Fifth Grade Homeschool Snapshot, 2022-2023

John loves to play and think and build. When he has the day to himself, he stays in bed until 9am or later daydreaming, plays with his younger siblings for several hours, then tinkers with his many projects while listening to fiction audiobooks.

He is a methodical thinker and likes to work at his own pace without rushing. This year, he took responsibility for a simple daily schedule that revolved around math, reading, and morning time plus his many projects and some audiobooks. Although the relaxed pace sometimes seemed too minimalistic, it provided a lot of space for the play and tinkering that he loves. 
 
Here is a fairly good picture of what John learned, read, and experienced this year.

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History / Social Studies
History and Geography
I read to John from the Complete Book of Marvels: The Occident by Richard Halliburton [already owned--$16 from Living Book Press] and he watched the related Videos for Book of Marvels from Wonder and Wildness

We read the following history books as part of our family morning time, focusing on the 1700s for American history:
We also visited some history museums and events including:
Portugal
In 2021, I got the wild idea that it would be possible to send each of my children on a trip to Europe after reading Take More Vacations by Scott Keyes. We got Peter and John their passports in early 2022 and after booking Peter's trip to Ireland for November 2022, we started looking for cheap flights to Europe in late May 2023. 

When I found tickets to Lisbon for less than $400 roundtrip from BWI airport on Air Canada using Going (affiliate link), John was very ready to say yes to this being his big European adventure. I'm very thankful for this $49/year service that saved me well more than it cost and made this trip possible.

To prepare, we read Portugal: Enchantment of the World by Esther Cross [$1.25 at a used book sale] and watched programs like Wild Portugal (via Curiosity Stream) and Lisbon and the Algarve (Rick Steves Europe) and a different program called Wild Portugal on Disney. We also enjoyed playing the new-to-us game Azul (family Christmas gift) which is based on decorative Portuguese tiles. He also learned a few Portuguese phrases with his dad using an app. 

John and I used Lonely Planet Portugal 11 [$8.57 from Thriftbooks] to help plan the trip. While he gave a lot of input, he was not as hands-on with this trip as Peter was which suits his go-with-the-flow nature. His trip is a little more straightforward than Peter's and includes taking a train and staying a few nights on the coast in the Algarve region before returning to Lisbon for the rest of the time, except for a day trip to Sintra. I dropped him off at the airport today and he has boarded his first flight ever. I can't wait to check out the photos as they upload whenever my husband's phone gets on wifi.

English Language Arts
Grammar
During morning time we completed Mad Libs together as well as worked through the first half of  Intermediate Language Lessons by Emma Serl [already owned $4.69 from Thriftbooks]. 

Reading and Literature
John is able to fluently read small amounts of text. In fact, as he was required to take standardized tests this year, I can say that he scored well above average in reading comprehension, a large improvement over the last time he was tested in third grade when he was scoring in the average range.

But reading still requires a large effort and so he does not choose to read beyond 15-20 minutes a day of assigned reading and info he looks up for video games or as needed to build electronics projects. I have a suspicion that this amount of reading is not enough for him to improve to the point that reading is easy enough to choose over audiobooks. Also, I have such a difficult time finding books to interest him that are not too easy and not too hard. 

So we just keep plodding along in this area and the growth continues to happen. I purchased the online version of Explode the Code [$35 for a year of access for 1 student at a time] for him to work quickly through to review phonograms over the summer in the hopes that it would give him an efficient refresher course. And I take him out for a date every time he finishes a level so he doesn't mind doing it. 

He read the following books this year besides many children's books he read to his younger siblings that were not recorded:
We also read aloud two of Shakespeare's plays as a family: A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet, and were so happy to see a touring production of Julius Caesar and a community theater production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

He listened to many audiobooks on his own while working on his various building projects. We also listened to the following read-alouds or audiobooks as a family:

Cottage on Bantry Bay by Hilda von Stockum [Kindle version for $2.05 after promo]
Children of the Longhouse by Joseph Bruhac [$4.77 from Amazon after discount]
Flight of the Doves by Walter Macken
Peppermints in the Parlour by Barbara Brooks Wallace 
Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry
The Children of Noisy Villiage by Astrid Lindgren
The Magic City by Edith Nesbit
Sarah Bishop by Scott O'Dell
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Saint George and the Dragon Retold by Margaret Hodges
The Red Cross Knight from Stories from the Faerie Queen by Mary MacLeod
The Best Halloween Ever by Barbara Robinson
The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli
D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar d'Aulaire

Composition
Spelling remains a very difficult subject for John which impedes his ability to write independently. By the end of the year, he was able to write narrations of several sentences with a lot of spelling help. 
His oral narrations continue to be very well-composed. It is just the physical mechanics of writing that make it unpleasant for him. He continues to improve with practice.

Currently, he is working on reviewing the content of Explode the Code to review phonics and spelling rules over the summer. In August, we will pick up All About Spelling Level 2 for the third time and hopefully, he'll be better able to absorb the lessons now that reading is easier. Thankfully, he remembers all the rules from All About Spelling Level 1, it was just that he wasn't picking up the rules of Level 2 when we tried at the beginning of the year. With him, it has always seemed better if we set things aside when they aren't being learned and come back again in 6 months to a year.

Poetry
We focused on a different poet each term reading works by Helen Hunt Jackson, Langston Hughes (using the book The Dream Keeper And Other Poems [$4.19 from Thriftbooks]), and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. I chose the majority of our poems from Ambleside's collection. 

Mathematics
John started off the year continuing where he left off in Beast Academy 4B, but the many steps required to complete most problems were a big turn-off to him. He prefers to do more straightforward problems so he switched over to using Khan Academy. He spent the remainder of the year working mainly on mastering fractions and decimals for about 30 minutes a day and completed 68% of Khan Academy's 5th-grade math course. 

Interestingly, I realized that although he has only completely finished 1 entire level of a math curriculum in his school career (Beast Academy Level 3) he has a great grasp of the important concepts at his grade level and scored very highly on his standardized test. Next year, I plan to try CTC math and see if that is a good fit for him. 

He also watched videos on TED-Ed about mathematics and frequently played All Ten, a daily math game by Beast Academy.

As a family, we read the following math-related books at morning time:
  • Zero is Something by Marnie Luce
  • Infinity: What is it? By Marnie Luce and A.B. Lerner
  • Infinity and Me by Kate Hosford
  • Blockhead: the life of Fibonacci by Joseph D'Agnese [archive.org]
We've also started watching the old Children's Television Workshop series Square One, which is a comedy math program for kids. I loved it when I was younger and everyone is really enjoying it when we find time to watch it a few times a week.

Coding
John worked on various projects using Scratch. 

Science
John listened to the audiobook of Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery by Richard Hollingham and narrated it to me. This was a book that Peter had enjoyed at this age and John learned a lot from it. It is written for adults and does discuss things like prostitution and sexually transmitted infections, so prereading is crucial with this one. Both boys used a home blood-typing kit to find out their blood types. They had so much fun with it!

John spent many months working on projects from Make: Electronics by Charles Platt [$15.99 new on Amazon]. 

John read or listened to the following books on his own:
We also read or listened to the following books as a family (most were from the library or can be found online on my Best Free Nature Lore Books list):
Science Experiences
In August, John submitted a nature journal to a county fair as his 4-H project. He was excited to win 1st place. 

For Christmas, he and his brother received a MEL science chemistry subscription and have been working through the experiments. 

Throughout the year, he participated as a subject in a scientific study through Penn State which required him to undergo testing and have two functional MRIs to study how puberty affects social development and the brain. 

We watched science-related shows, especially when everyone caught the stomach flu, including Oddly Satisfying Science and British Garden: Life and Death on Your Lawn (via Curiosity Stream) as well as nature documentaries on Netflix and Disney.

