Week 11 | Seminar Notes

Habit is overcome by habit. ~ a Kempis

Henle II, p. 512

PreCalculus - Adv A
We reviewed factoring equations. While we stop and review concepts from time to time, keep working on your math lessons. The guide has us on pace to complete Lesson 24 by next week.

Chemistry
Today we compeleted the caleulations from our Module 5 experiment in week 10.
We worked through the first few OYO problems from Module 6. Students are to have Module 6 completed this week. We'll have an experiment in class next week.
Remember, even weeks are labs and experiments and odd weeks we bring questions and work through OYO problems in class.

American History
Students should follow the reading assignments from the guide. Students should be picking their topic for their next essay, which is due week 14, and getting their outline together.
Students are to research the Lincoln-Douglas debate and you can begin with page 49 in your guide.
Assignment: Bring notes to class on what a Lincoln-Douglas debate is and what is its purpose?
Summary: Essay due week and Lincoln-Douglas debate will be week 14.

Lincoln-Douglas topics. Look these topics over and pick two you would like to see our class debate. Bring your two to class this coming week. Here are the five topics to choose from:

1. The US has a moral obligation to mitigate international conflicts.
2. A government's legitimacy is more determined by its respect for popular sovereignty than individual rights.
3. When forced to choose, a just government ought to prioritize universal human rights over its national interests.
4. The US is justified in intervening in the internal political processes of other countries to attempt to stop human rights abuses.
5. In the US criminal justice system, truth-seeking ought to take precedence over attorney-client privilege.

I have decided to select teams and assign your side of the argument. See the team selections below.

Shakespeare/Poetry
Students are finishing up their essay this week and it should be emailed to me by Monday evening. Be sure to reach for parallelism in your proofs. Students should be ready to perform their lines this coming week, week 12.
How's your poetry coming? Poetry Corner is week 13.
Summary: Julius Caesar lines and essay due next week, week 12. Email Ms. Shirley the essay at fiveshirleys@aol.com.

Philosophy
Kant, Marx, and Kierkegaard...

People demand freedom of speech

 as a compensation for the freedom of thought 

which they seldom use.

~ Soren Kierkegaard

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/soren_kierkegaard.html#QQTpg5VS4DxLtL3J.99

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/soren_kierkegaard.html#QQTpg5VS4DxLtL3J.99

Students did an exceptional job of including each other and helping each other clarify ideas and meaning. Well done, students. Read the next chapter and highlight interesting passages or sentences.
Philosophy presentation: Choose your philosopher, begin compiling your information and forming an outline for your five minute presentation due week 15.

Latin
We looked at the vocative case and the imperative mood. In class, we read Doubting Thomas on p.511. Students did an excellent job of translating as we read this together.
Assignment from Lesson 29: Exercises: 216, 218, 219 (select 5 to translate).



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Location:Lowergate Ln,Kernersville,United States

Week 8 | Notes from Seminar

Picture Day next week, week 9.

Adv Math A
Work lessons 17 and 18 this week. In class, we went over polar coordinates and worked a few examples of converting from rectangular coordinates to polar coordinates.
Here are some helpful videos:
Angles and lines:  https://www.khanacademy.org/math/geometry/parallel-and-perpendicular-lines/ang_intro/v/angles-at-the-intersection-of-two-lines
Completing the square:  https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra/quadratics/completing_the_square/v/solving-quadratic-equations-by-square-roots
Polar coordinates: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/trigonometry/parametric_equations/polar_coor/v/polar-coordinates-1

Chemistry
We completed experiment 4.1.
Read and complete On Your Own for Module 5. Check out my blog post for Module 5 for help on the concept of a mole.

Latin
Well done, Jacob, in facilitating our Latin discussion on the gerund!
This week we work on translation exercises from Lesson 27 and the gerundive.
Assigned exercises are:197, 198, and 204
Master Latin scholar, Joe Hyde, will be facilitating our time together next week.

American History
We enjoyed a lively discussion and impromtu skills practice around the Panic of 1837. Using the common topic of relation: we thought on events that came before (antecedent) and events that came after (consequent) the Panic of 1837.
American History Essay #2 is due next week.
Please email it to fiveshirleys@aol.com next Monday.

Shakespeare
Finish reading Julius Caesar.
Highlight one or two passages that are interesting to you.

Think on these questions and ideas as you read:

1. Who is the better rhetorician: Mark Antony or Brutus?
2. Does Cassius envy Caesar?
3. Does Brutus love Caesar?
4. Are Brutus and Caesar friends?
5. Does true friendship require virtue?
6. What is virtue? Be ready to define virtue next week.
7. Is Brutus an honorable man?
8. In the play, note references to ceremony.
9. Note dreams, superstitions, and nature.
10. Note references to beasts and to divinity.
11. What robes and apparel references do you find?

Keep working on your poetry making a special note of metaphors and parallelism.

Philosophy
Read chapter 9 and be ready to discuss.
Pick a philosopher and be ready for your presentation on week 14.

