Teacher: Dr. James Bartlett, PhD in Engineering, P.E. until starting farming and Christian education adventures in 2004.

Office Location: Bartlett Farm in the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota which are two miles south of the Canadian border and 15 miles from a town of 2000 people. Our farm is the context for keeping math and science connected to the beauty and practicality of God's creation.

Office Phone: 701-263-4574 Email: drbartlett@biblicalconcourse.com
Websites: http://biblicalconcourse.com, http://bartlettfarm.us
IP Address: 172.16.1.2

TECHNICAL NOTES:
Dr Bartlett uses Vidyo multipoint video conferencing. Students need VidyoDesktop available here (831-998-8016). A webcam and headset are needed. Small local groups may participate using VidyoDesktop with a Chat 50 USB speakermicrophone/speaker. Vidyo also works well with Polycom room systems.

Use a headset or echo canceling USB conference microphone, otherwise turn your microphone off when not talking, else echoing will interrupt the entire class.

Test all hardware, software, and internet connections before entering the classroom. If technical difficulties arise on your end during class, please exit the class and resolve the issue before reentering the classroom. Class time needs to be devoted to the course material and not troubleshooting technical difficulties.

Office Hours: Scheduled upon request.

Schedule(s): Arizona and Hawaii do not following Daylight Savings Time (ref. http://worldtimezone.net/). Dr. Bartlett lives in Central Time, but will not be observing Daylight Savings Time for the class schedule needs.

Note: The hours containing two course titles are question and answer sessions. The first course q & a time occurs during the first 25 minutes, there is then a 5 minute break, then second course occurs for 25 minutes. Click to access the course references. Calculus is available, but not on this schedule.

Schedule rationale: The schedule is designed to: (1) accommodate many schedules, time zones, learning styles, and learning speeds, (2) to encourage parent or local proctor involvement through grading, (3) provide individual attention to students upon request through office hours, (4) encourage self-directed learning and dialog through the question and answer sessions, and (5) help every student enjoy and bring glory to God in these math and science classes and career planning through Biblical thinking blog participation and dialog with Dr. Bartlett.

Class Calendar:

August: 31 First day of Dr Bartlett classes.
September: 5  Labor Day-no classes.
October: 10-13 Fall break - no classes.
November: 21-24 Thanksgiving break- no classes..
December: 23 Last day of Dr Bartlett classes.
January: 9 First day of Dr Bartlett classes.
February: 20 Presidents Day-no classes.
March: 12-15 Spring Break-no classes.
May: 3 Last day of Dr Bartlett classes.

Book Editions: Saxon Home School Packages: Alg1 3rd , Alg2 2nd , Adv Math 2nd , Calc 2nd ; Apologia: Biology 2nd , Chem 2nd , Gen Sci 2nd , Physics 2nd

Role of Parents/Proctors:
1. Provide needed resources (books, technology, equipment, supplies).
2. Grade student work (right/wrong) for which answers are available. Call Dr Bartlett to discuss any grading procedure questions or alternatives desired.
3. Tabulate and calculate student grades weekly for math courses, biweekly for science courses, and at the end of the course. Email the grades to Dr Bartlett.
4. Let Dr Bartlett know when extra time or a slower pace would be helpful.
5. Keep order in the local classroom.

Blog Participation Grading:
2 points total (per class) = 1 point for a reply to one of Dr. Bartlett's posts + 1 point for a reply to another student's reply.

Lecture & Blog Occasional In-Class Quizzes: In order to help students get the most out of lectures and blog discussions, on occasion, Dr Bartlett plans to quiz students during class in an impromtu manner on either an aspect of a lecture, an aspect of a blog post, or both an aspect of a lecture and an aspect of a blog post. The average of these quizzes will be the equivalent of one test grade in science classes and one week's worth of tests in math classes. To do well on these quizzes required that the students participate diligently in the blog discussions and be ask as many questions as it takes to really understand each point in the lectures. These quizzes are intended to be a blessing and not a burden!

Laboratory Notebook Grading (optional):
5 points total = 1 point for name and date on experiment + 1 point for using the major headings requested ( TITLE, OBJECTIVES, REFERENCES, BACKGROUND, EQUIPMENT/SUPPLIES, METHOD, RESULTS, DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION) + 1 point for providing enough information for someone else to repeat the experiment + 1 point for recording results + 1 point for personal reflection in discussion and conclusion sections.

