This has felt like the BUSIEST summer of our lives! Oh my heavens. And I truly am not one who likes to be busy. Productive – yes – busy – no. We have had a lot going on but the kids have been so diligent in doing their school work when we have been home and available to do it. I am proud of them and their hard word – they really were the real MVPs of this summer. We are all excited to have a little mini break for the next two weeks and then start another fresh school year!
Also, this may have been the absolute WORST season I have ever had of taking pictures of our school life. I have two. Yikes.
FAMILY
Come Follow Me
We have really loved studying the Doctrine and Covenants. We didn’t get to dive in as much as we normally do, but we tried to at least hit these highlights. Here are our bullet points of goodness for the summer:
- The Lord forgives me as I repent.
- I can be chaste in my thoughts and actions.
- “Forgive one another.”
- I can help center my home on Jesus Christ.
- The Spirit will guide me as I proclaim the Savior’s gospel.
- Salvation comes through Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
- I can receive all things with thankfulness.
- Commandments are evidence of God’s love for us.
- I have access to God’s priesthood power and blessings.
- Peace is found in “holy places.”
- “Seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”
Extra Resources: Come Follow Me – For Home and Church: Doctrine and Covenants 2025 // The Red Headed Hostess Guided Studies
History
This summer we learned all about the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. I love this time period and find it really fascinating to learn about. Subjects we learned about were:
- Ancient Britain
- The Spread of Christianity in Ireland
- Saint Patrick
- The Spread of Christianity in England
- King Alfred the Great
- William the Conquerer
- Life in the Middle Ages
- The Magna Carta
- The Age of Chivalry
- LOTS about Joan of Arc (we love her!)
- The Black Death
- Artists of the Renaissance
- Musicians of the Renaissance
- The Scientific Revolution
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful History: Year 1
Science
This summer we also learned about weather and water. We were hoping to finish the unit but we will have to finish the rest when we go back this autumn – no biggie. Topics we learned about were:
- Introduction to Weather
- Weather, Climate, and Seasons
- Water and Our World
- The Atmosphere
- Air
- Wind
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Science: Weather and Water
JACOB – Seventh Grade
Language Arts
Jacob was able to finish his MAMMOTH level in language arts. I don’t know why Level 7 was longer than all the other levels but Jacob finished it! Here is what he worked on this summer:
- Comma rules
- Diagramming gerund phrases
- Vocabulary
- That vs which
- Sentence diagramming
- Subject-verb agreement
- It’s vs its
- Noun or verb?
- Lose vs loose
- Quotation punctuation
- Parts of speech
- Who vs whom
- Commas with nonessential phrases
- Capitalization in titles
- Prepositional phrases
- Infinitive phrases
- Varying sentence structure
For geography, he has been learning about:
- Plate tectonics
- Demographics
In art, he learned about the painter Winslow Homer.
For literature, he read Moni the Goat Boy and As a Man Thinketh. He also read pomes from Edgar Guest.
In writing, he learned about dialogue and it’s proper usage and puctuation, avoiding wordiness and redundance, using active voice, and when to use (and when to avoid!) passive voice. He also learned about using strong verbs and avoiding shifts in verb tense. And he wrote a literary analysis essay.
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts: Level 7
Read Aloud & Handwriting
Jacob has officially completed HANDWRITING! He has done a handwriting notebook every single year we have done homeschooling (kindergarten through seventh grade) and he is DONE! I will praise his cursive forever and always. He began listening to The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien to finish up his handwriting but is now reading it on his own.
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Handwriting: Level 7
Math
Jacob also finished up his math curriculum for the year. He really excels in math and it is his favorite subject. This summer he worked on:
- Interpreting Measures of Central Tendency
- Data Displays
- Scatter Plots
- Interpreting Graphs
- Simple Probability
- Types of Events
- Sample Space
- Compound Probability
- Probability Simulation
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Math 7
Typing
Typing continues to be a favorite for Jacob. After trying various programs this is BY FAR our favorite and the one we are sticking with.
Resource: Typing Club
Piano & Recorder
Jacob’s continued to work on his piano and recorder – although at a much slower pace this summer. We just haven’t been home enough to do lessons consistently and I think we are all excited to get more regular again this autumn.
