Tom Sawyer is a con man.  He got somebody to white-wash his aunt Polly's fence because he made it seem like it was fun and that it was a privelege to do it.  He wants to have the freedom and he wants to be popular like Huckleberry Finn.  He lies a lot. 

There is a girl that Tom Sawyer and her name is Becky. He wanted him and her to be engaged. She wanted to be engaged. But then she found out that he had a previous engagement with another girl.  Then she got mad and he got sad and ran away.

The town had a funeral because they thought he was dead but then he came back.

Today I went to the mall with Brandon and Eric. When I went to buy the cards, the cashier said, "Hey, weren't you here yesterday?" And I said, YES.  She said, " What did you buy?" And I said, "THESE" (pointing to my cards - I was there to get more of them).  Then when I was leaving she yelled, "See you tomorrow!"  It was funny.

I went on a trip to Florida for two weeks. I flew alone on a plane for the first time since I was a baby. It was cool but kind of frightening too. It was fun taking off and landing because you felt like you were going so fast. There was this girl who was my age sitting next to me the whole time and she wouldn't stop hitting my face with stickers while I tried to sleep. Finally,  I flew into Orlando and Aunt Amanda and my cousin Brandon were there to pick me up. We tried to shop for my rollerblades while we were in Orlando but couldn't find what we were looking for. Then Aunt Amanda drove us back to her house in West Palm Beach. I unpacked and then Brandon and I played video games and then went to bed.

The next day Aunt Amanda took me to Sports Authority to buy my rollerblades. I also bought a warranty with it. We rollerbladed all day at her house and hunted for lizards. I caught three lizards and Grampa Hector said in his spanish accent, "You should let them go". I let two go but one kept staying on me. When we went to the zoo, the lizard stayed on me even when we waited for a bus at the bus stop. Then the bus stopped at Publix, which is like Price Chopper here, and we went inside to wait for the next bus because it was airconditioned. Then I couldn't find my lizard and Brandon was helping me look for him all over Publix. Then I asked  Brandon to see if he was on my back. My lizard was on my back the whole time I was searching frantically for him all over the store!

So Grampa took us to the zoo and the front of the zoo had a bunch of trees that looked molded together with loop-de-loops and huge tree trunks outside where the people waited. When I went near the trees, I could  see hundreds of other kinds of different lizards all over the trees and stuff. Then Grampa Hector said in his spanish accent, "You should let him go here, he would like it here at the zoo." But even if I tried to let him go, he wanted to be with me, so I let him stay on my shoulder the whole time in the zoo. Grampa bought us jello while we were at the zoo, which I liked. It was HOT and there were sprayers that sprayed mist so that people could cool off. There were a bunch of fountains in the front when you first come into the zoo. I kept taking pictures of huge lizards and iguanas that  were running free in the zoo. I saw so many animals like toucans, ostriches, tigers, bears, alligators and a bunch of other ones. Then Aunt Amanda picked us up and  Grampa left her house on his bike because he lives close to her. That night we went to the Kingdom Hall with Aunt Amanda.

The first time Aunt Amanda took us to the beach it was kind of cold and windy but we went in anyway. The waves weren't that big but I did get seawater in my mouth and I threw up in the ocean. Brandon and I played a game to see who could sit and not be taken down by the waves. The second time we went to the beach it was hot and crowded and I threw up like twenty time because of the water getting in my mouth. I kept spitting in the ocean and it was red, but I didn't eat anything red and I don't think it was blood either.

Aunt Amanda took us to a roller rink and she even went rollerblading with us too. It was  fun. There were so many people who didn't know how to stop though, and they were out of control. Brandon fell once because a girl grabbed onto him. Whenever  one of us would get ahead of the other, we'd  wait until the other one caught up so we could blade together again. It was really fun.

Then I found out that my flight was getting changed and that I was going to be staying in Florida for another week. That's because my Bella and Aunt Peggy wanted to spend the week with Brandon and me. Aunt Amanda drove us partway to meet up with Bella, at a Mickey D's (that's what Grampa Hector calls Mc Donald's). When we came out from using the bathroom there, we saw a huge lizard with a head as big as a baseball. Brandon was kind of scared and I tried to catch him. My lizard was in his little cage that I bought for him at the time.

