Science: Health, Fitness, and Wellness for Middle School Students

Science: Health, Fitness, and Wellness for Middle School Students

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Class dates: Thursdays, Sept. 6 to Oct. 11

Total classes: 6

Starting time: 12:00 pm Eastern (1:00 Central)

Duration: 1 hour

Prerequisite: None

Suggested grade level: 6^th to 8^th

Fee: $75 if you register on or before Aug. 1, 2012. $85 after Aug. 1 for all 6 classes.

Instructor: E. B. Conroy, MA

Course description: This course is designed as a foundational for understanding personal health and wellness in the areas of physical, mental, and emotional health. The interrelationships between the body, mind, and soul will be emphasized as students learn foundational life habits and the ways to create healthy lifelong habits.

Course outline:

Class 1: Physical health: aerobic exercise, flexibility, and strength

Class 2: Physical health: nutrition and how food relates to our mind, body, and spirit

Class 3: Mind and emotions: stress and its influence on the body

Class 4: Mind and emotions: anger and its influence on the body

Class 5: Social health: maintaining healthy relationships in community

Class 6: Spiritual health and the interrelationship of the physical, mental, and emotional

Course materials: Everything is provided FREE online from Professor Brown Conroy

Homework: Weekly reading assignments and quizzes, with an estimated three to four hours per week for homework, outside of class time.

Advanced High School Writing; Rhetoric, Figures of Speech, Essays, and Papers

Advanced High School Writing; Rhetoric, Figures of Speech, Essays, and Papers

Foundational for All High School Students and Essential for College-Bound Students!

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NOTE: Class size is limited. If the course fills, a waiting list will be made available.

Class dates: Wednesdays, Sept. 5 to Nov. 7, 2012

Total classes: 10

Starting time: 2:00 pm Eastern (1:00 Central)

Duration: 1 hour

Prerequisite: Simplified Writing for High School Students, Elements of Writing: Essential Punctuation and Grammar for High School Students, or permission (information@homeschoolconnections.com)

Suggested grade level: 10^th to 12^th

Fee: $200 if you register on or before Aug. 1, 2012. $225 after Aug. 1 for all 10 classes.

Instructor: E. B. Conroy, MA

Course description: This course content is known as a prerequisite for many colleges for college-bound students. Designed to give the teen skills that make writing strong and clear. Your student will learn methods of rhetoric and how to use the skills in all of the main conventions of writing used in college—including in-depth use of nine basic forms of rhetoric (rhetorical modes); be able to identify and use major rhetorical strategies and figures of speech; and pre-write, draft, and edit a comparison and contrast paper, including use of the hook, thesis, introduction construction, conclusions, and rewriting with specific, individual feedback from the instructor. Vocabulary related to upper-level writing will be introduced and integrated into the learning. Specific class time will be used to show how to edit and revise upper-level work.

Course outline:

Class 1: The academic paper; advanced academic writing with strong thesis construction, hooks, and introductions

Class 2: Rhetorical Mode 1: Narration; rhetorical strategies and figures of speech (tropes, aposiopesis, apostrophe, chiasmus, epithet)

Class 3: Rhetorical Mode 2: Comparison and Contrast; creating a thesis and hook for your paper

Class 4: Rhetorical Mode 3: Illustration and Exemplification; rhetorical strategies and figures of speech (litotes, zeugma, euphemism, idiom)

Class 5: Rhetorical Mode 4: Description; drafting your paper’s outline

Class 6: Rhetorical Mode 5: Process Analysis; rhetorical strategies and figures of speech (hyperbole, metonymy, metaphor, mixed metaphor, extended metaphor); prewriting for papers

Class 7: Rhetorical Mode 6: Definition; rhetorical strategies and figures of speech (bathos, caricature, deus ex machine, epiphany)

your paper’s rough draft

Class 8: Rhetorical Mode 7: Cause and Effect; advanced methods of draft revision 1

Class 9: Rhetorical Mode 8: Division and Classification; advanced methods of draft revision 2; formatting advanced academic works (brief style guide introduction)

Class 10: Rhetorical Mode 9: Argumentation; integrating rhetorical strategies into upper-level writing

Course materials: Word 2007 or later version. The Essential English Language and Composition Vocabulary Guide (by E. B. Conroy), available online as a download for a discounted price or hard copy on Amazon; all other materials provided FREE by the instructor.

