What Thanksgiving Means to Me

Thanksgiving means a lot to me. It always brings around a sense of companionship and love. I get stuffed with wonderful food with my family, then I play with them. Thanksgiving means food, love, and family to me. That is what Thanksgiving means to me. To slightly elaborate on this point, I have made a short Thanksgiving video.

My Book Collection

I have a giant book collection. It takes more than two bookshelves, and I am proud of it. I have never counted the books in my library, but I estimate that I have over 100 books in my library. My library is made up of fiction for the most part. I like science fiction, so I have tons of those. I have a few non-fiction books, but I don't read those books a lot. I mostly read the fiction books. I have read almost all of the books in my library, with the exception of a few new books. It is sort of hard to explain, so I am just going to show you.



The big bookshelf.



Books on my desk.



These books are on a bookshelf.



These are on another bookshelf.



A tall bookshelf of books.

The Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge Field Trip

On Tuesday the 16th, my mom and I went on a field trip with the rest of our homeschool group. We went to the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge a few miles out of Des Moines. We watched a short movie about the prairie. After the movie, we learned about being a good steward by picking seeds of the Ironweed plant and putting them in a bin to help the prairie. When we finished that activity, the group went to the Buffalo Exhibit to learn about the Bison. They had bones that we were allowed to touch, and they even had a giant, flat piece of Buffalo poop that had hardened. On the floor, they had Buffalo skins down, so we could feel what a Buffalo felt like. When we finished the last learning game, we had lunch. After lunch, the group sort of split up. Some people explored the rest of the exhibits, others took a nature walk, and the rest went out on the auto trail or went home. I had a lot of fun playing with Dawson, a 3 year old that I really like. He was small, so I picked him up so that he could see all the cool things. I also carried him around a little bit when he got tired. After lunch though, Dawson and his family left. We stayed, and we went on a nature walk with Mikayla and her mom. Mikayla and I had a lot of fun walking through the wild prairie. We tried to sneak up on our parents, but we made too much noise. Soon after our failed seak attack, we found three Buffalo in the distance. My mom used her video camera to zoom in close enough so that we could see. She had to leave too though, and we were eventually left alone. My mom took us along the auto tour route to look for more Buffalo and Elk. We saw some Mule Deer, scrapes, and giant turds, but we didn't see any more Buffalo or Elk. All in all, it was a good field trip.



We collect seeds and I hold my sword aloft.



Dawson and I listen to a speech about Buffalo.



Me sneaking around.

My Favorite Sandwich/Wrap Tutorial

My favorite wrap is a delicious Barbecue Cream Cheese wrap with ham and crisp, fresh, juicy lettuce. It is very easy to make, and I love to make it. I will show you how to make this delicious wrap.

A Typical School Day

In this post, I will tell you what I do on a typical school day. It isn't exciting, but it is informational. So here I go.

Math

The first thing I do in my school day is my math. Depending on the length of the lesson, I do about 2-5 pages a day. I use an Abecka book, so, as you might not know, I am home-schooled. My mom doesn't want me writing in the book, so I answer the questions in a 5-subject notebook. I also have a whiteboard and a calculator to help with the harder problems.



My Math Stuff

SOS

After my math, I start up my computer so that I can do my SOS. SOS stands for Switched On Schoolhouse. I have my History and Geography, Language Arts, and Bible classes on SOS. the cool thing about SOS is that it is all on the computer, so I don't have any papers lying around in folders and stuff.

Break

When I am done with my SOS, I normally take a small break of a half-hour to an hour. I use this time to play games and unwind. I normally play RuneScape, but sometimes I play on A123.com, Nanovor Online, and Bakugan Dimensions.

Science

After my break, I do my final subject, science. I use a Matter and Motion book, which centers around a Christian perspective of science. I like this subject, because I get to learn about science and many other exciting facts. I have a notebook to answer the questions with.



My Science Stuff

My Favorite Apple

My favorite apple is the Gala apple. It isn't the biggest apple, nor the tartest, or even the firmest, but it is a good apple. It is small, so you can pack it into your lunch or snack area easily. It is sweet, which I like, but not overly sweet, which I don't like. It isn't hard, but it isn't mushy either. It is soft, perfect for an easy snack. The color is a nice blend of red and yellow, not completely green, yet not so red that it looks black. There are other apples that are good apples, but I like the Gala apple the most.



A Gala Apple

Sushi

This weekend, I was watching a How It's Made episode with my family, and they showed how sushi was made. This intrigued my interest, so I started researching sushi. It turns out that there are many types of sushi, and that almost all of them have rice. Sushi is a dangerous dish, mostly because it is made out of raw fish, with seaweed, rice, and the few vegetables or spices put into the sushi. I can't tell you everything in this entry though, because it would make this entry huge. Instead, I am going to direct you to a website that is sure to answer all of your questions.

http://eugeneciurana.com/musings/sushi-eating-HOWTO.html#label_2

You might need to scroll up a little bit to get to the top. I have found this website to have a lot of information about sushi and sushi etiquette.

Enjoy!



The many kinds of sushi, or Zushi

Week 11 Review

Good job this week. I would have liked more detailed information on the Bird post, but otherwise it was a good week.

Twix

One of my favorite Candies are Twix. I like them because they are small, light, and pleasant to the taste. They have creamy caramel over a snappy stick of deliciousness. Covering THAT is an awesome, smooth chocolate shell.

My Favorite Bird: Bird Ninja

My favorite bird is probably the Black Swift. It is a large swift. The largest in North America, in fact. I like to call it "Bird Ninja". It lives up to the name, too. They can climb even the sheerest cliffs, where they live. It can fly out of sight thousands of feet into the air, and prefers to remain secret. They swoop down with uncanny accuracy to eat aerial insects like mosquitoes. They even live like a ninja, simple in a moss and mud cup, yet hard to find on a rocky ledge. I have found out that while this bird winters in the tropics, no human has been able to find out exactly where they winter. Scientists suspect that The Black Swift May actually winter in British Columbia, where flocks of thousands have been seen. Even though I have listed a lot here, the Black Swift is actually the least known swift in North America. I love this bird.



This is a Black Swift
Photo courtesy of Whatbird.com

Nature

Since I have been doing mostly written posts, I thought that it might be nice to do a small video instead. Hope you enjoy.




The music for this clip is To Go Beyond by Enya

Week 10 Review

Not as good as previous weeks. No photos :( and only 2 entries.