We watched part 2 of John Adams. Because we're all studying the American Revolution it gave us several points for discussion. The American Revolution is one of my favorite periods in American (and in fact world) history. Here were a few resources passed at the meeting: Make tests and flashcards:Link Link to academic lectures:Link (there [...]

Malcolm Gladwell is touting the 10,000 hours (or 10 years) principle that I’m so fond of. I saw him in an interview on CNN talking about it and I thought, “That’s what I’ve been saying for a years now.” I haven’t read his book yet, but I’m very interested in how he perceives the implications. [...]

When I talk with people about my belief that there is latent potential all around us — that dropouts should not be written off because of the lost contributions to society — I’m met with stiff resistance to the idea. I contend that greatness can, and when given the chance, does spring from anywhere. As [...]

Our study group watched the first installment of the miniseries, John Adams. We also discussed study methods and online tools (scroll down to see previous posts of flash cards and tests we are developing). The goal is to not only help each other, but to leave bread crumbs for others who want to study for [...]

Here is my first attempt at online flash cards: Powered By ProProfs: Create Flashcards

I'm experimenting with creating tests on Proprof.com: Link History of the United States 1660s-1763 Quiz … » Free Online Quizzes

This was done in Maya, a 3D software program. I'm really pleased with what the program can do. I still need to learn to set the controls for animation (called rigging) and then, I need to learn to animate. It'll take a while to learn, but I like how much progress I've made so far. [...]

Currently I'm taking a 3D modeling course at James Madison University. Here is an assignment I'm working on for class. We all have to do a cartoon character. I'm not quite done yet, but seeing as it's Veteran's Day, I thought it would be a good time to unveil my progress on Captain America: Hopefully [...]

On Friday we went over where we were in our reading and note taking. We also reviewed some of the questions in the study guide and had a discussion on the answers. Everybody is in the pre-Revolutionary War period, so the discussion ranged over topics that led to the break with England. Some of the [...]

Today was the first official meeting for the group. Everyone has to read all the chapters (16 in all) but we are going to divide the effort to develop study resources by chapter. We are going to create notes on 3 by 5 note cards. On the outside of the card it will have a [...]