Assignments for September 8, 2026

 September has arrived! Cooler weather certainly has not followed it. 

If you are still struggling with textbooks, the SCAIHS bookstore in Columbia has Fix-it books and some theme books. SCAIHS stands for South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools. Under South Carolina law for homeschooling, this organization is Option 1. The bookstore and website is schomeschooling.com. They do ship or you can pick up at the store. Of course, they have other books and publishers as well. 

Journal: You attended a special event for your grandparent(s)--anniversary, retirement, birthday, some other event. Something funny happened. Tell about the funny event. (This can be real or imagined.)

Fix-it: Week 2--look up vocabulary words, mark and fix the errors, re-write. Do this for all four days of week 2. (We marked and fixed Day 1 in class.)

People, Places: We went around the room practicing "Big Machines" from Lesson 1B. We worked on Lesson 2 "Roads" in class. We worked through 2A "Building Roads" together. We started 2B "Snowplows." You will need to finish that at home. A fun activity would be to look up snowplows working and how Romans actually built roads (some which are still around). 

Homework: Lesson 2 "Roads." Practice telling 2A "Building Roads." Finish the KWO for 2B "Snowplows." Practice telling it. Optional: write a draft of one of these. 

Investigations in Writing: We took turns telling Lesson 1 "Mercator" in class. We worked on lesson 2 "Ring of Fire." With this one we will be writing a draft--that's the new structure for this lesson. Next time we will add in our first dress up--the -ly adverb-- and the lesson vocabulary words.

For homework: Lesson 2 "Ring of Fire." Finish the KWO. Practice telling it. Write a rough draft. Be sure you put your name and lesson number on the upper left hand corner, title in the middle, double space the entire document. You may hand write or type the paper. However, you will be adding to it and making corrections. That will mean re-writing the page if you are doing it by hand. 

High School I:

Prince Caspian: Read chapter 4

Narnia: I took up drafts of Lesson 1 "Tidal Pools." This was practice only. Lesson 2 "Suits of Armour"--We discussed the source text and the who/which clause. These clauses are added to a complete sentence. They tell more about a noun, so they should follow a noun. We will review that concept next week and the checklist. The final draft of this paper will be graded. 

For homework: Lesson 2 "Suits of Armour." Finish the KWO. Write your rough draft. Try to add a who/which clause in addition to an -ly adverb. I will check rough drafts in class next week.

High School II:

Fallacy Detective: do the exercises on pages 35-38.

Lord of the Flies: read chapter 4 and answer questions

Windows to the World: p. 25 "Marginalia." Read and annotate. We will move along to lesson 3 "Allusions" next time.

  

Assignments for September 1, 2026

 Week 2! Hope you're settling in and getting into a routine. Just a reminder to try to be on time (or five minutes early), get out your Fix-it and Journal assignments, find your pencil, and copy your homework from the board. Do that each week and we'll get those tickets passed out more quickly. 

Spirit Day: Cartoon Day. Wear a t-shirt or costume of your favorite cartoon character.

Journal: Candy shop--Someone you know plans to open a candy shop. They've asked you for suggested candies to carry. List as many as you can think of. 

Fix-it: Finish Week 1--look up vocabulary words and write them on either note cards or a place in your notebook--words and definitions. Finish labeling all four days. Re-write all four days, making sure you correct any fixes that you identified.

Upper Elementary/People, Places: We continued Lesson 1 on Construction. We reviewed the process of the KWO and re-telling. We worked on a KWO for "Big Machines." 

For homework: Lesson 1B "Big Machines." Practice telling the KWO. Remember each line is one complete thought/one sentence. Try not to add extra sentences at this point. 

Middle School/Investigations: Lesson 1 is on maps. I brought a few maps and we looked at a map of Aiken. Suggestion: find map of Aiken. Try to locate your home and places you know. We started on the second KWO for the lesson, page 16 "Mercator Projection." 

For homework: Lesson 1, page 16 "Mercator Projection"--finish the KWO. Practice telling. Do page 18, writing a sentence for each vocabulary word. 

High School I: 

Prince Caspian--read chapters 2-3

Narnia: We continued working on Lesson 1. We discussed ways to improve studying (see pages 8-9). We added in our first stylistic technique--the -ly adverb. Be sure you note the imposters at the bottom of the page (pages 12-13). We reviewed the checklist on page 14. Be sure you review the MLA format at the back of the book. 

For homework: Lesson 1, pages 10-11 "Tidal Pools." Finish the KWO. Practice telling the outline. Write a rough draft, adding in one -ly adverb. Consult your checklist. Bring this next week for me to take up. This is practice and will not be graded. 

