Assignments for March 3, 2026

 March is upon us. Don't look for the weather to stabilize anytime soon. 

Spirit Day: wear a musical outfit or represent your favorite musical group. 

Journal: List your favorite musical group/band/artists (10 plus) or list 10 or more musical instruments.

Fix-it: Week 23

Bible Heroes: I checked the Daniel drafts. We started a new unit, summarizing a source and adding topic and clincher sentences. The topic/clincher rule is repeat or reflect two to three key words. (This is very similar to the title rule.) Leson 21 "John Was Humble" focuses on John the Baptist. We are not using all the facts and sentences. We are combining some. Our goal is to make our version somewhat shorter than the original. Our checklists now are on a separate page. 

For homework: Lessons 18, 19, 20 "Daniel"-- polish your final drafts. Be sure you have a new title. Lesson 21 "John"--complete page 122 and use some dress ups in your draft, write your rough draft, follow the checklist on page 123. 

Wonders of Science: I checked the Einstein drafts. I see topic/clinchers missing at times. Be sure to include those. Your Works Consulted is a separate page and includes all three sources. Each citation can be found at the end of each source text. Just copy it and put it in alphabetical order by the first words or authors. 

We started on the third paragraph--Einstein's later years. I gave you many of the source notes. You need to fuse them into a new KWO. Your checklist is on page 181. 

For homework: Lesson 18, Einstein part 2, third topic--later years. Fuse the outlines to make one new one. Write a rough draft. Be sure to include topic/clincher sentences. Revise your Works Consulted page. Use the checklist on page 181.

High School I: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe--read chapters 12-15.

Narnia: I check "The Spiteful Witch" drafts. Be sure you are adding in a triple in each paragraph. We discussed Lesson 19, the intro and concluding paragraphs. Follow the lesson directions. When it says focus, that's similar to moral or lesson learned--something important to know and take away from reading the book. 

For homework: Lesson 19 Intro and Concluding--complete the KWOs and write a rough draft. Add in (copy/paste) the other three body paragraphs. Get as much done as you can this week. We will likely try to tackle lesson 20 next week.

High School II: 

Blue Book--we finished up Capitalization, so do the quizzes on pages 187-188. 

Till We Have Faces--read and answer questions for chapter 21. 

Jensen's Format--Finish your book report on the book of your choice. We started discussing Section Business letter writing. Please bring an envelope and business letter--junk mail is fine to visually see how these are printed. Be thinking of a topic to write about--a letter of complaint, praise, request for information. Can be imaginary business and problem. 

I handed out some information on our research paper. Please read over all of it, take notes, make note of questions you have. Please find your copy of MLA: The Easy Way. 

Assignments for February 24, 2026

 Journal: Write a People Poem (see the handout) about a current or past Olympian.

Fix-it: Week 22.  Some of you are getting quite lazy and labeling words any ole part of speech--and sometimes two parts of speech. Please think before you write/label. Follow the order for the labeling of the number of each part of speech.

Bible Heroes: We're working our way through the three Daniel lessons. Today we tackled Part 3. Next week we will start a new unit that is closer to report writing. 

For homework: Lesson 20 Daniel part 3--write the rough draft. Add it to the other two paragraphs. Do page 116 and try to include some of the dress ups in your paragraph. Remember you will need a new title with words taken from the last sentence. 

Wonders of Science: We're working on a three-part Einstein essay. Lesson 18 is two paragraphs, so we're dividing it into two weeks. Last week we pulled notes from three sources on Einstein's early life. I took those up and will let you know any problems. Today we started Einstein's career. I started two source text outlines for you. You will need to take notes on the third source and fuse your notes. We also discussed the Works Consulted page. This is a separate page which lists your three sources. That information is found at the end of each source in Lesson 17. Copy it exactly as it is written, but in alphabetical order by the first word of each entry. Note that the first line is at the left margin and the second line is indented. 

