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.

Saturday, November 2

Second Grade, Bible, Set Seven

Week One:
  • Hymn: Wonderful Grace of Jesus
  • Memory Verse: John 3:18
  • Searching for Treasure: we colored the game board and talked about why different areas were described as they were, for instance, why would "Complaining" be a marsh or "Friendship" a river?
  • Lost in India: we continued watching the videos and completing the activities
  • We reviewed our catechism.
  • We prayed.
  • We continued reading Kidnapped by River Rats
Week Two:
  • Hymn: Something Beautiful
  • Memory Verse: John 3:19
  • Searching for Treasure: we played the game. It took four days to complete a game. We played it for ten or fifteen minutes each day, then put sticky tabs with our names on it where our markers stopped each day so we could continue where we left on the following day.
  • Lost in India: this was the final week of this program.
  • We reviewed our catechism.
  • We prayed.
  • We finished the book, Kidnapped by River Rats
Week Three:
You can tell that this was a really strange week. There was a lot going on and we scaled a lot of our studies back to the bare minimum.
  • Hymn: We Gather Together
  • Memory Verse: John 3:20
  • Searching for Treasure: we played the game through once, which took two days.
  • Bible Reading: Exodus 36 - 40
  • We prayed each day.
Week Four:
  • Hymn: We Gather Together -- we only sang it twice last week, so we decided to have it for another week
  • Memory Verse: John 3:21 (yeah!)
  • Searching for Treasure: we played the game through once, again.
  • Catechism: #106, 108, 109
  • Reviewed all previous catechism
  • Prayed daily.
  • Began reading Danger on the Flying Trapeze about D.L. Moody
Week Five:
  • Hymn: Come Ye Thankful People, Come -- you can tell it's Thanksgiving time
  • Reviewed John 3:1-21 each day
  • Princess and the Kiss -- read book and lesson 15
  • Reviewed catechism
  • Prayed daily
  • Finished reading Danger on the Flying Trapeze

Second Grade, Math, Set Seven

This last planning week was also the week before our middle daughter's wedding, and making the detailed plans for math just didn't happen. So I have picked up books at the library with projects and games for us to do each week.
  • We are continuing to complete one lesson in Map Mysteries and Mirror Magic each week.
  • Measuring Penny by Loreen Leedy -- this is a great book because it not only gives the assignment so you can do it, it teaches how to do it, and it is a fun story to read. The book is about a school project using measurement. The book explains the project completely and then describes how Lisa did her project.
    • We read the book one day
    • On two succeeding days we completed our own project following the assignment in the book.
  • It's Probably Penny by Loreen Leedy -- this book follows in the same style as the above book, except it is about probability.
    • We read the book one day
    • The next we completed the assignment.
  • Exploring Numbers by Andrew King
    • We played the game, Fifteen!; this is a game for two players. K. liked this game and wants to play it again.
      • Make a board with the numbers 1 through 9 on it.
      • Each player needs five markers.
      • The players take turns covering one number at a time.
      • The winner is the first person to cover numbers that add up to 15. If you go over 15, you lose.
      • We added the rule that you have to use at least three numbers.
      • After using the board with 1 through 9 on it a couple times, we decided to make a board with twelve numbers: it has two each of numbers 1 - 4 and 6, one 5 and one 7. This board was a lot more fun and worked better.
  • Plotting Points and Positions by Andrew King
    • We played the game, Coordinates
      • Make a game board that is a graph with numbers 0 - 6 across the bottom and up the side.
      • Lay out the dominos from a double six set upside down.
      • Players take turns turning over dominos and putting their markers at the coordinates it shows.
        • We played that you could turn the domino around to get the coordinate that was the most to our advantage. For instance, a domino with 4 dots and 6 dots could be (4,6) or (6,4). Remember, horizontal number is first.
      • Scoring Points: Every time you can place a marker, you score a point. If you make a line of two markers, score two points. A line of three scores three points, and so on.
      • The player with the highest score after twelve turns wins.
  • Shape Up! by David Adler
    • Some of this book was review (like triangles), some was new (like quadrilateral), and some was beyond her (like obtuse and acute).
    • This book has some fun ways to explore shapes, like cutting a triangle out of cheese and making shapes with pretzels and a slice of bread.
  • Sir Cumference and the Viking's Map by Cindy Neuschwander
    • This book is a story that introduces the X and Y axis and positive and negative numbers of a coordinate graph.

