This past week has been my favorite so far! Wyatt still is declaring his love of John Henry week but I know he is enjoying this section as well because he is a tree/nature kid.

We are also stretching last week into this week since this week is a short one due to the holiday. We both really need the break but this unit has been a good way to finish before five days off.

Hmm, where to start? Let’s start with social studies and Minnesota. Can I just say that I now want to move to Minnesota? It seems to have everything our family loves. We always talk about the basic information about the state, how to find that information, where the state is on the map, and what region it is in. Then we move on to the good stuff, the interesting facts and moments to remember. Wyatt chose for his favorite things about Minnesota the candlelight hikes that Zipper Bay State Park has, but especially the International Wolf Conservation Center. Wyatt loves wolves – I really need to get this kid to a wolf conservation center soon. I was surprised about the hike but not too surprised – he loves being outside, and night hikes especially in the winter because of all the Kid’s Moon Club stuff we did when he was really small. I need to start that up again! I, of course, want to go to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum, as well as F. Scott Fiztgerald’s house in St. Paul. It’s pretty cool that Minnesota has both prairie and forests. I could totally see our family taking a long vacation through Minnesota one day soon.

Our science curriculum had perfect timing – we are “embarking” upon a study of evergreens and boreal forests. Or wait, was it me that had good timing? I even put up our artificial Christmas tree in Wyatt’s room to give a sense of being in a forest. Or at least near a tree. This week is Wolfenoot, a completely made up holiday so I plan to incorporate a little more wolves into our learning this week – it all just ties together so well! We will decorate the tree for December too. He will dig it.

For language arts, we read Let’s Go Home by Cynthia Rylant. I love her books so much. This one was a wonderful read about homes and how special each room is. Wyatt then had to write a little about his favorite room – his bedroom – and why. He chose it because of all his books and the tree!

Art this week we learned about an artist near and dear to my heart, Gwen Frostic. She is originally from my hometown, graduated from my high school, and lived eventually up north in one of my favorite areas. We visited her studios and printing shop two years ago and it was sort of a dream come true for me. So I was super excited to do a few lessons on her art with Wyatt. I could literally go on and on here, but I won’t bore you.

Billy was excited because this was a dream realized. He told me he has wanted to experiment with lino cutting for a while now and he got to do it. So Sunday afternoon art was more demo than hands on for Wyatt, but then today we turned some of the pictures into holiday cards and that was all Wyatt.

And the cards. They turned out super cute and I think we are going to make a few more.

What We Used:

This section contains Amazon Affiliate links. In addition to the curriculum I am creating for him, we also use curriculum from The Good and the Beautiful, The Waldock Way, and Blossom and Root for phonics, reading, science, and social studies.

Crinkleroot’s Guide to Knowing the Trees || V is for Viking || North Woods Girl || Let’s Go Home || Nature’s Friend

Gwen Frostic Art Lesson – Teachers Pay Teachers – The Michigan Art Teacher

Gwen Frostic Studio