Week 12

Thank you all for a great fall semester!  I hope everyone enjoyed our class Christmas party as much as I did.  You all brought some fun (and very funny :) gifts. I enjoy watching your creativity in action.

I just placed an order for our first book of the spring semester.  Please read Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow before our next class on January 8th.  If you have already paid your deposit, you can expect your book to arrive before Christmas.  If your deposit is still in the mail, not to worry.  I'll place a second order Dec 29th. Otherwise, you can purchase this version on your own, and adjust your deposit accordingly.

http://www.amazon.com/Legend-Sleepy-Stories-Penguin-Classics/dp/0143107534/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1419020662&sr=8-7&keywords=the+legend+of+sleepy+hollow

About next fall…

It seems our family will be moving into a different season this coming September.  Carter is going to return to Oak Ridge Christian Academy for his junior and senior years.  Lauren and Koby will continue to home school.  My plan is downshift our Thursday afternoon class to the junior high level and restart LTW from the beginning with a new group of students ages 12-15.  Though I’d love to continue to also teach at the high school level, I must acknowledge my limitations.  So it’s with more than a twinge of sadness that I’m letting you know this will be our final semester together.   

May God richly bless you this Christmas in the joy of Christ’s coming!

Cathy Rape   

Week 11

I'm tentatively scheduling  our last fall class for Thursday, Dec 18th from 1-4p.  I'm still waiting to hear back from a few families in hopes that we can find an earlier time. But unless its unanimous, we'll stick with our regular Thursday block on the 18th.

No writing assignments this week - unless you have something to correct.

The following students have volunteered to bring a prepared narration for a chapter of The Scarlet Letter.

19 - Carter
20 - Walker
21 - James
22 - Caleb
23 - Aaron
24 - Kate

We'll plan to wrap up our book discussion in the first half, and then have some fun with a white elephant gift exchange.  If you'd like to participate, bring something that connects in some way with our reading/discussion this semester (Cicero's on Friendship, Pilgrim's Progress, or The Scarlet Letter).  Each person will have to guess the literary connection in order to  have the option to steal.  Keep it under $10, or better yet, don't spend anything :) The best gifts for this game turn out to be the imaginative ones that use ordinary things from around the house. (Remember Mrs. Simcox's sack of soccer-boppers representing the "bag of winds" from The Odyssey)

I'll have snacks as usual.  You are welcome to bring a treat to share if you'd like to.  Let me know if that's your plan so I can estimate how much more food to provide.

Noel!

Movie Version

I watched the PBS version of The Scarlet Letter.   We checked it out from the library.  It was very well done, with much of the dialogue coming directly from the book.  It seems you can watch it for free at this site.

http://www.watch-the-movies-online.com/the-scarlet-letter

Week 10

As we approach this week set aside for giving thanks, I'd like to express my gratitude for this class.  I am truly grateful for each of you!  I enjoy our conversations each week, and look forward to hearing the insights that you all bring to the discussion.  I'm thankful for the opportunity to grow and learn from you as we journey through great books together.

Reading assignment:

• Finish reading The Scarlet Letter
• Continue to highlight as previously instructed, and write a should question for each chapter

Writing Assignment:

This week we will revert to the Introductory Persuasive Essay from lesson 2.  This is so that you can focus on writing well developed proof paragraphs.  Do your best to explain as fully as you can why you selected each sub proof to support your thesis.   Give examples and quotes from the book when possible, and explain the relevance of each point to your thesis.  Use schemes, tropes, and analogies that you have learned.  Plan to write 2 or 3 sentences per sub proof.

Also, remember that you now have a DELIBERATIVE issue. This means that you are looking forward to a decision yet  to be made (deliberating) rather than looking back to judge a decision after it has been made.  You will need to use your imagination to place yourself in the story at the point of the action, as if you do not yet know the outcome for certain.  This change of perspective will alter your language, especially the use of verbs.  You can still use information in the book that occurs after the point of decision, but avoid language that speaks as though those events have already occurred.  You can say that they might occur, will likely occur, or even that they will occur, so long as your verbs are consistent with those events occurring later in the story.  

