I Voted!

And because I'm stink and don't feel like writing the amazing election post I thought about writing . . . I'm just going to link to an article about why you should vote. It's by a homeschool graduate (albeit American . . . sorry lol). Read it here.

Research Essay || Pterosaurs: Facts & Fables

Several years ago I started this essay for a {home}school assignment. I revised it a couple times but wasn't completely happy with it and so it's been sitting on my computer until now! I just corrected a few things rather than completely re-writing it; not sure how much my writing style has changed over the years? Was it worth digging this out of my archives?

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Pterosaurs have been, and still are, a topic of great fascination to people of all ages. Because of this, many children’s products and “educational” items feature them. Notice I wrote “educational”. Unfortunately much of the readily-available information about them isn’t factual.  And while nearly everyone has heard of pterodactyls, the term pterosaur is foreign to most. It is also common to mistakenly refer to pterosaurs as dinosaurs. And, did pterosaurs really exist, or are they purely mythical? Are there any alive today?

One mistake people commonly make when referring to pterosaurs is calling them pterodactyls. A pterodactyl is a pterosaur, but a pterosaur is not necessarily a pterodactyl. What do I mean? Let’s illustrate: a Labrador is a dog, but is every a dog a Labrador? No way! The term pterosaur refers to members of order Pterosauria. Pterodactyl, however, refers to members of the genus Pterodactylus, and more broadly, suborder Pterodactyloidea.

Another common myth about pterosaurs is that they are flying dinosaurs. However, the term dinosaur “terrible lizard” refers specifically to members of superorder Dinosauria, while pterosaur “winged lizard” refers specifically to members of order Pterosauria. Also, dinosaurs have solid bones, as do other land animals, but pterosaurs have mostly hollow bones, suitable for flight, similar those of birds. In fact, even if dinosaurs did have wings, their dense bones would have made them too heavy to leave the ground!

Some people think that pterosaurs themselves are merely fictional! Why then, do we have many fossils of them being found? In addition, why have people the world over passed down stories of them from generation to generation, since before long-distance communication became possible? Cave art, from ancient times, also depicts them. And, have you looked in the Bible? Isaiah 30:6 references a “fiery flying serpent.” Pterosaurs are the only reptiles known to have had the ability to fly.

Are they extinct? Well, that is their scientific status, although people worldwide have (recently) reported sightings of them, or creatures that sound much like them. Nevertheless, none have been captured, no bodies have been found, and no photos have been captured of them.

In summary, pterodactyls are just one type of pterosaur, and, despite common belief, pterosaurs are NOT dinosaurs. They really existed, and, while it seems unlikely, it is not impossible that there could be some alive today.

References:

www.angelfire.com/mi/dinosaurs/flyingserpent.html 

www.unmuseum.org/quet.htm

Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures by Jeannie Fulbright

NB: This isn't an exhaustive list.

Responding to a Comment || My Life at Present

Over here I responded to some of the questions in this comment. Now I'll share a bit about "the season of life [I'm] currently in". Wow, that sounds open-ended. Where do I start?!

Well, I think I've said this on here before, but I'm in my last year of formal schooling (yay!), so I'm {meant to

be} working really hard to get everything finished that I want to study in high school (level). That means piles of math and science, along with some French.

Of course, being in my late teens with my graduation approaching, people regularly ask about my plans in terms of a job or career. I've been teaching recorder lessons to a few homeschooled students since the beginning of last year, and next year I plan to teach flute as well. Flute is actually my main instrument (I play it to a higher level than any other), but due to it's greater complexity, I opted to get some teaching experience with the recorder first. Once I've completed all the grades, I can go for my teaching diploma (that's just for flute -- there's one per instrument!) which is through ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music). And voila, I'll be a qualified flute teacher!

So, I think those are the two biggest parts of my life currently. As a daughter at home, I also have various family/household duties, such as working in the family business one day a week, cooking, cleaning, etc.

