Weekly Report: Week 6

Our week flew by! Rocket Boy is working very efficiently on his assignments, although he does not yet see a need to spend additional time studying. I think a couple of tests might change his mind about that - we'll see! Eighth grade is a transition year with a marked increase in the content of his materials, yet he is still young enough to still want to play around some. It is so hard to give up that free time! Time and maturity will help, I hope.


 We began and ended our week with  scieNCe Festival events.

The North Carolina Science Festival is a multi-day celebration showcasing science and technology. The Festival will highlight the educational, cultural and financial impact of science in our state. Through hands-on activities, science talks, lab tours, nature experiences, exhibits and performances, the Festival will engage a wide range of public audiences while inspiring the next generation of scientists.

On Sunday we attended "An Afternoon with Adam and Jamie." This was a program where Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman of Mythbusters fame discussed their experiences while filming their TV show. In addition to the panel style discussion, led by the UNC Chancellor, they took questions from the audience. Adam and Jamie concluded the 1 1/2 hour discussion in true Mythbuster style with videos of explosions!

Today, Friday, we went with a group of students from the FLL team to Biotechnology Days at the sciworks museum in Winston-Salem. Among other things, the kids learned about careers in biotech, extracted DNA from strawberries and learned about the different classes of medical instruments. We spent time at all of the stations and then an extended time with the medical instrument manufacturer and an animation studio who were sharing demo space. Why was an animation studio at a biotechnology fair? In addition to video and gaming animations, this particular studio produces animations for the medical instrument manufacturer that show the physicians and hospitals how their instruments work. These animations make it look as if you're aboard the Magic School Bus with Ms. Frizzle! We took a very realistic trip down the esophagus of a cancer patient to insert a stint to allow the patient to continue to eat food. Wow! These animators have various art degrees and then have learned the anatomy and physiology they need to know on the go. So, if your students are crazy about designing video games or can't stop drawing, here's a brand new career path - medical animator!

On Saturday, participation in the scieNCe festival continues as Rocket Boy's FLL team is exhibits last year's robot design & conduct robot runs at the NC Science Challenge, an all day event at UNC, Chapel Hill.

So, what did we do the rest of the week? Here's the rundown:

Bible: We continued reading Young Person's Guide to Knowing God.  We have a new hymn this week, There Is a Balm In Gilead. This hymn was not familiar to anyone in our family, so I had to search the internet to listen to it. I'm still not sure we have the timing correct! We have one more week to try it out. We started a missionary biography, David Livingstone Africa's Trailblazer. This book caught Rocket Boy's attention for it's treatment of the intersection of faith and science and how we can use science as a tool to minister to those who need Christ. It also fit in nicely with our recent concentration on the African continent. Our verse this week was 1 Peter 2:24:

and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness for by His wounds, you were healed. 

David Livingstone, MD - from google images.

 History: Rocket Boy read, answered questions about and discussed "The White Man's Burden" and "The Black Man's Burden." It was a fairly light history week. 

Language Arts: Rocket Boy finished Unit 18 on comma usage this week and then started on the next unit. Although he did a wonderful job on the lesson pages, he did not do well on the test and had a lot of corrections to do. He finished his work on A Crazy Tale. This proved to be a learning week for him in how to work with the Lightning Literature materials and meet mom's standards of thorough, accurate work. I hope his skills in this area will improve in coming months. 

Math: The fractions review is complete! Due to our field trip today, we did not start Math U See, so we will get started with that on Monday.

Science: Rocket Boy finished up his work on chapter one, which is an introduction to physical science and began his version of studying for the test. Test day will be Tuesday, so we'll see how that goes. 

Speech & Debate:  Rocket Boy was called upon to do an impromptu speech on towels and blankets. His teacher is great at coming up with these topics so that everyone can get their feet wet and know what to expect in the various categories. The class then went on to introduce debate styles. 

Tennis: The first week of the intermediate group went well. The change in the time of day didn't impact our schedule much, so I am hopeful that this will work out. 

Fine Arts: Painting effects in Atilier Art. Still nothing new, but he is enjoying himself. 

Government: His class "You Decide" covered the fifth amendment. This amendment covers a variety of things, including double jeopardy and due process. He says this class is only "sort of" interesting." That's downgraded from "cool" at the start of the semester.

I am thinking about starting with The Elegant Essay next week or vocabulary. I wasn't going to do these until after Christmas, but our schedule is flowing well and Rocket Boy is finishing earlier in the day than I expected, so it might be time to add something in. Next week won't prove to be nearly as interesting, field trip wise, but everyone has to work sometime!