Reading: Completed Hardy Boys, "The Missing Chums" (1/2 hr)

Spelling: Aviation words: altimeter, barometer, aileron, elevator, fuselage, empennage, indicator, attitude, gyroscope, pitot, static, altitude

Math: Long division review and drill. Put numbered slips of paper in bowl and draw two numbers and divide them. (fraction/decimal review if numerator smaller). Intro to trigonometry (some was review). vertex, apex, isosceles, equilateral, angles sum to 180, pythagorean theorem, hypotenuse. First introduction to sine and cosine. powers and factorial keys on calculator.

music: practiced violin (20 min) at Zephyr's

Aviation Technology: tested on Chapter 2C: engine instruments, and reviewed material.

Computer Technology: Joe helped with removing AGP graphics accelerator card. Learning to ID connectors on back of computer - he handled connectors and removing the top. Importance and technique for grounding before handling sensitive chip-bearing cards. Joe tested dual monitor setup for flight simulator -this time it works! We celebrated our discovery that Microsoft Flight Simulator will run with hardware graphics acceleration across two monitors when driven by the same graphics accelerator card (our new card supports two monitors).

Life skills: caring for sick Zephyr.

Math: Long division drill (30 min.). Pan balance equations (pre-algebra), from Everyday Math curriculum. Joe has been asking for more pan-balance worksheets, begging almost. So today I gave him 6 more pages (342-347) which he eagerly completed, every one correct. Had some trouble with only one problem, but eventually figured that one out too.

Reading: Hardy Boys, "The Tower Treasure" Read whole book in one day! (180pp) . Was so engrossed in the book he did not want to put it down. We're meeting a good part of his reading objective already! Now on to some more meaty material. I suspect he'll want to do some more Hardy Boys first, and that's OK.

Lunch Recess at JCCS, followed by some DEAR time.

Tomorrow Joe will be taking the "TerraNova" standardized test, in the JCCS classroom. We did a little bit of prep today, but found out they do more pre-test prep in the classrooms and at IDEA. Having just found out late Friday that this test was coming up there hasn't been much time to prep, although I see McGraw Hill has some material for pre-test out on the TerraNova website.

Assessment: TerraNova standardized test (Reading part today) at the Juneau Community Charter School. Whole morning devoted to this, although the test itself was only 50 min. long. Yoga/warmups first, then instructions, practice test etc.

History: afternoon trip to the Alaska State Museum with Neal. We're going to study the history of Alaska from the viewpoint of commercial and subsistence fishing, since those time frames encompass the important features of Alaska's history, on the relevant time scale. The boys spent quite a bit of time in the downstairs exhibits of artisanal fishing gear. Also, they have a birchbark canoe!

Music: 1 hour violin with Xia and guest Linda Rosenthal, who will be playing with the class for the Spring Gala.

PE: Tennis lesson at Racquetball club with Amra (1/2 hour private).

Hardy Boys, "House on the Cliff"(30 min)

Assessment: TerraNova standardized test (Grammar part today) at the Juneau Community Charter School. Whole morning devoted to this, although the test itself was only 50 min. long. Yoga/warmups first, then instructions, practice test etc.

Aviation Technology: 3 hour Meteorology lecture with Dr. Ivan Show. Excellent! Covered earth atmospheric processes - good graphics, interesting talk. Joe took great notes this time.

Reading: Hardy Boys, "House on the Cliff"

Assessment: TerraNova standardized test (Math part 1 today) at the Juneau Community Charter School. Whole morning devoted to this, although the test itself was only 50 min. long. Yoga/warmups first, then instructions, practice test etc.

Music: violin at JCCS.

Reading: Hardy Boys, "House on the Cliff"

Art: scarf making at JCCS (for gala)

PE: League soccer, 7-8pm

Assessment: TerraNova standardized test (Math part 2 today) at the Juneau Community Charter School. Most of morning devoted to this, although the test itself was only 50 min. long. Yoga/warmups first, then instructions, practice test etc.

Music: singing with JCCS class for spring gala

Spanish: (while at JCCS for testing etc. today)

Reading: completed Hardy Boys, "House on the Cliff"

Joe has a pretty bad cold, so it was a low-key day.

Reading: "Whip", by Martin Caidin.

Math: Number pattern exercise from Everyday math, involving repeating rational numbers. (sevenths, elevenths etc.) Joe does the division for the fractions on the calculator (1/7, 2/7, etc.) and finds the very intriguing pattern of numbers that result. He was very interested in this, and very quickly spied the patterns, even when the calculator was rounding some of them.

History, Aviation, and Reading: Finished watching National Geographic "Lost Fleet of Guadalcanal", in part about Robert Ballard finding the sunken ships, but mostly about the battle itself. The book Joe is reading ("Whip") is partially set on Guadalcanal, and its also another set of missions in Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator II, and subject of several other books he has read.

Joe has a cold, so it was somewhat of a low-key day.

Music: Violin practice and rehearsal for JCCS Spring Gala at JD High, 9-10:45am. Joe takes cell phone to summon me for pickup when done.

Reading: "Whip" by Martin Caidin. (30 min.). He also read the section on "Zemke's Wolfpack" in "WWII Air War" book, then after reading that we downloaded a campaign from the internet where Joe got to FLY in Zemke's Wolfpack squadron of P-47's in Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator. Talk about making a story come to life!!!!

History, Aviation, and Reading: National Geographic "Lost Fleet of Guadalcanal", in part about Robert Ballard finding the sunken ships, but mostly about the battle itself. The book Joe is reading ("Whip") is partially set on Guadalcanal, and its also another set of missions in Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator II, and subject of several other books he has read.

Meteorology, physics: Watched Jeppesen video on earth's atmospheric processes and Coriolis force, dovetailing nicely with Ivan's excellent lecture last week in flight school. Went to website about Coriolis force, (see "forces and winds") with wonderfully graphic movie about what happens as a ball is thrown on a merry go round, from several perspectives. Gets the point across very clearly.

Math: review of multiplication algorithm for large numbers.

Joe still has a cold, so it was somewhat of a low-key day.

Music: Violin practice and rehearsal for JCCS Spring Gala at JD High, 9-10:45am. Joe takes cell phone to summon me for pickup when done.

Math: Multiplication review and exercise. Joe's large number multiplication algorithm sometimes seems shakey and not sure he always is getting it, though it seemed that he had mastered this awhile ago. He's using a right-to-left algorithm with no carries, where each digit's preliminary product is entered on a separate line. Makes for long lists of partial products to add at the end, but other than that its simple. It does give a great sense of "place" and understanding of what the algorithm is doing. We drew numbers from our ticket piles and took turns, he watching me and then checking on calculator, and then vice versa. We backed off and kept it simple today till I'm sure he gets it thorougly and automatically. Multiplied 3 digit numbers by 2 and low-three digit numbers today.

Physics: Watched National Geographic "For All Mankind", about the first manned trip to the moon. One great scene in there has Neil Armstrong dropping a hammer and a feather on the moon. We had just been discussing Newton's second law of motion in aviation school recently - this was a VERY graphic demonstration! The hammer and the feather clearly fell at the same rate and hit the ground at the same instant. Yes, F=M*A !!!!

Math: multiplication drill. International Pi day!! We celebrated with a pie, which we also measured.

Aviation Technology: Flight #2!! Calm at airport but very bumpy over Lynn Canal, so after climbout to 3,000 feet they headed back. Joe was enthusiastic, even with all the bumps.

Reading: "Whip"

PE: 1 hour of league soccer (practice)

Parent-Teacher conference at 5:30, to check in more detail on where he was at at JCCS

Math: Multiplication drill, for 4 and 3 digit numbers. The right to left algorithm is generating long lists for addition now. Just about ready to switch to a more compact algorithm with carrying.

Reading: "Whip"

Meteorology/Aviation: atmospheric processes drill, using written test questions.

PE: Skating with "Scater" (Joe's invention) at Twin lakes.

Middle School Tour: Joe shadows Daniel Piorkowski for a whole day at DZ middle school.

Joe at Neal Callahan's (homeschooler) while both parents work (I'm in Anchorage for a meeting).

Spring Break in Florida. Joe travels to Miami Beach where his mom has a meeting, then Orlando and Disney World, then Florida Keys.