Weekly Report: Week 4

We had some good news this week. Rocket Boy was accepted to serve on the Teen Council at our state art museum! We are thrilled for him. He is interested in a career in design (maybe product design, not sure) and this is a great opportunity for him to interact with the art community. Additionally, he went to his first honor society meeting. He has joined one of the local chapters of the Eta Sigma Alpha National Home School Honor Society. The chapter he joined seems to be a great fit - it has a balance of chapter business, service projects and social opportunities. He is looking forward to getting to know some of the other teens.

In other areas, this is what is happening:

Algebra I: This week was the start of Algebra I for the year. Rocket Boy is taking this as an outside class. His teacher is a former home schooled student who went on to obtain a math degree. The class is very small - there are a total of two students. The text is Elementary Algebra by Harold Jacobs.  I think that the text is a good fit for him and the first week of homework has gone well.

American History: The big topic of the week was The Enlightenment. Jonathan Edwards' sermon Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God was one of the reading selections. Personally, I found it very interesting that he delivered this sermon in a monotone w/out any animation to his features or body language. The teacher that is leading the discussion group in the co-op has assigned some time line memorization, which I have forgotten all about. Hopefully, we'll get started on that in the coming week.

Architectural Drafting & Design: This class is getting better, although the volume of work is very high. There is much more student interaction than there was at the first of the course and the opportunity to draw is always one that is appreciated!


 Language Arts: I did not assign anything in this area. I am in the process of designing a personalized class that will meet his specific needs and be challenging at the same time. I'll write up a contract when I am done with that process so that we both know what needs to be accomplished in order for Rocket Boy to earn the credit.

Science: Moving right along here. I must confess that I really like the fact that he is taking this internet based course. He has managed to keep up with his assignments this week, although it is difficult for him to maintain attention in the long class. Hopefully this will improve with practice.  Nutrition was a big topic last week and there is a self guided lab to complete in this area.

Studio Art: Sketchbook Saturday at the museum! This is a 1 1/2 hour class where the students learn the history of and observe a piece of art in the museum and then spend time in the studio practicing the techniques that the artist used. The co-op course that he is taking is, for him, a review of the basics. While this is not a demanding course, it does require some outside work, which we have to get better at working into our schedule.

We'll be doing a few tweaks this week, hoping to smooth things out more, so stay tuned!