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Eclipse's High School Courses
A credit was roughly 180 of study. Clonlara's default course report forms included a course title, a description, a list of resources used, and a self evaluation on a scale of 1 - 10.
Philosophy & Religion
Resources Actually Used:
Books: Cooking (vegetarian) Whenever I have some extra time, I slip into the kitchen to prepare a little food--maybe bake pita bread for lunches, make crepes to freeze for future dinners, hard boiled eggs, yogurt, or banana bread just to have on hand. Besides this, I make dinner from scratch for the family about twice a week (it usually takes around two hours. I have made quiches, bean salads, various soups, spaghetti, biscuits, rolls, stuffed tomatoes, all manner of vegetables....the list goes on). Cookbooks are compellingly enjoyable to browse, and since we have a great many of them I do so at every opportunity. I am constantly finding new recipes or whole areas of cooking that I would like to try. With the coming of spring I've begun to research, identify, gather and prepare edible wild plants that grow in the forest and field around our house. A friend has very recently inspired me to learn about edible insects as well, and I hope to begin raising (aptly named!) meal worms to incorporate into some of my recipes (so far I have cooked almost exclusively vegetarian, but as I am not actually vegetarian, such unusual, inexpensive and environmentally sound protein as meal worms is too good to pass up!)
Resources Actually Used: Alternative Education As an unschooler/Clonlara student, I was naturally drawn to reading as much as possible about the homeschooling movement as well as other alternatives to traditional school education. Add to this the many inevitable discussions/debates with total strangers and close friends about the merits of homeschooling and self education (a favorite pastime of mine), local homeschool group meetings, keeping records for Clonlara, and attending Grace Llewellyn's Not Back to School Camp, and I've got pretty strong practical/theoretical knowledge of the subject. Outside of homeschooling, my reading has focused primarily on Summerhill, and to a lesser extent on the Montessori system and Sudbury Valley schools.
Resources Actually Used: Psychology (Dreams) While I have never set up any official study of psychology, paging through an intro. college text on the subject assured me that from my studies of education, non-human cognition, primatology, biology, psychoactive drugs, human sexuality, philosophy, &c, I have the basics well in hand. This half-credit touched on several general psychology areas (particularly Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences and the psychology of love/sexuality), but was primarily focused (~50 hours) on dreaming. I have kept a dream journal for several years, the contents of which I regularly discuss with interested individuals. The Internet has many worthwhile resources on dream research, dream interpretation, and dream control (shades of creative and lucid dreaming), and I browsed these with interest. With some time and effort I was able to minimally influence the content of my own dreams, and improve my recall of them drastically.
Resources Actually Used: Linguistics (Conlangs) My primary introduction to this field was via the wonderful text An Introduction to Language, by V Fromkin and R Rodman. This I read the whole way through, even working many problems. My readings ranged from there through developmental linguistics and sociolinguistics, meeting up with my studies in animal language research, foreign languages, and psychology. I spent a good while (~42 hours) researching conlangs, that is, constructed languages. These are languages that individuals create, sometimes from scratch, either purely for fun/aesthetics/fantasy (like Klingon) or with the hopes that it will be adopted as an international language (like Esperanto). I dabbled with my own creation of the former variety (Kikan) and explored the creations of others via webpages and the e-mail list CONLANG-L, but one conlang in particular caught my interest. This was the "universal musical language" Solresol, creation of Jean Francois Sudre over a century and a half ago. Solresol uses the 7 notes of the harmonic scale as the basic components for words. After a great deal of research time I located a copy of the book describing the language, and have been browsing it with interest (though unfortunately it is written in French, which I don't yet speak).
