New New!

Let's see, let's see.... what is new? Well....

I'm reading Born Free by Joy Adamson for biology. It's about a couple, living in Africa, that adopts a lion cub and then has to release her back into the wild. It's really interesting for a nonfiction book and is really easy to read.

Currently, I'm doing a unit on the Bible for English lit. We've discussed the Bible as the Root of Western Literature by Adam Potkay, the Gospel According to Harry Potter by Connie Neal, and have now landed upon Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. It's been really interesting to study the Bible as part of school. It's such a new concept to me. I have learned a lot in the process though. I've only read the very beginning of Pilgrim's Progress and I already feel wiser.

On a side note, we went to see Eat Pray Love yesterday and while it's not school related it is spiritually related so that's what made me think of it. I really enjoyed that movie because it wasn't about some trite "I love him but he doesn't love me back" concept. It was about really important concepts of life. Finding religion, balancing that religion with everything else, learning to enjoy everything and not obsess over the details, loving someone even though they could break your heart into a million pieces... it was such a deep movie. One of the most notable lines was "God lives in me, through me." This sentence wasn't explicitly defined and was thus left open to interpretation. In my opinion, it means that being who you are is the most important thing you can do with your life. Mainly because if you're not yourself then you won't enjoy anything you do. Also it conveys that God shines out of you, when you are being yourself. You come to know him better by acting naturally. So the basis of life is: Love God and be your self. Everything else will just fall into place around those two things.

My flute lessons are about to end for the summer but I'm ending with the knowledge that I've really improved in my abilities. I know way more about scales, have better sight reading abilities, havebetter pitch and tone, have a larger range, and enjoy playing so much more because of all those improvements! I can't wait to go back to band and be equipped to perform well! :D

School: a mix of good and bad

I just finished reading The Diary of Anne Frank! It was quite good but reminded me a lot of how I was at that age, which I'd rather forget, so it felt like it dragged on and on... Of course, Anne's story ends tragically and what she records in her journal is the truth so it does hold quite a lot of epic appeal. I did enjoy it but was glad when it ended because it was definitely not a fast read.

Now I'm reading The Cather in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. So far the book seems to have absolutely no point. But it is so wildly interesting! I don't know how J.D does it but he makes nothing fascinating! It does talk about some rather risqué topics and every other word seems to be a swear word but in spite of that, I'm still enjoying it.

Geometry is going about as well as can be expected. But I don't know what everyone was saying that it's supposed to be easier than Algebra. Algebra had easy concepts and a lot of work. Geometry has hard concepts and not much work. So they're two sides of the same horribly evil coin.

Zoology got incredibly technical and we had to spend like three weeks breaking down one chapter. This involved flashcards, note taking, reading, and re-reading. And I have to say: I did not like it much. Then I come to find out: that's what college is like! Whoopdedoo! Meh. I don't even know how to respond to that realization. So I just won't.

My flute lessons are going extremely well! I seriously can feel my self improving! We've had to take a few breaks because of surgeries but I don't feel that that is hindering my progress. I'm now practicing with a wedding duet book. It has some really gorgeous songs and some of them I can play at my church! My teacher even said she would come to my church to play a duet with me! How exciting is that? Plus it'd be way less scary for my first performance ever! Because I'll I've ever done is band stuff. Unless you include the videos I recorded, which I did over and over again so you can't really count that as a performance. So it's all very exciting!! TTFN!

School Continues As Always...

Ahem. So... the colors are still here.... I just forgot how to find them. *evil snickering laughter* Anyways, school just continues on.... I've been out of school for almost two weeks because of fun stuff with friends and a babysitting class at Gordon Cooper though.

During the class I learned about different leadership styles, professionalism, safety, child development, basic child care (which I already knew), and emergency care. As a part of the latter I am now infant and child CPR certified as well as first aid certified and a red cross trained baby sitter! How cool is that? I can put that on my resume and everything! The last two days of the class we were taught crafts we could make with the kids and easy snacks to make for them. Those were my two least favorite days. It was very juvenile. But the class is over now! YAY! And I'm CPR certified so the pain was worth it.

