My Educational Journey

This week one of the activities is reflecting on my education and what I think of it.

1) What kinds of experiences have you had? My education is not limited to just my bookwork. On top of English, Science, Math, and recently Geography and History, I have danced since I was 8 years old. This I've counted as my PE for a long time. Since my first class in Fallon, dancing has grown to be my favorite activity. I have started volunteer teaching at Just For Kicks, and am also hoping to be taken on as a paid teacher next year.

Joining BSA four years ago opened up more opportunities for me. The variety of merit badges has let me explore different "mini-courses" I guess they would be called. Among them are computers, animal sciences, and photography.

2) How much choice have you had over your own studies? When I first started school, I didn't have a great choice over my courses because of the curriculum. Once I started KONOS, I have had a much greater choice in what I wanted to dig deeper in.

Dance and Scouts have also given me choices in education. I choose which classes I want to take (which happens to be just about every on of them) and which merit badges I do.

3) Has your education been traditional, non-traditional, or a mixture of both? I would say my education has been a mixture. I don't have all the classes the kids in public school have, and now that I'm in KONOS, my learning for English is in a round-about way.

4) What direction do you see yourself taking in the future; are you preparing for college or university in the future? I see myself at this point hopefully heading to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. I want to join as an officer and hopefully as a computer programmer/tech dude.

Okay, so lately my life has been a bit hectic. In addition to my regular schedule of school, dance, band, dance, scouts, and more dance, I have started subbing more at the studio. I don't do it very often, but it's nice to be able to earn the money. Also, Jonathan and I are teaching a scholarship class on Saturdays for kids that can't pay for regular classes. We are doing a jazz class and will be teaching a dance to "You Give Love a Bad Name" by Bon Jovi.

Also, as a Life Scout, I'm now beginning my last steps towards Eagle Scout. I need to get the merit badges done and get everything for my Eagle Scout project set up. I want to redo the signs in Banner Forest, as everyone is always getting lost in there. The project itself isn't difficult, it's just getting people to be able to actually get the signs all put up in there at all the intersections.

For Christmas, Mom and Dad got me a P-bone, which is a trombone made of PVC pipe with a graphite slide. So, I'm trying to learn how to play that so that for the concert, I can play Trombone for Colonel Bogey's March, which has a low brass Soli section. Hannah is going to work on her Baritone so we'll have more than one low brass player.

Taryn and I have started a private together for Ballroom. We're doing a Salsa to "La Bomba." We haven't learned the actual dance yet, but we have learned some combinations and lifts that will get put together into a number. We're having a lot of fun with it.

In my free time (which seems to be dwindling), I have been reading more. Some books that I have read recently are the Uglies series by Scott Westerfield, The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan, and I'm trying to read Beowulf, but it's a bit slow as it's a poem. Books I'm going to get at the library or get at Barnes and Noble are Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke, The Hunger Games (I don't know the author), and the second Dragonlance series.

When I'm not reading during my free time, I like to play my iPod. Samantha told me about this app called Temple Run, which essentially the scene from Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark where he takes the idol and gets chased through the temple, except in the app, there are a lot of obstacles, coins to collect, power-ups to grab, and your character runs faster with every checkpoint. It's extremely easy to get addicted to it. I've only had the game for like 2 days and I have played about 170 times.

So, that's my current life in a nutshell. As the year goes on, I have no idea what is going to change, but I'm ready for it.

Becoming an Adult

This week is studying Medieval Daily Life. One of my activities for the week is to write about becoming an adult, so that's what I'm gonna do.

At my age, I don't think I would be able to take on the world. I have VERY little experience being out and doing things on my own. Because of that, I would probably flounder a bit in the real world. Also, maturity is a factor to consider. I can be mature and make good decisions most of the time, but there's always those times when I need help with what I should do. Decision making and owning up to mistakes are probably the two things I need to learn the most before I head out into the world.

I think the reason we have such a long adolescence period in today's day and age is because a lot of kids don't learn to do things themselves. They get an adult (parent, teacher, etc.) to either give them the answer, do the work for them, or help out so much that the kid does nothing that it becomes the parent's project more than the kid's. I think if today were a bit more like when settlers were still moving west, when boys had to start work at the age of 15 or 16, and girls were expected to know how to take care of the house by that time, the time of the adolescence period would decrease significantly. I'm not saying we should go back to what it was like during Laura Ingalls Wilder's time, but maybe if kids had a bit more responsibility put on them, and they were held responsible for it, then things might change a bit.

Christian: What it Means to be One

This week I'm studying Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire. He tried converting the entire Empire to Christianity by passing a law that said everyone had to follow the rules of the Church or the would be put to death. Not exactly a good way to get people to look kindly on Christianity.

Being a Christian is much more than just going to church and attending the services. It is more than tithing to the church, or even being baptized. It is thoroughly believing, with your whole being, that God sent his Son Jesus Christ to be the Savior of mankind and take away our sins. You have to believe that Christ's blood has cleansed your soul, and that God will accept you as his child if you repent of your sins and ask Him to lead you on the path of righteousness.

Obeying a law that decrees you to follow the rules the Christians follow is not the same as being an actual Christian. When you merely obey a law that requires you to do that, you are merely stepping through the motions, not actually doing them. I think that the Lord does not like enforced Christianity. When someone is forced to do something, they generally do it with a grudge. The Lord doesn't want you to serve him with a grudge. He wants you to serve Him with all your heart and soul and mind, and love him while you do it.