High School II:

Fallacy Detective: For homework--find a Bible verse about listening. Use a concordance. Read the two articles on data centers. Try to find 5 points/viewpoints for each. They do not have to match up or be the same. Basically, you're looking for 5 pros and 5 cons. The purpose is two-fold--perhaps work towards a short research paper and note how people can have opposite viewpoints on a subject, to see both sides. 

Windows to the World: We discussed "The Gift of the Magi." We also discussed some highlights from the article, "How to Mark a Book." For homework: read the next short story "The Most Dangerous Game." Be careful to take notes while you are reading. You will have an open book quiz next week. 

Lord of the Flies: We discussed chapter 1. Try to read and answer the questions for chapters 2 and 3. 

Assignments for August 25, 2026

 Hello all,

Today was our first day of writing classes. So many new faces! Please bear with me as I learn new names and faces. 

Today we covered tickets--rewards for work that you can redeem for candy or other prizes. We examined the first pages of our textbooks--those pages we tend to glance at once if at all and then ignore. They are important references to find things in the books. We discussed journals--these are quick writing assignments that give you practice at putting thoughts into words and words onto paper. 

Our class routine:

--When you walk into the room, get out our textbooks and journal. Copy down the homework assignments from the board. 

--I will walk around checking journals and Fix-it books. I will pass out tickets as I check work. 

--We will discuss the next journal assignment and any Spirit Day dress ups.

--With the Fix-it, we will start by correcting our own lessons. I will put the corrections on the board, explain why something is labeled or corrected, and answer any questions. Then we will discuss the next week's "learn it" lesson plus Day 1. When you go home, you look up vocabulary words, mark (label), fix, and re-write that day plus days 2 to 4. 

--The last part of the class is taken up with the theme book. We review the previous week's instructions. I check any rough drafts (in the future), we discuss any additions or changes, we review the checklist. Sometimes we start a new lesson. 

Journal: Tell me about your typical homeschool day. Write about ten sentences or make a list of at least ten items. Be detailed. This should be kept in a special notebook, preferably a composition notebook.  

Fix-it: 1) Look up vocabulary words. 2) Review the "Learn It" section. 3) Mark and fix things we discussed (see the top of the page). 4) Copy the day's passage at the bottom of the page. We'll spread this week's lesson over two weeks. If you do not finish it all this week, that is fine. 

People and Places: homework--

--Review the lesson directions for Lesson 1.

--From Lesson 1, practice "telling" the key word outline (KWO) for the "Carpenter" source text. Remember each numbered line is one complete thought. Do not study the source; try to only use the KWO. The goal is not to copy the source but to put the ideas into your own words. 

--Cut out the tools from the back of the book. You will partially glue the "toolbox" into the lesson. If this is confusing, you can wait to do it another week. 

Investigations in Writing:

Lesson 1 "Maps." We discussed the weekly schedule and goals. Your lesson vocabulary words are in the goals section. They can also be found in the appendix. Our first source text in on maps. We started the KWO. Remember, we can only use three words per note line. To include more ideas, we can use symbols or abbreviations. For now, each source text sentence corresponds to one numbered line on the KWO page. Also, each numbered line is a complete thought--a sentence. 

In class we started on the KWO on pages 14-15. If you feel comfortable, finish the KWO. 

Homework: Re-read the lesson instructions. Finish the KWO for "Maps." Practice telling out load each numbered line. No writing is needed as yet. 

High School I:

Prince Caspian: Read chapter 1

Narnia: We looked at the appendix for the MLA format. Study and use this format for you papers--the font size and style, your name and the lesson number in the left hand corner, double spacing all lines, etc. Also in the back of the book are sample papers for some lessons. 

We started Lesson 1 "Sandy Shores" today. I demonstrated taking notes and re-telling them. Then we started on the source on pages 6-7. 

For homework: Finish the KWO on pages 6-7. Practice telling your outline. Remember, your goal is not to say exactly the same words but to put the source ideas into your own words. You may write a rough draft if you like--that's optional at this point. 

High School II:
Our theme this year is wisdom. I read a few Bible verses and a discussion about wisdom. It is not simply knowledge but much more. By studying fallacies in logic and learning how to study literature in depth, we are working on building that wisdom muscle. We will contrast God's wisdom to a book that seems devoid of wisdom. 

The Fallacy Detective: We covered several pages including Lesson 1. For homework, complete the exercises for lesson 1 on pages 16-17.

Windows to the World: We read through some of the preliminary pages as well as Unit/Chapter 1. Our next lesson is on annotations. To apply and learn about that, read "The Gift of the Magi" including the author's margin notes. You are welcome to add your own. I also asked you to read "How to Mark a Book"--a handout--so that we can discuss that next week. 

Lord of the Flies: I discussed some background information on the author, the book, and the times it was written. For homework, read chapter 1 and answer the questions. When you answer them, make note of the page numbers.