March the 1st 2010

Elective

Time: 60 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read part of a book entitled The Clipper Ship Strategy, which was on Ponzi schemes and accidental hot spots.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

The Clipper Ship Strategy

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Math

Time: 90 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching videos 1 and 2 of my Algebra 2 course. Lesson 1 was just an introduction, and lesson 2 was on adding, subtracting and multiplying polynomials. I didn't get to work on the lesson in the book today, as I didn't have time.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

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English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a chilly walk under a bright blue sky. Clouds drifted quite fast across the sky, as the wind up above must have been blowing even harder than the wind at our level. And that's saying something, as it was quite windy while we were walking. The snow shone brightly in the sun, but apart from tracks of deer in the field, we didn't see any evidence of animals. It was a nice, if wildlife-free walk.

Resources

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we finished the ninth lesson of our new french course, Fluenz. We worked on the question "Where are you from?"

Resources

Fluenz French

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I played my song Musette on the piano and made some music in Notion 3.

Resources

Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4

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Social Studies

Time: 90

A Study of Physical and Political Geography

Reflection

For our Study of Physical and Political Geography today, we had a field trip. Everyone in the group headed over to What In The World, where Al, the store's co-owner (he and his wife Vicki run it) showed us around. It really is a great little store, packed to the gills with local and fair trade items. Then, when everyone had arrived, Al gave a short talk about why he started What In The World, and what his goals are. After that, we all got to ask our questions, which had mostly been answered by his talk. However, we still had some left to ask. Lastly, we had a look around the shop, and I purchased a great treble clef clip! I had a wonderful time, and I definitely recommend What In The World.

Resources

Get It! Geography Course

My Mom and Dad

Other Students

Al and Vicki

What In the World

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Elective

Time: 60 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by writing the next scene for my play. The plot grows thicker...

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/Actinghomework6.pdf

Resources

My Computer

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Social Studies

Time: 100 min

United States History

Reflection

For my United States History Study today, we watched Run Silent, Run Deep, a movie about submarine warfare between the Americans and the Japanese in World War II. The story (which is fictional) concerns a captain who's submarine is blown up in the Bungo Straights, and who was the only survivor of the explosion. An elusive Japanese warship seems to have been behind the sinking of his sub, and many others in the area. Desperate for another chance to take on the Japanese again, he makes his case to the officials at Pearl Harbor and takes over another submarine. However, the man who was going to be captain of that submarine isn't to happy to find his position usurped, and the crew are frightened to learn that they are going to be heading near the terrifying graveyard that is the Bungo Straights. After days of strange exercises, learning to fire while submerging, the crew begins to figure it out: the captain wants to take on his old enemy again, and he is willing to risk all their lives to do so.

Despite the fact that the special effects were obviously made in a bathtub with models, this was an amazingly tense and satisfying film. I enjoyed it immensely, and it put a different perspective on the sea war between the Americans and the Japanese in WWII.

Resources

Run Silent, Run Deep

My Mom and Dad

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March the 2nd 2010

Elective

Time: 40 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read part of a book entitled The Clipper Ship Strategy, which was on the Super Clipper Strategy and hollow cones. I also read a bit more about Ponzi schemes. Here is some of what I learned.

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that basically pays investors with their own money or the money of subsequent investors. It never has to generate any profits and the only person who comes out ahead is the person who started the scheme, if he doesn't get caught, of course. Ponzi schemes will eventually collapse under their own weight, but are usually discovered by the government before that happens. However, Bernard Madoff managed to delude both the government and his investors for a long time, and his variant of the Ponzi Scheme stands as the largest financial investor fraud in history committed by a single person.

Ponzi schemes (also known as Pyramid schemes) are named after Charles Ponzi, who became notorious for using the technique in early 1920. He had emigrated from Italy to the United States in 1903. Ponzi did not invent the scheme, but his operation took in so much money that it was the first to become known throughout the United States. He nearly got away with it, too! He was, however, eventually caught by the US government, was deported from the US because he wasn't a citizen, and died a poor man in Italy.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

The Clipper Ship Strategy

Wickepedia

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Math

Time: 40 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by working in the lesson in the book for video 2, which was on adding, subtracting and multiplying polynomials.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

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Social Studies

Time: 90 min

United States History

Reflection

For my United States History Study today, I worked on the second lesson on the Liberty! website, which tested what I learned from the video. I answered the rest of the questions and made a comparison between the Declaration of Independence and several other works.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/AmericanRevolution2.pdf

Resources

Liberty! website

My Mom

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English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a chilly walk under a bright blue sky. Clouds drifted slowly across the sky, and the wind was chilly but thankfully slower than yesterday. The sun shone brightly down on us, warming up my ears and the back of my neck. We did see some wildlife today! Some little birds, including sparrows and a tufted titmouse, flew around us and through the trees, squeaking happily.

Resources

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we listened to the third podcast for Fluenz French, our French course. It covered everything we learned in lessons 7, 8 and 9.

Resources

Fluenz French

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Elective

Time: 45 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I played my song Musette on the piano and made some music in Notion 3.

Resources

Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4

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Social Studies

Time: 165 min

United States History

Reflection

For my United States History Study today, several other students and I gathered together at Shippen Manor Historical Museum, where Mr Andy, the curator, discussed the revolutionary war, its causes and its effects.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/RevolutionaryWarTalk.pdf

Resources

My Andy Drysdale

My Mom and Dad

Paper and Pencils

Other Students

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Elective

Time: 60 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I began by working on making some corrections to my Terror of Porridge book on Pete's computer. I then worked on my gargoyle painting. Today, we working on adding lights and shadows to the gargoyle's head.

Resources

Computer

Paints

Brushes

Mr Pete

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March the 3rd 2010

Elective

Time: 40 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read part of a book entitled The Clipper Ship Strategy, which was on how to profit from hotspots and how to avoid mini-depressions.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

The Clipper Ship Strategy

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English

Time: 20 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book, using the prefixes ceed-, cede-, ced-, cess- and migr- to complete some sentences.

Resources

Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book

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English

Time: 30 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

For my Creative Writing today, I wrote a book review of Unseen Academicals.

