2021-22 Homeschooling Projects

   Hello. My name is Alex Weaver, a hero (in my town). I wasn't always a hero. It's a long story. It all started when I was born in a small town to a modest family. I have a father, who works at the docks, a mother, who is a weaver, and two brothers -- the older one, Bill, works with my father and the younger one, Pat, is still too young to work. Then there's me, the middle of the kids. We had a pretty normal life, but we once saw a dragon off in the distance, flying like an arrow over the mountains. It was gold, I think. Being the middle kid can be boring, as the older can boss you around and the younger gets all the attention. So one day I tried pickpocketing, just to stir up some mischief. I started on my brothers, stealing little trinkets and toys out of their pockets. It was fun and made life a little more interesting for all of us. Then one day a rich young wizard waltzed into town. He looked a bit too smug so I decided to teach him a lesson. I crept up behind him and...

Chromosomes and Genes Chromosomes hold the blueprints (DNA) to how our bodies are made and function. There is a copy of each chromosome contained in the nucleus of every cell in our bodies but not every organism has the same number of chromosomes. According to genome.gov, a fruit fly has four pairs of chromosomes, a rice plant has 12 pairs, a dog has 39, a cat has 19, and a human has 46 chromosomes. Each chromosome is made with a double strand of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and proteins called histones. DNA is made up of a bunch of connected genes and each gene is made up of a series of nucleotide pairs. DNA is a helical ladder with each rung being a nucleotide pair.  The nucleotides are a sugar, a nitrogen base, and a phosphate. There are multiple different types of nitrogen bases: a, t, g, c, or u, (u is only found in RNA). Adenine (A) and Thymine (T) are always paired, and Guanine (G) and Cytosine (C) are always paired. In RNA, Uracil (U) replaces Thymine (T).  Proteins DNA...

The Last Fallen Star is a Rick Riordan Presents book by Graci Kim that takes place in korean mythology. The main character is Riley Oh, a girl who feels she dosen’t fit into her magical family. The story hooked me immediately and I couldn't put it down. 👍 -Eric B.

The Last Fallen Star, a Rick Riordan Presents novel by Graci Kim is a great book because it gives us a modern spin on Korean mythology.  It has amazing twists and even better character development. There is also a second book coming out in the series and I cannot wait for it to arrive! -Kyle B.

Throughout the first three months of the school year, we have done various activities that didn't require writeups by Eric or Kyle. Below is a selection of them: Sentence Diagraming (English) We learned how to diagram sentences using a tree structure and how this can clarify ambiguous sentences, such as those with dangling modifiers. It can also help us recognize parts of a sentence like noun phrases and verb phrases, by providing a visual metaphor. Sewing Buttons On (Home Ec/Crafting) Probably the most common clothing repair is to sew on a detached button. Here Eric and Kyle practiced threading a needle, tying a knot (before and after), and sewing on three types of buttons.    Microscope Usage, Great Brook Farm Pond (Science) We took Kyle's microscope to Great Brook Farm and looked at various samples of pond mud and water. We observed plant cells from algae, microscopic organisms swimming around, silica and other debris, and air bubbles. We didn't have enough magnification...