Special Notes to Students:
1. To help yourself get the most out of each class, please take notes. Writing down what Dr. Bartlett has on his slides or writes on the whiteboard will help you focus and give you a way to quickly review and apply what was presented.
2. Ask questions when you have them, that is the best way for both you and others to learn.
3. If you are feeling lost, call Dr Bartlett at 701-263-4574 or email him at drbartlett@biblicalconcourse.com to visit or schedule a time to help you understand things or give you alternatives or change the pace of the class.
4. Notice the blog assignments and grading method, so you know what is important towards the grade. Also notice the extra credit options. You may want to do an extra credit project as a change of pace when you need one or in addition to the regular coursework.

Special Needs: Any student with a disability who would like accommodations made in one of these classes, please speak with Dr. Bartlett or the local proctor to see what can be done.

Academic Responsibility and Conduct: Each student is responsible for submitting their own work and should not cooperate on any work without authorization. God is watching you as well as Dr. Bartlett and your proctor or parent.

Disclaimer: The schedule and procedures in these courses are subject to change in the event of extenuating circumstances. Proverbs 16:9

Philosophy: The Christian philosophy of education differs from the educational philosophies of the world. Both the educator and student of a Christian philosophy of education become filled with the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of God as God's Word, God's Works, and God's Spirit become integrated and applied to all of life. Since God is the creator of all knowledge and the beginning of knowledge is the fear of the Lord, there is no curriculum, course, topic, or simple complete thought where the discovery of God's thoughts would be unexpected. Therefore, Dr. Bartlett aims to apply diligence to think God's thoughts after Him, which brings both glory to God and heaven to earth, through the life of the educator and student.

Biblical Thinking Blog Weekly Assignment : A percent of the grade for each class is given for participating in the blog discussing Biblical Thinking in Math and Science and other interesting topics. Students get full credit when they read every blog post, write a thoughtful and related reply to one of Dr Bartlett's posts (1 point), and reply to one of the student comments each week (1 point). Two points possible each week per class.

Posts and comments must be kind and thoughtful or they may be deleted. The blog site is: http://biblicalthinkingstudents.blogspot.com.The theme of the blog is Proverbs 1:7 and the writing guidelines are Philippians 4:8. Dr. Bartlett plans to introduce and sometimes build on various weekly themes in each class with the goal of helping students connect Biblical truth and God's blessing with the learning and doing of the various subjects. If you are in three of Dr. Bartlett's classes, then you must participate in the Biblical Science and Math blog three separate times each week. This should be fun, easy and inspiring for all. Parents can participate too!

References: Applications of practical science and math to creation, economics, life and professions. History and flow of mathematical and scientific thought. Westminster Catechisms, Institutes of Biblical Law, Mathematics: Is God Silent, worldview analyses, Understanding the Times, The Roots of Reconstruction, A Christian Philosophy of Education.

Personal: What is Dr. Bartlett's family doing? Mrs. Bartlett, Jonathan, Peter, Andrew, David. What else is Dr. Bartlett thinking about besides math and science? Biblical Concourse Blog

Extra Credit: Dr Bartlett's students may choose to get extra credit for research work on a list of great scientists and great mathematicians. To get full credit (worth a week of class credit) simply write a one to two page bio according to the following outline: I. Who was this person (include an anecdote), II. Historical context in which they wrote, III. Summary of teaching, IV. Implications for subsequent history, V. Biblical analysis, VI. Corrective or prescriptive actions, VII. fill-in-blank paragraph, VIII. 20 question quiz, IX. 10 open ended questions, and X. References used for this paper. Your work may be posted on the Biblical Thinking Students blog or related website.

PARENT/PROCTOR RESOURCES

Parent/Proctor Grading Sheet (pdf) This shows the pattern for grading and can be used for manual noting of grades.

Optional Procedures to Accredit a Student (Snare of Accreditation Paper)

Secularization by the Christian Educator Paper

Biblical Concourse of Home Universities

QUOTES

Isaac Watts
The mathematical sciences, and particularly arithmetic, geometry, and mechanics, abound with advantages, and if there were nothing valuable in them for the uses of human life, yet the very speculative parts of this sort of learning are well worth our study; for by perpetual examples they teach us to conceive with clearness, to connect our ideas and propositions in a train of dependence, to reason with strength and demonstration, and to distinguish between truth and falsehood. Something of these sciences should be studied by every man who pretends to learning, and that not so much to make us mathematicians, as to make us reasonable creatures.

Plato
Those who have a natural talent for calculation are generally quick at every other kind of knowledge; and even the dull if they have had an arithmetical training, although they may desire no other advantage from it, always become much quicker than they would otherwise have been. Arithmetic is a kind of knowledge in which the best natures should be trained, and which must not be given up.