For homework: Works Consulted rough draft--separate page. Lesson 18 Einstein part 2, topic B only--finish the KWOs for the source texts, fuse the facts you want to keep, write a rough draft. 

High School I: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. To understand this week's lesson, read chapters 10-11. For next week's lesson, read chapters 12-14. 

Narnia: For homework: Lesson 18 Spiteful Witch--finish the KWO (we talked through it today), write a rough draft, try to include a triple. Your checklist is on page 117. 

High School II: Blue Book--we started Capitalization, going over rules 1-4. No homework as yet. 

Till We Have Faces: We discussed chapter 19 today. Read and answer questions for chapter 20. 

Jensen's Format: I took up Cause and Effect. I checked Comparison. We started Section 3, focusing on lesson 14, 15, and 16--writing the book report. 

For homework: Last essay final draft--Comparison Essay. Choose a book to write a report about. Follow the directions from lesson 14, 15 or 16. Write at least the intro paragraph with the book's statistics and outline the three body paragraphs. Rough drafts optional this week. 

Assignments for February 17, 2026

 Spirit Day: bring a favorite stuffed animal.

Journal: Winter Olympic Sports. List at least 10 winter Olympic sports or research and write at least five sentences on one sport. 

Fix-it: Week 21

Bible Heroes: Elijah, parts 1-3 was due today. I checked drafts of Daniel part 1 (Lesson 18). We discussed the KWO for part 2 (Lesson 19). We also used our puppets with all three parts. I read the entire story. Each time a character was mentioned, that puppet was to be held up. We discussed some things the characters might say in each part. 

For homework: Daniel part 2 (lesson 19)--write a rough draft. Try to add conversation to the second part. What do the characters say to each other? You are welcome to add to the story what you imagine they may say.

Wonders of Science: I took up to check at home the rough drafts of Lesson 15, Nicola Tesla. No final drafts of this one. I did cut short our time with the Fix-it lessons. I checked and corrected student work rather than putting it all on the board. I did put day one of Week 21 on the board. 

Lesson 16 is part I of Albert Einstein. I gave out handouts of key word outlines to make it easier to take notes. These lessons are somewhat complicated. We have three sources. Each source has information on four topics: early life, career, later years, and legacy. Each source text has a faint line along the left side of the paragrahs. Put those labels beside each source text paragraph. 

Our first lesson pulls facts about Einstein's early life from each source text. That's one reason why the labels are important. I put source text notes on the board. I did not fuse the facts--that's homework. Remember, you will only write one paragraph--from the fused KWO. 

For homework: Lesson 16 Albert Einstein. Fuse the three KWOs into one outline. Pick and choose the facts you want to use. Make sure you put the facts in chronological order. Write a rough draft. (We will be writing three body paragraphs about Einstein.) 

High School I: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe--read chapter 9. 

Narnia: I took up any Lesson 15 "Diary." I checked lesson 16, the first paragraph of our multi-paragraph analysis of the White Witch as a character. The lesson does not mention it, but when we discuss literature, we typically use present tense verbs. It's a good idea to get into that habit now. We also discussed Lesson 17 "Fearsome Witch." We discussed possible answers, but I did not put them on the board. Remember to ask the questions and answer the questions. When writing your paragraph, use the question and your answer in the sentence.

We also reviewed the triple decoration. We went back to pages 88-89. That lesson mentions that you may use three quality adjectives or three strong verbs in a row. You may also repeat prepositions. The key is to keep them close together, preferably within one sentence. You will need one in each paragraph. You do not need a because clause and a www.asia--one or the other is fine. Each paragraph will not have a title--save that for the very last paragraph. 

For homework: Lesson 17 "Fearsome Witch." Finish the KWO and write a rough draft. 

High School II: Till We Have Faces--we discussed chapter 18. Try to read chapters 19 and 20. 

Blue Book: We went over the answers to the hyphen quizzes. We also finished the section beginning with dashes. No quizzes on this part.

