Traitor in the Shipyard review

Andrew, my littlest brother, got me this book with his reading club form. (Can you say AWWW?) This is probably one of the best AG mysteries. It keeps you guessing until the very end.

• The American Girl: Caroline Abbot, from Sackets Harbor, New York.
• The plot: It's 1812, and Caroline's father's shipyard is frantically building ships to keep up with the British. When Papa's old friend arrives penniless, it's the least the the Abbots can do to give him a job. After all, he helped Papa escape from a British prison! Life is beginning to look up for Caroline. She even has time for sewing lessons at Miss Lucy's. But when things go missing around the shipyard, sails are slashed, and fires are started, Caroline soon realizes there's a British spy afoot- and it's someone who knows the shipyard well. Is it one of Abbott's trusted workers, whom she has known all her life, or could it be Papa's dear friend? It's up to Caroline to discover what's really going on.
• What I especially liked: Just when all the evidence pointed to a character you were SO sure was the spy, new clues and hidden pasts would come to light.  I loved that the plot wasn't easily guessable or boring. I also always enjoy the 'looking back' section, which told all about real-life spies in the War of 1812.

This was a very enjoyable and interesting  read, although I finished it quite quickly. It would be perfect for  ages 9-12, and was packed with facts about the war of 1812, which is an often overlooked part of our country's history.

VBS teen leader

This week, I was privileged to be able to help lead VBS at our church. I was the 4th grade teen leader. I had so much fun helping the kids with crafts, learning hand motions to silly songs, and encouraging them in their spiritual walk. Ms. L, who was in charge of VBS, explained to us teen leaders that it's important to set a spiritual foundation at a young age, so that when the kids are older and that foundation is shaken, it will not fall. I really agree with that. A lot of kids attend our church, but their parents don't often come. Each child that came to VBS was an opportunity to reach a whole family for God.
 This year's VBS theme was Colossal Coaster World, so we turned the church into a mini amusement park. There was a roller coaster made out of folding chairs and pool noodles in the sanctuary, posters advertising rides in the craft area (which was called the Scissors n' Stuff Emporium) and maps of the apostle Paul's journey in the Bible Study area. Paul's life was like a roller coaster, with its many ups and downs. All our memory verses came from 2 Timothy, and the kids learned what was happening in Paul's life as he wrote it. I had a great time getting to know all the kids. I have fond memories of my VBS teen leaders from when I was younger, so it's really neat to be in that position now. Well, that's my little spill. I have been helping Daddy and my little brothers with the fence all afternoon, and it was HOT. However, we have had more rain than usual for this part of Texas in July, so I'm very grateful for that. Hope you had a great day as well!

Volunteering @ The Air Show

   Thunder Over Cedar Creek Lake is an air show in our community. It consists of WW2 bombers that fly as low as 500 feet above your head to parachuters performing with the flag to the tune of 
"The Star Spangled Banner". The show ends with fireworks dropped from the bomb bay of a plane over the lake. It's an very inspiring show. A few days ago,I had an unique opportunity to help there. My 4-H group and I managed a booth at the show, selling t-shirts to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project and Fisher House.  The most amazing thing happened while we were selling the shirts. A young woman and her mother buying shirts started to cry when we explained what the money was for. They said they were staying at Fisher House, a place for wounded soldier's families to stay while the soldier is in the hospital. The young woman's dad was  wounded and in the hospital, and Fisher House had provided them free tickets to the air show. Wow. This really made it personal - here was someone we were selling the shirts for. My group and I were inspired to sell even more shirts. We raised $400+! I enjoyed getting to help our soldiers and see the air show, and I hope I can help again next year.

Youth Trip

I'm back! I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July! Well, in approximately 3 days I am embarking on an adventure... canoeing! My church youth group is all going on a five day mission trip/ vacation.

The first day, we will be canoeing for 3 1/2 miles. The second day... maybe more. I have never been canoeing. And... I am a little scared. Because everyone keeps telling me horror stories of tipping over in a canoe or having a snake drop down on them from a tree. But hey, I 'm pretty sure I can do it. (Hopefully.) And, I 'm starting to get pretty pumped about it. We're going to help another church with VBS, paint several houses, and help with whatever our host churches need. That will be stuff like childcare, painting, building, picking up trash ,and general cleaning. It should be really fun, and a great bonding experience for our youth group.
If I survive canoeing.
I'll let you know in eight days.
:)

We aren't allowed to have ANY kind of media on the trip- Kindles, Ipad, phones, etc- so I probably won't be blogging within the next 8 days, packing and meeting and leaving and all.
This trip will be a good opportunity to help other churches even smaller than ours(If that's possible.)I'm excited about helping lead a VBS, and painting sounds like fun, too.
 I'm really looking forward to it.
Even the canoe part.EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!




