This week was not a particularly good school week. In fact, it was quite close to what I would call a bad school week. Here's what I did (and didn't) get done:
In History, I started reading The Travels of Marco Polo. I didn't get past the introduction, which, in my defence, was long and, well, the introduction to a piece of classic literature. It's not as bad as the introduction to Beowulf (the Chickering edition), worse than The Song of Roland (Dorothy Sayers edition), and about the same as ones from the Iliad, the Odyssey (both the Fagels translation), and The Epic of Gilgamesh (I have no idea who did this one. I don't have the book anymore, so I can't go check.).
I did all my math I wanted to do for the week (I actually did four days worth this afternoon, which is why this post is later than usual), which is nice, and also somewhat unusual. I am now done with the graphing chapter. Science was almost a total wash this week. It's time consuming, so it tends to be the first thing to go when I short on time and/or energy.
Vocab and Rhetoric both went fine. I started a section in Rhetoric on analogies, which are always fun. I sort of like Rhetoric, though it's a little weird since it tends to mainly be review of formal logic, which I did last year, with some practical applications but mostly just review. It's easier (though more time consuming) than formal logic, and not as fun.
In Latin, I continued finished Chapter 15, and started chapter 16, which is about 3rd conjugation -io verbs. I'm finally getting into some more challenging stuff again, which is kind of nice. Speaking of Latin, you should read this post I wrote about it this week, if you haven't already. In Spanish, I continued the section on verbs, though I did not get as far as I would have liked.
I also started Tasting the Sky, our February World Lit book, and got about 1/2 way through it. I would have liked to have finished it, since I have the library's only copy, but I think I'll finish it this weekend, so that I can pass it on.
I didn't get any work on the sentence from last week that I was diagraming done. Next week, I hope. I was really on a role last Friday. One or two more days like that (one to finish the first diagram, one to proof, edit, and rewrite), and I'll have it done.
If you haven't yet, I would love it if you would fill out my reader survey. It won't take long, and it will really help me make better decisions about posting here.
Friday, January 31, 2014
Thursday, January 30, 2014
TFiOS, Cute Ad, and Survey
Thank you to those of you who filled out my survey from yesterday. If you haven't done it yet, please click here to fill it out. It's pretty short, but it will still help me understand my readers a little better, and make better choices when writing posts. Read yesterday's post about it for more details.
Today is just going to be a little random. First off, the trailer for The Fault in Our Stars came out yesterday! I've watched it about four times, and I love it. I am so excited for this movie. As usual, I have my reservations, but this trailer definitely made me a lot less nervous. I was incredibly close to crying the first time I watched it, which is rare for me. I rarely cry when reading books or watching movies (though far more often when watching movies), but one of the only books I cried while reading was TFiOS, and if I almost cried at the trailer, I will most definitely be crying when I see the movie.
Today is just going to be a little random. First off, the trailer for The Fault in Our Stars came out yesterday! I've watched it about four times, and I love it. I am so excited for this movie. As usual, I have my reservations, but this trailer definitely made me a lot less nervous. I was incredibly close to crying the first time I watched it, which is rare for me. I rarely cry when reading books or watching movies (though far more often when watching movies), but one of the only books I cried while reading was TFiOS, and if I almost cried at the trailer, I will most definitely be crying when I see the movie.
Also, have you seen this Superbowl commercial yet? It is completely adorable.
I'm going to a Superbowl party this weekend, which I think will be fun, though I know pretty much nothing about football, so if I end up actually watching the game, it might be a bit confusing. The Seahawks are playing though, and since they are our local team, I do feel like I should at least pay some attention to the game, or at least to the score.
That's all for today. I mainly just wanted to share those videos, and remind you about my survey again. Tomorrow, I'll be back with a school post. Lots of posting this week!
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
A Little Quiz
I have recently realized what while you all know quite a bit about me, I don't know that much about you. I know that my readership has been growing steadily for months now, and I would like to know a little bit about you. My blog is mine, and, for the most part, I'm going to do what I want with it. At the same time, I think it is important for me to know what you think, and to know what kinds of posts and content you like. For example, if I find out that you all really like book reviews but don't care that much about homeschooling posts, I'll probably do more book reviews. I'm not going to stop posting about homeschooling, because that's a huge part of my life, but knowing what you like and don't like will help me decide what to post and how often.
Since the comments on here are notoriously unreliable, I've created a Google form with a few questions. I've tried to keep it pretty brief.
I would very much appreciate it if you would take a minute to quickly answer the questions. Thank you so much!
Since the comments on here are notoriously unreliable, I've created a Google form with a few questions. I've tried to keep it pretty brief.
I would very much appreciate it if you would take a minute to quickly answer the questions. Thank you so much!
Latin
Yesterday in our Current Events class, we were talking about the Common Core, and education, and we ended up spending a lot of the time discussing how we would structure a national school system. Being homeschoolers, most of us don't have a lot of experience with traditional schools, so the discussion was quite interesting. At one point, we were talking about what should be taught (stick with the basics, like language arts and math, and let the students do the rest on their own, or teach them some of everything), this question came up: Why do we learn something? There were a variety of answers to this question, most of them being somewhere in the "Because I'll need it later," category, but somebody said, "Because it's fun."
Our leader, while trying to get us to say "Because it's fun," or "Because it's fascinating," used Latin as an example. When he said, "Why would you learn Latin?" my mom and I both started laughing because this is a conversation we have on a nearly weekly basis.
Now, here's a little perspective on this. When I was in 4th grade, I started learning Latin using Latin for Children. I continued this through sixth grade. In 7th grade, I stared Latin Alive!, and over the next two and a half years, I went through the first book and a half in that series before realizing that I had learned very little and that I was doing it wrong. Last spring, I went back to the beginning of Latin Alive Book 1, which I am now almost done with. This is my 7th year of Latin, so I think I think I have some right to an opinion on this topic. The problem for me is that my thoughts on the matter change on a regular basis.
Let's start at the very beginning. Why would you want to learn Latin in the first place? There are a variety of answers to this question including, but not limited to: Because it would help you with your English vocabulary and grammar; it would help you learn other Romance languages; it would allow you to read ancient texts in their original form; it would prepare you for jobs in things like medicine and law. I think these are all good and valid points for learning Latin.
