Nov 29-Dec 3 (Hypocrisy)

When I hear the word "Hypocrite", the first thing that pops into my mined is pretender. When you look it up it reads "a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs." In the book, there were so many different ways of doing things that there wasn't just one church. When I think about that it sounds like the odds are none of them are true. With so many different opinions flouting around about how to do certain things that the people don't really believe what they are participating in. they all go just to make themselves feel like they can have a sense of peace in doing something that they don't really even believe in. It really shows this when the people go up once a month to tell every one all that they have done wrong. Why not go up to tell every one what they have done right? Tell them what they have done to inspire others. But still in the end there hearts still don't know the true teachings of the Gospel. It reads that Little Tree asked his Granpa who Moses was and he didn't really know. He only know parts and bits. They seemed so cloudy on what was really going on. That's why I like being LDS, if you ever have any questions all the answers are found in the Book or Mormon. Well any way... All these ideas are kind of jumbled up. I just typed what had come to my mined so the might not make much sense... ^__^''

Nov 15-19 (Kicked out)

To tell you the truth I thought i was kind of fun wandering the school with a bunch of my friends. If I was alone looking for a place to study for like intervention or something, I guess I would feel pretty bummed out. This happened to one of my friends and he got caught in the hall by one of the teachers and was sent to detention. It sounded pretty harsh when he tolled me about it O.o. When we were left outside I new something was up. I mean what kind of a teachers leaves there kids out in the freezing cold winter air without telling them where they are? If that actually happened my parents wouldn't be to happy XD. Now back to the Trail of Tears. When you sit back and really ponder what they felt, you kind of feel heart broken. Just imagine being in your house, somewhere warm and inviting, then being told you have to leave on foot to some totally different place... never to return. And on the way your hole family dies and you realize your all by yourself somewhere you've never been, in the cold freezing weather. O____O Sounds wait less to me. Without waiting there is no hope and without hope there is nothing. If it truly were me I would most likely curl up in a small ball and just cry. I hope no one ever has or ever will have to feel that way again. The one responsible for this had no feeling for the Indians and what they truly felt. So far reading Little Tree, I have this feeling of admiration for the Cherokee.

Nov 8-12 (Title Importance)

My first reaction to the title "Education of Little Tree" was, "is this book a biography about someone?". I thought it meant we would be ready about someone going to school and what there education was. Maybe it was significant because that kind of a person couldn't get an education in that time period. The thought of a former book poped into my head about a black little girl who couldn't get an education in a white school but managed to get in. So far though, the connection I made was far off. When it said little tree I thought it meant we would be reading about someone learning about little trees... At the beginning of reading chapter two, "The Way", the first idea that poped into my head was a path way. When our group was done reading we found out it was a path in a way. "The Way" Is about the way of life. Kind of like the food chain, "to only take the life of animals if they are weak so the strong will live on so there will be more strong later on." It also means other things too, not just eating other creatures. It's sort of like there whole way of life. The heartbeat of mother earth, nature, the sun, pretty much every thing to them is alive. So far we cant infer much form the title "Education of Little Tree", but i'm guessing we will get to learn more info about little tree and his learning further on in the book.

Nov 1-5 (Trail of Tears)

The Trail of Tears was the forcible movement of the Native Americans from their homelands to Indian Territory which is now known as present day Oklahoma. The Native Americans that mainly became affected were of the Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, and Choctaw tribes among others in the United States. The tribes were forced to the Western United States during the 1830's. Andrew Jackson was the first U.S. President to implement removal of the Native Americans with the passage of the Indian Removal of 1830. In 1831 the Choctaw were the first to be removed, and they became an example for all other removals. After the Choctaw, the Seminole were removed in 1832, the Creek in 1834, then the Chickasaw in 1837, and finally the Cherokee in 1838. After forcefully being removed, some Native Americans remained in their ancient homelands - the Choctaw are found in Mississippi, the Seminole in Florida, the Creek in Alabama, and the Cherokee in North Carolina. A small number of Europeans and Africans (usually as slaves) also traveled with the Native American tribes on the trek westward. 46,000 Native Americans from these southeastern states had been removed from their homelands which opened 25 million acres all by 1837.  The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects. The Native Americans faced hunger, disease, and exhaustion on the dreadful journey to the western states. Many died as well, The number of dead are only estimates as there were none willing/wanting to take count.
• Choctaw: 2,500 to 6,000 
• Muscogee (Creek): No estimate
• Chickasaw: No Estimate
• Cherokee: 4,000 to 15,000

