Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson (8th Grade History Assignment #25)

Thomas “stonewall” Jackson was born on January 21^st, 1824, he passed away on May 10^th, 1863. He lived a short life of 39 years. Thomas was a brave man who fought in the Mexican-American war. He also fought as a Confederate soldier in the Civil war.

Thomas was born in Virginia, which is now known as West Virginia. His mom’s name was Julia Beckwith Neale, she had four children in total, Thomas was the third born. When he was two years old his Father and his older sister, Elizabeth, died from Typhoid fever.

Typhoid fever is a rare sickness, but it is still very deadly, especially for children. Typhoid fever spreads through contaminated food and water or through close contact with someone who’s infected.

After the death of his Father, his mom re-married to a man named Blake Woodson. Thomas and his brothers did not like Blake, so they often got into arguments. These arguments caused the boys to go live with their father’s brothers. In 1831 Thomas’s mom died while giving birth to his half-brother. However, ten years later in 1841 his half-brother died from tuberculosis.

In the 1800s adults would have many children. They did this because they knew that most of their kids would die pre-maturely. The children would die because they didn’t have medicine, nor would they have hospitals that could cure their illnesses. Therefore, having more kids meant they would have a higher survival rate in their families.

Later, Thomas graduated from a U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. Soon after his graduation he fought in the Mexican-American war. While he was in Mexico he joined the first artillery as a 2^nd lieutenant. During his time in the war he met a man named Robert E. Lee. He was a General-in-chief for the Civil war.  After the war he became the president of Washington collage.

By the end of 1846 Thomas had been promoted to the rank Brevet Major and he was considered a war hero. After the war Thomas retired from the military and was offered a professorship at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington Virginia.

Thomas married a woman named Elinor Junkin, who sadly, died giving birth. In this very unlucky circumstance she gave birth to a stillborn son. Thomas then got re-married to a woman named Mary Anna Morrison who gave birth to a baby girl. This child died not even a month after her birth.  Mary later gave birth to another girl, who they named Julia after Thomas’s mother.

While Thomas was in the Civil war he earned a nickname. His nickname was, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. He got his nickname after part of the war. When he got his nickname, he was leaning against a stonewall and someone shouted, “Hey look it is Stonewall Jackson”. The nickname stayed and grew to be what he is known as to this day.

Later in the war, Thomas, got shot in his arm. The shot was a friendly fire.  Thomas had to get his arm amputated! This shot did not kill him. He died of Pneumonia on May 10^th, 1863. This may have been the day that he died, however his story lives on through our History books!

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No More Complaining! (8th Grade English Assignment #14)

Today’s English essay topic is: If we complain do we get what we want?

In my family, if we complain we do not get what we want.  If we are in a store and we start complaining about we don’t get something, my parents would walk us out of the store. My parents do not tolerate us complaining, especially in a public area. Some families do allow their kids to complain. In some families, if their child started to complain they’d just get the item the child wanted. Parents 0 children 1. Therefore, you need to take charge! You shouldn’t allow your child to win. Never fall into their tricks. Now, I know that I am talking about myself by saying children, but I’m just stating what I’ve noticed and learned from my family and other families.

If you allow your child to complain that will make them pretty much un-likeable to other parents. I have learned that if you act on your best behavior at all times people will be impressed. How could you allow your child to embarrass you un front of your friends? You cannot allow them to do that.

When a child is screaming and complaining in a restraint, my parents, and myself, get pretty much annoyed. It is annoying to hear that! You must teach your kids that complaining doesn’t do anything but make it worse! Let’s, say you have a baby in your cart and a, seven-year-old, girl looking at all the toys. You’ve already told her she’s not getting anything but she can still look. She eventually finds a Barbie doll that she now, really wants. She starts by politely asking “mommy may I have this?” you say no, like you did before. You know she won’t give up there so you start to walk away. She grabs the doll and starts screaming and yelling at you asking if she could get it. You start to give in but you remember you can’t let your child win! As you stroll along with your daughter following behind, with the doll, everybody is looking at you.  You start to feel very embarrassed. You finally give up and yell “FINE YOU CAN GET THE DOLL!” You are now very angry. Your child has now learned that if she tries hard enough she can get whatever she wants. This is not the right way to do this.

