Weekly Wrap-Up: What's in Store for Fifth Grade

Since my darling Mackenzie is at camp this week, I decided to share what our fifth grade year looks like.  Unless it doesn't work out and I totally change my mind. LOL

Our spine for our homeschool has always been Sonlight. We love, love, love, love books and Sonlight's picks have never let us down.

That being said, we're taking a break from Sonlight for one year.  We're about to hit Core 5 (or whatever they're calling it today LOL) and I decided to hold off on it.  "Rumor" has it that Core 5 is the biggest workload of all the cores and I've decided to save that for middle school and let her last year in elementary school be lighter.

In all honesty, I'm second guessing that decision a bit.  The curriculum I've chosen for the year isn't all that I'd hoped.  Among other issues,  I ordered in March and my order still hasn't been completed.

I'm still going to give it a try with the mindset that it's not fair to compare any other company to Sonlight.  LOL Who could compete?  I am, however, reserving the right to kick the new curriculum to the curb if it's not providing the education that I'd envisioned for my daughter.  In that case, we will start Core 5 and spread it out over a greater  period of time.

Social Studies/Readers/Read Alouds

Children Around the World, Winter Promise.  A study of world cultures, religions, and celebrations.

Bible:

The Discover's Bible for Young Readers
Bible Study Guide for All Ages
Personal Prayer & Involvement Journal, Winter Promise.  Not exactly what I'd expected so we're going to attempt bits and pieces.


Cultural Resources:

Make Your Own World Travels Diary, Winter Promise
Children of Many Lands, Winter Promise
Material World
Working Children, Winter Promise
Fun & Traditions from Many Lands, Winter Promise
Italy: Ah, the Sweet Life (Faces: Places, People & Culture Magazine)
Amazon Adventures (AppleSeeds Magazine)
Australia: G'day from Down Under (Faces: Places, People & Culture Magazine)

Geography Resources:

Draw Your World, Winter Promise    It seems like it could be very confusing and might wind up being tedious busy work.  I'm hoping it only seems confusing because I'm old and losing my mind.

Travel With Me Maps and geography sheets, Winter Promise.  The maps are cute.  Although they came in a tube and I've been trying to flatten them since March.  So far no luck. LOL

Readers:

Read Alouds:

That hardly seems like enough reading for our family. LOL


Language Arts:

Advanced Language Lessons
Writing With Skill
Wordsmith Apprentice
Spelling Power, Fourth Edition
Handwriting Without Tears: Can-do Cursive


Mathematics:

Math-U-See Epsilon
Mind Benders


Science:

Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology

Arts:

Piano and Art Lessons at the Young Muscians of Virginia
I Can Do All Things art program~ As a non-artsy person, I cannot praise this program enough. The bundle comes with the book, all the supplies needed, and a dvd instructor. I'm learning right along with my daughter.
How to Teach Art to Children
Artist Study (Details are in the Works): Edgar Degas, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet
Composer Study (Details are in the Works): Mozart, Beethovan, Vivaldi,

Current Art/Music Book/CD List:

Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery
Mozart's Magic Fantasy
Beethoven Lives Upstairs
Mr. Bach Comes to Call
Song of the Unicorn
Bernstein Favorites: Children's Classics
Come Look With Me: Animals in Art
Come Look with Me: Enjoying Art with Children
Come Look With Me: Exploring Landscape Art With Children (Come Look With Me Series)
Come Look With Me: World of Play
A Child's Book of Art
How Artists See Feelings: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Love
How Artists See The Elements: Earth Air Fire Water
Edgar Degas Paintings
Linnea in Monet's Garden
Baby Loves by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Mary Cassat
Boyhood's of Great Composers 1
Mozart Young Musical Genius
Story of the Orchestra : Listen While You Learn About the Instruments, the Music and the Composers Who Wrote the Music!
Who Was Claude Monet? (Who Was...?)


Spanish:

Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America) Level 1 & 2 Set with Audio Companion


Physical Education:

Soccer, Field Hockey, Basketball, and Cheerleading via Beach Junior Athletics

Tot School: T is for Toy Story!!

Kayleigh is 40 months old

This week we worked on letter Tt.  In addition to our normal Letter of the Week activities, we did the Toy Story pack from 1+1+1=1.   Kayleigh is a major Toy Story fan.  We also had a trip to the waterpark and a fun bike ride for Father’s Day.
She worked on one of sissy’s school projects.  Mackenzie was studying Canada at the end of her school year and this was one of the crafts we didn’t get to.  They made carnival masks.

We had a play doh day.  We made play dough Tts with a play doh mat from the Toy Story pack.   Then we worked her little fingers making “cherries” for a “cherry pie.”  The pie mat was from PreKinders.  She also practiced cutting by cutting play doh snakes.

She matched her Toy Story characters with character cards from the Toy Story pack. 

She also taught Jessie Cowgirl about big T and little t.

She sorted big and little Ts.  This was a COAH activity.

We read Where Are the Toys? from the Toy Story pack and then used her Toy Story characters to act out the positional words.


She worked on her writing skills by “helping Andy get his toys to his room.”  She is getting much better at staying on the lines.  This is also from the Toy Story pack.

She loves the alien from Toy Story so I made her an alien color by number.  She also referred to her toy alien for accuracy. LOL  You can download it HERE. 

I found these “T Riddles” from Oopsey Daisy’s Thanksgiving Unit.   These were a lot of fun.

Turtle letter matching and a turtle puzzle from COAH.


She sorted people toys and animals toys with a printable from the Toy Story pack.  Kayleigh is starting to get the hang of cutting on the lines.  After she was done pasting she just had to match her Toy Story characters to the ones on the paper.

We rolled and graphed Toy Story characters and she circled which character was different.  I only had to help her with the first row and then she was able to find them on her own.

Last on the list was stamping big and little Ts.  She just loves doing this so I had to make her another printable.  You can download it here. 

Boy did we have a busy week.  She was really into the Toy Story activities so we just kept going. 
She also had fun at the water park and the beach.

Next week she’ll be an “only child” since big sister will be away at camp. 
Click the Tot School button at the top of the page to see what the other tots have been up to.