Resource: Faber Piano Adventures: Level 3A
Standardized Testing
Since Jacob is in seventh grade, he had to do some standardized testing. He was a champ and I take it as a good learning experience.
SARAH – Fourth Grade
Language Arts
Sarah has blown me away this year with her independence and drive in her schoolwork. She rocked through her language arts curriculum this summer (which was a lot of review) and finished it! She learned about:
- Homophones
- Editing
In geography, she learned about:
- Costa Rica and Franklin R. Chang-Diaz
- Language of South America
In art, she learned about murals. She also continued working with her pastels and did a butterfly and a field with trees.
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts: Level 4
Read Aloud & Handwriting
Sarah continues to work on her cursive and finished her handwriting level. This summer we read Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter (I love this book so much!).
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Handwriting: Level 4
Math
Just like with her languuage arts, Sarah has worked incredibly hard to get to where she is with her academics. I am so proud of her, especially as she has worked through some new tricky math concepts. This summer she learned about:
- Order of Operations
- Long Division
- Multiples and Factors
- Graphs
- Fact Family Logic
- Symmetry
- Fahrenheit and Celsius
- Fractions of a Set
- Collecting Data
- Graphing Data
- Prime and Composite Numbers
- Improper Fractions
- Finding Missing Factors
- Types of Triangles
- Perimeter and Area
- Two-Step Story Problems
- Why Long Division Works
- Multiplication: Multiples of 10
- Quadrilaterals
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Math 4
Typing
Just like with Jacob, Sarah is really enjoying and doing well with her typing.
Resource: Typing Club
Piano & Recorder
And just like Jacob, Sarah has moved slower this summer with lessons but we are okay with that and will be more consistent in the autumn.
Resource: Faber Piano Adventures: Level 2A
BENJAMIN – Second Grade
Language Arts
Ben has also done so very well this year. His feelings about school are definitely improving and I think both of us are really happy about that. This summer he focused on:
- Consont + LE words
- Capitalization and Punctuation
- A Sentence Needs Three Things
- A Says /uh/ and /ah/
- Word-Decoding Strategy
- EW
- Drop the E Spelling Rule
- Respecting Nature and People
- IGH
- Reading Two- and Three-Syllable Words
- Suffies: FUL, LESS, LY
- OY and OI
- Possessive Nouns and Types of Sentences
- Homophones
- Reading Contractions
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts: Level 1
Read Alouds & Handwriting
Ben was able to finish his handwritting that he has been working on! It always feels great to complete something. This spring we read Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace and The BFG by Roald Dahl.
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Handwriting: Level 2
Math
Ben is plugging away at his math and doing well. His mental math is really incredible! This summer he focued on:
- Tally Marks
- Working with Bills
- Zero as a Placeholder
- Adding 2 Two-Digit Numbers
- Subtraction Strategies
- Counting by 25s
- Time
- Subtraction with Two-Digit Numbers
- Calendar Work
- Double Addition Plus 1
- Adding Two-Digit Numbers with Regrouping
- Ordinal Positions 1 to 12
- Greater Than, Less Than, Equal
- Doubles in Subtraction
- Creating Repeating Patterns and Color Patterns
- Counting Coins
- Dividing Groups of Coins in Half
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Math 2
Piano
Ditto everything about piano – we will get back on it in the autumn.
Resource: Faber Piano Adventures Primer
LYDIA – Kindergarten
I have been really poor about Lydie’s schooling this summer. With seizures and traveling, we just didn’t do a lot of dedicated school time. I have hopes to be more intentional this autumn.
Therapies
Lydia has continued to do her therapies though. However, we had a big win and a big loss this summer. The loss is that the organization Lydie does several of her therapies with broke ties with their physical therapy company and so her physical therapy has been paused while they work through something different. But the win is that we were finally able to get another massage therapist lined up! She has only come once but I think she will be a good fit. The need for this therapy will only increase in its need as Lydie continues to get tighter and tighter.
Final Thoughts
We plan on summer with our academics to be relaxed and I think we accomplished that! I do love year round schooling (most of the time) and the flexibility it gives us and I am grateful for the structure it gives us on the days we need it throughout the year. We are excited for our break from our book learning and yet also so excited for the fresh start of a new year in a couple of weeks!
