And We're BACK! The 2021-2022 School Year Has Begun!

It's a new year at KLEOS Academy! This year we have a new student. I would like to introduce you to miss Emberly Hurd. Emberly is a new student with My Tech High and a Kindergartener this year! Welcome Emberly!

The new year also means new classes! We are all very excited for what this year has to offer. 

Presenting our 2021-2022 school year schedules:

Kaylee, 7th Grade

Middle School Math

Language Arts: Creative Writing with Brave Writer

Science: Spa Chemistry

Technology: Digital Photography

Elective: Culinary Arts with Raddish

Landen, 4th Grade

Elementary Math

Language Arts: Brave Writer

Elementary Science

Technology: Digital Art

Elective: PE

Emberly, Kindergarten

Math: Mathseeds and Discovery Cans

Language Arts: Reading Eggs and Bob Books

Elective: Arts and Crafts

Math: 

New year, new math. This year we are using a curriculum called CTC Math. This week and for the next several weeks, we will be taking short assessments to determine any gaps that need to be filled as well as where we will begin in the program.

Language Arts:

For Language Arts we are using Brave Writer. Brave Writer includes a 10 month long reading list with new curriculum being released monthly to go along with each of the books. Every month we will read a different book and do activities and lessons about what we've read. Each month ends with a Book Club Party! This month we are reading Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston.

Science:

Spa Chemistry (Kaylee):

This week I watched some videos on Creative Live about soap making. I learned about the different ways you can make soap, like cold process, hot process, melt and pour, and "rebatch." I had no idea there were so many ways to make soap! I also learned about different words in soap making, like "trace" (when the lye water and the oil have mixed perfectly) and superfat (the amount of extra oil in your mixture). It was very informative!

My beautiful melt and pour soaps!

I probably will only use the melt and pour technique this year, since the other stuff uses lye water and other things that I shouldn't have around the house with all my little siblings! ;)

I made these soaps from one of my craft kits. I melted glycerin in the microwave, then added powdered dyes, and poured it into the included silicone molds. In between the layers of the colors, there's a patch of bubbles, and maybe professional soap makers wouldn't like that, but I think the white foam is beautiful! 

Elementary Science (Landen):

This week I opened up my gem dig kit!!!

This is my favorite stone! It's red, my favorite color!

I used the double-sided brush and pick to dig around the stones.

And I use the hammer and chisel to chop through big blocks of clay! It was messy and super fun! I was able to get 4 stones out before it was time to put it away.

Technology:

Photography (Kaylee):

We purchased a subscription to Creative Live! This is a really cool website full of videos taught by creative experts. We will be using this for Photography, Photoshop, Drawing and Editing . They also have some cool videos on crafty things like soap making, crocheting, sewing, handlettering, etc. 

This week I watched the intro video for my Fundamentals in Photography Class, It explained some things that I will be learning in the weeks to come. To watch each of the lessons continually, without pausing, it would take 24 hours and 30 minutes exactly! It is a long course. Instead of watching it all at once, I will watch one or two videos' per week and then practice with my very own camera!!! I'm so excited to get started!

Digital Art (Landen):

This week I watched a video on Creative Live about drawing. I learned about some materials that super cool artists use, like water-based pencils, charcoal pencils, colored pencils, graphite pencils, and even ballpoint pens! I also learned about pencil stroke techniques, like how to hold a pencil in different ways to engage the wrist, fingertips, or arm. The best part was when I learned how to sharpen a pencil with a pocketknife, creating a long, thin tip. With this way, you can draw with just the tip of the pencil, or with the side. You don't get this advantage with a regular hand sharpener! 

Obviously I will not be using a pencil on my digital tablet, but I will be practicing drawing skills on paper and the hand techniques can be used for holding my digital pen.

Elective:

Culinary Arts (Kaylee):

This week I opened my first Raddish Kit. It is a monthly subscription. Every month, I will get a kit that comes with 3 recipes, a shopping list and a new kitchen tool. This month's theme is Korean food. I will get to make all 3 recipes, learn a new cooking skill or two, and learn a little bit about the culture of where the food comes from!

Here I am cutting the chicken. Don't worry- I didn't cut my fingers!

This week's skill was preparing Mise en Place (pronounced meez ahn plahs). That is the art of setting everything out and getting all your tools ready before you make the meal. I read the recipe over before I made food, and then gathered all the tools and spices. I didn't get out the spinach or eggs at first, though, because I would be using them at the very end of making the meal, and I didn't want them to spoil.

My first recipe: I made Bibimbap Bowls. I made rice, marinated chicken, seasoned spinach, grated carrots and fried a few eggs. I normally don't like Korean food, but everyone agreed with me- this was delicious! It took me a couple of hours, literally... but we all ate it for dinner and it was so yummy! My mom said the chicken was cooked perfectly and she also taught me how to cook perfectly cooked rice in the instant pot!

Physical Education (Landen):

This week we rode our bikes to an empty parking lot and rode around there. It was so much fun! The only sad part was just as we were going to play Capture the Flag, it was dark and time to go. Emberly has recently learned to ride her bike without training wheels and she loved having all that space to ride around!

Arts and Crafts (Emberly):

This week I made a doorhanger.

I glued foam shapes and letters onto a foam doorhanger. Then I colored on it with marker to make it look super pretty!!! It says "STOP" to keep the boys out of our room. I also learned the difference between the words stop and stoop as that is what I had on there first.