Thursday, January 19, 2012

Into the Heart of Winter

*1*
Best Pin of the Week

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GREAT, right?!
LOL!
 You owe me a joke!  ; )

*2*
Writing With Skill is just so good. Jesse Wise is actually on my Hero's list. Susan too (we love SOTW, too!)  but Jesse's higher up on the list. I'm still an IEW lover to the core, but Peace Hill Press just might have scrunched them over to a smaller corner of my heart.

The Complete Writer: Writing With Skill Level 1 Student Workbook
*3*
Lamott was fun but I'm done with her for awhile.. I have a whole list of "how to write a book from Robin's to check out. But I'm thinking a good novel might go down well. I have a whole list of notes from King's On Writing to get out of the back of the book and he mentioned several titles. I'm going to try one of his non-horror. And no- I won't do a horror book. I'm quite capable of scaring myself. I need no help. Trust me on this.

*4*
Chemistry 101 by Wes Stafford is supplementing McHenry's Intro to Chem for Cub adding another dimension to Feeche's Prentice Hall Chem 1 from last year.
I wouldn't count it as a full high school credit but it's worth at least 1/4 or a 1/2 depending on how you'd beef it up.  It's made along the lines of Tiner's History of Medicine, et al. Lots of good stuff, experiments, the history of the field. Feeche mentioned it's helping clarify some of the more difficult concepts he vaguely understood last year. I'm recommending it- just not as a full chem credit.

*5*
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Lego League is cruising along. It's been a great program, the kids have worked on problem solving, info gathering, planning field trips, all in addition to getting the robot to do what it's supposed to do. I'm usually hauling kids around town or teaching an English class while LL is going on so I feel pretty out of the loop. But our coach, Mrs. I, former engineer and woman of patience extraordinaire, has done a GREAT job leading our local pack of bandits.

*6*
It's cold 'round here. Single and sub zero temps with blowing snow. I am a warm weather kinda gal. There were certain aspects of California and New Mexico that I did not appreciate but the warmth was something I loved about both. Why does God hard-wire us in certain ways and then thrust us into circumstances, marriages, parenting roles and environments that totally mock our hard-wiring. Seriously?!

*7*
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I'm doing all of the home-work that I assign to my high schoolers in Creative Writing Class. I'm actually writing a story we've been talking about for years- literally. What a blast. The thing that amazes me every time I sit down to write is that I actually have some idea of what I'm doing. Heck, I'm even good at it. Love that feeling...that feeling of being good at something. Call me shallow or whatever, but it rocks to be competent at something that doesn't talk back.

How was your week?

8 comments:

Amanda Borenstadt said...

That's great that you're writing. I hope you'll share it when it's done.

Love the "Hobbits are a Virus." LOL

Ms POSH said...

Loved your post!

Stopping by from the Friday Hops to say hello.
Have a great weekend!
POSH

Daisy said...

Thanks for the chemistry update. We love Tiner books here so I'll look into the other.

Karen said...

I'm happy that you're feeling good about your writing. Competent is a terrific feeling.

I don't like the cold either. I was made for a much warmer climate.

Tiffany said...

I have to check out the writing program with Peace Hill Press. I love Lego clubs! Interesting thought to ponder about our hard wiring. Perhaps if we are in our comfort zone too long we are not useful for him. How fantastic that you complete the writing assignments along with your students. I am going to do that.

Mrs. W said...

Another thumbs up over here for WWS. Love it! Then again, I pretty much love all of the TWTM recos :) Really enjoy your blog BTW.

Sonshine Classical Academy said...

Ha! That lego pic was cute ;). You are a good writer. I always enjoy reading your posts...glad you're able to do something with it.

Mary said...

I can't wait to use WWS. It looks fabulous.