SPRING SEMESTER WEEK 9

My goodness! Twenty-four weeks of Challenge down and only six weeks to go!

BIBLE

Our character quality for this week is EXCELLENCE. The Bible speaks repeatedly about excellence. Daniel had an excellent spirit within him (Daniel 6:3), we are directed to work with excellence (Colossians 3:23), we are to approve what is excellent (Philippians 1:9-10), and we are to focus our minds on things that are excellent (Philippians 4:8.)

LATIN

This week in Latin, we stepped away from verbs and began learning about pronouns. While this is not at all complicated, it does require memorization. At home this week, please work on memorizing 1st and 2nd person pronouns (the "I" pronouns and the "you" pronouns.) Much like nouns, pronouns can take form in any of the 5 Latin cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, or ablative.  Pronouns must also match their appositive (the word to which the pronoun refers) in gender, number, and case. You can see those rules spelled out in our blue grammar book on pages Study the chart below (or the blue book chart # 123 and 124), but for now IGNORE the 3rd person pronouns. We don't need to worry about those just yet.

For fun, we parsed and translated Exercise #148 together as a class, and we discussed presenting this work as a "play" during our end-of-the-year ceremony and celebration. 

As a reminder, I returned the quiz on the four principal parts of a Latin verb. Everyone did well..be sure to look at their quiz. 

BONUS POINT: Find one English word derived from a Latin stem and bring it to share with the class on Wednesday.

LOGIC/MATH

We had no new math terms this week.

Each week we will continue to review the previous weeks' concepts through dialectic discussion with the problems brought in by each student.  In each problem we work through,  we will ask the same questions (based on the 5 common topics.)  The students are beginning to lead the discussions.  
Again,  we focused on showing our work - talking about "math sentences" and each individual step in solving/evaluating a problem.  


BONUS POINT: Bring in a math problem from their homework to explain to the class.

**Students should bring in a problem from their math lesson to share (can be one they struggled with; one they think will stump the class or anything they found interesting & would like to share & explain)  This will help them be rhetorical!!

LTW

We had fun with LTW this week. This was our final week studying A Gathering of Days, and we I introduced metaphors. They are very similar to similes with one exception: metaphors DO NOT use the words "like" or "as" when making a comparison. Here are some examples of similes and metaphors:

Life is like a box of chocolates. (Simile)
My life is an open book. (Metaphor)
That baby is as cute as a button! (Simile)
Baby, you’re a firework. (Metaphor)

We played an "I Have, Who Has..." game to reinforce the differences between the two tropes and everyone did great! They should have no trouble creating their OWN metaphors to add to their essays this week.

At home, please use the metaphor pages in your student workbook to assist in creating an appropriate metaphor for your essay. You only need ONE metaphor! Complete your essay on the issue you selected from A Gathering of Days and be prepared to share it aloud with your classmates on Wednesday. Also, don't forget to read Crispin: Cross of Lead, as we will be discussing it in class.

For fun, check out this video which explains the differences between similes and metaphors:

BONUS POINT: Find a simile or metaphor in Scripture and bring to share with the class on Wednesday.

GEOGRAPHY

This week was our fourth full week studying Africa. I introduced Central Africa, which includes the countries of:

Cameroon (Yaounde)

Central African republic (Bangui)

Equatorial Guinea (Malabo)

Sao Tome and Principe (Sao Tome ) 

Gabon ( Libreville) 

Congo Republic ( Brazzaville) 

Congo Democratic Republic  ( Kinshasa)

 Angola (Luanda)

Namibia (Windhock)

These are the purple countries on your map and you will need to practice, practice, practice this week at home. Students should bring in maps that they've drawn.  They'll show the class their best map. 

In addition to drawing their maps and drilling their memory work, your child should define and illustrate the new geography vocabulary words this week:

STEPPE

STRAIT

STREAM

SUMMIT

SWAMP

****Remember that at the end of the year we will be drawing the world - states, countries features - everything from memory.  Students need to continue to draw areas they've been tested on.   (They can draw on the large laminated maps I gave them at the beginning of the year).  The more they draw the better they'll get - the more they will be able to remember.

Suggestions for parents @ home:  Drill student on provinces & capitals as well as geography terms.  Check daily drawings for accuracy & labeling.  Be sure students continue to draw previous geographic areas - adding them to new areas.  Continue to drill previous states & capitals and/or countries & capitals (it is suggested that they make flashcards for review).

RESEARCH/SCIENCE

This week, we started with a short quiz on the skin. I have evaluated them and will return them next week.

After everyone's presentations on the skeleton (which were very informative!!) I introduced the brain. 

At home, students will need to define the new terms, and DRAW, DRAW, DRAW!!  They need to be drawing the system every day - at least twice per day -  and labeling it.  The brain is one of the more simple body systems to draw this year, so I think that there may be some temptation to not work as diligently on the drawings this week. Please use the extra time that you have to practice drawing and labeling the skeleton.  After the first few days of drawing, they need to "test" themselves by drawing & labeling it from memory.   In addition to drawing the brain, students will need to continue to draw the skeleton in preparation for the quiz next week.  Try drawing from memory only as if testing to see what's missing.  The quiz on the skeleton will be next week.

STUDENTS SHOULD BRING IN THEIR DRAWINGS TO CLASS.

As you are researching for this week's presentation, here are a few websites that may be helpful:

http://www.amnh.org/education/resources/rfl/web/brainguide/resources.php

Or try this "Brain Game"

Suggestions for parents @ home:  Check students drawings daily.  "Test" by having them draw from memory several times, ensuring they have all elements & it is correctly labeled. Also, have them practice their presentations by reading their reports to you this week.

RHETORIC

This seminar is turning into so much fun! The discussion between all the kids is blessing me and I am so happy to see them growing in knowledge and common sense. :)

We discussed the "Faulty Appeal to Authority" and "Appeal to the People" fallacies, which are so relevant right now in light of the presidential election. 

Suggestions for parents @ home:  Discuss chapters 12-14 in The Fallacy Detective. Watch a presidential debate and try to identify the fallacies that any candidate uses while attempting to make their point. Drill all catechism questions (remember they must be able to state word for word).

BONUS POINT: Find one example of a fallacy that we have studied and bring it to class on Wednesday.