November the 1st 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I worked with Mr Tom on my piano lesson for today. I showed him some of my songs and we worked on finishing up Rain, my piano composition, in Notion 3.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Mr Tom

Notion 3

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Elective

Time: 40 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I worked on a picture of a freshwater marsh for my Mountain Lake Project.

Resources

Computer

Gimp

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Elective

Time: 75 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by watching Miss Nelson is Missing, a children's production at the Growing Stage. It was, as usual, wonderfully silly and very slickly done.

Resources

Paper

Pencils

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English

Time: 20

Creative Writing

Reflection

Miss Nelson is Missing starts with an introduction to Room 207, where Miss Nelson struggles with the worst bunch of kids ever seen in the school. Spitballs and paper airplanes are only the start of her problems. When the day ends, she heads home, defeated, but soon comes up with a plan. The next day, the kids are greeted by their principal, who sings about how Miss Nelson is not coming that day, and he would love to regale them with stories of his favorite bird impressions and his love for his pet goldfish, but there is a man in the principal's office to talk to him about his ballpoint pen collection. At first, the kids are happy and excited, believing that with a substitute, they can get away with anything. But reality comes in the form of Miss Swamp, the meanest teacher ever seen, and who bears a striking resemblance to Miss Nelson. How will the kids get back their beloved Miss Nelson, who they come to appreciate more and more each day?

This was an excellent play, full of well-choreographed segments, great one-liners and some really funny pieces of music. My favorite character had to be the principal, who was just so silly and had such a great song to sing, but everyone was great. I would thoroughly recommend that you went to see it, if this hadn't been the last show. Oops.

Resources

My Computer

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English

Time: 45

Creative Writing

Reflection

I wrote part of an adventure for my next Dungeons and Dragons game.

Resources

My Computer

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Social Studies

Time: 120 min

United States History

Reflection

I started my United States History study today by watching the movie the Grapes of Wrath.

Resources

The Grapes of Wrath

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English

Time: 20

Creative Writing

Reflection

The Grapes of Wrath is a thought-provoking, moving and very human story about a family driven from their land and forced to migrate North during the Great Depression. The movie starts with the main character, Tom, getting out of jail for manslaughter after he killed a man in a bar fight. His family home lies in ruins, due to be demolished the next day. He finally catches up with his family, who are staying at his uncle's house, and the family begins a long trip North to find work. Along the way, they deal with murderous policemen, corrupt officials and angry mobs at every turn. When a policeman kills Tom's friend with his club, Tom kills the man, and soon is on the run from the officials. Will the family ever find peace? I won't spoil the end, but it is an excellent piece, and I realized, through watching it, that great stories never age, even though it was black and white and some parts were obviously just a painted backdrop. Two thumbs up!

Resources

My Computer

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November the 2nd 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked chocolate cookies, which were wonderful.

Resources

Utensils

Recipe

Ingredients

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English

Time: 30 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 rewrote a paragraph to remove unnecessary description.

Resources

Language is Served Grammar Book

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Elective

Time: 120 min

A Local Study of Mountain Lake

Reflection

Today for my Local Study of Mountain Lake, we headed down to the lake to sketch different historical houses in the area. My partner Amy and I started off with the Green/Parks House, and we each made sketches of the house from a three-quarters angle. We noted that it had an extension that didn't match the original stone walls. After that, we moved on to one of the Cedar Knolls development, which was a little less disjointed. Lastly, we went to the house of a friend named Cliff, who showed us his house from different angles. I drew the South-West side. I had a wonderful morning, and I especially enjoyed sketching Cliff's house.

Resources

My Mom

Materials

Other Students

Mr Cliff

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Math

Time: 30 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by working on the lesson in the book for video 11, which was quite hard, but I got it finished!

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Teaching Company Geometry DVD

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English

Time: 20

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a walk down the road and through the woods. When we started out, it was warm and sunny, and although it did get darker and colder over the walk, it was a beautiful day. The trees were almost completely without leaves, which gave the woods a very foreboding look as we walked into them. There are a few trees down the road that still have leaves, however, but they are slowly dropping their leaves to the ground. As we walked down the road, we saw a groundhog scuttle out of the bushes and squeeze his fat body down into the brambles. A robin perched in the bushes, but flew off without a sound when he saw me looking at him. We also saw some squirrels in the woods, which very quickly scooted out of sight up trees. Lastly, we saw some funny-looking fungi in the woods. I had a great walk.

Resources

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 20 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the first two lessons of Drive Time French, our new french course.

Resources

Drive Time French

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Elective

Time: 20 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by plugging the chords for the first verse of Close Every Door to Me into Notion 3 so that I could sing along with it. I also wrote an addition to my play.

Resources

Notion 3

My Computer

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November the 3rd 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked jam cookies, which were wonderful.

Resources

Utensils

Recipe

Ingredients

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English

Time: 30 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 rewrote a paragraph to remove unnecessary description.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogNov2009/OliviasCafe.PDF

Resources

Language is Served Grammar Book

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Math

Time: 50 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching lesson 12 of my Geometry course, which took a while, but I got it finished! It was on medians, altitudes, perpendicular bisectors and angle bisectors.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Teaching Company Geometry DVD

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Elective

Time: 20 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the next two lessons of Drive Time French, our new french course.

Resources

Drive Time French

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English

Time: 15

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a walk down the road and through the woods. When we started out, it was cold, colder than yesterday was at least, although we did walk later in the day yesterday. When we started out, we needed coats and hats and gloves, but by the time we got halfway around the loop we were pulling those things off. There was definitely a frost early this morning, but it had melted away by the time we started out. A chill breeze did blow throughout the whole walk, and the cirrus clouds overhead offered little protection from the wind. We saw very few birds, but we did see some squirrels in the woods. I enjoyed my walk!

Resources

My Computer

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Social Studies

Time: 30 min

United States History

Reflection

I started my United States History study today by reading the study guide for the play adaption of the Grapes of Wrath.

