Periodic Table Lapbook

We're catching up on some unfinished things from 3rd grade, one being making this lapbook.  Z loves lapbooks and we finally finished it!  Each part opens up in some way and he wrote about 3 or 4 elements for each category.

Get your free periodic table lapbook here: https://www.homeschoolshare.com/periodic-table-lapbook/

Z's 4th Grade Evening Fun Book List

These are the books that Z will be reading in his evening reading time for fun.  These are at or below his reading level for enjoyment.  If he finishes the first 11 books, I will be adding on to this list more later on in the school year.

1. Winnie the Pooh
2. The Cricket in Times Square
3. Charlotte's Web
4. The Cabin Faced West
5. Homer Price
6. The Whipping Boy
7. Sarah Whitcher's Story
8. Mountain Born
9. All of a Kind Family
10. Ginger Pye
11. The Borrowers
    

Z's 4th Grade Independent Morning Reading Book List

This is Z's morning reading book list that he reads independently for 40 minutes daily.  Most of these are simpler versions of the original works using the Stepping Stones and Classic Starts series.

• A Child's Garden of Verses - Stevenson 
• Kidnapped - Bullseye Classic
  
• Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - Stepping Stones
• Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes - Stepping Stones
• Heidi - Stepping Stones
  
• War of the Worlds - Stepping Stones
• The Time Machine - Classic Starts 
• Little Women - Stepping Stones
• Little Men - Classic Starts
• Secret Garden - Stepping Stones
  
• The Little Princess - Stepping Stones
  
• The Wind in the Willows - Classic Starts
  
• Peter Pan - Stepping Stones
  
• White Fang - Classic Starts
  
• The Elephant's Child - Kipling
  
• How the Camel Got His Hump - Raglin
• How the Rhino Got His Skin - Raglin
  
• The Jungle Book - Stepping Stones
• Rikki-Tikki-Tavi - Kipling (Pinkney illustrated)
• Phantom of the Opera - Stepping Stones
  
• Pollyanna - Classic Starts
• The Voyages of Dr. Doolittle - Classic Starts
  
• Laura Ingalls Wilder - some of the novels
• You Read To Me, I'll Read To You - Ciardi
• Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - Eliot

Z's 4th Grade Curriculum Plans

Here are the plans for Z's 4th grade year:

Bible - Bible Study Guide for All Ages

Reading - Assigned Book List; Fun Book List & Family Read-aloud

 

Math - Saxon Math 6/5

 

 

Grammar - First Language Lessons 4

 

Writing - Writing With Ease 3; Writing and Rhetoric Narrative I; Writing Strands 4

 

Spelling - Spelling Workout F, G & H

 

Vocabulary - Wordly Wise Book 1

 

 

Latin - Latina Christiana I with Roots of English; Ludere Latine; Latin Cursive Copybook 

Greek - Memoria Press' Greek Alphabet

 

 

Science - Christian Kids Explore Physics

 

History - All American History Volume 1

 

 

Art - Home Art Studio

 

Music - Piano lessons - Hoffman Academy

Extras - Archery; Architecture; Woodworking; Chess

 

Notes on Z progress and curriculum plans:

Z tested into the 7/6 Saxon Math book last fall but I had an uneasiness about skipping 2 math books, and Z cried and said he wanted to do 5/4 and 6/5 books, so we decided to do them.  He rarely misses anything but he is enjoying going through the 5/4 book and should start the 6/5 book soon, so I'm thinking he can finish up the 6/5 and possibly the 7/6 book in 4th grade and start Algebra 1/2 in 5th grade.

 

He begged to add in Greek, so we are going to be doing Greek along with Latin on different days.  Along with Latina Christiana I, we are doing the coordinating books such as: Roots of English for a beginner's introduction into Latin and Greek roots; Ludere Latine activity book; Latin Cursive Copybook; Rummy roots card games for extra practice of word roots.

 

He has an amazing ability to understand grammar, so I'm thinking we will need to move on in grammar after the FLL 4 book, possibly starting Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind books mid-4th grade.  

 

He also has a photographic memory like I did as a child, and has no problems at all with spelling, so he will be finishing up the Spelling Workout books in 4th grade.  We may even start Vocabulary from Classical Roots A book after finishing spelling.

 

I had added in Wordly Wise books this past year (A, B and C) because Z begged to learn what words mean, so we will be continuing on with those at whatever pace he wants, so I'm guesstimating we will do Books 1 and possibly start 2.

 

He writes fiction on his own in his spare time, so I just let him fill up small books of his stories but we also do Writing With Ease because he loves hearing all the excerpts from the books, but he doesn't need much help with dictation as he can hold sentences in his mind easily, so I may not do the dictation parts of all of WWE 3.  We are loosely mixing in lessons from Writing and Rhetoric: Narrative I and also doing Writing Strands 4 (original version).

I flesh out the Christian Kids Explore books pretty extensively with other books, videos, experiments, kits, etc.

Continent & Countries - Asia, South America and Australia

We made lapbooks for each continent, then Z read books about each, watched videos from Travel with Kids series using Amazon Prime and any we could find on YouTube and he also did a Geo-Puzzle of each continent.  You can see Africa and Europe lapbooks and puzzles here.

Z's 3rd Grade Fun Book List

These are books that Z reads for fun in the evening that are below his reading level.  I will be adding to this list throughout the year.  We are using the 1000 Good Books List and others we come across and like.

