Fifth Grade Writing

Lex has been doing some great creative writing for his assignments lately.

Here are two letters he wrote to Benedict Arnold:

Dear Benedict Arnold,

I am slightly concerned of your money, spending at parties and such.  Other than that, have a good one and a twenty. 

Your truly,

Lexington

************

Benedict,

What have we done to forsake you?  We gave you food, money, clothes, and this is how you repay us?  Why have you turned to the Brits?  They are evil and so are you.  

Farewell,

George Washington

************

Henry jumps down the hole with Kivik.  Suddenly Kivik grows teeth 4 inces long and bites his arms and legs, and bits his head off, killing him.  The end.


(You can click the pictures to make them bigger.)

A Funny Little Story

Connor wrote a funny little story.  Click on the photo to make it bigger and read it.

This Week at Redstone Academy

We had a good week of homeschool this week.

We set up an ant farm, built solar robots, finished a unit study on dolphins, had violin and piano lessons, and baked cookies.

Always there are cookies.  But this time there was a good reason, because crustulum and lac were two of our Latin vocabulary words this week.

We made our crustulum from scratch.

Also this week, Connor wrote a funny story about taking his dog for a walk.

A Mixed-up Weather Day

By Connor

Everyone enjoy his use of the old English:  "I walked thy dog."  He thinks it makes the story funnier.  And I think he is right.

In which history repeats itself

Connor lost another tooth.

This is a mouth missing three teeth.

But it wasn't quite as innocent as all that.

You see, Lex kicked him in the face, and another one of his wiggly teeth came out, along with copious amounts of blood.

Are you having deja vu?  Because I am.

At least this time I didn't have to get the dentist involved.

Then, because I didn't want Connor to loose his tooth in the many hours before bed time, I set it carefully on the counter (after washing off the blood) and sent Connor to his room to build a LEGO tooth holder to keep it safe.

Here is the LEGO tooth safe that Connor built.  It took him about two minutes to construct, and I swear to the Tooth Fairy that his tooth vanished into thin air directly from the counter top during that time.  This exact spot on the counter, actually.

Why do we keep losing teeth?  What is it about this place that makes them suddenly disappear?

I mean, it was right there on the counter.  I even looked at it during the two minutes Connor was building the LEGO tooth safe, but when I looked again, it was gone.  GONE!

It's enough to make a person crazy.  That and the fact that Lex is knocking all of Connor's teeth out.  I mean, I know that they are loose anyways, but what if this trend continues after the baby teeth?  Fail.

So, Connor had to write another note to the Tooth Fairy explaining that he lost another tooth.

He wrote it entirely by himself this time.

It says, "Lost another tooth.  I mean lost lost.  This is a letter to the Tooth Fairy." 

My favorite part is the seven-year-old-boy handwriting.  That, and the ending.  In case there was any confusion as to the business purpose of this note.

And let's face it, the business purpose of the note was to ensure that the Tooth Fairy didn't skip over his toothless pillow.  It worked:

This kid is getting rich of off his lost teeth.

You Know You Were an English Major When...

...your favorite part of a book isn't actually part of the novel.

I just finished reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and it was great.

But the part that sticks with me was the Author's Note at the beginning, which reads:

"AUTHOR'S NOTE

This is not so much an author's note as an author's reminder of what was printed in small type a few pages ago: This book is a work of fiction.  I made it up.

Neither novels nor their readers benefit from attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story.  Such efforts attack the very idea that made-up stories can matter, which is sort of the foundational assumption of our species.

I appreciate your cooperation in this matter."

Hear, hear.

P.S.  Looking forward to the movie adaption.

P.S. #2 There were tears shed while reading.

The Boys Mailed Letters to Santa

Connor wrote his letter all by himself! 

It reads:

From Connor To Santa:
Legos
TV
Bouncy House
Ninja Turtle Tower
Scooby Doo Set
X Box 360

Kevin helped Lex write his letter:



Then Lex drew a picture for Santa.  I'm pretty sure it is a Christmas tree.



But I guess that it could be Santa riding his sleigh...I should maybe ask him about it.








And then they got letters back from Santa with the mail today! 
Connor was totally surprised.  He thought it was great!  Then, after we read his letter, he was completely floored that Santa had written a totally different letter to Lex.  He figured that they would be the same for some reason.

Christmas is coming!

I just found out that "snuck" isn't really a word.

On Wednesday night, Connor snuck sneaked into our bed again. And he was right on the edge, so when Kevin rolled over, Connor fell out, just like the song about the little bears.

