Two Hours of Work and Nothing to Show for It!

Hallo!

So today we didn't start school at 10 because I was at the orthodontist getting my braces off! (Which didn't hurt by the way.) But anyways when we got home I started on math. I finished the homework problems, and took Quiz A. If my grade was good I'd be done but it wasn't so that was my 'practice' test. So I took Quiz B. And my grade WAS WORSE! I was so happy about getting my braces off and was ready to do school and get a lot done and was even having a fairly good time doing math...until I got a C. So now I have to take a Quiz C that my mom has to write!!!!! Good grief! I spent two hours working on math and have no grade to record after all of that!

Ahh, let's change the subject. On Monday, mom and I drove around the neighborhood and picked up all the bags of food people had placed on their front steps. I would say about 2/3 to 1/2 of the people donated food! Dad and I took it all to Ashley's (the drop off spot) later that night and then today (Wednesday) Mom bought some food to donate specifically from our family! How exciting! I did pretty well if I do say so myself! :p

We are having volleyball this week after all (they were either going to cancel the beginners practice or send us all to Norman to scrimmage) but we're having practice at the normal gym. Only it's 45 minutes short! :( But oh well, at least it's practice!

Also the band concert was last night! Ahhh! It went pretty well! I didn't miss the key signature once but I made some other mistakes so it pretty much evened out but I had fun and my sister and parents were there, too! They said our band (Advanced Band) sounded great! So that's what counts! It was sad though because my friend Ashley had a solo (she plays flute) and she sort of messed up and also was very quiet. I felt so bad! But there wasn't anything I could do! Now she say's she's going to be taking a break from her flute for awhile.... boo!

And I had to miss choir to go to the concert which made me mad because there is a solo in one of the songs we are doing that I was going to ask to do and he said he might give it out yesterday...boo I hope no one else got it! Because I'd love to sign it! It's in the song we are doing called "Schlafe, mein Liebster" (Sleep, My Beloved in German). The solo goes like this "Schlafe mein Liebster, geniesse der ruh x2 Wache nach diesem vor aller gedeihen x2" Which means "Slumber, beloved, and take they repose. Soon wilt thou waken, our joy and salvation."

Pronounciation Guide:

Schlafe - Schla-fuh

mein - mine

Liebster - It's like that toy called a leapster on a 'b' instead of a 'p' and and more of a 'stir' sound than a 'ster' sound.

geniesse - guh-knee-ee-suh

der - day

ruh - rue

Wache - vach

Nach - Knock

diesem - di-sem

vor - vor

aller - ah-ler

gedeihen - guh-die-hen

It's a very slow song but the music was composed by Bach so I like it. :) Hopefully, I get the solo! :)

That's pretty much all that's new school wise. Check back later for more!

Ever yours,

Alissa Marie Lindsey

Guardian Fairy

Boo!

Weekly Test Update:

So I took my french test - 99%! Woo hoo! Most recent Math test - 92.5% not my best grade but still an A-. So all in all not horrible.

So I'm part of a group of teens in the Shawnee area who want to graduate with people they know in a sort of 'class'. So we formed a group to hang out and have fun and also to help the community. So far we've had one meet to plan, one time to hang out (we played sardines, scatergories, rumikub, and had snacks), and now we are collecting food to donate to a local food bank. We are also possibly going to all volunteer to serve a meal at a soup kitchen! To help collect food I found 50 plastic bags and printed up the following notice:

Local Shawnee Homeschool Students

Collecting Non-Perishables to Donate to Local Food Banks

Our group of high-school aged homeschool students are asking for donations of your extra canned goods and other non-perishables to give to local food banks. We would be extremely grateful if you would donate. Please place donations in the provided plastic bag and place the bag on your doorstep on the morning of Monday, October 26th for pick-up.

Thank you!

I then proceded to put the notice in the bag tie it shut and tape one bag to each of the door nobs in my neighborhood. All of this took several hours. Especially considering I had to walk around my whole neighborhood (1 block - 4 streets) twice because I kept walking back to the car to get a new one and wanted the door to be on the side I was on. We are going to take the food to the food bank around the beginning of November. It was a pretty cool thing. I only wish we could have done the actual 'hanging of bags' thing as a group because I got a little lonely.

So what else is new you might ask? Well I'm entirely stuck on my novel. The plot is full of holes and makes no since and I apparently do not have the brain capacity to fix them. So I've temporarily moved on to a different story. The whole thing started when my friend Ashley's mom told me about this 'Red Dirt Workshop' they library was hosting for teens. It was going to be this day of learning about writing and stuff and you had to submit a writing sample to get in. But it had to be under 750 words which is a really hard thing for me (I've never been good with word limits as you can prolly tell). So I was looking through all my word documents trying to find something that was good and the right word count when I found an old story prologue and some notes about the story. I wont post the prologue here because of copyright issues and me wanting to actually become a writer someday but I can tell a bit about it. Maythia, a guardian fairy, was murdered and the child she guarded kidnapped. Maythia's sister then tries to solve the case with the help of some other colorful characters. I'm very excited about it! If you would like to read what I have so far (the prologue) please see me in person (unless you are related to me by blood) or call me and I'll read it to you over the phone. :p I'm serious about this copyright thing I even found the will power not to post it on facebook (aren't you proud of me? seeing as how my entire life is pretty much documented on facebook).

