Homeschooling

               Should homeschooling be allowed? Some say it is a basic right, but others think it is an all-around bad idea. There are of course both advantages and disadvantages to both homeschooling, and public schools. There are many valid reasons why some parents choose to home-school their children. Some say it is due to religion, maybe their child has disabilities, or there is no transportation to get their child to any public school. Whatever the reason is, many find this controversial.
                School environments vary all around the world. Whether the environment is good, with friendly peers, helpful teachers, and a good campus, or whether the school is the complete opposite, with social problems, and low performance scores. This could be a factor in parents’ choice to home-school, because they may find this to have a negative effect on their child’s learning.

                Socializing is an important part of life, and a large portion of public schools. I see this as a disadvantage of homeschooling because these students won’t get the opportunity to socialize like the majority of students in public schools. This is something that I think shows when a child that has been homeschooled comes to a public school.
            As mentioned earlier, disabilities can be a cause of homeschooling your child. Whether physical, mental, or social disabilities, these can have a huge effect on learning in a public school.
            One alternative, which I have witnessed myself, is partial home-schooling. I have seen a few students in my classes that are home-schooled for the most part, but come to a public school for a few classes, usually science or world language classes. In my opinion, if a child is being home-schooled, this is a good way to do it. That way the student can get both the benefits of home-schooling, and public-schooling. Such as making friends in a public school and being able to interact with their peers.

High School Volleyball "Pre-game"

           “Pre-game” is the most important part of a volleyball game. Pre-game is the way you prepare before a game, such as rituals you do individually, or with the team. 

            On our Kennedy Volleyball team, many of us are very superstitious. Some of us have to wear the same socks, the same spandex, or the same sports bra. For me, I always have to wear the same mini bow in my hair. Although my favorite bow is technically illegal to wear during matches, I can’t play without it. Good thing it blends in with my hair. Some of our superstitions get even crazier. One girl on our team had a superstition that she had to keep the same pair or shoelaces through the rest of the season. Let me tell you, these shoelaces had been through enough already. Throughout the course of the season the shoelaces ripped at least 5 times. No matter how “busted-down” the shoelaces were, she wouldn’t get a new pair. 
            Along with our clothing superstitions, we also have a set schedule of how we prepare for the game. We start by going into the locker room, doing our hair, makeup, and whatever else we need to get dressed for the game while jamming out to music. Next, we do our cardio work. Running, stretching, and whatever else to get warmed up. Following cardio we have our quiet time as a team. We get about 10 minutes to reflect in the dark with no distractions and think what we have to do as individuals and as a team to win the game. After quiet time, we get pumped up. First, we “form the banana”, a cheer where we basically yell and dance uncontrollably. After banana, we return to the locker room to dance to Sandstorm, a crazy pump up song! We jump around, clap, scream, and even have a circle where one girl shows off their moves in the middle at a time. Finally, it’s game time.  
            All of these superstitions and preparation techniques are what makes our team unique, no matter how ridiculous they are.

University of North Dakota

             This past weekend I went on an unofficial college visit to the University of North Dakota. Let’s start with discussing the temperature. We arrived on Friday evening, after a treacherous 9 hour drive through snow and rain. The temperature was around 20 degrees. We went to a volleyball match and got to hang out with the team a bit, and returned to our hotel after to get some rest.
            The next day we had a full schedule written out on our itinerary. Starting with an 8:30 AM breakfast with the coaches and other recruits, followed by meeting with the academics advisors, strength coach, and head coach. Later that afternoon we were to attend a football game. My mother and I looked up the forecast for Saturday and almost had a heart attack at the HIGH of 11 degrees!!!!! We frantically searched target for warm clothes, gloves, hats, scarves, and everything we would need to survive a freezing cold football game for multiple hours.

            We arrive the next day, with our warm gear in the car ready for the football game. The catered breakfast was amazing, along with the meetings. When it finally reached time for the football game, the coaches announced that we would be heading to the INDOOR football stadium. Yes, I said it. The stadium was indoors. Although my mother and I were extremely relieved that we would be in beyond freezing weather, we were also both embarrassed and upset that we had spend about 50 dollars on warm clothing!
           Besides the football experience, overall the visit was a success. The team was great, the coaches were helpful, and the facilities were fantastic! The university is located in the somewhat small town of Grand Forks, North Dakota. The town is perfect with many attractions and a lot of fans, old and young, who come out and loyally support all of UND’s sports.

