The Virginia Creeper Trail

Almost every year, we take a family trip to Damascus, VA and ride the Virginia Creeper Trail. No, this is not a creepy, scary ride :)

Revolution Lapbook

The boys and I worked on an American Revolution lapbook in August and September to help us learn the events leading up to and including the Revolutionary War. We worked on it a little bit during every school day and took turns researching different topics and events and adding them to the finished product.

Guest Blog: 5 Things 9th Graders Need to Know

I read this blog today and loved it!! From 7sistershomeschool.com. Check them out!

I was working with a group of homeschool 9th graders recently. They were sitting bright-eyed and nervous on their first day of group classes. Their first day in high school. Big stuff!

9th Graders Need to Know

I asked them why they were here.

“To learn”

“To take some classes my mom didn’t want to teach”

“Because it’s fun to be in this group”

I asked why they were here on earth.

*nervous silence*

I rephrased: What is God’s purpose for you?

*worried silence*

Many 9th graders haven’t given life after high school much thought- maybe just enough thought to be stressed about it. Some worry that they are pointless beings, not-good-enough, or don’t matter.

So I went ahead and told them the answer:

“God never makes a mistake. He has you here on earth for a purpose. He has a story He is writing in your life. He will use you to write His story in the lives of others. Homeschool high school is the perfect time to prepare yourself to be in that story:

-Learn how He made you (the things you’re good at, the things that make your feel like you’ve done well or been a blessing)

-Learn how to use words so that you can explain things (like life, the Gospel, friendship, etc.) to others

-Learn how to balance hard work (like studying boring or difficult subjects), fun, and self-care

-Learn to treat yourselves and others well

-Learn how to accept that you matter, you have a purpose.”

There were some sighs of relief and smiles.

We’ve already settled 5 necessary things that 9th graders need to know.

- See more at: http://7sistershomeschool.com/9th-graders-need-to-know/#sthash.kbLYnAwq.dpuf

Beefing Up Sixth Grade

Here is a great article I read recently which was written by Courtney Sanford of Classical Conversations. It details some ways to "beef up" the Foundations work for 6th graders who have already completed several years of Foundations and Essentials. Get ready, Brady!

In more and more Classical Conversations communities, sixth graders start their final year in Foundations already knowing a lot of the memory work. Many of these students began Foundations sitting on mom’s lap and soaking up the timeline cards as early as age three. How do we keep them engaged through Foundations and prepare them for Challenge A?

Lab Reports

Here is an outline for your students on how to write up a lab report from a science experiment. We attempt about 3-4 science experiments every week at my house. We write up an informal and brief outline for each. But I only require a formal lab report as outlined below on one experiment each month. This frequency may change as the kids grow older.

Heading: Title Experiment # Date Your Name Name of group members Instructor’s name Purpose: State the purpose of the experiment in one or two sentences. What is the goal of the exploratory process stated as specifically as possible.

King Protista

Here is a fun skit that a fellow tutor put together to introduce the lesser known of the five kingdoms -- Protista.
Enjoy!!

Protozoa & Algae Skit:

King Protista: Hi! I am King Protista! All: Hi! What do you mean by King Protista? King Protista: Well I’m in charge of the kingdom called Protista and I have 2 groups I supervise that I just love! All: What are they? King Protista: They are Protozoa and Algae. Let me introduce you to protozoa.

Stylish Schemes

So you've probably heard of alliteration and parallelism. But what about chiasmus (chiasmi?) and epistrophes?

In the Challenge writing program, the Lost Tools of Writing, there are three steps to writing an essay:
1. Invention
2. Arrangement
3. Elocution

There are two more steps to make up the full 5 Canons of Rhetoric (Memory and Delivery) but we are focusing here on the writing part, the first three steps only.

So the 3rd step is elocution and that is when we get to add our personal style to the essay. Some of the styles we can add to an essay are called schemes and tropes.
Schemes are an appeal to the senses.