Homeschoolers: How To Manage Mondays

I've made a grand discovery! Monday is a great day for projects.

 
Like Garfield, I hate Mondays. But because I'd like to finish History Revealed a little earlier in the year, so we can end with a few unit studies, I declared today project day rather than giving them a week to complete one. They had to choose one that could be completed in one day (for the most part. The girls chose an embroidery project but will complete it on their own time). My 14 and 10 year old boys chose the cooking project. Of course. They like to eat.

They made lefse. Or our version of lefse, as we have never even heard of it so we had no idea what it should look like. The kitchen looks like it snowed flour and the smoke alarm still hasn't stopped its ringing, but they had a great time and made some pretty tasty food.

And Monday feels a little less like Monday.

Into the Sea (A Red Writing Hood Prompt)

 
The Prompt: “The cure for anything is salt water….sweat, tears or the sea.”
~ Isak Dinesen, pseudonym of Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke

For your Creative Non-Fiction tell us about the last time that one of these three things “cured” you. If you are going with Fiction, have your character resolve a problem using one of the three (or all three!!!). There are so many ways you can use this prompt so be creative with it, don’t take us where we think you’ll go. Word Limit is 300.

(This was written on Thursday and then never posted on Friday as I ran out of time. I figured it was written, may as well post it even if I missed linking up!)

******

"I think it should float all right. At least long enough." Critos kicked at the raft with the toe of his boot, mumbling something I couldn't quite make out, avoiding my eyes.

"You got the ropes tight enough?" I placed a hand on Karina's shoulder as I spoke. She jumped and turned toward me.

"Yeah, should be good." She stared at me for a minute, started to speak, but turned away and walked over to stand next to Critos. She seemed solid enough, but I wasn't in a trusting mood. They'd both have to be watched closely.

I double checked the raft and the ropes. They seemed sufficient.

"Ready?" They nodded and we walked over to the small pile of items near the raft. Karina reached down and picked up a tattered blanket, the pink roses faded and stained with tears. Critos grabbed the large leather belt, holding the metal buckle well away from him, as if it were the head of a snake about to strike. They looked at each other, at me, and then tossed them onto the raft, onto the body they had tied so carefully.

I stared down at the bloodied ropes by my feet. These could have been used for the raft but I needed this ceremony. I needed to rid myself of his terror. The feeling of remorse caught me by surprise. Why should I bear guilt for ridding the world of a monster? I choked down the bile, picked up the rope, and flung it onto the raft.  It was time.

Without a word, we pushed it further into the sea and prayed to the gods that they would receive him and swallow him whole.

A fitting end for a man called Norse. A man I called Father.

When Coffee Attacks...

(Shared this as a Facebook comment and thought I'd share here as well.)

We now have a Wal-Mart curse. My coffee committed suicide on Dec. 2nd in Wal-Mart, forever staining my jeans. The next time we were driving to Wal-Mart, my coffee in the cup holder of the van leaped from its resting place, jumped between my legs, and dumped itself on the floor while I was driving. Thankfully it was kind enough not to splatter me, just the van. We went to Wal-Mart a third time and my coffee once again flung itself onto the floor in the frozen food section. We haven't attempted a Wal-Mart trip since.

Feedback Needed: Which NaNoWriMo Book to Edit?

One thing I know I want to do in 2012 is finally work on one of my National Novel Writing Month first drafts and turn it into a completed story. My plan was to start the first week of January, all bright and cheery and excited, but my plans were derailed by sickness. Now that I'm crawling back into the land of the living, I'm anxious to get into a story and slowly work through the rewrite process. I only have two obstacles to overcome first.

Issue number one- my office is a mess. It looks like Christmas threw up in there. Seriously. The rest of the house is de-Christmasfied, and has been since December 26th, but I haven't yet faced the office. Today is the day.

The other problem is where I need your help. I have five very rough drafts to choose from and I find myself waffling between four. Which one do I dig into first? I have a love/hate relationship with all of them. I thought maybe I'd throw it out here and see if I get any feedback. I'm breaking all the blogging rules in asking you for help rather than providing content to help you but I NEED YOU MAN! (or woman.) I may not run with your choice but I'd love to have some input to chew on anyway!

