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1st October 2008

Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I improved my playing a little closer to the point where I was before we went on vacation and I forgot everything.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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1st October 2008

Science

Time: 150 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

I went to my botany class, where I gave a presentation called An Introduction to Evolution. After that, my mother went through what to do for our Plant Evolution presentations. We all picked a plant from the list to do a presentation on. Then, my mother read a short story as an example of what we could do for our botany projects. When she had finished, we all walked around and looked at everyone's projects while we were all given comments on our projects by Miss Liz and my mom. After that, we had a break where we played plant family card games, and then mom gave a talk about what needs to be handed in next class. When mom had finished, Miss Liz explained the basics of giving a presentation. I enjoyed the class, and I learned a little bit more about the different plant families and what other students were doing.

Resources

Miss Liz, our botany class leader My mother Botany Projects My computer and presentation Botany card games

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2nd October 2008

Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I improved my playing a little closer to the point where I was before we went on vacation and I forgot everything.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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Physical Fitness

Time: 120 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

I vacuumed the entire house except for the rooms upstairs or the stairs. I'm learning a cleaning approach where you go from ceiling to floor in each room so that you don't miss anything.

Resources

Vacuum Cleaner

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3rd October 2008

Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I improved my playing a little closer to the point where I was before we went on vacation and I forgot everything.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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Elective

Time: 60 min

French Language

Reflection

We sat down and read through our lesson we had completed as homework. Miss Marie introduced many new concepts, including different types of past tense. We also went through the French letters we had written as an exercise. We completed the book today! When we had finished the book, we did a revision of things we had learned in it. I learned a bit more about the past tense and revised some things I had learned.

Resources

Miss Marie

French Books

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Community Service

Time: 30 min

Reflection

I volunteered at the Northeast Branch of the Warren County Library System. I removed the date stickers from some books and CDs and filed them away in their appropriate spot. I learned a little bit about their filing system and how fun it is to volunteer!

Resources

Library

Miss Virginia, who taught me

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Science

Time: 30 min

Physical Science

Reflection

I worked on writing my presentation on my plant growth chamber. It is not done yet, but getting there!

Resources

My computer

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Science

Time: 30 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

I worked on writing my presentation notes for my Introduction to Evolution presentation up as full sentences so that we can send it out to the other home school families.

Resources

My computer

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Current Affairs and World History

Reflection

We listened to the Story of the World, and learned about Simon Bolivar, The Liberator, and the Mexican Revolution.

Resources

Story of the World CD and Book

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Science

Time: 40 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

We read through the section on the spider from Keepers of the Animals and though about the web of life. We thought about the web of life and learned about symbol animals, animals whose qualities we admire.

Resources

Keepers of the Animals book

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Science

Time: 60 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

I read through the PBS Evolution website A Tree Full of Ancestors page and answered a question sheet about the different human family trees. I learned about many different human ancestors and why scientists don't always agree.

Resources

PBS Evolution website

My computer

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English

Time: 60 min

A Study of Classical and Modern Literature

Reflection I read Cricket Magazine for half an hour.

Resources

Cricket Magazine

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4th October 2008

Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I improved my playing a little closer to the point where I was before we went on vacation and I forgot everything.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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Physical Fitness

Time: 10 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

I went outside and let the chickens out of their cages. I also let the two hens with chicks out from under the deck.

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English

Time: 150 min

Speech: The Actor and Writer Speaks

Reflection

Today, I went to The Actor Speaks program at the Growing Stage Theater in Netcong, NJ. We learned to breath slowly and focused as a warm up. Then we wrote a paragraph describing a typical August day without using the words Hot, Humid, Heat and Sun. After that the other students read the homework they had been assigned from last time (I didn't do this because I missed the first class because I was on vacation in Maine). Then our new homework was set and we went through what to do with it. When I got home, I completed my homework, which included writing a paragraph finishing an unfinished play, and creating conflict scenes and deciding on consequences for the scenes.

In this lesson and while doing my homework, I learned to think of less obvious way of saying things.

Resources

Our teacher, Miss Mary

Worksheets

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5th of October 2008

Physical Fitness

Time: 40 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

I helped dad pull apart an encroaching hedge in our front yard. Then I dragged the pieces back to the wood pile. I learned how to clip hedges.

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I improved my playing a little closer to the point where I was before we went on vacation and I forgot everything.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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English

Time: 30 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

I sat down and wrote a review of the play we went to see yesterday, How I Became a Pirate.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/growingstagereview.pdf

Resources

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 90 min

Art and Publishing

Reflection

I drew 7 1/2 images for my mother's cemetery card game in the GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program). I learned how to do things simply (and how frustrating it can be if you don't).

Resources

My Computer

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Science

Time: 60 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

I researched Homo Hiedelbergensis and the controversy that surrounds it. It seems that it is sometimes classed as a separate species from Homo Sapien, and sometimes not. I also did some research on green algae for my Botany Presentation.

Resources

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I improved my playing a little closer to the point where I was before we went on vacation and I forgot everything. I also sang Frosty the Snowman in preparation for Wednesday.

Resources

My Piano

October 6th 2008

Elective

Time: 60 min

Current Affairs and World History

Reflection

I read an article on the debate between Governor Palin and Senator Biden, and noticed how they were definitely trying to knock each other down (metaphorically, of course). I then read a long article on what job a Vice President has, and answered a true or false test to test what I had learned. After that, I read the news summaries for today.

I learned a bit about what Vice Presidents do, and learned about some famous Vice Presidents from history.

Resources

My Computer

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Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We went for a one hour walk along the roads and through the woods, looking out for birds and animals.

