Week 1

Second semester has begun! Here's a recap of the things we went over in class on Thursday:

Hero Reports: You must choose (and have approved by either myself or Teacher Isabelle) the name of a person you would like to report on by February 11th. The person must be someone who has promoted and/or fought for the principles of freedom and liberty, and can be from any time period and any place in the world (but it can't be George Washington or John Adams, since we've already discussed them). Papers must be 2-4 pages in length, and will be due April 14th. You will also have to give an in-class presentation about the same person; we will sign up for presentations in the near future, and will begin presenting on April 14th as well.

**Teacher Genne suggested that you check relativefinder.org to find out if you are related to any of the founders, then report on that person (bonus: family history work!).

Your opinion paper question this week is:

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

I strongly encourage all of you to look through your award requirements for this semester, and plan to get them done in a timely manner, so as not to leave them all for the last week of class. Remember also, that you can still pass off the Heritage Award requirement from first semester, but all other awards have expired.

Please remember to respond to Teacher Amber ASAP about which of your family members will be participating in the Constitution Bowl, so that person can receive study guide information.

Congratulations to all of you for completing ALL of the writing assignments...not many Key classes do that, but then, you are a pretty exceptional group! Keep up the good work, and contact me, Teacher Isabelle, or Teacher Amber if you have any questions/concerns.

-Mrs. Hellyer

Week 14

Great job to all of you for all your hard work during first semester...we're half-way done! Also, you all did really well on your recitation of the Declaration of Independence at parent night. I hope your parents are proud of you, because your mentors certainly are!

This Thursday is the first day of second semester, and thus begins some new projects and new material to study. We will be discussing the book Freedom Factor by Gerald Lund, so make sure you have it read BEFORE class. Each of you also please come prepared for the book discussion by bringing a discussion question with you. If you need help coming up with a question, please read the "Steps in Leading a Colloquium" page in your binder. The rest of the semester's book discussions will be led by the scholars, so keep that in mind while reading the books.

Here is the reading list and due dates for the rest of second semester:

• January 28th - Freedom Factor by Gerald Lund
• February 25th - Fifty-Five Fathers by Selma R. Williams
• March 24th - The Great Little Madison by Jean Fritz
• May 5th - The Proper Role of Government by Ezra Taft Benson (available free online)

A few changes this semester will be that Mrs. Brennan (Teacher Isabelle) will be joining us as the second co-mentor for Key, and Teacher Amber will be our Constitution Bowl coach. We'll hold Constitution Bowl (CB) practice the last 20 minutes of every class period, and because our bowl will be held early this year (March 31st), we will hold off on presentations until after the bowl. The good news is that you'll only have to give 1 presentation each this semester! Woohoo!

So, enjoy the rest of your week, and rest up...next week we dive right into the Constitution study, and we have a lot of hard work ahead of us!

-Mrs. Hellyer

Battle Week

Thank you all who attended the Battle against Sword of Freedom this week. Even in the rain you all showed up and fought hard. You all seemed to enjoy yourselves. I will have the photo of the epic standoff soon. (Thank you parents for bringing kids out. Because we are all spread out this means some people drive a long distance to make these events happen.)

This week in class we had TWO students pass off their Declaration Memorization Requirement! 

Congrats Emma and Isaac! 

We still have some kids that need to get their requirements signed off through us. We know you all can do it, put in the hard work for the next few days. We did find a few things that did not match up from the student manual and the mentor manual, one being the Heritage Award. With the error found, we are extending the date for check off of the Heritage Award Requirement. The date will be announced this week during class. Do not let this catch up to you however, second semester has its own list of sign offs.

We are preparing for Parent's Night and everyone got their parts. All paragraphs need to be memorized for our class presentation. The exception to this rule are the King's injuries. These (only the King's Injuries) presenters are allowed to have an index card to help them. I do however challenge those presenters to try to memorize their parts. 

Here is each part and the presenter...

