The Lightning Thief

I just finished The Lightning Thief, and loved it so much!!!!!!!!! I even had to add it to my list of all time fav books! The updated best books according to Ruby are:
                                             


                                                Because of Winn Dixie
                                                      Fable Haven 1
                                                    Devil's Arithmetic
                                                   Number The Stars
                                                   The Lightning Thief
                                                    Out of My Mind
                                                 When You Reach Me

I think everyone should read all of these books.
My favorite character was Annabeth, because she was the daughter of Athena and was super smart. I enjoyed the whole entire book and it was a quick read. My mom is just finishing it and I can't wait to read the second one! 

Qin Shinhuang

Mao Zedog

Qin Shinhaung

I have recently read a few books about Qin Shinhuang, who I think compared to Mao was a little bit the same, but smarter. Both of the them were afraid they wouldn't be the smartest and so both of them destroyed all the books. Qin destroyed all the books except the ones on farming and medicine.  I think that Shin was a lot smarter to not destroy everything, including information that people need. they were in different time periods and in Mao's place it mattered a lot more to the people than it did to the people of Qin, because of the time. It makes me wonder why they didn't just try to gain more knowledge, and help their people with that knowledge. That is what I would of done. If I were in charge, I'd be happy to have intelligent people to help lead and educate everyone, so that we could become a strong kingdom together as a whole.

HALF SPOON OF RICE

HALF SPOON OF RICE WAS A VERY SHORT PICTURE BOOK ABOUT THE CAMBODIAN GENOCIDE. EVEN THOUGH IT WAS SHORT, I THINK WE HAVE THIS CAMBODIAN GENOCIDE THING COVERED. IF YOU KNOW SOME STORIES OF THIS SUBJECT, I BET YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. IT WAS SUPER SAD TO READ, AND THINKING ABOUT IT WAS HORRIBLE! IT HAS A GOOD ENDING AND IS A GOOD STORY, BUT I'M KIND OF GETTING BUMMED OUT WITH ALL IF THESE TRAGIC TIMES FOR ALL THE DIFFERENT PLACES IN THE WORLD. IN THIS WORLD WE ALL LIVE IN TODAY, AND WHERE WE ARE LIVING, WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS IS TO BE HUNGRY. WE CANT GO FOR MORE THAN 4-5 HOURS WITHOUT HAVING TO EAT. SNACKING IS AN EVERYDAY THING AND IS CONSTANT THING WITH BOTH KIDS AND ADULTS. I DON'T THINK I COULD LAST VERY LONG NOT EATING BARELY ANYTHING!! I DON'T THINK ANYONE IN THIS DAY IN AGE COULD DO IT, BECAUSE THERE IS ALWAYS ENOUGH TO GO AROUND. WHEN XANTHE WAS IN THE ORPHANAGE SHE ATE EVERYTHING THROUGH A BOTTLE AND DID IT IN ABOUT TWO SECONDS. SHE STILL WORRIES THAT SHE WON'T GET AS MUCH AS SHE NEEDS, AND AS I GOT THINKING, I WAS RAN THROUGH MY PREVIOUS THOUGHTS AND REALIZED HOW WEIRD THAT IS TO ME TO WORRY ABOUT NOT HAVING ENOUGH FOOD EVER. MISSING A MEAL IN ONE DAY IS NOT HUNGER. THE THING THAT IS SO DIFFERENT FROM MY LIFE AND THE BOOK, IS PROBABLY UNDERSTANDING, AND THOUGHTS THAT COME WITH DIFFERENT CHALLENGES AND THIS BOOK MAKES MY LIFE SO EASY, BUT ALSO THERE ARE LOTS OF OTHER THINGS NOW TO BE WORRIED ABOUT THAT THEY DIDN'T HAVE THEN, AND DIFFERENT STRUGGLES WILL STILL CHANGE THROUGHOUT TIME. I THINK I LIKE MY LIFE!!!:)

Cultural Revolution

Ruby is learning about the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward.  She took a test today on it, and mostly finished Red Scarf Girl.  I'm hoping she will read China's Son, which is a kids' adaptation of one of my favorite books, Colors of the Mountain by Da Chen.  Then we have to move on! 