State Volleyball Part 1

            State volleyball this year was help at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena for the first time, due to remodeling taking place at the US Cellular Center. When I first heard this at the end of last year’s season I almost had a heart attack. Immediately I thought of all of the problems I could think of with the ice arena. Would there be enough seating? How would the courts be set up? Is it going to be cold? Is the ice going to melt?! I was assured it would be alright.

            Boy, were they right. The ice arena was great! There was plenty of seating with even some leftover seats at each match. The smaller size made entering the arena much less overwhelming, in a good way. The closeness of the fan sections made us feel a lot more “at home” then the typical balcony seating at the US Cellular Center where the open floor plan makes the arena seem ten times bigger. Another concern was the noise level during the game with the student sections in a more enclosed setting. Surprisingly-although the noise level was high- this was more of an energy booster on the court having your school rooting you on so closely. As a trade-off, though, this also meant the opposing team was just as close to cheer against you.
            Our first match at the state tournament was against Dubuque Hempstead in the quarter-finals. We came into this match ranked behind so we knew we had something to prove. Being the “underdog” team at state every year gives us the extra determination we need to come out strong and surprise a lot of people. We won our first match with ease, knocking Hempstead out of the tournament. Prior to our match, Iowa City West defeated Council Bluffs. This placed us in the semi-finals with Iowa City West two days later. Being our fourth year in a row facing IC West in the semi-finals, we were pumped and ready to break the curse. 
             We came out in the first two games with obvious jitters. Nuff said. The third game was going West’s way, but we made a huge last second turnaround at 20-23 (West lead). We won a close third game. With the crowd going crazy we went on a run in the fourth game, defeating West 25-13. It was down to the fifth game, tiebreaker. West came out second-guessing themselves but took an early lead. Not being able to finish the final game, we lost 15-7, ending our State Tournament run. Iowa City West advanced to the finals along with Iowa City High, who defeated Ankeny in a close 5-gamer. The final match was won by Iowa City West in a 5 game match.

My Experiences as a partial "Lefty"

I am an ambidextrous. Somewhat, at least. Being that only approximately 10% of people in the world are left-handed, many people find this almost foreign. (Source below). I write left-handed, but do sports and most other activities right-handed. Therefore, I wouldn’t be considered part of the 10%, because I am not completely left-hand dominant.

Let’s put it this way, being partially left-handed sucks. I’ll start with writing: my main pet peeve. It is extremely difficult to write a clean, fresh paper when the side of your left hand is dragging along through your pencil lead, pen, or marker. Not only smudging your writing, but also marking the side of your hand. Why must the English language write left to right, only accommodating right-handers? What about us left-handers? Do our struggles mean nothing? Going along with these “norms”, why are all desks in school and workplaces made specifically for right-handed people? This makes it almost completely impossible for left-handed people to write comfortably.

Everything seems to be made for right-handed people. I will now provide a few examples: scissors. It is beyond difficult to use scissors, trying to make a perfectly straight line with your non-dominant hand. Next, computer mice. Although it is possible to re-program your computer mouse to be used on the left hand, going through this every time you use a computer would become a real pain, especially with curved mice. TV remotes. If you have yet to observe this, the buttons on a remote are positioned to be as convenient as possible for the right hand, with the most used buttons (power, channel, etc.) closest to the right edge.

On top of all of these things, it is also predicted that left-handed people will have a shorter life span. Don’t get me wrong, there are also many advantages to being left-handed. (Source below) According to sources, left-handers have a better chance at being a genius, can see better underwater, are better multi-taskers, and are very good at video games. Left-handedness can also be a huge advantage in sports, where it is rare to see a left-hander. Defending left-handers is much more challenging because it is not what most people are used to in any sport.

