A Peek at Our First Few Weeks of 4th Grade (with a tag-along Jack!)

These first few weeks of homeschool 4th grade whizzed by like a runaway steam train, so I'm lucky that I snapped a few good pictures to remember it by. I'm a tad late, but look back at our first few weeks of fourth grade with me.

 Fourth grade is the year of the home state. Since ours is California, we are spending a whole school year exploring our majestic and exciting state through history books, novels, documentaries, and loads of field trips.

As some of you know, our first day at school is similar to a Homeschool Christmas. The week before I tend to haunt the local thrift shops, finding educational goodies to gift my eager student.

This year, his presents were arranged to spell our state's name. I reminded him, off the bat, how lucky he is in this situation that we don't live in Iowa.

 Happily ripping open presents.

 Baseball mitts for "O," as in "outdoor time."

 An ice shaver for "I."

 Jack lent a hand.

 Cranium.

 Scattergories! "L" is for "language games!"

 What I have recently learned is a "rip stick." Aidyn is still learning to master this board.

 Jack, playing with a pirate ship nearby.

 Aidyn immediately put his ice shaver to work.

And he seems to enjoy it quite a bit.

 We sometimes start the morning with LeVar Burton from Reading Rainbow.

Jack enthralled by Reading Rainbow.

 Language Arts.

 Vocabulary.

4th grade language arts is no joke.

 But we still find the fun with goofy language arts games.

 Working diligently on grammar.

Jack exploring the outside.

 We usually start the morning oooing and awwing at this cute face.

 Brotherly bond.

 Word Sorts.

 Hands-on learning.

Hands-on math lesson (Aidyn was less than pleased that I stopped him for a picture.)

 Sometimes Grandma steps in and spends time with Jack outside.

 4-Square Vocabulary. In the picture above, "boycott" is illustrated by a man stopping a customer from purchasing a defective Whoopie Cushion. There was an entire back story here.

 Writing 4-Square Vocabulary in his notebook.

 Jack pre-approves all curricula.

 Hands-on math.

 Jack quietly listens to lessons.

Watching a Cesar Chavez documentary.

 Math bingo game.

 Aidyn loved calling the numbers.

 Painting a landform map of California.

Buoyancy science experiment.

 Aidyn tested the buoyancy of several objects, like a ball of dough, an empty bottle, a metal lid, and eraser, etc.

Jack actively participated, mostly by dumping a container of water on the floor.

 But he was all eyes for his brother.

 Testing the buoyancy of a ball of dough when asked, "Can we change the shape of the object to make it float?"

 Aidyn squashing the dough to find a shape which would allow the dough to float.

 Attempts #1 and #2 resulted in sinking.

 Until he folded up the sides like a boat.

 He struggled to make the perfect shape.

 Success!

 Jack, Grandma, and Aidyn testing dough-boats.

 We continued the buoyancy experiment outside in a kiddie pool. Again, Jack was a willing participant and played the role of baby Godzilla, smashing any boat Aidyn set out to sail.

 The cutest baby Godzilla I've ever seen.

 Eventually, the baby Godzilla was won over by science and tested his own sink/float theories.

 How Jack tries to stay busy while Aidyn does school.

 Hands-on dice game to practice writing large numbers.

Jack played his own dice game, which mostly consisted of resisting the urge to eat them.

And there you have it: the first few weeks of homeschool! We have a busy year ahead with loads of exciting ventures (as I continue to navigate homeschooling with a soon-to-be-toddler in tow!).