Example:

"Hester should not vow to keep her husband's identity a secret.  He intends to seek out and destroy her child's father. He is not to be trusted, and she will be putting her minister's well being at risk."

Complete arrangement AND elocution this week.

• Use the sorting & outline worksheets given in class for the Introductory Persuasive Essay 
• Write your DELIBERATIVE essay with well developed paragraphs using the check list handout.

Week 9

Given that our reading in The Scarlet Letter has significantly outpaced our discussion, and that we won't meet again until Nov. 20, we're going to take a break before finishing the novel.  Instead, we'll  finish Cicero's De Amicitia.

Also,  a few of you still need to complete previous assignments. Please check your number to see what you lack. I'm planning to mail out work from this past week so that you can make corrections prior to our next class.

Reading Assignment

• Finish Cicero's De Amicitia

Writing Assignment

• Complete worksheet on Circumstance
• Create an ANI chart for your Scarlet Letter Issue (20A-20N-20I)
• Add a few pieces of information (at least 3) from your Circumstance worksheet to your ANI chart and mark them with a circled letter C

Caution: The Scarlet Letter movie - 1995

Last night I previewed the 1995 The Scarlet Letter movie to see if it would be a good film version to recommend after we finish the book.  I DO NOT recommend it! Graphic seduction and nudity aside, it is a radically different story with an overtly anti-Christian message.  While Hawthorn does find fault (perhaps unfairly) with what he perceives to be a graceless and hypocritical culture among the Puritans, he at least grapples with the destructive nature of un-repented sin and hypocrisy in a way that, in my opinion, points us toward truths worth contemplating.  He also provides his reader with a vivid depiction of the pain and suffering that accompanies a choice to "follow your heart" rather than to submit to the law of God.  The producers of the latest film adaptation however, try to convince viewers that the way to happiness and freedom lies in a commitment to the self and its passions, ignoring that the heart from which these impulses spring is "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Jeremiah 17:9

I ordered an earlier version of the film on Netflix.  I'll let you all know whether I think its worth watching.

Week 8

Reminder: We will not have class on November 13th.  I'll be in North Carolina for a CiRCE staff meeting.  We'll resume classes on November 20.

Reading assignment:
Continue to highlight as previously instructed

• De Amicitia - sections 14-17
• The Scarlet Letter - ch. 13-16 - for each chapter, write a should question (try to pick one that drives the action of the chapter in some way) and find one blue to share
• Aristotle for Everybody ch 15

Writing Assignment:

• Write your Pilgrims Progress essay.  Check off the items on your checklist (your check indicates that you have indeed checked your paper for the item) and staple it to the front of your essay.  Your essay is not eligible for submission until your checklist is complete, including the signature of a proof reader.

• Write a DELIBERATIVE issue for The Scarlet Letter.  A deliberative issue should be written as if the decision is yet to be made. 

ex: 

Judicial issue (we have been writing these all along) ==> Whether Pilgrim should have left his home

Deliberative issue ==> Whether Pilgrim should leave his home

Notice the change in verb tense: have left vs. leave

• Complete the Invention Review worksheet with your Scarlet Letter issue.  I sent the worksheet by email this evening.  If this is your first year, its likely that you will enounter unfamiliar concepts on the worksheet.  Just do the best you can.  I won't hold you accountable for lessons that you have not yet learned, but do try to fill in as much as you're able to help you think about your issue. 

Week 7

Reading Assignments
(Highlight all reading as you've been doing)

• The Scarlet Letter: chapters 9-12- After you read each chapter, write what you consider to be the most important "Should" question in the chapter on the first page of that chapter.  Find one blue in each chapter.  
• De Amicitia: sections 11-13, mark characteristics of friendship that you notice in the margins with "F"

Writing Assignments

• Catch up with corrections
• Add personification and apostrophe to your Pandora essay (you should already have alliteration and assonance underlined and labeled)
• Anaphora worksheet (pages 180 - 183)
• Episotrophe worksheet (pages 184-187)

Week 6

Reading Assignments:

• Aristotle for Everybody ch. 14 (read, make notes, and highlight)
• De Amicitia (review 1-6 and add 7-10.  make notes and highlight)
• The Scarlet Letter 5-8 (read and highlight as you did last week.  Find one blue per chapter.  After you read the chapter, write a should question above the title of the chapter that you think is central to the chapter)