And the little one said, "roll over, roll over." So they all rolled over and one fell out.

Ahem.

So Connor got sent back to his own room. And then he snuck sneaked back in again. And he was sent out again. Which upset him, so he started crying. Then the crying set him off coughing. And it was a terrible, barky cough, which scared him and made him cry harder.

So we ended up getting him his inhaler and taking him outside to breathe the cool, damp night air. Because that's what you do with a croupy cough in the middle of the night (at least when he isn't having trouble breathing and turning blue).

I don't know what set him off. It could be that he played outside all day (pollen?) and well into the evening without a coat (chill?). It could be that we were at a friend's house with dogs (allergic reaction?). Maybe it was that I turned the heat up to 75 degrees because Lex woke up cold a few hours prior and cried when I tried to put a blanket on him (dry air?).

Anyways, now he is losing his voice. He is totally squeaky. And tired from being under the weather and up all night...even though it was two nights ago.

He slept through the night all night last night (say night again, real quick!), and in his own bed. We turned the heat off and cracked his window to help him not wheeze...but his breathing was still loud. And we told him that he might get sick again if he snuck sneaked into our room. He totally stayed put all night!

Do you think that he'll remember that and stay in his room from now on?

Connor thinks he is being sneaky, starting the car on his own.

NaNoWriMo

I have now signed up for NaNoWriMo, and my username is JulieMichelle. Feel free to add me as a writing buddy if you are also signing up, although I'm not sure exactly what benefits are attached to being my writing buddy. I added Corey as my buddy, but I couldn't figure out how to view his information or anything.

I'm also still working out the posting of a picture thing. The file requirement is absurd. Only 100 x 100 pixles, and 50 K. Who can get a good picture with that? Why even bother? But, I am determined to do it. I have a hunch that all I really need is an original picture file to work with, instead of the ones I currently have on my computer - so hopefully it isn't as hard as it seems at the moment.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Muses can be so finicky

So, today I wrote the greatest opening to a story ever written. The only problem is that I really don't know what the story is, so some of the details are missing. You can see what I mean:

It was the variety of rain that most often fell on parades. However, this rain, not at all like the rain that fell thundering from Heaven on the morning of my wedding day but later transformed into a picture-perfect blue sky (I have the pictures to prove it), was falling directly upon my __________________, ruining the common perception that I was either extraordinarily lucky or very friendly with Thor and his ax, Mjolnir. Still, with as much poise as I could muster, given the circumstances and the condition of the ______________, I greeted my guests. It was more than could be expected.

If this is a garden tea party kind of story, then the rain would be falling on the garden tea party and the speaker would be referring to the condition of her wilted centerpieces or rain spotted tablecloths. If this is more of a regatta-type story, perhaps she is lamenting the condition of the swollen river and dirty beach.

What kind of cruelty is this, to have a likeable beginning but no story. Can someone craft an entire story out of a beginning like this?

It's a miracle!

Divine inspiration finally struck yesterday, and I am going to write a novel. It's going to be great!! There are characters, a story, and even some research to be done!

Yesterday the idea came to me as I was driving home from work, but I realize now that it had been percolating all day in my little head. I think it might have had something to do with the espresso that I had yesterday morning from the coffee shop downstairs. I swear it must be stronger than they make it at Starbucks, because shortly after drinking it, I was having heart palpitations, and I never really came down.

Anyways, I have been reading and reading and reading lately, and now, *finally* I think it has paid off. I can see what type of writing I want to use and what type of structure to employ for my novel! Oh, the influences abound!

Last night, I was being flightly all over the house in my excitement, daydreaming of finishing a novel and getting an agent and getting published and getting paid! Kevin must have thought I was mad for all my energy and excitment, and when I told him why I was excited (the getting paid part), he was nonplussed, as if he had expected it all along. In fact, that's pretty much what he said.

So, this morning, as I was getting ready, my daydreams progressed. My novel was picked for the Oprah book club, on top of the New York Times best seller list, and being made into a movie. There I was, on the set, talking to Scarlett Johansson (who else would star in a movie based on my novel?) and becoming best friends...

I suppose I should probably start on some of that research. Oh, and I need to buy a new notebook to put it all in. (My current notebook is actually full of poems that I need to type up and work on editing.) This morning, during breakfast, I actually wrote out the opening paragraphs! I'm so excited!

But I'm not ready to tell you what it is about yet. You'll see!

[Laurent de LaHire: Abraham Sacrificing Isaac (1650)]