Index for Study Helps Page

Introduction to Study Helps Page

Categories

• Starting High School
• Notes
  
• Reviews
  
• Morning Time
• Listening to Lectures
• Foundations of Christian Histiography
• Introduction to Formal Logic
• Evolution: A Catholic Perspective
• Reading List
• PE Log
• Careers and Vocation
• Projects and Labs
• Music
  

Narration: Telling What You Read About

Read this article. It talks about narration, which we've done in the past but haven't really worked on this year, and also gives some ideas for a variety of narrations.

For example -- the map you colored was a sort of narration of geography.

I'm not going to start asking for retellings until your football season is over, but in the meantime, as you read your books you might try practicing what you would say if you had to say something. 

Note: Some of the reasons for narrating --

• 
  
• To get in the habit of talking about what you have read.
• To help you remember better.
• To learn from well-written books

Keyboard Lesson 2

Ear Training -- Flash Training Memory Game

Also, everyone should know how to play Chopstix. You can push on the "Note Names" buttons to help you find the right keys to hit.

How to Play the Piano #1

This is a video course I found on how to play the keyboard. Maybe it will be helpful for you. Try listening to this first lesson.

How to Draw A Dragon

Watch this video and then try it yourself.

Study Skills and High School

Review this study method.

Then go to next section.
(if it doesn't make sense, review this lesson).

Notes

This week I want to start:

Reading in the Morning -- the same as we did last year, except we will ha: (ve to find something different from Lord of the Rings : (

Checkpoint at End of Day:

This means going over your work together after you've checked off everything. This will give you a chance to discuss what you've read or heard (fun, I know!) and it will give me a chance to see if I need to backtrack over anything or change the approach.

We can do this after Geometry if you want.

Chores:

???? Maybe we'd better make a new list now that Paddy and Aidan are old enough to do work.

Outdoor Time

Well, I'd like to do that in theory, but in practice, you are already outside for several hours a day. However, I do want to start getting P and A outside so I thought I would list it here.

Vocabulary for Formal Logic -- 2nd lecture

Also, you should review Vocabulary #1 in preparation for a quiz.

Study Questions

What does St Augustine say about the reading of Scripture?

How does Mr Stenson define evolution in the sense that materialist philosophers sometimes define it? What word does he use to describe this world view?

Review #1

One of my main goals for your first year of high school is to teach you how to study and learn on your own. You already have a good set of study skills. You know how to read, how to look up something you are interested in, how to compare different sets of information, how to write correctly and clearly enough so that you make sense.

In high school there are a lot of vocabulary and ideas to remember. So going back over the lessons regularly to re-read and review becomes important. This is one reason I've put so many quizzes in with the lessons.

We are also going to have a review day every 10 days (so about 12 reviews during the year). We're already on the first one -- most of the days so far have been introductions, so there won't be that much to actually review.

Click on the link under each subject to go to the links of the lessons. Try the quizzes again. Try mentally summarizing the topic of each lesson and remembering it.

In future reviews I will probably have a set of questions to discuss with you verbally. For this review it's probably not very necessary, but do try to be able to answer general questions about what a given lesson was about.

Also -- this is a good time to bring up any feedback -- positives, negatives, questions, whatever.

END OF LESSON

Review #1

One of the ways to better remember what you've learned is to review.

Look at this slideshow (below) -- it outlines a method for studying which can be quite useful. Don't worry if you don't understand it completely -- this is just an introduction.

SQ3R

Finally, try this Scatter, then go on to next section

Career and Vocational #1

This category is for volunteer, apprentice, occupational exploration, and various things of that type.

Starting High School: Time in a Day

A Carnegie Unit is counted as 120 hours. At 7 subjects, 4 times a week, for 50 minutes it works out to slightly more than 4 hours a day Monday - Friday. That's a rough estimate of how long you should set aside for your schoolwork (not counting PE and free reading). Liam always took longer than that and the other kids usually didn't take quite that long.

The main reason for estimating hours is to provide a guideline so you pace yourself and don't try to rush through everything in less than 2 hours. If you do a little bit in the early morning like you did last year, then work a couple of hours in the mid-morning and finish reading and so on in the early afternoon you will still have plenty of time to do other things.

If you find that you get through your work very fast, you may want to spend some time going back and reviewing earlier lessons.

Logic Vocabulary

Try this Scatter to review vocabulary terms from the first lesson.
Also, start on homework with Mom.






