Homeschool

What sixth grade looks like at our house

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Way back when Poppy started kindergarten, I couldn’t believe she was already 5 years old. Now she’s about to turn 11, and the more things change the more things stay the same because when we start school in a few weeks she’ll be a middle schooler and I am once again in awe at how quickly the years go by.

Poppy was interested in trying public school out this year, but I was hesitant to drop my always-homeschooled kid into a 700-student middle school. We put her name in the hat for a couple of charter schools, but she didn’t get in to either of them. She was perfectly fine with that. She’s still going to get a very small going-to-school experience this year, though, as we’ve signed her up to spend three hours every week taking classes at a place downtown.

Social Studies
  • Poppy and Pete will be doing “Story of the World: Volume 4“ together. Last year I bought the audiobook, and the kids enjoyed listening to it in the car on the way to co-op. We’ll do the same this year. I’m sure I’ll also lament the number of hands-on projects that we actually do this year, too.
  • One of Poppy’s outsourced classes is Civilization and Culture. They’re going to spend the first semester focused on Community and Recreation — the description says they’ll talk about things like the Library of Alexandria and how baseball was invented. It sounds like it’ll be a fun class.
  • I bought the kids a couple of ginormous “Map Skills” workbooks last year. We’ll continue working through a couple of those each week.

    Math

    Poppy will be finishing up McRuffy Math 5 for the first part of the school year, and I’m not sure what she’s going to do after that because there is no McRuffy Math 6. I’ve looked at more traditional programs (Horizons, the web-based Monarch curriculum) as well as more fanciful options (Beast Academy, “Life of Fred”), but I haven’t settled on anything yet. The good news is that I have a few months to continue mulling it over.

    Language Arts

  • I’m still trying to get myself to pull the trigger on the next level of Michael Clay Thompson books. The kids enjoyed them and they retained a lot of information, but it’s a very expensive curriculum.
  • Poppy will most likely do a few Reed Novel Studies books again this year. She doesn’t love it, but they help her to slow down and pay attention to what she’s reading.
  • We’re outsourcing Poppy’s writing this year with an Institute for Excellence in Writing class. It looks like she’ll have a good bit of homework from this one, which will be a new experience for both of us.

    Science

    Poppy’s other outsourced class this year is Earth Science.

    Art & Music

    The piano lessons shall continue. For art, I’m thinking about using Kahn Academy’s art history lessons.

    P.E.

    Poppy is going into the school year as a red belt, and she’s aiming to test for her next belt before 2017. She’s playing soccer again this year, too, and the league she’s playing in this year includes a few tournaments and away games.

    • menu plan Monday

    Please send me your secrets for making perfect fried squash

    opray

    It turns out that I haven’t been Living My Best Life this month. Sorry Oprah. Between the summer cold and the dual-eyed conjunctivitis and watching too much of the Republican National Convention and the poison ivy that keeps spreading all over my person and the water leaking through the roof and into the microwave, I just haven’t been able to take my glory and run.

    I have, however, made rather nice pickles and terrible fried squash and delicious zucchini muffins using produce from our garden. I’ve listened to “Hamilton” a time or two (or twelve). I’ve ordered most of the children’s curriculum for this school year. I’ve captured a number of Pokemon.

    So things are not all gloom and doom. August is on the horizon, as are tacos. Here’s what we’ll be dining on this week:

    Monday: Shake ‘n’ Bake Chicken
    We had a box of Shake ‘n’ Bake conveniently placed next to a box of mac ‘n’ cheese in the cupboard. Rockford, who made this week’s menu plan, though they’d make a fine pairing for this evening’s dinner.

    Tuesday: Spaghetti
    Poppy requested spaghetti last week, and then she ended up having dinner with a friend on spaghetti night. So here, again, is spaghetti.

    Wednesday: Tacos
    We are fond of taco night.

    Thursday: Chicken masala
    Rockford planned Poppyseed Chicken for Thursday night, but I had to veto that because it isn’t the appropriate season for Poppyseed Chicken.

    Friday: Pizza
    I have had a hankering for the meatball pizza from the pizzeria down the road. It’s pricier than Domino’s, but it’s also local and better. I think we’ll splurge this week.

    What’s the most memorable thing you’ve done this summer?

    menu plan Monday

    There oughta be a law against being sick on vacation.

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    We were at my dad’s house last week, and there were a lot of good things about our trip — the kids spent lots of time in the pool; we had an evening at a Lansing Lugnuts baseball game; sizzling rice soup; time with family; catching some Pokemon — but I’m trying to figure out where to apply for a redo of my summer vacation because I was sick all week. We arrived late Friday night, and on Saturday night I had aches and chills and a fever. That turned into a cold, which turned into conjunctivitis in both eyes. We got home this Saturday, and I went straight to bed and stayed there pretty much until this morning. I still don’t feel great, but I can open my eyes now. So I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.

    We are continuing the Summer of So Much this week with a trip to the aquarium for Poppy and a few days at Camp Poppins for Pete. I plan to spend most of the week coughing and applying eyedrops every three hours.

    It’s been a few weeks since I’ve made a menu plan, and judging by this week’s offerings I am clearly in need to more practice before I get my menu-planning mojo back. Here’s what we’re having for dinner this week:

    Monday: Something simple
    We’re meeting Rockford’s sister this evening to ship Pete off for a few days at her house. I’m not sure what we’re having for sustenance along the way.

    Tuesday: Takeout, maybe?
    Pete will be at his cousin’s birthday party, Poppy will be out with her youth group, and Rockford and I will most likely pick up tacos or something.

    Wednesday: Ham
    Some of our closest, dearest friends are moving 2,200 miles away at the end of the month, and they’re working on clearing out their freezer. So they invited us over for a ham dinner.

    Thursday: Pizza
    You’d think that after so many days of not cooking, I’d be ready to actually make something one day this week. You’d be wrong, apparently.

    Friday: I have no idea
    Friday is Pete Retrieval day!

    Still hungry? Check out the Menu Plan Monday linkup at OrgJunkie for more menu plans.