Jensen's Format: We're getting to the finish line with our essays! Yay, fewer papers to grade. I took up Analogy essays. I checked Cause & Effect essays. Be sure you are writing either the causes of something or the effects after something happened. We discussed Comparison essays. Here you will compare (similarities) two equal subjects. (Apples and oranges are both fruits.) Mixed in will be differences. (Apples--eat skin, oranges--generally process skin to eat.) You may organize each body paragraph either by mixing the areas of comparison or discussing all one subject and then the other. This latter method is harder because you have to remember to use similar topics. 

For homework: Final drafts of Cause of Effect. Brainstorm and outline Comparison essays.  

Assignments for February 10, 2026

 It was good to see no broken bones this week. Sometimes kids do rash things with snow on the ground.

I forgot to send out a reminder that February tuition was due today.

Spirit Day (February 17): Stuffed animal day.

Journal: Babysitting part 2. Tell about a babysitting nightmare, sometime when things went sideways. You can ask parents for a story if you didn't experience one.

Fix-it: Week 20

Bible Heroes: I checked Elijah part 3. Remember to include a because clause. We also started Lesson 18, Daniel Part I. 

For homework: Polish your three-paragraph assignment on Elijah. Be sure to include a new title. For Lesson 18, write a rough draft. Cut out, color, and attach to popsicle sticks the puppets for the Daniel lesson in the back of the book. Bring them next week.

Wonders of Science: I'm still seeing problems with following the directions for the story sequence chart. Remember, you are not telling a story but describing three separate events. Each paragraph should start with a central fact--sentences that tell what is happening in the picture. After that, you reach back in time to tell what came before. Do that with the first two pictures. The third picture moves forward in time, after the events in the scene. 

I checked Lesson 15 drafts. We reviewed the checklist requirements found on page 145. We started a new unit--summarizing multiple references and creating a fused outline. I handed out a partial KWO. We discussed facts to move to the fused outline. 

For Homework: additional rough or final draft of lesson 13, 14, or 15. Use the checklist on page 145. Be sure you have sentences openers in each paragraph plus one new title. 

For lesson 16 "Tesla"--write a rough draft only using the fused outline. Pre-read the three sources for lesson 17. (No final draft of lesson 16.) 

High School I: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe--read chapter 8.

Narnia: Lesson 16 begins a multi-paragraph essay. This is a character analysis essay. We will have three lessons on the body paragraph and then finish off the essay with the concluding and introductory paragraphs. All this is spread over four lessons. 

The questions beside the KWOs are not just for filling in the outline. Use part of the question, combine it with the answer, and then write your sentence. 

For homework: Lesson 16, page 109--write a rough draft from the KWO. 

High School II:
Till We Have Faces: we discussed chapter 17 but did not get to chapter 18. Read chapter 19 for homework. 

Blue Book: We continued the Hyphens discussion. We did the first quiz in class. The rules are quite confusing and so are the quizzes. Do the best you can or check the answers in the back--quizzes pages 184-186.

Jensen's Format: I took up Process essay. I check Analogy essays. We discussed the next to last essay--Cause & Effect. Think of a history or science event that you can tell what caused it or what the effects are. 

For homework: Analogy final draft. Cause & Effect--brainstorm, outline, and write a rough draft. 

Assignments for February 3, 2026

 We made it through one chilly day of classes. Looks like we are in for more cold for a while. 

February 10 the co-op will celebrate Valentine's Day. Bring a decorated box with your name on it. Bring signed Valentines to share. 

Spirit Day (Feb. 3): Dress as a favorite book character.

Journal: Babysitting Part I: List things a babysitter should know--allergies, bedtime, telephone numbers, house rules, etc.

Fix-it: week 19

Bible Heroes: We worked on Elijah Part III--the climax and the resolution. We emphasized five-sense words. What does the fire smell like? sound like? We played a vocabulary/banned word game. 

For homework: Elijah part III--finish the KWO. Write your rough draft. Try to add your dress ups. Try to make the adjectives and verbs emphasize the senses. The activities page may help you (see p. 104). Try to use both vocabulary words somewhere. You will also need a new title. 

