End of Fall Semester

I hope you all enjoyed our Christmas class finale!  You were so much fun!  I look forward to seeing you next semester.

Final assessment marks are up on the assignment record.  If you have any work that still needs to be submitted, feel free to email that to me so you can get your A.

Our first class will be January 7, 2016 from 1:00p - 4:00p

Tuition is due in full the first day of class to receive the discounted rate.

Assignment for Jan 7

• Complete the preceding assignment for The Odyssey for week 12 if you have not done so

• Read and highlight books 13 and 14.  Make good margin notes so that you can narrate easily.  Narration sections are as follows:

Book 13

• 1-92
• 93-183
• 184-286
• 287-365
• 366-end

Book 14

• 1-108
• 109-239
• 240-359
• 360-456
• 457-end

Week 12

Hard to believe, but our fall semester is coming to a close.  I hope you’ve enjoyed our exploration of Homer’s Odyssey and the Greek Myths as much as I have!  We have seen Odysseus through his wanderings, and will pick up in the spring with his homecoming. 

Please let me know whether you plan to continue with us next semester.  Classes begin on Jan 7.

PARENTS: You should have received a balance statement showing deposit status, deposit options for next semester, and spring tuition.  If you did not get a statement, send me an email and I’ll get that to you. Due to some schedule changes, our spring class will meet from 1:00 to 4:00 (still Thursday afternoons).

Next Thursday, please come with all incomplete work corrected.  We’ll set aside time in the first hour to answer questions and wrap up unfinished assignments for those who need it.  I’ll have an alternate review activity for those who are finished.

In our second hour, we’ll have some fun with a white elephant gift exchange.  Bring something that connects in some way with our reading/discussion this semester.  Briefly explain the connection on an index card and attach it to your gift.  Each person will have to guess the literary connection in order to swap.  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.

I have not updated the assignment record yet, but will have that done by Monday.

Reading Assignment:

• ·      Scan books 13-24 of The Odyssey. Highlight names in pink, setting (places, times) in green, and block off the dialogue.

Writing Assignment:

• ·      Complete comparison II on pg. 35 (We noticed a few workbooks are missing information on this page, so I will scan and email it later today for you to print if your edition is one of them.)
• ·      Add 10 more points to your ANI chart, for a total of 20 in each column.

Week 11

I'm enjoying our discussions more and more.  You are all getting better at narrations and at finding interesting things to bring up in class.  Its a joy to teach you!

This week we talked about some helpful tools to clarify your blues.  You can use the following symbols in your margin to remind yourself why you thought a particular passage was important. Try experimenting with these this week:

a lightbulb - something stood out to you, clarified another idea, or answers a question you had
a question mark - you have a particular question about this passage
an arrow - you think this passage has an interesting life application
a cross - you see shadows of stories or truths from the Bible in this passage

As we approach the end of the semester, please check your assignment record for any work that still needs to be checked off.  Remember that it is your responsibility to check for missing work and to approach me at the break to get that checked off.  The following people are up to date on resubmissions:

Lauren Rape
Luke Gray
John Picard
Savanna McGallion

If you do not see your name, please check the assignment record to see what you are missing.  All work must be marked A or E in order for you to receive an A (All work complete) for the fall semester.

Writing Assignment

• Choose a new issue from either a myth or The Odyssey and begin a new ANI chart.  Since we only meet twice more, we'll work on this ANI chart for the rest of this semester rather than write a new essay.  For those of you who are joining me in the spring, you can use this ANI chart to write essay 3, so hang on to it!  You will need 10 reasons in each column by our next class on December 3.  You can add 10 more for the last week, for a total of 20 by 12/10.
• Comparison I worksheet (pg 23) - list 10 similarities in each column

Reading Assignment

DeAulaires'

• The myth of Orpheus p. 102-104

Metamorphoses

• Orpheus and Eurydice pp. 341-344

Sir Orfeo

I look forward to comparing this "Christianized" retelling of the Orpheus myth to the pagan version.  As you read this week, try to think of similarities and differences between the tales.  What 'are' they both?  What do they both 'have'?  What do they both 'do'?  Are there any critical differences?  Do you think Sir Orfeo more closely reflects the gospel?  If so, why?

