Week 22

Well, we're slowly getting back into the rhythm of the school day. Our two weeks off were greatly enjoyed and flew by. We began our week with a Logic Day--a quick way to warm up after time off. We began with a couple of hours of Life Skills Math and Independent Math combined. Students had to pay all of their February bills, and we have one student designing the floor plan of his newly up-graded home. Between you and me, I have my doubts he'll be able to afford the mortgage on his salary. He'll either need to interview for a new job or get rid of the second story game room/indoor swimming pool/boxing arena.

In addition to math, we introduced new Latin vocabulary, translations, and derivatives. Our translation this week centered on the Roman occupation of Britain and building of Hadrian's Wall. We finished our Logic Day with Ethics. We're starting a new unit of historical ethics, beginning with the Ethic of Reciprocity [a.k.a. The Golden Rule]. In an effort to underscore the gulf separating the Golden Rule theory from the Golden Rule in practice, we ran through the notorious thought experiment "The Prisoner's Dilemma". It took us seven tries to agree, as a group, on the most ethical solution despite KNOWING the ethical answer ahead of time. It proved to be a great example of how "group think" overshadows individual reasoning.

Other topics we covered this week:
--Examination of the rise, rule, and fall of the Minoan civilization. The kids finished stitching the island of Crete on their ancient civilizations "tapestry" they're each making. We also created examples of Minoan pottery using authentic pottery profiles and designs. We talked about the extensiveness of the Minoan trade route, and how trade with the Egyptians gave rise to the Minoan Linear A script [they copied Egyptian hieroglyphics in many ways], the grandfather to modern Greek characters.
--We studied the floor plan of the palace of Knossos on the island of Crete, the palace of the very wealthy and powerful legendary King Minos. Students made interesting observations regarding how much the floor plan resembled a labyrinth. In fact, they surmised, perhaps the legend of the Minotaur and King Minos' building of a labyrinth was based on how confusing the palace and surrounding marketplace felt to commoners. Above all, we learned that myths and fables do not arise from a vacuum; that all stories have a basis in reality, and it is our job to untangle these legends from history.
--There was some grumbling about getting back to Grammar this week, but I thought they did well recalling prepositional phrases as adjectivals, adverbials, direct or indirect objects. We also warmed up by diagramming sentences with compound parts.
--We continued our reading of the Odyssey, discussing how many classics have been written about the heroes of the Trojan War: Virgil's Aeneid, Ovid's Metamorphoses, Joyce's Ulysses.
--We continued our unit on fresh and saltwater bony fish. We spent one whole morning dissecting a couple of 2 pound Striped Bass. Not all of the students enjoyed the experience, but I think we would all agree that it was informative. Students followed along with a dissection Power Point that explained the proper dissection procedure and helped us all locate the organs. The lesson concluded with anatomical drawings, both exterior and interior views, sketched into lab books.
--Students also received new spelling words for the week; we have a culinary theme this week. Students are so happy to have new spelling words after so many weeks without studying!

That was it for this week.