credit: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-E0egqIh7DbWnQKc6tWk9VkIVQhN63apbqV3KzXKtTN2cC4oWBE4g61eH8bl30nNr5aNFKXlk-Yr5Ll6X0iIk0bxLdxiEKZlCnX9VIrH_Gq7ZX8OrmwDv3pvkKLwpjiYh4sXHHJSdAxBR/s320/Canoe.jpg

The Happy Prince And Other Stories by Oscar Wilde

We've been reading Oscar Wilde's works for our homeschool literature , particularly The Happy Prince and Other Stories.  The book pictured above contains 9 stories. The first story, The Happy Prince, is the most famous. The story: A golden statue of a prince sits high above the city. Everyone looks up at it and thinks that it seems so happy. A swallow meets the statue ,which is of the late "Happy Prince". The statue houses the soul of the original prince, who in reality has never experienced true happiness. He explains to the swallow that he is very sad, as he can look down and see the suffering of the people. He never understood their suffering before. The statue convinces the swallow to help him by picking of his golden cover and taking pieces of gold to the poor. I won't ruin the ending for you, by
but I can assure you it is (very,very) sad, yet strangely beautiful.

My other favorite story from the book was The Remarkable Rocket. It is a wonderful example of personification, as Wilde does an amazing job making a group of firecrackers seem real. In the story, a bunch of fireworks are chosen to be set off for an enormous celebration of the prince's wedding. The smaller firecrackers are happily visiting amongst themselves when a large firecracker arrives. He brags about himself, what a great noise he will make when he is shot off, etc. When the time comes for him to be shot into the air, things don't go as planned. What make this story so enjoyable is the attention to detail Wilde puts into all his stories. He does not use so many words that it seems like overkill, but he uses just enough so you can picture it in your mind's eye. Below is an animated video from YouTube that follows the story EXACTLY. We enjoyed it very much.

Image credit : http://www.wordcandy.net/files/2012-05-22-another-one-ill-be-skipping.jpg
Video credit:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NZ0-TrP06I

Back to Homeschool Magazine Review

 

I've been a big fan of BTH magazine for a year now, and I write many articles for it. But today, I realized something very important. I forgot to tell my lovely followers of this! :)

The magazine is free, and sent straight to your email bimonthly. It's filled with stories, book, movie, and game reviews, jokes, poems, essays, and educational articles all written by homeschoolers JUST LIKE US! You can submit anything you've written to it. I write for the magazine's writer's board, which is a neat oportunity.

One of the main reasons I recomend it is that there is a wide variety of articles. The magazine always has a theme- fairy tales, sports, famous people- so there's always something for everyone. To read back issues before subscribing,  click here. The magazine is totally free, and there are no ads.

Math, Doing Hard Things, & Life; A Random Post

Math.Where shall I begin? Math and I go way back, but we are not exactly friends. We don't really understand each other. ;D Okay, so maybe Math isn't a real person. But I think if we could meet face-to-face, we might get along a little better.
However, I've had a bad attitude about math. Declaring "I don't understand this!" and bursting into to tears isn't going to help me.  : ) We've been reading the book Do Hard Things, by homeschooled Christian teens, Alex and Brett Harris,  and it is an amazing book. The book explains that if you quit something just because it is hard, you're not living up to your God-given potential. People often focus on things that are easy - "I'm good at _______( insert skill here), but I just don't understand  _____ ....." -That's the wrong mentality, and it's one I've had about math. The world tells you to focus on your strengths, and that's a great idea, but what happens to the things you aren't so good at? You'll gradually get worse, and slowly even forget some skills. The cover of the book explains the purpose is to encourage "a teenage rebellion against low expectations." How many time have you heard  "You're just a teen." OR  You're homeschooled, you wouldn't understand what I mean."OR "This generation is going nowhere" ? Even worse, have you noticed people expect very low things from teens?  Have you ever heard: "You're so much better that the rest of the kids here,"? The book says:  if being better than those kids means you don't do all the bad stuff they do, are you really doing anything to be better? Alex and Brett explain "Be known for what you DO, not what you DON'T do."   To go to their blog click here.

I strongly suggest you read  Do Hard Things . It's changed the way I look at math, compliments, other people, and the world in general. And, even better, the book is filled with diverse real-life examples of teens 

( including homeschoolers too, which is nice) that have done hard things. And the examples aren't always elaborate.  It might be that someone simply got out of their comfort zone by calling a stranger on the phone, or it might be that a boy campaigned against human trafficking and spoke at the White House. It teaches small steps to big change. Well, that's my spill. Have you read this book? Did you enjoy it? Comment! :D

Good Night Everyone! Oh, and remember to: