Rowan and I worked through a couple of reading and science passages today. I helped talk him through the first ones, and then I had him complete the others on his own. I wanted him to feel like he could do the passages on his own, which he can. Rowan has a great understanding of the science passages and interprets the charts/graphs well. He has a tougher time focusing on the reading passages. I'm having him read the passages first so that he gets a sense of the main idea, and then I'm having him go to the questions, looking back at the text for the answers. I think this is still the best approach for him because it will keep him engaged in the material. Rowan asked for a lot of homework, so I assigned him plenty to do in all four sections of the ACT.

We explored the two "special" right triangles--30-60-90 and 45-45-90 and worked a few practice problems.

Rowan was very focused today and did terrific work. We worked through three different science passages together. Rowan was able to interpret the graphs and charts and then isolate the correct answers. He had a more difficult time with the Conflicting Viewpoints passage today. He had a hard time distinguishing the scientists' hypotheses. Next, we looked at a fiction passage and Rowan did a great job of being a detective. He went back to the passage to look for his answers and was able to answer many of the questions correctly.

Rowan did very well on his reading homework. He said he's noticed an improvement and was happy with how he did. He completed three short reading passages and answered the corresponding questions. We corrected his answers together and, once again, Rowan was mostly able to correct his own mistakes. We looked at a couple of science passages towards the end of our class, but Rowan's focus was beginning to wane at this point. We practiced a Data Representation passage and a Conflicting Viewpoints passage. He had an easier time with the Viewpoints passage. In the science section, Rowan must look closely at the graphs and tables to interpret the information he is given. It is important that he remains focused. We will work more on science passages tomorrow.

We used the unit circle superimposed on the XY plane and the angle theta to tabulate the values of the sine function from zero degrees through 210 degrees (into Quadrant III.

Rowan completed a reading passage for homework and did well on it. He missed four questions, so we went over them together. I reminded Rowan that he actually makes the test more difficult for himself when he doesn't look to the text for the answers. The answers are definitely in the text, so by looking, he allows himself the opportunity to get more questions correct. We then worked through a fiction passage together and he marked line references before reading. I told Rowan that he must read fiction passages differently from the other passages. There will be dialogue and subtext to interpret, so he will have to read closely. He will do several reading passages on his own for homework.

We spent half the session working problems 1-30 of Section Two in test Two in the text. We spent the remainder of the session going over last evening's trig assignment and introducing the arc sine functions on the graphing calculator.

Rowan and I reviewed the timed English section that he did for homework. He got about 50% of the questions correct and we spent the class reviewing the ones that he missed. I had Rowan try to self-correct his mistakes at first, because often he is able to spot his errors. Rowan must continue to look for short, concise answer choices. Rowan's focus was good today. I'm glad that we're able to meet every day this week because repetition will be good for him. I know he wants to improve his scores, and I hope that we can achieve his goals.

We worked through some intermediate algebra and introduced basic trigonometric functions, all using the Barron's prep book.

We worked on the Intermediate Algebra review in the Barron's text and covered functions, graphing, rational functions and factoring.