What should have happened is, you are shopping and your daughter is looking through the toys. She finds an American girl doll. At the time you know she has enough toys at home, so she doesn’t need anymore, you say “no”. She starts complaining. Because of this you walk away from the cart take the doll from her, put it back on the isle. You take her hand, pick up your baby, and walk right out of the store. At least this is how my parents would do it.

As you can tell, if you complain, your parents just get frustrated. If you ask and they say no, try again the next time you are in the store. People need to get used to hearing no! No means no and we must accept that. It’s a lot more responsible to not complain when you are told no. When your parents see that you are being responsible they will then re-consider the next time!

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Do we Learn More From our Mistakes or Our Successes (8th Grade English Assignment #13)

Today’s English assignment topic is, do we learn more from our mistakes or our success.

I think that people learn the best from their mistakes. The reason I feel this way is because when you make a mistake you learn how to improve. However, when you succeed you don’t really learn anything. Also, when you make a mistake you learn that it is not good, or even okay do to something. When you never mess up or do something bad, you won’t learn those things.

However, if you do learn from your successes, you would most likely be learning the fact that you knew your stuff. I think that you can’t really learn anything in life if all you do is succeed. If all you do is succeed then you cannot accept the fact that you lost or didn’t win something. Therefore, I think it’s good to make mistakes or else you never learn anything valuable. For example, let’s say every time I audition for a play I get the part, this has been going on for a few years. Then one day, I decide to audition for one more play this year. I barely work hard, because I assume that since I’ve gotten any part I’ve wanted, I can get this one without a doubt! Once I get to the audition room I sort out the “real” competition. While on-stage I get cocky and don’t play the part as well as I could have. After a few weeks the cast list is out, and I am not on it.  I end up freaking out and very upset. Or I could take this experience and learn from my mistake of getting cocky and not even trying.

Another example is getting a bad grade on a test. Let’s say that I’m a 7^th grade student and I’m also, a straight A student! Every time a test comes around I study super hard for a week. This time I decide that I don’t have to study because I always get an A. The next week I end up bombing the test and my parents are furious at me. I learn from my mistakes and I never make the same mistake again, because why earn from the same mistake twice!

With these examples and reasons II believe that a person learns more from their mistakes then from their successes! Thanks for reading my blog, Learning in Pajamas! Come back for more from me!

 

 

 

Can We Learn If We Don’t Admit To Our Problems? (8th Grade English Assignment #12)

For my English class today, I will be writing an essay about If we are afraid to reveal our lack of knowledge we will not be able to learn.

Now, if we are afraid to reveal our lack of knowledge will not be able to learn? My answer is, yes. If a person is afraid to tell somebody they are stuck or confused they can’t really move forward because they will still be focused on the fact they are super confused on what they just covered.

In my opinion, I think that you should tell somebody if you are having trouble understanding. If you do not make other aware of the situation, nobody can help you. Also, if you are having trouble in school and you do not tell anybody, you will most likely not be able to pass the next test because you have this problem, that could be big!

However, some people are embarrassed by their questions. I have known many people who do this. I do believe that even if it is a “dumb” question you should still ask it! If you ask this question you will understand. I personally, would rather get embarrassed by a question, but still get the answer and then understand, than Not ask the question and not understand!

In public school there are many cases where students do not understand the material that is given to them. A lot of these students don’t ask for the teacher to elaborate what they are saying and some might now even ask a simple question. However, those students who do ask the teacher for help, they are the students who end up passing the texts in the future.

As you can tell, people who ask questions when they are confused tend to get better grades and understand a lot more than those who don’t. So, the lesson learned here is to ask questions no matter what!

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What I liked and Disliked about this School Year!