Resources

My Computer

Unseen Academicals by Terry Prachet

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Math

Time: 90 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 3, which was on factoring polynomials and was quite tricky.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

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English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a chilly walk under a dull, cloud-filled sky. The sky was full of gray stratus clouds that drifted slowly across and rolled around themselves. There may have been some snow falling lightly, or that might have just been blowing up from the snow already on the ground. We did see quite a few birds this morning, including a tufted titmouse, some sparrows and some crows.

Resources

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the tenth lesson of our new french course, Fluenz. We worked on possessive words today.

Resources

Fluenz French

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Science

Time: 45 min

Human Anatomy and Biology

Reflection

In our Human Anatomy and Biology Lesson today, we studied the major areas of our brain's Central Nervous System. First, we watched a video on these areas and then I answered two questions to see what I had learned.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/brain2.pdf

Resources

My Computer

My Mom

Teaching Company Human Anatomy and Biology DVD

Teaching Company Understanding the Brain DVD

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Science

Time: 120 min

Physical Science

Reflection

In our Physical Science Class today, we started off by introducing everyone, as we had two new students today, Amy and Ashlei. The reason for this is that we are starting a new class on light! The workbook was nicely laid out and illustrated with a short comic strip before each chapter. Anyway, we started with a little look at the history of research into light. Issac Newton believed that light was like particles, which makes sense for shadows but didn't make sense for some things. Even so, his theory remained for hundreds of years before being replaced with the theory of light waves. After that, we did the first experiment, which was to build a spectrometer, a device that can split up light into its spectrum. It was really cool to see the spectrum of light! When we had finished that, we studied how, when light is projected through many slots, it spreads out and when it hits a wall, will create a pattern of light and dark points based on where the light waves were in and out of sync, respectively. And that was our final experiment! We shone a laser through several strips of cloth, which had a different number of threads per centimeter to create points of light on the wall that were progressively further apart. Then we used the number of threads per centimeter, the distance between the points and the distance between the cloth and the wall to calculate the laser light's wavelength. We will finish up our work on this problem next time.

Resources

My Science Book

Charts

Computer

My Dad

My Partners, Nathaniel, Amy and Ashlei

Light Kit

Materials

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Elective

Time: 60 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I played my song Musette on the piano and made some music in Notion 3.

Resources

Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4

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March the 4th 2010

Elective

Time: 40 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read part of a book entitled The Clipper Ship Strategy, which was on how to predict hotspots and follow them, and included a couple of examples of historical hotspots.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

The Clipper Ship Strategy

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English

Time: 45 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Language is Served grammar book. I worked on an exercise where I tried to use as many words starting with S as I could in a short story. I will finish it tomorrow.

Resources

Language is Served Grammar Book

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Math

Time: 90 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 4, which was on solving linear equations and was pretty easy.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

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English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a chilly but dry walk down the road. The wind was blowing quite fast down where we were, but didn't seem to be blowing the clouds that much overhead. The clouds really were quite spectacular today, some looking like flying mountain ranges in the distance. They were even prettier when I got up this morning though, with the red remnants of the sunrise showing through. There weren't that many birds around today, just some jays and a crow.

Resources

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the tenth lesson of our new french course, Fluenz. We worked on possessive words today.

Resources

Fluenz French

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Science

Time: 120 min

Human Anatomy and Biology

Reflection

In our Human Anatomy and Biology Lesson today, we studied the physiology of the small intestine, colon and rectum. To start with, we watched a video lecture about the physiology of these areas. After that, I answered two questions about those areas, and moved on to our new course on the brain, which was about the internal organization of the central nervous system today. I answered the questions in the book, which were very interesting.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/anatomycourse_Intestine2.pdf http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/brain3.pdf

Resources

My Computer

My Mom

Teaching Company Human Anatomy and Biology DVD

Teaching Company Understanding the Brain DVD

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by singing the songs One Short Day and Seize the Day for my singing class.

Resources

My Computer

---

Elective

Time: 60 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I played my song Musette on the piano, made some music in Notion 3 and finished a song for Tom.

Resources

Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4

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March the 5th 2010

Elective

Time: 40 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read part of a book entitled The Clipper Ship Strategy, which was on how to know whether you are working in a deliberate hotspot or an accidental one.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

The Clipper Ship Strategy

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English

Time: 45 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Language is Served grammar book. I finished an exercise where I tried to use as many words starting with S as I could in a short story.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/SatisfyinglySweetandSavory.pdf

Resources

Language is Served Grammar Book

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Math

Time: 90 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 5, which was on solving linear inequalities and was pretty easy.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

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Community Service

Time: 60 min

Community Service

Reflection

I worked at the Selah Adult Day Care Center, where I played Bingo with the members again. They do like playing bingo!

Resources

Selah Day Care Center Helpers

Other Volunteers

Members

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Elective

Time: 150 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I made a picture for the contest Doodle for Google. The theme was "If I could do anything, I would...". I chose "Educate the World", as educating boys and girls across the world could get them out of poverty and slow population growth. I made the picture with my artist's tablet.

Resources

Computer

Artist's Tablet

Doodle for Google website

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Elective

Time: 90 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I worked in Blender 3d and added fur to my bear.

Resources

Computer

Blender 3d

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Elective

Time: 60 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I played my song Musette on the piano and made some music in Notion 3.

Resources

Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4

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Social Studies

Time: 25 min

United States History

Reflection

For my United States History Study today, I read Diary of a Revolutionary War Soldier by Joseph Plumb Martin, who actually was in the revolutionary war.

Resources

Diary of a Revolutionary War Soldier by Joseph Plumb Martin

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March the 6th 2010

Elective

Time: 60 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I finished my picture for the contest Doodle for Google by adding in the google logo on the blackboard. We sent it off today

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/educatetheworld.pdf

Resources

Computer

Artist's Tablet

Doodle for Google website

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Elective

Time: 130 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by walking into my Musical Performance Lab. We began by doing a short warm up, which, as it was singing today, was more to warm up our voices than anything. We played a short singing game where we sang in a round, and another game where we counted without seeing each other, so we wouldn't know when someone was going to say a number (if two people said a number, we had to start over). After that, we finished our song One Short Day, which was quite tricky because we were singing in a harmony. Lastly, the girls sang their song and I sang mine, Seize the Day.

In my Actor Speaks class, which was a full class today, we began by reading through all our scenes where we showed, rather than told, an emotion, and discussed what things we liked and what things we would change. This actually took up most of the class. When we were done with that, we put our scenes into the right order and discussed our homework, which was to write secrets for two of our characters.

