We began class with some discussion about the elections. I wanted to give the students some time to process their thoughts in writing. I've found that many times thoughts and emotions rumble around inside, and the process of writing about them not only helps to bring clarity but to gives room for the Lord to speak to us as we write.
Before we began writing, I spoke a bit about the need to hear from the Lord about our individual roles in this wonderful country of ours. Where should we serve? Who are the needy and broken for whom we can be the hands and feet of Jesus? In the book of Luke, the work and gospel of Jesus is often expressed of in term of peace. Peace, not anger that responds to hatred that is responding to more hatred, is our calling from the Lord. OK, now I shall get off my soapbox. I am so grateful to have the class of thoughtful homeschool students whom I can encourage in the Lord!
For the Quick Write, students could write about the election, Veteran's Day (November 11), the anniversary of the founding of the Marine Corps (November 10, 1775), or marshmallows vs. popcorn.
Our Words of the Day came from my book of foreign words and phrases:
lasagne-- fr. Latin, lasanus, chamber pot -- a one-dish, layered pasta meal with strips of pasta, meat, cheese, and tomato sauce
laudator temporis acti-- Latin -- a praiser of times past; one who loves the "good old days"
Laus Deo-- Latin -- "Praise be to God"
While the students are busily writing their Quick Writes, heads down and focused on their papers, I hand out corrected homework, which we discuss after we've discussed the Quick Writes and Words of the Day. This week I gave to each of the students a print out from My GradeBook of their scores up to this point. The Overall Summary can be a misleading score due to the challenge of giving the adequate number of points or accurately weighting the variety of assignments. Look at the individual categories to see how your student is doing in that area of the class. My main purpose for handing out this information was for students to see if they are missing any work. Any zeros represent homework that hasn't been handed in. I accept any late work without penalty up until the last day of class. Below is an example of the grid that I will send out at the end of the semester. I will explain more about grades and my philosophy for grading when I send out individual grades.
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They have handed in the Final Drafts of their Extended Definitions or Classification Essays, so we are moving on to the next writing assignment. For these next essays, they are to write a Comparison/Contrast Essay. These essays are to be thesis-driven papers; in other words, they need to not only give me factual information, but they need to express some stand or opinion about the comparisons that they are doing. They have the next week for Pre-Writing work: researching, brainstorming, and outlining.
Students were also giving a Take Home Final for A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The front page has 12 multiple choice questions, and on the back students can choose one of the essay questions to answer. For next week, we will have our "Baseball in King Arthur's Court" final. They have provided the questions and answers for these.
We closed our our class time with a brief discussion about Run-on Sentences and Comma Splice Sentences. These errors in writing probably account for half of the writing errors found in student essays. They have 4 worksheets as homework.
Assignments for Next Week:
-- Baseball Questions (e-mailed in if you didn't hand them in during class)
-- A Connecticut Yankee Take Home Final Exam
-- Pre-Write of Comparison/Contrast Essay
-- 4 Grammar Worksheets
Links for this Week:
Class Notes
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Prichard
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