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Science

Time: 45 Min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/NatureJournalOct6.pdf

Resources

My Computer

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Math

Time: 60 min

Basic Math and Algebra 1

Reflection

We watched a half-hour lecture introducing us to Algebra and giving us a bit of history of Algebra, then explaining the course and what is going to be used in it. Then I worked with my dad to complete most of Lesson One in the workbook. I did the three main problems, and then two little extra algebra problems. It was pretty tricky in places, but I had a lot of fun! I learned a lot about the history of algebra and how to use it.

Resources

My Computer

Workbook

My math book

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Social Studies

Time: 90 min

A Study of Physical and Political Geography

Reflection

First, we were introduced to the organization Heifer International. We got out to globe and found where Ecuador is on the map. Mom read a story about a community that was helped by Heifer International. Then we filled out a little worksheet and went through it. Here is the worksheet:

When everybody was done with that, I gave a short talk on the current affairs for the day, more specifically what role a Vice President fills. I learned about another country, where there is a different way of life from here.

Resources

Worksheets

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October 7th 2008

English

Time: 90 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

I wrote out a page of my grammar workbook, Hot Fudge Monday. I learned about prepositions.

Resources

Workbook

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Elective

Time: 45 min

Current Affairs and World History

Reflection

I read through my current affairs for today (on economics, called a Tale of Two Economies), and filled out a questionnaire to see how much I'd learned. Here is the questionnaire I filled out.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/EconomicsQuestions.pdf

Resources

Computer

Current Affairs Website

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I improved my playing a little closer to the point where I was before we went on vacation and I forgot everything. I also sang Frosty the Snowman in preparation for Wednesday.

Resources

My Piano

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Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We went for a hour-long walk down the road an through the woods.

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Science

Time: 30 min

Evolution of Life on Earth

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/NatureJournalOct7.pdf

Resources

My Computer

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Math

Time: 60 min

Basic Math and Algebra 1

Reflection We read through a bit of the arithmetic section in the How Math Works book. Then we played the game of Nim, an ancient number game. I won! When we had done that, I did some number problems from the book. After that, Dad did some more Algebra with me. We finished up our lesson from yesterday. I learned about the history of arithmetic, and a bit more about algebra.

Resources

Workbook

How Math Works book

My math book

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Elective

Time: 10 min

French Language

Reflection We started listening to our Voila! French CD, which is so far a basic revision of what we have done so far.

Resources

CD

Book

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Physical Fitness

Time: 90 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection I went out with dad to track a deer that he had shot with his bow and hadn't died immediately. We didn't find the deer, but I did get some exercise. I learned the basics of tracking.

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October 8th 2008

Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I improved my playing a little closer to the point where I was before we went on vacation and I forgot everything. I also sang Frosty the Snowman in preparation for tonight.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Basic Piano library

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Elective

Time: 60 min

Current Affairs and World History

Reflection

I read the Current Affairs article A Tale of Two Economies, and filled out a Venn Diagram comparing today's economic woes to the Great Depression. I learned a bit more about today's economic crisis. Here is the Venn Diagram:

My conclusions:

Although the government is working to stop the economic downturn, I believe that there is a very good chance of another Great Depression springing on us. However, it (hopefully) wouldn't be as bad.

Resources

My computer

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English

Time: 30 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

I worked through my lesson in my Hot Fudge Monday grammar book. I learned about using prepositions.

Resources

Hot Fudge Monday

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Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

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

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Science

Time: 60 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/NatureJournalOct8.pdf

Resources

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

We listened to our Voila! French CD and did a test in the back of our Symtalk book. I recapped on some French words I had forgotten.

Resources

My Computer

Voila! CD and Book

Symtalk Books

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Elective

Time: 60 min

Economics

Reflection

My mom and I read through our economics book and I was set some short essays to write on economics and some things covered in the author's disclosure. I learned about Juris Naturalism, and a bit about economics.

Resources

Mom

My computer

Whatever Happened To Penny Candy book

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Science

Time: 90 min

Physical Science

Reflection

Nathaniel, William and I gave presentations on Our Plant Growth Chambers and how well they did. We studied what light and sound are, saw the power of Polaroid lenses, learned how sound moves, and learned about the human ear. We also did an experiment to try to see sound by playing loud noises next to a pie tin with plastic wrap stretched tightly over the top, and pellets on top of that. We saw the pellets jump when we made loud noises! I learned many things about hearing, seeing, light and sound. I really enjoyed the class.

Resources

My notebook

Dad

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English

Time: 90 min

Speech: The Actor and Writer Speaks

Reflection

I tried out for the Growing Stage play Frosty The Snowman. I prepared a song (Frosty the Snowman!), sang that, danced (not my favorite thing in the world), and acted. Everybody was having a great time and the tension dropped as the night went on. I learned how to sing in the face of those 60-something people in the audience, and learned some new dance moves.

Resources

Song Book

Piano

October 9th 2008

English

Time: 15 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

I worked through a page of our Hot Fudge Monday grammar book and mom went over it with me. I'm getting better at prepositions!

Resources

Hot Fudge Monday

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I am starting to get better now!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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Elective

Time: 50 min

Current Affairs and World History

Reflection

I read through the current affairs article Using Video Games as Bait to Hook Readers. Then I wrote up some answers to questions they posed. I learned about using games to teach children and increase literacy.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/CurrentAffairsVideoGames.pdf

Resources

My computer

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Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

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

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Science

Time: 60 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/NatureJournalOct9.pdf

Resources

My Computer

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Math

Time: 90 min

Basic Math and Algebra 1

Reflection

We watched the second lesson of our Algerbra 1 video course, on the history of numbers. Then Dad went through the lesson in the book with me. I learned about the history of numbers and different number groups.