I have also started private flute lessons at OBU for the summer! I've only had two lessons so far but I'm enjoying them and learning a lot! It turns out one of key pads on my flute is cracked and that is messing up my tuning so we're going to get it repaired tomorrow. I'm practicing some easy Haydn and Bach duets for my lessons as well as lots and lots of scales. But I don't mind the scales because they're very important. I also recently recorded myself playing "Think of Me" (Phantom of the Opera), "Wondrous Love" (a hymn), and "I Could've Danced All Night" (My Fair Lady) and posted them on Facebook. I got quite a few compliments on them! :)

I've now finished reading Romeo and Juliet and am writing an essay on how the couples seclusion caused them to behave irrationally. And I'm currently reading The Diary of Anne Frank. It's really interesting but it makes me feel guilty for not journaling more than I do. As a part of reading the book, we're of course learning about the Holocaust. That is some sad, sad stuff right there! :(

I believe I'm starting geometry tomorrow. Bleh. *hides* But math is just one of the evils of life. So I'll suffer through it. ACT in September! Gotta be ready! That's all for now! Over and out!

Hello Sophomore!

It's been three weeks since I last studied French so you will get no cute openings in another language from me! Today was my first day as a sophomore! I had my three weeks of summer break and now it's time to crack down and get myself graduated! During the summer, I'm taking English Lit, Double Zoology, the remainder of Algebra 2, Double Geometry, and the remainder of Driver's Ed. among other extracurriculars. I'd like to take private flute lessons at OBU, just for the summer, so I called about that today.
In English Lit. I'm reading Romeo and Juliet. I haven't actually started it yet but I will tonight! I'm expecting to really enjoy it. As much if not more than A Midsummer Night's Dream! It's like trying food from a different country - a new experience. :)
Zoology is currently focusing on how there are benefits to a wildfire! The flames clear out the underbrush so that when a really giant fire comes it has less fuel. Also burned grass grows back more luscious than before. There is even a certain type of plant, whose name has escaped me, whose seed pods only open under extreme heat.
Algebra 2 is just the same old same old stuff we've all missed terribly since completing it so I will say nothing further on that.
Driver's Ed. has reached an exciting point!!! I have finished reading the book!!! Next up is studying for and passing a review of it all. Then comes a proctored test. And finally the actual permit test! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I'm almost there!!! I'll be able to drive soon! XD
Apparently, when you become a sophomore your blogging site takes away the colors!!!!!! Just FYI.

FREEDOM! XD

This is my last act as a high school freshman!! As soon as I publish this blog I am officially done!!!!!!!! We are finishing a week early! XD Which is sweet! I got all A's for finals and my cumulative grade for each subject too! It's cuz I'm just good like that. XP I start my sophomore year in June but we're not gonna talk about that now! CUZ I'M DONE!!!!

I finally had a biology test! Teehee! I didn't have a single one all year! >.> <.<>

I didn't finish algebra but my dad needs time to plan out my geometry a bit and I'm not doing as many modules for geometry as I did for algebra. At least I don't think so. And if I do all the modules, I get pre-calc. and trig. credits! Because they're all wrapped into one! Whoop whoop! But during the summer I think I'll just do the geometry part because I need that for when I take the ACT for the first time in September!

For English class the final book I read was Ella Enchanted! It was great! I really liked it andf finished reading it ahead of schedule. :) I decided I liked the book's beginning and the movie's ending the best. The movie's ending was more climactic and the book's beginning showed more of the trials Ella went through. Oh! In case you don't know what I'm talking about: Ella is a girl who was given a 'gift' at birth that makes her obedient. If you give her an order, she has to do it. So the book is about how hard that is for her.

French we also didn't finish but French is one of those things you never really finish. I'm taking four years of it so we just decided what the heck! We'll just stop now and start again in three weeks. :) I was getting seriously tired of remembering what words are 'la' and what words are 'le'. I don't see why it should matter so much!! But it's stressed in all of my French books! >.<

Government.... I actually ended up liking by the end of the year. *hides* I know I hated it before but it's really not all that bad once you get a handle on how it all works! I feel quite informed now which is nice! :) I had like 3 separate finals for that which shows you how many aspects of it there are! I took the naturalization test that people have to take to become citizens and I don't know what the official passing grade is but I would say a B+ guarantees me as an official citizen even though I earned that right by being born here. Funny huh. :p The test really isn't that bad. It's got some history about wars, some current info about who your D.C. Representatives and Senators are, and other general government stuffs.

Choir, Volleyball, and school are over now! My last day at my job for CFA is Monday! Which I find very sad because I love those kiddos! Maybe they'll need me again next year... I don't know.. Co-op is like moving to a new building and like everyone is leaving so I'm not sure. After co-op ends all I'll have is band and that is over the end of May! So wow! Crazy, jam-packed life has really boiled down!

Well that's all for now! You are now speaking to an official sophomore. Or reading the thoughts of. How ever you want to spin it.

