Day 9 (aka running daily log week two-ish)
Day 9 - Aug 29, 2025 Notes
Field Trip - Harn Museum of Art
Our friends Olli, Kenna, and MC joined us today for a tour of the Harn Museum. Usually on Friday we will find something extra to do- at home or out and about. This field trip was pretty interesting as we had the museum almost to ourselves and we were able to see the new French Moderns exhibit. Our students worked on a scavenger hunt and searched for things like contrast and continuous line. Our adults sororized.
Lunch and Learn - Harn Recap @ El Indio
Everyone ordered and we found a table in the middle that was long enough to seat all 7 of us. We had a working lunch and went over the pieces each student found to represent the elements of art they were searching for- they also sometimes sketched the piece which was really cool actually because we all remembered the pieces better when looking at the simple drawings. Students agreed that next time we would try a different “bingo” approach to exploring the museum.
Day 10 - Sept 2, 2025 Notes
Classic Lit - Ch 11-20 - The Shining
So we had Monday off which makes the week a little weird. Tara and I did not take off Monday and instead organized the office. Things are shaping up and feel more functional- we got a lot done in a short period of time and then Tara started her afternoon of tutoring.
For The Shining we read 10 more chapters and took a 20 question quiz. It was a nice opportunity to talk about what to do when more than one of the answers could be considered correct (pick the most correct one) and when none of them seem right (pick the least wrong one). We started writing our big paper - answering questions and brainstorming about the use of the wasp nest as a symbol, metaphor, foreshadowing, flashback and more. I (Beth) asked them to limit themselves to two sentences for each of the 5 questions and they typed their thoughts into a google doc. Then we looked over how the paper was shaping up and moved on to our next class.
Creative Writing (see CW - Day 2)
World Religion
We had Kenna today for class and he read out loud the wikipedia on Ninian Smart- who by the way is a man and I thought this whole time was a woman. His ‘7 Dimensions of Religion’ have been very interesting to pay attention to as we watch our documentary on evangelicalism. Last week we took notes while we watched and this week we went over which of the 7 evangelicalism met- I think we got through 5 before class ended and had hit bingo for each one. I’ll be glad when we are done with this documentary and on to the next one- which I think will be about the buddhist nuns? Not sure but we are following the list from SFCs world religion class that Victoria had last semester. Either way I think we will keep using Smart’s checklist but maybe we should research if anyone else has one that is more modern or less modern…interesting.
PERT prep
Stella took the reading pretest and LJ did the math. They both did well and we have a lot to work with but not too much that it would be impossible. Basically I think we are perfectly positioned to be able to pass the PERT this summer and to start SFC in the fall if that is what they decide to do.
Day 11 - Sept 3, 2025 Notes
LJ Math - Ch 8 Lesson 1 - Fractions on the Variable - including review of multiplying fractions, reciprocals, and lesson on how to use timestables.com to practice times tables. Bonus lesson on carschooling, and homeschool level-up star for doing math in the car. Assignment: Practice times tables during independent study and at home.
Gym -We flipped the schedule today and worked out upstairs first. It was pretty fun. Tara gave us a TRX tutorial and we did the monkey bars again. I’m getting calluses already thank goodness. We also box jumped and played on the balls. Stella lifted pretty heavy and Lydia Jane worked on her form. We also joined a dance class downstairs for a while and got our heart rates up. Then we iced in the cold pool- LJ swam laps which was very impressive.
Lunch and Learn- we almost got signed up for our pediatric CPR and First Aid class. We did a bit of tedium and then ran into a road block- I’m not sure why but I hope we can sort it before next Tuesday. Learning how to sign up for a class is not very shiny but it’s important to know how to type in your address and email address and remember your phone number and all the things that it takes to one day be a functional adult.
Science - We are about 50 pages into Silent Spring. It’s a thrilling beautifully written book but also depressing and repetitive…and then everything died and also the children died. Next time we meet we will have some sort of test or essay- I’m not sure yet which- I’m tempted to throw some chemistry at them and make a list of the chemicals we’ve heard about so far in the book. I found a really perfect crash course to go with our Environmental Science Unit. It’s linked here. And he talked about Rachel Carson and her book so we felt very smart about that connection. It’s been really interesting so far to talk about this book and all the thoughts we have. Today chapter 5 covered a ton of natural geological formation information but she made it sound really pretty and magical- which it is, but geology can be dry. Science has been an interesting bridge to talk about policy in the US. We looked at the joint review of the US Department of Energy’s new climate report released by more than 85 scientists saying that it was “biased, full of errors, and not fit to inform policy making.” I’m ready for some hope to be infused into this whole ‘the world is burning’ thing- but so far- no luck. Reading a book from the 60s about the lack of regulation on chemicals and seeing that reflected today is disheartening.
Typing tutor - today is the day we start learning to keyboard properly. The hunt and peck is efficient but they will both be glad to have proper form next year for writing papers. LJ made her free account and wrote down her user name and password.
Stella Math - She finished the “drill and kill” for Ch 1 - Operations with integers - and tomorrow she will take the ch 1 test.
Musings:
I’m pretty thrilled with how things have been going. We are getting into it and making progress in every subject. I am enjoying the schedule as we planned it- I like going to the gym together and having a lunch out once a week. I always wish for more time when it’s time to switch subjects but I think that’s normal and we will cover all the important information as we progress through the year. I think we are developing a nice rapport as we get to know each other.
Day 12 - Sept 4, 2025 Notes
Stella Math - Ch 1 Test - She has understanding of all the operations of integers, and passed with an A.
ELA - Introducing Evidence with Context - Follow up to the Les Sherman story and paragraph typing, focusing on introducing evidence.
Graphic Design - intro to positive and negative space, and we will do botanical drawings this week, and push the computer portion to the next lesson.
Latin w/YiYa - Review reasons for studying the Latin language, its place in history, and its relationship to English.
Organize materials
Begin Book 2, Lesson 1
The direct object in English and Latin
History: Familia Gracie
Anna-Sofia & Lydia Jane worked on developing a curriculum for 8th grade history project for Anna-Sofia’s Class.
LJ Math - 8-1: Fraction on a Variable - continued from yesterday, 8-2: Solving Proportions
Bonus, Tanner called from London and gave us the update and suggested we listen to Starlight Express Hydrogen at our nearest availability.
HOMEWORK (Or IS on Friday work): Botanical drawings - one line drawing of a whole flower or plant for pattern and one one flower head for cutting out negative space. ELA - Finish Paragraphs.
Day 13 - Sept 5, 2025 Notes
Olli Math - Functions (SF and Mathchops for PSAT)
LJ Math - Algebra 1 - 8.3, 8.4 Clearing out Fractions and Decimals in Single Variable Equations
Stella Math - Algebra 2 - 2.1 Substitution with variables including negative numbers and PEMDAS
Kenna Math - Algebra 2 Ch 9 Test :)