Thankfully, being an ambidextrous, I don’t have to face all of these disadvantages. In some cases I am able to use my right-handedness to keep me out of awkward situations, such as with right-handed TV remotes, and computer mice. But when it comes down to it, I am even more weird, or unique as I would say, because I have advantages and disadvantages of both of these.

http://www.blurtit.com/q392741.html

http://www.accreditedonlinecolleges.com/blog/2010/10-proven-benefits-of-being-left-handed/

Top 5 Frustrations While Driving

1.) Slow drivers. Everyone hates it, except for other slow drivers. I realize that the point of the speed limit is to stay underneath it, but driving 5-10 miles below the speed limit is just asking to get tailgated while driving. This is something that bugs me even more when on a one or two-lane road, where it is close to impossible to pass someone. On the interstate, luckily, there is a lane for slow drivers. Which leads me into my next frustration...
2.) Driving slow in the fast lane. There are multiple lanes on the interstate so millions of people can get where they need to be in the most efficient way possible. This cannot happen when there are slow drivers going under the speed limit, in the fast lane, on the interstate! When you see someone riding your tail in your rearview mirrors, MOVE OVER! It's the easiest way to signal to you that you are going too slow.
3.) Crazy drivers in bad weather. Although I am frustrated by slow drivers on the interstate, and side roads, there are times when driving slow is necessary. For example, when there is an ice storm in Iowa, going 20 over the speed limit on the interstate is unacceptable. You are not only endangering yourself, but also every other person on the interstate at the time. This doesn't only go for extremely snowy or icy weather, but also severe thunderstorms, where heavy rain impairs the vision of those on the road.
4.) Pulling out in front of me while I have the right-of-way. Clearly, when I am driving straight, usually at a high speed, I don't want to slow down just to allow someone else to ignorantly turn and pull out in front of me, when there is no other car behind me, and the person could have waited a few additional seconds.
5.) Semi drivers, good or bad weather. Semi's are an important part in the world in transporting materials, goods, and almost everything we need. But to me they just seem to get in the way. Semi's are clearly top heavy and can cause some chaos when it is windy out and it looks like the top of the semi is going to tip on top of you.

School Parking Issues

1.) Clearly, there are not enough parking spaces for the number of students that drive to school. And every teacher, student, and parent knows it. Although we have 5 parking lots, 2 large lots and 3 church parking lots, somehow we still manage to run out of spaces everyday in the south lot... many factors contribute to this.
2.) Freshman, and sophomores parking in the North and South lots with or without a sticker, not okay. Everyone has had to work their way up the ladder to parking in the "upperclassmen" lots, you are no different. This takes up unnecessary spaces that we need to have a parking spot for every student paying for a parking lot sticker. You all are perfectly capable of purchasing a parking sticker for any of the 3 church parking lots, after upperclassmen get first dibs of course. Besides, why would you want to pay a 15 dollar parking ticket for one day of a closer parking spot.
3.) I must say I don't like the system of parking stickers used in the South lot. Even though every person who purchases a South lot sticker knows the rules of first come, first serve everyday, I think it's ridiculous. I don't understand why we can't have a first come, first serve day before school is started and have a guaranteed parking spot everyday.
4.) Tickets. I understand the problem with parking illegally, which I am definitely guilty of multiple times... But what do the administrators expect us students to do when the South lot is full, and I must park before school. My first reaction was to make my own parking spot on the end. Ticket. Next was to park in the fire lane. Yes, ticket. And finally I decided, there aren't many cars parked in Gospel Tabernacle and it's 5 minutes until school starts, so I'll park there to avoid taking others spots. You guessed it. Ticket.

     All of these issues come down to one thing, we need more parking spaces at KHS. Even though I realize this is completely impossible considering the landscaping and the zero extra space around our school. Looks like I will continue parking illegally and receiving tickets daily.