Resources

My notebook

Dad

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Elective

Time: 15 min

French Language

Reflection

We looked at the Ma France program, and watched a video in French with English subtitles. I learned a few new phrases.

Resources

My computer

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Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

I vacuumed the entire house, except for the upstairs room, ceiling to floor.

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October 10th 2008

Elective

Time: 15 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I am starting to get better now!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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English

Time: 15 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

I worked through a page of my Hot Fudge Monday grammar book, which asked what prepositions I should use in my responses to questions like "Where were you when the apartment store blew up?" (jails are full of people who use the wrong prepositions!). Later mom went over it with me. I'm getting better at prepositions!

Resources

Hot Fudge Monday

Elective

Time: 60 min

French Language

Reflection

We went to our French Lesson, and worked through Unit One of the Voila! French Book and CD lessons. I learned many new french names and phrases.

Resources

Miss Marie, our teacher

Voila! Book and CD

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Community Service

Time: 30 min

Reflection

I worked at the library for half an hour, sorting out DVDs. I learned a bit more about their sorting system.

Resources

The Librarians

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Science

Time: 120 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

I wrote a imaginary newspaper article about a hominid I had discovered. After that, I wrote an article by a scientist who doubted my claims. I learned about Homo Heidelbergensis and the controversy surrounding it.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/HumanEvolution.pdf

Resources

My Computer

PBS Evolution

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English

Time: 15 min

A Study of Classical and Modern Literature

Reflection

I wrote a book review of a book I had read, The Titan's Curse.

Review

The Titan's Curse is the third book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series. The basic premise of the series is the all the Greek myths and gods are real and live in the 21st century. Percy Jackson is a Half-Blood, the child of both a god (Poseidon) and a human. In his adventures, he has faced many monsters and mighty enemies. But now a titan has escaped from his eternal punishment, and is raising an army to crush Mount Olympus. Also, a mighty monster is on the loose, Artemis the Hunter has been captured, and Percy and his friends are the only ones that can go on a quest and save the day!

I really enjoyed this book, and I am looking forward to reading more in the series.

Resources

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 10 min

Current Affairs and World History

Reflection

We listened to our story of the world CD for 10 minutes. We learned about the Mexican Revolution and about the work of the Abolitionists.

Resources

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 30 min

Art and Publishing

Reflection I drew a picture of a Screech Owl with pencil and colored pencil. Later I edited it on the computer.

This exercise was an extension of the work I have been doing in my nature journal, on the symbol animals. If you have been following my nature journals, you'll remember that I picked the Screech Owl as the animal I wanted to take on the qualities of.

Resources

Pencils

Colored Pencils

My Computer

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October 11th 2008

Elective

Time: 15 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I am starting to get better now!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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English

Time: 20 min

A Study of Classical and Modern Literature

Reflection

I listened to a Living Books for the Ears production on how one president, Theodore Roosevelt, who wanted his family to live in the Executive Mansion at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (also known as The White House!), set about renovating the old building. But while he struggled to rebuild it, he also had his son and the job of being president to deal with. One fact I learned about Theodore Roosevelt: His first wife, Alice (who gave him a daughter, also called Alice), died of kidney failure. He later went on to marry his childhood sweetheart, Edith Kermit Carrow, who gave him five children. It was when he was married to Edith that the story starts.

Resources

Living Books for the Ears radio show

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Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We went for a walk down the road and through the woods. I saw that many of the trees were changing color, and spotted a few squirrels running about. I realized what a beautiful area we live in. Even though it's supposed to be the weekend the monarch butterflies come through, I didn't see any monarchs on the walk. I did see one later, however.

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English

Time: 90 min

Speech: The Actor and Writer Speaks

Reflection

We started our Actor Speaks class by doing some exercises. Then we talked about what makes suspense in plays (conflict + consequences = suspense) We paired up and wrote some examples of conflicts and possible consequences. After that, we went through our homework from last time and were given some new homework. I learned about writing suspenseful plays.

Resources

Miss Mary Saarman

Notebooks

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October 12th 2008

Elective

Time: 45 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I realized that I was doing something wrong on I Just Can't Wait to be King, so I corrected it. Afterward I went to my piano lesson with Mr Tom across at the church. He told me to work on the second halves of my Haunted House song and my I Just Can't Wait to Be King song a lot more. Hopefully I will have those finished by next week! I feel like I am progressing.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Mr Tom

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English

Time: 15 min

Speech: The Actor and Writer Speaks

Reflection

Alison, a friend of mine, wrote a play based on the parable of the sower for our Faithworks Sunday School program. We performed it with the few children we had (6 including Alison and myself), first by reading through it, then by using props and scarves to show what we were doing. It went well, and most of the children were very enthusiastic. I played God and a few other parts in the second run through.

Resources

Scripts

Actors

Props (scarves and a basket full of bean bags, to be the seeds)

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Elective

Time: 120 min

Art and Publishing

Reflection

I drew all of the remaining symbols I had to draw for mom's Cemetery Card Game. I struggled a bit with a few of them, but eventually I got them all done. I learned a few new skills for my GIMP image program. My favorite picture was the dove.

Resources

My Computer

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Science

Time: 90 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

I made the slides for my botany presentation on Green Algae (I chose the Impact font for the heading because it just felt right), then began to write out notes for my slides. It was hard at times, but I used Google to find the information I needed. Wikipedia was also very helpful, and http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/seagrant/GLWL/Algae/HAB/HABFAQ.html was helpful for the information on Algae blooms. I learned many new things about Green Algae.

When I was done with that, I drew a picture of what I thought one missing link might look like for my Human Evolution article.