Writing Assignments:

Arrangement

• Sort the A and the N columns of your Pilgrims Progress ANI chart.  Refer to pages 13-15 if you need to review.  Remember the first step is to see if you can move I points to A or N.
• Complete the Arrangement Worksheet (first year students, pgs 16-17 / returning students, pgs 117-120)
• Complete an outline (first year students, use template on page 18 / returning students, use template on page 121-22)

New Elocution Lesson

• Personification worksheet, pages 159-162
• Apostrophe worksheet, pages 163-167

Week 5

Remember to check your number for outstanding assignments and get those in next week!  All incomplete work should be submitted at the very next class.  Always.

Writing Assignments:

• Complete an ANI chart for your Pilgrim's Progress issue - 20 items per column
• Move at least 3 items from each relationship worksheet to your ANI chart and mark them with a circled letter R so I can find them.

Reading Assignments

• Read The Scarlet Letter chapters 1-4.  Use your yellow highlighter for flow of thought.  Use green to mark the structure of the story (setting changes/transitions).  Highlight the most interesting thing in each chapter in blue.

Week 4

I especially enjoyed our discussion of Aristotle today.  I appreciate your careful reading and the insights that you all were able to draw out this week because of it!

We tackled a double invention lesson on the topic of relation: antecedent and consequent, as well as cause and effect.  Next week we'll devote our entire class period to our discussion of Pilgrim's Progress.

Writing assignments:

• Create a new issue from Pilgrim's Progress & use your issue for the following worksheets.
• Student worksheet on page 137 (antecedent and consequent)
• Student worksheet on page 155 (cause and effect) - Be careful on this one!  Be sure you are considering the affirmative and negative thesis separately.  Remember, one will be a hypothetical situation in which you'll have to imagine how the story would have gone if the opposite decision had been made.  Review chapter 6 of Aristotle for Everybody to help you remember the 4 different kinds of causes that come into play.  This will help you generate information for your worksheet.

Reading assignments:

• Finish reading Pilgrim's Progress
• Survey The Scarlet Letter.   Write 10 things you notice about the book inside the cover.  Try to learn something about Nathaniel Hawthorn to include in your survey points.  Scan the entire book page by page.  Use your pink highlighter for proper nouns (names and places).  When you notice setting transitions, use your green highlighter to mark them.

Beowulf Redux

For those of you who read Beowulf last year, here's an article written by a friend of mine that you might enjoy reading.

http://www.circeinstitute.org/blog/what-im-reading-beowulf-background

Week 3

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

Due to our family’s involvement in a CYT performance next weekend, we will not have class next Thursday.  We will resume class on Thursday October 2nd.  

We have begun our journey with our Pilgrim's Progress protagonist, Christian.  We have followed him through the Slough of Despond and on to the house of Mr. Legality.  This is such a powerful work of literature that I don't want to rush through the discussion.  As we take our time reading in small chucks, I encourage those students who (due to the slow pace of reading) have extra time, to add additional works. Here are some suggestions that I believe will inform our discussion:

“The Recovery of Sight by the Blind” – St. Augustine 354 - 430

Consider the implications of this sermon on the life of Christian. 

 “Cry out amid the crowds that are restraining you, and calling you back, and insulting you, whose lives are evil…”

http://biblehub.com/library/various/the_worlds_great_sermons_volume_i/augustine_354-430__the_recovery.htm

“The Ascension of Christ” – Savonarola 1452-1498

Notice his allegorical interpretation of the story of Balam’s ass.  What comparisons is he making?  How might this manner of interpreting scripture have influenced Bunyan if he read this sermon?

http://biblehub.com/library/various/the_worlds_great_sermons_volume_i/savonarola__the_ascension_of.htm

“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” – Jonathan Edwards 1703-1758

Can you connect Edwards communication of the extreme peril of the unsaved soul to Pilgrim’s distress in the beginning of the book?  Why don’t we hear many sermons like this from modern preachers?

http://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/je-sinners.htm

Assignments for the next 2 weeks

Writing:

• ·      Complete pages 144 – 151 in your Student Workbook (week 1)
• ·      Write your essay on the Pandora story (week 2)

Reading (highlight as previously instructed)

• ·      Aristotle for Everybody chapters 12-13
• ·      Pilgrim’s Progress pages 84-158
• ·      The Author’s Apology for his Book – John Bunyan (link below)

http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/bunyan/pp00.htm

As you read through Bunyan’s apology, make a list of the proofs he gives for his implied thesis that “I should have written this allegory”

Week 2

A big thank you to the Grays and the Meine's who brought birthday treats this week!

