Homework due Fri. Oct. 28

Chemistry -  Next week we will be having the test on Module 4.

Latin 3 – Next week we will be beginning Chapter 3…read the chapter, copy boxes.

Marine Biology – We are finishing up the section on pinnipeds…Chapter 3.

Writing 1 – Read the first 7 pages from the Critical Thinking Handout.

History – Read in the hand out through the page about the causes of World War 1.

Writing 2 -  Write a 5 paragraph essay on why Jr. High kids should be allowed to go to the mall alone (alone meaning with friends, not with an adult.)

Greek Mythology – There will be a test on The Lightening Thief.

General Science – We will be going over the study guide and doing experiments for Module 4.

This weeks Homework

Classes Homework – assigned on Sept. 23^rd

 Latin

 Review the chapter Do exercises D, E, and F Next week there will be a quiz on Adjectives, Adverbs, Conjunctions and Idioms.

 Chemistry

 Read Mod 2 and do the ‘on your own”’ questions

 Elementary Marine Biology

 You should be done with reading the first Chapter, and have found a box for your diorama.

General Science Homework Week 2

Read to the end of the Module

Finish the “On your Own’ Questions

Finish the Review Questions

Study for the test

You have much less reading this week, this will allow time for you to study for the test.  Focus on knowing what each scientist is famous for and the information in the review questions.

20th Century History Week 2

Read the handouts you were given in class and do the following research assignment.

Famous people of 1900-1909

*Obviously, these people lived longer than that, and most continued to do their work throughout many decades. However, I need to group them, so here are the people we will be talking about in class from this first decade of the 20^th Century.

You are to pick one to research. You will share with the class what you learned, and should be prepared to answer questions. I’ve put a little note next to them to help you with choosing.

•  William McKinley – President in 1900, he was assassinated
• Queen Liliuokalani – The last Queen of Hawaii who tried to save her country from the US
• Theodore Roosevelt – President, trust-buster, conservationist, war hero…among other things
• Ghandi – A spiritual leader who many consider to be the Father of India.
• Booker T. Washington – A former slave, who worked hard to improve the life of blacks.
• W.E.B. DuBois – Another black leader who worked to make higher education accessible to blacks.
• Carry Nation – A woman who took the fight against immorality to new levels.
• Alfred Bernard Nobel – Nobel Peace Prize
• Helen Keller – Overcoming blindness and deafness to change the world for the handicapped
• The Wright Brothers – First flights
• Albert Einstein – Scientist
• Sigmund Freud – Psychologist
• Rudyard Kipling – Author
• Pablo Picasso – Artist
• Mary Cassatt – Artist
• Henry Ford – Industrialist
• Guglielmo Marconi – inventer of the ‘wireless’
• Andrew Carnegie – Philanthropist
• Robert Peary and Matthew Henson – First to reach the North Pole.

 

 

Mythology

Hope you all are as excited as I am about this class!!!!  So, even if you have read the books before I want you to start over this week reading The Lightening Thief.  As you are reading the book I want you to begin to make some lists of all the Greek mythological beings and stories that come up.  It will probably be easiest to start a page in your notebook for each different kind of being.  For example, a page of the gods, a page of the goddesses (leave room after their names where you can add information about them as you learn it.)  monsters, heroes, titans and lots more.  As we progress through the books we will be adding to our knowledge, and that will help us when we write our own book on Greek mythology.  So get reading.  Read at least the first 6 chapters…if you just can’t stop yourself you can go farther.

General Science Homework

The date is the day the homework is assigned, it is due the next week.  I’ve given you the work for the first few weeks so that you can see what it will be like.

Note: The first chapter is one of the hardest in the book for most students. While none of the concepts are hard there is a lot of information and it is a long chapter. Don’t get off to a bad start..get your students reading each day next week.

 

Sept. 9 Read to page 1-23. There is a lot of reading this week, more than can be one in 1 or 2 days…don’t procrastinate. I have divided it this way on purpose. Do 4-5 pages every day.

Do the ‘On Your Own’ questions 1.1 through 1.6

Write out the definitions for the Vocabulary Terms

Do Review Questions 1 – 16

 

Sept. 16 – Read to the end of the module

Finish the ‘On Your Own’ questions

Finish the Review Questions

Study for the test.

You have much less reading this week to allow time to study for the test.

Focus on knowing what each scientist is famous for. Review your study guide repeatedly

 

Sept. 23 Read Module 2, Pages 35 – 48

Do the ‘On Your Own’ questions 2.1 – 2.8

Write out the definitions for the terms

Do Review Questions 1- 14

 

Sept. 30 Finish reading the Module

Finish the ‘On Your Own’ questions

Finish the Review Questions

Study for the test.

 

Jr. High Writing

Hi guys, welcome back to another great year.  So today we will be doing some writing in class so I can evaluate where we all are.  That will be a piece you will have to write fairly quickly.  I’m also going to give you a writing assignment to do at home.  On this one, you can take your time.  I want you to go ahead and proofread your work, but try not to get any outside help.  For this exercise I want to see what you know, not what your Mom or Dad knows…so if you have a lot of help it will be harder for me to help you over the next few weeks.

