Week 13: When we add a dependent clause, our sentence becomes complex.

I must say, only my friends and students at our beloved classical group made today worth venturing outside into this frigid air! Brrrr! It's this time of year when I'm especially glad the Lord planted me no further north than North Carolina.

We introduced a number of new ideas during both EEL and IEW this afternoon. Here's the rundown:

• S-Vt-IO-DO (Subject-Verb transitive-Indirect Object-Direct Object): This fifth of our seven sentence patterns adds an indirect object into the mix. The worksheet I completed in class with the kids, combined with Lesson 13 in the EEL guide OR memory work and charts OR Trivium Tables, tells you everything you need to know about identifying IOs and provides loads of sentences to label and diagram.



• Complex sentences: Take a simple sentence, add a dependent clause beginning with either a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun, and -- voila! -- you have a complex sentence. Again, we explored this new sentence structure with a worksheet in class that should've gone home with your student. Reviewing it along with the guide, etc., should provide ample practice. I ran out of time to demonstrate how to diagram -- I'll cover it next week. :)



• Fused Outlines from Key Word Notes: In IEW, we began a three-week research report on the Declaration of Independence. This assignment picks up where we left off in the fall by showing the students how to select and outline multiple topics from multiple source texts. Our end result will be a three-paragraph report. This week's assignment is to take notes, complete fused outlines, and write rough draft paragraphs for the first two topics: conflict between America and Britain (Topic A) and Congress' decision to declare freedom (Topic B). The lesson lays out the process perfectly, but I'd suggest the following schedule: On Wednesday, look over the lesson together and read aloud the three source texts. Identify in each source text which topic each paragraph addresses. Then complete the key word notes and fused outline for Topic A. On Thursday, write the Topic A rough draft paragraph. On Friday, complete the key word notes and fused outline for Topic B. Finally, on Monday, write the Topic B rough draft paragraph.

Now, before you panic over all this new information, remember that we have three weeks to focus on indirect objects, seven weeks to master the complex sentence structure with its subordinating conjunctions and relative pronouns, and three weeks for the research report. In fact, for all 12 weeks of IEW, I believe we only have five papers due. So it's spread out. Also take into consideration once again the fact that most of our EEL students will glean from the exact same 24 weeks again next year.

Have a lovely week. Please let me know if you have questions.

Erin