Then Bella came and she was happy to see us. She smiles alot and she has black hair and is short and thin. She took us to her house which is huge and has nice furniture, nice EVERYTHING. She has a nice inground pool which mom said she used to take me swimming in alot when I was a baby (she used to live with Bella). We were thinking about going swimming but it wasn't really hot enough. Bella took us out to dinner at an Italian restaurant and I had spaghetti and meatballs. I don't remember what  Brandon and Bella had to eat. Then she took us out to eat ice cream and the place was empty. Probably because the ice cream there tastes like ICY CRAP. It sucked. When we got back to Bella's I threw out my ice cream. It sucked.

Bella's tv's had no cable. What good is a big tv like hers if it doesn't get cable stations? But Brandon and I did find something good to watch. There was America's Funniest Home Videos and that guy Ty from Extreme Home MakeOver was on there. At least there was that to watch.

The next day Bella took us to meet Peggy and we all went to the Zoo (I think it was in Melbourne). It was better than the other zoo. It had everything the other zoo had and more. It had more animals like rhinos and also a Dinosaur exhibit.  We dug for fossils and my fossils are with Brandon right now. We ate Dippin' Dots at the zoo. It was hot out.

Peggy took Brandon and me to her house after the zoo. Dad would really like Peggy's house because it's even bigger than Bella's and because it's so spacious. There are hardly any walls, it's very open with tile floors downstairs and hardwood floors upstairs.  Her house is huge and I don't think I have ever been in a nicer house that wasn't a hotel or something. We had so much fun in Florida. I got a tan and lost my glasses in the ocean. Mom wasn't very happy about that. My Gramma bought me new ones when I got back.

Ever since I finished reading Little House in the Big Woods, I noticed something. I noticed that since her day we have so many inventions that allow us to be a lot more lazy.  We have gadgets for just about everything, to do anything for us, so that we don't have to spend our energy doing it. Back in Laura's day they had to do so much more stuff, and spend so much more time doing it. They had so much work to do. The work they had to do to make the things they needed or whatever would only take minutes out of our day.

Pretty soon we will be able to just live our lives right from our couch if we want to. We'll just push buttons to make stuff happen - all right from the comfort of our livingroom couches. Our arms and legs might even start becoming shorter from not needing to use them because of all our inventions. Maybe we will just end up being heads on couches! Except for me, because I'll be skiing and snowboarding. Everybody knows that heads can't ski or snowboard.

Last night I had a really scary dream. I woke up from it.

I was just in front of my house, I think I was on my scooter.  For some reason  I didn't have pants on. I had a shirt on and underwear. So I was riding it near the school on the side, and Mrs. B told me to stop going so fast. Then for some reason I went in the school. Then I was in L's room and then she had like this elevator thing that you could open up and then get in and then go up.  (Kinda like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but not futuristic like that). And I was like "Man I wish I had one of these" to L.

So then I tried going in it and then this other girl started coming in but for some reason I didn't want anybody else seeing me. So then I ended up in Gramma S.'s kitchen when at first I thought I was still in school. Then it ended right there and I found myself in the den talking to two people who must have been my friends in this dream. Then this cat thing came up out of nowhere into the den. And I asked one of my friends, she was a girl but I don't know who she is, what that thing was and she said in a scary, whispery voice, "THE SOULLLLL STEAAAALER."

At that moment I felt a little terror. Everybody started running away. And I think I ran behind the cat, the soul-stealer  thing. So then I grabbed it and then I punched it and  it flew like two feet away from me. Then it started boucing up and down, in circles and backward circles and screaming really weird. Then I took this long pillow from beside me and I swung it at the cat and it didn't move, it didn't even budge. It crouched down, kinda like a cat does, with it's big black eyes, like it was going to kill me. Then it jumped at me. And it felt so real when it knocked me down. I didn't even  feel like I was in a dream. I was trying to get it off me but it was holding on to me, it was biting me, scratching me, trying to steal my soul. Then so I put my leg right in the middle of its stomach and I kicked it off, and it flew far, like onto the other side of the den. Then I ran out of the den and met Gramma S.  Then it was weird, she was like, "when every bad boy does something, they come in the den and get a slice of pizza".  And I was like WHAT? What the hek is going on here????