Resources

The Grapes of Wrath

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Science

Time: 60 min

Human Anatomy and Biology

Reflection

In our Human Anatomy and Biology Lesson today, we studied the human respiratory system. To start with, we watched a video lecture about the respiratory system, which filled me in on the basics of the system and how it functions. After that, I answered two questions about the respiratory system, and finished up.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogNov2009/anatomycourse_RespiratorySystem.pdf

Resources

My Computer

Teaching Company Human Anatomy and Biology DVD

The Human Body Book by Steve Parker

Atlas of Human Anatomy

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by plugging the chords for the first verse of Close Every Door to Me into Notion 3 so that I could sing along with it. I also looked up clip art of my star sign, Leo, for Mr Perry.

Resources

Notion 3

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I worked on my piano lesson for today, and did some composing!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Notion 3

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Elective

Time: 60 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I worked on correcting any errors on my last two Terror of Porridge pictures on the computer, and put them into my art teacher, Mr Pete's, book editing program.

Resources

Computer

Photoshop

Book-Editing Software

Mr Pete

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November the 4th 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked teff cookies, which were wonderful!

Resources

Ingredients

Recipe

Kitchen Utensils

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Math

Time: 30 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by working on the lesson in the book for video 12, which was actually quite easy!

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Teaching Company Geometry DVD

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Elective

Time: 150 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by watching The Grapes of Wrath, which was a moving and poignant story about the migrant workers in the Great Depression and the human condition.

Resources

The Grapes of Wrath

Actors

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English

Time: 30

Creative Writing

Reflection

The Grapes of Wrath starts with an introduction to the Dust Bowl, an area of land in the midwestern states where years of bad farming practices and an unusually hot, dry, windy period caused the soil to dry up and become unusable for growing crops. The tenant farmers, people who worked land rented from a landlord, found themselves pushed off their properties so that their houses could be bulldozed, to make room for new farms using tractors and other modern farming techniques. Some fought back, and were arrested or hung. Others moved west, to California, where, they were told, the wages were high and there were plenty of jobs. The narrative of the play focuses mainly on the Joad family, who are a happy, close family forced out of their home and who travel west to California in their old truck. Tom Joad, who was placed in jail for manslaughter, gets out on parole and joins the family on the trip. As they travel west and face angry landowners, corrupt policemen and people who smile and offer them jobs that don't exist, the family begins to split up. Connie, the husband of Tom's younger sister, leaves his pregnant wife because he can't cope with the hardships of the real world. Tom kills a policeman who killed his friend, a former preacher, for leading a strike, and has to leave to protect his family. But even as the tale becomes more and more sad, there is a certain humanness to the Joads which lets them keep going, and keep others going, through great hardships. I won't spoil the ending, but I will say that it isn't a necessarily happy one. However, it gives you the feeling that life goes on, not necessarily for the Joads, but for the people as a whole.

Resources

My Computer

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November the 5th 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read an article in my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? economics book, entitled Revolutions, Elections and Printing Presses. I answered a few of the thought questions.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

Economics: A Free Market Reader

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked chocolate cookies, which were wonderful.

Resources

Utensils

Recipe

Ingredients

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English

Time: 20

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a walk down the road and through the woods. When we started out, it was bright and sunny, but cold. The wind blew cool, and although it was warm in the sun, it was pretty cold in the shade. The trees looked even more forlorn with almost all the leaves blanketing the ground in a colorful, crunchy layer. The clouds were cirrus and cumulus, and there were only a few in the sky. About halfway through the walk, I noticed that there was a layer of towering cumulus clouds on the horizon, so weather.com might be right when it said there is rain coming. As we walked down the road, I noticed a sharp hissing noise that might have been a ticked off squirrel or a bird. We also saw a mockingbird, heard a crow and heard a very squeaky bird! I had a great walk.

Resources

My Computer

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Math

Time: 40 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching lesson 13 of my Geometry course, which took a while, but I got it finished! It was on parallelograms and other quadrilaterals.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Teaching Company Geometry DVD

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November the 6th 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked teff brownies, which were wonderful!

Resources

Ingredients

Recipe

Kitchen Utensils

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Elective

Time: 40 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read an article in my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? economics book, entitled Revolutions, Elections and Printing Presses. I answered a few of the thought questions.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

Economics: A Free Market Reader

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Math

Time: 30 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by working on the lesson in the book for video 13, which was quite hard, but I figured it out.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Teaching Company Geometry DVD

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Community Service

Time: 60 min

Community Service

Reflection

I started my work at the library by sorting the DVDs into the right order, and shelving some of the CDs.

Resources

Librarians

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Elective

Time: 60 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I worked on my piano lesson for today, and did some composing!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Notion 3

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Elective

Time: 20 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the first lesson of Ultimate French, our new french course.

Resources

Ultimate French

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Social Studies

Time: 120 min

United States History

Reflection

I started my United States History study today by watching a presentation on some of the reasons Europeans settled North America, and what happened when they did. I also read through several books and one website on the topic and answered some thought questions in their online test.

Resources

US History.org

American History Made Simple by Jack C. Estrin

America by Alistair Cook

American History: The Easy Way by William O. Kellogg

My Mom

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Elective

Time: 20 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read an article in my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? economics book, entitled Revolutions, Elections and Printing Presses. I answered the last thought question.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

Economics: A Free Market Reader

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November the 7th 2009

Elective

Time: 240 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by walking into my dancing and singing class, which today was led by Miss Laurie. Today was a test, but a fun one. We started out by working on our stretches, and I volunteered to lead the class in our warm-up. I think I remembered most of it correctly. After that, we showed what dance steps we remembered (which was quite a lot!). Among others, we practiced grapevines, box steps and sashays, forwards and sideways. We also sang some scales, and worked on different people singing at different pitches at the same time. Lastly we (the boys) sang our solo song, Close Every Door to Me, and we finished up. I had a great class!