My personal issues with it come later on. I have done Latin for over six years now, but in reality, I've probably only done about two years worth of high school Latin. The early programs I did were for kids to help immerse them in the language, and really didn't go that deep. While Latin Alive does go much deeper, I haven't gotten very far in it.
What this means for me is that I know a lot about basic Latin. I can tell you tons about 1st, 2nd, and 3rd declension nouns, 1st through 4th conjugation verbs, the present, imperfect, future, and perfect verb tenses, the five basic noun cases, and some about the other two, and plenty about adjectives of the 1st and 2nd, and 3rd declensions. That's where most of my knowledge ends. Of course, that's not all I know. I know a LOT of vocabulary, and much more grammar than that, but what I just listed, which is about a year's worth of high school Latin, maybe a little more or less, is really all I feel completely comfortable with.
Now, I can read Latin relatively well. I can parse and label and translate pages of Latin text. I understand concepts far above and beyond what I mentioned above. I have a quite good grasp on most basic grammar. But for six years of work, this feels miniscule. Here we finally get to the point where my argument with my mom comes into play.
I think all the reasons people list to learn grammar are completely valid. I think they are very good points. In fact, for those same reasons, I would encourage people to learn Latin. The problem for me is that I think I have achieved those goals. My Latin does help my English vocabulary. My Latin grammar occasionally helps my English grammar (though it actually more often makes me incredibly confused. I learned a lot of more complicated grammatical concepts in Latin before I did in English. I then expect the English to be the same, but it rarely is. More often, it's a lot more complicated, or at least different enough to be confusing.). My Latin does help some with Spanish. I have read original Latin texts, and translated them. I have enough of a background that if I go into something like medicine or law, I will have a great basis of knowledge to work from.
At this point, I do not see how continueing to learn Latin will help me with any of these goals. I think those arguments are past their point of usefulness for me. That does not mean however, that I think I should just stop learning Latin right now. I know my mom is reading this right now, and she is probably a bit confused, since some of what I'm saying here will sound like the opposite of what she hears me say regularly. Don't worry, Mom, I'm getting there. Really, really slowly. I think Latin is a wonderful language to learn, and I don't want to stop learning it. I really don't.
Over the past six years, I have attempted, many times, to quit Latin, without success. My mom never let me. She would cite the above reasons, and tell me I had to keep going. I'm now grateful that she didn't let me quit back in elementary school, but I'm still conflicted about whether it is currently worth it.
I'm a pretty stubborn person, as anyone who has ever lived with me can tell you, and after this many years, quitting now, just when I'm finally getting somewhere, would feel like failure. At the same time, I have more work this year than I have ever had, and I'm beginning to feel a bit of pressure to focus more on what I'm going to use in college, and less on what I just want to do (are any of you Current Events people reading this? This is exactly what we were talking about on Tuesday.). Latin is now a subject that is not going to help me get into college. It's not going to help me get a job. Is there a point in continuing at all?
Quitting right now would make me really, really sad. I like Latin. It's hard, and I do get frustrated often, but in the end, I like it. It's logical (usually), it has clear patterns and rules, and it's very black and white. That sounds a little like math, doesn't it? Latin also has a kind of poetry to it that math will never have. You can use those patterns and rules to create a kind of art. I really haven't done THAT much Latin, and I don't want to stop. I want to make it through Latin Alive book 4. It makes me really, really sad to know that that probably won't happen.
College is becoming more and more of a priority right now. Things like Math, English, and Science now seem far more important that Latin. I am struggling each week to get through all the work I have to do. Is Latin really worth it any more? If Latin was commonly taught in college still, if I knew I could continue learning it, this would be a no brainer. Of course Latin would still be worth it. I would need to continue so that I would be prepared to continue it in college. But the chances of going to a college that teaches Latin are relatively slim. Do I still have time for Latin?
In conclusion, I want to say that this is something I still haven't figured out. The pressure of being prepared for college is now stronger for me than the desire to learn things like Latin and History. Does this mean I'll stop entirely? Probably not. But it leaves me very conflicted with no real answer. What's more important? In class yesterday, we never really answered that question, and I don't have an answer either. Is Latin worth it?
Our leader, while trying to get us to say "Because it's fun," or "Because it's fascinating," used Latin as an example. When he said, "Why would you learn Latin?" my mom and I both started laughing because this is a conversation we have on a nearly weekly basis.
Now, here's a little perspective on this. When I was in 4th grade, I started learning Latin using Latin for Children. I continued this through sixth grade. In 7th grade, I stared Latin Alive!, and over the next two and a half years, I went through the first book and a half in that series before realizing that I had learned very little and that I was doing it wrong. Last spring, I went back to the beginning of Latin Alive Book 1, which I am now almost done with. This is my 7th year of Latin, so I think I think I have some right to an opinion on this topic. The problem for me is that my thoughts on the matter change on a regular basis.
Let's start at the very beginning. Why would you want to learn Latin in the first place? There are a variety of answers to this question including, but not limited to: Because it would help you with your English vocabulary and grammar; it would help you learn other Romance languages; it would allow you to read ancient texts in their original form; it would prepare you for jobs in things like medicine and law. I think these are all good and valid points for learning Latin.
My personal issues with it come later on. I have done Latin for over six years now, but in reality, I've probably only done about two years worth of high school Latin. The early programs I did were for kids to help immerse them in the language, and really didn't go that deep. While Latin Alive does go much deeper, I haven't gotten very far in it.
What this means for me is that I know a lot about basic Latin. I can tell you tons about 1st, 2nd, and 3rd declension nouns, 1st through 4th conjugation verbs, the present, imperfect, future, and perfect verb tenses, the five basic noun cases, and some about the other two, and plenty about adjectives of the 1st and 2nd, and 3rd declensions. That's where most of my knowledge ends. Of course, that's not all I know. I know a LOT of vocabulary, and much more grammar than that, but what I just listed, which is about a year's worth of high school Latin, maybe a little more or less, is really all I feel completely comfortable with.
Now, I can read Latin relatively well. I can parse and label and translate pages of Latin text. I understand concepts far above and beyond what I mentioned above. I have a quite good grasp on most basic grammar. But for six years of work, this feels miniscule. Here we finally get to the point where my argument with my mom comes into play.