Fall Semester, Week 6

Advanced Math A
Students brought questions from Lesson 11 and we worked through a few proofs, postulates, and similar triangles. These first few lessons are laden with geometry concepts. Students will need to be patient and humble. Studies can have an immediate and practical use, but they also have a transcendent work, a work in humility and a work in developing the faculty of attention.
Warning: Perseverance is required.

If we have no aptitude or natural taste for geometry this does not mean that our faculty for attention will not be developed by wrestling with a problem or studying a theorem. On the contrary it is almost an advantage.

 http://www.uwo.ca/chaplain/crc/articles/right_use.pdf

Continue working on Lessons 13 and 14 this week. 

Bring questions next week!

 Chemistry
Read and complete Module 4 On Your Own problems.

Bring questions to class.

Latin

Lesson 25: Exercises 183 and 185 

Maggie will bring 2-3 sentences from these exercises to work in class.

Bring questions to class. 

Shakespeare and Poetry

Students should have emailed me their essay this past week.

Students performed their lines - well done! 

This coming week is Poetry Corner.  

1. Bring poems and exercises from Chapters 1-4
2. Bring a snack to share
3. Begin reading Julius Caesar. I wonder, Were Brutus and Caesar friends? What did Brutus mean when he said: Not that I loved. Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more?

American History

We played Just A Minute (JAM) as we prepare for week 10's impromptu speeches.

Students should:

1. continue reading following the schedule in the guide
2. begin working on next essay which is due Week 9 

Philosophy

Read Chapter seven, take notes, and be ready for Socratic circles this coming week. 

Be thinking on the philosopher that you would like to present on week 14/15. 

Grace for your week, Heather

 

Week 2

Logic / Advanced Math A
Our class time was profitable as we reviewed the area of a sector and some other geometry problems from lessons 1-4.  Students should work on Lesson 5 and 6 and bring questions this coming week.

Research / Chemistry

In class, we completed an experiment from Module 1 on the density of liquids. Students should read Module 2 and complete the On Your Own questions and bring them to class.
Have you purchased a lab journal book? A composition notebook that is quad-ruled works beautifully for recording notes, graphics, and diagrams during our experiments.

Debate / American History

• Read - see the guide for the reading schedule for this week.
• Rhetorical event: Outline and practice presentation due on Week 4
• Research essay: Select topics and begin outline for essay due Week 5.

Who is best fit to govern others?

Exposition / Shakespeare & Poetry

• Work on essay ANI Chart and Outline
• Guy's issue: Whether Benedick should have killed Claudio
• Girl's issue: Whether Hero should have played dead
• Fill out your ANI chart a bit more using these questions:

1. Definition: Who is Hero? Who is Benedick? Who is Claudio? Who is the friar? What is friendship? What is marriage? What is love? What is honor? What are "man points"? What is modesty?
2. Comparison: How are Benedick and Claudio the same? How are they different? How are Leanato and the friar similar? How are they different? How is Beatrice and Benedick's relationship the same as Claudio and Hero's relationship? How are they different? How is Claudio like Joseph? How is Claudio different from Joseph? How is Hero like Mary? How is Hero different from Mary?

• Students are working systematically toward their first persuasive essay for this class which is due week 6. Remember essays are to be emailed to me at fiveshirleys@aol.com.
• Students are also looking for 30 lines from the play to memorize (practicing the memory canon of rhetoric) and present (practicing the presentation canon of rhetoric) to the class week 6.
• Poetry work: Be sure to work on poetry a little each week. This week you should have completed the exercises from Chapter 2 in Roar on the Other Side. I have asked students to complete one chapter a week if possibly. We’ll weave in the poetry appropriately throughout our seminar time. 

 Do you agree with the statement from Cicero: Friendship is only possible among good (virtuous) men. And do you agree with Cicero's definition of a good man being a man who possesses wisdom?

Rhetoric / Philosophy

Follow the reading outlined in your guide. This seminar we will learn how to seek understanding through discussion of ideas. We’ll learn how to love our neighbor in our discussion and discover of truth.

Grammar / Latin

A great day of reviewing Latin and tackling lots of ideas in Lesson 20. Thank you, Emily S, for facilitating a few examples of translation. Christina is set to facilitate a few sentences for translation  from Lesson 21 this coming week. Latin students please come to class with work completed and also any questions you have from your homework.

Semester 1 - Week 1

Advanced Math A
Work on lessons 1-4 this week and bring questions to class.

Chemistry
Complete the On Your Own problems for Module 1 and bring questions to class.

Latin/Language
Work on Lesson 20 at home.  Next week, in seminar, we'll be looking at the six concepts, paying special attention to 4, 5, and 6. Come ready to discuss concepts and translate a few sentences from the lesson next week.
Bring your poetry books to class this coming week too.

What is friendship? Come to class with a definition next week.

American History
Follow the reading in the guide and come ready to discuss next week.
Christina and Robbie will be leading Socratic circles for this discussion.
Begin working on your 4 minute expository presentation, see page 35 in your guide. Remember this presentation is due week 4.
Choose your topics for your research paper which is due week 5, see page 32 in your guide.