Second Grade, Reading, Set Seven

We are using Meet Thomas Jefferson by Marvin Barrett for our reading book. It has eighteen very short chapters and is in the Step-Up Books series.

Comprehension Skills
This set focuses on oral reading. K. has always hated putting expression in what she reads, but I picked up a dvd of the StoryWatchers Club, which has four or five storytellers telling stories to a group of children. She enjoyed it, and wants to learn to tell stories (which is something I had already planned for third grade). Anyway, now she is reading with more expression, and even when we recite our Bible verses she is using expression.

To practice oral skills, we are focusing on diction and obeying the punctuation. Since Thanksgiving is near, I pulled out a book of Thanksgiving poems that we are reading aloud to each other.

From Games for Reading:
  • See it - Name it -- we played this on our nature walk
  • Zip Cards (pg 72) -- in our last set of weeks, one skill we were working on was reading in phrases. This game reinforces that. There are a list of two or three word phrases to copy on to 3 x 5 cards. First, you go through them to make sure your child knows all the words. Next, you flip through the cards quickly seeing how fast they can read them. I also put the phrases of a couple Thanksgiving poems on accordion folded paper to flip through.
  • Picture Labels -- we actually did a variation of this game, combining it with Race of Words from Games for Writing. I had a picture from an old calendar and we each wrote a list of all the things we could find in the picture.

Second Grade, Grammar and Writing, Set Seven

As you can see, I have grouped Grammar and Writing together for this set. We are doing the workbook from National Novel Writing Month during this set. You can download it for free.
 
We just started at the beginning and are working our way through it. Since we did it last year, K. is familiar with the idea of what we are doing, and is more willing to work through the workbook instead of just wanting to write the story.
 
Instead of using the questions in the workbook for developing the main and supporting characters and the villain, I used the What a Personality activity work page from Games for Writing. For her age, this was much better, and since we had played What a Personality a few times this year, it was pretty easy for her to complete. I completed some also, just for the fun of it.
 
We had written the plot, through the climax. It is really neat to have K. come running to the kitchen with a book she is reading for fun and tell me, "Mom, I just got to the climax in this book!"

We completed the workbook during our third week, which left just two weeks for K. to write her novel. This has turned out not to be enough time, so, even though we are technically through with our school year, she is continuing to work on her novel.

Next year we will start the workbook during set 6 so K. has all of set 7 to write her novel.

Second Grade, Fine Arts, Set Seven

Piano
  • One page a week
Art
  • We completed the Art Museum book.
  • K. has been enjoying painting with watercolors.
We didn't really do much with fine arts during this set of weeks. We had some things come up and K. was working on some other projects, so I decided to let it slide, although she was looking through the My Art Book and showed me a couple things she wanted to do. We will try to do them during our winter break.

Second Grade, Spelling, Set Seven

Spelling is another subject that didn't get all the time it needed during the last planning week. I normally print out one colorful worksheet, based on the ones in the teacher's book, for K. to complete on Tuesdays. This did not get done. Instead, we are working together to do something similar to the worksheets.

