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June 1st 2009

Elective

Time: 80 min

A Local Study of Mountain Lake

Reflection

For our lake study today, we went with the Important Bird and Birding Area coordinator, Cristina Frank, who offered to show us some of the different restoration areas they have been working on. First, we went down to an area near the canal, where unfortunately for the wildlife, the government has permission to dump all the salty mud from the bottom of the canal, to keep it clean and allow ships to pass through. The Phragmities is very bad there, as the mud dumping has thrown all other plant life out of whack. We saw a beautiful little butterfly land on a leaf. Next, we went to the beach, which was very calm and peaceful. Some laughing gulls flew overhead. After that, we went to Jack's place. Jack is a farmer who has has taken part in the NJ Audubon Habitat Restoration Program. This includes planting warm-season native grasses and delaying mowing another field until after July 1st in order to allow butterflies to reach maturity. He farms salt hay, and has an osprey nest on his farm. It was very nice, if a bit buggy, and we saw a lot of red-winged blackbirds. Lastly, we went to the beach, where we saw some Willets, Oyster Catchers, Piping plovers, a Herring Gull and Laughing Gulls. We also went to a little beach and saw a Black-Crowned Night Heron, a juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron and some River Otters, which were very cute!

All of the vacation photos for the other days:

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/Vacations/2009/CapeMaySpring2009/

Resources

Miss Cristina Frank

Restoration Areas

Birds

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June 2nd 2009

Physical Fitness

Time: 120 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We rode our bikes to the beach and around town. It was hot!

Resources

Bicycles

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June 3rd 2009

Physical Fitness

Time: 120 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We went for a walk around Leamings Run Garden, a beautiful collection of gardens and a self-sufficient homestead. We saw many plants and a fine collection of farm animals, including Guinea Hens and a Turkey.

Resources

Bicycles

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June 6th 2009

Math

Time: 70 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching lesson thirteen of my Basic Math course, which was on practical applications of percents, decimals and fractions. Most of the problems were easy, and even though one seemed hard, it was only because I added something instead of subtracting it!

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Basic Math

My Dad

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June 7th 2009

Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We went for a walk down the road and through the woods.

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June 8th 2009

Elective

Time: 120 min

A Local Study of Mountain Lake

Reflection

For our Study of Mountain Lake today, we began by playing a short game to show some different types of non-point source pollution. Then we headed down to a brook that feeds Mountain Lake to test its water quality. We started by looking at the turbidity of the water (how clear it was), the temperature, the dissolved oxygen and the pH (acidity). From that, we drew a hypothesis that our water quality was pretty good, and we proved that by looking for macro-invertebrates that are sensitive to pollution. Lastly, we went to another location on the same brook, that went by a building site, and found that the water quality wasn't good. After that, we headed back.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/MountainLakeProject/WatershedAmbasadorReturns/

Resources

My Mom

Miss Debbie

Other students

Miss Marykathryn Kopec

River

Equipment

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June 9th 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and worked on my piano lesson for today. I worked on Calypso Holiday, and a song that I made up.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We went for a walk down the road and through the woods. It was wet but warm.

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English

Time: 30

Creative Writing

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogJune2009/NatureJournalJune8.pdf

Resources

My Computer

Weather Station

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on a few exercises in our Voila! CD and Book.

Resources

Voila! Course

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June 10th 2009

Math

Time: 70 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching lesson fourteen of my Basic Math Course, which was on ratios and proportions. It was a very good lesson, and helped me to remember what ratios and proportions are. When I finished the video, I did the lesson in the book.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Basic Math

My Dad

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Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on a few exercises in our Voila! CD and Book.

Resources

Voila! Course

---

Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We went for a walk at the Pequest Fish Hatchery. It was wet but warm.

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English

Time: 30

Creative Writing

Reflection

I wrote book reviews of the Sorceress and Sure Fire.

Resources

My Computer

---

English

Time: 30

Creative Writing

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogJune2009/NatureJournalJune10.pdf

Resources

My Computer

Weather Station

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Science

Time: 120 min

Physical Science

Reflection

For our science today, we started by doing a quick revision of what we learned so far in the previous lessons. Then we talked a bit more about the sun and the energy it gives out. We did some equations to find how much energy per cubic inch it gives off (it's 1400/cubic inch). We also discussed more solar stuff, and learned how light can be focused enough to burn something to ashes (which we didn't actually do, of course!). Lastly, we constructed a solar car, and discussed what we would like to do in our following lessons.