In my Actor and Writer Speaks class, we didn't have Miss Mary! Fortunately, Miss Nicole was there again. We started out by going over our homework, which was to record a conversation between two people to see how they talked. Then we headed down to Mr Danny's class, where I had my play performed by the students in it. It was great seeing it live. There were a few things I now know I need to correct, so I am glad I saw it on stage. It was a great experience to see it live.

Lastly, I went on to Mr Perry's Black Light Puppetry class. Today we painted our star signs in glow in the dark paint, so that we can have them on display before our puppet show starts. Mine was Leo, as that is my Zodiac sign. I had trouble getting it to look like a lion, but Perry helped me a little bit and it was soon looking good. The glow in the dark paint was really cool! Lastly, we added handles to our flames, trees and cut holes in the backs of the mountains to grip, so when could pick them up. It was an excellent class.

Resources

My Teachers: Miss Nicole, Miss Laurie and Mr Perry

Worksheets

Paint

Cardboard

Other Students

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November the 8th 2009

Elective

Time: 60 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I worked with Mr Tom on my piano lesson for today. I showed him some of my songs and we worked on Rain, my piano composition. I also worked on the main theme for my role-playing game.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Mr Tom

Notion 3

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Elective

Time: 120 min

A Local Study of Mountain Lake

Reflection

Today for my Local Study of Mountain Lake, we headed down to the Tekening Woods trail, where we learned about the geology of the area and how it was created by glaciers. It was a very good class!

Resources

My Mom

Our Instructor, Roxanne Kaiser-Antonowich

Mr Fred Gast, Naturalist

Tekening trail

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English

Time: 30

Creative Writing

Reflection

For our Local Study of Mountain Lake today, we began by walking into the pavilion at the head of the Tekening hiking trail, where we met the rest of our group and our instructor Roxanne. Roxanne started with a brief introduction to geology and the period in the earth's history when the rocks we would see on the walk ended up where they are. We also looked at how the geography of the world changed over the eons, as continents flew apart and crashed back together again, very slowly of course. Roxanne showed us a video of this and one about how the glaciers descended down America and then melted back up again, leaving behind them the erratics and the terminal moraine, which is a large pile of rocks left behind as the glacier retreats. After that, we headed out for our walk. It was a beautiful day, with temperatures of up to 65 degrees, and the sun was bright. At our first stop in the woods, Roxanne pointed out the terminal moraine, which was interesting because it wasn't a perfect line; sometimes it broke up. After that, we had a look at Turtle Rock, and discussed how it might have one boulder that was broken up and pushed apart over the years. Lastly, we headed down to Foul Rift, where we discussed the different rocks in the area, including chert, a very sharp rock that is found in the river and can take a toll on the bottom of boats. After that, we headed back to the pavilion. I had a great time on the Geology walk, and I learned some new things too!

Resources

My Computer

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November the 9th 2009

English

Time: 20 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Red Hot Root Words grammar book. I worked on an exercise where I used the prefixes magn-, magni-, maxi, min- and micro- to complete a worksheet.

Resources

Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book

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English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a walk down the road and through the woods. When we started out, it was about 60 degrees Fahrenheit, but by the end of the walk it had heated up to about 70 degrees. The wind was warm and gentle, and the sun was bright, so I was glad I'd brought sunglasses. It feels like spring, and it's hard to believe it is November! As we walked down the road, I saw the wind blowing the grass in the meadow, leaves slowly plummeting to earth and the trees shaking in the breeze. A squirrel scampered across the road, and in the woods, a chipmunk bounced around on some logs and seemed to pose for us! We also saw something we don't see that often: a red-tailed hawk. Lastly, we heard some very loud Blue Jays and saw some Finches on the power line.

Resources

My Computer

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Math

Time: 20 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching half of lesson 14 of my Geometry course, which was on rectangles, squares and rhombuses.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Teaching Company Geometry DVD

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Elective

Time: 210 min

A Local Study of Mountain Lake

Reflection

Today for my Local Study of Mountain Lake, we headed to the library to look at old books on the houses of our area, and I found some interesting information there. We managed to track down the house I am researching, and found one of the owners. Then we went to the courthouse and looked up deeds for the properties. For some of the more recent deeds, I looked them up on the computer, but for the older ones, I had to do it by hand. It was actually very fun, like a treasure hunt. I managed to trace the deeds for my building all the way back to the original purchasers!

Resources

My Mom

Janet Davis, the reference librarian

Jodie Inscho

The Courthouse

Other Students

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November the 10th 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read an article in my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? economics book, entitled Revolutions, Elections and Printing Presses. I reworded a few of the thought questions.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogNov2009/EconomicsChapter5.pdf

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

Economics: A Free Market Reader

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Math

Time: 40 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching video 14 and then working on the lesson in the book. It was on rectangles, rhombuses and squares.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Teaching Company Geometry DVD

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English

Time: 20

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a walk down the road and through the woods. When we started out, it was warm, although it wasn't sunny. The sky was quite dull and gray, and it cast a dull pallor over everything. As we walked down the road, I tried to catch some leaves as they fell from the trees, but I had no success. There was very little wind, but it was a cool wind this morning. Although it was warm, it was cooler than the last couple of days. As we started out, we saw a dead squirrel that had obviously been hit by a car. It was a bit gruesome. After that, we saw some bluebirds and a tufted titmouse. Mostly, however, we heard the sound of leaf blowers, which interrupted the silence. Apart from that, I had a great walk.

Resources

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I worked on my piano lesson for today, and did some composing!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Notion 3

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Elective

Time: 20 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the grammar and exercises for the first lesson of Ultimate French, our new french course.

Resources

Ultimate 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 human respiratory system. To start with, we watched a video lecture about the physiology of the respiratory system, which filled me in on the details of the system and how it functions. After that, I answered two questions about the respiratory system, took an online quiz on blood, read some books of the respiratory system and finished up.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogNov2009/Anatomycourse_RespiratorySystem2.pdf

Resources

My Computer

Teaching Company Human Anatomy and Biology DVD

Guide to the Human Body by Richard Walker

The Human Body by Jonathan Miller

The Lungs and Breathing by Steve Parker

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Social Studies

Time: 30 min

United States History

Reflection

I started my United States History study today by reading a section of A History of the American People by Paul Johnson on the early settlers and some problems that occurred in a theological dictatorship.