Then I was like, does that kid  Brandon, does HE get a slice of pie? After that I popped back into the living room of my house and I was looking out the window.  There was like this  bull in Keyra's back yard but there was a fence in the driveway so you couldn't get inside the back yard. But our houses were in different places. They were still across the street from each other but they were moved over to the right. And the bull busted through the wall, teared it to shreds. He busted the gate to the school open, but when you went through you were right at the track and there was Mr. C., who tried  getting the bull out of there but then he got hit by the bull.

Somehow after I saw the bull from my window bust through the gate, I just ended up at the playground, like in an instant. I wanted to get out of the playground, so I got out of the playground. Then the bull looked towards me and my friend (I don't know who he is but I just know he was my friend in the dream).  And I was like "Holy Crap!" and we were trying to get on high ground. We were scared trying to get away from him, I was on top of the  jumbo gym. After that I woke up.

Life in the Big Wood is hard.  You have to worry about bears, wolves and getting sick and not being able to be treated because there is no hospitals. You have to worry about finding food and water. When you find food you have to skin it, chop it up, and salt it if you are going to save it. Then you have to put it up where the animals can't get it. In the winter, you just take down the food that you stored. That means before winter comes you have to save a lot a food up for the winter.

Pa is a good father because he provides food and shelter for his family. He plays with his daughters and tells them stories. He plays the fiddle for them and sings Yankee Doodle. He  shot a bear that was holding a boar. Then he said he "brought home the bacon."  During Butchering Time, Pa made a balloon out of a pig's bladder and the girls played with it and had fun. Then they ate the pig's tail, too.

Ma is a loving mother. I know this because she makes dolls for her girls out of paper. She makes little clothes and accessories for them. She also cooks and teaches the girls how to clean and stuff.

There are  two pets. There is a bulldog named Jack and a cat named Black Susan. At night Jack guards the house. They live in a log cabin in the Big Woods in the state of Wisconsin.

There are three children. They are all girls. The big sister's name is Mary. Then there is Laura, who is the main character, because she is the one who wrote the book. Then the baby's name is Carrie.

The girls have to play inside in the winter. Their family life is really good because they are the perfect little red-neck family. They are a loving family.

Today we are making stuff out of hemp string. I am making a necklace, it's cool.

Yesterday we finished reading Book 6 of Narnia, The Silver Chair. Now we have to read The Last Battle. As long as we finish this unit by the end of this  month, mom said we'll be 'right on track'. At first she thought that we had to be done by the end of December but when she figured it out, she realized that finishing by the end of this month would be actually dividing the time between units in half. So that's good. Oh yeah we went skiing too this month. Here is a link to the pictures:

http://stratton2006.tripod.com

We do have a lot of work to do still. We all still have to put our Ancient Civilization projects online.

UPDATE:  Here is a link to my ancient Civilization Project cuz it is DONE!!!!!!:

http://zachshomeschool.tripod.com/id19.html

Hermia loves Lysander. Lysander loves Hermia. Helena loves Demetrius who loves Hermia. Hermia's father says that she can only love Demetrius or die. But Hermia likes Lysander. Then Hermia plans to go out of the town to get married to Lysander. Then Helena tells Demetrius. They all run after Hermia and Lysander. Demetrius is really mad and Helena thinks this will make Demetrius like her but it won't. Then Oberon the King of Fairies sees how Helena loves Demetrius but that he doesn't love her back. So then Oberon has Puck his sprite to put magic love drops from a flower that cupid hit. Puck looks for Demetrius but finds Lysander and thinks he's Demetrius. So he pours it on his eyes while he's asleep. He wakes up and sees Helena and then he loves Helena and says why wouldn't I trade a raven for a dove. She thinks it's  a cruel hoax and runs away but he runs after her.

Oberon puts the same drops in his wife's eyes because he's mad that she won't let him have the mortal boy as his page. Then she wakes up and sees this worker named Bottom. Oberon's sprite had turned Bottom into a man with a donkey head.  Oberon's  wife is now in love with him. But later he feels  bad for her because she let him have the boy as his page  and he eventually undoes the spell...

but before that, Hermia woke up and saw that Lysander wasn't there. She thought that Demetrius killed him. Demetrius says he didn't kill him. She ran away but then Helena  thinks this is all a cruel joke because now Demetrius and Lysander are both saying that they love her because Oberon  put drops in Demetrius's eyes when he realized that Puck mistook Lysander for Demetrius.

