Critical Thinking Question 3 (by Atticus Finch)

After the death of Mrs. Dubose, Atticus tells Jem that even "if you hadn't lost your head, I would have made you go read to her. I wanted you to see something about her..." What is it that Atticus wants Jem to understand? Why is this so important? [Note to reader of blog: It is impossibly hard to capture Atticus's voice, so, if you have read To Kill a Mockingbird, you will know that I haven't quite been able to.]

I told Jem that I had wanted him to see something about Mrs. Dubose, that I would've sent him to read to her anyway. As usual, I wanted him to learn something. That seems to be what I most often do with my children. I teach them life lessons. However, I'm getting off topic. See, I wanted Jem to understand what real courage was. Not only to understand what it takes to say sorry for something that one has done, but also to understand the courage that Mrs. Dubose had. I wished for Jem to understand what Mrs. Dubose had been through with her morphine addiction, and all that she had been through, breaking the addiction and dying free. That took real courage.

I am not entirely sure why this was so important to me, however as I wrote above: my life is full of teaching the children life's lessons (and for that matter, many other people-I hope-learn from me). I teach the children the lessons that they won't be learning in school. They will never quite realize how important it is (what I teach them) until they must one day teach these things to someone else. However, I do my best to raise the children as properly as they may be raised without a mother. I feel that these little lessons, such as that of Mrs. Dubose's courage, are very important for them to learn...and for me to teach.

Critical Thinking Question 2 (by Scout/Jean Louise Finch)

Why is it a sin to kill a mockingbird?

It was the only time that Atticus had said something was a sin, and I do remember him saying that killing a mockingbird was a sin.(though it's not in the bible.) When he said that it was a sin to kill a mockingbird,  how was i s'posed to know what he meant. Atticus is sometimes like that: talking all lawyer like so that I can't understand him.
Anyhow, then I went over to Miss Maudie's and asked her about what Atticus meant. She told me that it was'cause the mockingbird  never does anything but sing. He never ruins the garden or nests in corncribs, he just makes music and lets us listen to him while he sings.

I wish somebody'd want to listen to me singing pretty like that. They would say it would be a sin to kill me, but I s'pose it would be sin enough to kill me anyway...without me having to sing. I  guess I can see as how it might be a sin to kill something that hadn't ever done any harm but to sing...and they do sing aweful beautiful. Ha, if I told that to Dill, he would tell me that his momma sang beautiful just like a mocking bird for the opera. Dill sure is full of em', big whoppers they are too!

Well, Atticus was right again. I guess that it is a sin to kill a mocking bird, after all.

To Kill a Mockingbird (which I do not recomend that you do!)

Currently in English I am reading the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. My English curriculem (Oak Meadow) has me doing "Critical Thinking Questions" (in which, to answer, one must think critically). For a long time I have been getting bored of doing the same type of (boring, in my opinion) questions: over, and over again. So, because I am 'artistically inclined', my mom found a sheet listing some fun (artsy) projects that one could incorperate their work into. One such project was writing blog posts from the point of veiw of one a character in the book that one is reading (for English). Of course, how could I resist...so the following posts that include either the words 'Critical Thinking Question' or 'To Kill a Mockingbird' in the title are probably not coming from me...they are coming from a character who was invented about 52 years ago!

Characters that you should know:

• Scout/Jean Louise Finch--main character (a 2nd grader living in Alabaama in the 30s, with her brother, her father, and their african american hired help)
• Jem/Jeremy Finch-- Scout's older brother who is 12 years old
• Atticus Finch-- Scout's father who works as a lawyer and will take cases from 'blacks' as well as 'whites'
• Dill-- Scout and Jem's friend who stays with his Aunt (and their neighbor), Miss Rashel, during the summer. He is also 'engaged' to Scout. (They're both about the same age.)
• Miss Maudie-- a neighbor their father's age, who is very friendly t Scout when she is left out of the boy's games
• Calpurina--Scout's family's hired help
• Mrs. Dubose--a sickly old woman who is always ready to insult the children when they walk by he house, and who after an 'incident' they must go read to
• Tom Robinson--a  'black' man who Atticus will be defending in a tough case

I've been tagged!

Wow, i'm very excited to announce that I have been tagged by Emily Rose (from Mist of the Blossom Rain) This is my first tag and I'm very excited! (Even though you're probably not supposed to tell other bloggers that this is your first tag..) Anyhow: "The Long Tag"


~Your Favorite~


Color?    It used to be yellow, but now I like purple...especially deep royal purple!


Candy?    Hmmm..thats a hard one! I really like lollipops, tootsie rolls, gum, and Reese's peanut butter cups
                ---> who doesn' t <---

Main Dish?    Veg-head meat balls and pasta..but really: I like anything!

Dessert?    Ice cream!

Drink?    I realy like Root beer and chocolate milk


Go to Starbucks Coffee?    less often than I wish!


Go to the mall a lot?    I also wish I went more...I'm not quite a shopoholic, but I do like to get new clothing!



