Occupation

MA's writing assignment this week was to write a dialogue. We decided for her to write about what she wants to be when she grows up, instead. Ah, the beauties of homeschooling. We'll write a dialogue another week.

These are things I want to be when I grow up: a stewardess or a baker or a part of Christian Women’s Job Corp.

I like serving things. That’s why I want to be a stewardess.



And, also, Mommy’s teaching me how to put together things that she’s making. That’s why I want to be a baker.

And my friend, Nathan, talked about being part of Christian Men’s Job Corp. Actually, my mom told him about it, because he talked about what he wanted to be when he grows up, and he talked about something like that. I want to be a part of Christian Women’s Job Corp, too, because it sounds interesting.

The Thing...Revisited

JW's assignment this week was to combine two previous essays, the essays about "The Thing" (found here and here). "The Thing," of course, in this instance, is JA, so here are their expounded adventures.



Around 11:00 AM, I was running quickly in New York City, because I had to catch a 747. In the airport, I saw my new little brother Jeremiah crawling around. I stopped and looked at him. He started talking loudly. That was very surprising. I mostly hear him crying, coughing, sometimes hiccupping. I couldn’t believe my ears! I fainted.

Later, I woke up. I checked my watch. It was 1:00 PM. I had passed out for two whole hours! I grabbed Jeremiah. He’s small and soft, so it was easy to do. I didn’t want to leave him there, and he was very cold. We hurried to catch the plane, but it wasn’t there. I checked the airport schedules. I had to wait impatiently to catch a plane.

To pass the time, I went to get a hair cut. I asked Jeremiah if he wanted one. He said that he didn’t have very much hair, so he didn’t get one.

Half an hour later, we went to the gate and caught the plane. I let Jeremiah sit in my lap, even though he was a little smelly. Since it was a jet plane, we took off really fast, and his head got on my tongue a few times. He tastes a little bitter, but that’s okay. He's always been my little brother, ever since two months ago. And he'll always be.

Fear

MS's creative writing assignment this week was an essay on something that he was afraid of. He was having trouble coming up with something, being more of a worrier than full-out afraid of things. I finally remembered a statement he'd made to me about flying, and I love what resulted.

Many people are afraid of flying because they’re scared of the plane crashing, but there’s also something else to be scared of that some people don’t know about…



Being a TCK, I travel a lot, so I am very often on airplanes. Now the truth is, when they show those safety clips at the start of the flight, what I’m always thinking is that, if that kind of thing ever happens, I know that I’ll be fine because of their precautions, like the lifejackets in case of landing on water, or the slides/rafts for exiting the plane.

What usually freaks me out, though, is when they say not to take any suitcases with you during an emergency. It’s scary to think you could lose lots of expensive things that are inside your luggage. For example, we usually travel with our Wii (videogame console) and that costs about $250. I would be very upset if something like this happened, because I love videogames.

That’s what I’m scared of on airplanes.

Simile Showdown

JW was given several words to use in similes as his language arts assignment today. A tad creative, isn't he? No one could accuse him of being an inside-the-box thinker. I'm not sure he's even aware of the box.



1. Fast
- fast as a pre-historic dragonfly
- fast as a chetah

2. Beautiful
- beautiful as a pregnant hippopotamus
- beautiful as an overgrown gorilla

3. Skinny
- skinny as a piece of hair
- skinny as a bristle on a toothbrush

4. Intelligent
- intelligent as a rock

5. Unfriendly
- unfriendly as a charging rhino

I Couldn't Believe My Ears!

JW's assignment this week was to use the subject he'd written about last week (The Thing, aka his little brother, JA) and write a story incorporating the phrase "I Couldn't Believe My Eyes!" He was then to go back during the editing process and add some adverbs to several of the verbs to make the story more interesting. I allowed him to change the phrase to "I Couldn't Believe My Ears," and this is what we got.



Around 11:00 AM, I was walking quickly in New York City, because I had to catch a 747. In the airport, I saw Jeremiah crawling around. I stopped and looked surprisedly* at him. He started talking loudly. I couldn’t believe my ears! I fainted. Later, I woke up. I checked my watch. It was 1:00 PM. I had passed out for two whole hours! I grabbed Jeremiah and hurried to catch the plane, but it wasn’t there. I checked the airport schedules. I had to wait impatiently to catch a plane. Half an hour later, I went to the gate and caught the plane.

*It was explained to me by a certain grammar expert in the house exactly why "surprisedly" could not be a real word. I decided to let it go. Just this once.

Courage

MS's assignment was as essay on courage, including the dictionary definition.

The definition of courage is “to do something without fear.” Several synonyms are: boldness, bravery, and bravado. What I think courage means is to do whatever you set out to do, despite the dangers, to face any obstacle, even death.

Lots of famous people have done this, and being courageous can mean anything from being a war hero, to fighting for civil or women’s rights. Two famous examples are George Washington, who was a famous war hero, and Martin Luther King, who fought for civil rights.

All in all, courage is something that should be practiced by everyone, no matter how young or old they are.

Similes

MA's writing assignment was to write three similes based on last week's writing assignment about dirt.

- It's as brown as chocolate.
- It's as grainy as sand paper.
- It smells as smoky as sausage.