the blue blend: Course offerings 2016-17Weekly on-site classes, Mondays 9:30 am – 4:45 pm

supplemented by online classes later in the week

FALL 201615 weeks: September – December

SPRING 201715 weeks: January – May

honors science

Chemistry With Labhonors science

Chemistry With Lab

writing skills

Essay Writing & Appreciationwriting skills

Essay Writing & Appreciation

honors literature

Novels by Womenhonors literature

Novels by Women

Plus:

One-on-One Tutoring in MathPlus:

One-on-One Tutoring in Math

SCIENCE INSTRUCTOR: DIANE SPEED

Honors Chemistry — with LabThe twentieth century saw breakthroughs in chemistry that we now take for granted: the discovery of sub-atomic particles—

the electron, neutron, and proton; the discovery of sub-sub-atomic particles

like quarks, leptons, and bosons;nuclear fission and nuclear fusion;

the invention of plastics, nylon, and other man-made polymers;

methods to increase efficiencies of organic compounds in fuel.

These breakthroughs have enabled humanity to live better and longer. Is there any doubt that far-reaching and exciting breakthroughs will be realized this century?

In this class each student acquires both a deep understanding of chemistry and an appreciation for its real-world applications. The class is divided into one or two lectures each week and a lab session approximately every other week. Each lecture begins with broad concepts foundational to a topic and then delves into that topic in greater detail. Lectures feature video, graphics, and PowerPoint presentations. Students are provided with printed materials, graphics, labs, and worksheets to be completed at home.

Among the topics covered: the scientific method; significant digits; properties of matter; atomic theory; the periodic table of elements; Lewis Dot Diagrams; bonding—covalent & ionic, polarity; properties of water; compounds; solutions; separating mixtures; distillation; stoichiometry; limited reactants and percent yield; the mole; mole conversions; molecular geometry; thermo-chemistry and chemical kinetics (energy absorption, reaction rates); chemical equilibrium; electrochemistry (from batteries to electroplating); pH, acids, bases and salts (buffers); redox reactions; ions; and gas laws (Boyle’s Ideal Gas Law, Charles’ Law).

This honors-level class moves at quite a clip. Students will be expected to complete four to five hours of work at home each week. Homework will consist of reading, annotating text, watching videos, completing worksheets, doing independent research, writing lab reports, and studying.

To get the most out of the class, it is recommended that students complete algebra I before taking this class. Please note: The class aligns with SAT II standards for those who wish to take the subject test. Standardized testing is not required to take this class.

Class activities: Periodic in-class quizzes will be administered in the form of solo and small-group activities and games. The objective of these quizzes will

be learning and mastering the content, not generating a grade. Between classes, students will interact with the teacher and other students via the Internet, asking and answering questions. Students will be assigned topics to research independently. All students are required to present both in class and online.There will be 6-8 tests provided to parents to administer at home as they wish: open book, closed book, as a learning tool, as a grade

generator, or any combination.

LABSEach lab will correlate to class content. Over the course of the year, students will:have 15 lab sessions, each including one or

more labs; use the scientific method to analyze data and

draw conclusions in written reports.

HONORS LITERATURE INSTRUCTOR: ROY SPEED

Novels by WomenGreat works from 1800 to the early 20th century — all by womenStudents in this course learn how to read novels and, along the way, practice a core human skill: empathy.

One of the best reasons for reading great novels is that they afford rare opportunities to eavesdrop on characters’ thoughts and feelings as they are being experienced. And when you begin to identify with a character, you discover what it feels like to be someone else.

A fine teacher of literature at Northwestern University recently wrote:

[In novels,] readers watch heroes and heroines in the never-ending process of justifying themselves, deceiving themselves, arguing with themselves. That is something you cannot watch in real life, where we see others only from the outside and have to infer inner states from their behavior... [Reading an account of] a quarrel, we experience from

within what each person is perceiving and thinking. How misunderstandings or unintentional insults happen becomes clear. — This is a form of novelistic wisdom taught by nothing else quite so well.

The women on our reading list are all astute observers of both human beings and the human condition, and their novels give students a chance to experience the perceptions, concerns, and values of other eras and other societies. To understand those novels, students must suspend their own 21st-century values and ways of looking at things and, for a while, entertain perspectives quite different from their own. — Such reading becomes an exercise in understanding historical and cultural context, expanding their imaginations, and developing their capacity for insight and empathy.

Assignments. The primary activities in this course are 1) reading the novels on our reading list (see right) and 2) class discussion of those readings. Students will also learn:

� close reading and annotation skills — From time to time, students will scan their annotated pages from their books and submit them to the instructor.

� vocabulary — Students will list new words they’re encountering in their reading and master those words.

� writing — Students will write one analytical essay per semester, will be coached on writing effective literary essays, and will learn the essentials of MLA format. They will also read and critique one another’s essays.

Students will likely read around 70 pages per week (30-some-odd pages from one class to the next). All works will be read in roughly chronological order, so that students can trace cultural and artistic developments throughout the hundred-plus years represented by our authors.

MATH

One-on-one math tutoring at The BlendHigh school can be the time when students begin to struggle with a variety of math concepts. The trouble is often traceable to gaps in the student’s math education or incomplete mastery of earlier concepts.

The problem with classroom math Classroom instruction can often mask these hidden gaps: the teacher has a syllabus to run and, with the best of intentions, pitches the instruction to the large middle of the group. But all too often, such instruction turns out to be a mismatch: a one-size-fits-all solution attempting to address a diversity of real needs and challenges.

It’s a situation familiar to teachers in our schools: students with gaps must limp along, trying to keep up, and the foundational gaps in each student’s math education are never even identified, let alone addressed.

Learning one on one The most efficient method of fixing the problem and giving students a strong footing in computation and mathematical reasoning is through some form of individualized learning—the same method that works for homeschoolers everywhere. The challenge is really twofold:diagnosing the problems — identifying each student’s gaps and shoring up the incomplete mastery of earlier topics;providing ongoing one-on-one instruction — a challenge that becomes increasingly difficult for parents as the math concepts

become more complex, as in the high school years.

To address these challenges, The Blend builds and strengthens math skills through math tutoring:Initial assessment & program design. Our tutors start by first assessing each student’s math skills and knowledge and then

creating a learning plan just for that student. Customized learning. Our tutors select from a vast array of worksheets and explanations that — when combined with individual

tutoring — help students address gaps in learning, shore up shaky skills, and move ahead with the appropriate level of high school math — whether that means basic computational work, abstract reasoning, or preparation for standardized tests.

READING LIST[This list may be subject to change.]Jane Austen:

Pride & PrejudiceCharlotte Brontë:

Jane EyreMary Shelley:

FrankensteinGeorge Eliot:

The Mill on the FlossEdith Wharton:

The Age of InnocenceKate Chopin:

The AwakeningIsak Dineson:

Out of AfricaLydia Chukovskaya:

Sofia Petrovna

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORS

Diane Speed — honors science: Chemistry with lab

Diane has a B.S. from Drexel University, majoring in biology with a minor in chemistry. Before marrying, Diane worked in laboratories at:SmithKline Pharmaceuticals (antibiotic development);Temple University Research labs (hemophilia/clotting factors);the Philadelphia Water Department (water purity). This will be Diane’s second year teaching chemistry to homeschooled highschoolers. She is also the designer / instructor of The Blend’s course Honors Biology.

Roy Speed — honors literature: Novels by Women — writing skills: Essay Writing & Appreciation

Roy is a writing consultant in the corporate world. As a homeschooling dad, he has not only worked with his own children; for more than a decade he has been teaching classes to homeschooled students on history, literature, Shakespeare, writing, and grammar. Among his recent courses he has offered: Novels by Women; History and Literature of the Middle Ages; and Essay Writing & Appreciation. He currently teaches online classes in Shakespeare.

WRITING SKILLS INSTRUCTOR: ROY SPEED

Essay Writing & AppreciationReading great essays, understanding the form, and finding your own voice in writing

The emphasis of this course is insight — those fleeting, intuitive leaps we all make at some point, magic glimpses of understanding and even wisdom. In our daily lives, we seldom capture them, record them, or explore them, but they make for splendid essays. Our students, accordingly, are encouraged to notice and record their own insights and explore them in the form of essays.

The problem with the academic approachIn schools, the essay is usually taught to students as a classroom artifact — a necessary academic chore properly conducted in a rigid form, like the five-paragraph essay. Equally alarming, students are usually asked to write essays before they’ve actually read any.

In the real world, essays provide a forum for sharing insights or discoveries or for discussing controversies. In virtually every field of human endeavor — science, economics, history, law, foreign policy, you name it — the leaders or pioneers in the field invariably turn to the essay as the medium of choice for discussing new developments out on the frontiers of discovery. So in every field, the most important discussions and debates take place in the form of essays.

Understanding the formIt’s no accident that this course is called Essay Writing & Appreciation: our students read some of the finest essays ever written and come to a profound appreciation of what can be accomplished in this versatile form. The purpose of the course is to equip students to write essays themselves — to express their thoughts and insights in writing — and in so doing, it prepares them to participate in discussions conducted by leaders in whatever fields our students choose to pursue.

Our approach to writing emphasizes the following features, all closely related:logical flow;clarity of expression;economy of expression;impact.

How our students learnClass activities and homework include:reading and analyzing essays

by great writers;maintaining a notebook of

observations & insights;sketching out (or

mindmapping) essay ideas; drafting essays;editing exercises;reading and critiquing other

students’ essays.