Showing posts with label Homeschool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homeschool. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

J is for Juvenile Fiction

Hello all I am still chugging along and planning to catch up on Sunday. Hopefully nothing too exciting will happen this weekend.

Blogging 

From A to Z

I wrote this Juvenile Fiction for my son because we were having a problem exactly like this and the fable flash fiction seemed to help get the point across to him the other day. I printed up the fable and asked him to help illustrate it for me. He had to read it and think about what it meant to be able to create an appropriate picture. I hope you enjoy it.


“Mom may I use my own money to buy some LEGO?” asked Levi.

“I thought you were saving up for the new Pokemon game coming out next month,” his mother said as she put new sheets in the cart.

“I am, but I really need new LEGO for the city I’m building,” Levi said as he followed his mother to the next aisle. He was beginning to feel impatient as they moved closer to the toy section because his mother had almost scratched everything off her list.

His mother stopped, bent down and looked at him. “Well, if you need them and you are willing to spend your money, I suppose we'd better go look at them,” she said.

“Yay,” he said bouncing up and down while his mom grabbed the last few items on her list and headed to the toy section.

Levi sped up and his mom let him lead the way to the LEGO aisle. Levi knew exactly what set he wanted and ran right to it. “Mom, this is the one I need,” he said stressing the last word.

“I see,” said his mother. “How much does that one cost?”

“It is twenty-nine dollars,” Levi said beaming at his mother.

His mother took a small manilla envelope out of her purse that had LEVI written on the front and handed it to him. “How much is left in the Levi envelope?” she asked.

“Levi quickly opened the envelope and pulled out a ten and six ones. He took a moment to count twice and looked up sadly. “Mom, there are only sixteen dollars here. I got forty for my birthday and it’s only been five days, what happened to it?” He asked.

“How much did you spend on games at the fair Sunday?” She asked.

“I only spent ten. I should still have thirty and that’s enough to buy the set I need, right mom?”

“You’re correct it would be, but how much did you spend on your extra books that came with a minifigure when you and daddy went to the bookstore?”

Levi scrunched his face up and said, “They were each seven dollars, so fourteen.” He looked down at the LEGO set in his hand and said, “I think I spent most of my money. How will I get this set?”

“I am sorry Levi, you can’t afford that LEGO set,” his mother said bending down again and hugging him.

“But mom I have to have it, I need it,” he said pouting and feeling really upset he wouldn’t be able to finish his city this weekend.

His mother pulled back a bit to look at his face and asked, “Need? Do you need or want this toy?”

“I need it,” Levi answered quickly. “Without it my city will never be built.”

“What will happen if you don’t build your city?” His mother asked with a kind smile.

His eyes widened and he leaned forward, “A whole world will never exist,” he said shaking the LEGO slightly with every word.

“No matter how badly you want that LEGO set it is still a want, not a need. Needs are food, shelter, clothing, love,” she said as she gave Levi another hug. “Needs are things people can’t function well without. If you want this toy, or anything else, badly enough you can choose to save your money instead of buying something every time you go out. It takes a lot of practice and self-control, but I know you can do it if you choose to.”

Levi looked down at the LEGO set one last time and placed it back on the shelf. He turned to his mom and said, "I guess I will have to save for it. Can I wash the dog when we get home?"


There seems to be some disagreement as to what is considered Juvenile Fiction. Some places were lumping it in with Young Adult and some saying it is a synonym for Middle Grade. While others are saying it is 2nd through 6th grades. Much confusion was caused, but this was written for my son who is in 2nd grade. I think that leaves it about as clear as mud.

Levi's story turned into another moral of the story flash, but I think most of Juvenile Fiction has a moral at the end of the story anyway. I was originally going to go with Jiangshi Fiction, which is about a Chinese hopping vampire/zombie hybrid thing. Unfortunately, I am not really feeling the horror at the moment. Though the comedic value of a hopping zombie thing might have been worth tapping into. I already had a vampire in G’s Gothic Romance. Then V and Z are earmarked for vampires and zombies respectively. Making Jiangshi feel repetitive and redundant.