With my impending 18th {or perhaps that has subjective rather than intrinsic value?} and the end of my "school years" approaching (something akin to the end of an era!), a season (or seasons?) of my life are coming to an end. And I'll leave it at that {can you feel the suspense?!}, since this post was meant to be about the season I'm currently in. And I didn't write all that much. Oops.

Responding to Readers' Questions || Life as a Homeschooler

I received another comment in response to the one I responded to here. I'm going to address three of the questions from it here: 1) Do I like homeschooling? 2) Do I ever wish I went to school? and 3) What kind of things do I do in each day? 

1) No, I don't like homeschooling. I LOVE it. Haha. My years of formal homeschooling (academics) are nearly over, but I am, and likely always will be, a homeschooler at heart.

2) Are you kidding me?! I'm nearly eighteen and more interested in job opportunities actually! :) But in the past . . . Well, for a short time before entering high school (level, that is) I did. But otherwise, no. I loved life as a homeschooler too much! :)

3) My average day would involve school work, music practice (flute especially, maybe guitar as well), folding washing (we all have assigned chores and that's my daily one), teaching (recorder) and some free time. One day a week I work with my dad in our family-owned import/wholesale business dispatching orders and doing some data entry, invoicing, taking/editing images, and updating catalogues and various other documents. Currently I'm designing a new catalogue as well. 

So there are my thoughts on those three questions. And if anything isn't clear, well then there's a comment section. ;) haha

Response to a Comment || Of Homeschooling and What It's Like

A while ago a commenter suggested I post about what it's like to be homeschooled, what I use, and how I/we do it. 

So, what is it like? For me, normal. I've been homeschooled since I was five years old, and have never been to school, so I don't know any different! But that's not very specific so here goes. I love the flexibility it provides. We can get up, start, finish, and eat whenever it suits. We can visit places or go on holiday during less busy times while most people are at school; it's so much easier to get jobs done quickly if there isn't a maze of people to work your way through! I can easily book appointments or music lessons during school time and study before and/or after them.

What do I use? I love Apologia science (Junior series by Jeannie Fulbright, high-school texts by Dr. Jay L. Wile). The books are written in a conversational style, which I find much more interesting than a bland presentation-of-facts approach, making it easier to remember the content.

For my other subjects I use publications from BJU Press. Before I started their English curriculum (during intermediate), I certainly didn't find workbooks on the subject easy! I think I may have known nouns and verbs, but adjectives and adverbs were foreign to me. Although my inherent English was, I think, pretty good, I had little understanding of the mechanics behind the subject. I've since completed their grade 12 (NZ year 13) text, and for the past several years, English has been my favourite subject!

How do I/my family do it? Well, it's in my nature to be independent, so once I learned to read it wasn't uncommon for me to work alone. Basically, I (and now also many of my siblings) complete various textbooks as our core curriculum (much the same as school students complete homework I suppose). While we generally work alone, Mum is available to assist in either providing or locating a source of help if need be. We regularly use the library and internet for research projects. 

And extra-curricular activities? All but two of us currently take music lessons of some sort, and some of my siblings regularly take swimming lessons. Throughout the years we have enjoyed gymnastics, pottery and art classes, athletics, soccer, dance, and attended a knitting club, homeschool sports club, and book club at a local library.

I think that about sums up my thoughts on the topic for now. Thanks for reading!

A Homeschool Family || Tim Hawkins

End-of-Year Homeschool Picnic

At the end of each year, our homeschool group has a picnic to celebrate(!!) Sadly attendance seems to fall each year nowadays :/ So next year -- come!

Perhaps blur the background to give a sense of motion?

About the only group-y photo I'm afraid!
Oops I've exposed for the sky so my subjects are dark!

I LOVE this for a portrait!  (Composition and candid, modern look)
Perhaps if I blur the background a little more, more attention would be placed on my subject?

Love the leaves framing this pic!
Could perhaps adjust the exposure though?

Day 2 ~ Tuesday

On Tuesday morning, children began to wake up all too early considering the time we went to bed the night before. With us all in such close proximity, there isn’t much chance of sleeping for long once people start getting up!