I don't think America would be the same if everyone were forced to be Christians. A majority of the people would be unhappy about having to worship against their will. Also, it would be against what America was founded for if a law like that were to be passed. America was founded so our forefathers could worship the way they wanted.

November 8, 2011

Well, time for an update on my life and what I've been doing. To make a long story short, DANCE DANCE DANCE!!! In the last 8 days, I've danced 8 days. And I have dance all week (including the weekend) this week and next, unless something comes up. A lot of it is because of Nutcracker. I am the Prince this year, and I have pas de deux rehearsals almost every day to make sure the choreography looks good. Also, I have Russian and Battle scene rehearsals on Sundays.

In Scouts, I just made Life Scout, so now I just have Eagle to go. Also, we just had elections, and I am the Patrol Leader of the new Venture Patrol. We are still working on a name. My friend Alex and I want to be called the Seagulls, but we're waiting on the other two in the patrol for ideas and input. So I have more responsibility as the PL, but I enjoy it so far (one meeting :P) and am working on getting the boys in the patrol motivated and working on some merit badges. So far, we are planning on doing the Communications badge (Eagle required), so I'm looking forward to it.

Then there's band. The three of us that were in band last year are all playing first on multiple pieces. We also have three more trumpets, so we have a wide range of technique and ability, making it a lot of fun. We are also doing more work with the Homeschool Strings this year. We are doing three orchestra pieces this year: Salute to the Cinemas, West Side Story Suite, and Procession of the Sardar.

So that's how life has been for me for the last month or so. A lot of people call it over-scheduled, but I call it doing what I love. :)

Now for more recent stuff. On Sunday, the Dance Driven Youth Ballroom team went to Tacoma to perform in the Instep Dance Showcase. As a group, we did a Lindy Hop to I Can't Stop It, a Cha Cha to Dynamite, an East Coast Swing to Crazy Little Thing Called Love, and a Waltz to Flying. A lot of people gave us congratulations and said they really enjoyed watching us. My friend Jonathan's mom said we completely stole the show, so I personally feel really good.

Still in progress, my friend Alexa and I are working on a Swing routine to take to performances and stuff. So far, it looks really good and I am having a blast. There are some fun lifts in there. During the first private, Ms. Christine (our teacher) had us try a lift called the Tower, where the girl does something like a handstand on the guys shoulders, but on her forearms instead of her hands. I'm really hoping we get to do that in our dance. If we can get it right, it will look really awesome.

And to round everything out, I'm turning 16 in less than two weeks! I'm really looking forward to it, even though I'm not doing anything fancy. I am hoping to do a Magic tournament at our house, followed by pizza and cake. I only have four friends that play Magic, though we are teaching another. So I'm not going to have many people coming over. However, I think it's going to be a blast.

My birthday list is not huge, but the things on it are somewhat expensive. Among them are Inheritance, the final book by Christopher Paolini; a decent pocket knife; Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke; Magic: the Gathering cards, be the boosters or decks, or just awesome single cards; an iHome with a radio; an iTunes gift card; and a Barnes and Noble gift card. Again, not a whole lot, just expensive.

What the barbarians brought to Europe

When the barbarians from Asia invaded the Roman Empire, everything ground to a halt, including trade, learning, and civilization. The barbarians essentially ground out everything Rome had been building for hundreds of years.

However, many good things were brought at the same time. Instead of one massive empire, the barbarians split into separate, independent civilizations. They allowed for Europe to become what it is today, with its diversity in countries and people.

Had the Romans continued to rule through today, Europe would be a massive pit of debt, just like the Roman empire was becoming towards the end of its time. Instead, many European cultures flourish, producing magnificent pieces of art and architecture to name a few things.

Monday, October 10

Just thought I'd put a bit about what's been going on lately.

We got our Nutcracker roles yesterday, and I managed to get Prince this year!! :D It's been my goal since we started at this school, and it's been that way because the Prince gets to do a lot of lifts. When I was Prince with Academy of Dance, I was a toothpick, and couldn't do a lift to save my life (not that I tried, due to the fact that they weren't choreographed, or even an option). But, I'm really excited. Should be a hectic two months trying to put the Nutcracker together.

Was enjoying the sight of the rain in the trees earlier. I love watching the leaves when they seem to spontaneously move around. It's almost like the tree is waving at you. Despite the fact that all we have is grey skies around here, and that it will remain like that for most of the next 3-5 months, I enjoy seeing little things like that. Kind of lifts my spirits.

Busy busy schedule now that dance and band are in full swing. I'm dancing 5 days a week, and at least an hour and fifteen minutes every day. The most hectic is band, when I have band all morning and dance from 3 until 7. It's definitely worth it though. I'm doing a swing duo with my friend Alexa, and we are having a blast with it.

Wednesdays I have a ballet private with my friend Samantha. She wanted to work only on ballet partnerwork, and Jonah, the only boy at Academy of Dance old enough to do partnerwork, isn't very good according to her. So we work on it for a half an hour every Wednesday.

Also, I am going to homecoming with Samantha. We are going to go hang out and just have a good time. She and her friends, according to Samantha's grandma, want me to teach them a bit of ballroom, so it should be pretty fun. :)

Well, that's about all I've got so far. Ballet and scouts tonight. Hoping my Scoutmaster can fit in enough time to work on my Citizenship in the World and get a Scoutmaster conference done tonight. Fingers crossed!