When I watched Good Morning America today they were talking about how Rolling Stone has just updated their “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list for the first time in 17 years. Hearing about the revisions resurfaced a memory from when I was in high school.
Continue readingTag: homeschool
Control C / Control V
The first paper I ever wrote was about the digestive system. I think I was about 9 years old. I didn’t quite understand that “writing a paper” meant using my own words. I checked out a library book and copied its contents word for word. I even traced the book’s cute illustrations in the margins of my notebook paper.
Continue readingThe 100 square foot garden
Today I did some yard work for the first time in a while. Several medium-sized palm trees around our rental house needed pruning. As I sawed off dead branches and piled them in the dumpster, I started thinking about how much yard work I did as a child.
My family lived in a house on a fairly large piece of property. My parents DIY’ed everything. They built a well house, a chicken coop, and a network of raised garden beds. Many of my childhood memories center around outdoor projects. My brother and I collected rocks to build a 100-foot stone wall, dug narrow trenches for an irrigation system, and helped plant fruit trees. Of course, there were always a million weeds to pull.
One summer, my brother and I decided to plant our own vegetable garden.
Continue readingNot on a good track
My high school years were atypical. I didn’t attend a four-year high school. Instead I did an assortment of online classes, some community college courses, and homeschool.
One thing I really wanted to try was a team sport. I wasn’t very coordinated but I liked to run. So I decided to do track. Fortunately for me, my hometown high school allowed me to practice with their track team and compete at meets. I just wasn’t allowed to wear the school uniform.
I practiced with the team for one season, and at the end, I went to my first and only track meet.
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