Disappearing before my Eyes!

The snow came and stayed at least a day. This may have been the only snow day that we will have for a while. In fact the snow has for the most part disappeared and turned into slush. The snow day wasn't that great anyways because we had to help out around the house and take care of swapping the parents and Zoe's rooms by the end of the day and we didn't even get the bed set up either. Besides I got my time outside and I got to see my friends so I am happy about the day just there some work in between our fun time and I kinda got confused on if it was the weekend or not.

Today I went to dad's job with him and got to have lunch at my favourite sushi restaurant, Juns.  At Juns we got to eat my favourite sushi roll which is called the oshinko roll which as far as I know is only served at Juns. The oshinko roll is a pickled radish roll. I know this sounds strange but it is extremely tasty and should not be turned down if offered as I have heard that it is one of the most labor intensive rolls out there.

This is my last post before winter break and it is not even required. For the most part I didn't have to type any of this up but I felt like I needed to type something because I didn't type anything up yesterday. I know family and some friends read this so to them I am sorry that I didn't post earlier. The good news is that this is my make up blog for apologies and something to wrap up my blog before second semester. I was originally going to post about how the sun makes you sneeze but I think this paragraph is much better.

Back Again!

Today Kristi has escaped her prison cell and made it back home. It has been good to see her again. I know that she disappears quite a lot so my guess is that she isn't sick it is just her getting her break from the family as she is always in a good mood when we see her. This is probably my theory that makes the most sense as I know plenty of people that would want to take a break from me and I want to take a break from my siblings plenty of times when I have to deal with them. Then there is the fact that she has a lot to do while she is here so I guess she can't do this that often.

Another thing that happened today is that all of us got to go to Kristi's house and help her move out some more. This wasn't that bad as we all got to eat at Minsky's for some pizza. For dinner I got to eat a Spicy Thai calzone which was not spicy but tasted really good. I can honestly say that today was relaxing and easy so I guess there is nothing much to type about today. Although there is one more thing about today that I will tell you about next.

There was supposed to be a nice snow storm tonight but the chances of that are actually quite slim. For example it shouldn't get below 30 degrees until 6:00 in the morning and then it is going to be sunny in the morning. Then tell me how a storm is going to come and last 2 hours and still be a storm that will actually affect anything. In fact it doesn't even stay below freezing into the next day, instead it goes back up to 40 degrees and then what? The day will go on as if it had never snowed.

Last foot of the year

There is only 12 more days until the end of the year. Within these last 12 days there will be one of the most sought after holidays out there, Christmas. I know that this going to be one of my normal Christmases but there is so much more then most. First of all this is going to be one of the last Christmases that Nate will be living with us to celebrate. And then Kristi will be with us to celebrate as our step mom more then our dads girlfriend. I know that this is going to be the same holiday that we celebrate every year but things are changing already and this might be one of the last Christmases that we can look at the same way.

There is the fact that this week is extremely easy as it really is just finish up any work that wasn't done and finish it now. In other words this entire week is just finishing up any books that are not complete yet. Other then the books there isn't very much else that I could do that would be possible without Kristi here with me at the house. In fact I enjoy having someone else here with me at the house instead of being home alone. Even my little sister Zoe makes me feel happy just because someone else is here.

I am looking forward to the end of the year as it is going to lead to another set of curriculum. Including learning the programming language known as Python which is really fun on Linux. Another fun little toy I got for my birthday which will also be going into my curriculum is a tiny computer known as the Raspberry Pi. This little toy will give me access to a load of fun little ideas and other computers that can be made that will be handy in the long run.

Tough time

Kristi has landed herself in the hospital again. I know it isn't her fault that she ended up in there again. In fact I am not judging her over anything as she has been working really hard lately. In fact that is probably why she has ended up in the hospital. She has been stressed out from helping with my birthday as well as dads and then right after my birthday she ended up working the entire weekend without much incentive and tons of stress so to the doctors who might end up reading this she didn't do anything wrong.

As I mentioned me, dad, and a couple of friends did end up having to help Kristi move. Of course what really did help is that we had incentive to finish which was a nice $50 bill for helping move. Now of course Kristi was only helping coordinate the move as the rest of us were there to do all of the heavy lifting that she cannot do. After all was said and done and we got all of the nuisance work out of the way we got home just to do more work when we got home which was unload all of the heavy, awkward stuff.

