Literature
The middle-grades group for co-op has proven to be a great choice for Lily and her literature studies. The assigned readings can be laborious but she is absolutely keeping up. She has read some novels such as “Sun & Spoon” by Kevin Henkes, “Wednesday Wars” by Gary Schmidt, and “Wolves of Willoughby Chase” by Joan Aiken. Typically they read one novel per week and come back to class ready to discuss, identify the protagonist/antagonist, fill out a story chart with the theme/setting/plot/conflict/etc. Most of the books she’s enjoyed, but some have been rough for her to push through.
Writing
The middle-grade writing group is also proving to be great for her. They practice using literary devices in relation to the literature assignments, submit creative writing each week, and also practice more advanced outlines and paragraphs.
She also continues to utilize StoryBird.com often to write fiction, share it with friends, and read her friends’ published pieces. She really enjoys the social and inspirational components of using this site.
Math
Khan Academy continues to work for her, and as of the end of January she’s about 65% “done” with 4th grade. Her multiplication fluency has increased, she can handle multi-digit multiplication and long division, and has also been working on rounding and estimating. She’ll still be working on geometry, fractions, decimals, and measurements through the end of this year.
Science
Mystery Science proved to be too simplistic so we bought a nice little student microscope and started Real Science Odyssey Biology 2. The concepts are starting to get more advanced so we might take a little detour to other microscope exploration, but she’s really been enjoying studying cells.
Art
Lily continues to craft plentifully and participates in the hands-on art class at our local co-op.
History
We’re continuing reading Joy Hakim’s “History of US” for United States history. We went through volumes 1 and 2 and are in the middle of volume 3 which is about the making of the thirteen colonies.
Music
She’s onto Suzuki violin book 3! The first song is very beautiful and she’s quite inspired to practice it. Her teacher has hinted at learning some fiddle too soon, so maybe that will start up.
The homeschool Chicago Children’s Choir has been great again, as expected. The group is just about 30 kids now and is a favorite part of my week to observe.
Physical Education
Climbing, ballet, hiking, roller skating, ice skating…
Miscellaneous
The homeschool Girl Scout troop has been a great fit. We also continue to participate in another local homeschool group’s trips like going to theater performances or special parties like bowling.