Resources

My Teachers

Other Students

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March the 7th 2010

Elective

Time: 30 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I worked with Mr Tom on my piano lesson for today. I showed him some of my songs and we worked on some scales and Musette! We also looked at my progress in Elementary Harmony, and I am moving on to Lesson 4: Tonic and Dominant.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Mr Tom

Notion 3

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Elective

Time: 90 min

Local History Study

For my Local History Study today, I went to a program at the Lower Mount Bethel Welcome Center, which was all about Eastern Native American dress. When we arrived, the presenter, Andrew Forsythe, wearing many of the clothes the Native Americans would have worn after they had encountered the first colonists, welcomed us in and we took a seat in the front row. Laid out on one of the tables was a collection of replica Native American items, many of which Mr Forsythe had made himself. At one-thirty, we got started, and the first thing we were shown in the slideshow that Mr Forsythe had prepared to aid him in his presentation was some beautiful artwork of a group of Native Americans in a meeting. He told us to look beyond it being just a beautiful piece of artwork and showed how the artist had painstakingly researched the types of clothing, hairstyles and accessories that the Native American Indians had. After that, we learned about the different tribes in our area and how there were slight difference in clothing and accessories, as he called them. Also, one of the men in the painting was wearing a necklace of grizzly bear claws, which he must have traded for because grizzly bears don't live here (thank goodness!). When we had done that, we looked at longhouses (which were large enough to support an entire extended family) and other Native American buildings. We saw an artist's interpretation of a native American longhouse village (which was fortified, possibly to stop other people from swooping in and raiding their village), and how the village was placed along a river so that the fields could take advantage of the rich soil there. We also learned how tepees were mass-produced to sell to Native Americans in the 1900s. Then we looked at many other aspects of Native American dress, including the head-dresses (which weren't all big turkey feather affairs), the leggings and, of course, their moccasins. Lastly, we had a little look at what Native Americans would wear in the winter, he showed us some more pictures (one of modern day dress for a powwow), and the audience got a chance to ask questions. After the program finished, we got to take a look at his collection of replica artifacts and then we headed out.

Resources

My Mom

Andy Forsythe

Fred Gast

Replica artifacts

Other Audience Members

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March the 8th 2010

Elective

Time: 40 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read part of a book entitled The Clipper Ship Strategy, which was on how to identify whether a cone is hollow or filled (its actually pretty easy).

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

The Clipper Ship Strategy

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English

Time: 20 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book, using the prefixes sist-, sta-, stab- and stat- to complete some sentences.

Resources

Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book

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Math

Time: 45 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 6, which was on correlation, slopes and intercepts and was very easy.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

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English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a warm, sunny walk down the road. The sky was completely devoid of clouds, just a flat, awesome expanse of blue. The wind was a little bit chilly, but much warmer than it has been, and I didn't have to wear a hat. The sun was warm, and the snow all around us was melting away. We saw a few bluebirds, some sparrows and a turkey vulture soaring quite majestically (for a turkey vulture). We also saw a couple of squirrels and a really cute little chipmunk who posed for a few seconds on some rocks by the road.

Resources

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 300 min

Local History Study

For my Local History Study today, we began by going through our homework from last time, and from the time before, when corrections had to be made. Then we had a look at the soil conservation posters the other students and I had drawn (and in some cases planned). All of them were very good. After that, we had a look at the Growing a Nation presentation on my computer, which told us about the history of agriculture in the United States up to the Great Depression. After that, we got our homework, which was (for me) to answer some questions about the presentation, and had lunch.

After lunch, Mom read us a Native American folk tale, and we looked at some ideas for growing our Native American garden. Then we looked at a time-line of the 1930s and 40s on the Growing a Nation website, and wrote down some questions for Doris, a lady in our neighborhood who was alive during the great depression and grew up on a farm. We walked to her house (she lives just down the street) to interview her, and we got some great information. Then we headed home, and finished up.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/notes.pdf

Resources

Computer

Other Students

My Mom

Doris

Growing a Nation

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Elective

Time: 90 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I played my song Musette on the piano and made some music in Notion 3.

Resources

Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4

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March the 9th 2010

Elective

Time: 30 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read part of a book entitled The Clipper Ship Strategy, which was on how to get names of people who might be interested in your product and on one of the biggest cones and sinkholes: the real estate business.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

The Clipper Ship Strategy

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English

Time: 35 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Language is Served grammar book. I worked on an exercise where I unscrambled 25 of 50 words. I will finish it tomorrow.

Resources

Language is Served Grammar Book

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Math

Time: 45 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 7, which was on the equation of a line and was pretty easy.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

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Elective

Time: 40 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by putting together all the scenes of my play into one document, and writing secrets for two of my characters in my folder.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/playallscenes.pdf

Resources

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we finished the tenth lesson of our new french course, Fluenz. We worked on the question "Where are you from?" and possessive words.

Resources

Fluenz French

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Science

Time: 180 min

Human Anatomy and Biology

Reflection

We started our our Human Anatomy and Biology Lesson today by working on the next two lessons of our course on the brain, which was about the interior anatomy of the brain and the anatomy of the cortex. I answered the questions in the book, which were very interesting. Then we studied the anatomy and physiology of the pituitary and adrenal glands. After that, I answered two questions about those areas. Lastly, I read the introduction to The Human Brain by Rita Carter.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/anatomycourse_Endocrine1.pdf http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/brain4.pdf

Resources

My Computer

My Mom

Teaching Company Human Anatomy and Biology DVD

Teaching Company Understanding the Brain DVD

The Human Brain by Rita Carter

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Local History Study

For my Local History Study today, I answered the first question for my homework, using materials from the Growing a Nation website.

Resources

Computer

Growing a Nation

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Elective

Time: 40 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I played my song Musette on the piano and made some music in Notion 3.

Resources

Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4

---

Elective

Time: 60 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I worked on rescanning some of my Terror of Porridge pictures that appeared jagged in the book, and cleaning them up in Photoshop.

Resources

Computer

My Pete

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March the 10th 2010

Elective

Time: 30 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read part of a book entitled The Clipper Ship Strategy, which was on how to get out of the path of Godzilla (the government).