John was able to attend several events or museums about science including:
  • Columbus Zoo
  • Monarch Butterfly class
  • Lecture about the James Webb Space Telescope
  • Family night at an Observatory
  • STEM day for kids at a local university
  • Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum
  • National Zoo
  • Smithsonian Natural History Museum
  • U.S. Botanic Gardens
  • Nature walk with a Naturalist
  • Cape Henlopen Nature Education Center
  • Dolphin Boat Tour
  • Oceanário de Lisboa
John is registered to attend a 4-night residential STEAM camp in June that includes 3D printing, robotics, and other techy things that he will love.

Art and Music
Composer Study
We studied the following composers using the guides from Tillberry Table, which I love and make composer study easy and enjoyable.
  • Term 1: Scarlatti
  • Term 2: Rachmaninoff
  • Term 3: Wagner
We also had the opportunity to see the Czech National Symphony Orchestra and to see Itzalk Perlman perform which was an amazing experience.

Artist Study
We studied the following composers:
We were thrilled to finally make it to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. to see many familiar artists and works we have studied over the years. 

Folk Songs
We learned several new folk songs this year including The Wellerman (finally had to get on the bandwagon with this one loved by many of our friends), Waltzing Matilda, and The Mermaid. We also listened and sang along to a folk songs CD made by a friend who does Ambleside Online to practice old favorites and learn some new songs.

Handicrafts
John continues to love building all kinds of kits and projects. He is always tinkering with kits, robots, k'nex, and more, especially projects from Rubberband Engineer. We also count on him to put together shelves, fans, and really anything that requires assembly. He loves to help out in the kitchen and the yard and the garden. He also made a few small sewing projects to give as gifts to his siblings.

Piano?
For many years, John had looked forward to the time when he could stop practicing piano, which I had said was when he got to the end of level 8 of Hoffman Academy. He happily stopped at that point and I don't think he has played since. At this point, I cannot say whether all the energy I put in over the years to help him overcome his resistance to practicing was worth it or not. He isn't sorry he learned piano. He just found learning some of the songs painfully boring and didn't have the desire to push through.

Physical Education
This year saw John becoming more athletic than ever. He participated in the following:
  • Fall and Spring AYSO Soccer: playing many positions, including goalie, and showing a lot of improvement over the course of the seasons
  • Ninja Class (1 hour/week), November-May
  • Ice Skating Lessons, Jan-March
When he did not have practice or lessons, he got daily exercise by choosing to bike, walk, or ride an exercise bike to stay active. He continues to enjoy hiking and although I don't get out with him as much as I would like, we have managed to schedule bigger hikes at least once a month. He also continues to attend our weekly, all-weather Wild + Free group where the kids love to play ga ga ball and tag, besides hiking and playing in the woods or by the pond. 

While he will be taking the summer off from his regular ninja class, he will be attending a morning day camp at the ninja gym for 1-week and plans to take swimming lessons again this July. He will also be attending the same 1-week YMCA camp that he attended last year. 

John has always been a child who loves to play and who loves to work. Now that he is 11, he is an excellent lawn mower and he and Peter will do all of the mowing and trimming for three small yards as they did last year. He often goes over to Grandma's to help with heavy cleaning, unloading things, and whatever else she needs. 

Final Thoughts
John is a wonderful child and he had a lot of growth this year. Most importantly, I can see that his self-confidence grew in academic and non-academic areas. He offers to read to his younger siblings. He jumps at the chance to help them with any kits or building projects and he is a great teacher. He continues to love playing all kinds of tabletop games, including Dungeons and Dragons with his dad and brother. 

I sometimes wonder whether I have supported John's learning in the best way, especially because he has such different interests than I had, especially at his age. As he gets older, I can see that it is all working out fine. But I still have to try very hard to find interesting materials and experiences that don't require so much reading that he gives up. I have some good ideas for next year that I'm excited to try with him. 
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1 comment:

  1. AflyonmyhomeschoolwallMay 27, 2023 at 2:11 PM

    I remember Sintra, Portugal! I spent only part of a day there once on a larger "survey" tour of Europe. It was wild and magnificent. I hope your boy makes the best memories ever! You are a truly excellent mother--reading about your efforts to meet your kids where they are and find out who they are as individuals is so inspiring to me.

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