Statement of Course: Hannah

Statement of Truths: Tillie

Statement of Secure: Micah

Statement of Destructive- Ethan

Statement of Prudence: Isaac

Statement of Train: Isaac

Statement of Patient: Hannah

Statement of History: Gabe

Injuries 1- Emma 

Injuries 2- Tillie

Injuries 3- Ethan

Injuries 4- Zane

Injuries 5- Zane

Statement of Petitioned: Zachary

Statement of Tyrant: Emma

Statement of Wanting: Gabe

Statement of Appealed: Eliana

Statement of Acquiesce- Eliana

Statement of "We the Rep": Micah

Statement of Support: Zachary

Also for Parent night, I was thinking it would nice, if we can all try to dress like those who signed the Declaration. I know we don't all have the outfits readily available however at the very least a pair of black pants and a white button up. If you have more, PLEASE feel free to plan to dress this way (do not feel like you must go out and buy anything). I believe this will make our class presentation that much better.

Please also do not forget any of your class presentation visual aids, opinion papers and anything else you would like to have out for our parents and other family members to see. You all have accomplished so much this semester, use this night to show off your hard work. 

We do not have an opinion paper this week however I did give out some homework... YEP I SAID HOMEWORK. Please watch the State of the Union address. My hope is that you find the time each year to put in the time to hear what our President has to say. Remember it doesn't matter who is in office, we need to respect the position. 

Here is a direct link https://www.whitehouse.gov/sotu 

We do have a speaker coming this week. I think you all will enjoy this. Following this presentation, we will do a run through of our Parent Night and allow for a few more sign offs. 

Thank you all for the Semester, please if you remember anything, just remember you do have a voice and YOU all can do something. You are our future leaders and we see so many bright and positive things in you. 

If you guys have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me. 

Thank you,

Teacher Amber 

Week 12

We had a great first week back from Christmas break! I hope you all enjoyed learning about the Battle of Yorktown and the Treaty of Paris, and setting up the siege on the big map...it sounded like you all had fun!

Next week is our last week of regular class, and thus the last week to pass off award requirements. Teacher Amber and I KNOW you can all get that Heritage Award if you work really diligently this week (we completed ours for training in only 2 days)! Also, practice like crazy memorizing the Declaration (give it 30 minutes a day--in smaller increments--and you'll have it made).

Your Opinion Paper this week is: What would you be willing to do to pay the price of freedom?

If you have any missing papers, this is the week to get them finished and turned in, in order to earn your ribbon.

Presentations this week are:

Tillie: Fashion of the Colonial Days

Zachary: The Role of Spies in the Revolution

 

Dates to Remember:

• January 14th - Last day to earn Award ribbons
• January 15th - Key vs. Sword Battle at the Hellyers' - 10:00am to 1:00pm
• Bring a sack lunch, an airsoft gun if you have one, and eye protection
• Wear a rainproof jacket and boots
• January 21st - Parent night at Bethlehem Lutheran Church at 6:00pm. This is a potluck dinner and each student is encouraged to bring a dish from the time period being studied (labeled, please). We will be showcasing what we've learned this semester, so bring any visual aids you have made for your presentations, and maybe your best opinion paper to set out for display; and be prepared to recite the Declaration of Independence!

If you have any questions, you can post them to the blog, or email them. Keep up the good work, and we'll see you all Thursday!

 

 

Christmas Break

Hey did you know:
On this day in 1783: George Washington resigned as Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Arm and retired to his home at Mount Vernon, Virginia, with no inkling that he would be drafted to President 6 years later....

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE EVE! It is amazing that Christmas is here and in some parts of Washington we are even seeing snow. I hope that you and your families will have a very blessed and merry joyful Christmas. I know I personally am blessed in having you all present in my life and I enjoy watching you all blossom every week. I also am already enjoying this break to enjoy my littles.

This past week we missed Mrs. Hellyer but enjoyed having Mrs. Hayes stay with us and see how great each of you are. Even though we had shorten class due to the Christmas Party (how fun was that!) we were able to push through a lot of information. We started off with some debates and an open discussion regarding a hot topic in our American Society currently: Vetting Syrian Refugees.  I was impressed on all the input and ideas each student gave. Remember, I asked that while you are break you keep up with the current events so we can have a large discussion upon our return!

