Pride and Prejudice Literature Class - Session 1



We had a great time together for our first Pride and Prejudice session. It was so exciting over the course of the day to hear various students quoting lines from Pride and Prejudice. I heard students quoting Mr. Collins, Mr. Bennett, Mrs. Bennett and Elizabeth…The dialogue really sticks with the students!!
Some of our students read the book, some watched the BBC miniseries version of Pride and Prejudice and then some watched the new version of the movie. I also suggested that our students could watch Miss Austen Regrets to extend their study of Jane Austen.
The first thing we did was go over Jane Austen’s life. I had our students call out anything that they knew about Jane Austen and then I read and expounded on this short biography - my goal was to give some context to her writing. We spoke briefly about writing about your contemporaries vs. writing about some time in the past. 


We then talked about what was going on in the world at the time of Jane Austen’s life. Based on our time frame for Social Studies, it finally clicked in with our students that she lived over the years of what we had studied in the American, French and Industrial Revolutions! We spoke a little about how she didn’t include much about these revolutions in her books.

Then it was time for our first group project - this was really an overview of the themes of Pride and Prejudice and an introduction to the book. I had made up these questions ahead of time and the students got in groups of 3 or 4 and answered them. We then got back together and discussed them. 

We went over the ideas that the letters in Pride and Prejudice either moved the plot along for us or foreshadowed coming events in the book. I only chose a limited number of the letters - only ones that I saw as the “most important” ones. I then had them break into groups and analyze using these questions the various letters that were in the book. Each group looked at one of the letters. I had hoped to get to the whole group looking at how important Darcy’s letter to Elizabeth’s was in the plot of the story but there was no more time! 


These classes just fly by!! After that my partner in the class led the students in a run through of the Pride and Prejudice play. These plays are always amazing! We are so blessed to have a teacher and students that love drama!! It adds such depth to these literature sessions.
Blessings,

Natalie

Industrial Revolution Co-op




We had a wonderful Industrial Revolution co-op for our final social studies co-op of 2013/14. For the next four months we will be addressing Grade 9 BC science outcomes. This is the first time we have done science in this co-op and I am so looking forward to it! We have some very talented moms that teach in our co-op and we can look forward to some great lessons ahead!!
Back to the Industrial Revolution…


Our mom had the students take a look at the Factory Acts and see if there was any benefit to the workers in each of the Acts. 


She gave the students a printout with the Acts and they interpreted them based on the following criteria.


Ages and Hours Worked
Changes in Working Conditions
Other Changes


After they discussed if the changes were beneficial or not to the workers with each act. Our mom then challenged the students about working conditions around the world today. 


She then set up a debate for or against child labour. The group that was for child labour had a much more challenging task, as these students have a great sense of social justice. I have seen their compassion and heart many times through our co-ops! It was great to see these students engaging in a debate. I hope that we will have many more of these in the future.
This co-op was a perfect tie in to our North and South study and really enhanced our study of the Industrial Revolution. What a blessing to have talented teachers and engaged students!!
The students then had a break and in the afternoon had an art study on portraits with our Art/Drama mom…
Here is her synopsis:
“On Monday we talked about how art changed during this time period. There was more realism, more perspective, more mood, light and shadow, and more portraits. We talked about the first thing you notice in a portrait (eyes), and how to draw them correctly. The kids chose either charcoal or pencil and we drew eyes first. Next we drew full portraits and I gave the kids some measurements by which to check if the facial features were in correct location.”
These students have been so blessed to get such great art/drama instruction each month in this class. There are so many skills our students are learning! I am always amazed!!



Then it was off to the gym with our PE dad who taught our students more skills in floor hockey. 


After the session, he led the students through a devotion and then it was time to be off…
Co-op days are a long day, but it is always bittersweet when they are over!! 
Blessings,

Natalie

Google Hangouts - North and South #4 Final Session



Well, I must say, Google Hangouts was a wonderful experience for our North and South Movies as Literature class! 

I think that the value of learning together, collaborating together on documents, and learning how to use Google Hangouts with ease was a real addition to our homeschool experience. 

This discussion centred around the questions of change in characters, fair representation of both sides of the “labour battle” and then we had a great discussion on business and risk. It was also great to hear the opinion of the students on how they enjoyed the series.
The questions for this session are here.


After our session on North and South I had the students do a survey in Google Forms based on which films they would like to see us cover in our next sessions. We have limited sessions and many ideas, so I had the students decide on what they would like based on a rating system. 
Google Forms is a wonderful way to take a survey in a class. You can see the results “real time”. I added up the tally’s and we have a tentative plan for our next sessions.


I love to see our students do this kind of work. Whenever they have to give their opinions it is a great learning experience - and in this case they could not see the other’s response - so it was their opinion and their's alone.

For the month of February we will be doing Pride and Prejudice together (in person) and so we will take a break from Google Hangouts. I look forward to the sessions in March and beyond. 

I just want to say a special thanks to these amazing students that make it so worthwhile! It is a true highlight of my week to meet with you all!
If you know a great group of young people and you need any help getting your Google Hangouts class started, just let me know!
Blessings, Natalie