Lysander and Demetrius wanted to fight each other in a sword fight but Puck made it dark so that they couldn't see well enough to really fight.  Then everyone fell  asleep. Hermia's dad is out hunting with the Duke who is supposed to be married on this day. They find the four  asleep and Lysander wakes up and tries to explain. Hermia's dad isn't listening and cuts him off and says he wants  Demetrius to marry his daughter. Demetrius stood up and told Hermia's dad that he doesn't love Hermia anymore, and that he loves Helena. Oberon had  fixed everything by reversing the spell on Lysander so that he would love Hermia again. Her  father was  really mad but the Duke overruled Hermia's father because he can do that. All three couples  get married on the same day.

 

Today we  went to Yonder Farms. I wanted Matt and Eric to come (they slept over) but they couldn't.

Then we went to Pizza Hut and stopped at the bookstore on the way home.

Brandon and I hung out listening to music and checking out the new gaming magazines.

Mom was, where else, by all the homeschooling books with  Jacob. He sat in a chair reading the whole time. He is so funny.

Here are photos mom took from today:

http://nyautumn.tripod.com

I have to get off of here right now and let Rachael on.

 

The Gemini Constellation

There are thirteen constellations of the zodiac.
Gemini is one of them. It’s located between Taurus
to the west and Cancer to the east. It is part of the sky
 in winter. North of Gemini is Auriga and Lynx. South
of Gemini is Monoceros and  Canis Minor.

There are two bright stars that are named after twins.
This is because of the Greek myth of Dioscuri. There
is the binary star Castor, and Pollux. Pollux is  southwest
and really bright. The remaining stars of Gemini are
more dim. The star Alhena can be seen and is part of
a rectangular shape. In 1930, Pluto was found in Gemini
near the Wasat star. M35 is the brightest deep sky object
of Gemini. It is  2,800 light  years away from planet earth.
It is also an open cluster of 5th magnitude. M35 is on the
western edge of Gemini, northwest of the star  Geminorum.
There is an Eskimo Nebula in Gemini and also a red dwarf,
called Castor C.

In Greek mythology, the twins are half-brothers who
have the same mother. Castor’s father was Tyndareus,
and the father of Pollux was Zeus. Pollux had a sister
who was Helen of Troy. Her kidnapping was the reason
for the Trojan War. Castor and Pollux became Argonauts
(adventurers who liked danger). Castor loved fighting and 
horses. The twins liked cattle raids and taking young women
(who didn’t want to be taken). One time when they were
raiding cattle, Idas (who was their cousin) got angry and
killed Castor. Zeus killed  Idas immediately with a bolt of
thunder.  Pollux missed  his  brother really bad. He missed
him so much he wished he  could join his brother in Hades.
Pollux was immortal though because he was the son of
Zeus. Zeus was so sad for his son  and  affected by their
brotherly love for each other. So Zeus let them share Hades
and Olympus on every other  day. Writers of greek myths
put  the two twins side by side in the sky. The Milky
Way is supposed to be like a herd of cattle in the sky.

If you are born between May 21 and June 20, then Gemini
would be your zodiac sign.  Gemini is considered to be
under the classical element of Air, and is what is known as an
Air Sign (with Libra and Aquarius). The polar opposite of
Gemini is Sagittarius.  Mercury rules it, according to cosmology.
The  body parts hands and arms are ruled by Gemini and
 its symbolized by the twins.

Jehovah’s people do not use astrology in their
lives because they know it’s not healthy for your
spirit. If you get involved in astrology, you are
actually inviting false gods and demons into your
life. Jehovah wants his people to be spiritually
clean and  acceptable. It is not acceptable to worship
any other god  besides Jehovah. Using astrology is
a form of false worship. Jehovah’s people fear and
love  Jehovah. This is why we do not use astrology
or believe in greek myths.

Isaiah 47:13-15: “To the Babylonians he said: “Let
your astrologers, your star-gazers who foretell your
future month by month, persist and save you! But look,
they are gone like chaff...So much for your magicians
with whom you have trafficked all your life: they
have stumbled off, each his own way, and there is
no one to save you.”

Once you know the truth about how God feels about
astrology, it would really be wise if you don’t follow
astrology, or let it cause you to make decisions. I have
never used astrology, and I never will bother with it.
I know Jehovah wants me to stay away from it for my
own good, so I will.  I hope you do too.