Funny fact I actually had a really good blog entry typed up today and I lost it all to the internet. What happened is that my entry was starting to glitch so I decided to save my entry and reopen it. Well, instead of reopening an actually good entry which was almost completely done I lost all of the data and had to retype the entire thing. I hope that my entry is still good because I am typing this and I am still really peeved while typing all of this so I don't want to sound to hostile, mean, or anything else that is frowned upon while typing this up.

School problems

Today there was a terrible shooting in one of the school districts which if I remember correctly was Connecticut. What makes it so sad is that people died and even worse is the fact that more people died then the Columbine shooting of 1999. I feel terrible but also relieved that no one that I knew myself was caught in the shooting and if someone was then I don't want to know because I probably havn't seen them in a long time and they wouldn't remember me. The problem that I have is that I am afraid that people are going to go to extremes and do something with the public schools to make them safer like they did with the Columbine shooting. Either way I am relieved that it is nowhere near me here in Missouri and that everyone that I know is alright and to the people who may be reading this right now that has lost someone dear to them this day we mourn your loss.

The Columbine shooting as I mentioned was in 1999. During the shooting 13 were killed and 20 more were injured. In this recent shooting around 27 were shot and killed and only 3 have made it to the hospital for treatment. Others have already died in the hospital. I don't know exact information about all of the situation as I heard the news when I had settled down to eat lunch and I had to turn it off to complete the rest of my work. I know that some of you are uninterested but I plan to dedicate this blog to this event and I can recommend that if you don't want to read this, don't.

I never got to see who died today. Neither did the people that may have lost someone as the information has not yet been released to any of the parents or the public yet. Either way today these people are the ones who read support and I know if they even are reading this they probably will not read this for another week or maybe tomorrow or even the most extreme a year, I don't know. To anyone that knows any of these people I would like for you to give some support to them as they are going to need it through these hard times.

Tons to Read

This entire week so far has all been about getting through my reading for the week and it is hard. For example today and the last few days I had to work through lunch fast to get in all of my reading. Even then I didn't get done with all of my reading until about 2:40 in the evening. Even with trying to get through lunch as fast as possible I ended up falling behind for the day and working up to about 3:00 but even then I am not done as now apart of my "Homework" I have to go back and review french even when the school day is done.

There is going to be very little amounts of school work to be done tomorrow as we are going to go run some errands. I know this sounds like it is a day to slack off but I believe that there is going to be quite a bit of work that is going to be required of me during these outings so I don't believe that there is going to be a break yet. Either way work or not it is better then sitting down in the chair upstairs all day and reading the entire day. By the way I have nothing against reading I just don't like sitting down that long.

I am feeling scared about continuing my French work when it is time to move on to lesson 3. The reason why is because since I fell behind I started to slip even farther the farther I got in and to this point I barely understand anything on lesson 2. I don't blame dad for making me review French but I really don't like review at all as I have never really felt that review ever truly helped me out before except for before a test but I know all of that is wrong.

The Circle of Time

Over time I get a new book upon finishing one book. This time after finishing the Trouble with Boys I got a new book called battle hymn of the Tiger Mother. This one is about what makes the Chinese kids so successful when it comes down to how smart they are. Well what I found out is that it is because of how strict the moms are and just to show that my mom is nothing in comparison to the Chinese moms who would of instead of demanding 1 hour of work on studying for a Chinese mom they would usually want at least 3 hours of studying. I believe that this book only heightens my knowledge of how lucky I am to have my family and how the world works around me.

Today is my dads birthday as I mentioned yesterday and I have nothing for him except the ability to help around the house and my hard work in school. There is of course the fact that I have accumulated $90 with all of the work that I have done recently but I think it would be lazy to hand someone money and tell him to go ahead and buy himself something. Besides he didn't request anything for his birthday from us neither did he drop any hints that I have heard from him so for the most part I think I'm safe.

The book Nurture Shock has given me a good look back at some of the predicaments that I have been in before. For example it talks about the flawed gifted programs in school and how they are testing kids in Kindergarten to see if they are gifted and then about 3/4ths of the kids end up being normal or even basic. Then this reminds me because I was tested several times and rejected to join the gifted program because it was full and I was put on the waiting list which is a great way of saying you are smart enough but we aren't letting you in.

Another Down!

Today I managed to finish the trouble with boys and the book might just haunt me for a little bit. Reading about how the school isn't geared for boys and then hearing about how most of this isn't being acknowledged is pretty scary. Then the fact that boys are being accepted into college with grades that are a C average is also a scary thought to me. What makes the boys being accepted scary is that it goes on to tell how little effort they actually apply to the school after being accepted.