For Asian arts, we read a couple of books on Bonsai, but haven't trimmed our bonsai tree yet.  Next we;ll go to either Cambodia or ancient China.  There is so much to cover!

Ruby is still doing creative writing, a science page a day, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, math at school and lots of guitar.  She is doing a great job of being self-motivated.

Brief Update

We didn't get much done today because of Ruby's migraine.  She did half her practicing, went to math and taught Nancy her violin lesson, then slept for the rest of the day until guitar at 5:30.  This week, we have studied the Cultural Revolution.  Ruby is reading Red Scarf Girl and I'm reading China's Son by Da Chen.  Every morning, Ruby has her current events quiz, which is a reading comprehension thing, a science page and grammar practice, in addition to spelling and geography.  It's a lot of fun.  I hope we're covering everything!  We wrapped up WWII with a test my dad gave Ruby about D-Day.  I'll have to take a picture of the test.  It was fun to discuss it with Dad.

Feb. 10

Ruby did most of her morning practicing before school started at 9:00.  She took tests on spelling lists 3 and 4, and we combined the words she missed into one list to study.  Some of them are tough.  She finished a science page started studying Asia for geography, looking at a map and listing all the countries that border China.  I think there are 14.  It's big!  :)

Ruby also did grammar at freerice before Coco came over for creative writing.  Then math.  After lunch, Ruby did her afternoon practicing, 30 minutes, and then we went through the Nisei Regiment book and a brief book on Pearl Harbor, finishing that segment of the WWII discussion.  Right now, she is reading another short book on Dunkirk, which I think is one of the most inspirational stories of WWII.  We HAVE to finish this unit and move on to the next one, and I'm trying to wrap it up tomorrow with D Day.

Now it's a short break for blogging for Ruby, then ballet, the rest of her guitar, and modern tonight.  Fun, fun!

Feb. 8

This week, Ruby started doing two pages a day in a science workbook I got for her.  Each page layout is a short essay, vocabulary words and a page of questions.  Yesterday's topic was dinosaurs.  All day long, the whole family pondered the question, "If dinosaurs were colorblind, would they evolve camouflage capabilities?"  Scientists don't know if dinosaurs were colorblind or whether they used camouflage.  Something to think about!

Ruby finished the Diary of Ben Uchida.  I'm halfway through and it's a great book.  Ruby is reading Weedflower.  It's the same subject matter, but her cousin Alexis recommended it, so we thought now would be a good time to read it.

This morning, Ruby did her practicing, science pages and then grammar on freerice.com.  Coco came for creative writing while I was at piano.  They worked on "stream of consciousness" writing.  Then math.  Ruby still has another half-hour of practicing to do after she reads, and while I teach violin.  Before ballet, we will try to discuss her science assignment and go into the end of WWII while we make tomato basil soup.  Good smells always help me learn!  :)  We have to end that unit this week and get started on Asia.  We'll start with a novel set in Japan, so it will be a good transition from the Japanese internment camp novels.  all in all, Ruby is a great student.  We're having fun.

JOURNAL ENTRY:)

I AM READING A BOOK ABOUT PEARL HARBOR, AND ONE OF MY ASSIGNMENTS WAS TO DO A JOURNAL ENTRY IN THE PLACE OF A JAPANESE AMERICAN. A LOT OF THE STUFF THAT I WROTE ABOUT WAS FROM THE BOOK, BUT ANYWAY!! IT'S DOWN THERE.