This week I want you to write about something that happened over the summer.  Yes, I know, a traditional beginning of the year assignment, but it’s a cliche for a reason.  I don’t want a list of things you did over the summer, I want you to take one experience and tell me exactly what it was like.  So don’t tell me you went to camp for week and all the things that happened there…pick one thing that happened and tell me all about that.  So, can you tell the story of the crazy tye-dye lady, your favorite skit, the night game, or how about a new friend you made.  If you went to the beach instead of listing everything that happened all day tell me about that wave that took you under and scared you, or the stop at In n Out on the way home with your friend.  Hopefully, you get the idea.  Pick one  incident and make me feel like I was there.

20th Century Homework Week 1

After today there will be handouts in class for you to read at home, as well as links here, to take you to sites where you can gather more information about the events we are discussing in class.  The links are meant to add information to what we are doing in class for high school students.  Parents of younger students can decide whether or not to include the additional reading.  (Or, parents can read the links and tell their younger children about the information contained within them.)

As we begin our study of the 20th Century we need to do a little background work.  Students who are in high school are required to read the following links about Imperialism.  There are 5-6 links to read through, each of them talks about a different European country and it’s holdings in other countries.  Younger students would benefit from a discussion of imperialism if parents wish to read the material and have a discussion.  This would also be an excellent time to pull out a world map and locate the areas being spoken of.  Most of us are not familiar with the geography of Africa and Asia, but an understanding of it will greatly aid in our study of this century.

High School Writing Class Homework, Week 1

And the new school year has begun….

We are going to be spending the first few weeks of our high school writing class focusing on the SAT Essay.  Many of you will be going in to take your SAT’s in the next months and it is important that you are prepared.   As a launching off place I want each of you to read this article,

This article, from the Washington Post, will touch on points we will be discussing in the next few weeks.  You will also be writing several 25 minute essays, in class, and at home.  This week I want you to read the article and write one essay.  Choose a topic to write on from the list below and set a time…only give yourself 25 minutes to finish.

Should people always be loyal?
Do circumstances determine whether or not we should tell the truth?
Can deception—pretending that something is true when it is not—sometimes have good results?
Is it sometimes necessary to be impolite?
Is acting an essential part of everyday life?

Wednesdays

Wednesdays are now officially our Preschool and early elementary days.  If you have students who fall into this category see below for a description of the activities for our youngest members.

Marine Biology at Kelly’s Wednesday mornings from 9:00-10:00

This is an elementary school science class exploring the oceans and it’s creatures.  We will be working from the Apologia book Exploring Creation with Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day.    (There is an accompanying notebook put out by the publisher.  We will not be using the notebook in class, but if you wish to add it to your at home studies that is totally up to you.)  In our time together we will be using the book as a jumping off place to do more explorations on the sea.  There will be storybooks, experiments, art projects and field trips to ‘flesh out’ the lessons.  This book is written for an older elementary school reading level, however it can be used by students from 4 on up if their parents are willing to read the book to them.   With this in mind, younger students are welcome in the class, but parents will probably want to stay to help them with some of the work.  Also, children will get a lot out of the class, even if they do not have the book…this may be an option for some parents with younger children who just want the additional activity/exposure.  (The book is worth the investment though.)

Group Time at Kelly’s Wednesdays 10:00-11:30.

This time will focus on group interactions,  story time, finger plays, singing, art experience, science exploration, and mastering basics preschool/kindergarten skills. Parents are encouraged to stay and participate. The last 15-20 minutes of our time we will have a snack and some free play for the kids, while the Mom’s focus on the skills (homework if you will) to work on for the coming week.

Park Days – Wednesdays from Noon to 1:30ish.

It’s the park, ending times will be dictated by the kids moods more than likely. Picnic lunches are encouraged. This is an unstructured play time at the park, allowing the kids more time to interact and for the Mom’s to talk. Parents of elementary (or older) kids from Grace are also encouraged to come to Park Days. Some of our Park Days will have a theme…a water day, chalk day, jump rope etc. Note: In the event of rain, Park Day is canceled. If the weather is unusually cold (or worse, very windy) we will also cancel. I send texts, emails, and will post on Facebook a final decision.

Field Trips

There will be at least one monthly field trip, frequently more. In order to simplify scheduling, if the field trips are specifically for our youngest students I will try to schedule them on Wednesdays. For regular school field trips, we try to stick to Tuesdays. Obviously, some venues only have certain days available so we must work within those guidelines.

Some of the trips we are planning for this year include: SeaWorld, the Post Office, the Fire Station, Tide Pools, the Pumpkin Patch, Petco, Snow Day, LaHabra Children’s Museum, and Whale Watching. There will be many others, but that gives you an idea.

Parent Training

We have a mandatory monthly parent meeting. The first half of the meeting deals with details like signing up for field trips, scheduling school photos etc.

The second half of the meeting is dedicated to training about a specific area of homeschooling to assist parents in staying on track and implementing new ideas.

School Photos

These are generally taken the beginning of October. Students and parents are issued student body cards. The cards for students are free, parents are $2. The parents card qualifies them for Teacher Discounts at some stores…such as Joanne’s.

Yearbook

Each year Grace puts together a yearbook and our preschoolers will have a section featuring them.

Fairs

During the course of the year we will have a World’s Fair where students make posters about a country of their choice, then we all get together and listen to them share. We are more than happy to have our youngest students participate, it’s great for them to get up front and speak, even if it is only a sentence or two about what they have learned.

Students are also encouraged to participate in Science Fair (and yes, homeschool students can move on with their public school counterparts to compete at the County and State levels.) While the preschoolers are too young to officially enter, I’d encourage parents to do a scaled back, fun version to get their kids thinking about finding out about the world in a new way. More on this later.