plant these characteristics in our lives. We decided on trust, love, friends, and happiness. Then I drew roots coming from each seed and dirt around the seeds and roots. We talked about how roots get nourishment for plants, and where would she get nourishment to plant these things in her life. Then I wrote "God's Word" below the roots.
  • We reviewed our catechism.
  • We prayed each day.
  • We finished reading Listen for the Whippoorwill.
  • We reviewed previously memorized passages.
Week Four:
  • Hymn: Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul
  • Memory Verse: John 3:8
  • Searching for Treasure: Study 17, Intro - #4
  • Catechism #95, 96, 98
  • We reviewed this year's catechism
  • We prayed daily
  • We started reading Escape from the Slave Traders about David Livingstone
  • We reviewed previously memorized passages.
Week Five:
  • Hymn: Christ Arose
  • Memory Verse: John 3:9-10
  • Searching for Treasure: the summary lessons from studies 14 - 17
    • K. was disappointed that we were reviewing, so each day I let her tell me what she remembered about the study we were reviewing that day. Then we would just look up the Bible verses for the ones she did not remember.
  • We reviewed this year's catechism questions twice and the questions from previous years once
  • We prayed daily
  • We continued reading Escape from the Slave Traders.
  • We reviewed previously memorized passages.

Second Grade, Math, Set Five

  • Counting
    • We counted to 500 by 5s
    • We counted to 60 by 2s
    • We counted to 30 by 3s
    • We counted to 40 by 4s
    • We counted backwards from 100 to 0
    • We counted by 10s, starting with 4 (4, 14, 24, 34, etc.)
  • Addition
    • We did six more problems from the worksheet I got in the last set. Instead of drawing columns so K. could keep the place values straight, I did each place value in a different color. After she solved the problems I had her circle the sums that were odd numbers. Then we compared (< or >) the sums. After that we rounded the sums to the nearest ten or hundred.


  • Subtraction
    • We did six more problems from the worksheet I got in the last set. After she solved the problems I had her underline once the differences that were odd numbers and twice the differences that were even numbers. Then we compared (< or >) the differences. After that we rounded the differences to the nearest hundred.
    • Another day we did word problems
    • We solved missing addend problems using subtraction.
  • Multiplication with Marvelous Multiplication
    • We played Counting Corners on page 17
      • Cut out 10 squares (about 3 inches)
      • On the first one have your child write the word "one".
      • Turn that square over and count the corners and write the number "4".
      • On a piece of paper write 1 x 4 = 4
      • On the second square, write "two".
      • Turn it over and count on from 4 (5,6,7,8) and write the number "8" on the back side. 2 x 4 = 8
      • Continue until all 10 squares have been done.
    • We played Nickel Mania on page 22
      • Use nickels and pennies to figure the 5 times tables.
      • One set of five is one nickel.
      • One nickel equals 5 pennies, so 1 x 5 = 5
      • Continue through 10 x 5
  • Division with Dazzling Division
    • We played It's All in the Eyes on page 20
      • Find ten pairs of eyes and cut them out (I used an old puppy and kitten calendar).
      • Cut the pairs in half, so you have twenty individual eyes.
      • Have your child take 2 eyes and put them in a group of 2. How many groups do you have? 2 ÷ 2 = 1 "Two eyes in groups of two makes one group."
      • Do the same with 4 eyes; 4 ÷ 2 = 2 "Four eyes in groups of two makes two groups."
      • Continue with 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20.
  • Geometry -- I found the book Mirror Magic by Janet Abbott at the used book store. It is a California textbook from 1968 that teaches symmetry, same shape & size, and congruence in a fun hands-on way. The book had never been used. The mirror was even still in the book! There are 12 units, we are completing 1 unit each Friday.
    • We used blocks to count faces, edges, and vertices.
    • The next day we made figures from clay and counted the faces, edges, vertices, and curves.
    • On our errand day, we found 5 each horizontal, vertical, parallel, and intersecting lines.
  • Fractions
    • I made flower for the fractions halves through tenths -- two flowers for each. One side of each petal is blue, the other side is yellow.
    • K. and I each made a fraction, then she wrote the fractions, then she put out the < or > sign.
  • Money
    • I had a worksheet that had problems that stated an amount of money, then K. had to figure out how many quarters, dimes, nickels, or pennies she needed to make that amount.
    • We also did word problems with money.
  • Time
    • I made up word problems for elapsed time equations. Such as: Sally went to the park at 2:00. She played with her friend for 1 hour and 20 minutes. What time did she go home? Use a clock with movable hands to figure the answers.
    • I wrote out things that happen during our day and K. had to mark them as AM or PM
  • Statistics and Graphs
    • We looked and talked about the bar and line graphs on pages 14 - 16 in Statistics by Srivastava.
    • We did the bar graph activities in Bar Graphs by Bodach. I had made the forms ahead of time.
    • From Great Graphs we made a line graph to show how many times K. jumped rope without a miss on five different tries (page 52). We also made a line graph of the temperature forecast for the next ten days (page 60). Now, on the same graph, we are marking the temperature at our house at 2pm each day.