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

The Clipper Ship Strategy

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English

Time: 35 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Language is Served grammar book. I finished unscrambling the food-related words in the word-scramble exercise.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/foodscramble.pdf

Resources

Language is Served Grammar Book

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Math

Time: 45 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 8, which was graphing linear equations and was pretty easy.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

---

Elective

Time: 80 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I played my song Musette on the piano and made some music in Notion 3.

Resources

Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the eleventh lesson of our new french course, Fluenz. We worked on more possessive words today.

Resources

Fluenz French

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Science

Time: 120 min

Physical Science

Reflection

For our Physical Science class today we started by looking at our work from the last lesson. We had finished up by figuring out the necessary data we needed to calculate the wavelength of a laser shining through different types of cloth. So, to finish that off, we looked at some mathematical calculations which helped to explain the different variables involved, and then put our measurements into a spreadsheet and got the answer. Our answers were thrown off a bit by the fact that the people who made the course had labeled the number of threads per centimeter wrong, but we were able to fix that, and found the wavelength of the laser.

After that, we used that wavelength in a new experiment to find the width of a human hair. We discussed the theory behind what we would be doing, and then took hairs from our heads and taped them across a window in a piece of paper. Then we shone the laser across the hairs and looked at the pattern projected on the far wall, which was like a series of elongated dots. We measured the distance between the dots for all the hairs, then wrote that information down. Parents arrived soon after that and we were forced to finish up.

Resources

My Science Book

Charts

Computer

My Dad

My Partners, Nathaniel, Amy and Ashlei

Light Kit

Materials

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

Local History Study

For my Local History Study today, I answered the second question for my homework, using materials from the Growing a Nation website.

Resources

Computer

Growing a Nation

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March the 11th 2010

Elective

Time: 40 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read part of a book entitled The Clipper Ship Strategy, which was on what things to buy and what to rent.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

The Clipper Ship Strategy

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English

Time: 20 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book, using the prefixes tact-, tang-, tac-, tig-, ten-, tin- and tain- to complete some sentences.

Resources

Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book

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Math

Time: 45 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 9, which was graphing linear inequalities and was pretty easy.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

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English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a warm, sunny walk down the road. There were quite a few clouds and they looked very dark at first, but they opened up and sunlight came through. The wind was warm. There were loads of animals and birds around: a squirrel scampered up a tree when he saw me coming, a mockingbird soared across the road and some bluebirds congregated in the meadow, looking very sleek and thin now that it's warmer and they've smoothed down their feathers.

Resources

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the eleventh lesson of our new french course, Fluenz. We worked on more possessive words today.

Resources

Fluenz French

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Social Studies

Time: 90 min

United States History

Reflection

For my United States History Study today, I worked on the third lesson on the Liberty! website, which tested what I learned from the video. I started by watching a short video about the winter at Jockey Hollow near Morristown, then I read some articles about valley forge and answered six of the questions.

Resources

Liberty! website

My Mom

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by singing the songs One Short Day and Seize the Day for my singing class.

Resources

My Computer

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

Local History Study

For my Local History Study today, I answered the third question for my homework, using materials from the Growing a Nation website.

Resources

Computer

Growing a Nation

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I played my song Musette on the piano and made some music in Notion 3.

Resources

Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4

---

March the 12th 2010

Elective

Time: 30 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I finished a book entitled The Clipper Ship Strategy, which has really given me a good idea of how to profit from the boom and bust cycle. I will read the appendix tomorrow.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

The Clipper Ship Strategy

---

English

Time: 35 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Language is Served grammar book. I wrote a story using some very fishy puns.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/fishypuns.pdf

Resources

Language is Served Grammar Book

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Math

Time: 60 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 10, which was on solving systems of linear equations and was pretty easy.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

---

Community Service

Time: 60 min

Community Service

Reflection

I worked at the Selah Adult Day Care Center, where I played Pocino with the members. It turns out that Pocino is just like bingo!

Resources

Selah Day Care Center Helpers

Other Volunteers

Members

---

Elective

Time: 270 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I went to Mr Bill's house and worked in his shed, putting together hanging signs for his front yard and working on cutting PVC pipes to different lengths and gluing together some corners for his poly tunnel plans!

Resources

Mr Bill

Tools

PVC Pipe

Saws-all

Glue

---

March the 13th 2010

Elective

Time: 135 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by walking into my Musical Performance Lab. We began by doing a short warm up, which, as it was dancing today, was more involved that last time's and involved keeping our backs straight as we did a variety of stretches. Next, we moved straight on to the dance for our song One Short Day. We added a new section today! I think we did pretty good. We also discussed who sang what lines of the the song.

In my Actor Speaks class, which was a full class today, we began by discussing our plays and some of our character's secrets (which was our homework from last time), and then launched into a discussion of our characters and how to make them deeper and more real than they have been. Then we got our homework, to take one of our characters' secrets and write a scene where it gets disclosed. Lastly, the acting class read one of our scenes. They did a great job!

Resources

My Teachers

Other Students

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Social Studies

Time: 90 min

United States History

Reflection

For my United States History Study today, I watched part of a movie called The Roaring Twenties with my mom and dad. It was about prohibition and the gangs and mobs that prospered from it. We will finish it tomorrow.

Resources

The Roaring Twenties

My Parents

---

March the 14th 2010

Elective

Time: 60 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I worked with Mr Tom on my piano lesson for today. I showed him some of my songs and we worked on some scales and Musette! We also looked at my progress in Elementary Harmony, and I am moving on to the next part of Lesson 4: Tonic and Dominant. I also did some composing.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Mr Tom

Notion 3

---

Elective

Time: 60 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I made some illustrations for mom's Wild About Flowers workshop.

Resources

Computer

My Mom

Artists Tablet

---

English

Time: 40 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

For my Creative Writing today, I wrote a book reviews of Atlantis, Luthien's Gamble, Tom Clancy's Endwar and The Spear-wielder's Tale.

Resources

My Computer

Atlantis

Luthien's Gamble

Endwar

The Spearwielder's Tale.