Homework: Students will have weekly writing assignments and direct feedback from Professor Brown Conroy, with an estimated four to five hours per week for homework (outside of class time) that includes reading, writing, and responding to feedback. Students should expect a 2-week turnaround on grading.

Advanced High School Writing; Rhetoric, Figures of Speech, Essays, & Papers

Foundational for All High School Students and Essential for College-Bound Students!

(click on course title to register)

German I, Part One

We are very excited about offering this brand new course next school year. Mrs. Mausolf is an outstanding and committed instructor. She will meet with students live twice a week. We hope you'll take advantage of this opportunity to learn a foreign language in an innovative setting with other Catholic homeschool students.

German I, Part One
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Note: This is a 2-part course. Students are expected to also register for Part Two in the spring semester.

Class dates: Mondays and Wednesdays, Sept. 5 to Dec. 19, 2012. No class Nov. 21.
Total classes: 30
Starting time: 10:00 am Eastern (9:00 Central)
Duration: 55 minutes
Prerequisite: None
Suggested grade level: 8^th to 9^th grade. Upper grades may also participate if beginning German.
Suggested high school credit: 1 full semester
Fee: $175 if you register on or before Aug. 1, 2012. $195 after Aug. 1 for all 30 classes.
Instructor: Alexis Mausolf
Course description: This 16-week course will introduce students to German vocabulary, grammar, and culture with bi-weekly meetings. The program will focus on building a solid German vocabulary and developing comprehension of the written and spoken German language. Each class will feature pronunciation practice, conversation, new grammar concepts and cultural trivia. Students will complete regular homework, quizzes and chapter tests, dictations and a short presentation at the end of the semester. To demonstrate that it is a living language, everything from nursery rhymes, songs, and proverbs to commercials and cartoons will be incorporated as learning aids.
Course materials: German is Fun Book 1: Lively Lessons for Beginners by Elsie M. Szecsy, published by Amsco. (best ordered directly from publisher – http://amscopub.com) The Everything Learning German Book with CD, second edition, by Edward Swick, MA. Published by Adams Media. (easy to acquire from Amazon) *Both texts will be used for the second semester course as well.
Homework: Learning a foreign language requires regular practice. Ideally, at least half an hour per day should be spent on German, i.e. completing the grammar drills assigned, memorizing vocabulary, reading for comprehension, taking tests or quizzes, listening to online German news broadcasts, and generally becoming familiar with the language.

Instructor biography: Alexis Mausolf, MA

Mrs. Mausolf is a Catholic homeschooling mother of two. She has a Bachelors degree in Russian studies from Washington and Lee University and a Masters degree in German, with a concentration in German literature, from Florida State University. Before her marriage she lived in Germany for a year, teaching English at several colleges. She has taught German at the college level in te States for a number of years and is eager to work with homeschoolers now. Her husband is from Germany too, and they enjoy speaking German at home in Texas with their Kindern.

German I, Part One
(click on course title)

 

Advanced Placement (AP): Literature and Composition

AP: Literature and Composition; What Good is a Good Story, Part One

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ADDENDUM: The course fee has been reduced to $245.00

Note: This is a 2-part course. Students are expected to also register for Part Two in the spring semester.

Class dates: Tuesdays and Thursdays, Sept. 4 to Dec. 13, 2011. No class Nov. 1 and Nov. 21.

Total classes: 28

Starting time: 8:00 pm Eastern (7:00 Central)

Duration: 1 hour

Prerequisite: Students should be ready for upper division English and 17- to 18-years old. Instructor’s permission is required for students 16-years old or under. Students are expected to take the AP test (May 9, 2013)

High school credit: One full semester

Suggested grade level: 11^th to 12^th

Fee: $245 for all 28 classes. Note: enrollment is limited.

Instructor: Laurie Navar Gill, M. Ed.

