Objective: The student can recite the Hail Mary and identify its scriptural and ecclesial parts.
A brief review tied to Holy Week. Recite the Hail Mary together slowly. Recall from Day 1 that its first half comes straight from Scripture — Gabriel's greeting and Elizabeth's blessing in Luke 1 — and its second half is the Church's humble petition asking Mary to 'pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.' During Holy Week, Mary stands at the foot of the Cross; the prayer that honors her draws us to stand there too.
1Which line of the Hail Mary feels most fitting to pray while imagining Mary at the Cross?
Activity
Recite the Hail Mary; identify aloud which lines are from Scripture and which is the Church's petition.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee... (Luke 1:28).
Memory Work
Keep to 5 minutes.
Grammar20 min
Parallelism and Balanced Structure
Objective: The student can recognize parallel structure, fix faulty parallelism, and use parallelism deliberately for rhetorical effect.
Parallelism means putting equal ideas in equal grammatical form. When you list or compare items, they should match: all nouns, all -ing words, all clauses of the same shape. Parallelism makes writing clear, rhythmic, and persuasive — which is exactly why the Declaration of Independence is full of it.
RULE: Items joined in a series or by 'and/or/but' must share the same grammatical form.
Worked example 1 (faulty → fixed): 'She likes reading, to write, and chess.' → 'She likes reading, writing, and chess.' (all -ing nouns) — or — 'She likes to read, to write, and to play chess.' (all infinitives).
Worked example 2 (rhetorical power): The signers pledged 'our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor' — three parallel noun phrases, each beginning 'our,' building to a climax. Jefferson wrote 'that all men are created equal, that they are endowed... that among these are Life, Liberty...' — a drumbeat of parallel 'that' clauses. The balance is part of the persuasion.
Use parallelism on purpose: it signals to the reader that ideas are equal in importance and worth weighing together.
PRACTICE ITEMS (fix the parallelism): (1) 'The colonists wanted liberty, representation, and to govern themselves.' (2) 'Washington was brave, patient, and a man of honesty.' (3) 'The Declaration states a principle, lists abuses, and is declaring independence.' (4) 'To read carefully and writing clearly are both important.' (5) 'The army marched quickly, quietly, and with courage.'
ANSWER KEY (one good correction each): (1) '...liberty, representation, and self-government.' (2) '...brave, patient, and honest.' (3) '...states a principle, lists abuses, and declares independence.' (4) 'Reading carefully and writing clearly are both important.' (OR 'To read carefully and to write clearly...') (5) '...quickly, quietly, and courageously.' Accept any answer that makes all listed items share the same grammatical form.
Geography30 min
Mapping the Revolutionary War
Objective: The student can draw the thirteen states and locate and explain the significance of Boston, Saratoga, and Yorktown.
The geography of the Revolution explains much of its course. The thirteen states hugged the Atlantic seaboard, divided into three regions: New England (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island), the Middle states (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland), and the South (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia). Three places decided the war.
BOSTON (Massachusetts) was where it began — Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, and the siege that finally drove the British out in 1776. SARATOGA (upstate New York), in 1777, was the turning point: the American victory over General Burgoyne's invading army convinced France that the Americans could win, and France entered the war as an ally — bringing money, troops, and a navy that proved decisive. YORKTOWN (Virginia), in 1781, was the end: trapped on a peninsula by Washington's army and the French fleet, the British general Cornwallis surrendered. Soon after, Britain agreed to peace, and the Treaty of Paris (1783) recognized American independence. Notice the pattern: the British could take cities but could not hold the vast countryside, and once France joined after Saratoga, the long supply lines across the Atlantic doomed them. Geography and alliance, as much as battles, won the war.
1Why was Saratoga the 'turning point' even though it wasn't the last battle?
2How did geography (a long coastline, a vast interior, an ocean between Britain and the war) shape the outcome?
Activity
On a blank outline of the thirteen states, label all thirteen and group them into the three regions with color. Then mark and label Boston, Saratoga, and Yorktown, and write a one-line note on why each mattered (start / turning point / end).
Vocabulary
turning point
The event after which the course of a war or conflict decisively shifts.
siege
Surrounding and cutting off a place to force its surrender.
Boston = where it began; Saratoga (1777) = the turning point that brought in France; Yorktown (1781) = where it ended.
Memory Work
Prep: print the blank 13-colonies outline. Answer support for labeling regions: New England (MA, NH, CT, RI); Middle (NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD); South (VA, NC, SC, GA). Help locate Saratoga in upstate NY and Yorktown on the Virginia coast.
Wrap-Up5 min
Notebook Wrap
Objective: The student consolidates the skills day.
Make sure your corrected parallelism sentences and your war map are complete. Write one sentence: which single factor — Saratoga, France's help, or the vast countryside — do you think mattered most, and why?
Activity
Finish the map and grammar work; write the reflection.