School Lunches

            I must say, my biggest complaint at school, besides too long of school days, is crappy school lunches. I understand the budget that the school is on but I must say it's not very hard to throw together a decent, edible, lunch for the students.
       I'll admit there are a few decent options a few days a week, but what am I supposed to do on the days the school serves food that may be harmful to my health? Okay, a little exaggeration. A plus of our school lunch are the multiple options we get from our 6 different lunch lines, which I haven't heard of any other school having. But again on the negative side, what good are the options when I dont want to eat any of them? The best option that stays consistent everyday is the pizza line. But then of course, the pizza is over priced. 2.50 for a slice of pizza? I could buy 4 slices for that price at Casey's. Not to get into an obesity argument, but what is it with the one desert rule this year? Its my (parents) money, and I should be able to buy the lunch I desire with it without the school trying to restrict my diet. If someone wants to get 3 deserts, they should be able to get 3 deserts no questions asked and no judgments. Next argument, lunches are too short. Due to the lack of deliciousness in our school cafeteria I leave for lunch almost everyday. How am I expected to go get lunch, and enjoy it without rushing in 25 minutes? Not possible. Running out of food for D lunch. Not even cool man. We know there are close to 2000 students in our school, we should know to make enough food for ALL lunch shifts. The consequence of running out of today's food during D lunch is bringing out last weeks meatloaf surprise leftovers... nuff said. Everyone hates D lunch already and we should have the right to freshly cooked food like everyone else. Final complaint. Late lunch. As I mentioned before, D lunch sucks. But there has to be some way to move up the lunches so students aren't still eating lunch at 1pm. I don't know about you, but I am close to passing out by the time lunch comes around at 12:17pm. That is without factoring in waiting time in lines, walking to my car, etc. On the plus side, no other schools are eating lunch that late so I have a clear shot to get first dibs at HyVee dollar pizza every Tuesday and Thursday, along with 25 cent homemade cookies.

Year-round Schools, Yay or Nay?

             Recently I had a conversation with my sister about the advantages and disadvantages of a year-round school. I know, I know, school all year-round, no 3 month summer, sounds terrible, right? Maybe not. I don't know about you but I absolutely hate our 3 month straight summer break, where you become so detached from all of your school friends you almost want to go back for the first day. Then we get started with the first month of school EVERYDAY and only look forward to our one week Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. But what if we had only a 7 week summer break, with shorter school days, and more of our 3-day weekends, or 1 week breaks that we crave.
             Studies have been done showing that a large percentage of students go through "summer learning loss". (citation below) I must say I am guilty of this. After going through 3 months of not opening binders, talking about World War 1, writing a 3-page essay, bringing out that graphing calculator I love, or conjugating preterite progressive verbs on a daily basis, I don't understand how anyone expects us to jump right back into our learning from the previous year and remember, lets say, our hundreds of Spanish vocabulary words.
             Still not sold on the whole idea? I'm sure you're wondering what we would do without a summer break to take a big vacation to Hawaii or the Bahamas every year. Well, year-round schools would have more evenly and frequently spread breaks throughout the school year. Making room for maybe a family vacation without missing school, or even just a week to veg out on the couch with friends. And on top of that, no reteaching of basic skills we forgot over the 3 month summer. Or rereading the same exact class syllabus in each class for the first week of school... I don't know about you, but right about now I'm already needing a week-long Thanksgiving break. Lets say, midterm break? I like the sounds of that.
             One con to year-round schools, LONGER SCHOOL DAYS. Alright, now it sounds terrible, but don't forget about the plus sides, I still think it's a valid suggestion.
          
          Recently I had a conversation with my sister about the advantages and disadvantages of a year-round school. I know, I know, school all year-round, no 3 month summer, sounds terrible, right? Maybe not. I don't know about you but I absolutely hate our 3 month straight summer break, where you become so detached from all of your school friends you almost want to go back for the first day. Then we get started with the first month of school EVERYDAY and only look forward to our one week Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. But what if we had only a 7 week summer break, with shorter school days, and more of our 3-day weekends, or 1 week breaks that we crave.
             Studies have been done showing that a large percentage of students go through "summer learning loss". (citation below) I must say I am guilty of this. After going through 3 months of not opening binders, talking about World War 1, writing a 3-page essay, bringing out that graphing calculator I love, or conjugating preterite progressive verbs on a daily basis, I don't understand how anyone expects us to jump right back into our learning from the previous year and remember, lets say, our hundreds of Spanish vocabulary words.
             Still not sold on the whole idea? I'm sure you're wondering what we would do without a summer break to take a big vacation to Hawaii or the Bahamas every year. Well, year-round schools would have more evenly and frequently spread breaks throughout the school year. Making room for maybe a family vacation without missing school, or even just a week to veg out on the couch with friends. And on top of that, no reteaching of basic skills we forgot over the 3 month summer. Or rereading the same exact class syllabus in each class for the first week of school... I don't know about you, but right about now I'm already needing a week-long Thanksgiving break. Lets say, midterm break? I like the sounds of that.
             One con to year-round schools, LONGER SCHOOL DAYS. Alright, now it sounds terrible, but don't forget about the plus sides, I still think it's a valid suggestion.

