Traditions

We have quite a few traditions in my family, actually. Every holiday just about has a special tradition that goes along with it. For Easter we always go to Hardeville for Sunday dinner, for Halloween we all sit down and watch "Hocus Pocus" and carve pumpkins, and for Christmas we make cinnamon ornaments and decorate the house. The traditions that are the most fun are probably watching "Hocus Pocus" on Halloween because it is such a fun movie, and we have been watching it since I was really young. Christmas time in general is always fun, decorating the Christmas tree and putting lights up on the house, it is always exciting! One thing that we have done every single Christmas since I was born was to go over to my Grandmother's house, or stay at our house depending on the year, on Christmas Eve to open presents. My sister and I pack every present that is to a member of our family to take over to my grandparent's house, and my mom make an amazing ham. Once we arrive at my grandparent's house and eat dinner, the adults (anyone above the age of 25) divide the presents among the kids. We each end up with mini-mountains of presents in front of us, and then we tear into them as soon as my Grandmother says "GO!". It makes me feel like a little kid, waiting to open presents and sitting on the floor with my eight-year-old cousin, but it is so much fun.
After we leave my granparents house, around ten or eleven o'clock, and return home my sister and I are allowed to open one present from our parents before going to bed. And every year, the present we get to open is a pair of pajamas, which we wear to bed that night. The next morning, my sister and I wake up to go downstairs to find out what Santa Clause brought us during the night. My mom says that we are going to get gifts from Santa Clause until we stop living in her house, which is fine by me. The whole Christmas season has always been really important to my family. It is just a time where we are all together, and it feels like we are really close to one another. That is why I value these traditions so much, it is one of the many ways that my family tries to keep as close as possible, and to have fun together and laugh. Hopefully, I can start a similar tradition with my own children one day.

Studying for IDC

Okay, so this is the second time that I have had to write this because the computer deleted it the first time! If it is not very good, I apologize because I am doing it last minute, however, I thought that I was already done because I typed the entry on Friday.
Anyway, studying for IDC is going to be pretty difficult because there are so many differenct texts that we have convered from many different world views. I do plan on giving each text an individual day to study. If I run out of time to follow that plan though I will devote a few hours to each individual text. I plan on going over my notes and expanding on ideas that were mentioned during discussion that I did not have enough time to write every detail about. That will not only refresh my memeory, but hopefully it will reinforce the ideas that are presented. I am also planning on going over the worksheets that we were given for each text, which consists of six or seven questions that have to do with simple plot information. There are also thinking questions from each worksheet that we do not have to physically write an answer for, but it probably would be a good idea for me to take the time to write out responses to those question while I am studying. Other than these things I am not really sure what I am going to do while studying. My study habits generally shape around the material that I am studying. So, if I need to adjust what I am doing for a particualr text or worksheet I will try to do that. I think that this method of studying will be fairly effective, but I guess we will only know for sure once I receive the grade for my mid-term :)