Resources

My Computer

See links above

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October 13th 2008

Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I realized that I was doing something wrong on I Just Can't Wait to be King, so I corrected it. I worked a lot more on the second half of I Just Can't Wait to Be King and on my haunted house song.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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English

Time: 15 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

I wrote a page of my Grammar book, Hot Fudge Monday, on where people use prepositions when they shouldn't. I filled out a page of sentences with prepositions in the wrong places.

Resources

Hot Fudge Monday

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Elective

Time: 45 min

Current Affairs and World History

Reflection

I studied an article on the NY Time Student Connection website on Electronic Newspapers. It was very interesting. Electronic Newspapers may be the way to go to save money and paper. I also filled out a questionnaire on Electronic Newspapers and how they might be helpful... or harmful. I feel that Electronic Newspapers are a good thing, but we'll see if they are.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/CurrentAffairs.pdf

Resources

My Computer

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Physical Fitness

Time: 45 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

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

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Science

Time: 30 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/NatureJournalOct12.pdf

Resources

My Computer

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Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

We read through eight of our French verbs, and tested each other on them. It was quite hard to get those endings right, especially the past tense verbs. I was getting a little flustered on some of them, but I did manage to get all of them right... eventually.

Resources

My notebook

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Math

Time: 30 min

Basic Math and Algebra 1

Reflection

I worked through the remaining problems in my Algebra 1 Course Lesson Two. There were some very tricky problems, but I worked my way through them all. I divided vulgar fractions up to give me decimal fractions, and did some algebra to find two numbers, one that always equaled X when multiplied by X (1) and one that always equaled X when added to X (0). I learned a few new things about algebra and number systems.

Resources

My notebook

Algebra 1 Course

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Elective

Time: 60 min

A Local Study of Mountain Lake

Reflection

We started off our lesson by talking about how old the earth is and discussing what prehistory is. We talked about glaciers, and how they can mold huge swathes of land (they cut out Mountain Lake and filled it with water). We went over these topics again, and then we began to do some experiments. We used a block, a plank and some cards to simulate how glaciers move, used sand, a plank and some ice cubes to simulate how glaciers cut out the land with gathered debris, and my experiment was to use a tray full of level sand and a bag full of water to simulate how glaciers create moraines. I had a great time, and learned a lot.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/scouredbyice.pdf

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/Experiment1.pdf

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/creepingice.pdf

Resources

My notebook

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October 14th 2008

English

Time: 15 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

I wrote a page of my Grammar book, Hot Fudge Monday, about how prepositions can form prepositional phrases. But prepositional phrases on their own don't make much sense. They need other words with them. For my grammar I corrected a couple of sentences full of prepositional phrases so that they made sense.

Resources

Hot Fudge Monday

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Elective

Time: 15 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I worked especially hard on the second halves of both songs. I'm going to try and have those finished by this weekend!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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Elective

Time: 270 min

Current Affairs and World History

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/AfricaDig.pdf

Resources

Big Dog (our head archeologist)

Tools

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October 15th 2008

English

Time: 30 min

A Study of Classical and Modern Literature

Reflection

I read a good chunk of a book, Betrayal on Orbis 2. It is a very good science fiction story, and you will see a review when I finish it.

Resources

Book, Betrayal on Orbis 2

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Elective

Time: 15 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I worked especially hard on the second halves of both songs. I'm going to try and have those finished by this weekend!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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Elective

Time: 270 min

Current Affairs and World History

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/AfricaDig2.pdf

Resources

Big Dog (our head archeologist)

Tools

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October 16th 2008

Elective

Time: 15 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I worked especially hard on the second halves of both songs. I'm going to try and have those finished by this weekend!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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Elective

Time: 270 min

Current Affairs and World History

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/AfricaDig3.pdf

Resources

Big Dog (our head archeologist)

Tools

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October 17th 2008

Elective

Time: 15 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I worked especially hard on the second halves of both songs. I'm getting better and better at them!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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Elective

Time: 300 min

Current Affairs and World History

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/AfricaDig4.pdf

Resources

Big Dog (our head archeologist)

Tools

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Community Service

Time: 30 min

Reflection

I sorted DVDs at the library. I had to find the cards that said they were checked out, check them with the movies, and see whether they were checked in or not. The plus to this type of work was that I didn't have to look at the covers of the scary DVDs!

Resources

Librarians

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English

Time: 60 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

I worked on a poem for the Cricket Halloween Poetry Contest. It took a couple of false starts on poems before I was able to find one that worked, but work this one does! After I got the idea, it all sort of flowed out.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/IAmFrightenedOfTheDaylight.pdf

Resources

My Computer

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October 18th 2008

Elective

Time: 15 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I worked especially hard on the second halves of both songs. I'm getting better and better at them!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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English

Time: 90 min

Speech: The Actor and Writer Speaks

Reflection

We started our Actor Speaks class by doing some exercises. Then we read through our homework from last time. I had written all of my homework up on the computer, but I forgot to print it out! Fortunately, I could remember most of it! After that we started to develop characters. We all had very different ideas and personalities for our characters! When we had finished that, we all put on hats and invented characters for those hats. I was an old man with a cap! After that we received our homework and class finished.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/playideas.pdf

Resources

Miss Mary Saarman

Notebooks

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October 19th 2008

English

Time: 30 min

A Study of Classical and Modern Literature

Reflection

I read Wyrd Sisters, a book by Terry Prachett, for about half an hour.

