Puppies and Dogs

I've been meaning to write this blog ever since we went ashore in Greneda. There are now two puppies and two mothers. Both puppies belong to one mother. The other mother had two little girl puppies until yesterday. We were all on the boat and Cole and I were playing with the puppies, when a car drove up and parked in front of the boat. A woman got out and said, "You two kids look like you have been playing with the puppies here so I was wondering if you could help me. I was looking for a little girl puppy". Then Mommy and Daddy came down off the boat with us and the three adults started talking. In the mean time Cole and I kept playing with the puppies until Mommy told us to come say hi. The woman's name is Jenny and she is the owner of a foundation for saving stray dogs. Both Cole and I knew the person must be nice, so we went and got the little girl puppy like she had asked. Once we got the puppy, we told Jenny that we had named her Amanda. She said that the woman that would be buying the puppy wasn't American, so she probably wouldn't keep Amanda's name, but that she would let her know. By that time Amanda's little sister, Jelly Bean, had come up and was walking around our feet with her momma. Jenny looked down and noticed the little puppy. She picked her up and looked at her gums. Jenny said that Jelly Bean was sick and that she would love it if we could give her some medicine while we were here. We automatically said yes. In return she offered Momma some vegetables from her garden. Mommy said that she would love that, so Jenny said she would stop by later to drop off the vegetables and medicine for Jelly Bean. After Jenny left Momma, Cole, and I went back to the house while Daddy stayed on the boat a little while longer. When he got back he said that Jenny still hadn't come back. After dinner and desert we all went to bed. The next morning (today) we woke up, started school, and Daddy left for the boat. About twenty minutes after Daddy left, he radioed us. He said that there was a "special package". The package we soon found out was from Jenny. There was a note inside that he read to us, it said something on the lines of: Here is a ton of vegetables I thought you would like. You will not find the puppy medicine because I have taken the puppy to my house and will care for it there. Have a great time, Jenny. We were all very happy that she had taken Jelly Bean to her house because she would get better sooner there.  We all hope that Jelly Bean will get better soon. As for the other two puppies, we named one very lively girl puppy Betty, and her crazy brother, Rody. Betty and Rody come to Zen every day and hang out in the shade, under the two hulls. Cole and I both wish that we could take Betty or Rody with us, but we know the answer of Mommy and Daddy: no. Oh if you are wondering, the dog in the picture is Amanda.  I'm going to go read now, bye!

Homeschooling

Today was a big review day. I reviewed all of my subjects for a test that we will have tomorrow. We already had our math test two days ago since we are ahead in math. When we finished the test, Mommy gave Cole and I chocolate cake since ti was our first big test. The cake was originally for celebrating a full month on the boat, but since we had extra, we were allowed to have some. For our next test Mommy is going to do something different since the cake is gone. Anyway, I am really prepared for my science part of the test because I studied for two hours on it today. I am most scared for history because I have to remember a lot of people and I am not very good at that. Oh well, I will find out how I did in a couple of weeks (or months), whenever Calvert sends us our grades. 

Here is what I am doing in the rest of my subjects on a regular day.

 

Spelling:  On Thursday Cole and I did our chapter three post-test and today we did chapter four. Spelling is not all that interesting for me and I just fly through it. Not much is going on in spelling.

Science: I really like science. I get to do really cool experiments (when we have all the stuff we need). Also, when Cole has an experiment to do, we wait untill recess and do the experiment together. One time that we had to improvise for materials was when we tried to use gum instead of clay to hold up a penny in vinagar. It didn't work very well, so we abandoned that experiment.

History: In history I am just kind of reviewing all of the stuff I did last year. Most of it is easy because I allready learned all of it, but some of the discussion questions are a challenge.

Geography: I was really excited when I first found out that I had geography because I have never done it before. I like some parts but other parts I don't. The parts I don't like is the vocabulary words. There is so many and I have to memorize all of them for the test! The parts I do like is that I am learning a lot about things we have or are getting on the boat. Some of the things are maps, wind generators, and solar panels. 