We're off to a great start this semester.
Here are this week's assignments.

Writing:

*SW = Student Workbook

• Sort your Pandora ANI (be sure to move I's to A or N first if you can)
• second year LTW: Complete the Arrangement worksheet on SW pages 117-120, and an outline from the template on pages 121-122
• first year LTW: Complete the Arrangement worksheet on SW pages 16-17, and an outline from the template on page 18
• Label all the arrangement elements that are included in your outline this week the Hamlet essay I distributed in class.  

Reading:

• Read Aristotle for Everybody chapter 11
• Read pages 54-84 in Pilgrim's Progress
• Reread the first 7 sections of De Amicitia if you are having difficulty with it
• Use yellow highlighters for flow of thought and margin notes for all your reading.  Find at least one blue in the new Pilgrim's Progress reading

Week 1: Welcome Back!

It was great to see you all today!

Here are your assignments for next week.
I'm sending this week's invention worksheet by e-mail, along with an example of how to complete it correctly.  The new worksheet is designed to help you use the questions about differences in degree and kind to generate new information rather than to evaluate information you've already thought of, like we did last year.

Writing:

• Reread the myth of Pandora
• Choose an issue from the story (character + action /ask whether they should have done it)
• Complete the review worksheet on comparison (will e-mail worksheet)
• Complete an ANI chart for your Pandora issue.   You must have 20 items in each column (A, N, and I).  Number them!  Include at least some information from your comparison worksheet. Remember that any invention worksheet information can at least go in the interesting colunm.

Reading

• Read Aristotle for Everybody chapter 10.  Use your yellow highlighter and make notes in the margins so that if called upon to give a narration, you'll be able to do so.
• Read De Amicitia sections 1-7 (pages 1-19).  Use your yellow highlighter for flow of thought, orange if you notice elocution elements we've learned, and blue to mark passages that you find most interesting.  Be sure you have at least one blue in this weeks reading.
• Read Pilgrim's Progress Intro through page 53.  Follow the same highlighting instructions as for De Amicitia.
• Be prepared to give a narration on any section of Pilgrim's Progress or De Amicitia.

Funny reveiw of Definition

Today I came across a pretty hilarious video that demonstrates the folly of making a decision without defining the terms of the issue.  Have you ever wondered...

"WHETHER you should eat GLUTEN?"

Lots of folks have made a decision on this popular issue these days, but how many of them have bothered to define their terms?  Watch to find out!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/06/gluten-free-people-have-no-idea-what-gluten-is_n_5273980.html

Wrapping up another fantstic year!

Thank you all for entrusting your students to me this year!  I'm certain they have taught me as much as I have taught them.

I've updated all the assignment record pages, so feel free to check those.  If you notice any discrepancies between my records and those of your student, please don't hesitate to call that to my attention.  Most students need only to submit revisions for their final essay to complete the writing coursework for the spring semester.  You can submit those by e-mail or drop them by if you happen to be in the area.

I made a list for my own records of the literature we've read and discussed since our class began its literary journey in the Fall of 2012.  I thought I'd share that with you.

2012-13:
The Odyssey, Beowulf, The Dream of the Rood, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Idylls of the King (excerpts), The Inferno, The Once and Future King

2013-14:
The Aeneid (books 1-6), Dr. Faustus, 
Poetry unit: The Consolation of Philosophy: On Human Folly (Boetheus), Passionate Shepherd to his Love (Marlowe), The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd (Sir Walter Raleigh), and The Bait & Death Be not Proud & The Bait (Donne)
The Tempest, The King of the Golden River (Ruskin), The Meno (Plato), Aristotle for Everybody: Ch 1-9 (Adler) 

2014-15:
Kicking off the year with Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress! 