Resources

Wyrd Sisters

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Elective

Time: 35 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down in the church and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano there. When Mr Tom arrived, I played Railroad Boogie from Technic book and then moved on to Haunted House. I have a new song now, called Hokey Pokey, which I'm sure everyone knows! Then I played I Just Can't Wait to be King, and played the second half broken record, that is, over and over again.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Mr Tom

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Community Service

Time: 30 min

Reflection

Alison ran through her play The Parable of the Sower for church again. I played God, and tried to get everybody to focus on the play. It was hard, but after we ran through it three times, I felt it was starting to pay off. Now everyone needs to memorize their lines.

Resources

Scripts

Props

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Community Service

Time: 90 min

Reflection

I went to Genesis Farm, a Community Supported Garden, for their Harvest Festival. I pulled up carrots and pulled the leaves off beets for 90 minutes. There were a lot of people, so we got a lot done very quickly. I ate a lot of carrots!

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October 20th 2008

Elective

Time: 10 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King) and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I am getting much better!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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English

Time: 15 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

I wrote out a page of grammar making prepositional phrases out of lines from the movie the Wizard of Oz, and mom went through them with me.

Resources

Grammar Book

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Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

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

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Science

Time: 25 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/NatureJournalOct20.pdf

Resources

My Computer

---

Elective

Time: 20 min

French Language

Reflection

We listened to our Ma France CD, going over the parts we had finished before. We re-learned some French greetings and phrases. We also repeated many French phrases over and over again until they stuck in our heads. It always works!

Resources

My Computer

Ma France CD

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Math

Time: 45 min

Basic Math and Algebra 1

Reflection

I watched the third lesson in my Algebra 1 Course, the Language of Algebra. It talked all about monomials, a single set of algebraic functions that work for any numbers in the Real Numbers group (a constant number times a variable to the power of a constant), and polynomials, a set of monomials. We did several problems which were illustrated with cubes and rods. It was tricky, but I think I understand it. I will certainly get lots of work with these types of problems in my workbook!

Resources

My Computer

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Social Studies

Time: 120 min

A Study of Physical and Political Geography

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/ShoeBoxStables.pdf

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/photos/Jack/HomeSchool/ShoeboxStablesAlpacas/

See thumbnails.jpg

Resources

My Computer

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October 21st 2008

Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King), the Hokey Pokey, and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I'm getting even better!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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English

Time: 120 min

A Study of Classical and Modern Literature

Reflection

I read The Merchant of Death and The Lost City of Faar, both by D J Machale. I finished The Merchant of Death.

Resources

The Merchant of Death

The Lost City of Faar

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English

Time: 30 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/TylerArboretum.pdf

Resources

My Computer

---

October 22nd 2008

English

Time: 30 min

A Study of Classical and Modern Literature

Reflection

I read some more of The Lost City of Faar in bed this morning. It was very exciting.

Resources

The Lost City of Faar by D J Machale

Elective

Time: 10 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King), the Hokey Pokey, and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I had a good time doing it!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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English

Time: 25 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

I wrote out a page of grammar where I found prepositional phrases in paragraphs from famous novels and books. Then I used these prepositional phrases to make sentences of my own. My mom went through them with me.

Resources

Grammar Book

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Science

Time: 20 min

Physical Science

Reflection

I wrote out my Plant Growth Chamber Presentation notes in full sentences, then printed the presentation out. I learned that I should probably write my presentation notes out in full sentences when I am first writing them.

Resources

My computer

---

Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We went on a walk down the road and through the woods. We nearly got blown away!

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Science

Time: 25 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/NatureJournalOct22.pdf

Resources

My Computer

Anemometer

Wind Direction Gauge

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Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

We went all the way through our Viola Unit 1. As we worked our way through the lessons (which got quite tricky in places), I learned some new French words and phrases. Voici (meaning here is), Voila (there is) and la c'est (Over there is) are all new words I learned.

Resources

My Computer

Voila CD

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Math

Time: 40 min

Basic Math and Algebra 1

Reflection

We learned about the history of calculation and about controlling numbers to make them do your bidding! In the history of calculation, we learned about Pliny and Archimedes and other great minds. We also learned about different counting systems and counting tools (such as the abacus and the calculator). In controlling numbers, we learned how to easily do some types of complex equations really quickly.

Resources

My Math Book

How Math Works book

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Science

Time: 90 min

Physical Science

Reflection

When Nathaniel and William had arrived for the class, we all sat down and started learning about sound with my dad. We recapped on what sound is (sounds are waves of vibrations, that are carried through the air and can even travel through solid objects), learned about resonance (which is the natural frequency of vibration for a certain object) and pitch (which is the fundamental frequency) and tone (which is the mix of frequencies that gives, say, an instrument it's characteristic tone). We also learned about what sound is measured in (decibels, or dB), and did an experiment on how sound can bounce off objects. We finished up by learning a bit more about the Doppler effect.

Resources

My Science Book

Dad

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October 23rd 2008

Elective

Time: 10 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King), the Hokey Pokey, and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I had a bit of a hard time on the Haunted House song, but I had a good time!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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English

Time: 20 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

I wrote out a page of grammar where I took prepositions and nouns or pronouns and used them to form prepositional phrases. Then I put those prepositional phrases into sentences.

Resources

Grammar Book

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Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

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

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Science

Time: 25 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/NatureJournalOct23.pdf

Resources

My Computer

Anemometer

Wind Direction Gauge

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Elective

Time: 120 min

Art and Publishing

Reflection

I drew a picture of Sheriff Jack in the Pulpit in the GIMP and then used it with two other pictures I drew before the summer to create a card for our Botany Presentation Evening.

Resources

My Computer

GIMP

---

Elective

Time: 30 min

Economics

Reflection

I re-read the author disclosure section of my Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? economics book, then wrote out a short essay on one of the quotes in the Author Disclosure section. It isn't finished yet, but soon it will be!

