Flash Fiction, Tsunamis, and the Rhetoric Triangle! LL #8

Pre-Algebra:

This week I did a couple lessons of Mr. D. Math on multiplying and dividing integers. I got a B- on my Chapter 2 Test. I also printed off my "course work" (the worksheets I do as I watch the video for each lesson) for the next two chapters.

Creative Writing:

This week we worked on writing our opening scenes. We talked about what we needed to include there, such as our character's flaw or flaws. We also discussed book genres and "flash fiction." Flash fiction is a whole story summed up in a couple sentences. This leaves a lot to the reader's imagination, as you can imagine. Get it? Some flash fiction we read:

"baby shoes for sale, never used."

"She read about diseases she did not have until the eyestrain made her blind."

And here's a flash fiction prompt the teacher gave us:

Julie looked out the window and caught the whiff of sulfur.

By the way, sulfur is the smell of a volcano, factory, rotten eggs, and dragon (if dragons were real).

Here's a flash fiction I wrote:

Julie looked out the window and caught the whiff of sulfur. that was the last think she experienced before the discovered what color a dragon's stomach is.

Here's some flash fiction from the other students:

She walked into the window to the smell of cooking fish. The house was on fire and she was a fish.

By the way, the smell of cooking fish is usually someone cooking fish or an electrical fire. One of the students was going to write about an electrical fire, but she either didn't or didn't share or didn't finish.

It was very fun!

Social Studies:

This week I learned about Ancient Africa. I learned the Sahara Desert used to be a green, fertile place. Archeologists know this because they found pollen, seeds, and animal bones (from animals that can't survive in deserts) in the sands of the desert. I also made some yummy banana date bars, because the people of Ancient Africa ate dates and plantains. Plantains are similar to bananas.

Mud Bricks, Water Tower, and Lots of Writing Awesomeness! LL #7

Pre-Algebra:

This week I learned about adding and subtracting integers while following the rules.

Creative Writing:

This week in my Link Education League class, I filled out a plotting worksheet for my novel, The War of Imagination Island, and we talked about each item on the paper. Next week I need to: 1. Bring my tablet to school to begin writing my novel. 2. Bring my Novel Writing Prep book and the notebook where I did the exercise (I did this over the summer for fun) to the coming classes. 3. Write down some starting point ideas so I can start my novel without getting stuck.

Social Studies:

This week I learned about Ancient India. I learned that the people made houses with bricks made from dirt, straw, and clay. So, I experimented with different ratios of the dirt and straw (there was some clay in the dirt I used) to see what made the best brick.

The Third Official... Whatever ;) LL #6

Pre-Algebra:

This week I did three lessons of Mr. D. Math. I really like this curriculum! I learned about integers: the positive numbers, the negative numbers, and 0. I also learned about translating problems like "three plus three" into "3+3". It was really fun!

Creative Writing:

This week I printed off my story, The Cloaked Man, and gave it to my teacher. We filled out a worksheet about characters- what their flaw(s) are, what they need to learn, what their goal is, what stops them from achieving their goal, what the conflict/ catalyst is, and how their goal changes because of the conflict. And yes, I covered it in hearts. Of course.

Can't really see it that well... oh well.

First Day of Davinci Academy

Landen and Emberly started school today! On Mom's birthday! They had a great first day of "public" school!

The Second Official Week of School! LL #5

Pre-Algebra:

This week I learned about Order of Operations. I solved problems like 5((8 - 3) * (6-2)). The answer is 100. Next, I opened up an Excel spreadsheet and learned how to input problems so a computer understands it. The same problem would be written as " = 5 * ((8-3) * (6-2)) ". After the Excel stuff, I did my Chapter 1 test. I got a B- on it.

Creative Writing:

This week I learned about character archetypes in my Creative Writing class. Character archetypes are characters that are used so often they're boring. Such as: the hero, the lover, the magician, the sage, the outlaw, the explorer, the innocent child, the ruler, the caregiver, the everyman, and the jester. (I just listed everything on the list on accident!) We also did an activity where we observed the people in the class (or yourself). One of my classmates wrote this about me: glances up a lot, plays with hair, writes fast. I wrote about people's clothes, listed common fidgeting, and listed what fidgeting I was seeing in the class.

Our homework was to take two common archetypes that normally don't go together, and combine them to make cool characters. One person was going to do an innocent child sage. I think I'm going to do a master manipulator- innocent child!

Social Studies:

This week I learned about the Jewish People and Joseph of Egypt. I learned that there were wars in the city of Ur, so the Jews moved to Haran. But God told them to move to Canaan, so they did. There, Joseph was sold as a slave to Egypt. I copied the map it gave me and tracked the path from Ur to Egypt. It was really interesting to see where they moved around!

P.S. The line was too faint so I darkened it with editing.

First OFFICIAL Week of School!!! LL #4

Pre-Algebra:

This week I did Mr. D. Math and I learned a new way to do Multiplication. This way uses the distributive property. I also learned a new way to do Long Division, which makes the "long" part short!

Creative Writing:

This week I started my Creative Writing class! I met my teacher, Ms. Farb (she wasn't at back to school night). She is an awesome published author. We played games like Telestrations, Mad Libs, and a story game with cards that suggested a new character or scene in a collaborative story.

Social Studies:

This week I learned about Hieroglyphics and Cuneiforms. They are both old ways of writing. Some people used clay tablets to write. They could wipe off the engravings in wet clay, or bake it so it was hard and durable. Other people made early paper by mashing up reeds and leaving them to dry in the sun. I used clay and wrote my own Cuneiforms in it! Sadly, Shiloh started poking holes into it and mashed part of it into the table, so you can't really see the first symbol. Oh well. 

It says "KLEOS Academy" ;)

Landen and Emberly's Back To School Night!!!

Landen and Emberly are participating in a hybrid program this year! They will attend a day and a half at Davinci Academy and do the rest of their homeschool work at home. They are both so excited!

Back to school night was a lot of fun, they had their pictures taken, met their teachers and picked up their curriculum.