Ginger ale is my elixer

I've had a weird stomach today. I've been eating in spits and spurts, instead of gorging like I normally do. Thanks to ginger ale and some Pepto, though, it's not too bad now.

In fact, I'm feeling hungry again.

Yesterday I decided that I needed to make a lesson plan, to which my know-it-all mother replied, "That's what I've been saying all along." I'm convinced that the reason why my education has been all weirded out is because...

1. She taught me science when I was younger, and now I've forgotten a good chunk of it.

2. She would focus on my brother and give me busywork to do while she turned him into a boy genius. Now, I know my brother was lazy and stubborn, and he needed to be badgered to do his work, but I was left hanging with annoying fractions, not-so-annoying English and a French book that I didn't really like. I used a science workbook as well when I was about 12 or 13, but I was still lacking something. For history, we had all these heavy books on Canadian history, or the childrens' books from the library. I honestly preferred the childrens' books, because it was the same stuff, but in an easier-to-understand style. And they have pictures. And the font is a good size. I also flipped through books from the library on the Romans and the Celts, and some books on Japanese culture and history. But something was still lacking. My mother now claims that she was going to order owl pellets for us to dissect, but she didn't, because I had told her that I 'didn't want to touch owl poop'. Well, that's a load of bullshit, because I had been reading Skellig at the time (great book, by the way), and I was interested in owl pellets. And, if I remember correctly, they aren't 'owl poop', because owl pellets are coughed up! And, I'm sorry, but Canadian History for Dummies and other textbooks aren't the way I like to learn Canadian history. I learn it in smaller chunks. Deal with it. And I can't learn science from a friggin' fact book, either! I've tried it, and while it works for some things, it doesn't work for others! And if you want me to study geography, I am not learning it from Don't Know Much About Geography, because that book is dry, boring, depressing and nigh colourless. All of the pictures are in black and white. That's no way to learn geography. I also don't want to read that awful book because I'm sick of Columbus (or whoever it was) rambling on about how the world is a pear.

I feel a little better now.

Anyways, I started my own lesson plan for February.

For Biology, I'm sticking with Human 3D. I have to ask Dad to help me get rid of the old shortcuts, though, so I can reinstall it. I guess when Windows updated, it dumped the program. Whee. I might also use my anatomy colouring book as a study tool.

For World History, I'm going to read through the Lucent Library of Black History books (I think that's what the series is called), for Black History Month. I'm also going to continue reading The Complete Idiot's Guide to World Mythology until it's due back to the library on the 19th.

For Japanese, I'm going to continue watch Let's Learn Japanese, and try to practise writing in Japanese script.

For math, algebra. Polynomials at the moment, but hopefully I'll be rid of them in a few weeks.

For English, I think I'll read Roots by Alex Haley, and any library teen fiction I pick up.

For Art, Photoshop, Knitting, and maybe Corel Painter.

For Music, I started compiling a list of songs to practise.

For Creative Writing, refine my NaNo story and work on another story I started.

That's all for now.

I slept in again.

That's right. I slept in once more. But this time, I did a bit of biology (ball-and-socket joints FTW!!!) and watched an episode of Let's Learn Japanese. I had to skip an episode, because one episode was badly synched - the vocal track was ahead of the video track. Weird.

I feel bad because I never did any algebra. Maybe I'll do some later. I might also switch books for English, because I don't think I want to read I Am Rembrandt's Daughter at the moment - I still haven't finished the first chapter - or is it a prologue? Oh, I don't know. Anyways, my point is that I've only read about two or three pages. Maybe I'll try finishing Howl's Moving Castle, or maybe I'll start Terry Pratchet's first book - I loved watching Hogfather, so I think I'll like his books. I know Holly loves his books, and we have very similar taste in literature.

Speaking of Holly, I never did hang out with her before Christmas - I never got around to asking her about it, because we had family coming to visit, and I forgot to talk to Holly about going to Tim Horton's for a coffee/tea or something. Damn. Maybe we can go shopping over the summer.

So anyways. I have to find a world history book to use instead of relying on my world history program on the DVD-ROM (we were going to get a world history book at Indigo, but mom didn't think it was good enough).

I assume that there's a youth group meeting tonight, as I haven't gotten an e-mail saying that it's cancelled. Should be interesting.