Today was the last day of school! This year has gone by super fast! Today I will be telling you what I liked and didn’t like about this school year!

This school year I really enjoyed writing short stories! When you write a story you get to be creative and there are no rules! There is nothing that says something doesn’t exist! You can make it exactly how YOU want! I never realized how fun writing could be until this class! Last year I would write but I would really enjoy it! Maybe it’s my age that helped me understand how much fun it is, or maybe my teacher! Another thing I really enjoyed was the robotics section! In this course I created many things! Instead of creating the robot that my teacher made I used a kit! The robot that I used is called Snap circuits! This was so fun that we actually ended up buying another one! Building a robot like this isn’t as complicated but it helps you remember what the symbols of resistors, diodes, and much more!

The things that I didn’t enjoy this year, there weren’t that many because this school year was fun, there isn’t much to complain! However, the main thing that I didn’t like this year was having to read G. A. Henty books! The reason why I didn’t enjoy these books were that they weren’t that fun to read! They just aren’t what I like! Some people do like these books, that’s their taste not mine! One other thing I didn’t like about this school year is how I didn’t have that many assignments to write a story! Many people wouldn’t complain about that! However, I find writing stories very fun! I really enjoy stories where I get a topic and I get to make up a story all about that!

In conclusion, I really enjoyed this school year! I really wouldn’t want to change anything! This year was fun, and I am excited to do another year of homeschool next year!

A Journey to the Center of the Earth!

A Journey to the Center of the Earth is an 1864 science fiction book by Jules Verne. The story is about a German professor, Otto Lidenbrock, who believes there are volcanic tubes going toward the center of the Earth. Himself, his nephew Axel and their guide go down into the volcano encountering many adventures, like seeing prehistoric animals and natural hazards.

My favorite part of this book was in chapter 40. I like this part the most because he was seeing these creatures that were trying to kill him and he was super worried about the fate of his uncle, Otto, and his guide. He was worried because he had left them there when the strange and dangerous creature had seen him and came after him. When he left the tent he found somewhere to hide from everything. Soon enough the big creature, name the Ape Gigans, found him. He described him as 14 feet high, covered in coarse hair and sharp pointy teeth “like a mammoth saw”. He was worried that it had smelled him because the ape then started sniffing everywhere like he had smelled something. Then he woke up! The entire thing was a dream. That is the reason why I liked it. It took me by surprise when he said that it was a dream!

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The Vikings!

The Vikings were a Germanic tribe who settled in Scandinavia, Russia, and North Atlantic islands.

The Vikings had an age called the Viking age and it lasted from 793 through 1066. The loss of the battle of Stamford Bridge is what caused the end of the Viking age.

The Vikings had their first attack when an assistant to the king tried to tax them for no apparent reason.  Later on the Vikings killed that man. People say that, that instance doesn’t count as an attack but no one really knows for sure.

As almost everyone knows the Vikings were a very cruel and barbaric people.

Later when the Vikings grew bigger they had to expand, well, that’s one reason they could have needed to expand another reason would be because they had such an urge for war the wanted to go to it rather than wait for it to come to them!

The Vikings had many different religions however for the Christians did finally outlaw dioceses. That is when they murder their own child if they do not want it. I, personally am very happy that they outlawed it because it is MURDER!!

The Viking age was over in 1066 but, that does not mean that they all went “extinct” they did start to populate more and continue to expand their land!

Fun Fact: on my dad’s side of the family I am actually related to Vikings!

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The Battles of Hastings!

In history class I learned about the Battle of Hastings!

The battle of Hastings marked the start of Norman conquest and the end of the Viking era in 1066. Also in 1066 European power got added to England’s domain.

A man named William of Normandy made an attempt to win a battle! This battle lasted an entire day! luckily he and his army won, because of this he was then named William the Conqueror. Another war was the Battle of the Stamford Bridge. This war was a very bloody war and many people died. Unlike the battle of Hastings the Saxons won this battle, because of this win, William was crowned king on Christmas Day. The battle of the Stamford Bridge started because many people believed they should be king! The battle of the Stamford Bridge played a big role in the Battle of Hastings.  The role was to see who the next king was to be, because at the time many people wanted to be the next king! The battle of Hastings was won by the Normans this is when it started a new era, the Norman conquest era.