http://childparenting.about.com/od/schoollearning/a/year-round-school-pros-cons.htm

Club Sports

        It's a very busy life being a student, extracurricular participant, school sport athlete, as well as an outside of school club sport athlete. More than some can even imagine. I hear people complain about having a 3 hour choir rehearsal and not having time for homework. Try driving 45 minutes to Iowa City 3-4 times a week after a full day of school, AND school sport practice, and trying to balance homework at the same time. Talk about late school nights. This is without mentioning makeup work for days we go to out of state tournaments, taking 4 hour plane rides and getting back on a Sunday night at midnight, and being forced to wake up for yet another long Monday at school. Don't get me wrong, this is my life and I live for these 3-4 day tournaments, hotel "parties", the most random food places you will ever find, and hot guy stalking with my team, who also happen to be some of my bestfriends. I wouldn't trade them for a boring night with 6 hours after school to do homework, hang with friends, or veg out on the couch still getting 8-9 hours of sleep. Who would like that anyways?
     What is the difference between a club sport and a school sport you might ask? Well, in my case I'm on a club volleyball team, the Iowa Rockets. We have clinics and specialty practices off season, and tryouts, and tournaments during the school year and summer, making this an almost year-round sport when we include school volleyball. To get on the team you must attend tryouts where you will be evaluated by many coaches from around Iowa, and put on either the (ascending order) Gold, Black, or R(top) team (my team:)). The higher level team you make, the more competitive tournaments you will attend, which also means more college exposure in hopes of getting a athletic scholarship. Almost every tournament we attend on the R team is sponsored by a volleyball brand (ex. Asics, Mizuno, etc.), usually held at the convention center in whichever state we land in that weekend.
    You walk into the convention center and are in a huge building with an average of about 70 volleyball courts, give or take. Don't even get me started on the concession booths... mmm. College coaches are allowed at most of these events to come scout teams and girls they are interested in for a potential college player. It's pretty nerve-wracking when it's game point of the championship and you see the coach of the biggest volleyball college in the country watching you with a clipboard of notes, and a pen in hand, ready to "dock you points" on any mistake you make.
    If the colleges like what they see, they start by sending you a questionairre, which is just to basically get your information in case they would like to contact you in the future. On September 3rd of your junior year is when coaches can call and/or email you freely, and you can arrange official visits to schools of interest.
   All of this is a great experience and I don't know what I would do without my club sports.

Little Kids With Cell Phones

           When we're young we all dream of the day when we finally get a cell phone. We beg and beg our parents but all we hear is "when you're older". I was pretty young when I finally got my first cell phone-which at that time looked like a giant graphing calculator- in 6th grade. 80 percent of my friends didn't even have a phone until 7th or 8th grade, which was normal. Today I walk through the store, at sporting events, or just around my neighborhood and see 3rd and 4th graders with cell phones... 9 and 10 year olds! I don't know about you but I think this is a little insane.
         First of all, kids that aren't even in middle school can't drive, so are almost always with an adult, and therefore wouldn't need to contact parents. I would understand contact needed for rides home from school, and school events, etc. but that's what school telephones are for. Next I can say I am jealous of young children that have a better cell phone than I do, and maybe that's why I'm so bitter about this. Also because I didn't get a phone until middle school.
         It's one to give your young child a cell phone, but a smartphone? Not necessary. Children in elementary school should not be on Facebook or Twitter, and most likely aren't going to be email anybody at that age, i would hope. I understand that technology is much more high-tech in the world today, and everybody has all kinds of electronics, but cell phones for 10 year olds are not needed, and a waste of money. My generation is already bad about texting, and not knowing how to communicate on a phone call or an actual face to face conversation. I can't imagine how bad the children that are already texting in elementary school are going to be at our age!