1. The Courage of Sarah Noble
2. Little Pilgrim's Progress
3. Mr. Popper's Penguins
4. A Lion to Guard Us
5. The Apple and the Arrow
6. The Bears on Hemlock Mountain
7. The Selfish Giant
8. The Rumble Seat Pony
9. Lonesome Little Colt
10. Pony for Three
11. Crooked Colt
12. A Pony Called Lightning
13. The Mouse and the Motorcycle
14. Runaway Ralph
15. Ralph S. Mouse
    

Z's 3rd Grade Assigned Reading List

These are the books that Z is reading during his morning reading time, he'll be reading Classic Starts, Stepping Stones or Step Into Classics versions of some of the following:

• Robinson Crusoe
• Gulliver's Travels
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• Little Pilgrim's Progress
• Les Misérables
• The Three Musketeers
• Grimm's Fairy Tales
• Treasure Island
  
• A Christmas Carol
• Great Expectations
• Oliver Twist
• Alice in Wonderland
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
• Around the World in 80 Days
• Journey to the Center of the Earth
• Last of the Mohicans
• Moby Dick
• Swiss Family Robinson
• Frankenstein
• Jane Eyre
• Black Beauty
• Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
• The Prince and the Pauper
  

Z's 3rd Grade Chemistry

We're utilizing Christian Kid's Explore Chemistry as our spine and fleshing it out with various books, videos and resources.  I also have Adventures with Atoms and Molecules books for experiments and many library experiment books we will be trying out (not pictured).

Chemistry Outline of Categories

• Chemistry Basics (Tools, Matter, Elements, Mixtures/Compounds)
• Atoms
• Periodic Table
• Chemical Bonds, Formulas, Compounds and Reactions
• Acids/Bases
• States of Matter
• Organic Chemistry

                    

I will update the following as we find and read books from the library related to our chemistry studies:

K's 12th Grade Curriculum Plans

We are at the finish line!  K is starting her last year of school and I can't believe we made it through all the challenges that came at us but with God, we made it!  K has some things to finish up leftover from 11th, along with the following:

English IV - Writing exercises with Jump-In Writing; Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind; Book list 

Honors Geometry/Trigonometry - Saxon Advanced Math first 90 lessons; Saxon Teacher CDs; Art Reed DVDs  

Personal Finance - Dave Ramsey's Foundations in Personal finance high school course

Science - Chemistry/Physics 101 DVDs with required supplements for credits

Constitutional Law - Michael Farris' Constitutional Literacy DVD and workbook

Latin - Henle Latin

Continent & Countries - Africa and Europe

We decided to study countries by continent and Z chose Africa to learn about first.  We made an African lapbook, then he read books about Africa, watched videos from Travel with Kids series using Amazon Prime and did a Geo-Puzzle of Africa and then we did Europe the same way.

New Books I Recommend

We have found some awesome new books lately!  It seems that more publishers are realizing that homeschooling is growing substantially and they're accommodating by coming out with some great materials.

Smithsonian has these Super Simple books and I got all 3.  They are laid out very well and of course super simple.  I find that these can work in any grade, though they are advertised as for grades 6-12.  Adults will even find these valuable!

Z really loves these Ultimate pop-up books, he has looked through them countless times since getting them a few months ago:

Z's 3rd Grade Curriculum Plans

Here are the plans for Z's 3rd grade year.  We are adding in a lot this year - Latin, cursive, piano lessons, archery, architecture, woodworking and chess.

Bible - Bible Study Guide for All Ages

Reading - Assigned Book List; Fun Book List & Family Read-alouds

 

Math - Saxon Math 5/4

 

Grammar - First Language Lessons 3

 

Writing - Writing With Ease 

 

Spelling - Spelling Workout E & F

 

Vocabulary - Worldly Wise B & C

 

Latin & Cursive - MP Prima Latina & MP New American Cursive w/ Prima Latina copybook

 

Science - Christian Kids Explore Chemistry

 

History - A Child's History of the World

 

Art - Home Art Studio

 

Music - Piano lessons 

Extras - Archery; Architecture; Woodworking; Chess

Z's 2nd Grade Astronomy

After finishing up Earth Science, we are moving on to Astronomy.  I'm using 2 encyclopedias as my main spine and then fleshing them out with numerous books, videos, games and other fun extras!  The spines are Usborne's First Encyclopedia of Space and DK's First Space Encyclopedia (my favorite one).  I also have Christian Kid's Explore Earth & Space but it didn't have enough for Z.

I created an outline using the 2 spines (USB and DK) and divided the subject material into categories.  Some of these are short and some are packed full of material, like space exploration and the solar system.

Astronomy Outline of Categories

1. Intro to Space - USB 4-7; DK 4-7
2. Telescopes -USB 8-11; DK 8-13
3. Galaxies, Stars & Universe - USB 46-53; DK 14-23, 96-97, 102-105
4. Space Exploration - USB 12-25; DK 24-49
5. The Solar System - USB 28-43: DK 50-75
6. Comets and Meteors - USB 44-45; DK 76-87
7. Mysteries of Space - USB 26-27, 54-55; DK 88-95, 98-101
8. Constellations & Stargazing - USB 56-59; DK 106-117

New Curriculum - Writing & Rhetoric Fable & Worldy Wise A

I decided to add in a new writing program because Z needs something more, so I chose Writing & Rhetoric, Book 1: Fable: *Update - Writing & Rhetoric turned out to be difficult for Z to grasp what they were asking.  It really seems to be too much in my opinion and there are easier ways to do the instruction than what is in this book.  We decided to go back to Writing With Ease 2 and just have freewriting days for Z to indulge his creative writing talent.

He also is very interested in what words mean, so I decided to order a simple vocabulary program to see how it likes it.  I chose the older version of Wordly Wise, starting with book A:

*I also updated my 2nd Grade Earth Science with the rest of the books we used.  You can see that here: https://www.cambridgeshireacademy.com/2020/12/2nd-grade-earth-science.html