Resources

My Computer

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?

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Math

Time: 120 min

Basic Math and Algebra 1

Reflection

I went over some stuff I learned yesterday with Dad, including abacus work and some work on permutations. Then mom read me a page of Penrose the Mathematical Cat book on the Abacus. Then I did some exercises on using abacuses. I felt that I learned how to use an abacus, and boy am I glad that we have calculators now!

Resources

Dad

My Math Book

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Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

We read through the grammar section of our Voila! French Book. Then we finished up some exercises in the back of unit one. There were some very tricky nouns to deal with. I got none, count 'em, none wrong! I felt that I learned quite a few new French phrases and words.

Resources

Voila! French Book and CD set

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Community Service

Time: 45 min

Reflection

I finished sorting through the DVD set at the library, starting at 500 and working my way up to 1400. I found about 15 videos who were supposed to be checked out and weren't. I learned quite a bit about the library's sorting system.

Resources

Librarians

Movie Index Cards

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Elective

Time: 10 min

Art and Publishing

Reflection

While I was at the library, I found a picture of a spider on the internet which labeled the parts. Then I drew a sketch of the spider and drew labels pointing to the most important parts. This was for my Keepers of the Animals project on spiders.

Resources

Computer

---

English

Time: 20 min

Speech: The Actor and Writer Speaks

Reflection

Also while I was at the library, I worked on my homework for The Actor and Writer Speaks. I studied a page of lines and wrote what sort of character might say one of them. Then I wrote out the personality traits of Sir Roger Bills, a supremely greedy character I invented, and said whether I liked him or not. Getting the right characters for those lines was hard!

Resources

Actor Speaks homework book

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Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

I vacuumed the entire house except for the upstairs rooms, and vacuumed the ceilings with the special nozzle.

Resources

Vacuum

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October 24th 2008

Elective

Time: 10 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King), the Hokey Pokey, and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I had a bit of a hard time on the Haunted House song, but I had a good time!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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Elective

Time: 45 min

Art and Publishing

Reflection

I arrived at Miss Karla's and began to work on my contest for Muse, which was to draw a caricature of a famous person or a political figure. Miss Karla went over basic facial proportions, especially the placement of the ears, nose and eyes. I decided to draw a picture of the Queen of England. So I took her facial features and hair and crown and exaggerated them a bit, well, more than a bit. I do hope that she won't be angry! My friend William looked at it and laughed!

Resources

Pens and Paper

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Science

Time: 120 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

After a little while of being at Miss Karla and William's house, I was ready to go outside. So we all went out and collected seeds. Why seeds? Because William is volunteering to collect native plant seeds and plant them at the Pequest Hatchery as a native plant garden. As we walked about, collecting plants, William and I raced to see who could identify the flowers first! There were several that were very tough to identify, but we managed to get them all. Later, after we had lunch, we went into the kitchen and packed them into zip lock bags.

Resources

Peterson's Field Guide Books: Medicinal Plants, Edible Wild Plants, and Wild Flowers of Northeastern North America

Miss Karla

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English

Time: 90 min

Creative Writing

Reflection

William and I retreated to William's room and began feverishly game-planning. We worked out a whole bunch of classes, monsters and units for our Real Time Strategy Game we are designing, which had a name, but I forgot it. When we had written out some ideas for units and designed the user interface, I began to plan out unit relationships. I felt as if I had really accomplished something.

Resources

Pens and Paper

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October 25th 2008

Elective

Time: 10 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King), the Hokey Pokey, and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I had a great time playing the piano, and I composed some songs of my own.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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English

Time: 60 min

Speech: The Actor and Writer Speaks

Reflection

We started our Actor Speaks Class by reading out our homework from last time, which was to read lines and think about what sort of person, if any, would say them. Some lines were, "Tarnation, Hickory, you did it again!" and "What a shame. He's dead." Then we all took two lines and incorporated them into a small scene. Mine was about a nasty job applicant who had an honesty problem (He said he cheated to win the job when he probably shouldn't have). The two lines I took were "Sure, I cheated to win." and "What a shame. He's dead." I also took part in one of the other playwright's scenes, in which I play a guy who got shot (I fell over a bit too realistically and got a rug burn). I had a really great time!

Resources

My notebook

My teacher, Miss Mary

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Elective

Time: 90 min

Art and Publishing

Reflection

Mom asked me if I could draw a picture of a pumpkin fairy house in Truespace, my 3d computer art program, for use on an invitation to our Fall Party. I said yes, and began to design a pumpkin. I started with a normal pumpkin, then cut a hole for the door, added a extra pumpkin top coming off the side like a roof with sticks supporting it, and as a final touch added a window. It took a while and involved a bit of hair-pulling, mostly because the stupid program crashed twice! But I managed to get it done, and here it is.

Resources

Truespace

My computer

Book of pumpkin fairy houses

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English

Time: 60 min

Speech: The Actor and Writer Speaks

Reflection

I wrote up my homework for my Actor and Writer Speaks class. I had to write an extension of the play I wrote at the class. I wrote the ending of the scene where Joe is arrested for shooting Bill the Vice President by two security guards. I had a good time doing it, but it was hard to fit it into just one page!

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/playideas2.pdf

Resources

My Computer

October 26th 2008

Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down in the church and went through my songs before Mr Tom arrived. When he did arrive, we decided to move to my house because it was pretty cold in the church. We worked on the songs the Hokey Pokey, I Just Can't Wait to be King, and Railroad Boogie. I was having a lot of trouble on Railroad Boogie, but Mr Tom set me straight. I also got to go onto the second part of I Just Can't Wait to be King!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

Mr Tom

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English

Time: 30 min

Speech: The Actor and Writer Speaks

Reflection

We have been practicing the play The Sower in preparation for our Harvest Festival at Church. Well, the Harvest Festival was today, and when everyone arrived at 9:15 we began our practice. We squeezed in two last-minute practices, which were okay but not as good as I had hoped. Fortunately, everyone was really good for the actual production, so it came together well in the end.