April 19, 1942

I DON'T KNOW WHY THESE PEOPLE HAVE ALL TURNED AGAINST MY FAMILY, ME AND EVERYONE ELSE THAT LOOKS LIKE US. SURE MY PARENTS WERE BORN IN JAPAN, AND SPEAK JAPANESE,  BUT THEY ARE AMERICAN NOW. SO AM I. IT'S OUTRAGEOUS. I WAS SITTING ON THE BUS ONE DAY, AND ALL OF THE SUDDEN SOME GUY ASKED ME IF I WAS CHINESE, OR JAPANESE. I WAS STUNNED. I TOLD HIM I WAS AMERICAN, AND HE SPAT AT ME AND TOLD ME TO  GO BACK TO WHERE I BELONG. WHERE I BELONG? I BELONG IN THE EXACT SAME PLACE AS HIM! AMERICA. I'VE NEVER REALLY GIVEN MUCH THOUGHT TO HOW MY EYES ARE SHAPED, BUT NOW I AM FORCED TO. THE WAY I LOOK IS MY WHOLE LIFE RIGHT NOW. THAT IS MOST CERTAINLY NOT HOW IT SHOULD BE. NOW I AM SITTING IN AN INTERNMENT CAMP, AND ALL I WANT IS TO GO HOME. THAT'S ALL ANYONE WANTS. MY NUMBER IS 135576 AND I WILL NEVER LOOK AT ANY OF THOSE NUMBERS THE SAME WAY. WELL IF I EVER GET OUT OF HERE. PEARL HARBOR WAS DEFINITELY NOT MY FAULT, OR ANY OF THESE OTHER PEOPLE. I DON'T EVEN REALLY KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT JAPAN, LET ALONE WHERE IT IS ON THE MAP, BUT COMMUNICATING WITH THEM AND SETTING OFF A BOMB OR SOMETHING? YEAH RIGHT!! I JUST HOPE IT WILL ALL END SOON.

SEE YA LATER,
RUBY

DEVILS ARITHMATIC

DEVILS ARITHMETIC WAS AN AMAZING BOOK. I LOVED THE STORY, BECAUSE IT MADE ME WONDER WHAT THAT WOULD BE LIKE TO BE IN HANNA'S PLACE. I WOULD RECOMMEND IT TO AN OLDER GROUP, BECAUSE OF THE REALISTIC VIOLENCE, BUT THAT'S JUST PART OF WORLD WAR II. I THINK IT'S FUN TO READ ALL OF THE WWII BOOKS FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES. NUMBER THE STARS WAS FANTASTIC! ALSO IT WAS DIFFERENT TO READ AN ACTUAL JOURNAL. ANNE FRANK'S OF COARSE! BUT THIS ONE WAS ACTUALLY IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMP. COMING FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A GIRL MY  AGE, AND MANY OTHER POINTS OF VIEWS. WITH EACH BOOK ON THIS SUBJECT, THERE HAS BEEN A LITTLE BIT OF DIFFERENT SITUATIONS THAT HAVE HAPPENED IN WORLD WAR II. THE PEOPLE WERE SO CLEVER AND FAITHFUL THAT THEY SEEMED TO BE STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO ME IN PERSON REAL LIVE PEOPLE AS I WAS READING IT. THE END WAS THE BEST, AND SADDEST PART. I DON'T WANT TO GIVE ANYTHING AWAY, BUT I DID LIKE THE END. THE WHOLE THING WAS HEARTBREAKING, BUT INTRIGUING AND IT WAS A GOOD STORY. LIKE I SAID IT IS A LITTLE BIT GORY, BUT STILL IF YOU ARE OLDER THAT 10 OR SO READ THIS BOOK!! IT TAUGHT ME A LOT ABOUT THE CAMPS, AND WHAT EVERYONE HAD TO GO THROUGH. WHEN I DID "THE SOUND OF MUSIC", WE DID A SCENE WHERE THE NAZIS WERE LOOKING FOR US, AND I BARLEY KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT IT. NOW THAT I'VE READ SOME BOOKS AND DONE SOME RESEARCH I KNOW A LOT MORE ABOUT IT. NOW I CAN RELATE MORE TO THAT SCENE WE DID AND IT'S A LOT MORE INTERESTING. READ THIS BOOK!!!!

Winston Churchill

We are in our third week of WWII.  Ruby interviewed Bill last night about Pearl Harbor and put together a power point about the subject this morning.  I think she learned a lot.  She is finishing up The Devil's Arithmetic today so we can start on a book about Pearl Harbor and the Japanese internment camps.