The NotSoFantastic Four:

1. My very first NaNo I referred to as the "Christian Desperate Housewives". The story revolved around neighbors and friend's struggling with lust, betrayal, jealousy, teenage suicide-the works. The characters were quirky and fun though and I'll have to dial down the melodrama in the rewrite. You can catch a glimpse of these characters in one of my Write on Edge prompts; Double D's This one is faith-based but not overly sanitized.

2. My "stalker novel" has always been a favorite of mine. It's a YA story centered around a teenage girl whose mother has been fighting cancer and has become obsessed with her health to the point of completely shutting out her daughter. Her father is losing his business and is having difficulty coping. While her parents love her, they have no idea how to connect with her and she is starving for attention. She wakes up one morning with a broken window and "I See You" scrawled across her bedroom wall. Suddenly she's the center of attention, but is this what she really wants? There's a section of this story posted on my old blog here; Some Call It Stalking (Reading it over, I already see areas I need to change!) This one has some faith based elements.

3. I would have to do a complete rewrite of this one, as I hate everything about it, but I still love the idea. It takes place in the future, in a world where religion as a whole has been outlawed. The main characters are sent on a journey to discover old writings, receiving messages via their tablets. Through their adventure, the Christmas story is told and short "devotions" would be included after each chapter. The idea is to create a dystopian advent novel for teens and adults. I still love the idea, but this one would need more planning. This one is completely faith based and overtly Christian.

4. The last one is my most recent NaNo. It's a contemporary story of a woman who's recently come into money and takes the opportunity to write her life story. She uses three different genres to fictionalize the tragedies and difficulties in her life (fantasy, romance, and thriller). With each section, she attempts to find a happy ending but this proves difficult. Woven into the three stories is her current story. I need to figure out how to describe this more clearly but it was fun as a NaNo novel. There's a short excerpt here, from the fantasy section: Once Upon A Happily Never After. This one is not faith based.

I know I'm asking a lot but I'd really love to hear your thoughts! Please remember the excerpts are raw rough drafts (I'm so insecure!) but should give a hint at the tone of each story. I've also been flirting with the idea of starting from scratch with something else, but I have these 50,000-75,000 word drafts to work with already so why not?

Corridor by Robin Parrish

Summary:

THE ONLY WAY OUT IS TO RUN.

On the eve of his seventeenth birthday, Troy Goggin finds himself inexplicably transported to an impossibly huge, miles-long structure called the Corridor. But what is the Corridor, and why was he brought to it?

It’s a place of mystery, wonder, and heart-stopping danger. It will test him and push him both mentally and physically. His only companion is the girl whose voice he hears inside his head, explaining the rules he must follow if he hopes to escape.

But there is much more to this extraordinary place than Troy could ever imagine. The Corridor’s true purpose — the biggest mystery of all — is revealed only to those who make it to the end.

My Thoughts:  Back in 2009, I stumbled across an author named Robin Parrish and his book, Offworld. It was one of my favorites that year, as it grabbed me from page one and led me on an adventure I could see on the big screen of my imagination. When I discovered he had recently published a YA novel, I was pretty excited to read it. It did not disappoint.

Parrish's writing style throws you in the middle of the action and allows you to live the experience with the main character.  He never lets up and you find yourself on this wild journey through the Corridor, with no idea what is really going on, but completely caught up in the story. I was afraid the ending would be anti-climatic with all the mystery surrounding the Corridor but that wasn't the case. Parrish throws us into the story, runs with it, and then provides a satisfying conclusion.

Corridor is available as an e-book from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  It is only $2.99 at the time of this writing, so if it sounds intriguing I'd recommend picking it up while the price is so good!

*Disclosure: I received a copy of the e-book at no cost from the author, for review purposes. A positive review was not required, merely an honest one. And that's what you have. :)

Ramblings of Bugs and Reading Challenges and Fictiony Fiction and Sci-Fi School and Ramblings

 

2012 continues to kick my butt. So far, January has been the month of bugs and I'm not talking spiders. I guess that's something for which to be thankful, but I can't just step on this kind of bug. I've been sick. Again. All. Week. And I'm still not feeling well. So yeah, since I didn't want to come whine on my blog (isn't that what Facebook is for anyway? GRIN.) it has continued to be quiet around here.

