In a Teen Fiction Bender- Just Finished Scott Westerfeld’s “Uglies”
By Lisa - Homeschooling Mom | April 3, 2013
Last Spring I blazed through The Hunger Games
series, which I LOVED.Really enjoyed and wish i had read sooner.
On the heels of Catniss escapades my friend suggested I tried “Divergent
” another teenage post-apocalypse type scenario.
I though it was “okay” and I have yet to pick up read the sequel, Insurgent
.
I have an e-reader which I love. I broke my much loved Kindle and bought a Kindle Paperwhite
. I was prepared to hate the touch screen but actually have grown to like it very much. I could not live without the back lit screen.
The biggest draw back for me reading Kindle is I LOVE to read in the bath. I just moved and my new house and a big soaking whirlpool tub and I just have to red in it. I have bought paper booked in a while and I was desperate for something. I refuse to take Kindle to bath because I know I will drop it into swirling bath water below.
In desperation I found one of my teenage daughter’s old books- I had bought her the Scott Westerfeld series about 8 years ago and they have been untouched and I keep meaning to read….
So the first book in series became my book to read in the bath. Took me almost a month but finished.I started on the Uglies
and the the sequel, Pretties
on the weekend and almost done. I must be hooked because now I have them on my Kindle.
The basic premise of the seirs is that civilization as we know it is over. man ruined hs environment with a plague of purple flowers that stopped anything from growing. All of this is blamed on greed.
In the new Utopia at the age of 16 EVERYONE turns “Pretty” you are given an operation that fixes all your imperfection and become Pretty and live in New Pretty town and dink and party all day. The idea is with everyone equally pretty there will be no jealousy or envy.
We follow Tally Youngblood on her adventures that start just before her 16th birthday and BEFORE she is schedules to become Pretty.
I wont give too much away but again I love that the female character in book is a leader and not a victim being saved by her gorgeous rich boyfriend with super powers…
Great book for teens- tho in sequel some of the situations are a bit adult.
I am enjoying the series half way through and plan to finish all of them. The next two in series are “Specials
” and “Others
”
Topics: General Homeschooling and Unschooling, Great Books for Homeschool Kids | No Comments »
An Unschooling “Success” – Meet Kate Fridkis Who Skipped K-12 and Is Neither Weird nor Homeless
By Lisa - Homeschooling Mom | May 7, 2012
I love the headline of this article “Meet Kate Fridkis Who Skipped K-12 and Is Neither Weird nor Homeless” .
this is from the artcile, Freedom to Learnand highlights the achievements of Kate Fridkis who was not only homeschooled, but unschooled as well.
“Kate Fridkis is 26 years old, is happily married, lives in New York City, has a master’s degree in religion from Columbia University, is a part-time chazzan (cantor) at a synagogue (a job she’s held since age 15), and is a full-time writer. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Huffington Post, and Salon. She’s working on getting her first novel published. She writes funny and insightful essays about body image on her popular blog, Eat the Damn Cake. And recently she has become a fellow blogger here at Psychology Today. “
I found it interesting that she says ” she generally tells people she was “homeschooled,” if they ask about her schooling, because most people don’t know what it means to be “unschooled.” We often didn’t bother telling people we “unschool” . Most times would involved a 10 minute or more conversation and more often than not people weren’t just curious- but I end up defending our choices or justifying rather than passing on information. I am sure most homeschooler and certainly most unschooling families have come across that! People asking you questions so they can tear you down.
I like to point out the “successes” of unschooling as much as possible. It does work if you trust it.
My dughter was unschooled until age 13 and is doing very well academically AND socially. She gets consistent 90′s and is on cheerleading team. I am not mentioning to brag- but to show that 1) She is considered an academic success and 2) socially well adjusted :-)
I have heard on occasion that she would be doing even better had she gone to school earlier. I totally disagree. I think she does well in school because she chose to go to school, chooses to get high marks and studies hard to get them AND most importantly she has a love of learning that I don’t think would be there if we had pressured her.
Curious to here from older “unschooled” kids and their families!
Topics: General Homeschooling and Unschooling | No Comments »
Does Circumcision Lead to Lack of Empathy in Men ?
By Lisa - Homeschooling Mom | April 16, 2012
I find this article fascinating. The International Journal of Men’s Health has done a study that suggests that men who have been circumcised seem to have a higher alexithymia score than “intact” men. No shock to me. I refuse to believe that intimate pain in the first days of life does not affect development.