Second Grade, Reading, Set Five

We are reading the Bob Jones 3-1 reading book now. I found a spinner to use for asking questions about a story. The spinner is divided into eight parts. In each part there is a question. After each story, K. answers four of the questions.
  1. Who are the main characters?
  2. What is the main idea of the story?
  3. What are the problems or conflicts in the story?
  4. What is the solution to the story?
  5. What would you do if you were one of the main characters?
  6. What is an important detail in the story?
  7. Where does the story take place?
  8. How did the story end?
Comprehension Skills
The comprehension skill in this unit is building vocabulary. I didn't think any of the activities in the book were applicable to us, so we are looking for new words every day, finding out the definitions, and making a list of the words.

From Games for Reading:
  • Puzzles -- K. and I started a 250 piece puzzle. We have the frame done. (5th week) We have finished the puzzle. I had to hide it under a couch to keep my husband from finishing it!
  • Recipe -- K. made corn muffins for dinner one night from a box of Jiffy mix. This really is a good reading exercise. She had to read the instructions, understand them, and follow them in order.
  • Tell a Tall Tale of Your Day
  • Problems and Solutions

Second Grade, Grammar, Set Five

  • Mechanics & Sentence Structure
    • Punctuation / Capitalization / Types of Sentences -- we read and did the activities in Child's Own, pages 150 - 153a. This has you learning about "stop" and "go" signs in sentences, then capitalizing words and putting punctuation in a story.
    • I downloaded a supplemental curriculum called Punctuation Theater. It teaches the use of periods, exclamation marks, question marks, and commas by using percussion instruments when the punctuation should appear in sentences. It has a lot of sample sentences to work through (because it is made for a classroom) so I was only going to do some of them, but K. wanted to do all of them.
    • I found a story in an old book that had plenty of opening phrases and extra information. I read the story and K. underlined the opening phrases and extra information.
  • Writing Projects
    • I let K. pick an envelope (the information she gathered about penguins). Then we work together to write a paragraph.
      • All the paragraphs are written. We will do the editing and publishing during our week off.
    • Book Report
      • K. picked the book A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond. I am having her make a book jacket as her book report. I took the jackets off about six books and we looked at what was on them -- illustration, author, illustrator, a paragraph to interest a person in reading the book, etc.
  • Writing Skills
    • Step-by-Step Chart -- K. wrote the five steps for getting cereal ready in the morning
    • Story Map -- K. filled out the form -- the characters, where the story takes place, the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
  • Speaking Tips
    • We talked about speaking in front of a group
      • Look at the audience
      • Smile before you start, and while you are speaking
      • Talk to the person in the back row so you speak loud enough
      • It is important to speak clearly
    • Here are a couple books you might want to look at:
      • Speaking Up, Speaking Out by Steven Otfinoski
      • Speak Up! by Patricia Sternberg

Second Grade, Fine Arts, Set Five

Art
  • We completed pages 18 and 19 in the Art Museum book. We looked at abstract paintings in the book A Child's Book of Art by Lucy Micklethwait
  • We gathered nature supplies at a park to use to design a face. 
 