We followed the morning discussion with great presentations from Emma and Isaac. Emma did a wonderful job creating a unique presentation by having some of her classmates read letters from the Famous Women of the War. Isaac also gave his energized, spunky, game show presentation of The Tories, Loyalist, Hessians, and Red Coats role in the War. Each week we are seeing more and more of each of your personalities coming through to teach the whole class, mentors included, key information about each topic. Thank you for each of your hard work towards your presentations.

We have Two more presentations for this semester:

Tillie: Fashion of the Colonial Days

Zach: The Role of Spies in the Revolution

Thank you for the writing assignments turned in. I enjoy this opinion paper because it allows for a lot of creativity. It has been fun reading these.

The writing assignment while you are on break is over the following:

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

Also use the break to get caught up on all the writing assignments if you are missing any. The Key Ribbon for the writing portion is for all the opinion paper assignments.

Do not forget that we will be discussing the final book of first semester when we return. Be sure to read it and I would like each of you to pull out 2 things from it for our discussion.

1- What was something you gained in knowledge about 

George Washington that you didn't already know?

2- What words inspired you to be more like George Washington?  

(Quote or passage from the book.)

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

KEY of LIBERTY vs SWORD of FREEDOM Battle 

January 15, 2016 

More details coming!!! 

Parents Night 

January 21, 2016

Next Class meets January 7! (Yep 2 more Thursdays off!) Lets start the year off right! I want to check off each of you on MULTIPLE key requirements! You have plenty of time. Set yourself a realist goal and work towards it!  Remember Mrs. Hellyer and I will be doing final check offs for Key Requirements January 14! This means you have less than a month. Make sure you challenge yourself, but also allow yourself to make obtainable goals. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE!!!

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
Teacher Amber

Week 11

Great job to Hannah on earning her Declaration of Independence ribbon! What a good example to the rest of us to show that memorizing that document is NOT so impossible after all!

Thanks to Eliana for all the good information about the militias and minutemen, and also for the battle game. Who knew straws and cotton swabs cold be so much fun? This week's presentations will be given by Emma on famous women of the war, and we'll have a make-up presentation by Isaac on the roles of tories, loyalists, Hessians, and red coats in the war.

Your opinion paper this week is a fun one: Write a letter home as if you were someone who lived in the colonial period. This one is wide open--you could be a soldier, a delegate to the Congress, a loyalist colonist, a British general, a slave, or one of many other options. Have fun with this one, and don't forget the details!

Keep working hard on your award requirements, and we'll let you know soon the date for our upcoming battle with the Sword of Freedom class. See you all Thursday!

P.S. Here's a link to the video we started watching last week:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETroXvRFoKY

-Mrs, Hellyer

Week 9

Thanks so much to all the mentors who have helped out in our class while teacher Amber is out! We appreciate the assistance from both teachers Shannon, teacher Mary and teacher Lisa. You all had great input and are welcome to join us anytime!

Last week we watched an informative video on the crossing of the Delaware, and the Battle of Trenton. I hope you all appreciated the detailed maps and visual representations of troop movements in the video as much as I did. I think it helped me have a better understanding of that part of the war.

Please make sure you finish reading the American Crisis by Thomas Paine...maybe even read it with a parent or older sibling who can help you understand some of the more difficult language in it. Those papers were an influential part of turning the war around in favor of the Americans, so it's really helpful in understanding the colonists to know how "media" got them fired up. Think of the American Crisis papers in the same light as a "viral" video or a hashtag campaign today.

Your opinion paper topic this week comes from a quote in the American Crisis paper #1: "For though the flame of liberty may cease to shine, the coal can never expire." Is this a true statement? What does this statement mean to you? Please try to answer the questions given, and if you want to add more to it, even better!

Thanks to Emma and Hannah for their very interesting and informative presentations on Betsy Ross and the education of the founders. This week's presentations will be given by Ethan on the role of the Navy in the Revolutionary War, and by Micah on weaponry and battle tactics of the War. We're looking forward to these presentations!

Keep working on that Declaration of Independence (I'm working on it, too) and let's all try to reach our class goal of memorizing through the statement of "History" by this Thursday.

Happy studying!

-Mrs. Hellyer