Things Are Finishing Off For The Year! :D

I visited the University of Oklahoma for a campus tour! I didn't think I would like it to be honest. I'm not really sure why... Because it's not like I'd heard bad things about it or anything. I knew like nothing! So I'm really really glad I went because it's in a good location, has a beautiful campus, and is a state school so it's a good price! I went for Junior Day, shhh don't tell I'm not a Jr. XP I learned about the Arts and Sciences department, where my major would be, and a bit about the music and performing arts department. It was cool to learn about the latter because while I wouldn't want to major in voice, acting, or playing the flute, it would be nice to do some stuff while I'm in college and I learned you can be a part of things with out majoring in them. So woot! :) Then we had lunch out side and it was really windy so that was interesting. So OU is a definite possibility!

I went to the OCHEC convention on the 30th to look for school books for next year. We decided to continue with the math I am currently doing now for geometry. I was excited about that because Textbook Interactive has really been working for me. :) For Zoology mom found a book online that she thinks is going to be really good so we're going to order that. And then they found a coloring book that covers some of that stuff for me to do on the side. I was like SWEET! COLORING! :D Mom also found some other reference books for my other classes too. So it sounds like my sophomore year is almost planned out! Which is kind of happy/sad. haha. But the only way to finish high scool is to actually do the school. This is life.

Choir has ended now. We had our spring concert on April 25th. And then we sang at a retirement home on the following Tuesday. We did very well both times! I was proud of us. :) We sounded good and remembered the words (since we memorized this is very important). And no one passed out! Haha not that that's happened before but still. Dr. Gerber kept telling us not to lock our knees. And he said we don't need to audition for next year! Which is awesome! Because auditions are scary! hehe he said he knows we are good singers so we don't need to audition again. I'll be in Youth Chorale next year but so will everyone else because choir has gotten really small so they're doing away with Concert Choir. The one I've been in for the past two years.

Well that's all for now peoples!

4 Weeks Left! XD

Things are going well! And school will be out in like 4 weeks! WOOT! I'll be back 2 weeks after that but I'm not gonna focus on that fact at the moment.

I'm almost done with Nicholas Nickleby. The book started out great but after awhile there were too many characters and things got confusing and now my mind just wanders when I read so I have no idea what's going on! There's not really anything I can do about it either. So I've decided this is definitely not going to be my favorite Dickens novel. Hopefully I'll like A Tale of Two Cities, that we're reading for next year, better! But the beginning of Nicholas was great! The part where Mr. Squeers was so horrible to the school boys was of course awful but it was interesting! After that, things just got to silly and then complicated.

We finally got our other two band songs! It's about time too because we are playing at the Oklahoma Christian Home Educators Convention (OCHEC) on April 30th and then our official concert is the end of May! The good news is that the two 'new' songs, "The Great Locomotive Chase" and "Black Wolf Run" don't seem too hard. :) The flutes don't really have the melody in either song so that is less complicated and more complicated at the same time - not as hard to play but harder to get the feel for and the timing right. I'm not sure if I'll be playing at OCHEC or not but we'll see. Because prom is that evening and I don't know what the plans are yet. PROM! Ahhhh! So exciting! XD

My Mom told me I had to give a speech for my Government class but she told me I could pick the topic! So I chose elf owl's! XD They're adorable! And tiny! This speech should be fun! I haven't started on it yet because all my other government homework sort of built up but I should soon! :) It should be fun!

I'm nearly done with driver's ed! I've been working on finishing that book for a while now! I started in January and by the time I finish and am certified and everything it'll prolly be the end of April. Who knew just learning enough about driving to be allowed to have a permit could take four months! Hopefully it gets easier after this or who knows how long it will take to get my actual license. I have to have my permit for at least six months before I can get my license and then I have to pass the test obviously. I have three more chapters in the driver's ed book to read and then there is some sort of final exam thing we have to send for and then send back to AAA so I can get an official certificate of graduation from the program since it is parent taught. After I get that, I should be able to take my permit test!!!! Yayayayay! So exciting! :D

I've been working a lot on a short story I'm writing called "The Guardian Fairy" because I'm entering it in a contest at the end of April. I'm really excited! The story seems pretty good to me! It's about a fairy who gets murdered and her sister's quest to find the murder. I actually finished writing it! That doesn't happen to me too often. I usually get bored or the plot falls apart before I can finish. There is still editing work that needs to be done but the actual getting the ideas and wording them part is done! YIPPEEEE! XD