Course description: This course syllabus has been approved by the College Board to bear the designation “AP.” All students in the class will be receiving a preparation that will help them to succeed on the AP Literature and Composition exam, which many students take for Advanced College Credit. You may also be eligible for a weighted grade.

                  The course approaches the goals of AP Literature through a Catholic lens. The primary themes under consideration are God’s universal charity and the consequences of sin. As we travel with the pilgrims of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, imagine the end of the world, examine the tragedies of Othello and King Lear, look at Gothic horror novels through the lens of contemporary bio-ethical dilemmas, and finally, ponder how God’s plan is worked out through very imperfect instruments in The Power and the Glory, students can mature and deepen in their understanding of human weakness and God’s sovereign mercy.

Course materials: Each student will need 7-11 books; all are available in inexpensive paperback editions. Specific editions will be suggested, but library copies are fine. In the case of literature in translation, particular translations will be required. Some of the texts are available FREE online. Contact us for the complete reading list.

Homework: The course requires roughly an hour of reading every day, with additional discussion/posting responsibilities. Each reading unit (approx. every 3 weeks) also includes a major writing assignment that will go through draft, conferencing and revision stages. Students should plan on spending an average of 30-60 minutes, 5-6 days a week outside of class on reading and writing for this course. All grading provided by the instructor.

Note: Please email homeschoolconnections@gmail.com for a complete syllabus.

Theology of the Body: “The Best Method of Educating Man”

Theology of the Body: “The Best Method of Educating Man”

(click on course title to register) 

Class dates: Tuesdays, Sept. 4 to Oct. 23, 2012

Total classes: 8

Starting time: 1:00 pm Eastern (Noon Central)

Duration: 1 hour

Fee: $90 on or before Aug. 1, 2012, $110 after Aug. 1 for entire 8-week course.

Instructor: Monica Ashour, MTS; M Hum

Prerequisite: None.

Suggested grade level: 10^th to 12^th

High school credit: ½ semester credit

Course description: This overview of Pope John Paul’s Theology of the Body will give a “bird’s eye” perspective of the whole of TOB. Far from relegating TOB to the area of sex and sexuality, TOB provides meaningful tools to see one’s life in the context of Jesus’ love for His Church and the life and love of the Blessed Trinity. A special emphasis will be made regarding the vocational call to the priesthood, religious life, and married life, and how both “celibacy for the Kingdom” (JPII’s words) and marriage mirror and inform each other. Caveat: Coursework subject to change based on the discretion of the online instructor’s assessment.

Course outline:

Class 1: Overview of Theology of the Body.

Class 2: The “language of the body”

Class 3: Original unity

Class 4: Fallen man

Class 5: Redeemed man

Class 6: Eschatological man

Class 7: Vocational discernment

Class 8: Recapitulation of everything

Course materials: For the first day’s class: please read the required reading from the Bible.

1. Genesis, Chapters 1 to 3

2. The Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraphs 355-682 (Read 47 paragraphs a week)

3. The Documents of Vatican II; Gaudium et Spes, paragraphs 47-62 (2 paragraphs a week)

4. “Letter to Families” (Pope John Paul) (This gives a good TOB outlook in abbreviated form)

5. The short essay “The Weight of Glory” in the longer collection with the same name: The Weight of Glory and short essay “Man or Rabbit”, both by CS Lewis.

Additional reading lists provided for students who desire to go deeper into the subject.

Homework: Weekly quizzes, a major project, & final exam: Answer keys provided for parental or self grading. A minimum of 30 minutes a day suggested for study, reading, quizzes, project, and final Note that the pressure is not great, as rarely is there discussion over the reading assignments. Rather, Miss Ashour gives the reading list to help the students find good resources and to learn more on their own since we don’t have much time in class.

Note: Please email homeschoolconnections@gmail.com for a complete syllabus.

Fall 2012 Course Details

The 2012/2013 Course Catalog has been available for over a month now, helping parents plan for the next school year. Here at the blog, I'll post detailed information for each of the individual Fall 2012 courses over the next several weeks, starting later today. In the meantime you can find the course catalog and links to registration at the website, www.homeschoolconnections.com.

Summer 2012, Fall 2012, and Spring 2013 are all open for registration.