2nd Week of 2nd Grade

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Katie

For the most part we had a normal week of school. We are still doing swim lessons so it was a little hectic but good.

Doing some math and taking a silliness break. They are an important part of our homeschool routine.

Our history activity this week was to make a brooch. Caitlyn colored it very carefully, then she helped me laminate it and cut it out. Then I attached a safety pin, and she found a cape to put it on. She was very pleased with how it turned out. I was pleased that by the end of the week she knew her history and made an A on her test!

On Thursday, we went on a field trip which I will post about separately, but here is some of the artwork it inspired:

Hopefully you can tell what it is suppose to be, I thought she did an excellent job drawing.

Lego Stop Motion

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Katie

Caitlyn made her first attempt at a stop motion video. After watching it we decided we would try again and add audio to that attempt, but I’m still impressed by her effort. The plot and movement was all hers. You can click below to take a look:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWjYd5z2eOk&feature=youtu.be

Super Moon 7-12-14

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Katie

On July 12, 2014 we had our first astronomy field trip. Caitlyn was super excited before even leaving because it meant getting to stay up late for her. We couldn’t get a good view at our house due to all the trees, so we had to drive to the church parking lot to get a good view of the Super Moon. We learned that the moon wasn’t actually any more super than normally it’s rotation was just at the closest point to the Earth making it appear larger than normal.

We got a slightly better view through the binoculars than what I could capture on the camera but it was still pretty amazing.

We also did some star gazing while we were out there, and according to our star chart we were able to see Mars. I couldn’t get a good picture at all, but it was cool to see.

First Week of 2nd Grade

Posted on July 14, 2014 by Katie

Caitlyn got a happy 2nd Day of 2nd Grade balloon bouquet from our crazy, wonderful Aunt Kat! She was so surprised and excited, and the balloons helped us make it through the rest of the week (you will see them again).

In History, we picked back up where we left off with the ancient Romans and the fall of Rome. Caitlyn made a signum like the Romans carried into battle.

For Science, since we didn’t start astronomy yet we did a mini experiment. It was very simple and had great easily reproducible results. It was a demonstration on the effects of water surface tension.

She liked it so much she wanted to do it again all by herself

Thumbs up Momma!

Also for science, I introduced Caitlyn to the binoculars we will be using for astronomy.

We are still using the calendar daily and we are completing a daily notebook and review as well.

In our reading of the Bible, I have added some worksheets and other tools to reinforce what we are learning.

We are doing lots of reading. I am reading Androcles and the Lion to accompany our history and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane for Literature. Caitlyn is also reading each day from easy readers and library books. This day we did all of our reading outside.

Every now and then you just need a dance break and some balloons to play with.

First Day of Second Grade

Posted on July 8, 2014 by Katie

Caitlyn and I had a great first day of school. Since it’s still summer we counted her swim class as PE, this was her before class.

After swim we got into the school room, where Caitlyn checked out all of our curriculum for this year.

I had Caitlyn fill out her list of favorite things like we do every year, and it’s always fun to see how things have changed.

TV Shows: Garfield and Gilmore Girls

Favorite Foods: Pizza and Macaroni and Cheese

Favorite Sports: Ballet

Favorite Color: Pink

Favorite Song: In Summer from Frozen

Favorite Movie: Frozen and The Lego Movie

Favorite School Subject: Reading

Favorite Animal: Giraffe

Favorite Thing to Do Outside of School: Vacation

Favorite Thing to Do with Family: Game Time

Favorite Two People (she drew): Mom and Dad – Melting my heart on this one

I also asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up and she said:

My beautiful 2nd Grader:

Reading this year

Posted on July 5, 2014 by Katie

I have a lot of goals and ambitions for this academic year, however my primary goal is to help Caitlyn be a more confident and ravenous reader. So we are increasing our reading plan this year. Caitlyn will have required independent reading each day and those books will be of her choosing. We will be going through How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons to reinforce her skills.

I picked the following books either based on history tie in, grade level or other recommendations. I will read these aloud or we will listen to an audio book. It is an ambitious list, but I think we can do it.

Androcles and the Lion by Bernard Shaw

Beowulf (Graphic Novel Version)

Our Little Celtic Cousins by Evaleen Stein

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Selection from Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang

The Thrall of Lief the Lucky by Ottilie Liljencrantz

Sign of the Chrysanthemum by Katherine Paterson

The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric Kelly

The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli

Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George

The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman

Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

Mr Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater

Kristen American Girl Christmas Story by Janet Shaw

Robin Hood by Roger Green

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum

The Voyages of Dr Doolittle by Hugh Lofting

Ralph S Mouse by Beverly Cleary

Socks by Beverly Cleary

Freckle Juice by Judy Blume

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald

So, if you are looking for either of us this year we will be the girls with our heads buried in one book or another.

2nd Grade Here We Come

Posted on July 5, 2014 by Katie

Here is an overview of our plan for this year.

Math – Horizon 2 with Reflex Math for review.
Language Arts – Writing with Ease, First Language Lessons 2, and All About Spelling
Science – Apologia Astronomy
History – Story of the World Volume II Middle Ages
Music – Stories of the Great Composers
PE – Millbrook YMCA

We are taking a very classical approach to learning, and using many of the resources out lined in the Well Trained Mind by S. Bauer. Only the Apologia Science is new for us this year; everything else is the next book of the studies we did last year.

We are also starting a chronological study of the bible. It’s suppose to be a one year plan, but I think for now we will follow the plan on school days so it will take us closer to two years.

Caitlyn has requested to learn cursive hand writing. I have some worksheets I’ve printed to introduce the cursive letters, and then we will start using cursive in our other writing assignments.

I’m going to do a separate post on our reading goals!

Successful Science Experiment

Posted on July 5, 2014 by Katie

We finally had a successful science experiment that I was able to capture pictures of, it was demonstrating how a rain cloud works.

You start with a cloud

Then it gets full of rain and darkens

Then you can see the rain falling from the cloud

Caitlyn enjoyed it so much she wanted to do it all by herself

Overall the experiment got a big thumbs up!

Finishing Up Ancient History

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Katie

The end of our history curriculum for this year was focused on Ancient Romans including Mark Anthony. Caitlyn seemed to enjoy the stories regarding him, and we made a leaf crown like we saw in images of him.