June Study Guide Update: 2020

June. As of this post, we are still under a “Stay at Home” order due to COVID-19. We’ve been home for months. Outside activities are still cancelled or moved online. We’re keeping sane with routines, family activities and comfort food.

After much thought, we’ve decided to continue on at some level with our studies. In summers past, we usually incorporated learning into our daily life but also occupied ourselves with plenty of extra curricular activities: swimming, family get togethers, classes, camps, etc.

This year, summer is going to be a different animal. And with COVID-19 stress hanging over our heads the last several months, we’ve been at a reduced level of learning anyway – so to keep us on track (and our minds active with fun things to do and learn) keeping on just makes sense to us. This is what we have on deck learning-wise this month. For reference, both my kids are roughly at a first and second grade level. Many of the resources I’ve linked to reflect that.

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For more family fun inspiration, check out my June list.

Download my free traceable calendar (plus a grid to chart the weather) for the month of June.

Fun fact! This month’s full moon (June 5) is called the Strawberry Moon. More moon facts.

Father’s day is Sunday, June 21.

Language arts

Both kids have gained a lot of ground here. I’m launching back into our Oak Meadow curriculum for structure but I’m also planning on doing more read-alouds with the kids in addition to our standing Poetry Tea Time dates. If you’re new to the idea of “Poetry Tea Time” – it is AMAZING. I also want to reintroduce the podcast “Circle Round.”

Specifically, we’re going to learn about story summaries, more consonant blends and a bit about poetry.

We also have personal goals of reading each day.

We’re continuing to learn ASL (American Sign Language) but in a reduced capacity. We have a copy of “Helping Out Around the House” from the Signing Time series sitting by the DVD player that we play on occasion. And we quiz each other with our flash cards.

Monthly kids book club on break. Although my oldest has expressed interest in starting a book club with her ballet friend group.

Music

We’re continuing to learn piano but mostly informally. We’re still learning a bit about music theory and beginning piano. I took a introduction to piano class in collage and have been pulling ideas from my textbook. So far we’ve covered rhythms and patterns.

The kids have also expressed an interest in learning the fiddle. We have a reconditioned fiddle in the family that we’ll introduce the kids to.

Movement

While all of our out of home activities have ceased for the time being, we’re still wracking up hours for our 1,000 hours outside challenge. Other activities:

• Go Noodle – a fun app we found that helps to get the kids moving – perfect for rainy days!
• Playing outside
• Family hiking

Arts and crafts

I think we are going to be doing a lot of arts and crafts this month. We got a subscription to Creative Girls Club as a birthday gift. Already, we’ve made a dream catcher and sparkly frame. Before our stay at home order, we made monthly trips to the craft store. This subscription will help fill that missing gap. I’d like the kids to have a continuous craft project to work on, so I have carved out Monday afternoons for this deeper dive.

Other crafts this month:

• redo our seasonal table
• watercolor paintings
• grapefruit birdfeeders
• everlasting calendars

Social emotional

We turned blank notebooks into gratitude journals. At least twice a week, the kids draw a picture of their current mood and a few of the things they are grateful for.

Social studies

I’m excited to dive into Oak Meadow’s social studies units. Twice a week, we are dipping our toes into Ancient Chinese and African history with mask making, tangrams, coin toss games and storytelling practice.

Health

While health has always been a priority for our family, we decided it would be good to dedicate specific time to topics like: balanced diets and nutrients, food pyramids, food prep and meal planning, exercise and sleep and stress management. We’re aiming to cover this twice a week.

Science

With the garden in full swing, the kids have plenty to learn with us out in the yard. This month, we’ll continue to cultivate our seedlings, learn about good bugs and bad bugs and what to do with some of the early fruits of the garden.

With Forest School on hold indefinitely, we’ve been pulling from the forest school themed books I have on hand from the library.

To keep things lively on the weekends, we’ll most likely do a Kiwi Crate box and or science experiments from the Magic School Bus Chemistry Lab.

This month, in tandem with our Oak Meadow curriculum, the kids are going to tackle another animal study (Cheetahs and Pandas). They really enjoyed last month’s exploration.

• Animal Research Graphic Organizer (Education.com)

From Oak Meadow, I’ll be pulling ideas for a review of observing and sensory awareness. Later, we’ll practice our observation skills on critters in the backyard.

I decided to take a break from Exploring Nature with Children so we can focus more on the above. I think we’ll revisit the curriculum later on this year.

Math

The kids love math and get a lot of practice in their workbooks. For a focused study, we’re aiming for twice a week. We’re starting to wade into multiplication and will continue to practice form drawings as well as additional activities below:

Still love:

• Prodigy is an adventure-based math learning platform.
• Bedtime Math has been a fun way to teach practical applications and story problems. Each story ends with several math questions geared toward different age groups. They have an app, as well.
• LEGO challenge cards
• Math dice game – practice number combinations
• Moose Math – basic operations practice

Here’s an overview of what our typical week looks like:

Mondays: music, movement, arts and crafts

Tuesdays: health, language arts, social studies

Wednesdays: math and science

Thursdays: health, language arts, social studies

Weekend: math, science projects, family fun

I have the following grid printed off so I can write our plan every day on our whiteboard.