Resources

My Dad

My Notebook

Solar Kit

Other Students

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June 11th 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and worked on my piano lesson for today. I worked on Calypso Holiday, and a song that I made up.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We went for a walk down the road and through the woods. It was wet.

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English

Time: 30

Creative Writing

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogJune2009/NatureJournalJune11.pdf

Resources

My Computer

Weather Station

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on a writing exercise in our Voila! CD and Book.

Resources

Voila! Course

---

Physical Fitness

Time: 90 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

I vacuumed the entire house, ceiling to floor.

---

Math

Time: 90 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching lesson fifteen of my Basic Math Course, which was on exponents and the order of operations. After I finished the video, I did the lesson in the book. There were some horrible equations in the book, but I solved them all.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Basic Math

My Dad

---

English

Time: 120 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

I went to a play-writing workshop tonight. We had many of the same people from the last play-writing class, and we all got on very well. We started out by doing a fun exercise where we wrote down two characters, one place, one prop, and one topic and put them in the middle. We then drew two of other people's characters and one of everything else from the pile randomly, and wrote a short scene using those characters. It was a lot of fun! After we had all read our scenes, Georgie told us about her fairy book she is being commissioned to write and I shared the first chapter of my story. Everyone liked it!

Resources

Miss Morales

Other Playwrights

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June 12th 2009

Elective

Time: 60 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French lesson today, we went to our French teacher, Miss Marie's, house. We listened to some French dialogues that were based around ordering food in a restaurant, learned some new words, and learned a little bit about what you would need to know if you went on a trip to France. Sadly, this was our last lesson with Miss Marie, as she is moving!

Resources

Miss Marie

Voila! CD and Book

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Community Service

Time: 30 min

Community Service

Reflection

I started my work at the library by checking all the DvDs? , numbers 1-1100, to their cards.

Resources

Librarians

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and worked on my piano lesson for today. I worked on Calypso Holiday, and a song that I made up.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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June 13th 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I went to my piano recital, where I played Calypso Holiday. Mr Tom and my parents said that I did well!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Other Students

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June 15th 2009

Elective

Time: 120 min

A Local Study of Mountain Lake

Reflection

For our Study of Mountain Lake today, we went to Merrill Creek Reservoir for a wetland study day. We started out with a quick talk about metamorphosis by our naturalist, Jane, who explained the life cycle of a dragonfly to us. Then we headed down to the reservoir where we got nets and explored the water for creatures that would tell us its water quality. We found frogs and tadpoles (and a leach!) and many other water creatures. After that, we headed to the stream where we saw a Cranefly larvae and some salamanders. Mostly I just had a lot of fun looking for critters in the water. I really enjoyed the day!

Resources

My Mom

Other students

Miss Jane Bullis

River and Reservoir

Equipment

---

Elective

Time: 180 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and worked on some songs in my Anvil Studio program, using the layering techniques that my piano teacher, Mr Tom, taught me.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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June 16th 2009

Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We went for a walk down the road and through the woods.

---

Elective

Time: 60 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I worked on the tight sketch for one of my Terror of Porridge pictures.

Resources

Computer

Light Box

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Math

Time: 90 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching lesson sixteen of my Basic Math Course, which was on addition and subtraction with integers. It was very interesting, but quite easy. I finished it easily.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Basic Math

My Dad

---

Elective

Time: 60 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I worked with my art teacher, Mr Pete, on the artwork for my Terror of Porridge book. Today I finished one picture and started on the tight sketch for another. Only two more to go!

Resources

Computer

Light Box

Mr Pete

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June 17th 2009

Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We went for a walk down the road and through the woods. We saw the first Monarch butterfly of the spring!

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Science

Time: 120 min

Physical Science

Reflection

For our electronics class today, we started by looking at some old PC power supplies, and discussing how we were going to modify them into general power supplies. We then began by dismantling them, drilling holes for the terminal posts, which will allow us to attach wires to the power supply. After that, we soldered the insides together, and finished up. We will finish mine later, as I had to dismantle it when I accidentally soldered someone else's top to it.

Resources

My Dad

My Notebook

PC Power Supplies

Other Students

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June 18th 2009

Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We went for a walk down the road and through the woods. It was pouring with rain!

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Math

Time: 90 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching lesson seventeen of my Basic Math course, which was on multiplication and division of integers. It also introduced square roots. It was a lot of fun and I learned quite a bit. When I was done, I did the lesson in the book and moved on to the next video, which was on negative and fractional powers, and worked in the book to complete 12 of the 20 problems.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Basic Math

My Dad

---

Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

I vacuumed the entire house, ceiling to floor.

