When evil is being done......

FIRST THINGS FIRST:  Sword of Freedom Movie Day at General Walk's house is Saturday, October 17th from 9 am to 6 pm.  We will be watching 3 movies (this is one of your requirements!) so it will be a fairly long day. Feel free to bring stuff to keep your hands busy...knitting, coloring, legos, whatever.  :-)

Please bring a sack lunch, as well as snacks to share with everyone for the day. It is a LONG day, and I'd like to test a theory: the more snacks we eat, the more we get out of the movies! Sounds right....anyway...


This week in class was intense!

We talked about a WHOLE lot of history, from the prelude of the Bleeding Kansas incidents, all the way through the tension of the Fractured election of 1860.

We also learned about the Cycles of History, discussed principles of generational cycles and archetypes (Prophet, Nomad, Hero, Arist) set forth in The Fourth Turning, and learned you are all HEROES! Lucky you. Your Generals are just NOMADS.  :-)  But at least we are happy and fulfilled in our wanderings....

Anyway, MATTHEW did a great job on his presentation on spies! Thank you Matthew! I heard a rumor (via a telegram I received recently) that some late presentation treats may appear next week. Well, we shall see, I suppose. STOP.

OK...ASSIGNMENTS:

-Write your paper on "When evil is being done, is it right to respond with evil?"
-Finish Uncle Tom's Cabin!
-ADAM - finish your presentation on Life as a Slave - you present next week!

Carry on, soldiers. We'll see you next week!

-Generals Schmeider and Walk

Is Compromise a good thing? Why or why not?

Greetings fellow Sword pursuers!

Yesterday's class, as you all know, was FABULOUS!

Benjamin lead us in some awesome military drills/exercises he's learned at the Civil Air Patrol. "Left hace, right hace, about hace! (why don't we pronounce the "f" again?) ....and so on. It was really fun and informative. Thank you Benjamin!

Kaleigh gave a superb presentation on FOOD in the Civil war Army. Are we not grateful to live in such prosperous times? I know some of you enjoyed the hard tack (it was pretty good), but it sure doesn't beat pizza or sesame chicken! How about having to buy your own milk or butter in the army? 

Our servicemen sacrificed so much for our nation's unity and stability. We are so blessed by their willingness to put others' well-being above their own safety. GREAT job on your presentation Kaleigh!

MATTHEW - you have your presentation next week on SPIES in the Civil War

General Schmeider related to us the FASCINATING prelude to the Civil War. She spent an amazing amount of time preparing the awesome lecture, and we ate it up! We took notes furiously, because she was SO good! The events leading up the Civil War illuminate the reasons behind its intensity, length and importance.

And then there was the blue birthday cake.... YUM!

PLEASE REMEMBER - ASSIGNMENTS for NEXT WEEK

-Finish Uncle Tom's Cabin (discussion in 2 Thursdays!)

-Write/Bring your paper on "Is Compromise a Good Thing? Why or Why not?"

-Write/Bring your paper (that was due yesterday) on Allegiance (if you didn't yet)

-Continue working on memorizing The Gettysburg Address and songs

-MAKE, USE and BRING your TO-DO Lists! General Schmeider will reward you!

-MATTHEW - you have your presentation next week on SPIES in the Civil War - so get it ready! You'll be great!

Where does your Allegiance lie?

Welcome to Sword everyone! 

Today was a great class. We were so excited to:

   - get to know you better (thanks for those surveys!)
   - exercise with you (oh, you crazy wall sits, you!)
   - talk about proper note taking and and proper lecture behavior
   - see your eyes light up with the knowledge that YOU CAN  complete the requirements and earn the SWORD!


We talked about award requirements, rules, class behaviors, and TIME MANAGEMENT! General Schmeider hooked us up with some awesome advice about how to get IMPORTANT things DONE!

This week, your assignments are:

- Read Uncle Tom's Cabin (only a few weeks left before the colloquium!)
- Work on your presentations - KALEIGH --> you are up next week!
- Write a paper on the question, "Where is your allegiance and why?"
- ASK YOUR PARENTS what Saturdays in October and November are free for a movie day
- ASK YOUR PARENTS which battle activity they would financially support...paintballing (out of pocket for you or your parents) or airsoft/nerf/water balloon war (if you have airsoft guns we can borrow this should be LOW cost)


Remember, as you are passing off requirements, you advance in rank.
The person with the greatest rank each class period, gets SPECIAL PRIVILEGES!