Second Grade, Science, Set Seven

Our first two and a half weeks we spent learning about heat. We used the book, Really Hot Science Projects with Temperature by Robert Gardner.
  • I read the introduction of the book, which talks about the difference between heat and temperature, to K.
  • We went on a temperature hunt (pg 10).
    • We measured the temperature in different places inside to find the warmest and coldest places.
      • Is it warmer near the floor or ceiling?
      • Is it warmer near a window or beside an inside wall?
      • Is it warmer inside or outside a closet?
      • Is it warmer upstairs or downstairs?
    • We went out side to find the warmest and coldest places.
      • Is it warmer in the sun or in the shade?
      • Are the temperatures on the north and south side of the house the same?
      • Are the temperatures on the east and west side of the house the same?
  • We took our own temperatures (pg 14). K. and I took our temperatures every two hours from the time we got up until we went to bed. We could see that our temperature changes throughout the day.
  • We froze water (pg 34). We a couple inches of water in a clear plastic bottle and then put a laboratory thermometer in it. Then we put it in the freezer. We recorded the temperature every ten minutes until the water started to freeze, then every fifteen minutes. The next day we charted the information we recorded. (We left the experiment in the freezer to use in another experiment.)
  • We learned about temperature and evaporation (pg 16).
    • Set up a fan and measure the temperature in front of it before turning the fan on.
    • Turn the fan on and measure the temperature.
    • Have your child lick the back of one of their hands and hold their hands in front of the blowing fan. Which feels cooler? Is it still wet? What happened to the water?
    • Dampen a paper towel and wrap it around the bottom of the thermometer. Hold it in front of the blowing fan. What is the temperature?
    • Does evaporation cause a drop in temperature?
  • We took the temperature outside (pg 18).
    • Put a thermometer outdoors in a place where it will be in the shade all day.
    • Starting when you get up in the morning, record the temperature every hour until you go to bed at night.
    • The next day make the information into a chart.
      • Did the temperature increase or decrease faster?
      • What was the hottest time of day?
  • Endothermic or Exothermic? (pg 30). This is really fun!
    • Put 100 ml of water in a glass (make sure your thermometer will fit in the glass). Record the temperature of the water. Add two tablespoons of Epsom salts to the water and stir to dissolve. Measure the temperature of the solution.
    • Put 100 ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide in a container. Record the temperature of the hydrogen peroxide. Put the container in the sink, add 2-1/2 teaspoons of dry yeast (one packet) to the hydrogen peroxide and stir. Push aside some of the foam and measure the temperature of the liquid.
  • Melting Ice (pg 36)
    • Set a thermometer in a warm room and record the temperature.
    • Take the ice and thermometer from the freezer. Set it in the same vicinity as the "room temperature" thermometer.
    • Record the temperature of the ice/water every ten minutes until it reaches room temperature. Ours took five hours and twenty minutes to come to room temperature.
  • Seasonal Temperatures (pg 24 and 26)
    • Take a thermometer outside and place it so it faces the sun -- the top of the thermometer  will point away from the sun (the thermometer should cast a long shadow). Record the temperature.
    • Change the angle of the thermometer so its top is pointing toward the sun -- the bulb should still be in the sunlight (the thermometer will have a very small shadow). Record the temperature.
    • Take a flashlight and shine it directly over the tropic of Capricorn on a globe. This is where the sun is on the first day of winter. Then, without changing the angle of the flashlight, move it so it shines on where you live. Does the light cover more area?
    • Next, shine the flashlight directly over the tropic of Cancer on the globe. This is where the sun is on the first day of summer. Then, without changing the angle of the flashlight, move it so it shines on where you live. Does the light cover more area?
    • Talk about why it is cooler and warmer in certain seasons.
  • Moving Liquids by Temperature Difference (pg 12)
    • Fill one cup with hot tap water; use several drops of food coloring to color it.
    • Fill a second cup with cold water.
    • Fill an eyedropper with hot water from the first cup.
    • Place the end of the eyedropper on the bottom of the cup of cold water. Squeeze out a drop into the cold water. What happens?
Notes:
  • On the all day long temperature measuring experiments, if you miss a time, or forget to start as soon as you get up, keep going with it. We did, and we were still able to see the desired results.
  • When moving thermometers, we let them sit for three minutes before recording the temperatures.
Then we went on to learn about water. I used two books from the library for the experiments.
  • Science Experiments with Water by Sally Nankivell-Aston (ww)
  • Super Simple Things to do with Water by Kelly Doudna (ss)
Here's what we did:
  • I started off by reading a couple books to K.
    • What is the World Made Of? by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld -- this book is about solids, liquids, and gases. There are a few activities at the back of the book. We made a chart of solids, liquids, and gases
    • A Drop of Water by Walter Wick -- we looked at the pictures in this book
  • Water Everywhere (ww pg 4) I read the introduction to K.
  • Water on the Move (ww pg 6) -- this shows why water towers are higher than the houses

    • You will need a funnel, a piece of tubing, water proof tape, a pitcher, transparent outer case of a ball point pen, water, and two people
    • Use the tape to attach the funnel to one end of the tubing and the pen case to the other.
    • Hold the pen case upright and higher than the funnel.
    • Pour water into the funnel until the tube is filled and the funnel is half full.
    • Lift the funnel higher than the pen case.
  • Cold as Ice (ww pg 8) -- this shows that water expands when it freezes
    • Fill a balloon with water and tie the balloon.
    • Draw a line around the balloon and measure the distance around the balloon on the line.
    • Put the balloon in the freezer until it is completely frozen.
    • Measure around the balloon again.
  • Vanishing Water? (ww pg 10) -- this shows the water cycle