Today during lunch, I lectured Ruby about some of Winston Churchill's most famous speeches, and the historical events that were the backdrop for the speeches.  I get all choked up when I think about the Miracle of Dunkirk, and how all of England's fishing boats, yachts, pleasure boats and rowboats went across the English Channel and rescued over 300,000 British and French troops who were surrounded by German armies.  Another speech we talked about was the "finest hour" speech, given when England alone stood unconquered by Hitler.  We listened to some of Churchill's speeches on YouTube, and he was quite the orator, but his speeches are even more powerful in written form, knowing the events that were taking place at the time.  I am trying to keep on top of all the history by reading ahead, but it is a lot of work.  I have a stack of books about Churchill and Roosevelt and Churchill and Hitler, but I won't get to touch a fraction of the information that is available.  I'm hoping to just focus on a few important points.

Ruby is doing well in math at school and creative writing with Coco.  She is a great writer, and I'm glad she's getting such good instruction on that.  She is also doing Spelling List 3 and memorizing the European capitals.  She finished memorizing the map of Europe, which was pretty tough.  There are so many Balkan nations now!  And so many former Soviet Republics!  :)

We have been using a fabulous website called freerice.com to do grammar, science, geography and vocabulary quizzes.  It is incredibly useful. 

Also, Ruby finished her powerpoint presentation on Pablo Picasso yesterday.  I think she learned a lot.  We're planning ot have some friends over to try out our Cubism skills soon.  In correlation with the WWII unit, we focused on the painting "Guernica," Picasso's masterpiece depicting the Nazi bombing of Guernica, Spain.  When the Nazis saw the painting in Picasso's apartment in Paris, they asked him, "Did you do this?"  Picasso replied, "No, you did."  He used his artisic voice as a weapon of war.

I think we're covering everything we should be, with the exception of science.  We might have to have a week here and there completely devoted to science.  It's hard to do all the subjects in one day, with an hour of practicing and all the reading I'm trying to have Ruby do.  Although, it's going to be pretty easy to cover the science that is outlined in the school district curriculum.  It's not much.

TODAY IN CREATIVE WRITING:)

MY COCO AND I ARE DOING THE SENSES. TODAY WE DID SMELL. HERE IS ONE OF THE THINGS I WROTE.



                  Grass that has just regained color after a long snow covered winter, it gives off a swirling sense of sweet crisp smells. Flowers are starting to bloom and smell terrifically sugar like. The next day rain pours down making the air clean and thick as if you could eat the cleansed air. I can almost smell the color around me.

Thursday

8:30 practice guitar
9:00 heat transfer quiz
9:15 daily news quiz (great online resource!)
9:30 study spelling and vocab
9:45 Creative writing using sight and distance
10:45 math at school, stay for lunch.

1:00 practice guitar
1:30 Read Devil's Arithmetic
2:00 Research for Picasso biography.  I gave Ruby a stack of books on Picasso and told her to take two pages of notes to get her started on her biography.
2:45 math homework

3:20 get ready for ballet
3:45 - 5:00 ballet.
Ruby will still have reading to do tonight, and more browsing through Picasso stuff for info and ideas for her report.  She has modern dance at 7:15 and about 30 minutes to wait for me afterward while I teach, so hopefully she can use that time to read so we can stay on schedule with all the great books we have waiting for us.

It's been a challenge to fit everything in.  The day goes by really quickly, and 3:45 rolls around too soon, with ballet on Tuesday and Thursday.  Mondays have to be even more compact, because we leave for guitar at 1:45, although the car is a good place to do some studying or discussing.  Fridays are hard because the kids get home at 1:30, so after that, it's hard to focus.  I just save practicing and reading for afternoon that day, since Ruby can do those in her room.

