Going Against the Flow: June 2021

ENGLISH:

Reading:

All three boys read lots of books for their independent reading time. I do not dictate what books they choose for their “free” independent reading time. I keep a list of all the books the boys read in their portfolio for easy review.

Monster: Is no longer participating in Premiere’s Reading Challenge this year as he completed it in Year 9. However, if he finds PRC books in the library that look interesting to him, I’m certain he will pick them up and read them.

Monkey: Monkey worked hard in Term 2 and read all the books required for Premier’s Reading Challenge. Once this year’s challenge finishes in August, and PRC books that you read past the end date, automatically count towards next year. So Monkey has realised that he will need to get started on his 2022 reading in late 2021 so that he doesn’t feel rushed.

Munchkin: As Munchkin is the most voracious reader of the three boys, the Premier’s Reading Challenge is quite easy for him. He had completed all the necessary books for this year, before the challenge officially started.

Writing:

All three boys continue to use the Institute for Excellence in Writing: Teaching Writing Structure and Style curriculum. It allows each boy to work at a level appropriate for their age and ability. It “grows” with the child so to speak. See below for a list of the types of writing each individual boy did during Term Two.

Monster: Flying Fish (Unit 4/6 non-fiction research), World War Two (Unit 1 non-fiction), Attacks on Australia (Unit 1 non-fiction), Kokoda (Unit 1 non-fiction), Seaweed (Unit 1 non-fiction), Women at Work (Unit 1 non-fiction), and Australian Prisoners of War (Unit 1 non-fiction).

Monkey: The Ancient Egyptians (Unit 1 non-fiction), and States of Matter (Unit 1 non-fiction), Seaweed (Unit 1 non-fiction), The Cycle of Life (Unit 1 non-fiction)

Munchkin: The Three Billy Goats Juff (Unit 2 Narrative), Highland Cow (Unit 1 non-fiction), The Cycle of Life (Unit 1 non-fiction)

Spelling:

Monkey: I use the Ozspeller website to choose and create weekly word lists for him. I quiz him orally Monday – Thursday and then he takes a written test on Friday morning.

Munchkin: It has become apparent that he didn’t learn as much on Reading Eggs as I thought he did. While he did learn to read well, he hasn’t memorised the spelling rules well. So I am doing some review spelling work with him. This term he began working through Year 2/2^nd Grade Targeting Spelling book. Each week he works through a two-page unit focusing on a specific reading and/or spelling rule. I quiz him orally on the spelling words in the unit. If he gets them all correct on Monday morning then he doesn’t have to take a written test on Friday. We will continue this review work until I feel confident that he has spelling rules memorised.

Literature:

Below are the books I selected to read to the boys for their literature this term. Munchkin’s books were read to all three boys, Monkey’s books were read to Monster as well, and Monster’s books were read only to him.

Along with “classic literature” there are three books that we read aloud repeatedly. The first is the Bible and then we also read “The Book of Virtues” and “The Moral Compass” by William Bennett.

Munchkin: This term we read the following books: “The Secret Garden” by Francis Hodgson Burnett (we finished this as we started it in Term 1), “Heidi” by Johanna Spyri, and “Just So Stories” by Rudyard Kipling. Then we started “The Tale of Despereaux” by Kate DiCamillo and “The Magician’s Nephew” by C.S. Lewis

Monkey: This term we finished the book “Watership Down” by Richard Adams. We started “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” by Jules Vern and again, this book is complex enough that it will continue into Term 3

Monster: This term I read “Go Set a Watchman” by Harper Lee

Grammar:

Monster is continuing with Analytical Grammar and has begun Season Three this year. In Term 2 he completed Units 21 - 25 which are Comma Rules, Playing With Transitional Devices, Punctuating Quotations, and Punctuating Titles.

Monkey is working through Analytical Grammar this year. Monkey completed Unit 2 (Pronouns) and Unit 3 (Prepositional Phrases) this term.

Munchkin is not doing any grammar curriculum this year. I have learned that (for our family) grammar is best introduced in the late primary grades or early high school grades.

MATHS:

Monster: Continues to work through his Haese Mathematics for Australia Year 10A textbook. Through the course of the term he completed chapters 16 - 19 which covered the following content: Simultaneous Equations, Probability, Relations and Functions and Quadratic Functions.

Monkey: Completed the remaining chapters in his Haese Mathematics for Australia Year 6 textbook, and began working through his Haese Mathematics for Australia Year 7 textbook. Through the course of the term he completed chapters 11 – 15 in the Yr 6 book which covered the following content: Sequences and Patterns, Probability, Location, Statistics and Transformations. He also completed chapter 1 in the Yr 7 book which covered the content: Whole Numbers

Munchkin: Continues to review Year 4/4^th Grade math on the Khan Academy website. Through the course of the term he completed five sections which covered the following content: Multiplication by 2-digit numbers, Division, Factors/Multiples/Patterns, Equivalent Fractions and Comparing Fractions, and Add/Subtract Fractions.

SCIENCE:

For the remaining school subjects I try to teach all three boys together as a group as much as I possibly can. So I will now start listing Munchkin’s work first and work from youngest to eldest boy rather than repeatedly recording the same things.

I rely heavily on our library for quality books to cover the content we study in the remaining subjects. When I am planning a unit study I do a subject search for books and reserve any and all that look like they will be suitable for the boys. I include picture books, junior non-fiction, and I’ve just started including adult non-fiction for both Monkey AND Monster.