---

Social Studies

Time: 40 min

United States History

Reflection

For my United States History Study today, I finished watching a movie called The Roaring Twenties with my mom and dad. Eddie Bartlet is a WWI veteran who returns to America to find that no one is grateful and no one wants him. His old job at the garage has been taken by someone else while he was gone, and he cannot find work anywhere. Even worse, alcohol has been banned! Still, his brother owns a taxi, and while working with him to earn a bit of money, he is caught with a bottle wrapped in paper that one of his passengers asked him to deliver to Panama Smith, who owns a nightclub. They are both arrested, but while Panama, who deals in liquor all the time, Eddie, who didn't know he was even carrying a bottle, is thrown in jail. When Panama pays his bail, he agrees to go into business with her and soon becomes part of a criminal empire dealing in alcohol. As he grows more powerful, owning his own gang, and the gangsters grow bolder, many horrible scenes occur: shootouts between rival gangs in restaurants, robbery, hijacking, fighting with the police. Eddie soon grows attracted to a girl who wrote to him when he was a soldier, and offers her a higher-paying job singing at Panama's nightclub. It soon becomes obvious to everyone but Eddie that she isn't in love with him, but his handsome lawyer. Meanwhile, Eddie's brash attitude and his anger when he can't get his way isn't making him any friends. How can this end well? You'll have to watch the Roaring Twenties.

Resources

The Roaring Twenties

My Parents

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March the 15th 2010

Elective

Time: 20 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read the appendix of a book entitled The Clipper Ship Strategy. I have now finished the book!

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

The Clipper Ship Strategy

---

English

Time: 20 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book, using the prefixes crac-,cracy-, dom-, feder- and fid- to complete some sentences.

Resources

Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book

---

Math

Time: 60 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 11, which was on solving systems of linear equations using elimination and was pretty easy.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

---

English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a chilly, dreary walk under thick, gray stratus clouds. The sun was not even visible, and the clouds seemed to weigh down on us. It isn't raining though, and that's a good thing. The wind was quite rough this morning, coming in gusts and blowing us around. We heard quite a few birds, and saw some hopping around, although none of them got close enough to identify.

Resources

My Computer

---

Elective

Time: 15 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we finished the eleventh lesson of our new french course, Fluenz. We worked on more possessive words today.

Resources

Fluenz French

---

Social Studies

Time: 120

A Study of Physical and Political Geography

Reflection

For our Study of Physical and Political Geography today, we started by talking a little bit about our field-trip to What in the World last week. Then, we looked at some items that were on the table and tried to figure out where they had originated. We also tried to trace their path from the country where they were grown to America, and figure out what sorts of transportation might have been used. After that, we looked at the paths of flowers, coffee and bananas from the country where they were grown to American, and made a flow chart of that journey. Lastly, we looked at each others' flow charts and got our homework.

Resources

Get It! Geography Course

My Mom

Other Students

Tools

---

Elective

Time: 90 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I played my song Musette on the piano and made some music in Notion 3.

Resources

Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

Local History Study

For my Local History Study today, I answered the fourth question for my homework, using materials from the Growing a Nation website.

Resources

Computer

Growing a Nation

---

March the 16th 2010

Elective

Time: 20 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I wrote a book review of The Clipper Ship Strategy.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

The Clipper Ship Strategy

---

English

Time: 45 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Language is Served grammar book. I worked on an exercise where I combined sentences to make a story more readable.

Resources

Language is Served Grammar Book

---

Math

Time: 90 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 12, which was on solving systems of 3 linear equations using elimination and was pretty easy.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

---

English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a warm but windy walk under a bright blue sky. Fuzzy white clouds drifted slowly overhead, and the sun beat down on us, warming us up. The wind was blowing quite hard today, which made my ears cold, but it still felt pretty warm and Spring-like. We saw quite a few birds today, including some very cute Bluebirds flying about in the field and some sparrows.

Resources

My Computer

---

Elective

Time: 15 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the 12th lesson of our new french course, Fluenz. We worked on aller, which means "to go".

Resources

Fluenz French

---

Social Studies

Time: 40 min

United States History

Reflection

For my United States History Study today, I worked on the third lesson on the Liberty! website, which tested what I learned from the video. I started by reading some articles about Valley Forge and the battle of Princeton, and finished by answering the rest of the questions.

Resources

Liberty! website

My Mom

---

Science

Time: 45 min

Human Anatomy and Biology

Reflection

In our Human Anatomy and Biology Lesson today, we studied the major areas of our brain's cortex and how the two halves our brain are nearly separate entities. First, we watched a video on these areas and then I answered two questions to see what I had learned.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/neuroscience.pdf

Resources

My Computer

My Mom

Teaching Company Understanding the Brain DVD

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

Local History Study

For my Local History Study today, I answered the fifth question for my homework, using materials from the Growing a Nation website.

Resources

Computer

Growing a Nation

---

Social Studies

Time: 15

A Study of Physical and Political Geography

Reflection

For my Study of Physical and Political Geography today, I answered some questions about a flowchart comparing fair-trade and conventional coffee.

Resources

Get It! Geography Course

My Mom

---

March the 17th 2010

Elective

Time: 20 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read two articles on saving money in my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy book.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

---

English

Time: 45 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Language is Served grammar book. I finished on an exercise where I combined sentences to make a story more readable.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/sentences.pdf

Resources

Language is Served Grammar Book

---

Math

Time: 90 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 13, which was on functions and was a bit harder than usual, but I think I got the idea.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

---

Elective

Time: 90 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I played my song Musette on the piano and made some music in Notion 3. I also worked on Tonic and Dominant in my Elementary Harmony book.

Resources

Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4

---

English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a really warm walk under a bright blue sky. The sun was really bright today, and it beat down on us, warming me up to the point where I had to remove my sweatshirt. There were a few clouds in the sky, but they did nothing to cool us down. Despite the fact that it isn't spring yet, it feels very spring-like. We saw some Tufted Titmice, Bluebirds, heard a Catbird and saw a Mockingbird.

Resources

My Computer

---

Elective

Time: 25 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the 12th lesson of our new french course, Fluenz. We worked on aller, which means "to go".

Resources

Fluenz French

---

Science

Time: 120 min

Physical Science

Reflection

For our Physical Science class today we started by looking at our work from the last lesson. We had finished up by figuring out the necessary data we needed to calculate the width of each of our hairs, and so we plugged that data into the spreadsheet and got our answers. Our answers were a bit different from the other group, but they were all in the same ballpark. After that, we started on our new lesson, which was on polarization and tasked us to find out what would happen when two polarized sheets were perpendicular to each other and you put another sheet in at a 45 degree angle. The answer was that it allowed more light to get through the sheet furthest from the light source. We did two experiments, turning different sheets in ten-degree increments, then graphing the results and using the graph of the second experiment to answer a multiple-choice problem. Lastly, we had a little discussion of polarization and then recapped the history of light before finishing up.