Resources

A History of the American People by Paul Johnson

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Elective

Time: 60 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I worked on the rough sketch for the cover of my book Terror of Porridge. Next time, we will work on the inking!

Resources

Pencils

Paper

Mr Pete

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November the 11th 2009

English

Time: 30 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 rewrote some sentences to make them clearer.

Resources

Language is Served Grammar Book

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked chocolate cookies, which were wonderful.

Resources

Utensils

Recipe

Ingredients

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English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a walk. After the last few days of beautiful weather, it was quite a shock how cold it was this morning! The wind was cold, the sky was almost completely full of gray, rippling clouds, and the sun was no where to be seen. The leaves were crunchy and the wind, which was quite strong today, was blowing them about quite a bit. We saw very little this morning, only a dead shrew on the side of the road and an awful lot of Turkey Vultures circling about.

Resources

My Computer

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English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

I wrote a book review of City of Fire by Lawrence Yep.

Resources

My Computer

City of Fire by Lawrence Yep

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Elective

Time: 20 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the second lesson of Ultimate French, our new french course.

Resources

Ultimate French

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Math

Time: 60 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching video 15 and then working on the lesson in the book. It was on trapezoids, isosceles trapezoids and kites!

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Teaching Company Geometry DVD

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Social Studies

Time: 20 min

United States History

Reflection

I started my United States History study today by reading a section of Early Explorers of North America on the early North American culture and the Norse explorers, who were probably the first to find it.

Resources

Early Explorers of North America by C. Keith Wilbur

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Science

Time: 120 min

Physical Science

Reflection

In our Physical Science Class today, we started off with movement, velocity and acceleration, to which end we studied the Joy of Physics Book. We did an experiment where we used a small machine that fired a projectile at at forty-five degree angle and measured how far it went to calculate the velocity. After that, we did another experiment where we measured the weights and masses of objects, and learned about some of Newton's laws of Motion.

Resources

The Joy of Physics

My Science Book

Charts

My Dad

My Partner, Nathaniel

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Elective

Time: 90 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I worked on a dragon model in Blender 3d, my 3d program.

Resources

Computer

Blender 3d

Online Tutorials

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Elective

Time: 40 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I worked on my piano lesson for today, and did some composing!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Notion 3

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November the 12th 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked teff cookies, which were wonderful!

Resources

Ingredients

Recipe

Kitchen Utensils

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English

Time: 30 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 rewrote some sentences to make them clearer.

Resources

Language is Served Grammar Book

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English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a walk in the cold. And it was cold! The wind was cool and blew hard, sending leaves flying through the air and freezing my ears. The trees are now completely devoid of leaves, and they stand like gray skeletons against the horizon. The sky was full of roiling stratus clouds, which cast a dull pallor over the landscape, but didn't seem to be threatening rain anytime soon. All in all, it was cold and dull. We saw some crows, but nothing else in the bird or animal department.

Resources

My Computer

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Math

Time: 40 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching lesson 16 of my Geometry course, which was on Inequalities in Geometry.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Teaching Company Geometry DVD

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Elective

Time: 20 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the grammar and vocabulary for the second lesson of Ultimate French, our new french course.

Resources

Ultimate French

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Social Studies

Time: 150 min

United States History

Reflection

I started my United States History study today by watching a presentation on the Middle and Southern colonies. I also read through several books and one website on the topic and answered some thought questions posed in one of the books.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogNov2009/AmericanHistory3.pdf

Resources

US History.org

American History Made Simple by Jack C. Estrin

America by Alistair Cook

American History: The Easy Way by William O. Kellogg

My Mom

---

Elective

Time: 60 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I worked on my piano lesson for today, and did some composing!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Notion 3

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November the 13th 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked chocolate cookies, which were wonderful.

Resources

Utensils

Recipe

Ingredients

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English

Time: 30 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Language is Served grammar book. I finished an exercise where I rewrote some sentences to make them clearer.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogNov2009/OverstuffedSentences.pdf

Resources

Language is Served Grammar Book

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Elective

Time: 40 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read an article in my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? economics book, entitled Wages, Prices, Spirals and Controls. I answered a few of the thought questions.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

Economics: A Free Market Reader

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Math

Time: 20 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by working on the lesson in the book for video 16, which was pretty easy.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Teaching Company Geometry DVD

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Community Service

Time: 60 min

Community Service

Reflection

I worked at the library by sorting the DVDs into the right order, alphabetically. I went from D through H.

Resources

Librarians

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Elective

Time: 260 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I went to Mr Bill's house and made apple sauce, peeling, chopping and coring apples and cooking them up. We also canned them and made jelly.

Resources

Mr Bill

Apples

Peelers

Knives

Pots and Pans

Sieve

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Elective

Time: 40 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I worked on my piano lesson for today, and did some composing!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Notion 3

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November the 14th 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked jelly cookies, which were wonderful!

Resources

Ingredients

Recipe

Kitchen Utensils

---

Elective

Time: 240 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by walking into my dancing and singing class, which today was led by Miss Lia. We started out by working on our warm-ups, doing different stretches and dance steps. Then, after going over many dance steps to refresh them in our minds, we began to plan out the dance for our "The Farmer and the Cowman Should Be Friends" song. It was starting to look really good. We also worked on some scales and sang our group song.

In my Actor and Writer Speaks class, we worked on our new scenes. Everyone was doing really well, and although we didn't work with the Acting group today, we got time to go through our scenes. We started by going through our homework, and then having our scenes read by the other playwrights. There are a few things that need to be cleared up in my scene, but mostly, I'm doing pretty good.

Lastly, I went on to Mr Perry's Black Light Puppetry class. Today we rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed until we had the entire script for our play mapped out in our heads. It doesn't really resemble the original story, but we're all having fun and learning a lot so it doesn't really matter. Everything is looking really good in the blacklight, and I can't wait for my parents to see it next week!