    • You will need: a clear glass bowl, modeling clay, hot tap water, and clear plastic wrap
    • Use the clay to make the banks of a lake, about one-third of the way up the side of the bowl. You can stick small plastic animals, etc. in the clay to make a scene.
    • Fill the lake with hot tap water.
    • Quickly stretch the plastic wrap over the top of the bowl and seal it around the bowl.
    • Set the bowl in the sun for a few hours.
  • Bottled Up (ss pg 8) -- this shows air pressure pushing the water out of the bottle

    • You will need a baking pan (or sink), an empty bottle with a screw-on cap (it works easiest if the bottle is not squishy), nail or screw or ice pick, water
    • Poke a hole near the bottom of the bottle.
    • Hold your finger over the hole and fill the bottle with water.
    • Screw the lid on the bottle.
    • Hold the bottle over the pan or a sink and remove your finger from the hole. What happens?
    • Unscrew the bottle cap. What happens?
  • Boiling Hot (ww pg 12) -- shows water changing from a liquid to a gas

    • Make some tongs by attaching a clothes pin to a wooden dowel (we used a rubber band).
    • You will also need: aluminum foil container, candle, and matches
    • Light the candle.
    • Attach the aluminum foil container to the tongs. Put a small amount of water in the container.
    • Hold the container over the candle flame.
    • It is supposed to boil. Ours did not, but we could still see steam rising. If yours boils, you may want to keep it over the fire until all the water has turned to steam.
  • Water's Skin (ww pg 16 and ss pg 14) -- this shows surface tension
    • You will need a tray of water, dish washing liquid, thin plastic, eye dropper, 40 toothpicks
    • Cut a fish from the thin plastic. Cut a funnel shape out of the tail.
    • Put the fish at one end of the tray of water, facing the opposite end.
    • Drop one drop of dish soap in the funnel of the fish. The dish soap breaks the surface tension and the fish goes "swimming" to the other end of the tray.
    • Dump out the water, make sure you get all the soap out of the tray. Put clean water in.
    • Carefully place the toothpicks on the surface of the water.
    • Drop one drop of soap in the middle of the tray. What happens?
  • Sealed Up Tight (ss pg 17) -- a thin layer of water keeps the water inside the glasses
    • You will need a jar, a cloth, the sink, and an index card
    • Put the cloth over the jar and push the cloth down into the jar.
    • Fill the jar most of the way full with water.
    • Pull the cloth down around the outside of the glass until the cloth is stretched tight.
    • Put one hand over the top of the jar and turn the jar over with your other hand (continuing to hold the cloth tightly across the opening of the jar).
    • Remove your hand from the opening of the jar. What happens?
    • Fill the jar with water all the way to the top.
    • Put the index card over the mouth of the jar. Hold it in place while you turn the jar upside down.
    • Remove the hand that is holding the index card. What happens?
  • Liquids that Float (ww pg 20) -- learning about density
    • Use sand, pebbles, and shells to make an ocean scene in the bottom of  clear bowl.
    • Add water. You can also float a boat on the water.
    • Pour some cooking oil into the water. What happens?
    • Stir the oil and water. What happens?
    • Add some dish soap. What happens?
    • Stir the dish soap in. What happens?
  • Straw Pole (ss pg 20) -- more about density
    • You will need: 4 jars, food coloring, salt, teaspoon, clear straw, and an index card
    • Fill each jar with water.
    • Add ten drops of a different food color to each jar.
    • From left to right, add salt to each jar. One teaspoon to the jar on the left, two teaspoons to the next one, three teaspoons to the next, and four teaspoons to the last jar.
    • Stir until the salt is dissolved.
    • Going from left to right, stick one end of the straw about one inch into the water. Put your finger over the other end of the straw to hold the water in.
    • Put the straw straight down into the next jar, about two inches. Remove your finger, then replace it.
    • Do the same with the third and fourth jars.




    • The colors don't mix because the salt has made the water be different densities.
    • Now take the jar on the left and the one on the right. Put then in a baking pan.
    • Fill the jars until they are completely full.
    • Place the index card over the jar that was on the left (the one that had just one teaspoon of salt added to it).
    • Hold the card in place as you turn the jar upside down.
    • Set the jar on top of the other jar and line up the jar rims.
    • Have someone hold the jars in place while you slowly pull out the index card.

  • Water Power (ww pg 28) -- shows that the energy from moving water can move things
    • You will need: two ping pong balls and two water squirter bottles.
    • Mark the balls so you know which belongs to which person.
    • Use the water squirters and see who can get their ball to the finish line first.
      • We used a groove between slabs of cement for our track. I marked the middle with chalk as the finish line, and we each started from opposite ends.