As for our study of classical composition, here is a list of tools your students have aquired this year:

Canon of Invention:
The 5 Topics of Invention (basic familiarity)
Definition of terms I & II
Comparison of terms 
Differences in Kind vs. Degree

Canon of Arrangement:
Basic sorting and outlining
Thesis statement
Proofs and Sub proofs
Exordium
Amplification
Division and Distribution
Refutation
Naratio

Canon of Elocution:
Basic subject editing
Basic verb editing
4 nominalization patterns to avoid
Parallelism
Antithesis
Simile
Metaphor

Enjoy your summer, and I hope to see you all back in the fall.  Hang on to Aristotle for Everybody. We'll continue to discuss his ideas and their relevance to classical composition as well as to our general reading.

To register for the fall, and to ensure I include you in our group book order, please mail your $70 deposit by May 31st.  Be sure the return address on the envelope (or your check) matches your shipping address.  I plan to order our books and have them sent to you the first week in June.  That way they'll be able to preview the book over the summer.

Mail deposit to:
7 Ashworth Ct
Conroe, TX 77385

Week 24+

Last reading assignment!
Read the last half of Meno slowly and carefully, making notes in the margins and finding blues.

April 3rd

Reminder:
No class this coming Thursday.  We'll resume class at our usual time on April 17.

This week (and next week) you will move on to write your final essay for the semester on The King of the Golden River.  Before you begin, check your number to see whether you need to make any changes to the content of your outline before you begin your essay.

Things to check on your outline (other than content):
Most of the outlines are still too wordy.  Outlines should omit all unnecessary information.  Do not write sentences in your outline.  The only possible exception to this rule is your thesis, and even that should be abbreviated if possible. Go through your outlines this week and see which words can be removed.  Remove articles (the, a, an), adjectives that are not critical to the point, prepositions, pronouns (he, she, they), etc.  Do not write your full exordium in your outline.  If you plan to reference something from the text, the Bible, or some other place, give the location and a few words to represent the idea.

Writing Assignment:
*view DVD lessons on nominalizations for patterns 2, 3, & 4 if needed.  Review the gray boxes on pages 99, 105, and 129.  Complete section 5 "Practice" of each of the nominalization worksheets as follows:

• Nominalization pattern 2: pages 100-101
• Nominalization pattern 3: page 107
• Nominalization pattern 4: pages 130-131
• Use the checklist on page 217 and your outline to write your lesson 7 essay.  Page 133 contains a sample essay for you to use as a model.  Attach the checklist to the front of your essay.  Please have someone proofread your essay for mechanics (capital letters, punctuation, spelling, etc).  These sorts of errors are very hard to spot in your own writing, but should be corrected before you submit your paper for assessment.

Reading Assignment:

• Aristotle for everybody chapters 8 & 9 with highlighting and notes
• Keep reading the Meno, especially the first half.  No one is ever "finished" reading the Bible, and similarly, no one is ever finished reading Plato :-)

Week 22

We are nearing the end of the semester. Its important that ALL outstanding work (assigned work not yet submitted and incomplete work that needs correction) be turned in at our next class.  In addition, any and all work returned as incomplete during class must be corrected and resubmitted the very next week. This has been the expectation all along, however its more important as we wrap up the year so that no assignments are left incomplete after the final class.  I do not plan to offer ongoing assessment on classwork past the end of April.

Our new lesson today was on how to develop a narration (narratio) for our essays.  The narratio provides background information so that the reader understands the issue.

Writing Assignment:

• Guide to narratio page 115 (use the chart I passed out in class instead of the one on page 116)
• Arrangement Worksheet, pages 117-120
• Outline based on the lesson 7 template on page 121
• Check your number for outstanding work.  Assignment records are current through March 26.  If I have made an error, please bring that to my attention.

Reading Assignment:

• Reread the first half of The Meno very slowly and carefully, pages 59-77.  Write notes in the margin to help you narrate.  Use your yellow highlighter to follow the flow of thought.  Mark at least one blue (preferably more) in this section to offer for class discussion.
• Review the final chapter of The King of the Golden River.  What symbol (or symbols) for the resurrection do you see?

