Education Notes: Grading & Curriculm Changes

Johan Dawson Shazad

Many parents have wanted to know exactly how I grade and there's been...external pressure to say the least about the curriculm standards so I'm addressing them both here.


Primary Education
(children)
-generalized studies in all skill sets. Must pass skills exam with at least a one in all skills
-typical school day: morning period-skill studying/lunch break & recess/afternoon-skill studying
-GRADING: Students learn one skill a day and recieve an A for thier efforts. Going above that effort results with an A+


Secondary Education Level I
(teenagers 12-8 simdays remaining until adulthood)
-specialized studies . Must pass skills exam with at least a four in one skill.
-typical school day: morning period-skill studying/lunch break/afternoon-skill studying
-GRADING: Students learn at least one skill a day and recieve an A for thier efforts. Going above that effort results with an A+


Secondary Education Level II
(teenagers 8-4 simdays remaining until adulthood)
-specialized studies. Students can chose up to three skill areas for specialized studies. Must pass skills exam with at least a eight in at least one chosen specialized skill.
-typical school day: morning period-specialized studying/lunch break & recess/afternoon-specialized studying
-GRADING: Students learn at least one skill a day and recieve an A for thier efforts. Going above that effort results with an A+


Secondary Education Level III
(teenagers 4 simdays remaining until adulthood that are not attending PAG)
-continued specialized studies. Students can chose up to three skill areas for specialized studies. Must pass skills exam with at least a eight in at least one chosen specialized skill and at least a four in another skill.
-typical school day: morning period-specialized studying/lunch break & recess/afternoon-specialized studying
-GRADING: Students learn one skill a day and recieve an A for thier efforts. Going above that effort results with an A+

Classes:
Classes are assigned with the help of the teacher. All students will take the following classes at least once. Classes are assigned depending on which specialized area is chosen and focuses within the class are chosen based on student preference.

Art & Music:
Students study art by composing thier own paintings and photography series, field trips to the local art gallery. Students study music by studying the violin.

Primary Education/Secondary Education Level I: Students will spend at least one class period painting and at least one class period learning violin.

Secondary Education Level II/III: Students will spend class periods learning the violin or focusing on painting/photography.

Science:
Students study science by observing bacteria in microscopes, maintaining ant farms, repairing and creating basic electronic equiptment and observing nature.

Primary Education/Secondary Education Level I: Students will spend at least one
class period observing bacteria, ants or nature (by hunting for bugs or birdwatching) and at least one class period creating basic electronic equiptment.

Secondary Education Level II/III: Students will spend class periods observing birds, maintaining ant farms, studying bacteria or creating electronic equiptment.

Simish & History:
Students learn simish and history by composing letters and essays, presenting speeches, reading assignments and some movie viewing assignments.

Primary Education/Secondary Education Level I: Students will spend at least
one class period presenting speeches and at least one class period doing reading assignments.

Secondary Education Level II/III: Students will spend class periods presenting speeches and writing.

Physical Education:
Students practice tai chi, yoga, boxing, ballet, football and aerobic fitness. Students also learn about nutrition and healthy eating.

Secondary Education Level I: Students will spend at least one class period practicing boxing or football and at least one class period learning ballet.

Secondary Education Level II/III: Students will spend class periods learning the tai chi, yoga and aerobic fitness.

Home Economics:
Students learn to maintain thier living space by learning proper cleaning concepts, and basic cooking recipes.

Primary Education/Secondary Education Level I: Students will spend at least one class period learning proper cleaning concepts and at least one class period learning basic cooking recipes.

Secondary Education Level II/III: Students will spend class periods learning the advanced cleaning concepts and recipes.

Freetime/Recess/Lunch:
Students are able to spend thier freetime playing games, reading or chatting with friends while eating thier lunch.

Homework
Students are given homework 2-3 times a simweek. Homework usually consists of simple assignments to be done with the help of the family. Occasionally students are asked to complete projects started on at school at home or to create projects at home and bring them to school.

Redecorating-Part II

My mother tried to redecorate without my consent :(

Well, we had a lively discussion and compromised on a very tasteful room, if I do say so myself. I must get Li to do a write up in the paper, then the residents can see how classy we are.

Decorating

During our honeymoon I found a rare vase in the dirt, so I sold it and Li, being the woman that she is and I love her dearly, decided to redecorate. To be honest, I love it and decided to write about it :)

First, she had the existing half wall that seperated the kitchen/dining room and the living area taken down, then she had a series of walls put up to divide the space into smaller "rooms".

The foyer starts with our existing benches and paintings in the same position and she moved our old rug to the area.
Then she had a half wall installed and shelves added so we could display our souveniors, new carpeting and wall paint

and she hung the two ancestoral paintings (ts1) that I had commissioned over the stereo. One is of my ancestor, Alisa Crawston in her wedding dress, the other is of the original Greymount Sweenys on thier wedding day. In bewteen is a photo of Li and I during our wedding day. She doesn't know it, but I've commissioned a painting of it for our anniversary.

Behind the brick half wall sits the new living room with a brick accent wall, new window (to see the view of the surrounding sea). There are wooden pillars and a tibetian table. Li says it reminds her of her urban life in SimCity, My TV is still there and it still gets the sports channel so I'm happy.

She created a small reading corner for herself-so she could review books for the book club she said, I think it's her little zone-her comfort area, so to speak. Sort of like "Sports at 6" is my zone.

Now the kitchen is walled in, it looks the same, there is a space in the walls (no doors-to restrictive Li said) for the entrance

the accent tile has been extended to the new wall of the dining room and our old stencil has been moved.

The kitchen is walled in (I still think we need a sink, Li said not to worry, that the kitchen will be getting a facelift soon-yikes!).

Surprisingly it didn't take a lot of money for the drastic changes since we used our souveniors, and previous items. Li says she wants to do the master bedroom and bath next, I personally would like a basketball court, but I don't think that will be happening anytime soon.

My Loving Family

I love my family. I must say, that things are much much better now. I have a husband and he actually loves me...I think. Two healthy happy sons and a video game console to play the newest games. I can not believe that I never played a video game, but Verde and I played and it was great!

Here I Come!

I am finally a teen. My stepmother says that I grew to be a very handsome young sim and that I will break the girls' hearts. I don't want to break any hearts, I just want one heart-Faith. Ahh, Faith is so pretty and smart! She's one of the smartest sims I know and she's talented too!

I asked dad for some advice, but he said take my time and don't worry about it. I guess so, besides, there's always something to take apart (and put back together before they come home)

Grown up

finally a teen-I had a skating party at the park, then my party at the house. I like violin and music just like my mom and little sister, Susie. I'm going to get my hair done and buy new clothes-mom said I could.

Sunny Vacation

I think that the family should take a nice vacation during the dead of winter to the sunny beach. It would be good for our health to get some sun. Perhaps even add fuel to Cassandra and I's romance. Or maybe we should wait until the twins are older.