Resources

My Teachers: Miss Mary, Miss Lia and Mr Perry

Worksheets

Props

Other Students

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Elective

Time: 30 min

A Local Study of Mountain Lake

For my Mountain Lake Study today, I worked on a document comparing rivers and streams and discussing their similarities and differences.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogNov2009/StreamsandRivers.pdf

Resources

Computer

Jane Kirkland's Take a Wetland Walk Book

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November the 15th 2009

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 Rain, my piano composition, on the piano over at the church.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Mr Tom

Notion 3

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Elective

Time: 45 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today my dad and I went to a fire safety training program with our local fire chief, Kenny Lunden. We started out by going into the Fire Safety Trailer, where we ran over some simple things you can do to avoid fires in your home, and watched a short video about fire safety. Then we had a test about some things you might do in the event of a fire, and learned what sort of questions you might be asked if you dialed 911. Lastly, we ran through a simulation of a fire, and met up at the mailbox by the trailer. It was an excellent course, and I learned (and remembered) a lot about how to prevent fires and how to get out of the house in the event of one.

Resources

Fire Chief, Kenny Lunden

Fire Safety Trailer

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Elective

Time: 120 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I worked on two pictures of a river and a stream for my Mountain Lake Project.

Resources

Computer

Gimp

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Elective

Time: 20 min

A Local Study of Mountain Lake

For my Mountain Lake Study today, I worked on some questions for a resident of Mountain Lake, named Cliff, who we will be interviewing tomorrow.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogNov2009/QuestionsforCliff.pdf

Resources

Computer

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November the 16th 2009

English

Time: 20 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Red Hot Root Words grammar book. I worked on an exercise where I used the prefixes labor-, oper-, techni- and trib- to complete a worksheet.

Resources

Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked chocolate cookies, which were absolutely delicious!

Resources

Utensils

Recipe

Ingredients

---

Elective

Time: 150 min

A Local Study of Mountain Lake

Reflection

Today for my Local Study of Mountain Lake, we all gathered together around the table in our kitchen. We started by going over our writings and pictures about wetlands. Mine were on rivers and streams, and freshwater marshes, and I showed everyone the pictures I had drawn on the computer. After that, we went over what we are going to do next time, and discussed how we are going to complete our mini-project on the houses at the lake. After that, Cliff, a man who has lived at Mountain Lake on and off for many years, arrived to show us some photos and discuss the lake with us. We asked him many questions about the houses at the lake and his house, and got some great answers. He had many great memories! He also showed us some photos of his house. I had a wonderful time, and I learned many new things.

Resources

My Mom

Materials

Other Students

Mr Cliff

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English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a walk in the cold. The weather is definitely on the change, and I miss the warm days we were getting earlier this month. It was quite cold, especially with a cold breeze blowing on our faces as we started out, and the cloud cover did little to protect us from it. Speaking of cloud cover, the clouds were amazing today! There were mostly cirrus clouds, but there were swirly cloud patterns and streaks of clouds in the sky that were very cool. As we started out on our walk, we saw a little red squirrel scampering across the canopy. He was very acrobatic, taking big leaps into the air. We also saw some bluebirds and a downy woodpecker that was probably a female. I also saw something fly very fast across the road when we were coming out of the woods, but mom didn't see it. I had a great walk today.

Resources

My Computer

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the exercise for the second lesson of Ultimate French, our new french course.

Resources

Ultimate French

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Math

Time: 40 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching lesson 17 of my Geometry course, which took a while, but I got it finished! It was on ratios, proportions and similarities.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Teaching Company Geometry DVD

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Elective

Time: 40 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I worked on my piano lesson for today, and did some composing!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Notion 3

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November the 17th 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked strawberry ring cookies, which were great!

Resources

Utensils

Recipe

Ingredients

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Math

Time: 30 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by working on the lesson 17 of my Geometry course, which was quite hard, and I needed Dad's help for one bit! It was on ratios, proportions and similarities.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Teaching Company Geometry DVD

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English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a walk in the cold. Although it started out cold, by the end it began to feel quite warm and I was pulling off my coat as we walked back to our house. The clouds were quite different today, in fact they were "moutons", which was what the french apparently called them because they looked like sheep's wool. In case you don't know what mouton clouds look like, they appear as slightly lumpy clumps of clouds, spread across the sky. A gray squirrel snarled and hissed at thin air as we passed him, maybe warning off the red squirrel we saw yesterday. A very squeaky bird serenaded us from the trees, and we saw some bluebirds.

Resources

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on the third lesson of Ultimate French, our new french course.

Resources

Ultimate French

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Elective

Time: 90 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I worked on my piano lesson for today, and did some composing!

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogNov2009/Battlefield.mp3

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Notion 3

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Elective

Time: 20 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read an article in my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? economics book, entitled Wages, Prices, Spirals and Controls. I answered a few of the thought questions.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

Economics: A Free Market Reader

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Science

Time: 100 min

Human Anatomy and Biology

Reflection

In our Human Anatomy and Biology Lesson today, we worked on a lab experiment. Our kitchen worked fine as our lab for today! I answered some questions about breathing, we looked at a model of a lung (made out of an old bottle and a balloon) and we did an experiment where we held our breath for as long as we could after breathing normally and after breathing into a plastic bag. We got some interesting conclusions! I also read the second section of Red Gold: The Epic Story of Blood, which was on the history of blood. It was very interesting.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogNov2009/BreathingExperiment.pdf

Resources

My Computer

My Dad

My Mom

Materials

Plastic Bag

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Elective

Time: 20 min

Art and Publishing

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

Resources

Pencils

Paper

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Elective

Time: 60 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I worked on the final, pen-and-ink version of my front cover on the lightbox, and scanned it into the computer.

Resources

Computer

Photoshop

Book-Editing Software

Mr Pete

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Social Studies

Time: 20 min

United States History

Reflection

I started my United States History study today by reading a section of Early Explorers of North America on the early explorers, the Conquistadors and the bloody path they carved through America.

