Snapshot Summary: April 2018

We had a lovely Easter.

We made three kinds of homemade candy eggs. These are the chocolate covered homemade marshmallow eggs.

Katie, Hope and I went to a local Empty Bowls event.

I am still painting a lot and Peter is my buddy while I paint.

Despite the chill, we have been down to the beach a few times.

James

James has been to a few tournaments at his MTG gaming club. As far as school goes, this is what he has studied this month:

American History II: Key topics: Railroads; Civil War fashions; The Compromise of 1812; Abraham Lincoln and the rise of the Republican Party to oppose slavery; Secession; Ft. Sumter; Generals of the Civil War; Gettysburg Address; Crosby, Dickerson, and Moody; Frances Willard’s crusade against alcohol; Baseball, football, and horse racing; A ship full of women; Wagon trains; The lure of gold and land; Western territories become states; Carnegie’s railroad and “iron horses”; The Washington Monument; Alexander G. Bell’s telephone; George Washington Carver

World Geography: Key topics: Africa Madagascar, Sinai Peninsula, Strait of Gibraltar, landlocked countries, Sahara Desert, Atlas Mountains, tectonic plate, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Ras Dashen, Ethiopian Highlands, Nile River, Lake Victoria, Rift Valley, Niger River, Zanzibar island, Persians, apartheid, Swahili, Afro-asiatic languages.

Integrated Physics and Chemistry II: Key topics: x-rays, radioactivity, electrons, protons, neutrons, isotopes, subatomic particles, half-life, radiation sickness, artificial radioactivity, fission, nuclear reactor, Albert Einstein, nuclear weapons, particle accelerators, detectors, conservation laws, nuclear energy, Rutherford, Becquerel, Marie Currie, Chadwick, Klaproth, Newton, Bohr

English 10: Composition Skills: Key topics: the basics of writing, repairing sentences, constructing a composition—prewriting, planning, drafting, editing, and proofreading; cause and effect, comparison and contrast within composition, and comparison and contrast between compositions.

Basic Math Skills: Key topics: fractional metrics, English to Metric System, conversions, prime, mean, mode, median, range, scientific notation: multiplying and dividing, estimates, interest, temperature conversions

Quentin

Quentin has been very busy with voice lessons and rehearsals for two productions he will be in. This has taken over most weekends and every evening from 5:30-10:00 or so. 

In terms of school work, he has mostly working on a large writing project, a book on a role-playing game he is creating. This project has required a lot of research as he is making it historically accurate. He has also worked on biology, physical science and Bible.

The College Kids: Katie and Sam

Both Katie and Sam are doing well this semester. Sam just finished an interesting paper for his Psychology class on the Unibomber, and Katie interviewed a local small businessman, Doug Sassi, a master potter.