Resources

Scripts

Props

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Science

Time: 120 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

After I came in from Church, I sat down and began to finish my notes on my Green Algae Presentation. I wanted to include a section on the evolution of Green Algae and what role it played in the evolution of plants. I found out Green Algae probably evolved when a large cell met a smaller, photosynthesizing cell. The two cells merged and formed a symbiotic relationship. Also, a type of Green Algae may in fact be the evolutionary ancestor of all plants! When I was done adding that section, I went through my notes and wrote them up as full sentences.

Resources

My Computer

---

Science

Time: 60 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

At the last botany class, Ms Liz recommended that I add some pictures from our website to my habitat project. So today I went to the website, downloaded four native plant pictures and four invasive plant pictures, put them into a document and added the names of each plant under the pictures. Then I printed them out, cut them up, and disaster struck! The tags we wanted to stick them to were too small. So mom brainstormed up a new way to fit them in: inside little pockets. That worked!

Resources

My Computer

Paper Cutter

Pockets

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Elective

Time: 10 min

Art and Publishing

Reflection

I took the caricature of the Queen of England I had drawn off the website, put it in an email and sent it to my mom. It was fun seeing the work I had done in a digital format, all ready to be sent off to Muse magazine for their caricature contest.

Resources

My Computer

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Science

Time: 20 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

I had finished off my plant growth chamber presentation and I just needed to send it to my mom, but we had a bit of trouble sending it. You see, I wanted to send it with the notes I had made attached. We finally managed to get it right as PDF, and sent it to her in an e-mail.

Resources

My Computer

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October 27th 2008

Elective

Time: 60 min

Art and Publishing

Reflection

I finished up Making Comics by Scott Mccloud in bed this morning. It was a fascinating guidebook on using language and art together to make your comics come to life.

Resources

Making Comics by Scott Mccloud

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Elective

Time: 15 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King), the Hokey Pokey, and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I had a great time playing the piano, and I composed some songs of my own.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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English

Time: 20 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

I wrote out a page of my grammar describing my favorite preposition, above. For example, I wrote that I like to rise above the hustle and bustle of daily life and often wonder what it would be like to soar above the treetops. Mom checked it through for me and said it was excellent.

Resources

My Grammar Book, Hot Fudge Monday

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Elective

Time: 40 min

Art and Publishing

Reflection

I drew a picture of an alpaca onto my thank you letter to Ms Michele, for showing us her alpacas and other animals. For reference I used a photo from the Warren Reporter of Ms Michele's alpacas in their field. I used pencil to draw it and pencil crayon to color it in.

Resources

Pencils and colored pencils

The Warren Reporter

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Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We went for a one hour walk along the roads and through the woods, looking out for spider's webs in the woods.

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Science

Time: 30 Min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/NatureJournalOct27.pdf

Resources

My Computer

Anemometer

Wind Direction Gauge

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Math

Time: 35 min

Basic Math and Algebra 1

Reflection

I sat down with my dad and went over some things covered in lesson three of my Algebra 1 course, specifically monomials and polynomials. I wrote out some basic algebraic equations and tried to figure out what the variables a and n were in each one. Then I looked at some monomials and tried to figure out whether they were monomials or polynomials when added together. It was hard, but I think I'm starting to get it.

Resources

Algebra 1 Course

My Math Book

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Elective

Time: 35 min

French Language

Reflection

Mom and I have both finished the first unit of our Voila! French Course Cd and book, so today we went over our vocabulary. We went over the things that the course said we should have learned by then (in French of course!) and worked through the vocabulary list of words we learned in this unit. We finished off by going over the verb etre, which means is.

Resources

Voila! French Course Cd and Book

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Elective

Time: 90 min

A Local Study of Mountain Lake

Reflection

We started off our lesson by going through our thank you cards to Ms Michele. Everyone's cards were great! When everyone had arrived (except for Ashlei), we began our lesson. We recapped on our experiments from last time, and we redid our glacier experiment which went better this week than last week. When we had finished recapping, we discussed what causes an ice age, and learned a bit more about how glaciers form and move. In fact, I wrote a report on how glaciers move and carve out valleys and Matthew illustrated it. When we had finished, we talked about what we are going to learn about next time, and finished our lesson.

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/howwasmountainlakeformed.pdf

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/Experiment2.pdf

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/amy_lynn_whenWasMtnLakeFormed.pdf

Resources

My notebook

My computer

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October 28th 2008

Elective

Time: 25 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King), the Hokey Pokey, and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I had a great time playing the piano, and I composed some songs of my own.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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English

Time: 45 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

I wrote a short section on Squash Cemetery, the greatest vegetable horror novel of all time, for my grammar. It was really fun. I had to use ten of their prepositional phrases and make up five of my own. I wrote a story about the ghost of Fred Zucchini.

Resources

Hot Fudge Monday

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Elective

Time: 45 min

Art and Publishing

Reflection

I searched on Google for pictures of Green Algae for my Green Algae Presentation. I found one of a clump of Green Algae, a few of some different types of green algae cells, and one of a green algae bloom in a lake. Algae blooms are not nice! Anyway, I attached these to my presentation on Green Algae and printed it out with the notes for the botany class tomorrow. Then I sent it over to my mom so she could send it to another friend in the botany class.