Resources

Early Explorers of North America by C. Keith Wilbur

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November the 18th 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read an article in my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? economics book, entitled Wages, Prices, Spirals and Controls. I answered the last of the thought questions.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogNov2009/economicsChapter6.pdf

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

Economics: A Free Market Reader

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked teff brownies, which were wonderful!

Resources

Ingredients

Recipe

Kitchen Utensils

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English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a walk. Although it wasn't as cold as yesterday (that might have had something to do with the fact there is almost no breeze), it didn't warm up as much as it did last time. The sky was completely devoid of clouds at the beginning of our walk, but some crept across while we weren't looking, and halfway through the walk there were some cirrus clouds in the sky above us. We saw a woodpecker (probably a downy woodpecker, but I wasn't sure), a red squirrel snarling at us from a high branch, and a lot of turkey vultures.

Resources

My Computer

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Math

Time: 75 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching lesson 18 of my Geometry course, which took a while, but I got it finished and worked on the lesson in the book! It was on similar triangles.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Teaching Company Geometry DVD

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Science

Time: 120 min

Physical Science

Reflection

In our Physical Science Class today, we started off with a recap of the lesson before, discussing Newton's theories, and then moved on to an experiment. We dropped objects from two meters up and kept track of the time it took, then used that data to calculate the acceleration. We then discussed the four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetic force, weak nuclear force and strong nuclear force. We also looked at other forces that are spin-offs of those four forces. I managed to get dad to conclude that friction isn't really a force at all, merely our explanation for why objects push back. After that, we looked at circular movement, which, as Newton's first law states, only happens if some force is being exerted upon it, otherwise it just keeps going in a straight line. We did another experiment to show how in circular movement, the centripetal force is the mass times the velocity squared, all divided by the radius of the circle. We used a model where spinning a string with a weight attached pulled up another weight on the other end of the string, and proved that, at a certain point, the two would be balanced and the lower weight would neither fall nor rise. Lastly, we went outside and dropped the weight from the first experiment from the roof and measured the time, and used that to get a more accurate result.

Resources

The Joy of Physics

My Science Book

Charts

My Dad

My Partner, Nathaniel

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Elective

Time: 40 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by working on my next scene for my Actor and Writer Speaks class, and putting the previous scenes into the right order.

Resources

My Computer

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English

Time: 75

Creative Writing

Reflection

I worked on my Dungeons and Dragons adventure for Sunday, trying to create an adventure that would involve the players emotionally.

Resources

My Computer

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November the 19th 2009

English

Time: 20 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Red Hot Root Words grammar book. I worked on an exercise where I used the prefixes quer-, ques-, quir-, quis- and rog- to complete a worksheet.

Resources

Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book

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Social Studies

Time: 20 min

United States History

Reflection

I started my United States History study today by reading a section of Early Explorers of North America on the later explorers and the first colonies.

Resources

Early Explorers of North America by C. Keith Wilbur

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English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today I wrote a book review of Early Explorers of North America by C. Keith Wilbur.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/BookListNovember2009

Resources

My Computer

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked chocolate cookies, which were wonderful.

Resources

Utensils

Recipe

Ingredients

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on revising the first lesson of Ultimate French, our new french course.

Resources

Ultimate French

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English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a walk. Today, it was raining! As soon as we stepped out the door, we were greeting with a cold spray raining down from the roiling clouds, and it got heavier as the walk progressed. About three-quarters of the way through, thankfully, it cut out and we could put our umbrellas away. The trees looked like spindly shadows of their former selves, and the wind blew them around, dislodging water onto us. We didn't see any creatures today, although I did hear a bird.

Resources

My Computer

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Math

Time: 40 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching lesson 19 of my Geometry course. It was on right triangles and the Pythagorean theorem.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Teaching Company Geometry DVD

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Social Studies

Time: 30 min

United States History

Reflection

I started my United States History study today by reading about the Salem Witch Trials in preparation for watching the Crucible on Saturday.

Resources

Lecture Point Presentations

National Geographic Salem page

Other Websites of Salem

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by finishing my next scene for my Actor and Writer Speaks class.

Resources

My Computer

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I worked on my piano lesson for today.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Notion 3

---

Elective

Time: 120 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I worked with my new Blender training course, Venom's Lab, to increase my Blender skills!

Resources

Computer

Blender 3d

Online Tutorials

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November the 20th 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Economics

Reflection

For my economics today, I read several articles in my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? economics book, and moved on to a new lesson in my Economics: A Free Market Reader book, entitled Jobs for All. I answered a few of the thought questions.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

Economics: A Free Market Reader

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked strawberry ring cookies, which were great!

Resources

Utensils

Recipe

Ingredients

---

Math

Time: 40 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by working on the lesson 19 of my Geometry course, which was quite hard, but I think I got it all. I was on right triangles and the Pythagorean Theorem.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Teaching Company Geometry DVD

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Community Service

Time: 60 min

Community Service

Reflection

I worked at the library by sorting out CDs that had rarely been taken out and could be sold.

Resources

Librarians

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Elective

Time: 270 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I went to Mr Bill's house and worked on building a small shed to keep his wood from getting wet. We didn't finish it, but it was looking pretty good. We also pulled up fence posts and used them to fence off another area of his garden.

Resources

Mr Bill

Tools

Wood

Gloves and Safety Glasses

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November the 21st 2009

Elective

Time: 240 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by walking into my dancing and singing class, which today was led by Miss Lia. We started out by working on our warm-ups, doing different stretches and dance steps. Then, after going over many dance steps to refresh them in our minds, we worked on the movement to go along with "The Farmer and the Cowman Should Be Friends." I also sang my song, close every door to me.

In my Actor and Writer Speaks class, we worked on our scenes with the Acting Group. Before that, we worked on a writeup of our protagonist's past, and wrote his worst secret. Then we headed down to the Acting Class and had our plays performed! I didn't get mine done today, but everyone else was looking really good!

