Week 23

As our Essentials guide puts it, "Congratulations and Amen!" You and your students have worked so hard this year and I hope you all have a greater understanding of the English language! It has been an honor to work with you and your students!

Can't wait to see everyone's presentations next week!

Week 22

This week in class, we will be practicing our presentation for the End of the Year Ceremony and working out any kinks. :) I will prepare sentences/diagrams/mad libs, etc for the kids. We will also make time to answer any questions and troubleshoot any points that need to be clarified. 

Looking forward to it!

Week 21

There is a new webinar just posted to the forum titled "Foundations to Challenge" and it focuses on the stage we and our kids are in right now. Go to CC Connected, then "Learning Center" then "Cultivating Classical Parents". There are a lot of good webinars there made just for us. 

Hope you all have a great weekend!

-Jenna

Week 20

Hi!

Wanted to include some of those Bibliography resources we discussed:

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

There are a LOT of specific sections on the left you can click. For example, we had a question about which publication date to go with, if there is more than one...the original date should be uses.

 Also, I thought you might enjoy this link to Purdue's page about appositives:

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/596/01/

Thanks for all the work you do with your kiddos! We only have a few weeks left!

Jenna

Wrapping up Week 19

As we come into the home stretch for Week 19 and prepare for Week 20, discuss and copy Chart O. Go through a couple of analytical task sheets and remember to have a dialectic discussion during these exercises. This is a good time to answer any questions or clarify definitions for your student. 

For writing, we are in Lesson 25. We reviewed the basic essay model and intro/conclusion structure, then learned about a dramatic open-close: the very short sentence (p. 173). There is a lot of leeway this week. Y'all can either do the exercise in Lesson 25 and write intro and conclusion for your Knights paper (steps on p. 172)...or focus on Faces of History and try to get your topics outlined. We are doing the latter. 

As always, let me know if you need anything. I'm praying for you all as our families deal with different issues, and, of course, as we educate our children and build their character on a daily basis. 

Jenna

Week 18

Week 17

Week 16

Hi Essentials Parents!

Please let me know if you need anything. Your Essentials and IEW book have everything you need, but I know it can be cumbersome to find what you need, sometimes. Feel free to text me anytime. If I don't immediately know the answer, I'm really good at finding the answer. :)

Jenna

Week 15

I hope you guys are having a great Monday and hope to see you tomorrow night at my house at 6:00 pm for our Unit 7 DVD viewing. I'll be making soup/casserole. If you'd like to bring something, feel free. 

Faces of History Timeline

Faces of History 

A five-paragraph research paper

Phase 1: Choose historical figure. 

February 2nd

Gather books that discuss your historical figure. Use library books, timeline cards, the Story of the World books, history books, or the Internet. 

You will need a minimum of 3 books/sources. 

Phase 2: Brainstorm, Research

February 9^th:

Review your sources. Brainstorm to decide on the 3 topics/themes you’d like to discuss in your paper.

Have your mom or dad approve these topics before proceeding.

Here are some suggestions:

Their childhood, family, education

Special skills/knowledge

The thing that they are famous for doing or accomplishing

The thing that they invented or discovered

Their adult life/unusual things they did or things that happened to them

How this person affected the rest of history or science / how people think of him/her today

The three themes or topics that I think I will write about are:

________________________, __________________________________, and _____________________

Phase 3: KWO

February 23rd:

Next, take notes on the first theme or topic. This will become body paragraph #1. Take notes from at least 3 sources. Stop and think: what bit of info would be interesting to start off with? What should you save for last? What notes are about the same kind of thing? Is there anything that isn’t really related to this theme? Now, thoughtfully arrange the notes into the best order you can work out. This will be your Fused Outline. 

Continue Research and KWO, Thesis Statement

March 9th:

Repeat the process for your 2^nd and 3^rd themes or topics. 

Stop and Think. Do you still think these are the best 3 choices? If not, or if one is really short, you can change the theme or topic.  Do you need to find more information? You can look again for more info if you need it. Think about the order…what order would be most exciting? Save the biggest and best for the last.

Now, write a sentence that mentions each of the three themes or topics. This is called a thesis statement. Be sure to mention the 3 themes in the order in which they will appear in your report.      

