Natalie worked independently today finishing up her assignment from Larry.

Natalie took the Economics final exam during today's session.

For homework, Natalie completed a practice exam on GDP and economic systems which we reviewed and discussed . I then proceeded to review credit terms such as principal, interest, and APR as well as investment terms and options such as : stocks, bonds ,dividends, mutual funds, and CDs followed by a review of forms of business ownership such as partnerships ,and corporations. Upon completion of this review, Natalie completed another practice exercise which we discussed and reviewed. Natalie indicated that these review sessions have been beneficial. For homework,I assigned two additional brief practice exercises on Chapters . 19 and 20. The final exam is scheduled for next Wednesday.Our last class is tomorrow.

Natalie wrote a well crafted essay on the history of money and the abandonment of the gold standard which I handed back and which we reviewed today. I made some substantive suggestions with respect to amplifying on the conclusion and using formal English to express concepts. As the final is next week, I then distributed a practice exam on one of the chapters . Natalie has begun studying , and we are using the practice exam solely to discuss and to review certain concepts such as fixed costs, variable costs, supply and demand and marginal analysis. Review exercises will continue throughout the week. For homework, I distributed a practice exam on Ch 17 and a review exercise on divergent economic philosophies. The last class is Thursday with the exam scheduled for Wednesday next week.

Natalie is moving into modern times as we chronologically follow the evolution of British writers. The authors studied today include Zadie Smith, Hilary Mantel, Kazuo Ishiguro, and others up to the very famous Harry Potter series. She is reading an except of the very first pages of the series and writing a Reader Response to it.

Natalie has completed reading the novel and answering all of the study guide questions. We reviewed her answers and discussed why Equality's renaming himself as Prometheus was apt as the name has come to symbolize one who rebels against injustice and the authority of power. We then parsed Ayn Rand's explanation of why the dystopian society evolved in the first place i.e. Rand claims it is due to the worship of the "We" ,instead of the "I". Natalie offered a good critique of Ayn Rand's philosophy suggesting that the author simply did not understand that people can not always solve problems in solitary or individually. As Natalie requested we start our review for the final , I then began reviewing the study guides we have worked on all semester and presenting questions that were on the guide or from prior tests. Natalie indicated the exercise was helpful and that we should continue this process next week which I will do along with presenting some other practice questions. Homework for the next week is to study for the final exam.

Natalie is reading The Book Thief and working through a packet of questions on content and for insights. She submitted her second (and final) draft on the topic of injustice in her last book, To Kill a Mockingbird. This writing shows mastery in clarity, word choice, and documentation. She may not be able to complete The Book Thief by the end of the semester, but will get in a good amount and write something for a final submission in composition.

Since today was Natalie's last day in Math For College Readiness, I gave her an assessment which I told her was not going to affect her grade in any way. There were 22 problems covering material we have studied over the second semester. There were problems over fractions, integers, and one-step algebra problems. There was no assignment.

Natalie has displayed considerable initiative in finishing the novel and completing study guide questions ahead of schedule. We reviewed her study guide answers and supplemented a few answers to emphasize the economic philosophies of Ayn Rand.Overall, her responses are well done and indicate a very good understanding of the book . We then began a course review starting with noting on the whiteboard the similar economic philosophy of Adam Smith and Ayn Rand. I had prepared and then distributed two graphs with questions simulating the final : one on supply and demand , the other on marginal analysis. We worked through both graphs and the questions, thereby reviewing both the concepts and applications of supply and demand and marginal cost and marginal revenue. For homework , Natalie is finishing up study guide questions on the final chapter of the book and culling all of her economics study guides so that we can organize them to assist her studying for the final. Natalie's last class is May 16th,with the final the following week.

I reviewed with Natalie the procedures for calculating the percent increase or decrease of two numbers. I stressed that the beginning number is in the denominator of the fraction produced in the ratio. I gave her six problems to work on independently and went to the teachers' work room. When she was finished, I checked her work and found that she had done some correctly but had incorrectly changed the fraction to a decimal in some others. I also told her that tomorrow would be our last session and that I would give her an ungraded assessment during class. There was no assignment.