Lastly, I went on to Mr Perry's Black Light Puppetry class. Today we rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed until we had the entire script for our play mapped out in our heads, and then performed it for our parents. It was a lot of fun, and we all worked well together to produce the show. My music worked well with it, I thought, and every seemed to have enjoyed it. I can't wait until there's another black-light puppetry class.

Black-Light Photos: http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/photos/Jack/GrowingStage/BlackLightPuppetry/

Please email us for the password.

Resources

My Teachers: Miss Mary, Miss Lia and Mr Perry

Worksheets

Props

Other Students

Audience

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Elective

Time: 40 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I worked on some pictures with my new Graphics Tablet.

Resources

Computer

Sketchbook Express

Graphics Tablet

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I worked on my piano lesson for today.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Notion 3

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Social Studies

Time: 120 min

United States History

Reflection

I started my United States History study today by watching the movie The Crucible.

Resources

The Crucible

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English

Time: 30

Creative Writing

Reflection

The Crucible is a thought-provoking and very scary story about the Salem witch hunts. It isn't scary in a gory way, as many modern movies are, but scary in a human way. You've probably heard of the Salem witch hunts, a bloody affair in which neighbors turned on each other, old grudges surfaced, and nineteen innocent people were hung as witches. The movie is based on the play by the same name, which in turn is based on the true events, and starts with a group of girls who believed in magic and would dance around a fire in the woods, believing that this would bring them the men they loved. But one girl, Abigail, who is in love with a man named John Procter, seeks a spell to kill his wife so that he will marry her. They are caught, and they soon name other people as witches to save their skins. Abigail blackmails the others into doing what she says and pretending that innocent people are witching them. And so the whole crazy affair begins. Soon a witch-hunter is called in, the governor (a control freak) presides over the case, and the jail is full of "witches". The girls only have to pretend that the accused are hurting them invisibly, and they are carted off to be hung. John Procter seeks an end to it all, confesses his worst sins, and is arrested because he wouldn't back down on his morals and say he was a witch. The movie does not have a happy ending, I warn you, but it is sad, moving and though-provoking for it. The scary thing is that things like this still happen. Only they're accusing people of being terrorists.

Resources

My Computer

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November the 22nd 2009

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 Rain, my piano composition, on my piano. We also worked on Tumbling Triplets and House of the Rising Sun.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Mr Tom

Notion 3

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November the 23rd 2009

English

Time: 20 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Red Hot Root Words grammar book. I worked on an exercise where I used the prefixes mori-, mort-, nat-, vit- and viv- to complete a worksheet.

Resources

Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked strawberry ring cookies, which were great!

Resources

Utensils

Recipe

Ingredients

---

Elective

Time: 240 min

A Local Study of Mountain Lake

Reflection

Today for my Local Study of Mountain Lake, we went to the courthouse and looked up deeds for the properties we were studying. For some of the more recent deeds, I looked them up on the computer, but for the older ones, I had to do it by hand. It was actually very fun, like a treasure hunt. I managed to trace the deeds for my building, the Anderson Farm house, all the way back to a roadblock, where I found the land had been lost by many different people and I would have had to look them all up by hand. We just didn't have the time left to do that!

After this, we looked at old newspaper clippings that Jodee Inscho had given us to help us with our project. They were excellent, and provided a great look at life at the lake in the early 1900s. After that, a lady named Helen Danitz arrived, and we interviewed her about her memories of growing up at the lake. She was a great source of information. I really enjoyed our time at the courthouse and interviewing her today!

Resources

My Mom

Jodee Inscho

The Courthouse

Other Students

Helen Danitz

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November the 24th 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Economics

Reflection

For my Economics today, I worked on a lesson in my Economics: A Free Market Reader book, entitled Jobs for All. I answered a few of the thought questions.

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

Economics: A Free Market Reader

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked teff gingerbread, which was wonderful.

Resources

Utensils

Recipe

Ingredients

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on revising the first and second lessons of Ultimate French, our new french course.

Resources

Ultimate French

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Math

Time: 50 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching lesson 20 of my Geometry course. It was on special right triangles, and it was very good.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Teaching Company Geometry DVD

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English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a walk. Apart from being a bit cold, it was actually quite nice. And the cold didn't last that long. By the end of the walk, I had pulled off my coat and gloves. The air was quite still, and the sky was completely filled with drifting stratus clouds, moving along in a threatening way. We did see quite a lot of bird life this morning, starting with a bunch of crows in the field, pecking for anything they could eat, and a startled group of noisy blue jays. We also saw what looked like some juncos crossing the road, and I saw either a Pileated or Hairy woodpecker in a tree by the side of the road. All in all, it was an excellent walk!

Resources

My Computer

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Science

Time: 90 min

Human Anatomy and Biology

Reflection

In our Human Anatomy and Biology Lesson today, we studied the human brain. To start with, we watched a video lecture about the brain, which filled me in on the basics of the lumpy mass of tissue that controls our body and how it functions. After that, I answered two questions about the brain, and finished up.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogNov2009/anatomycourse_Brain1.pdf

Resources

My Computer

Teaching Company Human Anatomy and Biology DVD

The Human Body Book by Steve Parker

Atlas of Human Anatomy

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Elective

Time: 40 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I worked on some pictures with my new Graphics Tablet.

Resources

Computer

Sketchbook Express

Graphics Tablet

---

Elective

Time: 70 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I worked on my piano lesson for today, and did some composing!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Notion 3

---

Elective

Time: 60 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I worked on coloring the cover picture for Terror of Porridge on the computer at Mr Pete's house.

Resources

Computer

Photoshop

Book-Editing Software

Mr Pete

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November the 25th 2009

Elective

Time: 45 min

Economics

Reflection

For my Economics today, I worked on a lesson in my Economics: A Free Market Reader book, entitled Jobs for All. I answered the last of the thought questions.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogNov2009/JobsforAll.pdf

Resources

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Economics Course

Economics: A Free Market Reader

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked chocolate cookies, which were wonderful.