I thought I'd come think aloud for a minute. This won't be an award winning post by any means but some enjoy the ramblings too.  This one's just for you.

It's January and so it's time to assess last year's reading challenges and think about new ones.  I did manage to complete some from last year but the 52 books in 52 weeks thing remains just out of my grasp. It gets closer every year so I'm setting the same goal for 2012.  This time I'm going to keep track of it via goodreads. There's even a neat little widget I can add to the sidebar to track my progress. I'm sure I'm the only one who will care but hey, I like neat little widgets. And I'm one of those weird people who check out my friend's widgets. (Snort.)

Speaking of friends, whenever I get friend requests on goodreads I wonder what they will think of my preference for sci-fi and fantasy. Lately I've been enjoying the urban fantasy and paranormal. I like my fiction really fictiony. I don't want reality, I want imagination. At least, for the moment.

Fiction makes me think of writing and how I haven't managed to do any yet.  I hate you Bug.  But oh yeah, there's the no whining thing I'm trying to follow. I am blessed, I know this. I'd just like life to follow my plan once in awhile. Ha.

Ooo, plans reminds me of school and discussing my 16 year old's plans for senior year (next year!). We need to sit down and see what he still needs for credits, but he'd like to fit them to his interests and really enjoy his last year. We're thinking of trying Live and Learn Press' Star Wars: The Hero Myth course outline (I own it, looks great!) and possibly Literary Lessons from The Lord of the Rings. I'm also playing around with the idea of a "The Science of Science Fiction" course, if I can pull it off.  I'm not the sciency type so I'll need good resources.  I remember my senior year was full of writing and literature classes and am looking forward to helping him design his year.  Sad to think it's his last year though. Crazy. Crazy I say.

I remember my early days of blogging and writing rambly nonsensical posts such as this and connecting with other rambly nonsensical bloggers and creating connections and friendships. That sounds appealing right now. No more worrying about numbers or deadlines (for the most part), just writing for the sole purpose of expression and connection.  Could be that I'm moving back into the Reflections and Ramblings of... Hmm.

Toydle: Fort Fun!

Pictures say a thousand words, don't they?  I could tell you how awesome the toydle Forts are, I could share how my youngest squealed with delight when I told him there were no instructions, just create. I could explain how great it was to see all my kids building this fort together. (Well, the ones who aren't grown and moved out anyway. Although I bet my adult children would have just as much fun- if not more.) I could describe how sturdy and well designed all the pieces are and how they come in their very own duffel bag for storage. But really, the photos tell you everything. The excitement in my daughter's eyes as she realized just how big this thing could be... my sons in deep thought as they consider the best formation... the leopard print flannel sheets you just wish you owned*... Yep. This is a super cool fort and any family would have a great time with one.

So where do you get your hands on one of these fine forts? Toydle. They're serious about their toys and they're serious about their quality. They are manufactured in the US and are backed by a guarantee.  Our bag was short a couple of clips and their customer service was great; friendly and quick to ship the clips.

Here are the basics, straight from their site:

All Toydle Forts are constructed with

• Hand made wooden blocks 3” sq. made with high quality, laminated poplar.
• High Quality PVC tubes 29” long & 1/2in wide.

All Toydle Forts include an industrial strength storage bag.
All Toydle Forts include clips to help secure your sheets and blankets.

There are two fort sizes; The Toydle Fort (available for $149) and The BIG Toydle Fort (priced at $229.99). The first is over 45 square feet and the big one is double the size. The one pictured is the big one. And it's awesome. 

This is one toy that may seem pricey at first, but should provide years of fun for all your kids. Highly recommended!!


*You provide the sheets and blankets, which helps make it your own.

 

 *Disclosure: This product was provided at no cost for review purposes. A positive review was not required, merely an honest one. This thing just rocks. ;) *