(for reference)
Traditional Logic Terms
(Quizlet)

Definition of Science

1. PHILOSOPHY. The word "philosophy" means the love or study of wisdom. By "wisdom" the ancients meant the knowledge of all things human and divine which make for right living, as well as the causes by which these things are related or hang together. Hence the aim of philosophy is to answer, in as far as reason is capable of doing so, the last why of all things that are. Philosophy is therefore usually denned:

The science of all things from the point of view of their highest or last causes, in so far as this knowledge can be attained by the light of natural reason.

2. EXPLANATION OF THE DEFINITION—

"Science" is a knowledge of a thing through its cause. A cause in its widest sense is that by which a thing is, becomes, or is known. Philosophy, then, is a science because, like all other sciences, it furnishes us with a systematized body of truths which, resting ultimately on self-evident principles, are united to one another like the links of a chain by an orderly process of demonstration.

"of all things"—Each of the other natural sciences treats of some special department of things, as chemistry, astronomy, medicine, etc., while philosophy takes in a larger field of vision. It embraces the sum total of all things in one complete view.

"highest or last causes"—This characteristic of philosophical knowledge which aims at answering the last "why" of all reality differentiates philosophy from all other natural sciences. Other natural sciences furnish the more immediate or proximate, but not the ultimate causes of the objects of their study. Hence philosophy helps to satisfy the yearning of the human mind to explore, as far as it is given to reason to do so, the utmost limits of knowledge.

"by the light of natural reason"—In this way is philosophy marked off from sacred or dogmatic theology. The latter takes its facts and truths from divine revelation. Philosophy depends upon the natural human faculties to acquire its data and to deduce conclusions from them.

Essentials of Formal Logic

with nihil obstat

PE Log -- first quarter

Put a comment under this post whenever you do some exercise....showing date, amount of time, and type of exercise. Like this:

11/1 -- 45 min -- running

You will not have to do this during football season because the dates, time and type of exercise are pretty obvious. So this won't start until about November unless you do MORE exercise than football and want to mark it to use later.

You are supposed to have 140 minutes a week -- 20 minutes every day or 45 minutes 3 times a week.

Starting High School: Credit Hours

Our state requires 180 days of attendance. Most of the subjects won't have 180 days' worth of lessons. I'm going to follow the charter school's example and have some optional/review days built in.

Planned Number of Lessons in Each Subject
(this is an estimate right now -- it may change)


* Catholic Studies -- 150
* Geometry -- 150
* English Studies -- 300 (90 for Literature, 90 for Composition, 40 for Vocabulary, 70 for Grammar)
* Ancient History -- 150
* Science -- 120, with 30 extra hours for videos or lab/field projects
* Latin Studies -- 150
* Study Helps ~ 100 (with elective credit)
* PE -- 100 minutes a week (we'll keep a log)
* Reading -- We will keep a log -- reading done in "subject" areas goes into credit for that subject.

More on High School in California

# How many units are required to earn a California high school diploma?
Local school districts establish the total number of units required to earn a California high school diploma. Most California public high schools require the equivalent of between 22 and 26 yearlong courses. Two semester courses equal one yearlong course. A yearlong course constitutes one Carnegie unit. Semester courses constitute one-half of a Carnegie unit. But most school districts award ten local units for each Carnegie unit and five local units for a semester course. These districts require between 220 and 260 local units for high school graduation. However, local school districts vary in how local credit units are awarded for one year of study. To determine how many credits entering students have earned toward local graduation requirements, multiply the local credit units awarded for one year of study times the number of qualifying yearlong courses they have completed.
# What constitutes a year of study in terms of instructional minutes for a specific subject area?
A year of study is two semesters of study in the same or related subject area. In general, the course is about 50 minutes per day, five days a week, for two semesters. However, local school districts determine the actual organization of instructional time depending on their master schedule. Variances apply depending on holidays, professional development days, and block scheduling.

A Carnegie unit gives a framework for how I plan the number of lessons in a year.

the Carnegie Unit is 120 hours of class or contact time with an instructor over the course of a year at the secondary (American high school) level. Strictly speaking, this breaks down into a single one-hour meeting, on each of five days per week for a total of 24 weeks per year. However, knowing that classes usually meet for 50 minutes yields a value of 30 weeks per year. A semester (one-half of a full year) earns 1/2 a Carnegie Unit

So whenever you finish a year's worth of lessons, that is a unit. Your siblings' transcripts usually had about 25-27 credits or units, which added up to basically 7 year-long classes each year. You will notice that you have 9 classes listed but that 2 of them are not really "classes". PE will have credit but is not an academic course and reading of course is something that you would do anyway. But listing it helps us to remember to use it for credit.