Resources

My Computer

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Math

Time: 45 min

Basic Math and Algebra 1

Reflection

Dad and I worked on magnification and made Napier's Bones for my math. We figured out the magnification of two magnifying glasses by first placing a petal of a flower on a grid. We measured it, and then held the magnifying glass above it. Using a ruler and some guessing, we drew out the approximate size of the magnified petal. Then we calculated the difference between the two. This gave us the magnification of the magnifying glass. Then we drew out a set of Napier's Bones from a template in the book. We used the Napier's Bones to do a variety of sums. After that we discussed how Napier figured it out, and learned a bit about logarithms.

Resources

My Computer

---

Elective

Time: 60 min

French Language

Reflection

We went through our Ma France Lesson One, which taught us many things, including that we are still only scratching the surface of the French Language. Some of the words used in the course were really hard for us to figure out. We also learned quite a lot of new french words and went over the word manger, which means to eat.

Resources

Ma France Course

Transcripts

---

Elective

Time: 60 min

Art and Publishing

Reflection

Mr Pete arrived in the snow this evening. He said he had visions of Matthew and I sitting here waiting for him. Of course, Matthew hadn't even come, after we agreed the roads were too slippery. Anyway, because Matthew wasn't here, we weren't able to get on with the lesson Mr Pete had planned. So we worked on Terror of Porridge instead. We worked on a picture of a stupid police officer, and Mr Pete helped me get his anatomy right. Near the end of the lesson, the power cut out and we had to finish by the light of flashlights!

Resources

Mr Pete

Lightbox

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October 29th 2008

English

Time: 25 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

I wrote out a page of my grammar on prepositions. I filled in the prepositions in a page of ads and then wrote an ad of my own about missing chickens. Some of the prepositions were tricky, and in some places I wasn't quite sure which preposition to use, but I figured it out for all of them in the end. Some of them were pretty funny, such as one advertising a sale of two cats, one who is large and another who has a minor mental condition and likes listening to classical music played backwards.

Resources

Hot Fudge Monday

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Science

Time: 120 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

When I arrived at the botany class, William, Matt and I ran through our presentations. Then class started. Today was the presentation day, so we all made presentations to the class. Everybody did them very differently, some on the computer, some with a fold out, some with samples of their plants on the tables behind them as they talked. One of my classmates, Danielle, dressed up in a Kimono to give her talk on the flowering cherry. But they were all really good, and that didn't change. Everyone really came through and told us about their plants. In the break between the two halves of the class, we looked at each others' projects.

Resources

Miss Liz

Computer

Projector

Other Students

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October 30th 2008

Elective

Time: 25 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King), the Hokey Pokey, and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I feel like I am definately improving on all my songs!

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

We went on a walk down the road and through the woods, observing the damage that the snowstorm wrought.

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Science

Time: 25 min

Evolutionary Study of Life on Earth

Reflection

http://www.freeunionschoolhouse.com/twiki/pub/Main/JackEduLogOct2008/NatureJournalOct30.pdf

Resources

My Computer

Anemometer

Wind Direction Gauge

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Math

Time: 30 min

Basic Math and Algebra 1

Reflection

I sat down with my dad and went over some of the things we covered in our last Algebra 1 lesson, such as monomials and polynomials and how to tell the difference. After we went over some of the exercises from Lesson 3 last time, we began to differentiate monomials and polynomials. It was really tricky! For some reason I was having less trouble with the algebra side than my basic addition! I guess I had my brain in algebra mode and not just math mode.

Resources

Algebra 1 Course

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Elective

Time: 30 min

French Language

Reflection

We worked on our Ma France Unit One program for French today. We used a French and an English transcript of the lesson to translate between the two languages. Although it was hard in places, and the occasional word was lost in the translation, we managed to get it done. After we had finished with the transcripts, we watched the Unit One video over again.

Resources

Ma France Website

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Physical Fitness

Time: 90 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

I vacuumed the entire house from ceiling to floor, including the stairs and my room upstairs.

October 31st 2008

Elective

Time: 30 min

Music Practice and Music Theory

Reflection

I sat down and played the songs I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from the Lion King), the Hokey Pokey and Haunted House, from Alfred's Piano Library Level 4 on the piano. I also made up a few songs of my own and experimented with my other songs in different keys.

Resources

My Piano

Alfred's Piano Library Level 4

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English

Time: 30 min

Grammar and Writing

Reflection

I wrote out a page of grammar on idioms that begin with prepositions. To find these, I searched on Google for "idioms". Soon I found loads and loads of websites for idioms. I found some like "out of the bag", "without a doubt" and "up a blind alley". When I had found ten, which took some searching, I incorporated them into a short story about Ed the Iguana, who hasn't had a very good life being the pet of a pirate.

Resources

Hot Fudge Monday

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Physical Fitness

Time: 60 min

Lifetime Fitness

Reflection

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

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Elective

Time: 120 min

Art and Publishing

Reflection

Because it was Halloween today, we invited Matthew, Rachel and Alison, some friends of mine, over to carve pumpkins. First we cut the tops off, and then began removing the flesh and seeds, which was pretty icky. For some reason, the inside of the pumpkins were really cold! Anyway, after we had scooped all the seeds into the compost and all the flesh into a bowl, mom went inside and began making pumpkin soup with the pumpkin flesh we had scooped out. We began to carve our pumpkins. I did a gnome hotel (I could tell it was gnome hotel because of how small it was!), Rachel made a fairy house, Matthew made a spooky-looking house, and Alison made a carving from a book of pumpkin carving stencils. We all had a great time!

Resources

Carving Tools

Imagination!

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-- JackW - 25 Sep 2008