Final 8th Grade Report

It seems I forgot to post this in June, so apologies for the delay!

Report 4—14 April 2017-end of school year:

  

US and NY History:

The week of 10 April, we went back to our history textbook, and she learned about Kennedy’s inauguration, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the founding of the Peace Corps. The book then proceeded to cover the administrations of President Johnson through President Obama, including the Civil Rights and Feminist movements, the conclusion of the Vietnam War, Watergate, The first and second Gulf Wars, The World Trade Center attack, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert Kennedy, and the attempt on President Reagan. The book brings her pretty close to the present, and, as she is aware of the goings on in the present, she now has a comprehensive grounding in American History.

She has finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, and we watched the film version. Both were discussed in the context of the historical time period.

On 23 May, we took a trip to the Statue of Liberty, where we climbed to the crown and walked around the base.

Videos/Movies/TV Watched:

·      Downton Abbey: which gives her more insight into gender roles and day-to-day life in the early 20^th century. We are currently watching Season 5, which is set in the 1920s.

·      The Untold History of the United States: we are continuing this documentary series by Oliver Stone. We watched the episode “JFK: To the Brink”

·      The Sixties: a ten-episode documentary series by CNN. The episodes cover popular culture, politics, social movements, and military actions. Some of the particular topics were the Space Race, the JFK, MLK, and RFK assassinations, the Vietnam War and Protests, the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Civil Rights and Feminist movements, and Youth Culture.

·      The Seventies: a second documentary series by CNN. The episodes are

o   “Television Gets Real,” which explored the social relevance of TV in the 1970s

o   Watergate

o   Crimes and Cults: Charles Manson, Jim Jones, Zodiac Killer, etc

·      February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four is a one-hour documentary about the four college students who initiated the lunch counter sit-in at the Woolworth in Greensboro, NC on 1 February 1960, and how that movement spread throughout the South.

·      4 Little Girls is a 1997 documentary about the bombing of the 16^th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and the girls who were killed in the blast.

·      Selma: the 2014 feature film about the Civil Rights march from Selma to Montgomery

·      To Kill a Mockingbird: the 1962 feature film

·      All the President’s Men: the 1976 feature film about the Watergate break-in.

·      Great American Railroad Journeys: This PBS documentary series originally aired on the BBC. It features Michael Portillo, who uses an 1879 guidebook and train travel to explore the United States. The first seven episodes have him touring New York and looking at areas of historical importance. We watched all seven episodes, which focused on

o   “Manhattan: Grad Central to Broadway”: Gilded Age landmarks and Grand Central Station

o   “Manhattan: Lower East Side to World Trade Center”: the High Line, Ellis Island, the new World Trade Center and Transportation Hub

o   “Brooklyn to Montauk”: Oheka Castle, Montauk Point Light, the Hamptons, and the East Side Access Project

o   “New York City to Garrison”: the Hudson River, West Point, Sleepy Hollow, Benedict Arnold.

o   “Poughkeepsie to Albany”: Vassar College, the Catskills, the Hudson River School, Albany

o   “Schenectady to Rochester”: Canals and lock systems, L. Frank Baum, Kodak, history of the Mormons.

o   “Buffalo to Niagara Falls”: Buffalo wings, pump stations, and the Falls.

We continue to watch CNN Student News, now CNN 10, every weekday for information about global events. CNN 10 also offers a weekly quiz on the events covered, and she takes those every week as well. The final episode for this school year aired on 2 June, so we are exploring options for further current events study.

Literature and Writing:

Books/Stories Read:

·      The Wishing Spell, by Chris Colfer (book club/now finished)

·      I’d Tell You I Love You, but Then I’d Have to Kill You, by Ally Carter (now finished)

·      The Familiars: Palace of Dreams, by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson (now finished)

·      To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee (now finished)

·      Everything, Everything, by Nicola Yoon (book club)

·      The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Ann Brashares

·      Whittington, by Alan Armstrong

·      The Poe Estate, by Polly Shulman

·      “The Final Problem,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

·      “The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

·      “The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

·      “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

·      “The Adventure of the Red Circle,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

·      “The Adventure of the Dancing Men,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

·      “The Story of an Hour,” by Kate Chopin

·      The DaVinci Code, by Dan Brown (now finished)

·      Ink and Bone, by Rachel Caine (currently reading)

·      The Complete Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi

·      The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett, by Chelsea Sedoti

·      Wings: A Fairy Tale, by E.D. Baker

·      A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare (currently reading)

·      The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett (currently reading)

·      The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien (currently reading)

Book club books are discussed with the rest of the group on Fridays. We meet for an hour—I moderate the group—and have a round table discussion, exploring various aspects of the text.