Reading assignment clarification

I'd just like to clarify that the reading assignment is for the Meno dialogue this week.  Please note that the book contains 5 dialogues, only one of which they'll need to read for class, on pages 59 - 92.

Assignment correction

I just corrected an error from the assigment I posted after our last class.  The worksheet on page 90 is for refutation, not amplification.
Sorry for the mistake. At least I got the page number right :)

Week 21

This week's assignments

Reading:

•   Read Aristotle for Everybody chapter 7.  Highlight main ideas in yellow.  Write key terms and helpful notes in the margins.

•   Finish interviews about virtue and the teaching of virtue.

•   Read Plato’s Meno.  When you see a definition given for virtue, write a ‘D’ by it.  When you see a characteristic of virtue mentioned, write a ‘C’ by it.  When you see an example of virtue, write ‘E’ by it.

Writing:

•   Sort your ANI Chart on The King of the Golden River. Remember to move I column items to A or N if you can before you begin sorting by symbol.  Select the strongest proofs for A and N before you choose your thesis.

•   Complete the Guide to Refutation on page 90 of your student workbook.

•   List as many of the four causes as you can (from Aristotle chapter 6, pg 42) for something you know VERY WELL.

•   Correct assignments that are incomplete

Week 20

Summary of upcoming plans (subject to tweaking):

Its hard to believe we have just 4 more weeks of class.  We'll meet two more Thursdays in March (3/20 & 3/27), and the first week in April (4/3).  The second week in April I need to go back to North Carolina for a staff meeting.  We'll meet for our final class 4/17.

I plan to combine the Lesson 6 and 7 essays so that the students complete all the structural (arrangement) elements for the Complete Persuasive Essay this year.  Henceforth, they should be able to write a structurally complete persuasive essay for you on any issue in any area of study (science, history, literature, etc.) It would be advantageous to have them practice doing so between Easter and summer break.  If you are interested in ongoing assessment of your student's writing, please let me know and we can work out a cost per assignment for writing assessment.
There is a handy reference chart on pages 21 & 22 of the Teachers' Manual that shows the progression of LTW at a glance.  By the end of the semester we will have completed everything on page 21 of the chart.  From page 22 we will have completed Lesson 7 Arrangement, and Elocution lesson 7.  This chart is a great road map for you to see where your student is in the scope and sequence of Lost Tools Level 1.

Week 20 (completed): Invention lesson on differences in degree and kind
3/20 Week 21: Arrangement lesson on Refutation
3/27 Week 22: Arrangement lesson on Narrative
4/3 Week 23:  Elocution - combo lesson on Nominlaization 2, 3, & 4
4/17 Week 24: Finish nominalization lessons if needed. Final review and literature discussion.

This week's assignments

Reading:

• Read Aristotle for Everybody chapter 6.  Highlight main ideas in yellow.  Write key terms and helpful notes in the margins.
• Continue your slow and thoughtful reading of the King of the Golden River, chapters 5 & 6. Highlight as you did last week.  Come to class with 5 character + action combinations that would make good essay issues.  Find one blue per chapter.
• In preparation for reading Plato's Meno, interview 3 people (including at least one parent) regarding their ideas about virtue.  Ask them to define virtue and then respond to the questions Meno asks Socrates in the first line of the dialogue on page 59. Write down a summary of their responses to bring to class.

Writing:

• Choose an issue for The King of the Golden River and complete a 20-20-20 ANI Chart.  
• Complete Worksheet 89 using one term from your issue and a second term of your choice.  Select 5 interesting things from your worksheet to put on your ANI chart.  Mark those 5 items on both the worksheet and your ANI in a way that will let me know which 5 you chose.

Bring The Tempest to class this week!

Don't forget to bring your copy of The Tempest to class this week. Our special guest, Mrs. Simcox, will serve as our tour guide as we explore interesting connections between the play and the period of New World exploration during which it was written.  You'll want your book in order to follow along and make notes in the margins.  To better accommodate her schedule, we'll begin our literature discussion at 1:00. We'll have our writing lesson after the break.