Wonders of Science: We're practicing Writing from Pictures. I checked practice drafts of Lesson 14, "Message in a Bottle." We also reviewed sentence openers. You will need sentence openers when we write the final draft of Lesson 13, 14 or 15. We also started Lesson 15 "Science Lab." We discussed the central facts for each and reaching back in time after we write the central fact for the first two paragraphs. I also passed a sample KWO and the accompanying three paragraphs for a sample picture. 

For homework: Lesson 15--finish the KWO. Write at least a partial rough draft. Study the sample papers I've handed out. Any final draft of the three lessons will use the checklist with lesson 15 on page 145. 

High School I: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe--read chapter 7.

Narnia: I took up Lesson 14 "Evacuations." If you have a triple, that is extra credit for this lesson. Review the Triple instructions on page 89. You are not just repeating any word. You are repeating verbs or phrases usually, plus the repetition needs to be within one sentence or very close together.  I also checked drafts and outlines of Lesson 15 "Diary of an Evacuee." Changes to the checklist--one triple somewhere, a because clause or a www.asia clause. Note all the banned words. You have a sample on page 220 to give you inspiration if needed. 

Next week I'll check any rough drafts, and we will start our next assignment, which is a multi-lesson and multi-paragraph essay. It would be a good idea to pre-read the Cinderella story. 

For homework: Lesson 15 "Diary"--second rough draft or final draft. Use the checklist on page 101. Include one triple somewhere. Practice this. Pre-read Lesson 16.

High School II: Blue Book--we checked apostrophe quizzes and discussed half the hyphen rules. No homework this week.

Till We Have Faces: we did not get around to discussing chapter 14. Try to read and answer questions for chapter 18.

Jensen's Format: I took up Definition essays. I checked Process essays. We discussed Analogy essays. The latter is best thought in terms of manmade and natural or big and small. A camera lens is an analogy to a person's eye. 

For homework: Final draft of Process Essay. Lesson 12 Analogy--brainstorm, outline, partial rough draft. Feel free to send me rough drafts, especially before Monday. 

Assignments for January 27, 2026

 It looks like it is the season of bad weather. We had a brush with snow this past weekend. This coming one is predicted to be bad--as in lose power--at this point. Should classes have to be canceled due to widespread power outages, I'll keep you posted, likely on Monday. Be safe!

Journal: Pen pals. Create an imaginary pen pal, either in this country or a foreign one. Write a letter of introduction to him or her. 5 + sentences

Fix-it: Week 18

Bible Heroes: I checked Lesson 15, Elijah part 1. We discussed the new dress up--because clause. We played vocabulary slap. We also started lesson 16, which begins with the conflict of the story.

For homework: Lesson 16, Elijah part 2--finish the KWO, write a rough draft, add dress ups. Do the practice sentences on page 100. Remember the new dress up the "because" clause. 

Wonders of the World: Lessons 13, 14, and 15 are Writing from Pictures. It is very tempting to get involved in writing the story you've created and forget the pictures. Each picture needs a central fact that tells what is happening in the picture. I took up Lesson 13 drafts and will return them next week. We started Lesson 14, "Message in a Bottle." We discussed the central facts of each picture. Remember you will likely need to tell what happened before the picture after you write your central fact. This lesson adds the sentence opener, #3 -ly adverb opener. (See page 133.) 

For homework: Lesson 14 "Message in a Bottle"--finish the KWOs. Try to write at least a partial rough draft. No need to add in dress ups at this point. You will choose one lesson to craft into a final draft. (Use the checklist on page 145.)

High School I: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe--read chapter 6.

Narnia: I checked Lesson 14 "Evacuations" rough drafts. The checklist lists "triple" as a decoration. We covered that in the previous lesson. This decoration will be extra credit for this lesson. We also started Lesson 15 "Diary of an Evacuee." This lesson is very different from any previous ones. Your paragraphs will not have topic/clinchers. You do need to answer the questions for each day before you create your KWO. Once you have your outline, then write your rough draft. You will need to use what you know about the children being evacuated from London and may even need to do more research. If you need help, two sample papers begin on page 220. 

