Random Ramblings: Springtime, Sleeping Habits & High School

I haven't done a Random Ramblings post in a year, and there are some things to update you on.  So here we go...

Be prepared for a long, crazy post

1.

The weather has been really nice here, and I've been spending a lot more time outside.  This means I get to wear shorts and short sleeves!  Woo-hoo!  My poor arms and legs have not seen the sun in months!

2. 

This is called a lapbook.  It's essentially a collage folder and my brother made one for his science unit on deserts.  Mine is on fashion, just for fun, but I'm going to make one for my next book report instead of writing an essay.

3. 

I may not have the, ah, best sleeping habits.  As in, I stay up much too late listening to music and/or reading amazing books such as:

and

It's becoming a real problem.

4.

Somehow I doubt it will be like this.

High school.

I only have three more months of school (including this month).  That means I'm only going to be a middle schooler (and homeschooler) for three more months!!

That's scary.

So because there are only a few more months left before I officially break free of the confinement of middle school to be free for three months before I enter the confinement of high school, we have to send in many papers and transcripts in order to find out which high school I will be admitted to for the next four years.

That's being done and almost everything is in order, so hopefully that will be done soon so I don't have to think about it too much over the summer (which I undoubtedly will anyways).

5. 

STAR tests!

Notice I have the star and it says you tried because who ever does that well on these, really?  Well, alright, I got a good grade on both my tests last year but this year I have FOUR.

FOUR TESTS.  Not just two, no.  In addition to Math and English, I also get to worry about Science and History!  So instead of focusing on studying for only two tests, I have to work twice as hard and fast on all of my subjects and hope I know everything that will be on the tests.

Not to mention that the history STAR test is on everything I'm supposed to have learned from sixth through eighth grade, meaning somehow I was expected to remember ancient history,  renaissance, reformation, and US history from all of middle school.  Honestly I only remember the highlights, because I wasn't thinking about memorizing it all for a giant test at the end of Jr. High.

Just kill me now, it would be less painful.

The only things keeping me going at this point are the promise of summer, awesome remixes, and my writing class (I'll post some of my work here soon, right now we're working on fiction)!  But of course, everything will turn out fine and I'll have a great summer :)

If you read all the way to here, congratulations!  I'm pretty sure my ranting was pretty tedious haha.  But thanks for reading and as always,

Happy Homeschooling!

All Over Again

If you've read Mark of Athena, you have to watch this.

Just be warned, it's going to kill you inside.  It will wring out your heart and push your emotions INTO TARTARUS.

Here it is:

Excuse me, I have to go cry now.

Happy Homeschooling!

PS: We're still in LA, going to Lego Land tomorrow and Disneyland on Thursday.  Fun fun fun!! :D

Some Days

Today I created a schedule for school...because some days it's hard to get everything done if I don't have a time and place to do it.  [Just FYI, I wake up at 6 or 6:30 in the morning.  My choice.]

Here is my schedule of awesomeness :D

Bible- 7:30

Math- 7:45

Science/History (we take turns)- 8:45

English- 9:15

Latin- 11:20

Other-Civics, Extra reading, Latin HW- 1:15 (after lunch)

PE- Depends.  If I'm just doing some simple exercises I can do it earlier, but sometimes I'll ride my bike or something after school with my friends.

Don't worry, I always wear a helmet haha!

For Bible I'm currently reading Jesus Freaks.  It's really good!  Math, I am reviewing how to use the distributive property in Algebra which is not exciting or anything but pretty easy.  History is American History woohoo!!  Making a scrapbook, will take pics when done.  In English I am reading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is really confusing.  And in Latin, Roman History because Miss Weight is taking a credentials course and she needs to complete a history segment.  Roman history is really cool, but personally I think they just took everything from the Greeks, renamed it in Latin, and made it bigger.

That's all, hope you enjoyed seeing how my day goes.  Right now I can't upload videos to my computer but when I can maybe I'll make a Day in the Life video blog for here.  What do you think?

Happy Homeschooling!

The Mark of Athena

“Wisdom’s daughter walks alone,

The Mark of Athena burns through Rome.

Twins snuff out the angel's breath,

Who holds the key to endless death.

Giants' bane stands gold and pale,

Won through pain from a woven jail.'”

Oh yeah, that's right, I got the Mark of Athena yesterday!!  MoA is the newest book in the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan, which is basically the sequel series to his Percy Jackson books.

