November Study Guide Update: 2019

It’s November. And we have a lot of things happening this month. Here’s what’s on deck:

A side note, October happened but writing up our “here’s what we’re up to this month” post fell by the wayside. Life happens…

Ballet continues. The Winter performance is several weeks away. We’re learning a routine set to `O Christmas Tree. We’ve heard about the kids’ costumes. White tights, a black cherry colored wrap skirt, forest green leotard and a gigantic gold bow as a headpiece.

Forest school continues. So far, we’ve learned about mushrooms and forest ecosystems while exploring trails with other families and we’re loving it. The weather’s starting to turn, but we manage with layers, plenty of snacks and a handwarmer, or two.

Monthly kids book club. The group’s age range 5 to 10 . We meet with other homeschoolers and a children’s librarian to talk about the month’s selection. We also do an activity around the content of the book. This month’s selection is the junior adaptation of “Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race” by Margot Lee Shetterly with Winifred Conkling. We’re also planning on watching the movie of the same name as well.

Pee wee basketball begins. November also brings the start of this much-anticipated sport. Besides getting the chance to burn off some energy and strengthen coordination skills, our youngest will learn how to work with others in a team setting.

Young Rembrandt’s drawing class. We’ve taken a class from Young Rembrandt’s before and decided to add another to the schedule for our oldest who absolutely loves to draw.

In other learning news:

Language arts

• We’re continuing to learn our consonant blends and word families.
• I’m still looking for a good tool to help the kids learning ASL (American Sign Language).
• Poetry teatime (inspired by Julie Bogart’s Brave Learner) is our special time to sit with our library book selections, a treat or two and read and talk about literature. The fall season has inspired some delicious drinks like spiced apple cider and eggnog .

Music

• Music appreciation is a part of our everyday and we’re continuing that.
• The kids also like to free play on our keyboard.

Arts and crafts

• Leaf everything happens in the fall.
• There will be plenty of creations around the season and holidays.

Social emotional

• We tend to do a lot of SEL throughout our days but we supplement with episodes of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood both huge favorites in our house.
• The kids like to write entries in their Gratitude Journals and we dip into our Big Life Journals from time to time.

Social studies

• We try to connect with our calendar a few times a week, but the kids learn a lot of concepts just being out in the community and helping around the house.
• A lot of their free play centers around social studies concepts which is pretty awesome.

Health

• We had the opportunity to see and explore ambulances, fire trucks and other city vehicles at last month’s Truckapalooza event put on by the city. The kids are still role playing and talking about the experience.
• We’re going to revisit our health curriculum (specifically personal safety and helpers) this month and talk about our recent experience.

Science

• We’ve been very interested in all things space. But with the recent turn in weather, cloud cover has prevented study of the night sky. Still, we’re tracking moon phases.
• We’re also just started learning more about mushrooms and plant identification.

Math

• Measurement has been the focus lately and we’re still working on simple addition and subtraction as well as counting by 2s, 5s and 10s.

Writing all that out sure seems like a there is a ton going on. I guess there is but so much of it is just woven into our everyday and routine it’s life as usual. And we like it that way. It keeps things interesting, that’s for sure.

Looking forward, we’ll be thinking about our priorities for the coming holiday season. It’s a good time of year to reflect on what’s important amidst the impending craziness. From our homeschooling family to yours, have a great month!