Jesse and I and Adrianna worked with a powerpoint that provided lessons on punctuation. I provided real life examples and analogies in order to improve retention levels. This took the entire hour to cover all the uses of the different topics. They are to take home the handouts in order to practice, which we will review tomorrow. Adrianna and I also quickly reviewed her paragraph that was well-written save a few grammatical errors. We also discussed the literature book that they want to read for the literature aspect of our lessons. I have ordered their literature book as I plan to cover literature together. Their ability to discuss the literature at home in class will prove most beneficial. They chose to read Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. Composition writing will be done separately as the girls are somewhat on a different level. Jesse's book offers more at home exercises in developing paragraphs and modes, where Adrianna's jumps right into the essays and reading comprehension.

We reviewed vocabulary meanings and spellings as used by Emerson in his writing. We then compared his writing with that of Mark Twain.

Jared did well on a vocabulary test of words in Emerson's writing.
We then discussed uniquely American themes, such as the worth of the individual in an industrial world and the role of intuition in a scientific world.

We discussed an overview of Emerson's and Thoreau's work in an effort to understand what transcendentalism is about.

Power points on commas, semi colons, colons to be followed with exercises.

Take quiz and review answers. Review paragraph writing packet covering topic sentences and supporting details. Review worksheets on time order and emphatic order focusing on transitions and coherence. Review Martha Graham worksheet on syntax and coherence along with editing for grammar.

My goal was to compare transcendentalist writings with Twain's approach to life. Unfortunately, Jared is ill today so there was no class.

We began to look at Emerson's writing to see how it differs from the writing of Mark Twain who was writing during the same time period.

We looked at how the life of a teenager in the time of Mark Twain was not too dissimilar from the life of teenagers today.

Jared reviewed characterization, the first part of an exposition description of a piece of writing, and applied it to Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I also reviewed a piece of writing he had done on his own. With minor mechanical exceptions, the piece is clearly written.