I think all the reasons people list to learn grammar are completely valid. I think they are very good points. In fact, for those same reasons, I would encourage people to learn Latin. The problem for me is that I think I have achieved those goals. My Latin does help my English vocabulary. My Latin grammar occasionally helps my English grammar (though it actually more often makes me incredibly confused. I learned a lot of more complicated grammatical concepts in Latin before I did in English. I then expect the English to be the same, but it rarely is. More often, it's a lot more complicated, or at least different enough to be confusing.). My Latin does help some with Spanish. I have read original Latin texts, and translated them. I have enough of a background that if I go into something like medicine or law, I will have a great basis of knowledge to work from.
At this point, I do not see how continueing to learn Latin will help me with any of these goals. I think those arguments are past their point of usefulness for me. That does not mean however, that I think I should just stop learning Latin right now. I know my mom is reading this right now, and she is probably a bit confused, since some of what I'm saying here will sound like the opposite of what she hears me say regularly. Don't worry, Mom, I'm getting there. Really, really slowly. I think Latin is a wonderful language to learn, and I don't want to stop learning it. I really don't.
Over the past six years, I have attempted, many times, to quit Latin, without success. My mom never let me. She would cite the above reasons, and tell me I had to keep going. I'm now grateful that she didn't let me quit back in elementary school, but I'm still conflicted about whether it is currently worth it.
I'm a pretty stubborn person, as anyone who has ever lived with me can tell you, and after this many years, quitting now, just when I'm finally getting somewhere, would feel like failure. At the same time, I have more work this year than I have ever had, and I'm beginning to feel a bit of pressure to focus more on what I'm going to use in college, and less on what I just want to do (are any of you Current Events people reading this? This is exactly what we were talking about on Tuesday.). Latin is now a subject that is not going to help me get into college. It's not going to help me get a job. Is there a point in continuing at all?
College is becoming more and more of a priority right now. Things like Math, English, and Science now seem far more important that Latin. I am struggling each week to get through all the work I have to do. Is Latin really worth it any more? If Latin was commonly taught in college still, if I knew I could continue learning it, this would be a no brainer. Of course Latin would still be worth it. I would need to continue so that I would be prepared to continue it in college. But the chances of going to a college that teaches Latin are relatively slim. Do I still have time for Latin?
In conclusion, I want to say that this is something I still haven't figured out. The pressure of being prepared for college is now stronger for me than the desire to learn things like Latin and History. Does this mean I'll stop entirely? Probably not. But it leaves me very conflicted with no real answer. What's more important? In class yesterday, we never really answered that question, and I don't have an answer either. Is Latin worth it?
Friday, January 24, 2014
Homeschool Friday {I still don't know the week}
It's Friday again! I only have about ten minutes to write today, so this is going to be short and sweet.
In History, I've been reading about China (from 300-1200 approximately), and doing some short writing assignments and maps related to that. In Science and Math, I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but I pretty much just continued doing what I was doign before. In Rhetoric, I did a section review.
This week, I really focused on Latin and Spanish. For both, I had made flashcards in the past, but hadn't really kept up with it, and had lost some at one point. I spent about three hours on Wednesday going through all my Latin flashcards, making sure I had every vocab word, making cards for the ones I didn't have, standardizing their form, and in the process, inadvertantly reviewign all my vocabulary! I also came up with a new review schedule, since, with about 750 words in Latin and about 300 in Spanish, it's not reasonable anymore to try to do it all every day. On Thursday, I did the same thing with my Spanish cards, which took about an hour and a half.
I also did a lot of Latin translation, and learned some new Spanish verb forms. I have been doing Latin for years now, which has been quite a process in many ways. My own mentality about it has shifted a lot too over the years. I think I'm going to try to write a whole post about that sometime in the next few days.
I finished Malgudi Days just in time for our discussion on Tuesday afternoon, and I put next month's book, Tasting the Sky, on hold at the library.
Today, I'm working on diagraming that sentence from yesterday's post. I have gotten through the first claue so far, so I have quite a ways to go! I'm having to relearn some diagraming rules as I go, since I haven't done this in a while, and this is a pretty complicated sentence. It's a lot of fun, though, and I hope to have something to show for it soon. If I spend the afternoon working on it, I should get pretty far. Unfortunatly, I'll be at a friend's house, and I forgot to bring my grammar book from 8th grade (which would have all of these rules and more), so I'm relying pretty heavily on google for the things I don't remember.
In History, I've been reading about China (from 300-1200 approximately), and doing some short writing assignments and maps related to that. In Science and Math, I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but I pretty much just continued doing what I was doign before. In Rhetoric, I did a section review.
This week, I really focused on Latin and Spanish. For both, I had made flashcards in the past, but hadn't really kept up with it, and had lost some at one point. I spent about three hours on Wednesday going through all my Latin flashcards, making sure I had every vocab word, making cards for the ones I didn't have, standardizing their form, and in the process, inadvertantly reviewign all my vocabulary! I also came up with a new review schedule, since, with about 750 words in Latin and about 300 in Spanish, it's not reasonable anymore to try to do it all every day. On Thursday, I did the same thing with my Spanish cards, which took about an hour and a half.
I also did a lot of Latin translation, and learned some new Spanish verb forms. I have been doing Latin for years now, which has been quite a process in many ways. My own mentality about it has shifted a lot too over the years. I think I'm going to try to write a whole post about that sometime in the next few days.
I finished Malgudi Days just in time for our discussion on Tuesday afternoon, and I put next month's book, Tasting the Sky, on hold at the library.
Today, I'm working on diagraming that sentence from yesterday's post. I have gotten through the first claue so far, so I have quite a ways to go! I'm having to relearn some diagraming rules as I go, since I haven't done this in a while, and this is a pretty complicated sentence. It's a lot of fun, though, and I hope to have something to show for it soon. If I spend the afternoon working on it, I should get pretty far. Unfortunatly, I'll be at a friend's house, and I forgot to bring my grammar book from 8th grade (which would have all of these rules and more), so I'm relying pretty heavily on google for the things I don't remember.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Life Update {Dancing, Diagraming, Editing, and Reading}
It's been a little while since I just talked about what is going on in my life. I have been, in some ways, incredibly busy, and in other ways, not busy at all. What I mean by this is that I'm spending a lot less time running around to activities outside the house, but that I have a ton of things that I need to do at home.
