Some thoughts and plans for 6th Grade

The Calderwood girls have begun another year of Homeschool! Lily is five years old now and is attending pre-school at the Brunswick Rec Dept two mornings a week and otherwise participates with "school" at home on a limited but productive basis. My goal for Lily this year is for her to be reading and writing basic words, accomplishing basic one-digit addition and subtraction, and sustains an understanding of what "school" and "teacher" means. Like Sophie, we will make Lily's education decisions on a year-by-year basis. She does have her own desk and school bookcase at home now!

Sophie worked hard all summer long with MSMT's production of the musical Annie, as well as her continued practice of freestyle figure skating and ice dancing. As we get started and used to school again, her two first major projects will be to create digital presentations of her homeschool work this summer: one for Annie and the second for ice skating. I have given her school credit of 10 days for Annie and another 10 days for skating. Due to some unexpected technical difficulties, the presentations are not ready for posting and viewing on the blog but they will be soon and she's done a great job!

The tentative school plan is as follows:

Unit 1 Now-Veteran's Day in November (ish)

• Annie presentation & 6 x 6s (10 days of school)
• Ice skating presentation & 6 x 6s (10 days of school)
• Ecology & Ecosystems--observations of three ponds' ecosystems & other Earth Science experiments & field trips
• Geometry math--Emma & Andy will help Sophie complete a floor plan and basic blueprint of our house using Geometry skills. When that's completed we will visit the firehouse and learn how to complete a fire-escape plan for our house!
• Farm School--continue with second edition of the Midden Earth Farm Almanac Fall 2011. Lily will work on her first farm school project which will be a Farm Activity Book full of artwork and games and flower pressings and recipes and all sorts of neat stuff she loves to do at the farm!
• Louisiana Purchase 6 x 6s, web-quests, & book reports. After learning about the Louisiana Purchase, Sophie will work with Gamma at the farm to create a quick comic book to summarize what she learned about this important part of American history.
• Lewis & Clark 6 x 6s, documentaries, book reports, and web quests. This is Sophie's big Unit 1 project: Lewis & Clark's Adventure Board Game! Sophie will compose and create a Start to Finish board game that will teach players about the monumental journey these two explorers completed across the American wilderness.

*Note: Sophie works with two math books everyday and finishes two pages per workbook for each schoolday. When she completes the two workbooks, we will move on to the Southwestern textbook and web-school program.
Language Arts is practiced every day with everyday, creative, and academic reading and writing.
Sophie is a member of a Junior Glee Club, which meets once a week for an hour.
Sophie skates between 4 and 6 days a week for approximately 2 hours per skating sessions.

Unit 2--Thanksgiving through New Years

• Cookies! We will bake about 30 dozen cookies throughout the season for gifts and parties. We will learn about math and cooking, domestic budgeting, chemistry in the kitchen, and the joy of baking for friends and family.
• Gifts! Last year was so wonderful and the girls were amazing making all of their gifts for friends and family so we are going with the same plan--homemade gifts for all! We start with our list and plan, then look through the craft closet and totes, then head to the store for supplies.
• Movies & music! We watch a lot of holiday movies and listen to wonderful Christmas music while baking or crafting. The girls learn about the holiday and its importance and we are establishing wonderful memories and traditions.
• Field Trips! This year I hope to get out and about more to enjoy and experience all of the holiday fun and joy and use every opportunity to teach the girls about this magical time of year.
• Weather! For science we'll be learning about weather and completing a cool project, which will probably be a gift for someone! 
• Farm School--Holiday "pull-out" edition

*Note: Sophie will still complete a few 6 x 6s and web quests, as well as her daily math, and blog posts.

Unit 3--January through March

• The Civil War--still much to be decided and worked out, including an early-Spring trip to visit some historical sites.
• Slavery--still thinking about how to approach this subject fairly, honestly, and appropriately.
• Geology--we will study about rocks, go on some cool field trips to learn about rocks, and do a cool project with rocks and stuff.
• Farm School--art, music, books, crafts. Start Spring Almanac edition sometime in March...
• And some other stuff yet to be determined....

Unit 4--April through May/June ish

• Maine Studies--a ton of books and a ton of field trips--a very general, fun approach to "Get to know your state!" and to satisfy Maine standards. Sophie will complete a PPP on The State of Maine.
• Pioneers & Oregon Trail & Trail of Tears--a lot of books, movies
• Ecology & Ecosystems--revisit the three ponds as they thaw and "spring" forth new life and make observations to compile book about the ecosystems of the three ponds.