I told everybody about the other book that I have been working on which is known as Nurture Shock. Today it tells about how much sleep patterns affect the kids. I thought this one was also just a little bit scary as it goes into the facts like one hour of sleep can decide how well kids do in school and how they take life. What makes this one even worse is that it then tells about the wary parents that are willing to help the kids and get them some more sleep to help them. For example the many schools that are reluctant to start school an hour later to help the students even after the research was proven to help and there was remarkable changes within the schools who did change their schedule.

Tomorrow is my dads birthday and I feel bad having another one of his birthdays and not having a good substantial gift. Dad has been there for us through all of the ups and downs and I can't help but feel we take all that he does for granted. He is the one that brings food into the house and not even to mention to keep the house that gives us shelter. I don't know what we would do without dad and his persistence to keep a job and to go through any trial thrown his way.

Almost There!

This week is going to be extremely hectic for 3 reasons. One is Kristi moving in this week. Second is my dads birthday on the 12th. Then third is the fact that my birthday is this Saturday or otherwise known as the 15th. The problem with my birthday being so soon is that I have yet to actually make a list of what I want for my birthday because there isn't much that I want. Music is pretty much out of the question because I can listen to any music free on the internet and since I have ad blocker there really isn't any wait time. Books are an OK bet but I read a book about once or twice a year so I feel it would be terrible to enjoy a book immensely then let it sit on a shelf for about a year before being picked up again. Finally I don't want to ask for anything to expensive because there is so much going on this month and it seems almost rude to ask for a $50 video game when we are already spending so much this month with Christmas and dads birthday not to mention any unexpected problems that might show up.

Today's work was fairly easy but did require some thinking. I had to read one book named Nurture Shock which was a nice little wake up call to the way the kid brain works. For example that praising the a person in general might not work the way you want. Research has shown that by praising a kid you might actually make them worse rather then helping them improve. For example during a test which consisted of 3 puzzles the kids who were praised for being smart but not for the actual effort decided to go for an easier puzzle the second time which they were then praised for this puzzle as well. Though when they were given the 3rd puzzle they did 20% worse on this puzzle which was actually the same as puzzle number one.

Then another book I read today was a book known as "Mr. President Mr. President!" which is about a journalists view of the white house with personal interviews with different presidents. For example she got to know Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman as well. These are the two that I have gotten to but she gives her opinions of the two and what they had gone through for example Harry Truman was hated by many people while he was president but when others looked back at Truman they think that he was a wonderful president. Another one which was also with Truman was that when he had to decide to drop the bomb on Hiroshima or not he claimed to have slept like a baby after making the decision to drop the bomb without the help or support of anyone close.

Easy!

Today I have about 4 things to do so this is my third. I have done all of my reading now I'm doing my blog and then Finally I have to post something on Google + in French. Funny thing about the French project is that I have been allowed to use a translator. This may sound like cheating but considering the fact that I have been studying French but have fallen behind drastically makes this a life saver.

The funny thing about today is that I have the easiest day today. Everyone else except for Zoe has a pretty hard day. First off Nate is going to 2 places today just to return home get dressed and head out for the choir performance later tonight. Then there is Kristi who is driving Nate around and then she comes home to wait for dad for their night. My job is to babysit Zoe which really isn't that hard. In fact it will be pretty cool being able to sit around and relax most of the day and eat some ordered food for dinner.

On the other hand I have pretty much nothing to do today upon finishing my work. Honestly I was afraid it was going to be worse today then it really is. Only because I feel that I was going to be done in the morning and have just read and sat around the house all day until I got some more work. Though overall I am quite relieved for a good fashioned break. I will get plenty of time later today to just mess around and hang out with my friends so I really feel like I got lucky.

Feedback

Today I thought it would be an alright idea to talk about in some more detail on yesterday. For example I am going into more depth about what I think about SOPA and PIPA and how last night ended with the Christmas special. For this paragraph I am going to tell you about my strange day. What made this day so strange is I woke up at 8:00 today and I usually wake up at 10:00. I was baffled but I managed to get in an extra hour of electronics time. Then I there is the fact that I was going through work so fast that I am already done with chores and I am very close to finishing my school work for the day and for the week! The reason for this is because I have worked hard this entire week and tomorrow was supposed to be a make up day.