For homework: Lesson 14 "Evacuations"--final draft. Lesson 15 "Diary of an Evacuee"--complete your questions and outlines. Try to write at least a partial rough draft. 

High School II: Blue Book--We finished up the section on Apostrophes. For homework do the quizzes on pages 183-184.

Till We Have Faces: Read chapter 17.

Jensen's Format: I took up Classification Essays. I checked Definition Essays. I noted that quite a few of you seemed lost. We reviewed the format. Please study the sample in your book. That's why it is there. It is especially helpful for this lesson. We also started Lesson 11 Process Essay. I do not want "how to make a cake" essays. Instead, I want "how to be a successful baker." No using imperative voice or "you." Think of more general topics that you can group into three categories: how to be a good pet owner (feeding the pet, housing the pet, health of the pet, etc.). 

For homework: Final draft of Definition Essay. Rough draft of Process Essay. 

Assignments for January 20, 2026

 Brrr! It was certainly cold this morning, especially after our summer-like day Saturday.

Next week's Spirit Day is uniforms.

Journal: Fingerprints. I handed out an article with some interesting facts about fingerprints. For homework, make one or more prints of your fingers. Study and describe them. Worls? Swirls? Loops? Younger kids: using one or more prints, draw an animal, flower or other object. Older kids: tell five uses for fingerprints. 

Fix-it:  Week 17

Bible Heroes: I took up Solomon. We started Elijah, Lesson 15. This is another 3-part lesson. We're only doing part I today--the setting, background, and characters. We quickly created a KWO for this paragraph.

For homework: Write a mostly final rough draft of paragraph I, Elijah, Lesson 15. Try to add in dress ups. Do the activities on page 96.

Wonders of Science: I took up "Flight" lesson 11. 

We've started a new unit, Writing from Pictures. Imagine this unit as event description. Each drawing is one part of an overall event. Lessons 13, 14, and 15 are all part of this unit. We'll do KWOs and rough drafts of these lessons and then pick one to turn into a final draft. 

Lesson 13 is titled "Meteorite." We discussed the central facts for each paragraph. I gave students a handout with a sample student paper so that they can get an idea of they are working towards. 

The important point to remember is to ask yourself questions. For instance, with the first paragraph, the central facts are couple, see, shooting star. Reach back in time. Who are these people? Why are they here? What did they do before? What led them to come here? What did they do when they got here? End with a clincher that repeats key words from the topic sentence. You get to use your imagination. You get to choose character names and their backgrounds. 

The second picture starts up at another time. The central facts are shooting star, zoomed, house. You can reach somewhat back in time or move forward. Did the couple move into the house or build it because it was so special? What can you tell about the house or the shooting star.

The third picture can be at another time or the result of the shooting star from the previous paragraph. Its central facts are ground, crater, huge. You can tell what happened just before the picture or simply move into the future. Tell what the couple/homeowners feel/think. Does anything good come from the disaster? 

For homework: Lesson 13--finish the KWO. Try to write a rough draft only. Remember we will be picking one of three lessons for a final draft. 

High School I: "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"--read chapter 5. 

Narnia: Lesson 14 "Evacuations." We did the KWO together. Note the source text has many banned words--your banned word list has really grown longer. 

For homework: Write a mostly final draft with dress up for Lesson 14. Research "Operation Pied Piper" for next week's lesson. 

High School II: 

Blue Book: We started "apostrophes" pages 50-52. No homework quizzes yet.

Till We Have Faces: We worked on Chapter 15 today. Read Chapter 16 for homework.

Jensen's Format: I took up the Example Essay. I checked Classification rough drafts. We discussed Lesson 10 Definition Essay.

For homework: Finish up your Classification essays. Start working on your Process essay, choosing your topic, brainstorming, forming your thesis statement, and doing a partial rough draft.