Caught

This week, I read Caught by Margaret Peterson Haddix.  It is a story about a brother and a sister who are trying to save history by finding Albert Einstein’s daughter and trying to save her from dying of scarlet fever.

This book showed me how much love a mother has towards her daughter.  Mileva Einstein, Albert Einstein’s wife, learns that her daughter, Lieserl, who she thought had died from scarlet fever, is really alive and has been living in the 21^st century for 13 years.  At first, Mileva would do absolutely anything to keep her 13 year old daughter with her, but then she sees that Lieserl can’t love really love her because she doesn’t know her.  She realizes that the right thing to do is to send her daughter back to the 21^st century where she has been happy. 

It made me wonder what my mother and I would do if we were in the same boat.  I know how much my mom loves me an how much I love her.  I know that neither one of us could imagine life without the other one.   We have been through lots together, and I know that she is the one that always has my best interests at heart.  If I disappeared, I know she would be devastated.  If I then reappeared, she would so happy.  But if I appeared unhappy and didn’t know her or want to be there, I wonder what she would do.  Since I know how much she loves me, I think she would want to keep me anyway.  But since I know that she always has my best interests at heart, I know she would do what is best for me, even if it didn’t make her happy.  It made me sad to think about that!

Reading Time:

Caught by Margaret Peterson Haddix

9/4- 124 pages,  2 hours

9/5- 90 pages, 1.5 hours

9/6- 78 pages, 1 hour

Response to Comment

     It is extremely hard to balance sports with academics. I feel like both are very important in different ways.  Obviously, being a good student and working hard on academics is a priority for anyone going to Episcopal.  High school students are considering colleges to go to, and good grades are matter.  On the other hand, participating in a team sport is important too.  There are health benefits and social benefits in being a part of a team.  Balancing the two is not easy.  I want very much to be a good student, and I always try my best in my school work.  I have always made good grades, but I have to work hard for my good grades.  I try to manage my time so that I’m not cramming for tests the night before, and I always do homework and study on weekends.   I also want very much to be a good runner.  I have run cross country and track since 6^th grade, and it has been good for me because it has made a big school seem much smaller because I am part of these groups. I’ve worked hard to be a good runner by going to practice every day and by taking good care of my body.  I want to be successful at both.

A description of a day in the life of Aimee Claire may help.  I get up at 6:00 in the morning, eat breakfast, and leave for school by 6:45.  At school, I am taking Honors Biology, Honors Geometry, and AP World History in addition to English, Latin II, choir, and PE.  I do not have a study hall.  As soon as the bell rings at the end of the day, I go to cross country practice.  We usually practice until about 5:30.  I then wait for my brothers to finish cross country and football, then we head home.  We get home around 7:00.  At that point, it is pretty late to be starting homework that usually takes about 4 hours a night….and I still haven’t had dinner or bathed (and I really like to do both of those!).  I almost never go to sleep before 11:00, and sometimes it is even later.  This happens every week night, even Fridays.  On Saturday mornings during cross country season, most of the day is taken up by meets.  During indoor and outdoor track season, almost the entire day Saturday is taken up with meets too, and they sometimes go into the evening.   On Sunday mornings, my family goes to church.  This is an important part of our lives too, and it is something that we never miss.  This leaves Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon to get all of my homework done for the week that I can do, work on any projects or papers due the next week, and study for all of my tests.  It can’t all get done in that time, no matter how focused I am.  So I have to stay up late to get my homework finished.  This means that I am so tired at school the next day that I can hardly pay attention during class and can’t run very well either. Then when it’s time to do homework, I am already exhausted, so I don’t do as good of a job as I should.  It’s a vicious cycle!

            I’m not complaining about the work load.  I’m the one that chose to take these difficult classes.  I also know that working so hard is getting me ready for college and life.  But sometimes, it is so exhausting! It is really helpful when teachers post their homework in advance and when they give more than a day to get larger assignments done, but sometimes, even with the notice, I am just trying to keep up with what is due the next day, and there isn’t time to work ahead.  I also know that part of the problem is me.  I want to be a really good student and a really good runner, and I want to give 100% to both.  It’s all a balancing act, and I’m still trying to figure out how to balance it right.

Response to Comment

     It is extremely hard to balance sports with academics. I feel like both are very important in different ways.  Obviously, being a good student and working hard on academics is a priority for anyone going to Episcopal.  High school students are considering colleges to go to, and good grades are matter.  On the other hand, participating in a team sport is important too.  There are health benefits and social benefits in being a part of a team.  Balancing the two is not easy.  I want very much to be a good student, and I always try my best in my school work.  I have always made good grades, but I have to work hard for my good grades.  I try to manage my time so that I’m not cramming for tests the night before, and I always do homework and study on weekends.   I also want very much to be a good runner.  I have run cross country and track since 6^th grade, and it has been good for me because it has made a big school seem much smaller because I am part of these groups. I’ve worked hard to be a good runner by going to practice every day and by taking good care of my body.  I want to be successful at both.