And oh my word it was sooo good!!!  (Oh right, I finished it too...hehe)  I won't give out any spoilers yet, because I had to avoid looking up any Percy Jackson stuff from the release date until I got it (2 days of an honest minefield, I swear) and it's horrible to try to look places without being able to have spoilers.  If you want spoilers or have already read the book, just comment or email me or something and I'll do a whole post with everything :D

It's so hard to not say anything right now, but my friends held out for me--thank you!!--and I won't right now.  But just had to put out there that I read it and it is AMAZING, even if it ends on a "Rickhanger" which is a term I learned last night for Mr. Riordan's infamous cliffhangers haha!

Happy Homeschooling!

REdecorate

Hello there!  Today I realized that my beach themed little nook in my bookcase was a bit out-of-season, so of course...I had to update it.  Now it has a Percy Jackson/movie theme. Here are some pictures for ya!

Overview...you like it?!  I do :D

Owl earrings for annabeth, in a mussel shell I found at the beach (for Percy)

An acorn--Grover--and some silver bangles: Thalia.

Camp Half Blood Necklace (courtesy of Kami)

The rest: Popcorn can and scene/take/roll thing for movies and movie-star sunglasses haha! Oh, and my iPod nano because music is awesome, and it looks cool.

Tell me what you think?  I'm really happy with how it turned out!

We have a meeting with our CT tomorrow, to turn in "official work samples" and such.  That will be good.  Oh, and this is kinda random, but remember the STAR tests?  Well, we got the results for my English test and I did good :) Phew!

Best get back to my studies...aka getting together a work sample for Science.  And yes, that is actually a picture of my work.  My math homework to be exact.  Gotta run--

Happy Homeschooling!

Scrambled

Hello there friends!  So, this week has been kinda crazy.  Ok, really crazy.  It started on Monday...

When we had our Latin poster presentation.  Which went well, by the way :)  It was a fun project!  That day, we got to watch this video after class because, well, it's funny!  And Miss Weight is awesome! <3

Isn't this just the cutest thing?!

Then on Tuesday it was school as usual.  My eyes were kinda bugging me but my contacts were getting kinda old, no biggie.  However, towards the end of the day it was so bad I had to put my glasses on instead.  Before dinner?  Something is wrong.

On Wednesday I woke up and had a hard time opening my eyes.  Yeah, um that would be because they were pretty much swollen shut.  When I got to the bathroom to look at what was wrong, well--it was pretty obvious I had pinkeye.  (Lovely, I know.)

So basically I felt so crummy overall that day that I got to sit on the couch and read.  I also watched this.  Watch if you are a HP fan and in need of a laugh!!

Thursday turned up eventually and since the disease was still highly contagious it was an official NO LATIN day :(  Which stinks even more because Miss W said it was going to be a fun lesson!!  Ah well, some schoolwork got done but not much, I still felt pretty bad.

Friday I felt much better!  Yay!  That's about the most exciting thing that happened.  Oh, and One Direction (remember them?! haha) had a new song out, which I must have played a million times while I was working on schoolwork.  Here, take a listen:

It's love, right here.  Love it.  Great song.  Makes me dance!

As for today...much much better!!  I am condemned to wearing glasses till next Wednesday though, which would be ok except my prescription is a little old and fuzzy.  My  glasses must make their appearance in Latin class on Monday.  Prepare yourselves.

Well, that will be all for this week.  Hopefully you all are having a good time this school year!!  (And for my readers who are related to me, hope you're having a good time in general--love you!)

Happy Homeschooling!

Percy Jackson!!

Ok, am I even old enough to be nostalgic?  I thought that was only for adults.  But the other day I saw some friends and we were talking about elementary school and the subject of Percy Jackson came up.

Oh my word, I swear we didn't think about anything else for the whole entire night.  It was all, Percy this and Annabeth that and remember when??  It was like we were all back in elementary school, but not.  Weird.  And now I know something very important.

Even though I am in eighth grade, I am so not too old to want to play imaginary games again.  I will never, ever be too old to want to play imaginary games.

Laugh if you want, but it's true!! :)

And now I am re-reading the Percy Jackson series once more (Lightning Thief; Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are on their way to Vegas) and loving every minute.  This might explain my random new profile picture, as well.

Officially Olympian-Obsessed right now, haha!!!

Latin starts Thursday, and I'll do a post then.  For now, though, it's same old routine :)

Happy Homeschooling!

Book Review: The Mermaid's Mirror

Today I'm doing a book review on The Mermaid's Mirror by L.K. Madigan.  Hope you enjoy!