Shakespeare/Poetry
Read through the play with a highlighter and mark anything interesting you find.
What lines do you want to memorize? These will be due week 6.
Come ready with affirmative and negative proofs for our issue:

Whether Hero should have played dead

Begin your poetry exercises. You can ignore the exercise from the "pilgrim at tinker creek" book since you all don't have it. I'll bring it this week and show you all the book, if I remember.

Bring your poetry book and Roar on the Other Side to class.

Review my notes on the blog about ANI charts and the persuasive essay.

Philosophy
Read and outline Chapter 2 and come ready to discuss this in class. I'll assign group discussion leaders that day.

Invention: ANI Chart

One you have developed your issue for your persuasive essay, you’ll want to “discover” more about your issue or “invent” content to help you explore the issue you are writing about.
The first tool to help us do this, before we have formed our thesis statement, is the ANI chart – the Affirmative, Negative, Interesting chart.
Below is an example.
Issue: Whether Claudio should trust Don John
Let’s use the ANI chart to help us “think on” and develop this issue in our minds.
In the affirmative [A] column, we list why Claudio should trust Don John; in the negative [N] column we list reasons he should not trust Don John; and any interesting facts that don’t seem to apply to either the A or N column, we can list in the interesting [I] column.
This is a thinking exercise, so record away. Record all ideas presented in one of the three columns. Don’t worry about judgment of quality or repetition of ideas at this point, rather focus on generating a climate of thinking, contemplating, pondering the issue.

A	N	I
Don John (DJ) was a man	Claudio’s troops just defeated Don John’s in war	Hero was beautiful
DJ was a soldier	DJ was jealous of Claudio	Claudio home from war
DJ was Don Pedro’s brother	DJ was angry and bitter	Claudio worked for Don Pedro
Claudio needed help to woo Hero	Claudio was naive	DJ was Don Pedro’s half brother
Claudio valued other men’s opinions of Hero	Claudio should woo Hero for himself	What does DJ know about woo’ing women?
Claudio needed someone to lean on for help	A man should woo his own woman.	Women can’t be trusted
Men have to stick together	Claudio should talk with Hero to get to know her	Men fear losing honor

Put this tool of invention in your writing toolbox! We’ll learn more tools of invention as we go through the year. Stay tuned!

Semester 1: Getting Ready for Challenge III

Grace-filled greetings, Challenge III parents,
Our first day of class is Tuesday, August 20th. I look forward to all the Lord has in store for us this coming year!

Our Parent-Student Orientation will be one of two days. Please RSVP via email on which date you will attend.
Both parents and students are to attend these sessions together. I look forward to getting off to a great start together!
Please mark your calendars:

Thursday, August 15th at 7pn

Thursday, August 22th at 7pm

We'll be covering lots of information as we prepare for the year.
Language and Truth
American History/Debate, Rhetoric/Philosophy/Logic, Literature/Persuasive Essay; lesson layout,  persuasive essay lessons, essay and presentation calendar, assessment, transcripts, goals, etc.

• Canons of rhetoric: thinking, ordering, expressing, memorizing, presenting
• Invention and unified thinking
• Literature as a mirror
• The power of the persuasive essay
• Ideas, history, and philosophy - glass walls and stained glass windows that shape our lives, priorities, values, and decisions; as well as families and societies and nations.

Parent role, student role, tutor role
College prep questions and conversation
Other events and calendar items

1. You will receive your Challenge III Guide the first full week of August assuming I have your semester tuition payment and feeds.
1. American History/Debate: Encourage your student to begin bonding with their A Patriot’s History of the United States book! Reading more sooner will pay off greatly in the weeks to come.
2. Literature/Poetry/Exposition: Students should read through Much Ado About Nothing before they come week 1. Watch the movie too!
3. Chemistry/research: Students should begin looking over Module 1.
4. Math/Logic Conversation: Look over your first few lessons and have the first few complete before you come to the first week. Bring your questions to class as these will direct the conversation and activities for this hour together.
   
5. Philosophy/Logic/Rhetoric: Students should begin reading Chapter 1 of Consequences of ideas.
6. Latin/Grammar: Students should have Henle II and begin reviewing lesson 20-25. I have a special surprise for students as we study Ceasar and Cicero this year. Stay tuned!

Not sure what books you need? View Challenge III books here and purchase:

http://www.stallionpublishers.com/publication.aspx?pid=1203&pkey=idvoxdeus&pageid=61

Have you subscribed to this blog, so you receive an email alert every time I update it?

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The Ants and the Grasshopper ~ Aesop’s Fable

THE ANTS were spending a fine winter's day drying grain collected in the summertime. A Grasshopper, perishing with famine, passed by and earnestly begged for a little food. The Ants inquired of him, Why did you not treasure up food during the summer?' He replied, I had not leisure enough. I passed the days in singing. They then said in derision: If you were foolish enough to sing all the summer, you must dance supperless to bed in the winter.

It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow