Yes, finally I am done (mostly) with school. I finished up watching my classes yesterday now, all I have left are a few tests and things that I seem to have gotten behind on... Enough of that on to the main reason I'm posting this. I want to look back over the last school year and just comment on some thing I learned, disliked or really enjoyed. I'll do this class by class.

Biology

Probably my favorite class I think I learned alot from it. I took the class over the Home-Sat, watching it every day starting at 8:25. My teacher, Mrs. Ericson, was really fun. She definitely can relate to kids--mainly because I think she thinks she is still a kid! Anyway We started off the school year learning the history behind Biology. Learning about some of the first people to start cataloging animals. Studying how they live, etc. Later we moved on from smallest to biggest.

We started with the Bacteria (Kingdom Monera) and learned how they can be both a danger and a blessing. After that we moved on to The other microscopic living things--the Algae and the Protozoans (both in Kingdom Protista) We learned all about the Amebas and the kelps; it really was an interesting Chapter. Then we moved on to Kingdom Fungi. We learned about all the mushrooms and toadstools. We learned about Mold and yeast. This chapter was quite interesting as well. Fun fact: Fungi (yes, even mushrooms) do not form tissues--they are colonial.

Then our study bloomed into a study of Botany--The Study of plants. We learn alot of stuff from this topic. We started out with a few of the odd plants (mosses and ferns) then we move on to the trees and flowers Etc. We studied how leaves make energy for the plant using sunlight (photosynthisis) Also we learned how things were transported in plants using Xylem and Phloem. I learned alot from the study.

After Botany we went into Zoology--The Study of Animals. We started with the invertebrates (worms, Bugs, Aquatic invertebrates Etc.) and learned the basics from them. Yes, this was when I did my first dissection--the Earth worm Dissection. That wasn't too bad and it was a good practice for the things I would have to do next. Along with the worms we also studied Crustations. This is the part where I did my second dissection--the Crayfish dissection. That may have been the most difficult namely because of all the legs and things that it had.

Logically the thing that comes next is the vertebrates. We started with the study of the skeleton--learning terms and certain bones Etc. Then we went into specific animals, and when I say "went into", I do mean went into. We studied the Fish first, learning all about how they swim and how they filter Oxygen from the water. Then, we dissected one. For those of you who have visited my blog you've seen my post on the Fish dissection--for those of you who haven't read it it is called Something Fishy...

After the fish we quickly studied the Reptiles. Nothing extremely interesting there. (Aside from the snakes :P )

Then we studied all about the Amphibians. Yes, the frogs. As most of you know I had the wonderful (yes, that -is- Sarcasm) experience of dissecting a frog. And to the right you can see several different picture of the finished frog.



The first two you see are the frog without a skin. Yeah, his insides are all taken out but I open him up from his bottom (dorsal) side. So in these pics he just looks like a frog without his skin. If it weren't for the chemicals in him I'd accually consider eating off his legs--I hear they taste like chicken. Really they did look appealing. Don't stare at me like that...




The next Picture you see here is the skin of the frog held above the dissection pan. The skin was quite an interesting part. it wasn't as hard as I though it would be. In fact it really was quite easy. My lab partner (Jessie, who was there only for school purposes --as was I may I add) was a big help in this part. I pulled back the skin and she had the scalpel and cut off the bits of connective tissue (mezentaries) and I was able to peel the skin back more until it was finally all off.


This next pic shows the whole frog in the dissection pan. I'll go into the details about the organs I removed in the next picture, but you can see here it was quite alot of work. Not only removing the organs but also finding and identifying them.




In this final picture of my wonderful frog lab I shall show you the things I had to dig inside this frog for. I'll start from the top. The yellow orange organ there is a bunch of "fat bodies" connected to it is the frogs' reproductive organ. This was at the very top of the frog. Going from the bottom that means it is the last thing I get to.

The brown little blobs in the middle are the lungs. They are collapsed and filled with chemicals for preservation but they are really quite interesting.

The little organ on the right is the frog's heart. Yes, I had to find and take that out.

The two little panels to the far, far right are the portion of the frog's body wall I had to remove to get into the rest of him.

and lastly the organ on the very bottom is the digestive system. Yes everything is there--the esophogus, the stomach, and the intestine. Nasty stuff.

Alright we finished the Amphibians now we went onto the warm blooded (accually, endothermic [internally heated]) animals; this would be the Birds and Mammals. Once again I loved this chapter-- I love learning how things work--especially things that our Lord made. Really, This chapter was fun. It also served as an introduction to what we are about to study--Humans.

Yes, that's right we turned the focus to ourselves. Once again I love seeing how God created me, how all the different body systems work together, and everything. We are fearfully and wonderfully made!

That pretty much sums it up. We ended with humans and how they work. I honestly can say I enjoyed the class--I learned from it too.

Geometry

Another fun class, well, most of the time. I think I can say I learned from this class. It definitely helped me think logically.

We started with the basics and worked up. Starting with review of Angle measurements and ultimately going into Trigonometry. I enjoyed the class as a whole. Mr. Conn, My teacher, was a good teacher, maybe a little absent minded, but still a good thorough teacher.

A fun little Highlight of the class was the "Hands Video" for almost every Chapter. A while back an assistant of Mr. Conn made some videos illustrating some ideas of Geometry. They were quite funny.

Over all I may not remember everything but I think I have a strong grasp of Geometry.

World History

Starting with the Garden of Eden we went trough the different periods of time From ancient to Modern. Everywhere from the East to the West. I accually enjoyed this class. True, I don't usually like history classes and true again this wasn't my favorite class, but this was mainly an overview of history not very specific details. I don't care to much for learning about specific people or battles. I like the over-arching themes through out history-- Like, "What country was the most powerful at the time and why?" or, "Why weren't the other countries as great?" Things like that are interesting to me, and that is what this class mainly was.

Grammar/Literature

Yes, I'm a little strange but I enjoy English class--mostly because it all makes some kind of sense. True, the people who invented English had to be partially crazy because of all the inconsistencies (Don't beleive me? try this-- The plural form of goose is what? Geese right. Now how about moose? Is it Meese?) but accepting that I accually enjoy English--even the writing.

I had English first semester and Elements of Literature the next. I enjoyed the class as well. Lots of Poems and short stories were in my book because it focused on the finer points of writing--things like Imaginative comparisons, Sound and Syntax, thought and theme, allusion-- I could go on and on but that is just a small list of the things I learned about. It really is interesting to see how authors put in some little details just to spice up their story, or poem. I enjoyed this class immensely.

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That is all of my Home-Sat classes, but I must say one little thing about my other class--Health. True I'm only half-way through the course but I must say I have enjoyed spending time with my dad going through the different aspects of health. It has been a fun class all the way around.

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And that is all! Thanks for reading. I know my teachers will probably never see this but I'd thank them If I could. (Yes, Dad since I can I'll thank you for teaching me Health)

It really has been a good school year but Now it is summer, and, boy, am I ready for a break!

Thanks again for stopping by,

~Joey