*For those of you who are new this year, Mrs. Simcox is a dear friend of mine who co-taught with me last year.  She taught high school history for 25+ years and is a treasury of knowledge, experience, and wisdom!

Assignment Correction:

Question: 
Dear Mrs. Rape, 
On the blog, you said we had to outline ch 3 or 4 in aristotle but in class you said ch 4 or 5. I just wanted to make sure before I complete the assignment. 
Thank you. 

Answer:
I made a mistake on the blog.  You're right, it should be chapter 4 or 5.
Mrs. Rape


 

Week 19

This week's lesson was on simile and metaphor.  Dr. Seuss makes skillful and hilarious use of them in his ode to The Grinch in the 1966 cartoon How the Grinch Stole Christmas (click on image to play the clip).  Both similes and metaphors are tropes (meaning they appeal to the imagination rather than the senses).  Both of these tropes compare things of different kinds that share some attribute the author wants to emphasize.  A simile makes the comparison using "like" or "as" whereas a metaphor makes a more direct comparison, saying one thing is another.

Simile: You're as cuddly as a cactus
Metaphor: Your heart's an empty hole

Writing assignment

• Add one simile and one metaphor to your essay.  Mark them so that they are easy for me to find.
• Outline either chapter 4 or 5 (correction) in Aristotle for Everybody
• Practice simile and metaphor by completing your choice of the following two assignments:

1. Complete the worksheet sets on simile (pages 81-85) and metaphor (pages 123-126)
2. Write something (narrative, poem, story, etc.) between 200 and 300 words using 3 similes and 3 metaphors.  Mark similes and metaphors so they are easy to identify.

Reading assignment

• Aristotle for Everybody chapters 4 and 5 (correction).  Outline one chapter (see above).  For the other chapter, highlight key terms and make notes in the margin to help you explain key ideas in the chapter if called upon to do so.
• Read chapters 1 & 2 of The King of the Golden River slowly and carefully using your yellow highlighter for flow of thought and your blue for noteworthy passages.  Try to find at least one blue in each chapter.  Use orange to mark similes and metaphors if you notice them.  

Class essay with Division added

(If you are looking for this week's assignments, scroll down to the next post.)

Here is our class essay with the division added in.  Its in bold print so you can spot it easily.

The Tempest Essay 5

“Oh, I have suffered with those that I saw suffer.  A brave vessel who had no doubt some noble creature in her dashed all to pieces. O, the cry did knock against my very heart.  Poor souls, they perished.” Miranda panicked about the shipwreck she saw happen before her.  What a tragic thing for her to have to witness.

Everyone agrees that Ariel wrecked the ship.  However, some believe Ariel should have wrecked the ship, while others believe he should not have wrecked the ship.  Ariel should not have wrecked the ship for three reasons: he destroyed the vessel, he harmed Caliban, and he frightened the sailors.

The first reason Ariel should not have wrecked the ship is that he destroyed the vessel.  It possessed lots of cargo.  It was valuable.  The ship rightfully belonged to Alonso. 

The second reason Ariel should not have wrecked the ship is that he harmed Caliban. Stephano and Trinculo led Caliban astray. Caliban consumed too much wine and became intoxicated. God says in Ephesians 5:18 that drunkenness is dissipation.

The third reason Ariel should not have wrecked the ship is that he frightened the sailors.  The wild sea might have drowned the sailors.  He terrorized the passengers.  Some of the people on the ship were innocent, such as Ferdinand who threw himself overboard shouting, “hell is empty and all the devils are here!”

Ariel should not have wrecked the ship because he destroyed the vessel, he harmed Caliban, and he frightened the sailors.  The sailors’ families should have cared about this because they might have lost their loved ones.  

Week 18

IMPORTANT REMINDER:
Next Thursday, February 27th, we will not have class.  I'll be attending the CiRCE Teacher Apprenticeship retreat.  We'll resume class on Thursday, March 6th.

Also, coming up March 14-15, Faith Bible Church is hosting a conference on Science and Faith.  They have a great low student rate of just $25!  Click on the image above the zombie to see the promo video. To register go to:
http://faithbibleonline.org/reasons2014
If you can't make it yourself, but would like to send your student, drop me an e-mail.  I'd be happy to fill my van!