And you can get to class early to steal your opponent's flag...for bragging rights.

See you next Thursday!

- Generals Walk and Schmeider

Lee Surrenders

Hi Everyone!

Today, we covered the surrender at Appomattox.  General Grant and his army treated General Lee and his army with great respect.

We also did a document study on Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural Address.

Then we ended with a fun video and discussion.  Here's a link to the video: http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/383057/a-tale-of-momentum-inertia/

There was no writing assignment this week.

Assignments:

• MEMORIZE!!!
• Read thru Amendments 13-15
• Hero Reports
• Watch Movies
• Start reading "To Kill A Mockingbird"  (Due January 8th)

Only three classes left.

I'm ordering swords soon.  Everyone needs to get working to finish up these last few requirements.  We'll be able to pass off the Speeches/Documents requirement in class next week.  :-)

Parents:  Over Christmas break, your student can pass off their memory work to you instead of General Lisa or General Paige.

See you all next week!

~General Lisa & General Paige

Gone with the Wind

Hi Everyone!

Thank you to General Paige for doing a fabulous job of presenting our class topic and running our book discussion on Thursday!

I think it was Haley who advanced in rank with her Hero Report.  Congrats!

ASSIGNMENTS:

• Watch "Gone with the Wind" if you haven't already.  Class next week will make a lot more sense if you've seen it.
• Write a letter home as if you had just fought in the Battle of Gettysburg. (some of you may have already completed this one, as I gave it out early.)
• Memorize:  Gettysburg Address, 3 songs, or core book on gov't
• Keep working on your HERO REPORTS

Presentations:  

11/20 -- Noah 

See you all next week!

~General Lisa

The Gettysburg Address

Hi Everyone!

We finished up our study of all things Gettysburg this past Thursday.  We watched a video to help us wrap our brains around what 2200 young men marching by looks like and we talked about a picture of Cougar Stadium in Utah.  We used the picture with approximately 51,000 people in the stadium to help us wrap our brains around just how many people were killed or wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg alone.  We then watched a great video with animated maps of the battle itself.  We finished up our videos with some fun videos to help us with our thoughts on our document study of The Gettysburg Address.  

Advancements: Joshua, Carson, and John have all moved up a rank.  (I hope I remembered everyone.)

• Joshua gave a fabulous presentation on Life as a slave
• Carson presented on his hero report
• John passed off his song memorizing requirement

ASSIGNMENTS:

• Reading:  We're discussing the book "Abraham Lincoln" in class on Thursday.  Finish reading this week if you're not already done.

• Writing:   There was no writing assignment for this week, but if you'd like to get ahead and do the one for next week:  Write a letter home as if you had just fought in the Battle of Gettysburg. 

• Memorization:   Pass off the Gettysburg Address.  I would love it if everyone worked to get this passed off before Thanksgiving.  Especially since we just covered it and it has more meaning to us right now.

• Movies:   Watch one of the three required movies.  If you are able to make it, we'll be watching "Gone with the Wind" at my house this Friday, the 14th, starting at 6pm.  If you can't make the movie night and you haven't already watched this movie, try to watch it on your own before the 20th as we will be watching a fun spoof of parts of Gone with the Wind in class and it won't make any sense to you at all if you haven't seen the original movie.  :-)

• Reports/Presentations:  Noah's presentation on Prisons or Weapons is on the 20th.  Everyone (except Carson) keep working on your Hero Reports and start getting those presented and turned in.

See you all on Thursday!

~General Lisa

Gettysburg

Hi Everyone!

Sorry I'm a little behind on posting.

Two weeks ago, John gave his presentation and advanced in rank.  General Paige taught us about the battles at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Vicksburg.  We also discussed the book "Across Five Aprils."  Our writing assignment was to write a poem on something that you have studied so far in Sword.

Last week we started our coverage of Gettysburg.  Our class was cut a little short because of the Halloween party, but we were able to use the big map and hopefully get a little bit of an idea of the battle at Gettysburg. Alison gave her presentation and advanced in rank.  There was no writing assignment.

Coming up this week (tomorrow)...  We'll be covering more of Gettysburg, including our document study of the Gettysburg Address.

Presentations:
11/6 -- Joshua -- Life as a slave
11/20 -- Noah -- Prisons or Weapons

Assignments:

• "Abraham Lincoln" book is due next week 11/13.  Finish up your reading.
• How is your Hero Report coming?  
• Memorize and pass off something.
• How are you doing on the movies?

See you tomorrow!
~General Lisa