Would love to hear what exciting things you do for 4th grade

[Alicia64]

Our fourth grade days need some enlivening. I'm not one of those moms who thinks every moment should be a Disney cruise or anything, but sometimes our days are a little too "kitchen table" learning.

 

We do:

 

math: teaching textbooks (really fun if you ask me)

spelling: spelling workout (does the job)

writing w/ ease (we're transitioning to David Dye, I think, because WWE just isn't doing it)

SOTW (fine)

cursive (good enough)

typing (excellent program; really fun)

Latin (tackling again Lively Latin; fine for the kids, but challenging for me to keep it organized)

 

Starting piano for one, guitar lessons for the other.

 

Thinking about signing up for Mark Kistler art lessons online, but not sure.

 

Science: just a little here and there. Using REAL science, DH takes to science museum regularly, take classes here and there.

 

Any fun curricula or ideas? I'm all ears!

 

Alley

[Mommy22alyns]

Are you using the SOTW activity guide? I'd do more science too - science and history (geography for us this year) are where the fun is. The girls love art too, crafts and projects as well as painting, etc.

[SilverMoon]

How about some geography or poetry? My current fourth grader thoroughly enjoys map drawing ala The Core (Leigh Bortins), but he loves anything having to do with maps. ShepperdSoftware.com and Seterra.net have online games, and Rod and Staff's history/geography 4 is a fun way to learn about maps and countries around the world.

 

For poetry this DS started with Jack Prelutsky's Pizza, Pigs and Poetry. Each "lesson" has a silly story, a poem written by the author, and a writing tip. DS laughs so hard at the author's antics that nearly falls out of his chair, and most lessons end with him slapping the table with a, "One more! Just one more lesson!" After we read the story and the poem we use the tip as an assignment for him to write about and illustrate.

[CatholicMom]

Your day looks similar to ours. I would look at the SOTW activity guides for some fun history stuff to do. I am going to look at them myself, too.

 

Off-topic, what do you use for typing? I'm curious because I'm thinking about starting typing next year and you said it's a fun program. Do share. :)

[CatholicMom]

DS laughs so hard at the author's antics that nearly falls out of his chair, and most lessons end with him slapping the table with a, "One more! Just one more lesson!"

 

Just wanted to add that this is hilarious!! LOL wow

[Kfamily]

My younger dd's favorite subjects tend to revolve around books. I try to let her have a say (from a pre-selected list created by me) in which books she would like to read. I think this helps keep her interest level up. For example, for literature she's reading D'Aulaires Greek Myths, The Little White Horse and poetry by Longfellow. She enjoys these choices and the discussion we have with them. She also has an independent reading list that she had some voice in creating for herself. We're going to start a study with Anne of Green Gables and a lot of poetry in the next month or so. This study is based upon books she has been asking to read for some time now.

 

She is very interested in astronomy and physics. While we're doing a conventional approach to this by using RS4K Astronomy, a physics kit and biography of Issac Newton. We've also added, at her request, Science Matters: Achieving Scientific Literacy, science magazine articles, a biography on Einstein and another book by Michio Kaku.

 

I also agree with previous posters about adding poetry and art. Both girls love to study artists and to learn to draw and paint. They also enjoy reading poetry and discussing it, and they are so proud to be able to recite some poetry after having memorized it. (I give them a lot of room in their choice of poetry to memorize.)

 

We use dvds to keep the learning atmosphere alive even in the evening hours. We often watch documentaries or movies which reinforce topics we're learning in school or topics in which they have a strong interest.

 

We used to have a family read-aloud time at night (something we plan to reinstate this month) and this was a great way for me to slip in the books I wanted them to know, but that they didn't really pick up for themselves. For some reason, these choices go over a lot better when we read them aloud together as a family. :) ( We do have a family rule that after the first three chapters we take a vote on whether to keep reading the book. This gives us an option to drop books that we just don't like.)

[Alicia64]

Your day looks similar to ours. I would look at the SOTW activity guides for some fun history stuff to do. I am going to look at them myself, too.

 

Off-topic, what do you use for typing? I'm curious because I'm thinking about starting typing next year and you said it's a fun program. Do share. :)

 

 

Sure! My boys have loved this program. It cracks me up when I remember how dry my typing class was in high school.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Typing-Instructor-Kids-Platinum-Windows/dp/B002U0L1BU

 

Alley

[CatholicMom]

Sure! My boys have loved this program. It cracks me up when I remember how dry my typing class was in high school. http://www.amazon.com/Typing-Instructor-Kids-Platinum-Windows/dp/B002U0L1BU Alley

 

Adding this to my list! Thanks so much!

[2_girls_mommy]

Competed in a science fair, state fair art contests, Exploratory Latin exam, and performed a Shakespeare sonnet at a public event. Our curriculum was pretty standard WTM stuff, but the extras gave us fun stuff to focus on during the year.

[Lily_Grace]

We lived on an island for 4th grade, but we spent a lot of time OUTDOORS. We trekked a mile to the beach or jungle/forest to collect samples and look at them with our pocket microscope. We walked the other direction to read Treasure Island at the top of a cliff overlooking the harbor. We took Artistic Pursuits and did the lessons in our backyard. We made ice cream by repeatedly rolling the ball down the hill and timing it. We used Writing Tales and ran all over the place with the games. We used Noeo (living books, all the experiments came with) because he could do the experiment, read about it in the books, go online to play games and find other ideas, and then find practical applications around us.

This was the year I realized that the curriculum can be twisted and managed any way I want. We could do it in the house or I could take the same concept and go move. Our home was the size of a breadbox there (perfectly rectangular, 2 rooms wide by 2.5 rooms long) and the less we tried to do sitting at the table the less crazy we felt. Here's our video we did of that year -

We covered a LOT of ground when we stopped letting the curriculum dictate our plans!