Reading: I love to read. Right now I am reading The Swiss Family Robinson. It is a really great book. Some of the words in it I have never heard before in my whole life, but I look them up in  the dictionary (luckily we got a dictionary from Calvert Homeschoolings' program). I am also reading Selected Poems by Emily Dickinson. Poetry questions are kind of boring, but I like reading the poems.

Math: Math is different every day. One day I might be multiplying decimals, and the next I am doing mental math (mental math is when you there is word problems in the book and you can't use paper to figure it out, not my favorite thing to do in Math).

Composition: In composition I wrote the story called A Surprise Audition which I posted on the blog already. Also, I just finished a poem that will also be sent in with my test. Oh and if you want me to post me poem you have to tell me, because I don't know if it is very good.

Well, that is everything I am doing in homeschooling. I'm going to go to the pool now, bye!

The City Of Ember

       The City Or Ember by Jeanne DuPrau was a really exciting book. It was about a town that is underground. Two kids, Lina and Doon, set off to find a brighter world than their own (our world).

       One day in the city of Ember, while Lina was doing her messaging job, she found out that her best friend had supplies that hadn't existed for years. Lina became supiscous and told her friend Doon about what she saw. A couple days later she found something that said "instructions". She could not read all of the instructions because it had been torn and weathered, so she went to her friend who could. After deciphering most of the instructions, Lina and Doon set off to find the "bright world". They found out the journey was to long to do in one day, so they had to wait for the next day to complete their search. Since it illegal to venture out of Ember, Doon and Lina were being searched for when they started off the next day. Luckily they both got away and found the knew world.

       The book ends when Lina and Doon throw legible instructions down to Ember on how to get to the "bright world", from the "bright world". It was a really amazing book. 

A Surprise Audition

This is a school project that I am doing and will be sent in with my test. Please tell me if you like it!

 

 

      "Bye Tory!" I yelled as I jumped in my Mom's car at school pick up. It was a Monday and I was getting ready for my dance class. It had been a regular day, and I had no idea what a surprise there would be for me that evening.

       As my Mom dropped me off at the corner of the street, she told me to have a great class. I ran into the hot and sticky dressing-room to get changed into my leotard and tights. After chatting for a while with my friends we tip-toed into the studio to stretch. My teacher, Miss Karla, wasn't there yet, so I knew something different was going to happen that class.

       Finally, Miss Karla came in and took attendance. By then I had warmed up and was ready to dance. As usual someone was absent. Miss Karla looked worried that not everyone was there. This was very strange. Next she told us to line up from shortest to tallest. I was very excited because I thought we were going to start our dance. Miss Karla then proceeded to walk us into the Grand Studio. Once there the Director told us to do all types of different combinations.

       After two hours of dancing we were dismissed to our conditioning class. I heard whispers all around me wondering what we had just done. Before we left Miss Karla told the class to go to the Grand Studio. "Class" she said "you just auditioned for Swan Lake"

       Two weeks later I got a letter in the mail, that said I had been excepted into the performance. I was shocked.

Tobago Cays

Today we arrived in the Tobago Cays. Yesterday we had to leave after dinner
so that when we got to the Cays the sun wouldn't be in our face and we would
be able to see the reefs. The wind was really light so we put up our new
sail. It was huge! It looked like a spinaker, but a lot lighter. Cole and I
set up beds for ourselves in the salon so that we could sleep there as we
were sailing. I fell asleep at around nine and woke up at about seven-thirty
and saw the island. We anchored at around eight. As soon as I saw where we
were going to anchor I was amazed at how many catamarans there were. I
counted 13 cats. Once we were settled Daddy jumped in the glass clear water
to check the anchor. Then he told Cole and me to come in and look at all the
fish he saw. There is also a little reef really close to the boat that we
swam to and saw a turtle! It basically took us on a tour of the reef. When
it started to swim away Daddy, Cole and I went back to the boat to get Mommy
so she could see all the fish. Before we even got to the boat a huge
stingray swam underneath us. It was awesome! After a little while I didn't
see anything else interesting so I got out of the water and played with my
piano for a while. Then Daddy saw a catamaran with a wind generator, and
since he is on a hunt for one he and Cole dinghy'd over to the boat to check
it out. It ended up to be the exact one that Daddy wanted, so the owner of
the boat said that Daddy could come over tomorrow and get on board to
measure it. I don't really care, but Daddy is very excited. For lunch Mama
told us that she wasn't going to make anything so we she gave us chips and
salsa instead. I'm going to go eat lunch. Bye!