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June 19th 2009

Math

Time: 90 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by finishing up the lesson in the book for video 18, which was relatively easy after I grasped the concepts, and then moved on to watching video lessons 19 and 20, which were on Geometry 1 and Geometry 2. They were very good, and after I learned the formulas, the lessons in the book were very easy.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Basic Math

My Dad

---

June 20th 2009

Math

Time: 60 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching video 21 of my Basic Math course, which was on graphing in the Coordinate plane. It was very good, and when I was done, I did the lesson in the book.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Basic Math

My Dad

---

Elective

Time: 240 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and worked on some songs in my Anvil Studio program, using the layering techniques that my piano teacher, Mr Tom, taught me.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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June 21st 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I worked with Mr Tom on my piano lesson for today. We studied some different styles of music, including game music. It was very inspiring and I have almost finished my main composition!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We went for a walk down the road and through the woods. It was threatening rain.

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Elective

Time: 240 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and worked on some songs in my Anvil Studio program, using the layering techniques that my piano teacher, Mr Tom, taught me.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogJune2009/rain.mp3

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogJune2009/legion.mp3

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogJune2009/HereBeDragons-TitleSong.mp3

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogJune2009/TheDarkLord.mp3

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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June 22nd 2009

Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We went for a walk down the road and through the woods. It was nice but overcast.

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Elective

Time: 240 min

A Local Study of Mountain Lake

Reflection

Today we worked on the scrapbook for our Mountain Lake Project. It was quite an intensive affair, as it had to look good as well as convey the information we learned. I was mainly drawing pictures in the GIMP and correcting and copying out people's documents as well as doing a bit of scrapbooking. It was fun!

Resources

Other Students

My Mom

Miss Bobbie

Materials

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June 23rd 2009

Math

Time: 60 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching video 22 of my Basic Math course, which was on number theory. It was very good, and when I was done, I did the lesson in the book.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Basic Math

My Dad

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June 24th 2009

Science

Time: 120 min

Physical Science

Reflection

For our science today, we started by watching a quick presentation on MIDI and its many uses. We learned about what MIDI was originally designed to do, how we can use it and its standardization. Then we delved into how the MIDI cables send data through to and from the instrument and the computer. Finally, we got to play around with the keyboard and the computer and make our own songs!

Resources

My Dad

My Notebook

MIDI keyboard and Cable

Other Students

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Community Service

Time: 60 min

Community Service

Reflection

I worked at the games table at our archery program, playing games and giving people something cerebral to do while not doing archery.

Resources

Games

Players

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June 25th 2009

Math

Time: 70 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching video 23 of my Basic Math course, which was on number patterns. It was very good, and when I was done, I did the lesson in the book.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Basic Math

My Dad

---

Physical Fitness

Time: 90 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

I vacuumed the entire house, ceiling to floor.

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June 26th 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today we cooked Quinoa Cookies, which were delicious. I didn't mess up the Xanthum gum this time, and it was all fine.

Resources

My Mom

Ingredients

Recipe

Kitchen Utensils

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Math

Time: 60 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching video 24 of my Basic Math course, which was on more number patterns. It was very good, and when I was done, I did the lesson in the book.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Basic Math

My Dad

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June 27th 2009

Physical Fitness

Time: 90 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We went for a walk at Martin's Creek.

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June 29th 2009

Math

Time: 60 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching video 25 of my Basic Math course, which was on statistics. It was very good, and when I was done, I did the lesson in the book.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Basic Math

---

Community Service

Time: 120 min

Community Service

Reflection

This afternoon we went bird banding at the Pequest Fish Hatchery with Mr Jim. He is a qualified bird bander, and brought his kit so that we could band some of the bluebird and tree swallow chicks in the bird boxes around the hatchery. And so we did. The chicks were really cute, and I go to hold a few in my hand. I had a good time and learned a lot.

Resources

Mr Jim

Miss Liz

Miss Jessica

Birds

Bands

Other Students

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English

Time: 30

Creative Writing

Reflection

I wrote book reviews of The Floods and Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow.

Resources

My Computer

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June 30th 2009

Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We went for a walk down the road and through the woods.

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Math

Time: 60 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching video 26 of my Basic Math course, which was on probability. It was very good, and when I was done, I did the lesson in the book.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Basic Math

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-- JackW - 02 Jun 2009