The SOPA and PIPA bills really made me want to slap someone. The way the bill was worded is so the government could shut any website down and if they were wrong about there being some way of supporting a illegal site they could simply say it was an assumption and couldn't get sued. This could process of shutting down websites would lead to a internet where no one person could be safe. YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, and even Google could be shut down in a heartbeat for doing nothing bad at all.

Finally there was last nights Duck Dynasty Christmas Special that we got to stay up for. We all got together with some snacks and nommed away as we laughed at the mistakes of one of the employees. What happened is that the owners wife volunteered him to play Santa at a church and when the original employee they had planned for backed out the one person that wanted to go was a lazy worker and brought "toys"  that he gathered from around the office. When I say toys I mean a tape gun, coffee cups, and a dustpan are just a few of the things he brought.

Loving the work

I was always tolk that it was important for a person to love their work. Well I have to agree with that the more I get these forms of curriculum I like. The first few were Freakonomics, the diary of Adrian Mole, and Anthem. Now I am enjoying The Trouble With Boys quite immensely. For example the recent chapter I read was about how the form of boys writing is really excepted in school. I know this pretty well because it talks about how the other boys like writing with sarcasm, humor, and purely for the other boys in the class to enjoy. I love this book because most of the things that they talk about is usually quit true and noticeable within the average public school. Of course most of the kids ignore this stuff going on around them taking it for granted.

Today's work is getting really easy with no math or french to take up all of my time. Though the hard part is that Kristi knows this and is willing to use the extra time. Today I had a Khan Academy video that is 25 minutes long. That would be five minutes less my average french lesson. Then before that I had a 12 minute Khan Academy lesson on SOPA and PIPA. I do enjoy Khan Academy and his use of the tablet to spell out and show people things while he explains them. I also love the ability to ask a question on the comments and get about 20 different answers from different people.

The family has got one of the first TV shows that we watch as a family since the Big Bang Theory which we have not yet abandoned. This new show is Duck Dynasty and it is almost just as funny. Tonight is the Christmas special and Zoe is being allowed to stay up another 30 minutes to watch it with us! The show is about a family of rednecks and their business of making duck calls. Of course it wouldn't be reality TV if something didn't happen and there is plenty of humor to go around. I can't wait for tonight as we get a nice meal and the Duck Dynasty Christmas special!

Khan wins!

Today I had my first science video on Khan academy. I believe this gives Khan another point in the great war of the curriculum being in so far three different college level main curriculum. The three I've gone into so far are math, social studies, and science in that order. I can congratulate the owner which if I remember correctly is Sal Khan. I hereby congratulate him with grabbing my attention along with all of the other people who have gone to his website and followed along.

I am done with editing my 2nd draft for Freakonomics. The problem with this is the fact that I now have to edit a second time. I do want this to be a good essay but I just don't want to edit a second draft again I want to move onto the third draft and edit that. I can't really complain with results much as this is probably the best essay I have seen yet considering the fact that every other essay before this ended very badly with no real writing behind them.

On a much brighter note I have finished my French for this semester. I may not be doing so well in french since lesson 18 in section 1 I made it through and for that I am proud. Funny though I may not be to good at actually speaking the french I can still read french pretty well even when I failed at reading glace properly when Alex, Kristi, dad, and I went after helping Kristi move stuff through her house. I don't have a need to speak French right now but if I have plans of ever traveling I better start learning some French. Besides I like the language quite a bit I just missed one word in lesson 18 and it set me completely off.

Full speed ahead

Today we have been working hard on catching me up on my Freakonomics paper. This work includes spending a good hour making the changes necessary to the paper. I loved seeing my paper evolve but I really did hate actually working on all of it. I was never a huge fan of sitting there and demolishing what I've created except for when I build it specifically to be destroyed. This is hard work criticizing my own work and making the necessary changes.

I also got to watch a movie today known as "Outfoxed." It is all about the right winged fox news network. I found it really funny when they were covering president Bush how they would cut people off who were raising to good of a point against them or even telling the people that were guests on fox to shut up. I don't watch fox news but I started getting really annoyed that this kind of network would even be allowed to be run at all making things that were terrible seem really good to make the president look that much better.

I was reading the Trouble with boys this morning I was staring at the book dumbfounded. I was reading the 9 things that would usually label a kid with ADHD and to my surprise almost everything listed I saw in pretty much every boy I knew. This list Included staring into space, not remembering what you were talking about a few seconds ago, and even not paying attention. almost every boy I know stares into space with nothing in particular in mind but manage to end up diagnosed.