This week we learned how changing verbs, adjectives, and other parts of speech into nouns can turn lively active writing into a lifeless mob of words from the crypt, certain to put readers to sleep.  We watched an entertaining video that explains how this can happen - and how the damage can be reversed.  To watch the video, click the picture of the zombie on the left.

The Lost Tools of Writing explores 4 predictable patterns in which nominalizations commonly lurk.  We learned to recognize the first pattern and repair the damage. Nominalization pattern I introduces the nominalized form with the words "there is/was" or "there are/were".

Nominalization pattern I example:
There was a rustling in the bushes.
The verb rustle has been nominalized in this sentence (changed to a rustling) and is hiding what should be the subject.
To fix it:
1) change the nominalized word back to its former self, in this case a verb - rustle
2) invent a subject - the Jabberwocky
3) rewrite the sentence: The Jabberwocky rustled in the bushes.

 The DVD lesson can be found on disk 3 of your set, under lesson 5, elocution A.  You may or may not need to refer to the video depending on how easily you can move through the worksheet exercises.

Assignments

Writing:

• complete pages 74-80 of your student workbook (Nominalizatoin pattern I)
• Write essay 5 using the checklist and your Tempest outline.  Yes, you really need to check each box.  Don't skip anything (except the simile).  
• Outline Adler's Aristotle chapter 3, Man's Three Dimensions

Reading

• Read all of The King of the Golden River
• Use pink highlighters to highlight characters
• Use a green highlighter to mark any transitions you notice (usually setting or time changes)

Week 18

This week we're moving into the cannon of arrangement for essay 5.  That means we'll be adding a new part to the essay.  The new element is called "division".  In division, we consider points of agreement between the two sides of the issue and state that agreement before stating the disagreement in the form of "thesis" followed by "counter thesis".  If you are confused on this lesson, please refer to the DVD lesson for clarification.  Also, don't hesitate to e-mail me with questions.

Writing assignment:

• Division worksheet
• Arrangement worksheet for lesson 5
• Create an outline for essay 5 following the essay 5 template

Reading (for writing portion of class):

• Read Aristotle for Everybody, ch 2 "The Great Divide"
• Outline the chapter (tips below)
• avoid complete sentences
• include new vocabulary
• use an indention structure to distinguish main points from sub points
• consider reading the whole chapter and using highlighters to find key ideas and vocabulary before you begin to outline

Reading (Western Literature):

• Act 5 of The Tempest (usual requriements)

Week 17

It finally feels as though our spring semester is in full swing.  Last week I gave the students an overview of the plan for the rest of the year.  Once we finish reading The Tempest we'll take a break from Elizabethan English and fast-forward to the Victorian era with a fairy tale written by John Ruskin; The King of the Golden River.  Meanwhile, we'll incorporate readings from Mortimer Adler's Aristotle for Everybody into the writing portion of our class.  It is my hope that reading Aristotle's ideas in Adler's lucid style will give them further insight into the topics of invention from which the ideas we write about naturally flow.

Then, in keeping with our theme of “virtue,” we’ll jump back in time about 2200 years to listen in on Socrates’ and Meno’s discussion of the nature of virtue, courtesy of the inimitable Plato.  We’ll have plenty of character examples to consider from our earlier readings.  If time remains, we’ll take a look at Plato’s famous Allegory of the Cave.

Be sure your student made it home with all three books; Aristotle for Everybody, The King of the Golden River, and Plato's Meno.

I do want to let you know that I’ll be traveling toward the end of February to attend the CiRCE Apprenticeship retreat in North Carolina.  Therefore we won’t have class on Thursday, Feb 27^th. 

Writing assignment

·                    -   Read Part 1, chapter 1 (Philosophical Games) in Aristotle for Everybody. 

·                     - To the best of your ability, try to produce an outline similar to what Adler might have used to write this chapter.

Reading Assignment

·                    -  Read Act 4 in The Tempest following the previous instructions for notes and highlighting

·                     - Read Hebrews 12: 18-24 two or three times.  List three similarities between this passage and the story of The Tempest