October Homeschool

October was filled with beautiful sunny days. We did a lot of camping and hiking and went horseback riding several times. Laurel worked on a fundraiser for Girl Scouts by emailing her family and making a video. Marko took his first online class on Outschool. He enjoyed the content  (Scratch programming) and had no difficulty with logging on, using the mute/unmute button to participate and following the teacher's directions. Max is learning to read and also loves getting his time on Khan Academy, Scratch, or Garage Band. 

We listened to The Boy Who Saved Baseball by John Ritter. We haven't read a lot of sports themed books, but everyone enjoyed it. Baseball is also a good entry point to study immigration and segregation. I didn't really plan this, but just asked our librarian to pick out baseball books. They ended up being about the Negro League, women who played professionally during various wars when there weren't enough men to field teams and a team that formed at a Japanese internment camp during World War II. We also revisited some of the themes that came up a novel we read last year, Stella By Starlight. In that book, Klan members burn down a Black family's house after the father registers to vote. We followed a few news stories about current voter suppression, as well as efforts to register more people to vote. Laurel and I have tried to watch some speeches and debates, but they are basically unwatchable. 

However, it's generally going pretty well. From last year, I remember the need to switch things up, especially as the seasons change, so I'm trying to think of some ways to make November feel fun and cozy.