Alexithymia is a term coined by psychotherapist Peter Sifneos to describe a state of deficiency in understanding, processing, or describing emotions.
Researchers find circumcised men have higher alexithymia scores than intact men. Alexithymia is the inability to process emotions.
The International Journal of Men’s Health has published the first study of its kind to look at the link between the early trauma of circumcision and the personality trait disorder alexithymia. The study, by Dan Bollinger and Robert S. Van Howe, M.D., M.S., FAAP, found that circumcised men are 60% more likely to suffer from alexithymia, the inability to process emotions.
People suffering from alexithymia have difficulty identifying and expressing their emotions. This translates into not being able to empathize with others. Sufferers of severe alexithymia are so removed from their feelings that they view themselves as being robots. If acquired at an early age, such as from infant circumcision, it might limit access to language and impede the socialization process that begins early in life. Moderate to high alexithymia can interfere with personal relationships and hinder psychotherapy. Impulsive behavior is a key symptom of alexithymia, and impulsivity is a precursor to violence.
The idea for the investigation came when the authors noticed that American men (for whom circumcision is likely) had higher alexithymia scores than European men (for whom circumcision is unlikely), and that European men had about the same scores as European and American women.
The study surveyed 300 circumcised and intact men using the standardized Toronto Twenty-Item Alexithymia Scale checklist. Circumcised men had higher scores across the board and a greater proportion of circumcised men had higher scores than intact men.
Read rest of artcile here:
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/235725-Study-Links-Circumcision-to-Personality-Trait-Disorder
More info on Alexithymia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexithymia
Topics: General Homeschooling and Unschooling | No Comments »
Just Finished Reading The Hunger Games Series and LOVED it!
By Lisa - Homeschooling Mom | February 8, 2012
I have posted quite a bit that I have not been able to read much in the past few years because of an eye condition, keratoconus, and cannot see without special contact lenses in my eye. I can only wear the lenses for about 8 hours so there was no bedtime reading for me. HEARTBREAKING until I got an e-reader where I can change the font to super large. I have a Kindle
and in love with it.
Been reading like a mad woman and last week I plowed through all three of the Hunger Games books, The Hunger Games Trilogy Set , the three books are : The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay
I was looking for something a bit mindless to read and had been disappointed in a couple of the books I had just read ( The Postmistress being one of them)
I plunked down on the couch and put on a fire prepared to be entertained if not mildly bored. Boy was I WRONG! I was totally entranced by the story.
Set sometime in the future the main character, Katniss lives in a dreary village or district as its called in books. There are 13 districts that are supply regions for the “Capitol” He district, District 12 supplies coal.
Katniss is a STRONG female lead with plenty of depth as well as survival skills- which she will need when she volunteers to act as tribute as substitute for some one else and go to “The Hunger Games” with 23 other tributes – 2 teens between 12-18 from each district – 1 boy and 1 girl.
The Hunger Games are a punishment to the districts for an uprising that took place about 75 years before.
The plot is pretty dark however has its moments and the characters spring to life with lots of plot twists- for the most part very plausible.
What I enjoyed most about the book was that the female character really is the lead- no damsel in distress here!
While not quite in Harry Potter league it is very very good and I highly recommend. It is not sappy and boys will also enjoy.
There is Hunger Games movie being released in March after seeing trailer ( below ) starring Jennifer Lawrence who was wonderful in Winter’s Bone (she received Oscar nomination) I cannot wait!
Watch Hunger Games Trailer
Topics: Great Books for Homeschool Kids | 2 Comments »
Good Old fashion Board Game Fun with “Pandemic”
By Lisa - Homeschooling Mom | January 7, 2012
This week I have really been enjoying having my oldest DD home. She is on break from school and has been such a joy to have around for a whole two weeks!
Not having to run around and chauffeur kids all over the city has been SOOO relaxing and I was able to get a shocking amount of work done.
DD has had one of her friends here last few days and last night I could hear them laughing and giggling. Was so pleased when I went upstairs and found out they had pulled out Pandemic and played for several hours… and again today.
I hate to say it but I haven’t had my kids spontaneously play a board game for a while. I will almost always initiate.
The two girls were hamming it up for the camera but I grabbed a quick shot- if only to remind myself that teens can have pockets of ease and enjoy simple fun.
Topics: Board Games-Board Game Reviews and Recommendations | 1 Comment »