We spent most of the day at the campground, setting and tidying things up. I did some school work (yeah, I brought some down with me), tried to play our ¾ size nylon-string guitar – which is seriously out of tune and I didn’t bring my tuner :/, watched Dr. Wile’s Where are they now? session from the 2011 Science by Design Conference in Auckland – it was the one session I didn’t go to when I attended the conference; but maybe I should have gone, because it was really interesting. Then again, there ended up being HEAPS of different talks at that conference, and no doubt all of them would have been good! This session was about homeschool graduates, and what they were doing in life as young adults; how homeschooling affected their lives later on; and, as Dr. Wile loves to do, refuting common misconceptions about homeschooling. Oh yes, and I better not forget the statistics he said the scientist in him wouldn’t allow him to leave out of the talk!

After dinner we went for a walk, bought trumpets {and I bought a study help to go with my school work . . . caramello chocolate :D}, and went to the beach. Of special interest to me was that all the telephone boxes down here provide free wifi!!

PS: More photos to come as I've just found I don't have as many as I thought I did :(

Homeschoolers out there...

...you HAVE to watch this!!! :D :D

12 Days of Homeschooling

Term 2 Homeschool Gymnastics

Highest-level group. All three of my sisters were in here!

Essie with Julia (Aiken)

Monique, Danielle, and Diana participated in gym this last term. I only went once and these are some of the pics I took. They were trying for badges, so far Monique has her one so next term she will go up to the next level, and the other two will re-try for their current level.

Meet and Greet

From 2-4pm on March 24th, all of us but Mum, Maria, and Laura, went to the de Boers' place to meet our minister's family, who had arrived from America the day before.
I was kinda sleepy, but it was nice to meet them!

The little ones were very taken with Snowy, Dieuwe's maltese puppy. (Sorry I just realised I don't have any pics of Snowy!)

And...Amelia Smith (5yrs) was very excited to lose her first tooth that afternoon! See if you can spot the gap in the pic:

Ok so I suppose I should introduce them a bit...

Mr. Smith is Texan, the eldest of 7 children, and was homeschooled.
Mrs. Smith is Canadian, one of 4 children (sorry can't remember where she is in the lineup!), and was also homeschooled.
The met through the church (The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland), and now have 4 children: Amelia (or Amy) 5yrs, Aaron (4rs), Owen (2yrs), and Keith (4 months).
You can read their blog here.

Declaration

I hope you found that at least slightly funny =D

Hello again, readers!

I have MANY posts waiting to be uploaded. However, I am set on publishing them in chronological order, and the next ones to go up are sitting on my laptop. And my adapter died. So, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until I buy a new adapter...I am watching a few on Trade Me, so I'm HOPING you won't have to wait too much longer!

But, in the meantime, I thought I'd let you all (or should I say y'all? lol) know what I'm currently up to.

I started school (as in homeschool) today. Yeah, my mum thinks I'm weird too! =) Honestly, I just can't seem to stay away from it...so why exactly am I planning on graduating at the end of next year? haha 
With all the work I want to get through before then, though, I should be more than ready to finish!

Athletics starts again tomorrow. It'll be nice to be back, but it will shorten the amount of time I have for getting school done.

On Wednesday I'll be at work with Dad (oh great, I gotta get up at 6am!), and on Thursday communion begins at our church. That means morning and evening services on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and one last service on Monday morning. Hopefully we'll be able to have people over during that time (people come from Australia and throughout New Zealand for communion). The challenge of juggling church, school work, making sure church-clothes for everyone are clean and ironed, and keeping the house clean for having people over will be interesting! =)

I really need to go to bed, but just quickly, I FINALLY managed to start Starlight and Time by Dr. Russell Humphreys the other day. I've been wanting to read this book for ages, so its really nice to read it now! The information has become out-dated, but the book was mentioned in the science curriculum I use. Next on my reading list is Starlight, Time, and the New Physics by Dr. John Hartnett.

Really gotta go now!

G'night all,
Bee