I'm performing on March 15 and 16 with my Irish Dance group. This is a bit exciting because it's definitely the biggest show this class has done together. If you live in the Bellingham area and are interested in seeing us dance, we are dancing on March 16th at the Firehouse Performing Arts Center in Fairhaven. Click here for more details. Our Irish section of the show is about 30 min. long. There are also two or other shorts by other dance groups who are affiliated with Northwest Ballet, including the title program "Into the Night." On the 15th, we are performing our section of the show three or four times at various locations (probably nursing homes and similar places) throughout the day.
A few days ago, a friend posted this sentence on facebook, accompanied with the challenge "Is there a grammar nerd out there superb enough to correctly diagram this sentence?":
While I haven't had time to really do much but stare at it yet, this is definitely something I plan on attempting soon. From 3rd to 8th grades, I diagramed on a nearly daily basis (not quite, but nearly), but I've done almost none since then. I'm thinking I'm going to give this a shot tomorrow afternoon (though I'm sure it will take me a lot more than one afternoon!), and I'll let you know how it's going in a couple of days.
I'll do a full school update post tomorrow, but for now I just wanted to say that a LOT of my time this week, (or at least yesterday and today), have been spent completely updating and organizing my Latin and Spanish flashcards. This is a much bigger job than you might think, especially considering that I have nearly 600 Latin cards and about 200 Spanish ones.
I've taken a break from editing recently, while the author did some writing, but just this week he sent me three chapters of a new book to work on.
Also, I have recently started using goodreads (as you can see from the widget in the sidebar), and I am finding that my TBR list is growing at an alarming rate now. My to read shelf on goodreads is nearly 200 titles long!
For a long time (especially since I started reading FYA, which has a love/hate relationship with her work), I've heard about V. C. Andrews, her books, her writing, and her legacy. This week, after Lifetime released their new tv movie of Flowers in the Attic, I was reading more about the books (actually, I was reading a hilarious but extremely spoilery plot analysis of Flowers in the Attic on FYA), I think I may have to read them sometime. I've always passed this off as another iconic but poorly written series from the 1980's that I had no need to experience. But after seeing the battle raging on social media after the movie aired (that book is extremely polarizing. There are as many people who want to burn every copy ever written as there are who say it was the best book of their childhood), I think I may have to actually experience it for myself.
Since I really don't have time right now, I've decided that The Dollanganger series will be set aside for my summer reading project.
All right, this post is now a lot longer than it needed to be. :) Does anyone want to take on the diagramming challenge with me? What are your thoughts on Flowers in the Attic? If you can (ack!), let me know in the comments. If you know what might be causing my commenting problem, please email me at readingwritinghighschool@gmail.com.
I'm performing on March 15 and 16 with my Irish Dance group. This is a bit exciting because it's definitely the biggest show this class has done together. If you live in the Bellingham area and are interested in seeing us dance, we are dancing on March 16th at the Firehouse Performing Arts Center in Fairhaven. Click here for more details. Our Irish section of the show is about 30 min. long. There are also two or other shorts by other dance groups who are affiliated with Northwest Ballet, including the title program "Into the Night." On the 15th, we are performing our section of the show three or four times at various locations (probably nursing homes and similar places) throughout the day.
A few days ago, a friend posted this sentence on facebook, accompanied with the challenge "Is there a grammar nerd out there superb enough to correctly diagram this sentence?":
In after-years [Piglet] liked to think that he had been in Very Great Danger during the Terrible Flood, but the only danger he had really been in was in the last half-hour of his imprisonment, when Owl, who had just flown up, sat on a branch of his tree to comfort him, and told him a very long story about an aunt who had once laid a seagull’s egg by mistake, and the story went on and on, rather like this sentence, until Piglet who was listening out of his window without much hope, went to sleep quietly and naturally, slipping slowly out of the window towards the water until he was only hanging on by his toes, at which moment luckily, a sudden loud squawk from Owl, which was really part of the story, being what his aunt said, woke Piglet up and just gave him time to jerk himself back into safety and say, “How interesting, and did she?” when—well, you can imagine his joy when at last he saw the good ship, The Brain of Pooh (Captain, C. Robin; 1st Mate, P. Bear) coming over the sea to rescue him.
While I haven't had time to really do much but stare at it yet, this is definitely something I plan on attempting soon. From 3rd to 8th grades, I diagramed on a nearly daily basis (not quite, but nearly), but I've done almost none since then. I'm thinking I'm going to give this a shot tomorrow afternoon (though I'm sure it will take me a lot more than one afternoon!), and I'll let you know how it's going in a couple of days.
I'll do a full school update post tomorrow, but for now I just wanted to say that a LOT of my time this week, (or at least yesterday and today), have been spent completely updating and organizing my Latin and Spanish flashcards. This is a much bigger job than you might think, especially considering that I have nearly 600 Latin cards and about 200 Spanish ones.
I've taken a break from editing recently, while the author did some writing, but just this week he sent me three chapters of a new book to work on.
Also, I have recently started using goodreads (as you can see from the widget in the sidebar), and I am finding that my TBR list is growing at an alarming rate now. My to read shelf on goodreads is nearly 200 titles long!
For a long time (especially since I started reading FYA, which has a love/hate relationship with her work), I've heard about V. C. Andrews, her books, her writing, and her legacy. This week, after Lifetime released their new tv movie of Flowers in the Attic, I was reading more about the books (actually, I was reading a hilarious but extremely spoilery plot analysis of Flowers in the Attic on FYA), I think I may have to read them sometime. I've always passed this off as another iconic but poorly written series from the 1980's that I had no need to experience. But after seeing the battle raging on social media after the movie aired (that book is extremely polarizing. There are as many people who want to burn every copy ever written as there are who say it was the best book of their childhood), I think I may have to actually experience it for myself.
Since I really don't have time right now, I've decided that The Dollanganger series will be set aside for my summer reading project.
