The World According to Leslie

As you all know, we are researching options for The Princess for school next year. I'm sure you're getting tired of hearing about it.  Right now, she's registered at the local public high school in the International Baccalaureate program. We have applied for the NC Virtual Academy, but we won't know for sure about it until the application date is here--April 21. IF they have to do a lottery, they won't do it until April 28th.  WOW!  That seems like so far away, but it's really not!! Anyways.....  We are also looking at homeschooling.  I have been doing my research. I've been looking at the NC requirements and laws online. I've been reading reviews and checking out all the different curricula available. (Maybe not ALL...there are tons out there!) Yesterday, I went "old school"!  I went to the public library to pick up a couple of books about homeschooling. I ended up, actually, going to both of the branches of the public library closes...

If you are just joining in the writing challenge, check out Day #1 here and Day #2 here . Be sure to leave your comments or links to your writing challenge in the comments. Today's Challenge--"Pick up the book that is lying closest to you. Open it to page 23. Write down line #17." The book sitting closest to me is Hollow City  by Ransom Riggs. It is the second book in a series. The first book in the series is  Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children .  Yes, it is now a movie. No! I have not seen the movie yet! The Princess read this first for school last year. I told her I would read the book so we could see the movie. (If it's still in theaters, maybe we can check it out over Thanksgiving break!) Page 23 Line 17 says: "massive wave, our boats turning nearly vertical beneath us. Emma" This line is during the part where the children are in a canoe-like boat during a storm.  I will not tell anything further.  No Spoiler Alerts from me!  S...

As of Thursday, the Princess is on book #6 for the school year. As of Saturday, I am on book #4.   She is reading The Red Pyramid . I am reading Among the Hidden . I am mostly reading it to see if it is something I should let her read. It is only 150 pages, so I should be finished quickly. Then, I think I might go for The Hunger Games .   Any book suggestions for me? (I’m open to most anything!)

Wow!  I have been reading a lot lately.   The princess has definitely been reading A LOT. Since should started, she has already read 3 1/2 books. (She was working on one when school started, so I told her she can’t count it.)   Her new school, which I’m loving by the way, has a reading challenge. Teachers are supposed to read 30 books in a year and students are to read 50. After each book, the students are to complete a little project about the book. Last night, the Princess did her project on the most recent book. All she had to do was put 10 items into a shoe box that represent important things from the book.   So far this year, she has read: Frendle (Andrew Clements) No Talking (Andrew Clements) [These two were actually in a book together called School Rules , but because they can be purchased separately, they count as two books.) Eight Keys (Suzanne LeFleur)   Currently reading: Savvy (Ingrid Law)—She only has about 1oo pages left...

I know you guys are probably getting tired of hearing about my countdown.    I’m just so excited that the Princess is almost finished with this year at school.    So….today is THE LAST MONDAY for her (and me).  After Friday of this week, she can hang out, watch TV, play/read on her Kindle Fire, and relax……until August.   Of course, she LOVES to read, so we will see how many books she reads this summer.   I’m still trying to get some writing jobs for the summer. Just to make a little extra cash.  There are some that are for doing book reviews.  I would love to do those.     But….for now, I’m going to enjoy my last Monday.  Even though it’s pouring rain outside.

My Girl Scout troop is FABULOUS!!! They decided they wanted to be sure that every kid in Kindergarten at their school (luckily it’s ONE school) went home with a book for the summer!     So over the week, we collected books!   Last night with 142 books, we separated and labeled classrooms.  We put them in pretty gift bags.  Then….  since we had books left over, we gave the teachers some for their classrooms!!   I thought it was awesome!    They are talking about trying to get everyone in the school a book to take home for Christmas or at the end of next school year!  WOW!  That wouldn’t take much more since there are only about 350 kids at the school!   I think my girls could do it!    We will see!

So I'm going to try to do this.... I know that the song is supposed to start with the 1st day of Christmas. However, the best gift of the season actually comes on Christmas, so I thougth I'd start with the 12th day! So every day, I'm going to list the 12-1 (depending on the day) of my favorite of something. Let's see how it goes. (You can join in if you'd like!) On the 12th day of Christmas my True Love gave to me.... my 12 favorite books to read. 1. The Bible 2. The 5 People You Meet in Heaven (Mitch Albom) 3. For One More Day (Mitch Albom) 4. Gone with the Wind (Mitchell) 5. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) 6. A Separate Peace (Knowles) 7. The Left Behind Series (LaHaye/Jenkins) 8. The Notebook (Sparks) 9. Walk to Remember (Sparks) 10. Bronx Masquerade (Nikki Grimes) 11. One Stick Song (Sherman Alexie) 12. Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day (Viorst) If you want to join in, leave a comment with a link to your blog post! Until next time..........