                

Which author of Juvenile Fiction should I be sure to check out with my son? We are always looking for new books to read. Let me know in the comments.

ROW80 Rundown

Make the check-ins on Sundays and Wednesdays - So far so good, but I think I was a bit tardy last check-in.

Visit 5 fellow ROW80 bloggers each check-in - I only hit 3, but I am not ready to reel the number back yet. I really want to see what you all are up to and love the supportive feel of the ROW80 community.

Write 667 words every day to keep up with my Camp NaNo goal - Sunday - 633 Monday - 873 Tuesday - 634 So I missed my goal more days than I hit it. Must work on that.

Post every day in April for ROW80, A to Z or both - Still a letter behind, but haven’t missed one since the last check-in. (PSA: Unless you are looking for photos of butts don't search behind on Pixabay. Late is a much better choice. Yes, go ahead and laugh that butt off.)

I can't find the Linky code this check-in again. Maybe she stopped making the code available. If you want to see what the other ROW80 Bloggers are up to check them out here.

Camp Nano Update

I am at 7,345 and should be at 8,666. My average words per day are going down which is making me feel a bit panicky. I guess I need to have a bit of a sprint. Camp NaNo is doing sprints on Twitter at @NaNoWordSprints I am following, but haven't sprinted yet. I am adding this to my catch up plan.

Photos by Pixabay.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Knocked Down and Explosions

I'm not really sure exactly what is going on. I was knocked down hard by the 10th anniversary of a devastating personal tragedy. It was all I could do to complete day to day tasks and homeschool. It is the end of the round and my story is still bugging me. I contemplated not bothering for the rest of this round and just moving on, but the more I tried not to focus on how many days in a row I had gone without writing the more the story popped into my head. Do you know what it is like to try to concentrate on primary English lessons when some mad freak is calling lightening to set a huge pavilion full of people on fire and someone else is lobbing fireballs at them. Yes, I know it's a bit over the top, but my characters are getting frustrated and restoring to explosions in public to get my attention. Oh, the poor innocent bystanders.

I feel like I keep coming back to the same thing. The life I'm living VS the life going on in my head and I must tell you I'm getting on my own nerves. I know I have to decide what I really want to do and pursue it. I know homeschooling is a priority over writing, but I don't know how many things I can do while maintaining the small gains I have maid with my health.

I am aiming for writing and visiting ROW80 friends every day.

How are you all doing on your round? My hope is that it has been more productive than mine. Please leave me a comment to say hello. Don't forget to let me know where you are visiting from so I can follow you back and see what you're up to.


Photos from Pixabay.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

The Nothing Is Coming

There is so much difficult stuff going on right now that I haven't even made time to write. I think I want to do this, but I am feeling as apathetic as Morla. Though thankfully I am not currently residing in the Swamps of Sadness, but I feel like I have recently visited.


"We don't even care, whether or not we care"

I have literally made no progress on any of my goals. I have been busy tending to the home stuff, school stuff and personal stuff that writing has fallen to the wayside. I am listening to the book Quitter by Jon Acuff while working on other stuff. He is funny and I am enjoying it, but I fear in my current mood the advice is mostly bouncing off. However, one thing did stick in my head he said there is a formula to fill in and remind you what you need to do to keep you going toward what you are dreaming about doing with your life.

Do I want to _____? Then I have to _____.

He said it was easy to figure out and say, but hard to practice. So mine would look like this:

Do I want to be a writer? Then I have to write every day.

He also suggested using the time first thing in the morning before your excuses have had time to wake up to work on your dream. Then he had a very funny bit about getting up earlier. I am convinced. Trying to work on writing things after the kids have gone to bed is obviously not working for me. Dang, now I sound like Dr. Phil. So I will be trying going to bed earlier and getting up earlier. Hopefully I can beat my little early riser and get some stuff done.

What sacrifices do you make to chase your dreams? Make sure you leave a comment to say hello. Don't forget to let me know where you are visiting from so I can follow you back and see what you're up to.



Photos by Pixabay.

