In today's lesson, Bella learned about the importance of water in human biology, including its many roles in cell life, transportation, temperature regulation, protection, waste excretion and in chemical reactions. We also went over review questions at the end of the lesson, which Bella answered with ease.

Nearly 3/4 of US farmers say this year's drought is hurting their harvest - with significant crop and income loss, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation, a lobbying group that represents agricultural interests. July was the third-hottest on record for the US and the AFBF estimates nearly 60% of West, South and Central Plains states are experiencing severe drought or higher this year. The effects of this drought will be felt for years to come, by farmers, ranchers and consumers. Many farmers have had to sell off livestock they have spent years raising or destroy orchard trees that have grown for decades. Key water sources in places like Lake Mead and Lake Powell - which are running below 30% of their full capacity - provide water to 5.5 million acres of land in seven western states according to the AFBF. Water levels are so low that there is not enough water for livestock - or people. As a matter of fact, if one were to observe Lake Mead at the famed Hoover Dam right now, they could see a drop in water level on the low mountain coasts equivalent to a 13-story building! We discussed how CA and other Southwestern state governments are responding to this issue. The federal government is monitoring and responding to this issue, as well. This is a national climate crisis and an excellent example of federalism - when states and the national government work together.

ABSENT

Bella was absent today. In today's lesson, Bella would have learned about the importance of water in human biology, along with an introduction to organic molecules and functional groups. I sent Bella, via email, a copy of the notes we would've covered today in class, along with all of the previous notes she's learned from earlier on in the week. I also sent Bella an assignment to complete by next week.

Bella was absent from class this morning. I used the period to plan for lessons.

Today, Bella read a Commonlit.org article discussing The Hero's Journey. She answered the guiding questions along the way and utilized the vocabulary tool as needed. She took notes on the general stages of the hero's journey and wrote a 1-2 sentence summary of each stage. We then watched a short clip from the beginning of the movie, "The Hobbit," which demonstrates the bad things that happen when the hero "refuses the call to adventure."

Unitary, confederate and federal systems of government are three basic ways to organize the power in a country. In a unitary system, all power and sovereignty belong to the national government which, however, can transfer some of the powers to territorial units (and take it back at any time via legislative change). The same laws generally apply across all the country's regions. Most countries around the world are unitary. In a federation, the power and sovereignty are shared and balanced between the national (federal) government and territorial units (states). To change the states' powers or borders, it is usually necessary to amend the constitution. There are some national (federal) laws, which apply across all the country, while some laws differ across regions (states). In a confederation, power and sovereignty belong in principle to the smaller units (members), while the national (confederal) government is weak, has limited powers, and deals mostly with defense and foreign relations. Decisions are made by consensus of all members. Confederacy is a system of government for those who want to keep the power in each state and give only limited power to the national government.

In today's lesson we concluded our presentation on some basic chemistry concepts, including the different types of bonds that can be formed and their properties. In the second half of the lesson, we went over the concepts of osmosis, diffusion, semipermeable membranes, solutes, and solvents. Bella did very well on our practice and review problems.

Today, Bella and I stretched the major muscle groups and weight trained those groups, including quadriceps, hamstrings, deltoids, biceps, triceps and abdominal muscles. We are working on building a daily routine to increase strength, flexibility, and energy level.

In the first portion of today's lesson, Bella learned how to read scientific graphs and charts, including but not limited to pie charts, bar charts, line graphs, and flow charts. In the second half of the class, we went over some basic chemistry topics, with such topics including subatomic particles, isotopes and the electron cloud. Review questions were completed at the end of the lesson. Bella did very well today, staying engaged in the lesson, asking questions, and answering the review questions very well.