Resources

Utensils

Recipe

Ingredients

---

Math

Time: 25 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by working on the lesson in the book for video 20, which I think I have grasped completely! It was on special right triangles.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Teaching Company Geometry DVD

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on revising the second lesson of Ultimate French, our new french course.

Resources

Ultimate French

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English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a walk. It started off a little bit damp, but it didn't rain until about three-quarters of the way through the walk, and it really didn't rain that hard. We had forgotten to bring an umbrella though! Anyway, today the sky was filled to the brim with stratus clouds once again, and the sun didn't peek out even once. As we started our walk, a crow squawked loudly in one of the trees by the church, and it sounded quite prehistoric! We saw some small birds fluttering around and saw a turkey vulture soaring through the woods. But mostly it was just damp and chilly.

Resources

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 60 min

Art and Publishing

For my art today, I worked on a mad scientist model in Blender 3d, my 3d program.

Resources

Computer

Blender 3d

Venom's Lab DvD?

Online Tutorials

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Elective

Time: 90 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I worked on my piano lesson for today, and did some composing!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Notion 3

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Science

Time: 140 min

Physical Science

Reflection

In our Physical Science Class today, we started off by learning the true meaning of work in physics. I don't mean the we worked extra hard, but that we actually learned the meaning of physical work. Work requires a force and a movement in the direction of that force, and if you don't have both of those things you aren't working, no matter how much energy you are exerting or how fast an object is moving. That means that if you lift a weight above your head, the bit where you lift it is work but the bit where you're holding it up isn't, because it isn't moving. We did some work-related experiments, talked about kinetic and potential energy, and solved a couple of equations. It was a good class, even though we were all a little bit tired.

Resources

The Joy of Physics

My Science Book

Charts

My Dad

My Partner, Nathaniel

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November the 26th 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked strawberry ring cookies, which were great!

Resources

Utensils

Recipe

Ingredients

---

Elective

Time: 90 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I worked on my piano lesson for today, and did some composing!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Notion 3

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November the 27th 2009

Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked teff gingerbread, which was great!

Resources

Utensils

Recipe

Ingredients

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Elective

Time: 120 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I worked on my piano lesson for today, and did some composing!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Notion 3

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Elective

Time: 10 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I helped my dad process some pheasants and partridges.

Resources

Dad

Birds

Knife

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Elective

Time: 75 min

Theater Arts

Reflection

I started my Theater Arts study today by watching the Story of the Nutcracker, a great production at the Growing Stage. It was, as usual, wonderfully silly and very slickly done.

Resources

The Growing Stage

Program

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English

Time: 20

Creative Writing

Reflection

The Story of the Nutcracker begins with a girl named Clara getting a Christmas Eve visit from her Godfather Drosselmeir, who gives her a very unusual gift, a Nutcracker. When questioned by Clara's family, he simply tells them that it will help her with the adventure she is about to embark upon. Clara's brother Fritz breaks the nutcracker's jaw, and because Clara is distraught, Drosselmeir fixes it with a cloth brace and tells her that it will heal. Confused by this odd comment, Clara falls asleep, and enters a world where enormous mice have evil plans for the Kingdom of Sweets, and she and the nutcracker, who miraculously comes to life, are the only ones who can stop them!

This was an excellent and very funny production, and everything was top-notch! I especially enjoyed the performances of the Mouse King and his mother, and the dances, while there weren't as many as there would be in the original, were excellent. There were some very well choreographed sequences, some very zany lines and a lot of laugh-out-loud moments. I really enjoyed it.

Resources

My Computer

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November the 28th 2009

Social Studies

Time: 60 min

United States History

Reflection

I started my United States History study today by reading Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick.

Resources

Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick

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November the 29th 2009

Elective

Time: 10 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked chocolate cookies, which were wonderful.

Resources

Utensils

Recipe

Ingredients

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Elective

Time: 50 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 my Rain and House of the Rising Sun songs over at the church. I also made some songs in Notion 3.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Mr Tom

Notion 3

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Social Studies

Time: 75 min

United States History

Reflection

I started my United States History study today by reading Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick.

Resources

Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick

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November the 30th 2009

English

Time: 20 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

For my grammar today, I worked in my Red Hot Root Words grammar book. I worked on an exercise where I used the prefixes aqua-, aqui-, geo-, hydr-, mer-, mar-, terr- to complete a worksheet.

Resources

Red Hot Root Words Grammar Book

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Life and Survival Skills

Reflection

Today I cooked strawberry ring cookies, which were absolutely delicious!

Resources

Utensils

Recipe

Ingredients

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Elective

Time: 180 min

A Local Study of Mountain Lake

Reflection

Today for my Local Study of Mountain Lake, we interviewed Jodee Inscho, our mayor's wife, on some of the things she knew about the lake. She was a great source of information, and she showed us how to use census reports to learn about people and their homes. I learned many things about my properties, and everybody got some great information. Lastly, we looked through books about the lake for anything on our properties. It was a great class.

Resources

My Mom

Jodee Inscho

Other Students

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English

Time: 20 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

Today we went for a very wet walk. Actually, it really wasn't that wet, although it did rain all this morning. By the time we finished with our class this morning and had lunch, it had pretty much stopped. Still, we took umbrellas and raincoats with us. The first I noticed was how the leafless, skeletal trees stuck out against the gray sky. There isn't a leaf to be seen now, apart from the soggy brown ones underfoot. I spotted a little chipmunk scampering about in the woods, but apart from that, we didn't see much. It wasn't a terribly fun walk.

Resources

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 20 min

French Language

Reflection

For our French today, we worked on revising the third lesson of Ultimate French, our new french course.

Resources

Ultimate French

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Math

Time: 40 min

Basic Math and Geometry

Reflection

I started my math lesson today by watching lesson 21 of my Geometry course. It was on right triangle trigonometry, and it was very good.

Resources

My Math Book

My Computer

Teaching Company Geometry DVD

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Elective

Time: 50 min

Musical Composition

Reflection

I worked on my piano lesson for today, and did some composing!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Notion 3

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-- JackW - 01 Nov 2009