It's not necessary to highlight in Sir Orfeo (you can if you want to).  For each section, write one or two sentences summarizing/narrating the section.  You are basically making your own prose version of the poem.  Do try to use the new symbols we discussed (lightbulb, question mark, arrow, cross).  

• 1-24
• 25-56
• 57-76
• 77-88
• 89-116
• 117-130
• 131-148
• 149-162
• 163-174
• 175-190
• 191-200
• 201-218
• 219-226
• 227-240
• 241-264
• 265-280
• 281-296
• 297-314
• 315-330
• 331-342
• 343-354
• 355-372
• 373-386
• 387-404
• 405-416
• 417-428
• 429-434
• 435-446
• 447-456
• 457-462
• 463-476
• 477-490
• 491-496
• 497-510
• 511-518
• 519-530
• 531-534
• 535-548
• 549-574
• 575-582
• 583-591
• 592-595
• 596-end

Week 10

I was so glad to see you all today after our 2 week break.  What a great discussion!  Thank you for being prepared despite the time gap between classes.

Writing Assignment:

• Check the record of assignments to see if you have any incomplete work to turn in.
• Complete workbook pages 16 and 19 on Parallelism.
• Review the essay samples for essay 2 on pages 118 - 120.  Notice that these samples do not indent the first line of each paragraph.  Instead, they skip lines between paragraphs. You will need to add the indention in your essay. Do not skip lines between paragraphs.  
• Write essay 2 from your outline using the checklist on page 109.  Compose one sentence for each main proof and one sentence for each sub proof.  Paragraphs 2-4 should contain exactly 4 sentences each.  
• Add parallelism to your essay at least once and mark it so I can find it easily.  If you are comfortable with the new idea, add parallelism in a few additional places for more practice.  
• Make a copy of the checklist and attach it to the front of your essay.
• Ask an adult to proof read your paper for mechanical errors (grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, etc.).  Errors are hard to spot in your own writing. 

Reading Assignment:

The Odyssey Book 12

• 1-110
• 111-221
• 222-302
• 303-end

DeAulaires

read pages 132-146

• pgs. 132 - 139 (Luke narrate)
• pgs. 140-146 (Corbin narrate)

Metamorphoses Book 9

• read sections about Hercules (first 6)

Typo in last 2 sections of The Odyssey reading

• 462-337 (should be 462-537)
• 338-end (should be 538-end)

Thanks Evie for catching that!

But I've already read that!

Ever wonder about the C.S. Lewis quote at the top of our blog page? Click on the picture to the right to watch a short video posted by a friend of mine over at Classical Conversations.  

Week 9

Important Reminder!
I'll be traveling for the next two Thursdays.  We will meet again for class on Thursday, November 12th.

This week was our second lesson on essay 2 arrangement.  We cover a lot of ground in this essay! We are moving from a rudamentary 3 proof essay to an essay containing three main proofs with three supporting proofs each.

Last week, we learned how to sort information on the ANI chart.  From now on, the invention and arrangement for every essay will include creating an ANI chart with 20 points in each column, and sorting those points into sub groups for BOTH the A and N columns.

This week we will move from the sorted ANI groups to an outline.  AS ALWAYS, this will involve an intermediate step (Arrangement B, the essay worksheet).  This intermediate step is necessary in order to cultivate the habit of THINKING in the right order when choosing the content for an essay.  

Writing Assignment

• Choose the 3 best groups in your sorted A and sorted N
• Select the best 3 supporting points in each of the groups you chose
• Decide which side you will argue in your essay
• Complete the worksheet on pages 13 & 14
• From the content of the worksheet, create an outline according to the template on page 15 (use your blank outline handout from class)

Reading Assignment

Highlight and narrate in the regular way.  If you have not yet moved from written narration to oral narration, be prepared to read your written narrations aloud in class.  They should explain the content of the section in such a way as to help your classmates remember all the main events in that part of the story.  

The Odyssey, Book 11

*Please be prepared to narrate the last two sections from week 8 since we didn't finish those today in class.  If you completed written narrations for book 10, bring them with you.

• 1-80
• 81-149
• 150-224
• 225-332
• 333-384
• 385-461
• 462-337
• 338-end

DeAulaires

• The Boar Hunt - pages 176-77
• Theseus - 148-157

Metamorphoses

• Book 8, first 5 sections: pages 263-286 (line 782)