Oh yeah. The knitting meet-up thing at Second Cup was pretty cool. They seem like a cool bunch of folks. The first knitter that arrived was someone who does loom knitting, and two folks were sewing. It turns out that I didn't look like a complete noob with my garter stitch triangle, so that's pretty awesome.

Do homeschoolers need late notes?

In a sense, I was late to biology yesterday morning :p

Actually, my study schedule is working well, even though I had a killer headache yesterday (probably from the weather). Here's what I did yesterday:

1. For biology, I read some of the text pages in my Human 3D computer program, looked at some pictures of bones and cartilage, and looked at some animations.

2. For world history, I read a timeline of North American history, using the world history program on my DVD-ROM. I'd like to find some good world history books, though, because while the program is good, it's only a brief and somewhat eclectic collection of timelines and such.

3. For Japanese, I watched Let's Learn Japanese on YouTube.

4. After lunch, I did half a page of polynomials.

5. For English, I read a bit of I Am Rembrandt's Daughter, but only a couple of pages.

6. Art - started making a garter stitch square, which I will turn into a rabbit. Part of a KAL :)

7. Creative Writing - worked on one of my stories, but I didn't get that much done :(

Today hasn't been as productive. So far, I've worked on one story and mucked about in Photoshop. Mind you, I did go on a 'field trip' to Michaels :D I didn't get any yarn, but mom got some yarn for a project she has in mind. Next time, I'll make a list of what I need, because there's a baby blanket I want to try making, and it calls for Lion Brand Vanna's Choice Solid.

So, I'm going to a knitting meet-up tonight at Second Cup :) Only problem is, the only project that I can take with me without lugging a pattern around is my soon-to-be shawl, which is just a garter stitch triangle. I'm gonna look like a total noob. I'd love to take my Opera Glove with me, but then I'd have to take the pattern with me, and probably my knitting pouch with my tape measure in it. And the baby cardigan is a bit much to take with me, because I have to take the pattern and some stitch holders with me. I'd rather finish that cardigan at home. So I guess I'll take the giant triangle, and hope to God/Goddess that no one's knitting lace at Second Cup!

MORE ANGER

So Mom is under the impression that I am not behind in schoolwork at all, that I'm doing the right work for my grade level. Never mind the fact that I only just started algebra this time last year, and I'm supposed to be in 'grade twelve' this year. By American standards, I think I'm doing algebra II. My mom and I had a fight about it. I'm telling her that I should have started algebra when I was 13, and she said that I didn't want to do algebra then. I told her that she had me doing fractions, and she told me that I had to go through the fractions to understand the algebra!!!

THEN HOW COME MY BROTHER UNDERSTOOD ALGEBRA WITHOUT GOING THROUGH ALL FOUR FRACTIONS BOOKS?!

...phew.

So Dad called me upstairs to tell me not to fight with Mom. I told him that she won't get it in her head that I'm behind, and he told me that I'm not behind.

I started biology-ish stuff not too long ago. I probably should have started biology at around grade ten, maybe grade nine. I have very little knowledge of geometry, because Mom had me doing fractions. I'm still lacking in general science knowledge. I have a chemistry book and a physics book, though, so science will be FUN this year.

I'm not worried about English. Even though everyone else has it in their heads that you MUST read Lord of the Flies in high school. Do our lives really depend on that book? I'd rather not read a book as harsh-sounding as Lord of the Flies. And Shakespeare? I like the Reduced Shakespeare Company for that. Reading the childrens' Shakespeare books by Lois Burdett help, too, if you want to skip most of the 'thys' and 'thous'. In fact, I think my sister borrowed the childrens' Macbeth when she was in high school.

The library will be my friend this year.

I'm honestly wondering who's in charge of my education here.

School-ish

So I started 'school' today. Homeschooling, to be exact. I took some books with me for the car ride to my sister's place - Clapton: The Autobiography, Anne of Avonlea, The Pocket Gallileo and a pocket guide to science. I only read Clapton and Anne, though. I took my camera with me, too, so that I could take photos of Jeffrey, but I only got one decent shot. I'll put it up on my Flickr soon, and eventually up on this very blog.

