Week 6: Exploration, Mad Libs, and Eggsperiments

Oh my goodness, homeschooling is difficult!! Einstein has been a little toot this week- just refusing to do work, and challenging my authority as a teacher. Trying to strike the balance between housework, doing non-school related things, and juggling all the other kids and responsibilities... Whew! 

But we keep on keeping on the best that we can! We took a day to go to the zoo and be amazed at the animals in our world!

Math
We are still working on those long subtraction problems with lots of borrowing, and long division. Einstein really doesn't fight me on math, he enjoys it, and a little bit (about 20 minutes) each a day adds up quick! He really likes me quizzing him on math facts as we run around at the park or are in the car.

History
We finished up the early exploration period of America, and Einstein is eager to move on, especially since we just had July 4th and discussed the importance of Independence Day. He is eager to move through this time period and get into more things!

Science
This was far and away the favorite for both of us this week! We looked up a bunch of experiments about eggs, and had a BLAST! The favorite was the "burping egg". 

We got our idea for this week's experiments from the DadLab. Our goal with science isn't specifically to teach specific things and then test on cloud formations or photosynthesis. Our goal is to learn to love learning and discovering.

English
For English, we still did some Mad Libs to target the parts of speech. Einstein really understands noun/ verb/ adjective, and has come up with a wide variety of words he uses!

Reading
I was all excited for us to read Stone Fox together, to carry Searchlight across that line together, but Einstein snuck the book off and read it all by himself in an hour or two on Sunday, so we started in on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone instead.

Harry Potter is one of my favorite books, and it is slow at first, but once we get to Harry's 11th birthday, it should pick up. Ideally, I'd like to finish it by July 31st, because I have an epic Harry Potter day planned for then. 

Extras
Einstein loves all the extra things we are learning. His favorite motivators are playing chess and going swimming and spending time with his baby sister.

He also likes his art class with his Grandma. And I taught him to tie his shoes (which I have been meaning to do for ages, so it was good to finally do!)