All right, this post is now a lot longer than it needed to be. :) Does anyone want to take on the diagramming challenge with me? What are your thoughts on Flowers in the Attic? If you can (ack!), let me know in the comments. If you know what might be causing my commenting problem, please email me at readingwritinghighschool@gmail.com.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
(This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, I will earn a small commission.)
Today, I'm reviewing Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
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Summary (from Amazon.com)
An 18-year-old girl without money or connections ventures forth from her small town in search of a better life in Theodore Dreiser's revolutionary first novel. The chronicle of Carrie Meeber's rise from obscurity to fame — and the effects of her progress on the men who use her and are used in turn — aroused a storm of controversy and debate upon its debut in 1900. The author's nonjudgmental portrait of a heroine who violates the contemporary moral code outraged some critics and elated others. A century later, Dreiser's compelling plot and realistic characters continue to fascinate readers.
Review
I'm going to start out by saying that I really liked this book, though it doesn't really seem like the kind of thing I would expect myself to like.
The writing was fantastic, but took some getting used to. I'm used to reading books where the underlying messages are just that: underlying. Not so here. He regularly pauses the story to give commentary, which sometimes appears unrelated to the story, but in the end ties in somehow. He has strong opinions, and he's not afraid to tell them to you. A lot. That does mean that this book in incredibly quotable though, which makes for a different kind of reading experience. There is a lot of foreshadowing and references to later plot events in the writing, and it almost makes me want to just start at the beginning again to catch it all.
The characters in this book are what make it so great. Despite Carrie being the title character, I would argue that she doesn't feel much like the main character. Really, none of them do, but if I had to pick one person to be the official "main character," it would be Hurstwood, even though he isn't even in the first portion of the book.Carrie is young and naive, but Dreiser doesn't use her to make it look bad. In fact, she is the character with, in some ways, the best ending. That of course, it a topic that could be hotly debated (and has caused some family discussions at my house). Drouet is a very realistic character who floats along in his own little bubble. Though he is a good deal smarter than Carrie, he still underestimates her.
The plot was rather unlike most modern books I'm used to reading. While it had the major elements of a story, the pacing felt a little strange. At some times near the end, I felt like I was reading a whole different book than I had been at the beginning. Carrie's life takes very major turn about half way through the book and at that point the whole focus changes. While the plot was good, the characters and writing take the stage here.
There was one point in the story when Hurstwood is about to make a major decision that will completely alter the course of his life. As he wavers between two options, his thoughts and emotions become more and more conflicted. What Dreiser managed to do in that scene was make Hurstwood a real person. In that scene, Hurstwood goes through a process of thoughts and emotions that was intensely relate-able. Everyone, at some point in their life, has had a moment when they debated doing something that they were not sure was right or moral.
I really love this book, if you can't tell, and I didn't even really notice that it was depressing (though other people have said it was). To me, it is a story of life, of the natural rise and fall of people, and while that certainly can be depressing, it can also be fascinating.
Who Should Read This Book
I recommend this book to people who enjoy classic literature (this doesn't read like a modern novel). I also think that people who like Edith Wharton (a favorite author of mine) who like this too. It shows a very different perspective on the same time and place.
Today, I'm reviewing Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
.Summary (from Amazon.com)
An 18-year-old girl without money or connections ventures forth from her small town in search of a better life in Theodore Dreiser's revolutionary first novel. The chronicle of Carrie Meeber's rise from obscurity to fame — and the effects of her progress on the men who use her and are used in turn — aroused a storm of controversy and debate upon its debut in 1900. The author's nonjudgmental portrait of a heroine who violates the contemporary moral code outraged some critics and elated others. A century later, Dreiser's compelling plot and realistic characters continue to fascinate readers.
Review
I'm going to start out by saying that I really liked this book, though it doesn't really seem like the kind of thing I would expect myself to like.
The writing was fantastic, but took some getting used to. I'm used to reading books where the underlying messages are just that: underlying. Not so here. He regularly pauses the story to give commentary, which sometimes appears unrelated to the story, but in the end ties in somehow. He has strong opinions, and he's not afraid to tell them to you. A lot. That does mean that this book in incredibly quotable though, which makes for a different kind of reading experience. There is a lot of foreshadowing and references to later plot events in the writing, and it almost makes me want to just start at the beginning again to catch it all.
The characters in this book are what make it so great. Despite Carrie being the title character, I would argue that she doesn't feel much like the main character. Really, none of them do, but if I had to pick one person to be the official "main character," it would be Hurstwood, even though he isn't even in the first portion of the book.Carrie is young and naive, but Dreiser doesn't use her to make it look bad. In fact, she is the character with, in some ways, the best ending. That of course, it a topic that could be hotly debated (and has caused some family discussions at my house). Drouet is a very realistic character who floats along in his own little bubble. Though he is a good deal smarter than Carrie, he still underestimates her.
The plot was rather unlike most modern books I'm used to reading. While it had the major elements of a story, the pacing felt a little strange. At some times near the end, I felt like I was reading a whole different book than I had been at the beginning. Carrie's life takes very major turn about half way through the book and at that point the whole focus changes. While the plot was good, the characters and writing take the stage here.
There was one point in the story when Hurstwood is about to make a major decision that will completely alter the course of his life. As he wavers between two options, his thoughts and emotions become more and more conflicted. What Dreiser managed to do in that scene was make Hurstwood a real person. In that scene, Hurstwood goes through a process of thoughts and emotions that was intensely relate-able. Everyone, at some point in their life, has had a moment when they debated doing something that they were not sure was right or moral.
I really love this book, if you can't tell, and I didn't even really notice that it was depressing (though other people have said it was). To me, it is a story of life, of the natural rise and fall of people, and while that certainly can be depressing, it can also be fascinating.
Who Should Read This Book
I recommend this book to people who enjoy classic literature (this doesn't read like a modern novel). I also think that people who like Edith Wharton (a favorite author of mine) who like this too. It shows a very different perspective on the same time and place.
Friday, January 17, 2014
Homeschool Friday: Week ??
After two months off, I'm finally back with another Homeschool Friday post. I'm not actually sure what week this is now (sixteen maybe?), but I'll go through and count before next week's post. This is my second week back doing school after Christmas break, so I'll try to quickly summarize both in this post.
