Day: February 20, 2009

A couple of days ago I finally finished Teaching Textbooks Geometry, and finally started Teaching Textbooks Pre-Calculus.  Phew!  Normally, I would not be jumping-up-and-down-excited over starting a new math book, but this time it was different.  All I can say is that Geometry is not Algebra. It does not give me the same comforting, logical feeling that Algebra does. And yes I know Geometry is very, very logical. It just doesn’t feel the same. Thankfully Pre-Calculus has a similar feel to Algebra.  It’s harder than I expected, but I am actually enjoying it and looking forward to doing it. I’m trying to not set my hopes up to high though. Every time I start a new math book, it seems pretty easy and obvious and straightforward in the beginning. And then by Lesson 15 I’m knee deep in corrections.  All a part of the learning process I suppose!

As you’ve probably already read, I got my ACT scores in. I am very happy with them, but I hope to do better next year, especially in the math department.  I think I will, because just yesterday I learned a very simple something in my Pre-Calculus that was on the test.  That was kinda frustrating, but there’s nothing I can really do about it but retain the information for next year’s ACT.

Yesterday night I was trying to think of a new plotline for next week’s Betty Blonde. I’ve found it’s much easier to do a plotline a week than just several gag strips by the way.  Longer plotlines (like Nosey-book) will last two weeks, and normal stories will last one, with the occasional gag strip to separate the storylines.  Anyway, I was thinking and thinking. Christian suggested doing one about Big Wilma’s hair. I liked that idea because I do feel like I need to develop Big Wilma more, but I honestly didn’t feel like drawing that one right then. Dad also suggested one about Betty Blonde taking a test, and I want to do that one too! Bu I couldn’t think of any good jokes for it.  So then Dad and I came up with a new idea. It has to do with music, it includes a side character that I’ve already used before, and I really like the entire story. I hope you all will too!

Well, the waiting is over sooner than expected.  I checked the ACT website for Kelly’s scores yesterday afternoon.  All her scores were there except the writing score.  I tried to get Christian’s scores from the web, too, but did not have the right access ID.  Lorena handed them to me when she and the kids got home from their workout.  Both of them did very well.  I really did not know how to judge their scores so I talked to Evan at work.  He knew that, for some reason or another, most of the schools publish the range of scores the middle 50% of admitted students received on their ACT.  For example, 25% of the students admitted to North Carolina State University had an ACT composite score below 21 and 25% had a composite score above 26.  Oregon State had 25% below 20 and 25% above 26 on the ACT composite score.  Kelly’s composite score was well above the higher score for both colleges.  There is certainly room for improvement.  There were materials in both math and science that we had not yet covered.  We are excited to see how she did on the writing test.

Christian did very well, too.  He was took the test as a participant in the Duke TIP program.  A participant must receive a 20 or above in English, a 20 or above in Math, a 21 or above in reading, or a 21 or above in Science to qualify for state-wide honors.  He met that criteria in virtually evey category.  There are two sets of programs offered to students who receive high enough scores on the test.  They are called Academy and Center.  Christian qualified for the higher of the two called Center.  When I was going through the material, I saw that Kelly had actually qualified to attend the programs, too.  All in all, we were very happy with the results.  Best of all, it showed us some areas where we can focus for the rest of this year and the next and invigorated us to keep on going.

THANKS FOR THE HELP!  I fixed the blog header image a little.  Lorena tells me it needs more work.  I am glad there are artists in the family with an eye for that sort of thing.  Ruthie and Lynn were both gracious enough to let me know the theme was not displaying correctly on their computers.  I am really glad they took the time to pop me a comment.  It took longer to work that out than I originally figured.  I would be greatly appreciative if you let me know whether I actually fixed anything.  For that matter, if there is anyone else out there who sees a problem with the format, please let me know.