Resources

My Science Book

Charts

Computer

My Dad

My Partners, Nathaniel, Amy and Ashlei

Light Kit

Materials

---

Science

Time: 45 min

Human Anatomy and Biology

Reflection

In our Human Anatomy and Biology Lesson today, we studied the development of the human brain. First, we watched a video on this topic and then I answered two questions to see what I had learned, one of which I will need help from my mentor to answer.

Resources

My Computer

My Mom

Teaching Company Understanding the Brain DVD

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

Local History Study

For my Local History Study today, I answered the sixth and last question for my homework, using materials from the Growing a Nation website.

Resources

Computer

Growing a Nation

---

Social Studies

Time: 40 min

United States History

Reflection

For my United States History Study today, I answered two of my mentor Andy's questions on the British Civil War and rights and privileges.

Resources

Liberty! website

My Mom

---

March the 18th 2010

Elective

Time: 10 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read chapter ten of my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy book.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

---

English

Time: 20 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book, using the prefixes dem-, demo-, greg-, hum- and pop- to complete some sentences.

Resources

Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book

---

Math

Time: 90 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 14, which was on quadratic functions and was pretty easy.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

---

English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a warm walk under a bright blue sky, the sun shining clearly and brightly out from behind the clouds. There was very little wind today, and the air felt still and hot. The sky was a brilliant blue, and the cumulus clouds obscured very little of it. We saw quite a few birds today, including a mockingbird, a tufted titmouse and some bluebirds. We also heard a bird "laughing" in the trees.

Resources

My Computer

---

Science

Time: 60 min

Human Anatomy and Biology

Reflection

We started our our Human Anatomy and Biology Lesson today by watching a lecture on the anatomy and physiology of the pancreas, and I answered two questions about this fascinating area.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/anatomycourse_Endocrine2.pdf

Resources

My Computer

My Mom

Teaching Company Human Anatomy and Biology DVD

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

Local History Study

For my Local History Study today, I made some notes on farming from The New England Indians book so that I can write a report on it in the future.

Resources

Computer

The New England Indians by C Keith Wilbur

---

Social Studies

Time: 40 min

United States History

Reflection

For my United States History Study today, I answered two of my mentor Andy's questions, although one of them I will have to think about some more tomorrow.

Resources

Liberty! website

My Mom

---

Elective

Time: 60 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by writing the next scene for my play, which is about Krash's secret.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/Actinghomework7.pdf

Resources

My Computer

---

March the 19th 2010

Elective

Time: 30 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read chapter ten of my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy book and answered some questions about it.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

---

English

Time: 45 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Language is Served grammar book. I worked on an exercise where I answered some food questions using the internet.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/internetfood.pdf

Resources

Language is Served Grammar Book

---

Community Service

Time: 60 min

Community Service

Reflection

I worked at the Selah Adult Day Care Center, where I played Pocino and Left, Right, Center with the members.

Resources

Selah Day Care Center Helpers

Other Volunteers

Members

---

Elective

Time: 210 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I went to Mr Bill's house and worked in the yard, digging three deep holes for Bill to plant trees in. I also learned how to think and solve problems while I work.

Resources

Mr Bill

Tools

---

Elective

Time: 60 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by rewriting the next scene for my play, which is about Krash's secret.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/Actinghomework8.pdf

Resources

My Computer

---

Social Studies

Time: 30 min

United States History

Reflection

For my United States History Study today, I read Diary of a Revolutionary War Soldier by Joseph Plumb Martin, who actually was in the revolutionary war.

Resources

Diary of a Revolutionary War Soldier by Joseph Plumb Martin

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March the 20th 2010

Elective

Time: 135 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by walking into my Musical Performance Lab. We began by doing a short warm up, which, as it was dancing and singing today, involved keeping our backs straight but was shorter than last time. Then, we got our music and sang our One Short Day song, working on the harmonies and remembering what bits came where. After that we began to work on our dance, going over the sections we did last week but changing them for six people, working on a new section, and practicing singing and dancing at the same time.

In my Actor Speaks class, which was just me today, we began by discussing my characters Bobby Krash (I might change the name, because it sounds too much like another character) and Claude. I tried to flesh out both Krash and Claude's back-stories, and make Krash less of a stereotypical villain and more like a real person. Lastly, we read through my scene from last week and finished up.

Resources

My Teachers

Other Students

---

March the 21st 2010

Elective

Time: 60 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I worked with Mr Tom on my piano lesson for today. I showed him some of my songs and we worked on some scales and Musette! We also looked at my progress in Elementary Harmony, and I am moving on to the next part of Lesson 4: Tonic and Dominant. I also did some composing.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Mr Tom

Notion 3

---

Elective

Time: 10 min

Local History Study

For my Local History Study today, I wrote some notes about my experiment to see how things decompose in different substances.

Resources

Pencil

Experiment

---

March the 22nd 2010

English

Time: 20 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book, using the suffixes ible, able, il and ile to complete some sentences.

Resources

Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I played my song Musette on the piano and made some music in Notion 3. I also worked on Tonic and Dominant in my Elementary Harmony book.

Resources

Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4

---

Elective

Time: 300 min

Local History Study

For my Local History Study today, we began by going to a Christmas Tree farm owned by our county's watershed ambassador, whose parents have done a large number of restoration and environmental projects, including restoring a wetland and putting in solar panels. After that, we headed back to our house, where we got a soil sample from the area that will be our garden (in the rain!). Next we sorted out our soil sample, read through our worm homework from last time, and had lunch.

After lunch, we worked through our homework for Growing a Nation, got our new homework and watched the next section of the Growing a Nation slide show. Then we learned a bit more about Native American Farming, and heard a short folk story about a Middle American farmer. After that, we thought of some interview questions for June Cummins and Alberta, two ladies who we'll be interviewing on Wednesday, and finished up.

Resources

Computer

Other Students

My Mom

Lisa Dunne, Watershed Ambassador

Growing a Nation

---

March the 23rd 2010

English

Time: 20 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book, using the suffixes al, ine and ons to complete some sentences.