Oct 25-29

My first term at Provo High has been amazing! I never expected high school to be like this! At first I was kind of in shock that I was going to High School... But now that I'm 1/4 of that way done... and I love it! The things that made it so great were my friends and teachers. Turns out the teachers here aren't so bad! (haha jk they're great =D) There are a lot of other activities to do after school too. (I like going to open gym for softball =P) Many of the classes are easy to pass, (you show up) But there are some (English, Physics, Geometry ect...) You have to study for. But if you do, Your rewarded with all A's!!! I hope that I'll get into better study habits next term though haha.... -___-" sigh. It's really different from Dixon. (in a good way) I'm being told all the time that High School is the time to get good habits that you will do the rest of your life. So I guess its now or never. It's kind of scary though... in computer tech., we're already talking about College and what job we want. I"M JUST A FRESHMAN! Haha, not saying that I shouldn't be thinking about those things. Its just came at me a little fast. Well... I'm hoping for the best for next term!

Oct 18-22

     Turns out I don't really listen to that much music. Yes I buy a few songs off iTunes once in a while, but don't really use my iPod to much. I mostly just listen to the music while i'm working on my computer or something. I pretty much only use my iPod for the apps haha =P. Concerning the sound... I guess I do like to turn it up a tad to high. I don't think so, but when I let my younger sister listen to music with me, she's always telling me to turn it down. I guess I do have some hearing issues...
     I do care about my hearing though. A few months ago I watched a program about hearing on some random T.V. channel. That's when I realized that there was a problem with hearing for kids and teens these days. I always try to keep my music down to right above 50%, but sometimes after listening for a while, I seem to slowly ease up the volume just a tad.
     After watching that program, I've been more aware of the sounds around me. When I'm walking around the halls at PHS, some of the kids that pass by seem like there listening to there iPods on full blast. You can distinctly hear whatever song they are listening to. I've always wondered how they could even stand listening to something so loud! But now I know its because they cant hear it.
     Some of the ways I prevent myself from bad are:
     • Like I mentioned before, I always keep my iPod's volume below 60%
     • I keep the T.V. soft enough so the people in the next room can barley hear it
     • Instead of listening to hard rock, I try to listen to more soft melodious music
     • I try to help family and friends when I hear them listening to any thing to loudly
     These are all ways we can help each other to not get bad hearing!

Oct 4-8

Oct 6
    My typical Saturday begins whenever I wake up... which is somewhere from 8am - 12pm. The only reason I would stay asleep tell 12 would be that I stayed up tell 1am the previous night watching a movie or something... After waking up I usually go see what I can eat for breakfast, It always feels good to wake up on Saturdays because I know my family will be awake. On normal week days, I'm the first one awake. I usually eat by myself too until I have to catch the bus. Waking up to a breakfast is always the best. After breakfast, I'm usually resting for a bit (watching TV or something...) until I go help out around the house. If I ever miss a day of Piano or homework during the week, Saturday is the time to make that up. After all of the above is accomplished, I get the rest of the day to myself. I usually go to my friend Hanna's house or go do something with my family. Typically, I feel that Saturday is a day to relax from school and get things together for the coming week. I still get excited about Saturdays like when I was little. Not that school is boring or anything...*cough cough* ehem....hm..
The best Saturdays are those with perfect weather. No one wants a Saturday to be rainy and boring. Storms are even worse. >You cant go outside and do something because of the rain, and due to the storm, you sometimes get a power outage. Then your stuck inside with nothing to do. That is unless you like to use your... IMAGINE NATION!!!