History
First of all, we have History. Last week, I finished reading The Song of Roland. I didn't do any writing project after I finished it, but while I read it, I did a two or three sentence summary of each stanza, meaning I now have a twenty six page summary of the poem, written by me. :) This week, I moved on to India. I read about twenty five pages out of my textbook, did one paragraph bios of six people from that time and place, and then today, I am researching and writing up summaries of the five major Indian empires from the Middle Ages.
Science and Math
Science has been the subject I've done the least of this week. I finished up a unit on volcanoes, and started one on weather and erosion. For math, I've just been continuing on with what I've been doing. I finished a chapter on polynomial equations, and started one on graphing.
Latin and Spanish
In Latin, I've been working on third declension nouns. I've done this whole book before (and the one after it), so none of what I'm doing is particularly new. I'm really focusing on memorizing vocabulary and noun endings at the moment. In Spanish, I'm working on verbs. As it turns out, the verbs are almost exactly the same in both Latin and Spanish, so this has been really easy for me so far.
Other
In other random things I'm working on, I'm trying to finish Malgudi Days before our World Lit group meets on Tuesday.
So, for the moment, this is about it. I'm going to try to get into a better posting schedule soon, which will involve posting HF posts (hopefully) every Friday. We'll see how that goes.
History
First of all, we have History. Last week, I finished reading The Song of Roland. I didn't do any writing project after I finished it, but while I read it, I did a two or three sentence summary of each stanza, meaning I now have a twenty six page summary of the poem, written by me. :) This week, I moved on to India. I read about twenty five pages out of my textbook, did one paragraph bios of six people from that time and place, and then today, I am researching and writing up summaries of the five major Indian empires from the Middle Ages.
Science and Math
Science has been the subject I've done the least of this week. I finished up a unit on volcanoes, and started one on weather and erosion. For math, I've just been continuing on with what I've been doing. I finished a chapter on polynomial equations, and started one on graphing.
Latin and Spanish
In Latin, I've been working on third declension nouns. I've done this whole book before (and the one after it), so none of what I'm doing is particularly new. I'm really focusing on memorizing vocabulary and noun endings at the moment. In Spanish, I'm working on verbs. As it turns out, the verbs are almost exactly the same in both Latin and Spanish, so this has been really easy for me so far.
Other
In other random things I'm working on, I'm trying to finish Malgudi Days before our World Lit group meets on Tuesday.
So, for the moment, this is about it. I'm going to try to get into a better posting schedule soon, which will involve posting HF posts (hopefully) every Friday. We'll see how that goes.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Life Update {Dance, Books, and DisneyWorld}
It's time for a little update on what I've been up to. The easy answer to that question is not that much.
Everything that had stopped for the holidays has started up again. Dance is going well, and I now have an extra hour a week to rehearse for a show we're taking part in in mid March. Current Events class started up again yesterday. The topic of discussion this time was Boeing vs. the Machinists union, which is a very timely and local issue. Our next World Lit book discussion is next week, and I am almost done with the book we're reading, Malgudi Days. I'll review it once I'm done with it.
In book news, I'm also reading A Clash of Kings, which I am very slowly working on, but very much enjoying. It has a different feel from A Game of Thrones, and it has a more serious tone. Once I finally finish it, I will of course write up a review. The other book I'm reading right now is the Firm, by John Grishom. So far, I'm really loving the story, and it's incredibly gripping.
If you want to keep up with what I'm reading all the time, you can see the Goodreads widget to the right, which lists all the books I'm currently reading. You can also follow me on Goodreads to keep up with my progress on the books (I try to update it every few days).
School has mostly been going well. I know I didn't put up a HF post on Friday like I said I was going to, but I'm currently working on one for this week.
The last week of February, I'm going to be in Disney World, so there probably won't be a lot going on here, but when I get back I'll try to post a bunch of pictures.
I know a lot of people are still having problems posting comments, and I haven't had time yet to really try to figure out the problem. If you have any knowledge of this, and think you might know what the problem is, please email me at readingwritinghighschool@gmail.com. Thanks!
Everything that had stopped for the holidays has started up again. Dance is going well, and I now have an extra hour a week to rehearse for a show we're taking part in in mid March. Current Events class started up again yesterday. The topic of discussion this time was Boeing vs. the Machinists union, which is a very timely and local issue. Our next World Lit book discussion is next week, and I am almost done with the book we're reading, Malgudi Days. I'll review it once I'm done with it.
In book news, I'm also reading A Clash of Kings, which I am very slowly working on, but very much enjoying. It has a different feel from A Game of Thrones, and it has a more serious tone. Once I finally finish it, I will of course write up a review. The other book I'm reading right now is the Firm, by John Grishom. So far, I'm really loving the story, and it's incredibly gripping.
If you want to keep up with what I'm reading all the time, you can see the Goodreads widget to the right, which lists all the books I'm currently reading. You can also follow me on Goodreads to keep up with my progress on the books (I try to update it every few days).
School has mostly been going well. I know I didn't put up a HF post on Friday like I said I was going to, but I'm currently working on one for this week.
The last week of February, I'm going to be in Disney World, so there probably won't be a lot going on here, but when I get back I'll try to post a bunch of pictures.
I know a lot of people are still having problems posting comments, and I haven't had time yet to really try to figure out the problem. If you have any knowledge of this, and think you might know what the problem is, please email me at readingwritinghighschool@gmail.com. Thanks!
Monday, January 13, 2014
For My IRL Friends...
Last night, I went and saw the Hobbit pt. 2 for the second time, this time with a bunch of friends (the Usual Suspects).
In December 2012, a new movie theater opened in my town, about ten minutes from my house. It is HUGE. It has sixteen theaters, including an IMAX theater, and all the theaters have stadium seating (there are no bad seats!). Since then, I have seen nine movies there (including the one last night). I have kept the tickets from all of them, and I recently realized that I had never been in the same theater twice, until last night.
For posterity, and my IRL friends who were curious, here are all the movies I've seen there, and the theater numbers.
12/20/12 - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Auditorium 8 (this is the IMAX one).
