Semester 2 Week 1

First of all, AWESOME job to all of you on your presentation! I may be a little partial, but it was definitely the BEST of all the parent night presentations!

Now...our deep dive into the Constitution has begun! Get ready for some serious scholarliness!

Each week you will have a Constitution journal assignment in addition to your opinion paper. Completing the journal will be a huge help in preparing for the Constitution Bowl. If you complete your journal, a special, and yes, FUN, field trip awaits. I really want to take everybody on this excursion, so please get it done!

Here are this week's assignments:

• CONSTITUTION JOURNAL: Preamble and Article 1 Sections 1-5 (*Bring a dictionary to class if you have one.)

• OPINION PAPER: Why is America different? How is the American government different from nations now and in the past, and why have we lasted so long?

• READING: Work on Fifty-Five Fathers by Selma R. Williams. If you don't have a copy, DO NOT wait until the last minute to get one! I would like Paige to lead the discussion on this book, which will be on February 23rd. Please read "Steps in Leading a Colloquium" in your binder to prepare. 

• Be thinking about who you want to do your Hero Report on. We want everyone to sign up by February 23rd.

I apologize to any of you who did not get to pass off award requirements last week. We will definitely make time to do that this week, so please bring your stuff.

See you all Thursday! -Mrs. H.

Week 15

We had a fun field trip to the capitol last week, and I hope you all learned a little something you didn't know before. I wish we could have stayed longer and done the 3-hour tour (when I was a kid, the school tour included getting to climb the narrow staircase into the rotunda!) but since we couldn't, I encourage you all to go back with your families, do the full tour, and maybe even attend a legislative session so you can see governance at work. You'll appreciate the legislative process more after we study the Constitution this semester!

Okay, let's talk parent night! It's crunch time, so please be sure you are COMPLETELY prepared for Thursday night. That means speaking parts (practice at home to make sure it's about 1-minute long), your costume, and any props you are using. At the end of our "Heroes of the Revolution" presentation, I would like all of us to recite in unison the following excerpt from the Declaration of Independence:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge our Lives, our Fortunes and our Sacred Honor.

We will be rehearsing this during class this week, so please get this memorized for Thursday...it should be SUPER easy after all the memorization you've already done!

Other Items of Note:

• We'll be discussing Freedom Factor on Thursday, so make sure you have it completed! I'm excited to hear what you all think of this book! Taylor has been assigned to lead our discussion, but everyone needs to come prepared with one or two questions and/or comments to share. (Our next book will be Fifty-Five Fathers by Selma R. Williams which we will discuss on February 23rd.)

• If you've completed your Heritage Award requirements, please bring your completed project to discuss with me or Mrs. Brennan on Thursday.

• If you have a dictionary at home, please bring it to class, as we will be beginning our Constitution study this semester. Also, make sure you bring a notebook and a writing implement every week! Exclusively for scholars who complete their Constitution journals, there will be a special reward field trip at the end of the semester!

• Last but definitely not least: we will be having an air-soft gun battle against the Sword of Freedom class in the spring. You'll want to acquire an air-soft (not bb) gun and eye protection to use for this super-fun, annual event. There will be more details to come, so stay posted! 

That's all folks!  -Mrs. H.

Week 14

This week we discussed the price paid in full: the cost at which American liberty was purchased. I'm sure you've all heard the cliché "there's no such thing as a free lunch." (I often use a variation of it with my own kids!). Country singer Toby Keith has a famous song with the line "Freedom don't come free." It's a well-known fact that anything worth having takes work to earn it, and the colonists prized their liberty above most things in this world, clearly, or they wouldn't have risked their "lives...fortunes...and sacred honor" to achieve a free and independent nation. What are the things in your life that are so valuable that you would willingly give up everything else to have or preserve?

Items for this week:

 

• This week you all need to put the finishing touches on your parent night presentations, costumes and props. If you need to borrow anything, please let me or Mrs. Brennan know right away so we can help acquire items.