Learning Experiences

The most effective in-class learning experience, that I can remember, was when I was being homeschooled. I was in seventh grade and my mom was teaching me about the World Wars as well as the Holocaust. My mom is very passionate about history, so she went really in depth into the details of what started the wars, how each country was eventually pulled into the conflict, and how the wars came to an end. This was the first time that I had really heard about the Holocaust, and really the World Wars in so much detail, and I have been interested in them ever since. My mom had me read personal accounts of the wars, as well as accounts from Jewish prisoners in the labor camps, which allowed me to see the events of the war from a point that I could relate to. I was also required to read a few chapters in a text book, and my mom printed out pictures of the many different events so I could really understand what was happening. None of my other teachers ever spent that much time on any particular time in history, but I will never forget all of the things that I learned that year with my mom teaching me.
The most effective out-of-class learning experience would be learning to ride my bike. My dad made me ride my tricycle until I was positive that I wanted to take my training wheels off and ride a "big girl" bike. When I was ready, he got out his bike and first showed me how to ride it, and explaining how the petals worked as well as the brakes. Then he made me get on my bike while he held on to the back of the seat to help me balance, and petal for a few feet while he helped to keep me from falling. Without telling me, he would let go of the seat and let me ride by myself. Once I figured out that he wasn't helping me, the thought of riding by myself wasn't as scary as it was before, because I already knew that I could do it.
When learning about the World Wars and the Holocaust with my mom, everything that I was finding out was new, so I payed a lot of attention to everything that she said and showed me. All of it being new also kept me interested the entire time, and made me want to know more details, and learn all that I could about it. Because it was my mother teaching me, she knew the techniques that I would learn the best from and what would keep me interested, which was good. My dad teaching me how to ride a bike was also something that was new, but I had to be ready to learn how to do it first. I had to prove that I would pay attention and really try to focus on what I was doing. Again, because it was my dad who was teaching me, he knew the things that would scare me away from learning, and how to avoid those things.
From these two experiences, I know that for me to learn and really understand what I am learning, I have to see things from multiple points of view. I learn the best by reading about something, but also having an image that I can physically see and from that image get a feeling of what people went through, and how they felt. I also have to be willing to focus all of my attention on what I am doing, or I won't get a lot of what is being said because I start thinking about something else and then I have missed half of the lesson! So, I know that I learn best by reading about something and by having it shown to me, whether it be a photograph or an example of how to do something.

Integrity

Well, integrity is defined as " adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty". Most people, when asked about integrity, say that it is what you do when no one is around to watch what you are doing. Having integrity is something that a lot of people have to continually work at, I know that I do. However, continually working to maintain something makes it more worthwhile, makes us feel more accomplished. Having integrity allows people to have a better life, they can feel confident that they have done what they were told to do the way that they were "supposed" to do it. This allows us to feel more confident, and more comfortable in our own skin.
The Honor Code is dependent on the integrity of every Converse student. We are expected to live lives of integrity, in the classroom as well as outside of it. Every paper or assignment that we turn in is expected to be our own, but we also have to be able to interact with other students and listen to their thoughts and views without passing an undeserved judgement. It is often very tempting to gossip or to judge people before getting to know them, but as I said before, continually striving to maintain your integrity makes it that much more satisfying.

Strategies

I know that there are a lot of differences between high school and college, and I am going to have to develop new ways to balance all of my time. I personally am going to have to watch how much time I spend with friends, and make myself go to my room and do my homework. Also, I have to have enough time to study when I will not be distracted by whatever is going on in my hall. I am also going to have to keep up with my exercising habits that I had at home. I am going to have to make time to go to the gym, and to make sure that I don't slack off on it. It was easier for me to keep up with all of these habits at home, because if I forgot to do something that I needed to do, my mother or father reminded me of what needed to be done. Now that I am in college, however, all of the responsibility to remember to do everything that I need to do. That will help prepare me for living on my own, but it is still going to be hard for me to get used to having to plan and remember everything.
I have already bought a planner, and I keep a calendar in my dorm room, and both of these things help to keep track of what I need to do and when I need to get it done by. It will also help to find people from my classes that I can study with.

First Blog

Okay, this is my first blog, and it is pretty confusing. I am not really sure how everything works, but I think that I will figure it out as time passes, hopefully. I don't even really know if what I am typing right now is considered a blog enrty or not, but I guess we will find out once I am done.

School is going well so far, I like all of my classes and the professors are wonderful! The more time I spend at Converse, the more I think that I am going to really love it here, and have a great time. I have to admit, it does not seem like there is that much to do in Spartanburg, but I guess once I get a chance to really look around I may find more to do. Plus, Greenville and Charlotte are not that far away. My main concern right now is trying to get all of my homework done, for some reason it seems like it is taking me FOREVER to do! I don't really know why, because it is not really that much homework, maybe it is because I am not back in the swing of school yet. I don't know. But, there was a pretty amazing band here at school last night for the Back To School Bash...After August. They were much better than I thought they would be, and I bought there CD. So, you should definitely check them out if you haven't already!
Well, I guess that is all for now....