Resources

Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read chapter ten of my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy book and answered one more question about it.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

---

Math

Time: 90 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 15, which was on various methods for solving quadratic equations and was quite hard.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

My Dad

---

English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a warm walk under a bright blue sky, the sun shining clearly and brightly out from behind the clouds. There were quite a few clouds today, and some of them looked like they might rain, but it hasn't rained yet! The wind was cool and light. It is very humid today, probably from all the rain we've been having. There were quite a few birds about, including a pair of mockingbirds.

Resources

My Computer

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the 12th lesson of our new french course, Fluenz. We worked on aller, which means "to go".

Resources

Fluenz French

---

Social Studies

Time: 150 min

United States History

Reflection

For my United States History Study today, several other students and I gathered together at Shippen Manor Historical Museum, where Mr Andy, the curator, discussed the questions he had posed to us last time, and other topics as they came up.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/revolutionarywar2.pdf

Resources

My Andy Drysdale

My Mom

Paper and Pencils

Other Students

---

Elective

Time: 50 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I worked on rescanning some of my Terror of Porridge pictures that appeared jagged in the book, and cleaning them up in Photoshop.

Resources

Computer

My Pete

---

March the 24th 2010

Elective

Time: 10 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read Nine Myths about the Crash in my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy book.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

---

English

Time: 45 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Language is Served grammar book. I worked on an exercise where I found food words hidden in sentences.

Resources

Language is Served Grammar Book

---

Math

Time: 90 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 16, which was on the universal method for solving quadratic equations and was pretty easy.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

My Dad

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I played my song Musette on the piano and made some music in Notion 3. I also worked on Tonic and Dominant in my Elementary Harmony book.

Resources

Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4

---

Elective

Time: 15 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we finished the 12th lesson of our new french course, Fluenz. We worked on aller, which means "to go".

Resources

Fluenz French

---

Science

Time: 45 min

Human Anatomy and Biology

Reflection

In our Human Anatomy and Biology Lesson today, we studied the glial cells and neurons of the human brain. First, we watched a video on this topic and then I answered two questions to see what I had learned. I also answered the question I had trouble with from last time.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/brain5.pdf

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/brain6.pdf

Resources

My Computer

My Mom

Teaching Company Understanding the Brain DVD

---

Science

Time: 120 min

Physical Science

Reflection

For our Physical Science class today we started by looking at our work from the last lesson. Then we started by looking back at the history of light and the two different theories of light, waves and corpuscles (particles). Einstein and another physicist, working separately, both showed that for glow-in-the-dark materials to glow, light had to have some of the properties of a particle; it just didn't work otherwise. After that, we started on our experiment, which involved, you guessed it, glow in the dark materials. The experiment demonstrated how different colors of light have different frequencies and speeds, therefore, when we put a red cover over our glow-in-the-dark paper, the light had trouble getting through and it didn't glow as much when we turned out the light. After that, we sent off our answers to try and win the prizes offered by the contest! Lastly, we discussed quantum physics and how it has bamboozled physicists for many years.

Resources

My Science Book

Charts

Computer

My Dad

My Partners, Nathaniel, Amy and Ashlei

Light Kit

Materials

---

Elective

Time: 75 min

Local History Study

For my Local History Study today, we interviewed two ladies name Alberta and June about farming in our area.

Resources

Pencil

Alberta and June

Other Students

---

March the 25th 2010

Elective

Time: 10 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read Chapter 11 of my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy book.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

---

English

Time: 45 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Language is Served grammar book. I worked on an exercise where I hid food words in sentences.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/wheresthefood.pdf

Resources

Language is Served Grammar Book

---

Math

Time: 60 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 17, which was on imaginary numbers and was pretty easy.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

---

Elective

Time: 90 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by writing biographies for Krash, the main villain of my play and Claude, the hero of my play.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/characterbiography.pdf

Resources

My Computer

---

Elective

Time: 10 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the audio lesson for lessons 9 through 12 of our new french course, Fluenz. It was pretty tricky!

Resources

Fluenz French

---

Science

Time: 120 min

Human Anatomy and Biology

Reflection

We started our our Human Anatomy and Biology Lesson today by watching a lecture on the anatomy and physiology of the thyroid gland, and I answered three questions about this fascinating area. Then we found out how the synapses of the human brain work. First, we watched a video on this topic and then I answered two questions to show what I had learned.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/anatomycourse_Thyroid.pdf

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/brain7.pdf

Resources

My Computer

My Mom

Teaching Company Human Anatomy and Biology DVD

Teaching Company Understanding the Brain DVD

---

Social Studies

Time: 30

A Study of Physical and Political Geography

Reflection

For my Study of Physical and Political Geography today, I wrote a short article about the Andean Trade Preferences Act, which eliminated tarrifs on certain goods from four Andean nations in the hopes of hurting the drug industry.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/ATPA.pdf

Resources

Get It! Geography Course

My Mom

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I played my song Musette on the piano and made some music in Notion 3.

Resources

Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4

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Elective

Time: 60 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I made some illustrations with my Wacom tablet.

Resources

Computer

Artists Tablet

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March the 26th 2010

English

Time: 20 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book, using the suffixes ic, ical and ive to complete some sentences.

Resources

Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read chapter eleven of my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy book and answered two questions about it.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

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Math

Time: 60 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 18, which was on quadratic and rational inequalities and was pretty easy.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

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Elective

Time: 90 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I made a map for a contest for the magazine Muse with my Wacom tablet.

Resources

Computer

Artists Tablet

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Elective

Time: 90 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I played my song Musette on the piano and made some music in Notion 3.

Resources

Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4

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Social Studies

Time: 40 min

United States History

Reflection

For my United States History Study today, I finished A Narrative of a Revolutionary War Soldier by Joseph Plumb Martin, who actually was in the revolutionary war.

Resources

A Narrative of a Revolutionary War Soldier by Joseph Plumb Martin

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March the 27th 2010

Elective

Time: 135 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by walking into my Musical Performance Lab. We began by doing a short warm up, which, as it was dancing and singing today, involved keeping our backs straight but was shorter than last time. Then, we got our music and I sang my song Seize the Day, after which the girls sang theirs. Next, we went over One Short Day, and I think I did pretty well despite my sore throat. Then we practiced our dance to go along with the song and added a new section to take us to the end of the song. It was a great class!