 

• I'm assigning devotional to Ethan for January 26th, since we won't be in class on the 19th.

 

• Thursday January 19th is our field trip to the capital. PLEASE ARRIVE AT CO-OP BY 9:45 am so we can leave promptly at 10:00. (This goes for me, too!) We will get lunch on the way back and we will return in time for third hour classes. Please make sure your parents are informed!

• If you are close to memorizing the Declaration of Independence, we will let you continue trying to pass it off until class ends on the 26th. Mrs. Brennan has promised an awesome prize if Taylor, Reina and Paige can get it done!

Don't forget to read Freedom Factor and have it completed by the 26th.

*A note about parent night: Please make sure your family brings a dish for the potluck dinner. Families are requested to sit together, so please no running off to be with your friends. Also, please be respectful! No talking during presentations, and no milling around the building. Give the same attention and respect to others as you would want others to give you! We are representing our school to our visitors, and we want them to have a good and memorable experience!

See ya on the flip side!

-Mrs. H.

Week 13

Welcome back! It was great to see all of your smiling faces again after Christmas break! This week we got to learn about how the hand of Providence guided George Washington to a glorious victory at Yorktown, VA, which finally brought an end to America's war for independence...or did it? We'll learn next semester about the troubles and triumphs that faced the Americans once they were left to fend for themselves...

Thanks to Leila for leading our book discussion this week! I hope you all enjoyed the George Washington book, and that you were all able to find qualities in him that you would like to cultivate in yourselves. On that note, I've modified the question a bit, but your opinion paper assignment this week is:

What qualities of character did you discover in learning about George Washington, as well as the Americans who supported the Revolution, that you would like to emulate in your life?

Here are your other assignments this week:

Reading: Freedom Factor by Gerald Lund needs to be completed by January 26th. I would also like to assign Taylor to lead our discussion for that book. PLEASE get this finished! It is always one of the favorites for Key of Liberty, so I know you will all love it...even you, Lucy!

Parent Night: Please finalize your 1-minute presentation for parent night and work on your costume. Bring your speaking part (and your costume, if you want) to class on Thursday so we can do a practice run through to make sure our timing is right, and that our presentation will run smoothly. And please remember to invite your grandparents and/or other loved ones. We want to put on a great show and really "wow" our families! (January 26th 5:30-8:00, potluck dinner will be provided.)

Award Requirements: Finish as many as you can! Next week, January 12th is the absolute LAST day to pass them off!

Field Trip: We're going to the capital on January 19th, so make sure to be at co-op by 9:45am! We'll be back in time for 3rd hour classes, and we'll stop and grab some lunch on our way back.

Have a great week!

-Mrs. Hellyer

Week 12

Finally, the blog you've all been waiting for! I hope Christmas break has been rejuvenating, and that you've had lots of time to eat, sleep and be merry! Unfortunately, it is quickly coming to an end, so here are the things you need to be working on to be prepared for our next class meeting:

Opinion Paper: When the war was over, and thousands had died, was it worth it?

Parent Night: Please have your presentation piece ready to practice by January 12th!

Presentations: Last but never least, Taylor will present on famous women of the war on January 5th.

Reading: Please have Being George Washington finished on January 5th, and be prepared with a question/comment or two to discuss in class. I believe I asked Leila to lead the discussion this time. Also, we will be discussing Freedom Factor by Gerald Lund on January 26th, so make sure you have that one finished by then also.

Award Requirements: January 12th is the LAST DAY to pass off first semester requirements, so please finish those up...especially memorizing the Declaration of Independence!

Just a heads up: we have a field trip to the state capital scheduled for January 19th, and I may need an extra driver, so if anyone has a parent who is willing and able to help with that, please let me know. We'll need to leave right at 10 that day, so please be to co-op by 9:45.

I didn't assign anyone to do devotional this week, so Reina, will you please do the honors? I think that's it! Enjoy the rest of your break, and I'll see you in 2017!