Munchkin, Monkey, Monster:

In Term Two we read the following books about various science topics:

Titles from the Science is Everywhere series by Rob Colson:

· “Amazing Materials: Solids, Liquids, and Gases”

· “Forces in Action: Balance, Motion and Levers”

· “Fuelling Up: Energy, Global Warming and Renewables”

· “Our Living Planet: Life and Evolution on Earth”

· “Out of This World: The Planets and Universe”

· “Super Senses: Sight, Taste, Smell, Touch and Hearing”

“Pretty Tricky: The Sneaky Ways Plants Survive” by Etta Kaner

“With a Little Kelp From My Friends” by Mathew Bate

There were no other science books that I read to only the older boys.

HISTORY:

Munchkin: (All books listed for Munchkin were also read to the two older boys)

We have been focusing on an Australian History unit study for Munchkin and the following books are part of that unit study:

Our Australian Girl series – Letty by Alison Lloyd

· “Meet Letty”

· “Letty and the Strangers Lace”

· “Letty on the Land”

· “Letty’s Christmas”

We read several books to commemorate ANZAC day – the titles are as follows

· “The Poppy” by Andrew Plant

· “Do Not Forget Australia” by Sally Murphy

· “Simpson and His Donkey” by Mark Greenwood

· “The Promise” by Derek Guille

“Explorers of Australia: Ancient Explorers – James Cook” by Linsie Tan

“Explorers of Australia: 1788 – Present” by Linsie Tan

We continued the Australian Geographic series about the history of Australia. This is a new series that just came out and it is EXCELLENT.

· “The Story of Australia 1856 – 1877”

· “The Story of Australia 1878 – 1898”

· “The Story of Australia 1899 – 1914”

Monkey: (All books listed for Monkey were also read to Monster)

We started an Ancient Egyptian unit study for Monkey this term. Below is the list of books we read during the course of Term 2.

· “The Genius of the Ancient Egyptians”

· “Ancient Egypt in 30 Seconds” by Cath Senker

· “At Home with the Ancient Egyptians”

· “30 – Second Ancient Egypt” by Peter Der Manuelian

· “So You Think You’ve Got it Bad? A Kid’s Life in Ancient Egypt” by Chae Strathie

· “Pharaoh: The Boy Who Conquered the Nile” by Jackie French

Monster: (All books listed for Monster were read solely to him)

In Term 2 we started Monster’s unit study on World War II. Below are the list of books we read over the course of the term.

· “World War II 1939 – 1945” by Nicolas Brasch

· “Anne Frank” by Josephine Poole

· “DK Life Stories: Anne Frank” by Stephen Krensky

· “Causes and Consequences of the Second World War” by Stewart Ross

GEOGRAPHY:

Munchkin, Monkey, Monster:

For Term Two we focused on finishing up our States and Territories unit study. We read the following books for that.

· “Australian States and Territories: Victoria” by Linsie Tan

· “Capital Cities Across Australia: Melbourne” by William Day

· “Australian States and Territories: Tasmania” by Linsie Tan

· “Capital Cities Across Australia: Hobart” by William Day

· “Australian States and Territories: Western Australia” by Linsie Tan

· “Capital Cities Across Australia: Perth” by William Day

· “Australian States and Territories: Northern Territory” by Linsie Tan

· “Capital Cities Across Australia: Darwin” by William Day

We also read “All the Way to WA: Searching for Uncle Kev” by Roland Harvey

We also read a mapping series which included the following titles:

· Mapping a School

· Mapping a Village

· Mapping a City

· Mapping Where People Work

· Mapping the Seaside

· Mapping My Country

We also read “People and Places: A Children’s Encyclopedia” by DK

PDHPE:

“Growing Up: Humans From Birth to Old Age” by Jen Green

I continued reading the book “Murderous Contagion: A Human History of Disease” by Mary Dobson, to Monster. The chapters we have read during Term 2 include: African Trypanosomiasis (Sleeping Sickness), Chagas’ Disease, Lymphatic Filariasis, Schistosomiasis, Hookworm, Onchocerciasis, Smallpox, Measles, Yellow Fever, Dengue Fever, Rabies and Polio. We still have eight chapters left in the book which we will try to read over the winter (Jun/Jul) school holidays.

Creative Arts:

In Term 2 we did a bit of an artists unit study by enjoying a series of books by Laurence Anholt. The titles are as follows:

· “Leonardo and the Flying Boy”

· “Picasso and the Girl With a Ponytail”

· “The Magical Garden of Claude Monet”

· “Camille and the Sunflowers”

· “Degas and the Little Dancer”

Latin: (Monster)

Monster is currently working through two Latin textbooks independently. They are Lingua Latina Familia Romana and Lingua Latina Exercitia Latina 1.

Marine and Aquaculture Technology: (Monster)

For Monster’s Tech unit this term we continued to read through the book “Ocean: The World’s Last Wilderness Revealed” by DK and finished it right at the end of the term.

Monster also wrote an IEW paper on the benefits of Seaweed.

Week Nine of the term has arrived and we are in full wind down mode. I planned our last two weeks of school all at once and told the boys that whenever they finished their scheduled, structured, written work, they would be on school holidays. Thus it is completely up to them whether they start school holidays a bit early or not...

We made it to the park for homeschool group on Friday. We are having a colder and wetter than normal winter so getting to homeschool group has been hit and miss. But we got there, the weather was gorgeous, and the boys enjoyed play time with their friends!!