In my Actor Speaks class, which was a full class today, we all went over the scenes we had written about our character's secret. They were all excellent! After that, we discussed our characters and how to make them believable and identifiable. Then we thought about how we might approach the climax of our plays. Lastly, we got our new homework, which was to write a scene where each character can use no more than four words in a sentence.

Resources

My Teachers

Other Students

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March the 28th 2010

Elective

Time: 60 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I worked with Mr Tom on my piano lesson for today. I showed him some of my songs and we worked on some scales and Musette! We also looked at my progress in Elementary Harmony, and I am moving on to the next part of Lesson 4: Tonic and Dominant. I also did some composing.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Mr Tom

Notion 3

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Elective

Time: 120 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

For my Theater Arts study today, I went to see a Growing Stage production entitled Lyle the Crocodile, which is loosely based on the children's story, but given a lot of flair and interesting characters. The story follows the adventures of Lyle the Crocodile, who is staying in the new building on New York's 88th Street when a new family comes to live there. Soon, all the neighbors, although a bit put off by the fact that a crocodile is staying next door, come to like Lyle for what he is. Well, not all the neighbors. Mr Grumps, who is always followed by a rain cloud, is determined that if Lyle lays one finger on his cat, Lauretta, it's the zoo for him. Can Lyle stay out of the way of the dastardly Mr Grumps, or will he be forced to live in the zoo? The show is very funny, and definitely on two levels, and I would recommend it to everyone if I hadn't gone to see it on the last night. Oh well.

Resources

My Computer

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March the 29th 2010

English

Time: 20 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book, using the suffixes ful, less, ose and ous to complete some sentences.

Resources

Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book

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Elective

Time: 10 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read chapter twelve of my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy book.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

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Math

Time: 60 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 18, which was on dividing polynomials and was pretty easy.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

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Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the 13th lesson of our new french course, Fluenz. We worked on liaisons.

Resources

Fluenz French

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Local History Study

For my Local History Study today, I made some notes on farming from The New England Indians book so that I can write a report on it in the future. I also wrote the titles for the Growing a Nation cards I did last week.

Resources

Computer

The New England Indians by C Keith Wilbur

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Social Studies

Time: 120

A Study of Physical and Political Geography

Reflection

For our Study of Physical and Political Geography today, we started by looking at our homework from last time, which was to write a piece about a story from the workbook. Then we talked about where coffee comes from, and the coffee crises, a name for the fact that it's becoming unprofitable to grow coffee in many places. Next we looked at some websites and an article on fair trade and wrote about the pros and cons of fair trade. Lastly, we had a little debate about fair trade, got our homework and finished up.

Resources

Get It! Geography Course

My Mom

Other Students

Tools

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Elective

Time: 120 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I played my song Musette on the piano and made some music in Notion 3.

Resources

Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4

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March the 30th 2010

Elective

Time: 10 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read Chapter 12 of my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy book and answered two questions about it.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

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English

Time: 45 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Language is Served grammar book. I worked on an exercise where I wrote about an obnoxious diner at a restaurant.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/youarehowyoueat.pdf

Resources

Language is Served Grammar Book

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Math

Time: 60 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 20, which was on the zeros of a polynomial and was pretty easy.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Local History Study

For my Local History Study today, I answered the next two questions for my homework, using materials from the Growing a Nation website.

Resources

Computer

Growing a Nation

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Elective

Time: 90 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I played my song Musette on the piano and made some music in Notion 3.

Resources

Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4

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Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the 13th lesson of our new french course, Fluenz. We worked on liaisons.

Resources

Fluenz French

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Science

Time: 45 min

Human Anatomy and Biology

Reflection

In our Human Anatomy and Biology Lesson today, we studied chemical processes in the human brain. First, we watched a video on this topic and then I answered two questions to see what I had learned.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/brain8.pdf

Resources

My Computer

My Mom

Teaching Company Understanding the Brain DVD

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Social Studies

Time: 120 min

United States History

Reflection

For my United States History Study today, I read about the factors that contributed to the British defeat in the Revolutionary War and answered some questions about them.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/AmericanRevolution4.pdf

Resources

PBS Liberty! Course

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Social Studies

Time: 30

A Study of Physical and Political Geography

Reflection

For my Study of Physical and Political Geography today, I made some notes about how La Voz, a Guatemalan coffee-growing group, could work with Heifer International and Green Mountain Coffee to help coffee growers in Guatemala.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogMarch2010/LaVozIdeas.pdf

Resources

Get It! Geography Course

My Mom

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March the 31st 2010

English

Time: 20 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book, using the suffixes ish, ly, oid and some to complete some sentences.

Resources

Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book

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Elective

Time: 10 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I answered the thought exercise for chapter twelve of my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy book.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

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Math

Time: 60 min

Algebra 2

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching and working in the lesson in the book for video 21, which was on sketching polynomial graphs and was pretty easy.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Algebra 2 Course

---

Elective

Time: 120 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I played my song Musette on the piano and made some music in Notion 3.

Resources

Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4

---

Elective

Time: 25 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the 13th lesson of our new french course, Fluenz. We worked on liaisons.

Resources

Fluenz French

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Science

Time: 120 min

Physical Science

Reflection

For our Physical Science class today we started by looking at the nature of electromagnetic waves in our Joy of Physics book. Light, we found out, is just one type of electromagnetic wave, although it is the only visible one. All the rest are invisible to human eyes. After that, we began our study on electromagnetic waves by working on an experiment where we melted chocolate and sugar in the microwave to find the hot-spots. The experiment was pretty inconclusive, but we got to eat the chocolate and sugar later! After that, we talked about light waves for a bit, and then did a very cool experiment to find the focal point of some lenses and then used them and a light-bulb to project an image onto a piece of paper. Lastly, we looked at reflection and mirrors, and used a mirror and a laser to show that the angle light hits a mirror at is the same as the angle when it bounces off.

Resources

My Science Book

Charts

Computer

My Dad

My Partner, Nathaniel

Joy of Physics Book

Materials

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Local History Study

For my Local History Study today, I answered the next two questions for my homework, using materials from the Growing a Nation website.

Resources

Computer

Growing a Nation

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-- JackW - 01 Mar 2010