Ex: Archimedes (insert their name) experienced a unique education, lived a life full of accomplishments, and died a tragic death (insert Topic A), (insert Topic B), and (insert Topic C).

Thesis statement: ______________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________.

Phase 4: Write the Rough Draft of the Body Paragraphs

March 23rd:

Look at the fused outline for Topic A. Next, brainstorm and use the thesaurus to get some good adjectives and –ly words and metaphors and similes. Add these into your KWO. Write a rough draft of this paragraph. 

Repeat this process with theme/topic B and C. The third theme is the most exciting theme, so spend some extra time on this one.  Make sure you brainstorm some good adjectives and –ly words and metaphors or similes. Write the rough drafts.

Go back through all 3 body paragraphs and make sure all paragraphs have all the dress ups according to the FOH Checklist 

provided by your tutor.

Phase 5: Introduction/Conclusion, Openers

March 30^th:

Read your paper aloud to your mom or dad and see if they understand it. If anything is confusing, re-work the sentence until it is just right.

Follow the directions from Lesson 23 in MHBW for writing Introduction and Conclusion paragraphs. Add a dramatic opener (hook) to your introduction.

Create a title from the last sentence of the conclusion.

Type or write out the paper very neatly. 

Begin thinking of a way you can dress to help us remember something about the character. Make a shield, a hat, a costume, carry something symbolic of the person, bring in something that he/she invented. Get creative, but it shouldn’t cost a lot of money. Use poster board for hats or shields or swords.

Phase 6: Bibliographies and Reviewing Checklist

April 6^th

Using Lesson 30, type up a bibliography page. Use page 249 as a guide.

Complete and polish your final paper. (You don’t have to label the dress-ups on the final…you can use your rough draft to check off dress-ups and complete checklist.) 

Prepare your speech to perform for the class on April 20th. Students may choose to read their research reports directly from their papers, or they may choose to present their report as a first person narrative. This is a more advanced step.  Either way is fine. We will be devoting most, if not all, of our Essentials time to hearing the “Faces of History.”

Complete your costume. Practice your presentation.

Phase 7:  Present “Faces of History”

April 20^th, the Big Day!

Everyone will be sharing (in costume) his/her Faces of History oral presentation.

Week 14

Good morning, ladies!

I know I find a lot of peace in this verse, especially as a homeschooling mom. When I first began our home learning journey, I definitely had some anxiety. What if I don't teach them everything they need to know? What if  I don't provide the right opportunities? But I was putting all the responsibilities on myself instead of sharing it with the greatest Teacher.

This week, try to identify active and passive voice while reading with your child. Also, look for imperative and complex sentences. Remember, the songs are a great resource for memorizing charts and they serve double duty for memorizing foundations grammar, too. 

 Please let me know if you have any questions!

~Jenna

Week 13

I thought we had a great first week back to class! The kids had good recall and I think we are off to a great beginning to the second half of the year!


Before we meet Thursday:

• Be sure to complete a couple of Analytical Task Sheets with the new sentence pattern (p. 213-218), especially since we ran out of time to do one in class. 

• Review the shaded area of Chart M: Complex Sentences" that we looked at in class. Focus on recognizing and understanding this pattern. 

• Review previous charts with oral drills. 

• Complete KWO's that we started in class for multiple source research project. Complete fused outline and complete paragraph. We will read these in class, if the students are willing. 
• Follow Lesson 18 checklist on p. 125 for list of dress-ups, etc.

• Begin looking for sources for your Faces of History paper. Library books, timeline cards, Story of the World books, or the Internet (although internet sources should be carefully selected for credibility...this is an excellent time to have a talk with your student about credible internet sources and how to select them). 

Faces of History

Carl - Martin Luther
Caroline V. - Joan of Arc
Caroline S. - Queen Elizabeth I
Stella - Empress Adelaide of Italy
Tripp K. - Alfred, the Great
Trip S. - Ivan, the Terrible
Selby - Mary, Queen of Scots

Hope you have a great day!

P.S. I'm really going to start sending these out Thursday after class instead of halfway through the week. :)

Jenna