^ There is a sloth up there mom!
Benjamin has also finished up his first 6 weeks (a few weeks ago now) of 4th grade. We are in the second half of American History. It isn’t always very pretty but definitely exciting all the advances we have made since we became a nation.
For bible, he tags along for Hannah’s requirement for reading the whole bible and we have Joel’s weekly songs and prayer time. He also has an assigned bible passage each day and memory work for each week. We also have a devotional called Starting Strong that we are working through.
In history, we started right before the civil war with westward expansion and the gold rush and also studied William Wilberforce fight against slavery in England. We also do a weekly current event assignment using his World Kids subscription. We have the Children’s Encyclopedia of American History and The Landmark History of the American People, Volume 2 as our spines. We also have a Wee Sing America book with lots of cultural songs.
Read alouds have been good. We read The Great Turkey Walk and Across Five Aprils and have weekly selections from Oxford Illustrated book of America Children’s Poems for poetry.
In language, we use Sequential Spelling I for spelling, The Grammar Ace for grammar, and Wordly Wise 3000, Book 4 for vocabulary along with dictation and a critical writing activity each week. We also keep our cursive from getting rusty with at least one cursive assignment a week.
Ben has read By the Great Horn Spoon about the California gold rush and Freedom Train about Harriet Tubman and a book called Turn Homeward Hanalee by himself this unit.
Ben started Horizons book 4 and still enjoys math.
In science, we are working through an Usborne Science encyclopedia and doing experiments with magnets and light.
For extras, we are doing more independent work for music (he is teaching himself harmonica) and language (Duolingo). Benjamin signed up for soccer this season and has impressed us with his continued interest in it. He likes to play defensively which is ok, but it is hard to score that way! We also still have weekly Royal Rangers.