1/5/13 - Lincoln - Auditorium 12
5/12/13 - The Great Gatsby - Auditorium 14
5/30/13 - Star Trek Into Darkness - Auditorium 1
11/24/13 - Catching Fire - Auditorium 16
12/1/13 - Ender's Game - Auditorium 11
12/12/13 - The Book Thief - Auditorium 3
12/23/13 - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Auditorium 9
1/12/14 - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Auditorium 16
I know this is totally random, and most of you (or maybe all of you) don't care at all about this, but here it is.
In December 2012, a new movie theater opened in my town, about ten minutes from my house. It is HUGE. It has sixteen theaters, including an IMAX theater, and all the theaters have stadium seating (there are no bad seats!). Since then, I have seen nine movies there (including the one last night). I have kept the tickets from all of them, and I recently realized that I had never been in the same theater twice, until last night.
For posterity, and my IRL friends who were curious, here are all the movies I've seen there, and the theater numbers.
12/20/12 - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Auditorium 8 (this is the IMAX one).
1/5/13 - Lincoln - Auditorium 12
5/12/13 - The Great Gatsby - Auditorium 14
5/30/13 - Star Trek Into Darkness - Auditorium 1
11/24/13 - Catching Fire - Auditorium 16
12/1/13 - Ender's Game - Auditorium 11
12/12/13 - The Book Thief - Auditorium 3
12/23/13 - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Auditorium 9
1/12/14 - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Auditorium 16
I know this is totally random, and most of you (or maybe all of you) don't care at all about this, but here it is.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Comments!
I don't have time to write up the book review I had planned to post today, but instead, I'm going to do a little life and blog update.
First of all, the blog post that went up last Wednesday, Some Thoughts for 2014, has rapidly grown to be my most popular post of all time. I've also gotten a lot of great responses about it, though you won't see any of them here (gah!) because of my still lingering comment issues. I really appreciate all your kind thoughts, and it encourages me that a post like that, which isn't really what I normally put up here, can get such a positive response.
Speaking of that, I would really appreciate it if you would try to comment. If it doesn't work, PLEASE let me know the details (what profile you used, exactly what happened when you tried to post it, what browser you're using, anything else that seems pertinent). You can email me at readingwritinghighschool@gmail.com, or you can message me on the blog's facebook page. I haven't been able to reproduce the issue (using Firefox, and signed in with my Google account), so I can't tell what the problem might be at the moment. Also, if you have a blogger blog, are you having this problem? Have you been able to fix it? Please let me know!
In life stuff, school's starting up, and I've got a lot to do. I'm volunteering at the library, and dancing once a week, but other than that, the buzz of activity surrounding the holidays is completely gone. While it's kind of nice not to be SO busy, I would like to find some more things to do.
One thing that I will probably be doing this winter or spring some time is Driver's Ed! I'm really excited for that.
Also, we're going to Disneyworld the last week of February, which should be a ton of fun. More about that later.
I've got to go now. Again, please try to comment, and let me know if you can't!!
First of all, the blog post that went up last Wednesday, Some Thoughts for 2014, has rapidly grown to be my most popular post of all time. I've also gotten a lot of great responses about it, though you won't see any of them here (gah!) because of my still lingering comment issues. I really appreciate all your kind thoughts, and it encourages me that a post like that, which isn't really what I normally put up here, can get such a positive response.
Speaking of that, I would really appreciate it if you would try to comment. If it doesn't work, PLEASE let me know the details (what profile you used, exactly what happened when you tried to post it, what browser you're using, anything else that seems pertinent). You can email me at readingwritinghighschool@gmail.com, or you can message me on the blog's facebook page. I haven't been able to reproduce the issue (using Firefox, and signed in with my Google account), so I can't tell what the problem might be at the moment. Also, if you have a blogger blog, are you having this problem? Have you been able to fix it? Please let me know!
In life stuff, school's starting up, and I've got a lot to do. I'm volunteering at the library, and dancing once a week, but other than that, the buzz of activity surrounding the holidays is completely gone. While it's kind of nice not to be SO busy, I would like to find some more things to do.
One thing that I will probably be doing this winter or spring some time is Driver's Ed! I'm really excited for that.
Also, we're going to Disneyworld the last week of February, which should be a ton of fun. More about that later.
I've got to go now. Again, please try to comment, and let me know if you can't!!
Friday, January 3, 2014
Some Housekeeping
As we move forward into 2014, there are a few things that I think I should address here on the blog.
First of all: comments. I have had multiple people tell me recently that they were unable to post comments on various posts on this blog. I haven't been able to reproduce the problem, so if that happens to you, let me know either on my facebook page or by email (readingwritinghighschool@gmail.com). Let me know exactly what kind of problem you had, and I'll see if I can do anything about it.
Also, I haven't done any school updates since mid November, but those will be starting up again next Friday, January 10th. Sometime before then, I'll probably do a post about how my schedule will be different for the winter and spring.
Also coming up soon are several book reviews that I'm pretty excited about. I also plan on doing a post about the various geeky book related Christmas gifts I got this year.
That's all for today. I hope you all had a terrific holiday season!
First of all: comments. I have had multiple people tell me recently that they were unable to post comments on various posts on this blog. I haven't been able to reproduce the problem, so if that happens to you, let me know either on my facebook page or by email (readingwritinghighschool@gmail.com). Let me know exactly what kind of problem you had, and I'll see if I can do anything about it.
Also, I haven't done any school updates since mid November, but those will be starting up again next Friday, January 10th. Sometime before then, I'll probably do a post about how my schedule will be different for the winter and spring.
Also coming up soon are several book reviews that I'm pretty excited about. I also plan on doing a post about the various geeky book related Christmas gifts I got this year.
That's all for today. I hope you all had a terrific holiday season!
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Some Thoughts for 2014
This morning, I wrote this post, and then decided not to publish it. I thought it was too long, too strange, and too philosophical for this blog. But just now, I reread what I had written earlier, and I decided to post it anyway. Yeah, it's long, and confusing, and mainly fueled by sugar and sleep deprivation, but I kind of like it. This blog is many things, but at it's heart, it's a place for me to write. A place to write book reviews, and about my writing, and about what I'm thinking. This is the kind of thing I write, and so it belongs here. If anyone actually reads it all the way through and understands my thought process while writing it, I will be duly impressed. :)
Well, it's 2014 now. I went to a very fun party last night where I ate lots of food, talked a lot, played some poker, played a bunch of various card games (spoons, peanut butter, and more), talked books and movies and was generally nerdy, and just generally had fun with the "Usual Suspects." See my last post for more on that if you're confused.