 
  • Paint to music -- I used a Beethoven's Wig CD and we painted while it played.
Piano
  • One page a week
Sewing
  • We completed the little dolls we started in the last set. Here is a link to the pattern. Here is the one I made. K. gave hers away to a friend.

Second Grade, Writing, Set Five

  • We wrote a story about how the three little kittens lost their mittens.
  • We drew pictures to go with our story (Writing Hangups, Yarn Yarn)
  • We played What a Personality (Games for Writing)
  • Planted Words; first I let K. make a plant with lots of crafty stuff, then she wrote about the plant. (Writing Hangups)
  • Forbidden Letters; we couldn't use the letter 'K' when writing our story. (Games for Writing) Kids had to be children, liked became loved, park was changed to meadow, etc.
  • To practice small muscle development/coordination
    • I hid 28 googly eyes in playdoh for K. to find
    • Three Color Road Race (Games for Writing)
    • Obstacle Course (Games for Writing)
  • How Many Words (Games for Writing) -- I made up a new list of words since we have gone through the list in the book about three times.

From Cursive Writing Made Easy and Fun:
  • The Longest Word in the World -- write long words in cursive and have your child count how many times you lift your pencil. Then do the same thing with printing.
  • Loopy Letters -- this activity has the child notice that certain letters have a loop pointing up (h, k, etc.) while other have a loop pointing down (p, y, etc.) and one has a loop pointing both directions (f). Then the child colors in the loops.
  • Brush Off -- use newsprint, 1" wide foam brushes, and plenty of paint to practice the shapes in cursive letters.

Second Grade, Spelling, Set Five

Spelling is going well. K. is doing a good job with alphabetizing and using the dictionary.

Sometimes we run out of time for the spelling test on Fridays, so if the words are ones K. really already knows, I will give her a couple sentences to write. Each sentence has two or three spelling words in it. I will also give her a sentence with her climbers.

Interestingly, K. has started telling me words she wants to learn to spell, such as: planet, delicious, and geography.

Second Grade, Science, Set Five

Now we are learning about sound.
  • Sounds All Around by Wendy Pfeffer -- we read the book one day and then took two days to do the activities.
    • Make a guitar with a box and rubber bands
    • Make musical glasses
    • Listen to sounds around you; we went to the local nature center to do this
    • Sounds matching game -- get 10 identical containers that are not see-through and have lids. Make 5 sets of identical contents (example: put 10 paper clips in 2 containers). Mark one of each with an 'X' and the other with an 'O'. Mix up the containers and see if you can match up the sets (one X and one O) by listening to the sound it makes when you shake the container.
  • The True Book of Science Experiments by Illa Podendorf, pages 40 - 43
    • Listen to the radio, then cup your hands around your ears and notice that the sound is louder. Your hands help catch the sound waves.
    • Put a watch or clock (with a loud tick) on the table. Stand 12 inches away and listen. Then put your ear on the table, 12 inches away from the clock. The sound is louder. Sound travels better through wood than air.
    • Make a telephone with two cans and string. I pulled different ideas from other books to make a telephone that works really well.
  • Hearing Sounds by Sally Hewitt -- we read this book in three days (pgs 6 - 23) and did the activities as we went along. Here are a couple :
    • Cover a bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Put rice or colored sugar crystals on the wrap. Hold a 9 x 13 metal pan above the bowl and hit it with a wooden spoon. The rice/sugar will jump. The vibrations caused by hitting the pan make the wrap vibrate. This is sort of how your eardrum works.
    • Gather a collection of tubes and bottles. Gently blow across the top of each. Compare the sounds.

  • Sound and Hearing by John Farndon
    • Making Waves, page 5 -- we used a large slinky to show how sound waves move
    • Inside the Ear, page 13 -- we read about how the ear works
  • 49 Easy Experiments with Acoustics by Robert W. Wood
    • Hold a hacksaw blade about halfway over the edge of a table (we used a bench because our table has curved edges). Hold it very firmly. Thump the extended end with your finger. Listen to the sound the vibrations make. Move the blade so more or less is over the edge. Do the vibrations make a different sound? Try it with a yardstick and other things that will vibrate.
    • Put water in a 9 x 12 baking pan until the water is about 1" deep. Use a medicine dropper to drop one drop at a time into the pan. You can observe the waves it makes. The drop is like someone talking and the waves are like the sound waves. Hold the dropper up high and drop a drop in. Watch how the waves react when the hit the sides of the pan. This is like an echo.
    • We made an air shock wave. You may see this experiment in many books, but this one was the simplest, and it worked! You need a candle and an empty salt box. Remove the metal spout from the salt box. Light the candle (you should be away from drafts), point the opening in the salt box at the flame and thump the other end of the box. The wave of air you send out of the box will put out the flame.
    • Stand about four feet from your child and tap the table with a pencil. Then have your child put their ear on the table (still four feet away) and tap the table. Notice the difference.
    • Run your thumb down the teeth of a comb. Then fill a metal pot with water. Have your child put their ear against the pot, put your hand and comb in the water and run your thumb down it. Notice the difference. Sound carries better through wood and water than through air. Put the end of the comb against a door. Have your child put their ear on the other side of the door. The hollow door amplifies the sound.
    • Tie a sting (about 18" long) around a fork. Tie the other end onto a baking pan. (If you have one with a hole, it is easy.) Place the pan upside down on a table with the end where the string is tied on sticking over the edge so the string hangs straight and the fork is suspended in mid-air. First, lift the fork by the string and tap it with another fork. Then, let the fork hang from the pan and tap it with another fork. The pan amplifies the sound.
    • Use a stiff piece of manila folder or card stock. Cut a strip two inches wide. Fasten it around the frame a bicycle next to the wheel. You can use a clothespin, but we punched a couple holes and used a brad. Cut the paper so it touches the spokes when the wheel turns. The faster you peddle, the faster the paper vibrates, and the higher the pitch of the sound.
    • Make a spoon chime. Tie a string (2 - 3 feet long) around the handle of a spoon. Tie a small loop at each end of the string. Insert an index finger in each loop and place your fingers in your ears. Lean over so the spoon hangs in the air. Have someone tap the spoon with another spoon. Listen to the difference when you don't have your fingers in your ears.
    • Use old utensils to make a wind chime.
    • Make a stethoscope. Insert the spout of a small funnel in one end of a hose (about 18" long). Listen to your heart. Listen to a watch, etc.
    • Make a speaking tube. If you use a garden hose for this, make sure all the water is out of it. Stretch a long hose out to its full length. Have one person at each end. Whisper to each other. The hose does not need to be stretched tight, just don't let there be any kinks in it. You and go in different rooms, or around corners. Many parks have speaking tubes that work this same way.
  • 365 More Simple Science Experiments
    • Get two paper cups, glue, cotton balls, and a whistle. Glue the cotton balls to the inside of one of the paper cups. Make sure it is all covered. Blow the whistle in the paper cup without the cotton balls. Then blow the whistle in the cup with the cotton balls. The cotton balls muffle the sound of the whistle because the sound gets trapped in the tiny spaces in all the cotton balls.
Other books we read:
  • It is the Wind by Ferida Wolff -- a picture book about sounds a boy hears at night
  • The Ear Book by Al Perkins -- a book about sounds
  • The Sounds Around Town by Maria Carluccio -- a book about sounds you hear all through the day
The last week of this set we did experiments with mixtures and ice from What Happens If...?
  • Mixtures
    • Fill three classes with water. Put a drop of food coloring in one. Watch is spread. Then put a drop in the other two. Stir the water in one. In which does the color spread faster?
    • Add a spoonful of sugar to a glass of water and stir. Use a straw to taste the water at the bottom, middle, and top of the glass. What do you taste? Put ten drops of the water on a clear pie pan. Let the water evaporate. What is left? Pour all the water into the pie pan. Let the water evaporate. (This may take a few days. Ours took a week and started growing mold before all the water evaporated, so we made sure K. kept her fingers out of it.)
    • Add a spoonful of oil to a glass of water. What happens? Stir the oil. What happens? Stop stirring. What happens?
  • Ice
    • Get two ice cubes the same size. Wrap one in a wash cloth and close it using a rubber band. Put them on a pie pan in a warm place. Which melts first?  The cloth keeps the warm air from getting to the ice and keeps it from melting as fast.
    • Take two ice cubes that are the same size. Wrap one up in aluminum foil. Put each in its own glass of warm water. Which melts first?
    • Fill an ice cube tray with water all the way to the top. Put it in the freezer. What happens when the water is frozen?
    • Fill two glasses with warm water. Get two ice cubes. Crush one by wrapping it in a piece of paper and standing on it. Put the ice cube in one glass and the crushed ice in the other. Which melts faster? Each little piece of ice has warm water around it, so it melts faster.
    • Get three containers that are different shapes (shallow bowl, glass, make a shape with aluminum foil). Put exactly 1 cup of water in each container. Allow them to freeze. Set them out and see which melts fastest.

