Natalie will be completing the Economics course next Thursday and taking her final exam the following Tuesday. She completed reviewing in the textbook the assigned review reading relevant to an analysis of Ayn Rand's economic perspective arguing that economic regulation inevitably leads to loss of freedom. Natalie did a very good job responding orally to my textbook based questions focused on various types of government economic regulation and their purpose and then contrasting those goals with the intent of the regulations imposed by the leaders in "Anthem". We discussed how the economic regulations in place in the US are consumer protection oriented in great part and that the loss of freedom Ayn Rand predicted economic regulations would engender has in fact not occurred . For homework, Natalie will continue her reading of the novel at her own pace. We plan to complete the novel and study guide questions within the week,giving us a few review sessions before the final exam. The novel is very short , and I anticipate no problems in the projected time schedule.

Natalie is approaching modern day British literature as we have chronologically worked through the major authors and pieces. Today she studied and took a quiz on George Orwell. She has already read Animal Farm, and will still need to read Orwell's 1984. Natalie handed in a rough draft from her book, To Kill a Mockingbird. It shows good proclivities for writing as usual, but with progress. The main corrections included getting a revision in mostly present tense (as that is best for writing about literature) and citing her in-text quotes correctly.

Today, Natalie caught up on extra work during our session.

I directed Natalie to study the examples in the text on calculating the increase or decrease in percents. I gave her six problems to work on independently and left her to go to the teachers' room. Near the end of the session, she told me she had finished the problems. I checked them and found that she had the right process in some of the problems but had failed to divide correctly. She also divided by the wrong number in the two problems where there was a decrease in value. I told her that we would re-visit these problems and more like it the next class session. There was no assignment by Natalie's request.

Today Natalie and I spent an hour together as I read, explained, and corrected a very good student's essay from my college composition class. I wanted to show her the kind of analysis writing that she will be learning and doing in college. This was a sample final analysis essay based on a piece of literature chosen from a list of 20 books at the beginning of the semester that incorporated academic research on the theme chosen from ten options. This student wrote his analysis on The Book Thief. Natalie responded well to the activity. In fact, she has decided to read The Book Thief instead of Huck Finn. I think it is a way better choice. We will continue to study and use the pages on essay writing that I copied for her two weeks ago with strategies for intro and concluding paragraphs, and so forth.

As Natalie will be writing a critique of Ayn Rand's "Anthem" when we complete the book, I provided some areas of inquiry she should keep in mind while reading, as well as some supplemental material from the back of the book explaining Ayn Rand's view on capitalism and the mixed economy. Natalie completed reading chapter 2 and answered the study guide questions which we reviewed and discussed. Natalie's work reflects a good understanding of the novel and its themes. For homework due on Tuesday, I assigned reading chapters 3 and 4, and answering accompanying questions from the study guide. Natalie's final essay on the abandonment of the gold standard is also due on Tuesday.

I told Natalie that the topic was percents of numbers. I gave her five problems on taking percents of numbers to do for independent work and she was totally successful. She requested that I not give her an assignment tonight and I agreed.

As Natalie requested assistance in writing and organizing her lengthy economics essay, we today reviewed the portions she had drafted , and I provided organizational and writing assistance in following the outline we previously prepared. We also looked at the research I had provided ,and I pointed out areas in the research that could be incorporated into the essay. I suggested that if and when she hits a writing roadblock, at least for a first draft , she refer back to the research sources and then ,as a first step, to simply rewrite the research using her own words. This technique worked well ,and we were able to complete a first draft of most of the essay ,and ,in fact, Natalie was able on her own to complete in class the last portions of the first draft. For homework, I assigned three pages from the text as review and as a basis for a closer examination of the philosophy of Ayn Rand. Specifically, we will be analyzing the intent and purpose of current US federal regulations in contrast to the intent and purpose of the regulations imposed in Ayn Rand's dystopia.

I checked Natalie's homework and found that she was mostly successful and then I told her that we would be studying the process of finding percents of numbers. When I told her that I would show her the method of taking percents of numbers, she told me she wanted to figure it out on her own and do some independent problems. I assigned six problems for her to work on and I went to the teachers'
room to wait for her to finish. At the end of the session, she told me she was ready and I checked her work. Although there were some errors in decimal placement, she had the right process. I assigned four problems for homework.

In preparation for studying the economic underpinning of Ayn Rand's philosophy ,Natalie first reviewed and reread the text pages describing the different economic systems: market, command, and mixed market. On the whiteboard, I outlined the basis of Ayn Rand's argument that altruistic government spending will ultimately stymie technological progress and create totalitarian societies. I defined utopia and dystopia and referenced Thomas More's 1516 book ,"Utopia". Natalie was familiar with both concepts . After noting the number of government programs intended to address social issues, I posed the question for future consideration whether Ayn Rand's arguments are valid i.e. can we have altruistic government and freedom simultaneously? I told Natalie that after she reads the novel, she will write a critique of the novel addressing that issue. She indicated she understood the issue she needed to focus on in her reading and participated in class discussion on the issue. We also reviewed Natalie's answers to Chapter 1 of the study guide and addressed areas where she had questions. For homework, Natalie is bring to class tomorrow the beginning of her long essay as she has asked that we use tomorrow's class to assist her writing and organizing the essay. I further assigned reading Chapter 2 of the novel.