I'm so flexible I'm Gumby

Tuna says she would like to start fifth grade NOW. She doesn't want a summer to sprawl out, chill out, play all day. Oh, wait. Yes, she does. She just sees "school" as an extension of that!

Perfect! 

So, as of now, I have a fifth grader. Speaking of which: I'd prefer to drop the grade designation, but she likes it. Plus, how does one get along in American society without knowing what grade one's child is in? I'm not sure how that works. Still, I'd prefer to ditch the grade. 

Anyway, we're going to adopt a light schedule of about an hour a day, three days per week:

Twenty minutes (one chapter) of Life of Fred (we're working on Ice Cream right now, still catching up from math horrors of public school)

Twenty minutes of Story of the World (one section per day, plus map work and projects)

Twenty minutes of Brave Writer. Ish. This will probably take longer on some days. Tea and poetry, for example, which we are both looking very much forward to, and we even bought a new tea service at the thrift shop where we volunteer. 

We'll add art, music, German, science, critical thinking, and geography beginning in August and coming to full speed in September. 

Earlier this week, we enjoyed our very first fire in the fire pit since moving to Germany, watched a movie on the back patio curled up by the fire, snuggled in thick blankets, enjoying ourselves while the rest of the neighborhood went silent because it was a school night. 

We also got to watch shepherds (dog AND human -- if there's a human shepherd in Germany, is it inappropriate to call him a German Shepherd?) herding their flock of sheep down the road. Watching the dog wrangle his herd was fascinating. It's one of those things most people read about, but never experience. Living in Bavaria has the added benefit of exposing us to all these novel things. It was the absolute highlight of our day, and we pulled over, rolled down the windows, and stared, googly-eyed, silly smiles, oohing and ahing over the sheep being herded. Good times. Wish I'd had my camera on me. 

And today, we met some cool homeschool kids and some rather uncool homeschool moms. I'm in the position where I need to see homeschool group as something for Tuna, something I suck up and do, rather than support for me. Not that I need it. I'm doing just fine on my own, don't you think? 

Enjoy your weekend, lovely readers. My husband is home this Sunday, so we're going to grill and watch a scary movie together. He hasn't been home in several weeks for longer than six hours at a time, so I'm going to soak him in. :)

Updated 4th Grade Curriculum

MY GOAL FOR THE YEAR: Bring the joy of learning into Tuna's life again. 

I consider our curriculum to be a fluid thing, evolving along with us, changing as needed. Here's what we're using for fourth grade. I will update as things change. I've noted where things are not at grade level. 

EFF IT ALL. WE ARE UNSCHOOLERS.

Language Arts

Spelling and Vocabulary: Spelling City (using words I think are appropriate from other subjects we're studying.) We have a premium membership. We've dropped this for now. Instead, we talk about commonly misspelled words and play games like hangman, SPARKLE (it's a game when the family tosses a ball around to each  other, each one speaking a letter of the given word), and that sort of thing. Spelling just happens enough in other topics we cover, so I don't feel like we need Spelling City. 

Writing: Tuna maintains a blog (private) that holds her writing prompts from the book Unjournaling. Twice a week, I give her a prompt from that book. Bah! Scratch that. She does it on her own sometimes. Mostly we're working on just creative writing. On alternating days, we are working on creative writing. Our goal is to self-publish a book. We're both going to do it. Tuna has expressed interest in seeking a publisher for hers. We'll see how she feels once she's begun writing. She gets possessive over her writing. I'm okay with going through the submission process with her and will encourage her if she elects to do so. UNSCHOOLIN' IT!

Grammar: I'm taking a loose approach to grammar, as I don't see a need to introduce it so young, but we're using the book A Sentence a Day. It's painless and takes a quick five minutes to do. It reviews basic, common grammatical errors using funky sentences. We like it.  UNSCHOOLIN' IT!

Literature (chosen by Tuna)

Paddle to the Sea
Little House on the Prairie
On the Banks of Plum Creek
*more to come as we choose new books

If we find a cool activity about something in our story, we will stop and do it if Tuna wants to. 

Math

Life of Fred (reviewing books meant for younger ages to make sure Tuna has a firm grasp on math basics and stepping down because she doesn't like math at all. Trying to make it more approachable, and so far, it's working) UPDATE: Tuna LOVES Life of Fred. I mean, she professes her love for it and tells everyone she knows about it. Today, she said to me, "If I had a blog for homeschool recommendations, I would tell everyone to run and get Life of Fred." That is a telling statement from a kid who hated math a few months ago!

We've done:
Farming
Goldfish
Honey
We also have a membership at IXL but we haven't been using it much. at all. 

Science

No set curriculum, but I have a plan of study based on talks with Tuna and what she's interested in learning this semester:

Astronomy
Meteorology
Biology
Botany
Chemistry

We use a lot of library books, videos, and hands-on experiments and experiences to learn science. Doing something with her hands helps Tuna learn, and really gets her involved in what she's learning. For meteorology, for example, we'll set up a weather station. For biology, we'll make a model of blood and a working four chamber heart. 

Each unit will last about a month. That will take us through the end of the school year.  UNSCHOOLIN' IT!

History

Story of the World Volume I: Ancient Times (we use only the text, not the activity book or the tests, and we supplement with tons of hands-on activities, videos, and library books) UPDATE: Tuna loves this. I read it aloud and she snuggles up close and listens attentively. We will be continuing this series next year for sure. 

Other Stuff

Dance Mat Typing (Finished that quickly, now just playing typing games)
Rosetta Stone German
Girl Scout badge work as needed
Learning to Cook & Creating a Personal Cookbook (Uh... This has not begun yet)
Nature Study

I like setting my own curriculum plan instead of buying a boxed set because I can tailor it to suit the needs and styles of Tuna and me. I could never stand to follow a script, having someone else tell me what to do. It takes me about an hour or two a week to set up our schedule for the week ahead. I spent about six hours doing my initial setup of curriculum. It's not a terrible length of time, I think. And it's not hard to do. I'm not worried about gaps or holes in her learning. They exist at public school, too. I'm just teaching her what she needs, when she needs it. I make no claims that this is a perfect guide for homeschooling your fourth grader. But it's darn close for homeschooling mine.