A description of a day in the life of Aimee Claire may help.  I get up at 6:00 in the morning, eat breakfast, and leave for school by 6:45.  At school, I am taking Honors Biology, Honors Geometry, and AP World History in addition to English, Latin II, choir, and PE.  I do not have a study hall.  As soon as the bell rings at the end of the day, I go to cross country practice.  We usually practice until about 5:30.  I then wait for my brothers to finish cross country and football, then we head home.  We get home around 7:00.  At that point, it is pretty late to be starting homework that usually takes about 4 hours a night….and I still haven’t had dinner or bathed (and I really like to do both of those!).  I almost never go to sleep before 11:00, and sometimes it is even later.  This happens every week night, even Fridays.  On Saturday mornings during cross country season, most of the day is taken up by meets.  During indoor and outdoor track season, almost the entire day Saturday is taken up with meets too, and they sometimes go into the evening.   On Sunday mornings, my family goes to church.  This is an important part of our lives too, and it is something that we never miss.  This leaves Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon to get all of my homework done for the week that I can do, work on any projects or papers due the next week, and study for all of my tests.  It can’t all get done in that time, no matter how focused I am.  So I have to stay up late to get my homework finished.  This means that I am so tired at school the next day that I can hardly pay attention during class and can’t run very well either. Then when it’s time to do homework, I am already exhausted, so I don’t do as good of a job as I should.  It’s a vicious cycle!

            I’m not complaining about the work load.  I’m the one that chose to take these difficult classes.  I also know that working so hard is getting me ready for college and life.  But sometimes, it is so exhausting! It is really helpful when teachers post their homework in advance and when they give more than a day to get larger assignments done, but sometimes, even with the notice, I am just trying to keep up with what is due the next day, and there isn’t time to work ahead.  I also know that part of the problem is me.  I want to be a really good student and a really good runner, and I want to give 100% to both.  It’s all a balancing act, and I’m still trying to figure out how to balance it right.

Reading Record

Torn by Margaret Peterson Haddix
          9/3/12 page 1-90 1.5 hours
          9/4/12 page 90-186 1.5 hours
          9/5/12 page 168-2912 hours

The Hardest Game of Croquet I Have Every Played

The Hardest Game of Croquet I Have Ever Played

It was a dark and stormy afternoon. The wind was blowing fiercely. It was raining cats and dogs.  Branches were flying everywhere outside of my bedroom window.  The power was out.  All seven of my family members were hot and sweaty. I had nothing to do.  I had read until I could read no more.  I obviously couldn’t play outside. I couldn’t go on a run.  My younger siblings and cousins were playing a wild game of sardines. Richard was reading and wouldn’t talk to me.  So my brother, Henry, and I decided to open the game closet to see what we could find.

Our game closet is so full that when you open the door, things almost fall out.  As we made our way through the boxes and boxes of games, we found lots of options.  There was Twister, Monopoly, chess, poker, blackjack, Sorry, Cat and Mouse, and even bingo.  But the game that caught our eye was mini croquet. We got out the box and started setting up the pieces.  The balls were the size of marbles, the mallets were like miniature gavels, and the wickets looked like horseshoes.  We made our course wander through the dining room, the entryway, and the living room in a zig zag pattern.  We thought this would be a quick and easy way to pass the time, but we were very wrong.  It turns out that mini croquet is much more challenging than outdoor croquet, especially on hardwood floors.  On each of our first hits, our balls flew across the room.  Henry’s went airborne!   We learned that we had to tap the balls gently rather than hit them hard.  We tried every strategy imaginable to get the ball through the wicket.  We laid on the ground with our rumps in the air.  We laid flat on the ground doing the army crawl towards the ball.  We kneeled like golfers.  We even tried blowing on the balls to make them go the right direction.  The first hole took 30 minutes!  We decided to limit the game to two holes.  We were tied after the first one.

I wanted to win.  So did Henry. He had the first hit.  He laid flat on the ground, positioned his stick, and tapped the ball.  On his first try, he hit the wicket!!  I was laughing so hard that my hand was shaky.  I hit the wicket too!  Henry lay on his side and tapped the ball.  It passed the wicket completely.  I started jumping up and down wildly!  I knew that I could make this hit.  I also knew that if I didn’t, I would probably lose the game.  I lay on my stomach and took aim.  The whole room was dead silent.  I was trying very hard not to laugh because I knew I would miss if I laughed.  I fired away at the wicket.  Everything seemed to go in slow motion.  I could see exactly where the ball was going to go…and it went right through the wicket and hit the post!  Henry clutched his head and fell to the ground in defeat.  I was jumping up and down and yelling at the top of my lungs, ”I am the champion of croquet!!!” Henry was curled up in a ball on the ground holding his ears trying not to listen to me.  His whole body was shaking with laughter.  We had the most fun together of the entire holiday, and I will never forget the hardest two-hole game of croquet I have ever played. 

  

Torn

            Torn by Margaret Peterson Haddix is about two kids named Jonah and Katherine who are sent back to 1611 by a man called Second who is trying to destroy time.  Jonah and Katherine are sent to the boat that John Hudson is on and try to repair the damage that Second had done.  This book is science fiction. 

            Jonah and Katherine are brother and sister, but Jonah is adopted.  They each did things to help other and keep each other safe when they were in a lot of danger, and at some points, they even risked their lives for each other.  This made me start thinking about siblings, and I wondered, if they were real, would they ever fight like most siblings do.  I thought about the relationships of different kinds of siblings, which I probably did because I have a twinlet.  I wondered if I would feel differently about my sibilings if any of them were adopted.  I have two step-siblings that I love very much, but in a different way than my blood brothers, and I love my twin in a different way than I love my little brother.  After I thought about it a lot, I realized that it is not about loving any of them more or less than any other.  They are just different kinds of relationships, and I love them all.  I would do anything to keep them safe, and I know they would all do the same for me.