Z's 5th Grade Botany

We decided to go with MasterBooks God's Design: Life for biology and started with botany in the first section, The World of Plants.  I added in YT videos, books and we did some of the activities in the curriculum as well.  I also used some lessons from The Good and the Beautiful Kingdoms and Classification and their Flower Study book and game.  We also read corresponding sections from the Smithsonian Visual Encyclopedia of the Plant Kingdom.  I think this is the absolute best book ever on botany for children, even for adults!

I love the 4D models and we thoroughly went over the plant and cell models.  We also did the carnivorous plants kit and it takes months for them to grow, so we are still waiting.  We also have a great place locally to learn about botany.  Since we did botany this past spring, we got to see a lot of the flowers bloom on the trees and seeds everywhere as well.

Z's 4th Grade Physics

We really enjoyed physics using Christian Kids Explore Physics alongside YT videos, Magic School Bus videos, books and kits.

Physics Outline of Categories

• Foundations of Physics
• Matter
• Mechanics - Force, gravity, work, friction, energy
• Matter in Motion
• Energy in Motion
• Electricity and Magnetism

You can see my list of Magic School Bus videos by subject here but below is a list of those pertaining to physics:

Z's Standardized Test Scores - 5th Grade

We're not required to do testing in Ohio but I like to see where my kids stand when it comes to these tests.  I read that the 1970's CAT (California Achievement Test) is the best to use before they dumbed-down the testing, so we use that one.  As you can see, Z is very advanced and the vocabulary was a bit antiquated, so he missed some - obviously that's the downside with using a test from 1970.

We purchase the tests through Academic Excellence and if you use my link, you can get $5 off of your first purchase of at least $10 minimum.  If you use my link to get this discount, they also give me a $3 coupon to use for the next test I buy.

http://r.sloyalty.com/r/zGreNp3Go2LU

How to Combine The Human Odyssey, SOTW and TGAB

I did a post on our new history and how well it went for 4th grade.  We are covering all years of history from ancient to modern using The Human Odyssey (THO), Story of the World (SOTW) and The Good and the Beautiful (TGAB).  I already owned THO and SOTW, so I had all those and even PDF versions of the SOTW activity guides so I could print any pages my son was interested in doing.

I bought TGAB, all 4 years, because they were discontinuing it and I also wanted the games.  I was also interested in trying out their historical fiction books and let me tell you - those are our absolute favorites!  It is so disappointing that they discontinued printing the reprints of these great books but we went ahead and bought all the ones we wanted that were available and we are enjoying reading them as a family and I'm saving them for my future grandkids.

Here are links to some of the tools I used to combine these histories together:

• Combining of SOTW I-III and THO: https://www.scribd.com/user/1164326/Kate-Qazi/uploads
• Chronological order of The Human Odyssey: https://willowwoodacademy.wordpress.com/category/k12-human-odyssey/
• TGAB in chronological order: https://wildflowerramblings.com/homeschooling/the-good-and-the-beautiful-history-curriculum-in-chronological-order/
• TGAB History outline: https://www.goodandbeautiful.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/4-Year-History-Outline-2021.pdf
• Years 1-4 TGAB booklists - unfortunately these came with the history programs and you have to purchase to receive the password to access them.

I used The Human Odyssey as our main spine and we always started reading it first and then we finished a certain time period, we then went on to SOTW and Z listened to all the audios of the chapters that pertained to that time period.  Lastly was TGAB and then we started all over again with the next time period.  Here is a sample of what I'm talking about:

Z's 5th Grade Curriculum Plans

Here are the plans for Z's 5th grade year:

Bible - Bible Study Guide for All Ages

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

 

Math - Saxon Math 7/6

 

 

Grammar - Rod and Staff English 5; Our Mother Tongue

 

Writing - Killgallon's Sentence Composing & Paragraphs for Middle School; Writing and Rhetoric 3; Writing Strands (original edition)

 

Comprehension - Writing With Ease 3 & Abeka Read & Think Skill Sheets 5

 

Spelling - Spelling Workout G & H

 

Vocabulary - Wordly Wise (original edition); Memoria Press Roots of English

Logic - Building Thinking Skills Level 2 CD

 

Latin - Latina Christiana; Ludere Latine; Latin Cursive Copybook 

Greek - Memoria Press Elementary Greek I

 

 

Science - MasterBooks Life (Human body & Animals); Elementary Anatomy; Living Healthy

 

History - The Human Odyssey; Story of the World; The Good and the Beautiful

 

 

Art - Home Art Studio

 

Music - Piano lessons - Hoffman Academy

Z really progressed a lot this past year and he loves foreign language and wants to add in Spanish but I'm not sure I can do another foreign language when we have Latin and Greek going already BUT, he does do both of those by himself.  If I find he can do this next book of Greek by himself successfully, I will go ahead and add in a Spanish program.  He made me a list in order of languages he wants to learn: Latin, Greek, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Hebrew.  We actually have a local lady here that teaches homeschoolers Mandarin Chinese for a cost and I'm considering allowing him to do that in 6th grade.  He has an amazing ability with language and grammar is actually his favorite subject.  So, we will continue to follow his passions as we progress each year.

The Human Odyssey, SOTW and TGAB History

We found the absolute best solution for Z and he now loves history!  I had went through so many programs the past few years and most we just stopped early on because it was like pulling teeth.  Then, I prayed and came up with something that worked so well for us for 4th grade that we are going to continue on with it through 7th grade (or whenever we finish it).

I combined The Human Odyssey with Story of the World and The Good and the Beautiful history.  I have had The Human Odyssey for many years because I had planned to use it with my daughter but my hospitalizations and health got in the way and she ended up doing history on her own with Notgrass (which she loved).  So, I already had the books, all 3 volumes and I tried starting it with Z and he, not only loved it, but he retained a large amount.

What we do is read 3-4 pages from The Human Odyssey and then another day he listens to SOTW audio while he follows along with the book.  Then we do the maps and some activities but mostly, we use the book lists from SOTW as extra reading.  I then incorporate TGAB and the book lists, along with videos on YT pertaining to whatever we are studying.  It worked beautifully I must say!  We finished up Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Hebrews, China and India and will start in the fall with Ancient Greece and then Rome.

I will post a more detailed post soon hopefully with downloads that show how to combine all 3 of these curriculums if anyone is interested.  It does take work and there is some repetitition but Z enjoyed hearing some things again in the other lessons.