We are trying a new schedule this year. 3 weeks of core subjects- handwriting, spelling, reading, math, and language. 1 week on a science and social studies unit study. Tera and Daniel read material from the textbooks and other books dealing with our subject areas during the 3 weeks prior to the unit. This is our unit week. Above are two of the projects Tera and Daniel have done so far this week- paper weaving and line art drawings of a turtle. I think they turned out well but I also believe I'm missing some of my hair especially from the line drawings.
We are doing a Colonial Life unit this week as well as Classifying Animals unit in Science. We are covering different facets of Colonial Life as well as learning the 13 original colonies and The Preamble. Mostly we are reviewing their reading and having a lot of fun with Colonial life- weaving, a little cross stitching, making butter and other recipes, playing Colonial games, exploring school life in Colonial times and more. We have been reading through the novel Johnny Tremain that is set during the Revolutionary period. It has been a great read so far, and we look forward to finishing it soon. It's hard to read out loud with Michael sometimes, he loves to try and eat books right now.
Our classifying animals study is including a lot of experiments and hands-on activities. We are building spider and insect models, experimenting with ants, testing for living and non-living things and other experiments. We've learned about the different ways to classify animals- (vertebrates vs. invertebrates, warm blooded vs. cold blooded) Yesterday the kids made a model of the spine using spools of thread and a straw.
Of course, we are also doing art projects which we never seem to be able to have time to do at other times. I am hoping this schedule will work well for us this year. It always feels there is not enough time to cover everything so this is my solution for our family.