Phoebe took a class on Outschool about Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, and she is currently wrapping that up by writing an essay.

On 23 March, she started a class on Sherlock Holmes through Athena’s Academy—they read and discuss at least one story a week. She is also writing her own Sherlock Holmes story. She chose and lead the discussion of the first story, where she had to come up with discussion questions and moderate the conversation between the students in the online classroom.

She writes reviews of many of the books she reads, which we post on a blog.

Algebra:

Phoebe is prepping to take the Regents Exam for Algebra in August, so we are spending time every day on Algebra, using her textbook and review guides for the exam. Each book has a slightly different order, so she is working on a variety of topics each week, some new and some review. When there is a weakness, I supplement with worksheets that I find online to provide more practice.

In addition to the above resources, Phoebe also took an online class through https://giftedandtalented.com/. We only had access to the class for a few months, but she almost made it through the whole thing. Her final grade for that specific course was a B-.

Science:

Phoebe received an A for her Disappearing Spoon class.

In April, Phoebe joined the New York branch of CoCoRaHS (Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network—www. cocorahs.org). Every day, she logs the amount of rain we received, and she reports it online, where it becomes part of the national database.

We bought a MiP robot that is controlled via apps. She has been practicing creating paths for it and getting it to do different things. She isn’t writing the code, per se, but it is serving as a good introduction to robotics.

We started watching Bill Nye’s new series on Netflix—Bill Nye Saves the World. Episodes are half an hour long, and so far we have watched the first two: Climate Change and Alternative Medicine. 

On 25 May, Phoebe took an one-hour Outschool class on Forensic Anthropology: Bones. This is a potential career path for her, and she got a lot out of the class.

Lastly, on 28 May, she went to a local bird sanctuary, where she learned a bit about the residents and what it takes to preserve various bird species.

World Religions:

Phoebe has finished her study of Islam, and has wrapped up her Molloy text by looking at alternative religions and how religion functions in the modern world. 

We are now looking at how religion, and specifically Christianity, features in popular culture through reading The DaVinci Code and looking at religious symbolism in movies and TV.

French:

We have gotten back into French, and Phoebe is using a variety of resources to study the language—her textbook, language websites and apps, and podcasts.

Physical Education:

Phoebe finished her dance class with a recital on 17 June. We continue to walk after lunch when the weather permits, and she has started working in the yard. And she still babysits.

Music:

She has either a clarinet or a piano lesson every week, and she practices her instruments everyday for about 15 minutes each. 

Health:

Phoebe continues to be involved in weekly meal planning and working with me to make sure she has a balanced daily diet with ample fruits and vegetables. She understands the importance of exercise and sleep to good health as well. She has also started keeping track of her iron, calcium, and protein intake every day.

Since this is something we do everyday, it is difficult to give a total number of hours. It is just integrated into our life.

Art:

Phoebe continues to knit and make the models for the Home Depot Kids’ Workshop, which requires assembling and painting the project. She does other assorted crafts and artsy things as well.

Library Skills:

Library work and research is incorporated into almost every subject that Phoebe studies. For example, her History discussion questions, she is required to find other sources to supplement her answers, and those sources need to be scholarly and cited. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Since both her parents are academics, research is just what we do, so she looks up words and concepts that she doesn’t understand. She even researches things for fun because it is something she enjoys. Again, it is difficult to attach a total number of hours to this, since she does some kind of library work every day.

Practical Arts:

Phoebe continues doing household chores. Currently, she irons her clothes, puts her clothes away, dusts, takes care of the recycling, scoops the litter box, collects the garbage, and keeps her room tidy. She continues to help with the weekly errands. The knitting and woodworking she does for Art also has practical applications. When we are cooking or working on a DIY project, she assists. 

Now that she is babysitting, she is learning more about economics, and she is also putting into practice the childcare skills she learned at her babysitting class. Being around a toddler also helps her with patience.