Review of the past few days

A quick update for the past few days. Sorry for the delay--I have been very sick and unable to keep the blog up-to-date, though I expect to return to daily updates now.

We memorized John 8:31-34 and will be passing it off today. We have considered how this scripture applies to the characters in Les Miserables.

In Les Miserables, students should have read up through page 274 by today. We will have a reading quiz tomorrow. We have been working on discussing the following topics from the novel:

• The "death" of Jean Valjean (p.147)
• What is the difference between virtue and love?
• The redemption of Cosette and Fantine—how has Jean Valjean become the Bishop? (p.150)
• Why Christmas? Why no room at the inn? (p.161, p.185 advent, p.181 9 months)
• Why does Valjean refuse to share any kind of passport or documents with the Thenardiers?
• Why does Valjean pay the Thenardiers far more than they deserve or even ask? (He pays them 15000 francs which would be approximately $6,000 today.)
• Significance of the doll? (p.171) Of the clothing? (p.177)
• In what ways has Valjean redeemed Cosette's childhood?
• Symbolism of passing over the wall INTO the garden this time: paradise regained (p. 214)
• Convent saved Valjean from pride (p.215,216 Cosette: love; Convent: humility)
• How was the convent similar to and different from prison?
• Second house of God (p.216)
• “Father” motif: who is fatherless/parentless, and who serves as adoptive fathers?
• Who’s who in the Gillenormand family? (pp.222-228)

 On Nov. 19, I gave a brief overview of the history of the French Revolution to provide background for Les Miserables. We will study this same history in greater detail soon.

In Writing Portfolio we have been practicing writing summaries. We have written two types of summaries:

1. A summary which summarizes from the author's point of view (Luther's Address to the Christian Nobles)
2. A summary which draws on multiple sources to create a unique narration of a historical event (Summary of the Glorious Revolution)

In Writing Portfolio, we are starting our next writing assignment: a letter to the editor in response to the question, "Is the U.S. Constitution exceptional?" (Please see separate post.)