End of lesson

Case Study: Catholic Perspective on Evolution -- last page

Current theoretical developments*: Over the past ten years, several major developments in research have left the theoretical picture highly unsettled. These are too complex to explain in detail here, but they are worth noting in brief.

From the mid-1920's until the early 1970's, scientists generally believed that man evolved gradually from a small ape-like creature called *Australopithecus*. As we mentioned earlier, this animal lived more than a million years ago and its fossils showed some human-like characteristics. It may have walked upright, at least some of the time, and its teeth approximated those of man. Moreover, researchers often found stone tools scattered among its fossils.

The theory during these decades held that some form of *Australopithecus*, enjoying relatively free use of its hands, developed tool-making, and this skill gave rise to an ever-larger brain through the forces of natural selection. Countless drawings in magazines and textbooks showed the furry *Australopithecus* standing next to *Homo erectus*, his distant evolutionary offspring.

But in the early 1970's researchers were astonished to discover forms of *Homo erectus* from almost two million years ago, complete with tools. In other words, man had lived alongside and even before some forms of *Australopithecus*. Most likely, it was he who had fashioned the tools found among the ape-man fossils. This discovery threw into question, to say the least, the evolutionary relation between the two forms of life. As of this writing, the problem is still being debated.

Around this time, several prominent paleontologists went on record to question the prevailing theory of gradualism, the well-known Darwinian position of evolution through natural selection. (High school and college textbooks taught this as virtual dogma up until recently.) These researchers claimed that, contrary to Darwin's predictions, the fossil record does not show gradual transitions between species. On the contrary, they maintained, the evidence shows extreme stability of form. Species seem to appear suddenly on earth, remain virtually unchanged for
millions of years, and then disappear just as abruptly.

What could account for this phenomenon? Current theory holds, among other positions, that major genetic alterations resulted in relatively sudden appearances of new species. This genetic leap is called "macroevolution." Meanwhile, within species at any given time, the forces of natural selection were at work effecting minor alterations of structure --like reshaping of finches' beaks, noted by Darwin. This process is called "micro-evolution." How genetic and environmental forces have interacted to produce new species is, at this point, an open question.

Our purpose here has been to demonstrate the dynamic nature of scientific inquiry. Even these few brief sketches show how evolutionary thinking has undergone an evolution of its own and still does. Science has many uncertainties and very few dogmas. This uncertain quality accounts, in large measure, for the fascination scientists find in their work.

Catholics have nothing to fear from science's honest inquiries, honestly explained. On the contrary, every new discovery is a source of wonder and a reason for giving praise to God. Of the Creator, we can say with St. Paul, " ... from the foundations of the world, men have caught sight of His invisible nature, His eternal power and His divinity, as they are known through His creatures" (Rom 1,20).

Case Study: Catholic Perspective on Evolution #7

Species classification*: Several decades ago, scientists habitually classified almost every new hominid (man-like) find into a separate species. These fossil creatures were thus named "Peking ape-man", "Java ape-man", "Neanderthal man," and so forth. Drawings of the day used to show an upward development: some primitive ape leading to the ape-man, who in turn led to Neanderthal, who then led to Cro-Magnon (identical to "modern" man in nearly every respect).

Within the last 25 years, these have all been reclassified. All the "ape-man" types (from 100,000 to 500,000 years ago and more) now belong to one species, *Homo erectus*, the "upright man." Neanderthal, we now believe, was a racial type of modern man, *Homo sapiens*. But this distinction needs some clarification. In what sense were these two forms of man different? Were they really separate and distinct species?

The true test for species difference is genetic isolability--that is, whether mating of two individuals will produce sterile offspring or not. But obviously we have no way to determine this among creatures long dead.

It is important to realize that, when scientists classify ancient fossils into distinct species, they do so exclusively on the basis of anatomical structure. If a given specimen has bone configurations within the known range of a given species, then it is called by that species' name. If, however, some significant features lie outside that range, then it probably belongs to a different species and is thus classified differently. *Homo erectus* had several anatomical features which differ from those of modern man. He had, for example, a prominent brow ridge over his eyes, a smaller stature, and a smaller average brain size.

The key point here is that both were forms of man, the genus *Homo*, with all that this implies. The anatomical variation was possibly, even probably, the only significant difference. We know that *erectus*, even from remotest antiquity, made several types of tools and used fire. Both of these activities show intelligent manipulation of nature. In other words, he, like the *sapiens* form, could think.*