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Reading And Partying Not Writing

So if I'm reading and partying I probably don't need to tell you that very little writing has been done. On the long drive to my sister's house I was reading Rock Your Plot: A Simple System for Plotting Your Novel. I am only on the second chapter because it is very hard to read as the kids fight in the back seat. I think I read the same paragraph about 8 times before I shut it down and stopped trying, but I am enjoying it and look forward to getting back to it tonight. I don't see much of a difference so far between Rock Your Plot and Larry Brooks' Story Structure Series over at StoryFix2.0. However, it still has nice tidbits and you never know when something said in a slightly different way will create an aha moment. I am sure I can use as many aha moments as I can get at this point.

ROW80 August & September Goals Rundown

1. Write 2 Poms every day.
I was able to write on Wednesday and Thursday night, but Friday and Saturday were a no go. I had to edit a paper for my daughter on Friday night and it took me a long time. Then on Saturday I was at my nephews' birthday party. It was nice to hang out with family and have fun, but I missed my imaginary friends.

2. Post for every ROW80 check-in.
This one is later shorter than I like, but still here.

3. Spend 1 Pom per day visiting ROW80 friends.
I have been visiting my ROW80 friends. You guys are so busy and really hitting your goals. It makes me happy for you, but sad that I am not achieving everything I planned to. Instead of getting down I am using your inspiration to get myself going again.

4. Post to Twitter on ROW80 days.
So far I am still getting this done. Yay, done!


Photos by Pixabay.

Sunday, August 9, 2015

100 Days To Nail A Habit

As part of next years homeschool journey I wanted my children to start a gratitude journal. Of course I will be joining them because I believe teaching by example is the best way to teach children. While looking up exactly what goes into a gratitude journal, especially for someone as young as 7. I stumbled across a 100 Day Habit Challenge and we all know how easily I am swayed into joining a challenge. This challenge reminded me a lot of ROW80 because you set your own goals. You pick 3 goals in different categories to focus on over the next 100 days and you replace old bad habits with newer and hopefully good and productive habits.


The categories are creativity habit, anything habit and health habit. For the creativity habit portion you choose a project that would make you ecstatic to complete in the 100 days. The anything habit can be, well anything, a new morning routine or catching up with a friend/family member everyday. The recommendation was whatever will make you happy, is good for you and does harm to none. Finally, the health habit can be any habit that will help you improve your health. There is even a nifty calendar you mark off every day as you work on your new habit for 20 minutes or more. The theory is the more you check off the less you want to skip it and risk breaking the streak.
My creativity habit is to write every day and finish the first draft of The Most Magical Place. My anything habit is to get up at the same time every day and stick to a morning routine. My health habit is to go to bed by 2am. We agreed to start tomorrow so that means I haven't messed up yet, right? 

I googled it and I think the idea or at least the printable calendar was formed on this site, but the idea of a 100 day challenge is not a new one. The first one I found didn't have her branding or the quotes on the printable.

Have you ever heard of or tried a gratitude journal? Was it helpful? Do you work all year to break old habits or is January the only month that sees good habit attempts? Make sure you leave a comment to say hello. Don't forget to let me know where you are visiting from so I can follow you back and see what you're up to.

ROW80 August & September Goals Rundown

1. Write 2 Poms every day.
I wrote Thursday, but not Friday or Saturday. I am behind on planing and gathering materials for our next homeschool year because I didn't do anything in June except Camp NaNo, eating and sleeping.

2. Post for every ROW80 check-in.
Still a win in this category.

3. Spend 1 Pom per day visiting ROW80 friends.
I did make it around to visiting my ROW80 friends as well as my IWSG friends. I love seeing what you guys are doing, it keeps me inspired to try harder.

4. Post to Twitter on ROW80 days.
More win! I even managed to post another day. When I stopped over to visit Kristen, one of our ROW80 friends, she gave me reasons NOT to facepunch a bear. I am not entirely sure I needed more reasons not to facepunch a bear, but there you go. The post made me laugh so hard I just had to retweet it. Go read it if you haven't already.


Photos by Pixabay.