Wednesday

It's Ruby's birthday!  Golda served her breakfast in bed, then family scripture study before she started on her practicing.  She was ready to go at 9, with 30 minutes of guitar done.  She's trying to finish everything by 2 so Scott can take her to lunch.  I drilled her on her spelling and vocabulary list while she did her hair and Xanthe's hair.  As Ruby spelled the words, Xanthe kept throwing letters out there.  "X!  What about X?  Don't forget B!  Bu bu bu B!!!"  Yeah, I don't know how people homeschool a bunch of kids at the same time.  We're trying cutting creative writing down to 3 days a week to fit more in.  Ruby tested herself on the Europe map and looked up definitions for all of her spelling words, then went to math at school.

For the afternoon, she is going to finish her math homework, do half of her reading, look through two books on Picasso and take notes for her biography, and finish her last 30 minutes of practicing.  25, since it's her birthday.  :)  That will give her time to go to lunch with Scott, make her favorite, chicken piccata, for dinner, meet with the Beehive leader (!!) and go to jazz tonight, without having to worry about homework.  Happy birthday, Ruby!!

Tuesday

Ruby started with guitar practicing at 8:30 and was ready for school at 9.  She wrote a brief book report on Number the Stars, and we talked about the book before I left to take Xanthe to piano.  Coco came over and they did some writing.  Ruby's writing is really good.  I like to see the process in her notebook that she and Coco go through to get the finished product.  I'm going to have Ruby post her writing on the blog, to help with keyboarding and for proofreading.

After creative writing, it was math at school.  She got her math homework done there, came home for lunch and got started on a science packet on heat.  She finished that while I taught violin, and copied down her new spelling list.  I gave her a pre-test on the map of Europe and she studied the countries.  As soon as she can get 100% on a test of the countries, we'll start on memorizing the capitals.  hopefully by Monday, since next week is our last week of this unit.  Now she is reading for 30 minutes in the book we started today, The Devil's Arithmetic.  If she stays on the ball, she'll be able to get her last 30 minutes of practicing done before ballet and be free from 5 until 6, when we go to the church to prepare for New Beginnings tonight!  Good job, Ruby!

NUMBER THE STARS

I really enjoyed Number The Stars. I can't believe how much courage all of the characters had! It is hard to imagine myself in Annemarie's (the main character) place, but I am pretty sure I would help as much as I could. Even though I'm just a 12 year old, I think I could be as brave as Annemarie, because she was 10, and all the people had to be that way in this time period,  because of the Nazis. Another favorite character was the handkerchief. Read it and you'll find out why.:) The things in it are so real and interesting. Every chapter was so exiting. You just have too hold your breath! I liked the end, but the only thing I didn't like about it was it was too short. It was kind of a cliff hangar.


I really want everyone to read this book! you will love it!


PS. It isn't as sad as Anne Frank.

Monday, January 23

Ruby started with math homework because she was sick Friday and missed school.  That took until creative writing started at 9:45.  Math at school at 10:45, then lunch before diving into her to-do list.  She had a grammar quiz, more math homework and an online report and short video to watch about Picasso.  I can't remember what her other assignments were.  Mondays, we have to work fast because we leave for guitar at 1:45.  In the car, I gave Ruby her spelling test.  There are 20 words, and she got 80%.  I made her study the words and retake the test in the car on the way home.  We also talked about Number the Stars, the book we're reading.  It takes place in Denmark in 1940.

When we got home, Ruby had practicing to do and finishing up some work she didn't get to before we left.  She also was assigned to finish Number the Stars, which she did.  I finished it last night, so we're ready to do a book report on that today and get started on the next book, relating to the next chapter in WWII, starting with Pearl Harbor.

Last Week

Our first week was last week, starting on Wednesday.  The first unit is World War Two.  We had already started reading Anne Frank and we started in 1933 in Europe.  First thing in the morning, Ruby fills in a map of Europe with all the country names.  It's the same map every day, and we'll have two tests on it, one this Friday and one at the end of the unit next Friday.  The next 15-minute segment is spelling, then grammar.

At 9:45, Coco comes for Creative Writing.  Ruby produced some amazing writing that I'll have to have her post.

10:45 is math at school.  I pick her up at 12, we have lunch and drop Xanthe off at school at 12:30 and get back to work.  Afternoons fly by.  We try to cover history, reading, practicing, art, science and math homework.  It's a challenge to get everything in.