Right now, I'm about to head out to park day to see if any other Bellingham homeschoolers bothered to come out on New Year's Day, but first I thought I'd try to find something to write about here.
I don't know about you, but when I eat too much sugar, and get too little sleep, I tend to get far too thoughtful and reflective. :)
Today, I've been thinking about something a friend said to me last night. I was telling two friends about a project I'm thinking about taking on, and I was asking them if they were interested in helping at all. I mentioned that I thought maybe one of them could particularly help with a little writing part, and the other friend said to me, "But you're the writer."
While I didn't think anything of that comment in the moment, other than maybe he was right that it was kind of silly for me to ask people to write things for me, later I thought more about it.
The new year is often a time when people think about who they are and who they want to be. Right now, I often feel like I'm in an odd spot. When you're a teenager, you have every possibility open to you. You make choices that will affect you for the rest of your life. Right now, I'm 15 years old. I still have several years before I have to make the big decisions (college, jobs, etc.) that will change the course of my life. But I'm still at a point in my life where I can decide who I want to be, how I want to be seen, and in what direction I want my life to go.
Who you become is something you can change, but it's also a group project. There are a lot of people in my life, both kids and adults, who I think have a hand in that process. When my friend said to me last night, "You're the writer," while he probably didn't mean that much by it, it showed me part of how he sees me. When my friend's mom asked me how late the library was open on Tuesdays, fully expecting me to know the answer, that showed me part of how she sees me.
To make this even more confusing, I've been realizing that while how other people see me is important, there are sides of me that none of them have ever seen. Parts of me that I'm not sure I want them to see. There are parts of me that are unsure if I'm up to being "the writer" or the responsible person other people seem to think of me as.
But I rise to the occasion when I need to. When I need to be responsible for other people, or when I need to rise above my own fears, I can if other people expect it of me. There have been times when I'm not sure if I can keep it up. I have a reputation for being an overachiever, and for being on top of everything, but the reality isn't really always the same as the reputation. Sometime it's hard because I can't keep up with the way people think of me.
Sometimes I realize that I'm caught between who I want to be, and who I am. Where's the balance? Where do I want the balance to be? Is there even a difference?
What I'm trying to say here is that I'm realizing that how these people see me affects the person that I am, and that I have to decide if that's really the person I want to be. I have the ability right now to be anything. Do I want to be the writer? The booklover? The overachiever? Sometimes I'm not really sure.
Right now, I can decide who I want to be. I will always be "the writer." That's a title I'm proud to have. I'm thrilled to be considered a booklover, especially by my friends who are better read than I am. That's just one side of me, but it's a side I'm happy to let people see. I'm happy with who I am, but I'm also happy to think that that person isn't set in stone.
Thanks to my friend, whose comment sparked this post. If you're still reading at this point, you deserve a prize!
Well, it's 2014 now. I went to a very fun party last night where I ate lots of food, talked a lot, played some poker, played a bunch of various card games (spoons, peanut butter, and more), talked books and movies and was generally nerdy, and just generally had fun with the "Usual Suspects." See my last post for more on that if you're confused.
Right now, I'm about to head out to park day to see if any other Bellingham homeschoolers bothered to come out on New Year's Day, but first I thought I'd try to find something to write about here.
I don't know about you, but when I eat too much sugar, and get too little sleep, I tend to get far too thoughtful and reflective. :)
Today, I've been thinking about something a friend said to me last night. I was telling two friends about a project I'm thinking about taking on, and I was asking them if they were interested in helping at all. I mentioned that I thought maybe one of them could particularly help with a little writing part, and the other friend said to me, "But you're the writer."
While I didn't think anything of that comment in the moment, other than maybe he was right that it was kind of silly for me to ask people to write things for me, later I thought more about it.
The new year is often a time when people think about who they are and who they want to be. Right now, I often feel like I'm in an odd spot. When you're a teenager, you have every possibility open to you. You make choices that will affect you for the rest of your life. Right now, I'm 15 years old. I still have several years before I have to make the big decisions (college, jobs, etc.) that will change the course of my life. But I'm still at a point in my life where I can decide who I want to be, how I want to be seen, and in what direction I want my life to go.
Who you become is something you can change, but it's also a group project. There are a lot of people in my life, both kids and adults, who I think have a hand in that process. When my friend said to me last night, "You're the writer," while he probably didn't mean that much by it, it showed me part of how he sees me. When my friend's mom asked me how late the library was open on Tuesdays, fully expecting me to know the answer, that showed me part of how she sees me.
To make this even more confusing, I've been realizing that while how other people see me is important, there are sides of me that none of them have ever seen. Parts of me that I'm not sure I want them to see. There are parts of me that are unsure if I'm up to being "the writer" or the responsible person other people seem to think of me as.
But I rise to the occasion when I need to. When I need to be responsible for other people, or when I need to rise above my own fears, I can if other people expect it of me. There have been times when I'm not sure if I can keep it up. I have a reputation for being an overachiever, and for being on top of everything, but the reality isn't really always the same as the reputation. Sometime it's hard because I can't keep up with the way people think of me.
Sometimes I realize that I'm caught between who I want to be, and who I am. Where's the balance? Where do I want the balance to be? Is there even a difference?
What I'm trying to say here is that I'm realizing that how these people see me affects the person that I am, and that I have to decide if that's really the person I want to be. I have the ability right now to be anything. Do I want to be the writer? The booklover? The overachiever? Sometimes I'm not really sure.
Right now, I can decide who I want to be. I will always be "the writer." That's a title I'm proud to have. I'm thrilled to be considered a booklover, especially by my friends who are better read than I am. That's just one side of me, but it's a side I'm happy to let people see. I'm happy with who I am, but I'm also happy to think that that person isn't set in stone.
Thanks to my friend, whose comment sparked this post. If you're still reading at this point, you deserve a prize!
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