We started the "school" year on August 17th with our Not Back To School day (see August update) and we are in the typical "beginning of the school year" phase right now. Some things (technology and animal studies) are exciting and new and the kids do extra. Some things (math) are resisted (by Tom) because they bare a strong resemblance to things done in the past (aka, not new and exciting).
This year we are part of a homeschool enrichment program in which the kids have areas of study - Technology, Language Arts, Animal Studies - in addition to other studies we are doing - math, Litbox (history), and child-led learning.
Technology
Tom - Tom taught himself (with tutorials and hands-on) how to use his new drone including the app to control it and take pictures/videos. He experimented in both day and night, grass and road surfaces, inanimate and living subjects, etc. He put in quite a bit of time and is enjoying it. He used the culdesac as a model of a pond and practiced taking photos his map studies (part of Herpetology). The goal of the drone use is to learn about using drone for herpetology research and conservation. Also for technology he got access to the Microsoft Cloud Suite and compared the new versions to the ones he was formerly used to.
Tom also now has access to the Adobe Cloud suite (thanks to his enrichment program) and has spent many hours this week learning Premier Pro. He produced 1 video with the new software and is many hours into the next one. He was open to the idea of an Outschool class for Premier Pro but I was able to track down good tutorials from Adobe. As part of his Technology class he is doing STEM. For the "E" part he is doing Eureka Crates (engineering boxes). He is currently working on building a lock box.
Em - Em has done 2 Tinker Crates projects (Projection box, and pendulum), for her Tech/STEM class as well as finished a YouTube Video and started a second video. She is learning independence in the editing process. She also got a drone (through the enrichment program) and has started to learn to operate it. The goal is that she will use it for video production for a YouTube video.
Language Arts
Em - After completing All about Reading Level 4, Em started Bravewriter this week. She is doing the Dart program. We did one lesson per day for 5 days (rather than the once a week format). I really like the Bravewriter program - it teaches grammar, punctuation, literary elements through literature. Last months book was Charlotte's Web. Now we have started reading The Prairie Thief but we wont do the lessons for a least another week. In everything we do we use a lot of variety. So 1 week of Bravewriter followed by 1 week of other LA studies (Editor in Chief Curriculum this week) is standard for us.
We are doing a read aloud of The Imaginary Veterinary Series. The kids are really liking the books. Next I am going to read Wild Robot. I love doing read aloud since the kids like it so much. Emily begged for me to do Poetry Tea Time Read aloud this week. Instead of poetry she read a How To Train Your Dragon book (her current number 1 interest) and I read fiction too.
Tom- I asked Tom what he would do if he could control the learning all week and he wanted to write his novel every day. He did amazing writing this week. He finished reviewing the editing suggestions for Part 1 as well as writing 1000-2000 words each day. He is up to 110,000 words and he is excited to being close to the end of the book (probably a couple more months). He is writing the chapter before the big battle scene and is eager to write about the battle. That will end part 3 of the novel, Then he plans to wrap up the story in another chapter or two and be done with draft 1. Tom is also continuing to work through the OYAN curriculum. It is a really valuable in learning to write a novel and I recommend the curriculum.
Litbox - Emily decided not to build her part of the giant viking ship we were building in the basement. Tom put his together. We only have a few remaining books to read and a medieval banquet to make and we will be done with the Litbox.
Animal Studies
Tom- Herpetology. A lot of things this week for animal studies. We went to a local Nature Preserve an caught frogs to observe and looked for snakes. Tom is 2 weeks into a Conservation Biology and an Aquatic Conservation class. These classes are Flex format meaning they do not have face to face meetings. They are not his favorite but they provide a topic that we might not otherwise explore. He did a second round or snake skin jewelry making and continued to take care of his live herps.
But the highlight of Herp Studies this month has to be the 5 hour Bioblitz we participated in. It was like a all day lab with experts in watershed, plants, streams, fish, entomology, and more. I love these real world, hands-on projects that a contributing to a community project.
Emily - Animal/Vet/Equine studies - Em continues horse riding 2 times per week (a trail ride this week). She continues to take her online Vet class weekly. This week she did a great job of bandaging. She also added a weekly class about dragons (so I suppose that counts as animal studies). She did the Britannica Interaction Life on Ice book and 3D viewer. Emily got a leopard gecko for her birthday and she has been learning to take care of it. She named him Blizzard and he is super cute. He had a vet visit already because he wasn't eating and we got a good education on the ideal habitat set up. He has since started eating a couple of crickets per day. Hands on is a great way to learn about animals.
Em also did experiments from her Veterinary Science kit. She learned about endangered animals, heart valves, ear infections, and more.
I am really looking forward to our next few months of animal studies. My current system of schooling involves having collections/boxes, or at least shelf space, for each subject. I have great resources in the boxes and can add to it as new ones become available. Resources like books, science experiments, curriculum, fiction and non-fiction resources, etc. All labs have been prepared, curriculum summarized, etc and are just waiting to be learned. It gives us the flexibility to do activities that are most appealing on any given day. For example, if it is time to work on animal studies and Tom would prefer to work on a hands-on experiment, we can do that - ready to go - of if he feels like laying on the couch, we can read the maps book together instead. Emily has the same thing for her animal studies and it offers choice and input to what is being learned.
We also continue to do Daily Doubles to practice independent writing and math practice.
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