Week 9: My students are such diligent workers.

Good evening. We finally moved forward with a new sentence pattern today. The students are definitely holding their own. What little sponges they are with new information. You've got to love it!

Tackle that new pattern at home: S-Vl-PN, which means "Subject-Verb Linking-Predicate Nominative." If they don't yet know them, begin memorizing the list of linking verbs. The primary way to master this sentence pattern is through the "aha!" recognition of that linking verb and the following noun that can rename or replace the subject noun. Here are some examples:

The sun is a planet.
Whales are mammals.
I am a teacher.
You are a parent.
They are children.
Jesus is God.

Once you familiarize yourselves with the pattern, dress them up with the adverbs, interjections and different kinds of nouns or prepositional phrases we've learned, then try to modify the sentence purposes. Diagram some, too, using your task sheets. Don't stress. Just go at the pace comfortable for your family, and try to enjoy being together while learning together. I know some days it's a challenge.... :) But God is a miracle worker! The Richardson household can testify!

For IEW, we are just writing one paragraph on the French and Indian War. We narrowed the five paragraph topics to three general topics (see the front lesson page) during class. This should help them choose 1-2 facts and the associated key words from each paragraph to include on their outlines. Caution: Your student may find it extremely difficult to narrow five paragraphs into a single summary graph. Point them back to the beginning of the lesson, which tells them to choose interesting or important information and ignore the rest! However, also explain that since they are summarizing, the scope of their paragraph should be broad. It should include background information (paragraphs 1 and 2), what happened during the war (graphs 3 and 4), and what the results were (paragraph 5). Abbreviations will really help on their key word outlines. For example, use "Fr." for France or the French, "Eng." for England or the English, and "N.A." for North America. Remember, too, that numbers are free, so they can include dates and it doesn't count toward their 3-4 key words per line.

Please let me know if you have questions. Happy writing!

Mrs. Erin