Resources Actually Used: Intro. to World Languages I seem to have some natural skill at picking up the basics of foreign languages. This is a great deal of fun for me, and as I have excellent recall even several months later, may potentially be useful. I've searched the Internet for useful websites and dictionaries, looked up the words in on-line Indonesian newspapers, collected and browsed phrase books in Japanese, French, Arabic and a great number of other languages. I check materials out of the library, especially video and audio cassettes, and mimic the speakers while I clean my room. I've learned the Hebrew alphabet, and can read all of the Cyrillic alphabet (at one point I knew the signed version as well, but have since forgotten pieces of it). I taught myself the American manual alphabet over a year ago and sign words to myself constantly (out of sheer habit, these days). The languages listed below are roughly in order of my knowledge of them, from greatest to least. I can read short children’s stories written in Hebrew, and know the basic conversational phrases in Russian. I must know several dozens of ASL signs, although my grammatical knowledge is slight. Indonesian/Malay I am more than passingly familiar with; Maori, Samoan, German and Japanese are, at the present, mere acquaintances. Also included here are the hours I spent studying Spanish after my first credit. Books: General: The Languages of the World, Kenneth Katzner Hebrew: My friend Casey Mah Tov, Asot Mishpat Hebrew for Travellers, Berlitz The First Hebrew Primer for Adults, Simon Stahl & Motzkin Anderson Hebrew in 10 Minutes a Day the Language/30 and Berlitz Hebrew audio casettes Russian: Essentials of Russian, A. v. Gronicka & H. Bates-Yakobson Routledge Russian Dictionary, compiled by William Harrison & Svetlana le Fleming American Sign Language: A Show of Hands, Mary Beth Sullivan and Linda Bourke Sesame Street's Sign Language ABC with Linda Bove A Dictionary of American Sign Language, William Stokoe, Dorothy Casterline, Carl Croneberg The American Sign Language Phrase Book, Lou Fant American Sign Language Concise Dictionary, Martin Sternberg The Pocket Dictionary of Signing, Rod R. Butterworth and Mickey Flodin http://www.masterstech-home.com/ASLDict.html Indonesian/Malay: My key-pal Felix The Indonesian Dictionary On-Line: http://hafni.aia.bppt.go.id/kebi/ Kamus: http://www.iit.edu/~syafsya/searchword.cgi Kompas On-Line: http://www.kompas.com see also: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/2082/indonesian.html Everyday Indonesian, Thomas Oey Colloquial Malay: a complete language course, Zaharah Othoman and Sutanto Atmosumarto Periplus Editions's Pocket Dictionary Maori: Learn Maori Language: http://lc.byuh.edu/Maori/lml.html The H.M.Ngata English-Maori Dictionary online: http://www.learningmedia.co.nz/nz/nd/ndindex.htm Te Wahapu Web Public Access: http://www.dia.govt.nz/dia/general/dictionary/maori/public/wordsearch.html Beginner's Maori, K. T. Harawira Samoan: Gagana Samoa: a Samoan language coursebook, Galumalemana Afeleti L Hunkin (w/ casette) Samoan Dictionary, G. B. Milner German: My friend Lucas, children's books Japanese: Living Language traveltalk - Japanese 90 minute casette Syllabary charts World Cultures This half credit was comprised of a combination of readings in world history and anthropology. I discovered a special love of the latter with William Haviland's text, Cultural Anthropology, which I read cover-to-cover. There was a slight focus (~20 hours) on Pacific Island cultures, stemming from my interest in the Hawaiian Language, but this course was more balanced than the resource list might suggest, with other readings particularly on Native American and African cultures as well.
Resources Actually Used: Art/Mixed Media Close to half this half-credit was spent learning the basics of airbrushing; the rest consisted of introductory work in other media, including photography, computer graphics/image editing, miniatures/sculpture, and ever more drawing and sketching. It was great fun. What more can I say? To view my actual work, please see my portfolio and/or http://www2.cybercities.com/t/thecove/entrance.html
Resources Actually Used: Comics What a fantastic medium! And what a pity that I didn't discover it years ago. From the haunting, surreal beauty of Jim Woodring's dream worlds to the soul numbing bleakness of Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan and Quimby Mouse, ideas conveyed through this art-form of sequential images have a unique ability to worm their ways into my consciousness and stick. Scott McCloud's classic Understanding Comics was my guide to the theory behind and potentials of the medium; I went from there. Naturally this has included drawing my own comics, usually time consuming but informal projects--often letters and journal entries.
Resources Actually Used: Computer Hardware/Repair Largely a hands-on course, this included extensive work troubleshooting/repairing and upgrading my own main computer (a PC clone with specs that have varied widely over the past few years) and various other computers old and new, including XT, 386, and 486 PCs, Dauphin DTR-1 laptop, Apple IIe, Exidy Sorcerer, and others. Taught my brother about computers. Patched wiring, tested voltages with a multimeter, learned to use a soldering iron, &c. I found that the best way to learn was by tagging along after local computer-geeks, carefully watching them work and asking constant questions. The hours I spent at our local used-computer store, examining merchandise and listening to my geek friends bargaining while buying/selling/trading old parts were also instructive. My friend Lucas is both a gifted technician and skilled teacher, who put a lot of energy into passing some of his technique and encyclopeadic knowledge on to me. This hands-on approach was supplemented by reading and discussion (mostly on-line).
Resources actually used: English Literature Fiction, especially fiction so well written as the classics, seems like such an indulgence that I never manage to allow myself enough time for it. A little over half of this credit was Shakespeare--I read the plays listed below, but also had the opportunity to see performances of Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and HenryV, as well as the movies of Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar, and Romeo and Juliet. I never did quite manage to get through the histories, but I am looking forward to reading the rest of the comedies and tragedies. I must admit that the other books listed below seem rather random. How I decide what to read is a mystery even to me, but I can say that those books were often picked at the recommendation/encouragement of friends (an English teacher and the owner of a used book store I frequent, as well as my 'peers') and discussed with them. All were read for pleasure and with that sort of concentration reserved for good books, outside in the hammock, or perhaps nestled up under the covers with a cat--no wonder it felt like shameless indulgence!
Resources Actually Used: Hawaiian Language - II I had to be even more creative this time around, without a text to base my studies on. I continued correspondence with Hawaiian-speaking key-pals, and made use of audio recording myself, sporadically keeping a sort of audio-journal in Hawaiian. Keali'i Reichel's songs in Hawaiian have been invaluable for learning to recognize words aurally as well as for becoming familiar with poetic expressions. I've listened to Kahealani Wight's audio cassettes repeatedly as well--from simple vocabulary and pronunciation exercises to more advanced dialogues, stories, and songs, these are without a doubt the best foreign language cassettes I have ever come across. All that listening and babbling to myself in Hawaiian paid off when I at last had the chance to converse with a Hawaiian speaker (a sister of a friend) over the phone. While a short, long-distance phone call with someone I didn't know even a little (and who habitually kept switching to English on me) wasn't ideal, I was amazed to discover that not only could I speak Hawaiian conversationally, I could do so rather well! The individual I talked with said that my pronunciation was excellent, even, and I was exhilarated by the time I hung up the phone. Less exciting, but still enjoyable, have been further book studies and readings of poetry, listening to Hawaiian music radio broadcast over the Internet, reading Hawaiian newspaper articles on-line, and continuing to teach bits of the language to anyone who's interested. I'm currently reading Huaka'i Maka'ika'i a Kaupo, Maui, a travel-journal of sorts from Maui in the 1920s. I have every intention of continuing my studies of this language as long as I am able, and look forward to the day when I can at last visit the islands, to make use of and expand what knowledge of ka 'olelo Hawai'i I have.
Resources Actually Used: Physics I attempted to become especially strong in the basics--Newtonian Mechanics particularly--and went so far as to spend a great deal of time learning to understand the calculus used in solving the relevant problems. My dad (a physical chemist who does research and also teaches part-time at a local university) taught me all of that, using parts of college physics and calculus texts. It was slow going (but what we did cover, we covered in depth and I feel I understand well), so I also tried to acquaint myself with the field on broader terms--optics, magnetism, thermodynamics, basic quantum theory and some of the ideas behind relativity. Ties with my practical experience with electronics/computers, my readings in popular cosmology, and the college chemistry course I've been taking are readily apparent.
Resources Actually Used: Speech During this credit, I spent a while working (as a volunteer) at City Museum, explaining weaving to visitors (individuals and groups). I conducted 2 newspaper interviews (as interviewee) and read books about public speaking from a few different angles. With the knowledge from that, I listened to four tapes of historical speeches, with an ear to presentation/style/composition. I've told stories, and was a panelist at a homeschool information session. I've also given short workshops on various subjects, and read my poetry aloud when given the opportunity. Despite having relatively limited access to speaking opportunities, I feel that I have learned a good amount about communicating vocally in a number of public settings.
Resources Actually Used: American Government As well as more traditional readings about the presidency, constitution, etc, this half-credit included beginning studies in economics, and early research on the legal aspects of starting a business (something I plan to do in the near future) and environmental law. There was naturally some reading of American history and current events included as well. Most enjoyable has been following the intense discussions of government and society that my homeschooled peers on nbtsc-l (the Not Back To School Camp e-mail list) often engage in (there are a few very vocal libertarians...) Resources Actually Used: The Declaration of Independence The Constitution of the United States of America Books: Common Cents, Timothy Penny & Major Garrett Understanding the Constitution Econ 101.5, Elaine Schwartz English IV Besides the letters and e-mails that are ubiquitous in my life, I wrote my first research paper and several essays for college admissions requirements. I strove to do my best with these, referencing books on writing papers and formal rules of grammar, and I am pleased with the results (apparently the colleges were too!) . A few more poems trickled in as well…
Resources Actually Used:
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