Jeffrey is such a sweetheart. Very talkative. Mom thinks he's definitely half Siamese because of his colouring and face structure. He's so big compared to Mouse, though! And Katie (my sister) said that he wouldn't eat the treats she bought, and yet when my mom gave him treats he ate them!

We went out to a place called Wonder Sushi for lunch, which was great. I'm not keen on sushi, but I love udon noodles and tempura. We got these dumplings that were pretty tasty, too, and chicken teriyaki, which was awesome. For dessert, we had ice cream - I had mango, Katie and Mom had green tea and Dan (Katie's boyfriend) had vanilla. I tried a bit of Mom's green tea ice cream, and it was pretty good. I'll have to get the green tea ice cream next time.

So, for an early birthday gift, Katie gave me soap and a bath ball. The bath ball is from Lush, and I think the soap is too. They smell lovely.

We couldn't get Q107 in London Ontario, so we listened to their local rock station, FM 96, which isn't too bad. I actually like it better than our local rock station, Y108. When we tuned into FM 96, the first song we heard was Lust For Life by Iggy Pop, which Y108 NEVER plays. Q107 sometimes plays Iggy Pop, but not a lot. And then we heard an interview with Liam Gallagher from Oasis, and then a new track from Oasis. I can't remember what it was called or how it goes, but I remember liking it. Oasis are cool :) Although one of their songs has a raunchy title. I also got to hear the title track from Coldplay's new album, Viva la Vida. As I mentioned in an older post, I first heard it on Galaxie Rock, which is one of Bell's satellite music stations... actually, I think it's owned by CBC.

Sortin' out my learnin'

I decided to make a list of stuff I need for my next year of homeschooling. I feel like I'm really behind in sciences, so I started with a list of science books and science-y materials like owl pellets. Yes, owl pellets. I'd like to order some and take 'em apart... just for fun.

I'm going to put more of an effort into anatomy. I wasn't working in my anatomy book regularly enough, probably because I was working from the beginning, and cells and tissue get boring after a while. Come September, I'm goin' straight to the skeletal system! :D

I do have a microscope, thank goodness. I had gotten it when I was about eight or so from my dad's company's Christmas party, but it's a strong enough microscope. Plus it has some nifty tools... perfect for dissecting owl pellets :D

I also need to start using the DVD-ROMs that my mom got for me at Staples, but they won't run on this computer, so I'll have to use her laptop. We do, however, have some sort of NASA CD-ROM that should run on this computer.

...It'll work! It says on the system requirements, "Windows 95/NT or newer"!

My cat, my mom, and a spider.

It's a strange title, but don't worry - it'll all make sense in a moment.

First, the spider. I hate spiders. Last night I was shining a flashlight around my room to make sure the cat wasn't there, and I saw this spider in between my bookcases. So I went upstairs, into the kitchen to get some paper towel (the cat was sitting in the middle of the floor), went back downstairs and tried to squash it - but it decided to hide behind one of the bookcases. Damn.

Then, earlier, the cat clawed my foot. And when the internet connection dropped (it does that sometimes, 'cause we have a wireless router, and I think the modem acts up), I unplugged the modem and the router, then went to get a glass of water. I usually have to wait a bit before plugging stuff back in so that the connection comes back properly. So I went back into the computer/dining room with my glass of water, and that cat jumped in the chair!

Finally, my mom. She was saying that in September, when I start my homeschooling for the term (I hate the word 'semester'. I'm part English and part Welsh, so I'm gonna say 'term'), I have to do my work at the same times every weekday. Okay, I'm supposed to be homeschooling, not doing the school-at-home stuff. I don't have anything against school-at-home, I just don't work that way. So she tells me that if I'm going to college, I should learn to work by a schedule, because college timetables are different from university timetables. So here's my question...

Who said I was going to college instead of university?!

I've made it quite clear that I'd like to study brodcast journalism and someday get a job in radio, and I know that I can study that at a university, because some of the DJs at Q107 went to university. I also would like to study music. I have no desire to become a bricklayer or a butler - I say 'butler' because my darling mother cut out a newspaper article on butlers, and suggested that I become one.

What I'm going to do is be smart about my career. Like Sting - he used to be a teacher who performed in clubs. I might do something like that. Work as a DJ during the day, and by night I'll sing in clubs, or be a session keyboardist.