Veggie?    I really like tomatoes, broccoli (cooked), and mushrooms (raw)




~Do you~



Talk on the phone everyday to someone you is not in your family? No



Read your bible everyday?     I'm jewish, so I don't read 'bibles' however I do read the jewish version of the bible (the Torah) every Saturday.




See your Grandparents everyday?    Unfortunatley: no


Bake a lot?    I also wish i did this more often: I like to bake but don't do it often enough!

Clean your room everyday?   No, I should, but no! (But don't think I'm a slob, I clean it every friday and tidy up at various   points during the week!)


Have to say your sorry to someone everyday?    No, i'm actualy a very kind person!  : D


~A certain thing you dislike of each category~



Veggie?      I don't like brussel sprouts or spinach: the former unless it has a good sauce, the latter unless its raw and has a good dressing.



Color?  Pepto Bismol pink/HOT pink and puke green!




Animal?    I don't know, i don't really like mosquitoes, scorpions, or centipeedes


Drink?    Onion Juice! (Joking!) (Well, maybe i'm not joking...it sounds pretty gross!)


~Random~



Go shopping? Where?    Yes, I go shopping..I usually end up going to JCPenny's, Kohls, or TJ maxx... but I also like to go shopping at thrift stores!


Eat out?    Not usuallyparticularly often and NEVER to McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's or most other chains.


Go visit?    Family and friends



Read a good book at?    on my bed...or various other soft, comfortable places)


What color is your room?    White wallpaper with pink roses, green vines, and blue violets on it...it came with  the house.




~Do you have a~



Pet?    Yes, two adorable kitties!



Gift card at the moment?    Probably somewhere in my purse!


Sewing machine?     Oh, yeah!


Big mess under your bed?     No way hozay!


Pack of gum in your bag or purse?     I wish, unfortuatley people who have metal in their mouth don't usually get to chew gum!




Computer in your room?    sigh...no


~Have you ever~



Been on a plane?     More times than I can count!


Been out of state?    Um, yes!


Been in an eighteen wheeler?    I'm not even quite sure what that would look like!


Been in a car accident?    Not really


Read about 150 page book in an hour?      Probably...I wouldn't put it passed me though!


~More Random~



Do you share a room with anyone?     As Emily said: No (yay)




Have you ever went swimming in a pond?    Swim Lessons!!!!!


How old are you?  13



What year were you born?    1997



Are you related to anyone important or famous?      I wish, maybe someday I'll just have to make myself famous!


Have you ever met a vice president?    No, but my parents once saw the president.


Are you getting bored yet?    Why do you ask?!?!

What are you thinking? For future reference: don't ask me that ever again...your just making me confuse myself!



*** *** ***

Well, that was Fun! And unfortunatley, some of you are about to get tagged!

How About AtomBender, Cherry, and Ceanna...Sorry guys: you've just been tagged

"Tag, you're it!"

Science Pics

Lately (before my mom went away briefly for a family emergency--everything's fine-- and I took a long road trip) I had been doing quite a bit of Physical Science that I found very photographic!

Most recently, I have been studying practical home electricity...Including (the very old fashioned) fuse boxes!

[One of the fuses] 

 [The box itself]

I found the sheet of yellowing paper which told us which fuses went to which parts of the house, it was very interesting to see the generations of  handwriting from our home's owners'... all on the same piece of paper!

*** *** ***

The week before, I had been studying circuits (and the likes) I got some great pictures of our experimental circuit!

[Pictured here is the coil...and the bit of blue covered wire that was causing all of our problems!]

[The contraption; two nails shoved into a cork-screw, with a bunch of wire...very easy!]

[Almost there, now we just have to hook it on to the battery and discover that it's not working]

Unfortunately, as I wrote above, the experiment didn't work. We were supposed to hook the 'contraption' to a battery and feel the coil heat up, however because of the stupid piece of blue coated wire, the experiment didn't exactly work and we had to go through the pains of stripping the tips of yet another piece of wire (this is where you're supposed to feel just a tad bit sorry for me!).

Well, another corkscrew wasted!* (what else were we supposed to do with it??)

*Note, when i say wasted, I don't actually mean it because we had a great time trying the experiment a second time and fooling around with the wires, the 'contraption', the battery, and a light bulb...later on

heavy, heavy sigh

Scrap the excitement...I am still excited about having a blog button, but unfortunatley I am also having problems allowing you to grab it, so I'll request that you grab it another day, and in the meatime: can anyone tell me how to make a scroll box that you can grab my button from? (I know that sentance didn't exactly make sense!) Anyhow, help would be much appreciated and I thank you for your patience!

Hello again {blog button?}

Hello again,
 I am posting to tell you my very exciting news...I think I may have finally discovered how to make a perfectly goo blog button, thanks to this blog! So tell me what you think of it:

[this is my button]

Hopefully I shall be able to put it up by the end of the day, and if I'm lucky, it will be 'grabbable' by the time you finish reading this post. If so, this may be the one time in your life where someone will request that you grab something, right out of their hands...whooopeee for you!!!!! (And for me, cause I'm going to be that someone who is the first to do something!)