Spring 2020 Schoolhouse

I decided a couple months ago that I was going to switch things up a little bit. Ever since we started homeschooling, I’ve been doing a monthly update on all of our happenings. I’ve really enjoyed doing it and looking back on things.

However, it was just becoming a little too much work for me to do every month. So, instead, I have decided to do a quarterly recap of our school happenings.

My last recap was in March – so this recap will cover April and May. Then moving forward, I will review three months at a time.

Thoughts this Spring

This spring has been an absolute whirlwind. Am I right?! Holy smokes. There have been a whole lot of stressors big {you know the ones I am talking about} and some more on a personal and family level. And some of that has definitely impacted our “school” life. There were days we just decided to put the formal schoolwork aside and use our time doing other things.

We’ve taken what life is throwing at us and doing the best we can. AND, it is yet another reason why I love doing year round schooling. It really allows me to relax and gives me the freedom to take breaks without feeling any guilt.

With ALL of that being said, we still have accomplished quite a bit and we are feeling happy about a lighter load going into summer!

Family

Come Follow Me

We have continued our study of The Book of Mormon and it’s been amazing. My scripture study on a personal level and our scripture study as a family has been completely changed through this program and I am filled with gratitude.

This spring we focused on Easter, as well as studying the book of Mosiah and began the book of Alma.

I love reading these bullet points about things that we learned together as a family – they are POWERFUL:

• Book of Mormon prophets knew that Jesus Christ would come.
• Jesus Christ was resurrected.
• Jesus Christ knows how to comfort me.
• When I serve others, I am also serving God.
• All of my blessings come from Heavenly Father.
• I believe in Jesus Christ.
• Repentance brings joy.
• I should treat others with love and kindness.
• When I make covenants with God, I take upon myself the name of Christ.
• God helped people in the scriptures, and He can help me.
• God has given us prophets, seers, and revelators.
• I can stand for truth, even when I stand alone.
• I should obey the Ten Commandments.
• Prophets bravely testify of Jesus Christ.
• When I am baptized, I make a covenant with God.
• When I am baptized, I become a member of Jesus Christ’s Church.
• God can make my burdens light.
• The Lord wants me to forgive.
• The gospel helps people change and become more like Jesus.
• I can share the gospel.
• As a member of the Church, I should love and serve others.
• God will answer my prayers.
• My testimony can strengthen others.

Jacob

Language Arts

This spring Jacob FINISHED language arts for the year! WOOT! Our language arts curriculum this year was a bit hefty but Jacob kept with it and he has experienced a lot of growth.

To wrap up our year, we covered: contractions, fact and opinion, consonant + LE words, homophones, pronouns, irregular plural nouns, irregular past tense, suffixes – MENT and NESS, TCH words, and antonyms and synonyms.

We also reviewed a WHOLE lot of spelling rules, studied some artwork, read two short stories, and read Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan.

For geography, we studied oceans {lots of fun review from our marine biology unit we did in science earlier this year} and ITALY!

We are putting language arts away for a couple months and taking a breather, but Jacob continues to read loads, and he is already looking at his new language arts book for next year!

Handwriting

Jacob also finished his handwriting book for the year. Jacob truly has beautiful handwriting and I love this program. It is simple, but effective. Jacob’s favorite part is DEFINITELY the pictures he gets to draw with it every day.

Read Aloud

We finished up Five Children and It by E. Nesbit and I still kind of have mixed feelings about it. Jacob thought it was hilarious and really enjoyed it but I am still a little on the fence.

We also read The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz and we really enjoyed that story.

Now, we are reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. It’s been a lot of fun just to snuggle together and purely focus on the story. We are reading the Illustrated Edition and the pictures are amazing.

Math

Jacob is continuing to work through his math program. This is one subject that will remain steady going through the summer.

We finished up his first section which was all about geometry and measurement. Jacob learned about: subtracting from thirteen, counting by 4s, finding the difference, subtracting from fourteen, one mile, subtracting from fifteen, more subtraction facts, metric measurement, line plots, mental math, estimating lengths, and adding multiple numbers.

We also studied another mathematician – Joseph Lagrange! We love studying about these different mathematicians!

We are now in his second section which focuses strongly on regrouping. In this unit Jacob has covered: numbers to 100, numbers to 200, skip counting by 6s, adding money, subtraction strategies, dollars, the decimal point, greater than and less than, rotational symmetry, solving for unknowns, making twenty, and adding and subtracting multiples of ten.

Jacob continues to love math and we are excited to continue plugging along with it!

History

We wrapped up our study of Colonial America and the United States Constitution. It was incredible and really changed me on a personal level. I wrote a whole review of it HERE.

This spring we learned about the coming forth of the Constitution, basics of the Constitution, important principles of freedom, the blessings of a constitutional democratic republic, and George Washington as President.

Now, we have moved into our final unit of history for the year. We have discussed the history of education in the United States and have now moved into World War I. It’s been amazing.

We have learned about education in early America and how it was a foundation built upon Christ, Noah Webster, William McGuffey, Henry Ford, the causes of World War I, the effects of the war, and why the United States joined World War I.

Science

We finished our unit on Botany and it was so fun to do during the spring! We learned about seeds, flowers, leaves, photosynthesis, plant cells, plant classification, growing plants, trees, and poisonous and carnivorous plants.

To say we were all itching to get some things growing in our yard is an understatement! We learned lots and had a great time with this unit. Full review coming soon!

We are now finishing our final unit of science for the year – ARTHROPODS! This unit was our very first science unit Jacob and I did and it’s actually been a lot of fun doing it again. Jacob is totally engaged and it’s been really interesting to see what he remembers from last time and see him still soaking in new stuff this time around. It’s pretty great.

So far we have introduced arthropods and insects, and learned about mosquitoes, fireflies, termites, and silkworms. Fascinating.

Typing

I have no idea how we are NOT done with typing. Jacob really enjoys typing and I feel like we do it frequently, but we still have some more to go. Good things about typing: Jacob loves doing it AND it is something he can do independently. WIN!

Music

We wrapped up our music for the year! We have been studying the classical era!

We studied 12 Variation on “Twinkle, Twinkly, Little Star” and Flute & Harp Concerto – 2nd Movement by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Then we dived into music from Ludwig van Beethoven and studied: Symphony No. 5, 1st Movement; Fur Elise; and Piano Concerto 5, Movement 1 – The Emperor.

I am trying to decide what our plan is for music next year. There are things we have liked about what we used this year, but I don’t love it. If you have something that you have loved let me know in the comments!

Civics

Do you remember how blah I’ve been feelings about civics. Well, it never went away and Jacob and I finally decided we were done with it. No regrets. We do so much with history and I feel like we are definitely covered in the civics department.

Sarah

Peaceful Preschool

Sarah had such a great year with preschool! We really enjoyed The Peaceful Preschool! We changed things around a little bit to make it work for us – but we really liked a lot that it had to offer. Our full review of it is HERE.

TGTB Language Arts

Sarah also finished up her “dog book” as she calls it, and LOVED it! She is solid with her letters and letter sounds and is starting to blend words together. She can’t WAIT to read!

Our full review of The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts Pre-K can be found HERE.

Primer

After Sarah finished up her above preschool materials, she started The Good and the Beautiful Level K Primer. This is SUCH a good program. I used it with Jacob and I felt like it laid such a SOLID foundation for reading.

Sarah is doing SO well with it. We are going to have another reader in the family by the end of summer! YAY!

Handwriting

This is another thing {like Jacob’s typing} that I am just scratching my head wondering HOW we are not done with it yet! Sarah is doing well though and will be finished up with her handwriting soon!

Wrap Up

I am remembering now WHY I decided to just do this quarterly! That’s a lot of work! But it’s so rewarding looking back and seeing all that we have accomplished and the memories that we have made along the way.

I also don’t know if I have ever been so grateful for our decision to homeschool our children as I have the last several months. It’s been a wonderful path for us and even though it is a lot of work, I am incredibly grateful to be on this journey with my children.

We are also getting so PUMPED for next year. I cannot tell you how satisfying it is to see Jacob, Sarah, and Benjamin JUST as excited about getting new curriculum as I am! I think we have just about everything for next year now and we are about to enter PREPPING season! YAY!

• Jacob’s {CURRENT} Second Grade Curriculum HERE
• Sarah’s {CURRENT} Preschool Curriculum HERE

• Jacob’s {UPCOMING} Third Grad Curriculum HERE
• Sarah’s {UPCOMING} Kindergarten Curriculum HERE
• Benjamin’s {UPCOMING} Preschool Curriculum HERE