Tonight I read about what Yale college looks for in it's applicants. It's scarily vague. "As it selects a freshman class of 1,300 from over 20,000 applicants each year, the Yale Admissions Committee is mindful of two questions: 'Who is likely to make the most of Yale's resources?' and 'Who will contribute most significantly to the Yale community?'... As Yale is above all an academic institution, academic strength is our first consideration in evaluating any candidate. The single most important document in the application is the high school transcript. We look for students who have consistently taken a broad range of challenging courses throughout their high school careers... The Committee also gives serious consideration to such qualities as motivation, curiosity, energy, leadership ability, and distinctive talents. The personal essay, as well as evaluations by a counselor and two teachers, provide a great deal of insight into these qualities. We hope to find students who have made significant contributions to their school or community..." Pretty generic, huh? But oh well, every little bit I learn helps. (In case you were wondering Yale is my target school. And Mom - they accept both SAT and ACT!!! yay!)

Well anyways that's all for now. Check back later for more on the school life of Alissa Marie Lindsey. Over and out faithful readers.

PSAT

Yesterday I took the PSAT. I know I know, I'm only a freshman so I can't be entered into the running for the National Merit Scholarship until I'm a Jr. (Which will possibly be next year...) But it's good practice because if you bomb the test as a Jr. you can't take it again (unless you get held back, haha :p) But not only do I not plan on getting held back I plan on graduating a year early by working through the next three summers. So I will possibly be a jr. this time next year. Which means it's good I took it this time around! :) But anyways about the actual PSAT. I think it went fairly well. I mean I haven't taken geometry so what do expect on the math section? - a lot of skipped questions that what! But the reading skills and writing comprehension sections when well. And the math that I could do (the algebra) wasn't bad at all. So my scores - which I don't get back until December - should be good. I took the P-PSAT (Prep test for the PSAT) and my scores on that were good especially for a freshman! :D So I'm not worried - at all.

Now you may be wondering about this whole 'graduating a year early' thing. Since my Birthday is in September the state of Oklahoma said that as a Kindergartener I would have 'started late' (that's the term they use) so when I moved to Oklahoma I was put in 7th grade at co-op instead of the grade that was rightfully mine - 8th grade. That was when my 'complex' started. I was always 6 months older then everyone else in my grade and would graduate highschool in 2013 at the age of 18 1/2! This fact just about killed me! Because you know how the older you get people say to you on you 14th Birthday for example: only 4 more years! Well you couldn't really say that to me because while technically I would be 18 in 4 years I wouldn't graduate for 5! And I'd still have to be at home because I'm HOMESCHOOLED! So I decided to do things my way and work through summers instead. Now that I've made that decision I tend to wonder what the heck in wrong with me! But I'm sure I've made the right one.

There is no volleyball this week because of fall break (but apparently choir, youth, and band don't believe in fall break because those are going on as scheduled. Personally, I would rather have volleyball and not the other three than the way it is now. :( But I apparently do not get a say in the matter. Oh well.

The band concert is soon! I'm starting to freak out about it, seeing as how I can't play a good portion of the music and am constantly forgetting to practice! But it's not for a grade, it's for fun so I'm sort of taking a backseat in band this year.

That's all for now,

TTFN!!!!!!!

It's Me again!

I'm back! With more knowledge than I had last time I was here! :D

We have started reading Jane Eyre! Which is a fabulous book that I love! It's not hard to read either, especially for a book written in the 1800's. But apparently somewhere between the 1500's and the 1800's people learned how to talk because Shakespeare is pretty much impossible to understand unless you analyze every single sentence. (We are going to be reading A Mid Summer Night's Dream later in the year - that should be interesting! XD) In Jane Eyre we've been learning words like opprobrium, effluvia, antipathetic, imbibe, and physiognomy. Doozys huh??! If you happen to know their definitions (yes - knowing the definition means not using Google or a dictionary - only your brain!) you can post them in a comment(which means 'how much' in French. Funny huh?) and I'll tell you if your right or not.

I've also improved somewhat at flute. The concert is speeding at me like a bullet though and I'm afraid it's going to hit hard. But hopefully even if I completely fail there will be many others flutes to fill in where I'm not playing. Nahh - I'm just being hard on my self. I have improved considerably. I can almost completely play all of the pieces. Although the director handed out like 11 different songs so I'm not 100% sure on which ones we are playing.... but the ones I think we are playing I can pretty much play.

Another big accomplishment - drum roll please - I served the ball over the net TWICE on Friday! I was so happy I almost did a dance! Right there in front of everyone! It was quite exciting.

My French is getting better too. Today we learned 'je voudrais sept tickets' (I would like seven tickets). I have a French test Friday... I think. (*EDIT* Tomorrow. Studying would be a good thing to do tonight) It's on um, whatever is on pages 5,7 and 8. Hmm, that's all I wrote down. LOL. I do know page 8 was learning the French words for things in your living room i.e. clock, telephone, chair, sofa etc... Hopefully that goes well.

Math has been progressing - although all this review is making me feel like I got held back (The review starts with pre-algebra - what I did in 7th grade - and then will move into algebra 1 - 8th grade for me - and then 2 -9th grade.) But I'm thinking this review is a good thing after my 4 month long summer I'd sort of forgotten how to add...jk! Today we 'learned' (the quotes are there because I already knew this) about the commutative, associative, and distributive properties. (P.S. I spelled 2 out of 3 of those right - take that spell check! Someday I won't need you anymore!)

So that's my life right now. Notice I didn't say school life because they are no longer spearate. It's like getting married. School do you take life to be yours? I do. Life do you take school to be yours? I do. I now pronounce you one! That's it. The End. Au revoir!