-Mrs. Hellyer

Week 11

So is all the freezing weather making you feel a little cold? Imagine how the soldiers at Valley Forge felt during the winter of 1777-78! We learned last week that that winter was one of the most difficult challenges faced by George Washington and the colonial army. Moral was probably at its lowest point of the war as men faced homesickness, freezing, starvation and diseases, all on the heels of some devastating defeats in battle. What a debt we owe to the colonists who persevered through this formidable time to secure peace and liberty for us, their posterity! This season is a great time to remember and thank God for our patriot ancestors who sacrificed so much 239 years ago.

Assignments:

Opinion Paper: Write a letter home as if you were someone living in the colonial period. This is my favorite writing assignment for first semester! Remember, you can be anybody! Here are a few ideas:

• a colonial soldier or officer
• a wife on the front lines, tending the wounded
• a delegate in the Continental Congress
• a loyalist
• a redcoat
• a slave
• a family member of a soldier, awaiting your loved one's return from battle
• a privateer

The list could go on; just be creative and think outside the box!

Presentations: We heard a very informative and well-executed presentation from Paige last week on the different groups of people in the war. Way to raise the bar, Paige! This week, we look forward to being enlightened by Lucy on colonial fashion, and by Reina on spies.

Devotional: I forgot to assign this in class...Ethan, would you please do the honors of preparing an inspirational thought to share at the beginning of class?

Reading: Keep plugging away at Being George Washington and Freedom Factor.

Award Requirements: We have only 3 class days left to pass off requirements, so make sure you're working on checking off those requirements! January 12 is the deadline!

Parent Night: Please work on finalizing/memorizing your part and putting your costume together for our dazzling January 26th performance!

Have a fabulous week!

-Mrs. Hellyer

Week 10

This week we spent our time working on passing off requirements and discussing parent night. I am SO excited to show all the parents what we're preparing and knock everyone's socks off! Here's a recap of what we decided:

The presentation will be in the style of a wax museum exhibit in which each scholar will dress as a different historical figure and recite a 1-minute quote/song/bio/etc., or any combination thereof. Mrs. Brennan and I will introduce the exhibit or be tour guides. At the conclusion of the presentation all the scholars will recite the beginning of the Declaration of Independence from memory ("When in the course" through "the pursuit of happiness"). Parts are listed below:

• Dean - John Paul Jones
• Ethan - Paul Revere
• Leila - Abigail Adams
• Lucy - A Pilgrim
• Paige - Alexander Hamilton
• Reina - Betsy Ross
• Taylor - Thomas Jefferson

This week, in lieu of an opinion paper, you were asked to write your part for parent night. Remember that you need to speak for 1 full minute, so you may want to practice reading your part out loud to get your timing right. Please show what you've written to either me or Mrs. Brennan for review on Thursday.

Movie night last Friday turned into a bit of a fiasco, and I'm sorry for that. To make it up to all of you, I will hold a make-up movie night at my house this Thursday evening (12/8). Anyone who can attend can ride with me to my house directly after co-op on Thursday. We'll have dinner and watch April Morning. Your parents would need to pick you up from my house between 7 and 7:30. Please let me know as soon as possible if you will be attending! Parents can text or call me at 253-254-9064 to respond and get my address.

Presentations: We heard some excellent presentations given by Taylor and Ethan last Thursday, and this week we will be pleased to hear from Paige on Tories, loyalists, Hessians and Red Coats. 

Memorization: This week you should be working on the Statement of "Wanting" to have the whole Declaration passed off by January 12th. Remember, you can pass it off one section at a time!

Reading: Keep working on Being George Washington by Glenn Beck so you can finish before January 5th. If you have finished, begin reading Freedom Factor by Gerald Lund, which we will be discussing on the first day of second semester, January 26th.

Devotional: I'm not sure if anyone was already assigned, so if not, Taylor, would you please bring an inspirational thought to share at the beginning of class this week?

Pray for snow this week, and we'll see you all Thursday!

-Mrs. Hellyer