A Blog About Blogs

     
     This year in AP Lang my whole class and I are able to write blogs every week. This is a first for me and I love it. I've never blogged before until this year, when we were told we'd be blogging as a part of the class I was bummed because I didn't understand or know much about blogging. On the first day we started blogging in class I realized how much I enjoy blogging. There are so many different topics to blog about and every person’s blog can be completely different and still interesting. Whether someone has an informative blog post or a diary blog post or even an opinionated blog post.
           My blogs are mostly opinionated. Like how much I dislike Twitter Drama (see below). I like the feeling that I can say almost anything I want (school appropriate of course) on my blog to get my point across. I think the hardest part of blogging is to get a subject and start writing about it. You want to make sure people want to read your post, but also that you have enough to write about it to get to our required 300-400 word minimum, which let me tell you is pretty hard with some topics. Even when people don't read my posts, I still feel like I'm talking to a whole audience when I'm blogging. I like in this class that we get to do blogging because it gives the class a sort of creative writing vibe when we get to take each Friday to basically just spill our thoughts for a whole hour of class. I look forward to every Friday in this class!
          When I get started writing a blog post-after I get past the brainstorming part-I feel like the rest just comes naturally. Like I'm talking to a friend and venting my opinions, not talking to myself and my fake audience on blogger.com. (And Ms. A because she's forced to grade my blogs). I tend to get all of the scattered thoughts typed in and stop and realize I only have 200 words... worst feeling ever. Somehow though I find a way to ramble on about something else on that topic and realize the words are just coming out like before. I love the blogging idea in class and I think I'll continue blogging after taking this class.

Hypocritical Parents That Don't Mind Their Business

          Frustration #1
           No one likes a hypocrite. No one. Especially adult hypocrites. I have had experience with-and I'm sure you have to-with lazy parents. One of my biggest petpeeves is when a parent nags you about being lazy (for example, not doing chores), and goes ahead and does the exact same thing. When I was younger I was told not to come home after practices and crash on the couch without showering, because it is lazy. You guessed it, an adult then came home after coaching a practice (whilst getting sweaty) and crashed on the couch, put his feet up, and watched tv. FRUSTRATING. Of course, because of seniority and respect for adults, I didn't say anything and kept my frustrations hidden.
          Another example, I am expected to clean the house and do chores everyday along with my busy school, practice, and homework schedule, leaving me a solid chunk of NO TIME to do chores. But of course I get yelled at if my room is cleaned or I didn't vacuum the basement before a friend comes over, even though my parents almost refuse to do chores. Isn't there some kind of Child Labor law against this? I'll look it up.
            Frustration #2
           Don't you hate being interrupted? Or having an A, B conversation and someone won't C their way out? I know I do. Biggest petpeeve number 2, asking a parent a question, and the other parent (not involved in the question) barges in. I have experienced this so many times I would need more than 2 people's fingers and toes to count on. Story: I approach adult#1 (anonymous) to ask if I can take the car out to go to a friend's house, as adult#1 begins to answer, adult#2 (anonymous again) chimes in with a negative comment saying no I can't. Even though clearly I wasn't talking to adult#2.
           To all of you parents, children and teenagers learn by example, DONT BE A HYPOCRITE.
           
          
         

Save the Drama for Yo Momma

               Facebook and Twitter started as a way to communicate with friends, family, etc., to creep on pictures of other people you dont know, and to keep up on everyone's social lives. Now a days, these social networking sites have become a place for teens to vent to the public about their personal lives. Newsflash: no one cares. It's called your personal life for a reason, keep it to yourself. Quotes and quotes whether happy or sad, that is all I see when I scroll through my newsfeed on Facebook. I'll admit, I am guilty of retweeting quotes on twitter, generally around 11pm when I head to bed. To me, it isn't a problem to retweet quotes on twitter, but on Facebook, not okay.
              Secondly, Twitter and Facebook fights are unacceptable. If you have something to say to someone, or a problem with them, say it to their face, and in person. Tweeting at a person directly by mentioning (@) their name in a tweet isn't okay just because the tweet is technically directed at that person. Grow a pair and confront this person face to face. Although these are quite entertaining to read for other people, it gets annoying when people blow up my news feed with drama, drama, DRAMA.
              On a side note, hashtags. Definitely a twitter thing. Not a Facebook thing. Meant for Twitter. Not Facebook. Using twitter hashtags anywhere but twitter I must say makes you look like a noob. If your Facebook status has a #hashtag, you my friend, are #losing.