Charter News, Students Best Work
Students Best Work
My Years Homeschooling with the Boulder Creek Homeschool
By Vanessa Mullins, 5th grade May, 2009
I can remember my first day in kindergarten at Boulder Creek Homeschool. I remember at the beginning of school everyone was in a circle and sunlight was coming in from the window. The lights were off and I can remember thinking “I will like it here”. I have been home schooled since kindergarten. I love home school because you get to be in class with kids from all different grades. I have always been in a grade with one or two other people. I remember when I was doing second grade STAR testing there was me and two other boys. In fourth grade, it was just Dylan and I. Now I am in fifth grade and a girl named Shawna has joined. Home schooling has been fun for me and it is nice because you can do math while eating lunch and social studies in your pajamas. It is also nice because you have the same teachers for as long as you are in home school. Barbara and Rhonda are my two awesome teachers in class. They come up with all of the cool projects we do. At home my mom, and sometimes my dad, teaches me. This is my last year. I will be going to a private school in Santa Cruz for middle school. I am excited to go to a new school but I will miss homeschool.
At Boulder Creek Homeschool we have a theme for the year. This year it is Oceanography. We do little reports and also lots of art projects. About a month ago we were paired up with another student and we chose a sea animal to do a report on. I was with Chloe and we did one on Manta Rays. Last year our theme was the Wagon Train. It was fun. We split up into small “families” of five or six. We had journals and we wrote in them. My name was Narcissa Smith. We all made quilted pillows.
One of my favorite things we do is our musicals. Everyone in class gets a part. I have been in six plays. I always have a lot of fun. This year we did Big Bad Musical. We are so lucky to have Amber Walker. She directs and choreographs everything in our plays. We probably would not be able to do them without her. I have learned that stage right is your left and stage left is your right. I have come a long way and I have liked acting since kindergarten. In my third play, Fe Fi Fo Fum, there was a part where everyone said someone else’s line!
We also go on lots of field trips. We always go camping and to the San Francisco symphony. Every year we participate in the Student Author’s Fair. In spring we go to the Quaker Center for science camp. It is very fun, and second graders and up can sleep over. Lisa Murphy teaches most of it. Our school goes on many trips. We have gone to the San Francisco Academy of Sciences, we went on the O'Neill Sea Odyssey. We went to Elkhorn Slough and kayaked there. That was fun. We were told try not to tip your kayak and don’t get near the otters because they might climb on. Both happened to Dylan and his dad. Every year we have a Graduation Tea. It is very fun. Everyone gets to do a performance or
two and the people leaving the school do a special ceremony for moving on. This year I am graduating. I am excited because I am doing a few dances and playing the piano. Then we go back to the classroom and have cake and food and we have lots of fun. At the very end of the year we have a pool party. We usually have it at the high school pool. It has two diving boards. One is very high and I can jump off it. I can’t wait until then. Homeschool is unique in so many ways. I am glad I got to do it.
Coast Redwood Middle Homeschool:
Spiderman by Eva Isaacson, 8th grade May, 2009
When you were a kid did you ever tie a blanket around your neck and call it a cape? We've all fanaticized about being a super hero at some point. Imagine if one day that fantasy became a reality. This is the way it was for Peter Parker in the movie "Spiderman". Peter has to take on not only changes with himself but also all the villains of New York in just a short time. And if that wasn’t enough, he has to watch his Uncle Ben die after being shot in a car high jacking, his Aunt May be traumatized by the Green Goblin, and Mary Jane, the love of his life, in the arms of Harry, his best friend. This fictional action packed adventure will have you on the edge of your seat. I will now discuss the elements of this thrilling tale such as its characters, setting, conflict, plot, and theme.
There are many major and minor characters in this story, but I will only tell you about two of the main characters. Mary Jane is the girl that Peter has loved since he was a kid. She is a kind‐hearted girl with long red hair and she dresses like a teenage rebel, with the belly shirt, short skirt, long jacket, and all that. Mary Jane wants to be an actress when she gets out of high school. She lives with her dad who is a drunk and he yells at her all the time. Everyone calls her MJ. Harry is Peter’s best friend and also Norman aka the Green Goblin’s son. He's rich, but he is not stuck up about it and he doesn't like to show off. He flunked all the private schools his father put him in. Harry has short brown hair and often dresses to blend in with the public school kids. He knows that Peter loves MJ, but he loves her too and because Peter never made a move, he decides to make one.
Even though MJ and Harry are not super heroes, their stories are just as important as Peter's in the web of stories that make up the movie "Spiderman". In the exposition, or the beginning, of movie we meet MJ on the bus where she is sitting with her boyfriend, Flash. The next day at school MJ slips in a puddle of juice as she passes Peter at lunch and Peter catches her and her lunch. This is when Peter first realizes that he is super. Harry finds Norman laying face down on the floor of his office when he gets home from school. Then a lady walks in and tells Norman that his lab assistant was found dead in the lab and the glider and flight suit have been stolen. This happens the day after Norman tests his human enhancements on himself and he becomes the Green Goblin.
The Green Goblin is the villain of the story so of course he and Spiderman are enemies. Now in every story there is a main conflict, in this tale the conflict is Spiderman's temptation to become a villain. I know this because the Green Goblin is a villain and he and Spiderman do have epic fights but the true battle within Peter. The Green Goblin merely makes that idea all the more tempting. The main climax in the movie "Spiderman" is when Spiderman and the Green Goblin fight for the last time. The Green Goblin is beating Spiderman nearly to death in the crumbling ruins of some old building and then the Green Goblin mentions that he’s gunna kill MJ very slowly and Peter gets the strength to fight back. Peter has him cornered when the Green Goblin reveals himself to be Norman causing Peter to hesitate. Norman programs the glider to come up behind Peter and prepare to run Peter through with some blades. As the glider rushes up behind him Peter jumps and flips to safety and before Norman can say anything but "Oh" the gilder stabs through him and pins him to the wall. As Norman dies he tells Peter not to tell Harry that he was the Green Goblin.
Spiderman brings Norman's body home and Harry sees him asks "What have you done?!" As Harry reaches for a gun Spiderman disappears into the night. At Norman's funeral Harry swears on his father's grave that Spiderman will pay for this, not knowing that Spiderman is his best friend, Peter. I believe this all adds up to show how awesomely captivating that the movie "Spiderman" is, with its epic fight scenes, major suspense moments, and very well done CG and special effects. I would recommend this great film to anyone, because I think it has some valuable messages: don't ever give up and "With great power comes great responsibility". So go put on your blanket cape and prepare yourself for the exciting adventure in store.