8/6/08

The most exciting thing today was meeting another cruising catamaran! Onboard was two boys, both older than Cole and I. While we were there Cole and Nick, the younger boy, did Garage Band, the exact thing Cole is doing right now. Other than that here is my day. This morning I woke up and finished my book, So You Want To Be A Wizard. Then at around seven I started math. It took me a while to finish it, but I got it done. At around eleven Mommy and Daddy went ashore to pick up the doctor. He was coming to look at Mommy's elbo. A couple minutes later Mom and Dad took the doctor back ashore while Cole and I stayed on the boat and finished school. Once I was done I helped Cole finish. It had seemed like a really long time since Mommy and Daddy left the boat, but as soon as I said it a dingy that looked just like ours started to come into view. As the dingy got closer we realized that it was two boys in the dingy and it wasn't our dingy. They came up to the boat and said that they were suposed to pick us up, and that our parents were on thier boat. I freaked for a second, but then I realized that I had seen their dingy next to a boat on the dock. After they picked us up and took us to their boat we hung out their for a while so that the parents could talk. When we left their boat we went to lunch and they went to a beach. After lunch wwe went back to the boat. Then Daddy went windsurfing for a while. I jumped in the water with him to swim for a couple minutes, but I got stung by something so I jumped out. When Daddy finished windsurfing we went in to the dock to meet Cataway so that we could dingy over to the place that we were going to have dinner. When we got there the people that tell you where to sit said that they didn't have enough room for eight, so we headed back to the marina and had dinner at the same place we had lunch. After I finished I went to hang out with Cole and Nick. After talking for a little while I fell asleep. When we had to go Cole woke me up by screeming in my ear. As soon as I laid down in my bed on the boat I fell right asleep.  

7/31/08

Today was very eventful. The day started in Mamora Bay at a resort. At about four that morning there was a really loud thunder and lightning storm. Cole and I both woke up and hung out for a while until the storm quieted down a bit and we were able to fall back asleep. After doing a math lesson at around 9 am, we started for English harbor to get a couple things we forgot back at home. It was such a short ride (30 min.) that we didn't even put the sails up. As soon as we got out of the little bay we were in, we saw three different dolphins. They were really big! They did a show of flips and jumps out of the waves for us. Also they liked to swim under the two hulls and jump under the boat. I really liked watching them. Once at English Harbor we docked. Mommy, Cole and I had to dingy in to the dock on the other side of the harbour to check out of customs. When we got back to the boat, Daddy had been talking to this guy with really good food, so we bought lunch from him. It was great. Mommy even let us get ice cream! After Daddy got the packages we needed we started for Falmouth Harbour ( where we are now). I read my book underneath the boom on the deck above the salon for the whole ride. It was also really short, so we motored the whole way. When we got to Falmouth we had to go grocery shopping. It took us under an hour to get all of the stuff we needed! After putting all of the groceries on board Daddy had to go return the car that we had borrowed. When he got back me, Cole and Mommy had finished putting away and cleaning all groceries so we all went for a quick swim. I can't believe my day started with a thunder storm and ended with an awesome dinner that Mommy just finished making, and is serving right now. I am starving, so I'm going to go eat dinner. Bye!