The Mermaid's Mirror kinda has two parts, so I'll cover the first part first.  Selena Whittaker (Lena) is just your average high schooler, with a best friend, a boyfriend, and a little brother.  Her dad and stepmom are the normal, really supportive parents which is nice because in lots of books the parents are almost never there :)  Lena's dream is to become a surfer, but since her dad had a really bad surfing accident he doesn't want her to.  So of course, she takes surfing lessons behind his back...and then ends up trying to surf the most dangerous surf spot near her: Magic Crescent Cove.

And this is all because of the fact that she saw a mermaid there.

So when she almost drowns but the mermaid rescues her and gives her a key, she must find what the key unlocks!  And what fun would the story be without her finding the chest that the key fits, right?

So this transitions into part two, where her dad explains that he fell in love with the mermaid sixteen years ago, but she got charmed into forgetting everything and had to go back to the sea!  And when Lena finds out that her real mother, the mermaid, is waiting for her at Magic's, she leaves to live beneath the sea...

This is where the real fun begins!

But I have a bad habit of spoiling things for people by giving away too much, so you'll have to read it for yourself to find out the end.

It was a really good book, even on the fourth time around (I think I read it three times back in October/November) and since it involves awesomeness and fantasy (surfing, the beach, cute little brothers, mermaids) it gets a GREAT overall rating!!  Please read it--admittedly not a "guy" book, but really really good!!

Bottom Line: YES, I would recommend this to a friend!  ☺


Happy Homeschooling!

Bronze Bow, History Stuff, Math & English

So I've been reading the Bronze Bow for History/English and it's pretty cool.  It's about a boy named Daniel whose life's ambition is to take down the Romans.  It's set during the time of Jesus, when he was preaching.  Daniel came home to his sister in one chapter after listening to Jesus, and told her about the story of the Good Samaritan.  It's awesome!
I've also been doing review of the Roman Empire for History, but since I already learned about it, it's not exactly as interesting...anyways, Mrs Sauter isn't teaching me now : )
Mom has had me reviewing decimals and fractions in math, adding and subtracting them and whatnot.  Just a review, until our textbook comes.  I think we're doing the Algebra 1 text, but I'm not sure.  Math isn't my favorite, anyways--it's not like I'm anxiously waiting for it to come.
And we've been reminding me of all the prefix and suffix stuff that I kind of knew but summer has blown away from my brain.  My brain likes summer }:D
So that's about it, I've been pretty busy so no projects yet but I'm going to my friend's house from tomorrow until Tuesday for some more school.  And I get to ride her horse, and I might get a rabbit...that's the most exciting part!  I love rabbits, and she breeds Netherland Dwarfs.

That's all for today, but check back soon!

Happy Homeschooling!

Savvy

I have had NO time to blog, so sorry!  But I have a new book that I like: Savvy, by Ingrid Law.  The sequel, Scumble, is out now too--I haven't read that one yet, but it sounds good!

Fun stuff, Savvy.  It's about Mibs Beaumont, who turns thirteen and finds out her savvy, or magical power.  I won't say what her savvy is, but she can't figure it out right away.  It's not like any other book I've read, definitely, but it's one of the best!

On another note, I've been needle felting, and I'll post some pictures of my projects soon.  My mom's working on crocheting a scarf, as well.  I can try to post pictures of that, too.  Until then, Happy Homeschooling!

Sick

We should be back at school today, but...I'm sick.  I've actually been sick since Friday evening, so I'm really disappointed that I'm not better already.  It pretty much stinks, especially since my little sister is sick now too!  I feel bad, even though there's nothing I could have done about it.  She's having a pretty rough time.  I'm just praying that nobody else in the family gets sick.

But why not be happy, right?  Of course right!  (Those of you who have watched Fiddler on the Roof, you know what I mean.  Remember Yente the matchmaker?)  So why not talk about books?  If you know me, you know I like to read.  A friend recommended the Nancy Drew series, which I haven't read in a while, so I picked a few up at the library and...wow!  I totally forgot how good they were, and I'm really loving them all of a sudden!  Some of my other favorite books--definitely oldies-but-goodies--are shown below.

The Harry Potter Series.  They are so good!  Well written, good story, I could go on and on.

The Percy Jackson Series.  If you haven't read them, please go immediately to your local library or bookstore and GET THEM NOW!

Series of Unfortunate Events--a little sad at times, because they're orphans, but hilarious!  Go Lemony Snicket!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series.  Just plain funny, I swear, these are so good!  But I think the fourth and fifth books are my least favorite...the first is the best by far!

So, these are my favorite books (only some--I have lots more!) and I've even busted some sickness boredom blues!  Well, happy reading!