Second Grade, History, Set Five

I read chapter 70 from Child's History. It covered:
  • James I
  • Parliament
  • Divine Right of Kings
  • King James Bible
  • Jamestown
  • Captain John Smith
  • Slavery
  • Mayflower/Plymouth
In addition we read:
  • Explorers of North America by Brendan January -- pages 29 - 41; this covered Cartier and Hudson and French exploration of North America
  • A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla -- about the journey to Jamestown on the Sea Adventure. Being stranded in the Bermudas, and finally getting to Jamestown by building two small ships. They arrived after the "starving time".
  • Pocahontas and the Strangers by Clyde Robert Bulla -- the story of Pocahontas' life. This book mentioned the "starving time" and the ships that came from Bermuda, so we were able hook the two books together.
  • If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 by Ann McGovern -- this book presents the information about the Mayflower and the first year of life in America in an interesting, conversational manner.
  • The Pilgrims at Plymouth by Lucille Recht Penner -- this book covers a lot of the same information that If You Sailed. . . has, but it has more and better illustrations.
  • Samuel Eaton's Day by Kate Waters -- takes you through a day with a colonial boy from getting dressed in the morning to bedtime at night.
  • Sarah Morton's Day by Kate Waters -- both these book have more photographs than text, making it an ejoyable book to look at.
  • Squanto: Friend of the White Men by Clyde Robert Bulla -- Squanto's biography told as a story.
  • John Billington: Friend of Squanto by Clyde Robert Bulla -- this was a book I'd never read before. It was very interesting -- in fact we read it in one day.
Activity Book -- American Kids in History: Colonial Days by David C. King
This book talks about a fictional family in 1732, and has games, crafts, etc. that they would have played or made.
  • We used a sea gull feather to make a quill pen and bluing and water to make blue ink.
  • Make Cranberry Ice, on page 46
  • Pomander Ball, page 105
I read chapter 71from Child's History. It covered:
  • King Charles I
  • Oliver Cromwell
  • Charles II
  • Plague and Great Fire (1666)
  • William and Mary Stuart
  • Bill of Rights (1688) and the Glorious Revolution
I could not find books in the library at K.'s age level on these subjects, so we looked at Tudor Theater by Gillian Glements.