As King William was leaving the battle he was either shot in the eye by an arrow or he was shot in the back of the head. The reason I don’t know how King William was killed is because, there are many stories of how he was killed, but nobody knows for sure how he was killed! By the end of the war the Saxons were fleeing the sight and King William then got killed!

 

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Sleep Is Not Optional!

I often go to bed around eight or nine o’clock. Then every morning during the week I get up at seven. That is an average of ten and a half hours. Many teens stay up very late then get up very early. Adults who work usually go to bed late and then get up early. As many people know sleep is very important it can lead up to many bad things like stroke, heart disease, cancer, and many other diseases! I will be telling you steps that you can take to start getting enough sleep!

Step one: to get enough sleep before you go to bed you will want to keep all electronics away. Electronics keep you mind “awake” when you honestly need the sleep.

Step two: if you want to get full rest you should keep out all lights if your alarm clock is very bright then I would recommend a mask for you eyes!

Step 3: Do not eat anything with caffeine in it before you go to bed. It will make you energetic and you will not be able to sleep when you need to. Also do not exercise before you go to bed or else your mind will be very busy and will stop you or make it harder for you to go to sleep! If you want to do these things before going to bed make sure you do them at least 3 hours before you go to bed!

Step 4: during the day you want to get out as much as you can because the more you went out the more sunlight you got. At night you need to sleep in complete darkness so at the end of the day the sunlight you got payed off !

I hope this can and will help you get a lot more sleep. Many things can happen if you don’t get enough sleep. If you don’t get enough sleep you have a 12% chance of dying because you are not as aware. However if you get too much sleep your chances are raised up to a 30% chance!

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English semester report

Throughout the first half of my class I have been reading and learning a lot in my English class. Today I will be doing a semester report on everything that I have done or learned in my English class!

When I started this year I began to learn about plot! First, I learned about exposition, which means introduction. I learned that in the exposition you have to introduce the main character or characters. Also, the setting is introduced in the exposition. The book that I was reading at the time was: The Dragon and the Raven by G.A. Henty! As my teacher says, “He does a very great job at explaining the setting!” However, even though I did not like this book I would recommend this book to people who like to read history, but in a story mode! The next part of the plot is the rising action. When you reach the rising action in a book you learn about a problem and sub-plots. A sub-plot is a mini plot in the story where you have a slight problem or issue that gets solved in the climax! Also the rising action builds up to the climax! The climax is when you have the big/main problem that the main character or characters need to solve.  When an author is writing his/her story they have to try there best so that you don’t know the outcome or even what the climax is going to be about!  That is when you can see their personal writing style very well! Coming right after the climax is the falling action! In my teacher’s words “it is one of the hardest parts of the story to write effectively.” in the climax you are building up the tension but you have to be careful when you release the tension in the rising action you could write something that is expected, or something that can be “called” before it has even happened! Last you have the resolution. In the resolution the author is just ending/finishing the story! If they leave too many cliffhangers in the  resolution the readers will be expecting another chapter! If they don’t have another chapter than either they will have to add on and write another book or they’ll have to expect bad reviews on the book due to the fact that the readers are left confused and/or expecting more!

The next subject that I focused on was genre! I have previously made an essay on this subject check it out in the link above! The definition of genre, according to my English teacher, is: “a term for any category of literature or any other form of art or entertainment based on some set of stylistic criteria” in most books you can immediately tell what genre it is. In non-fiction books you read it and you come out knowing more and also knowing that that book was telling you facts not a story. It may have been told in a story like way. In my opinion I prefer that way because then it’s more like a story and to me a lot more fun!

I have also been reading books in this class. One of my favorite books was Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland! Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a book written by Charles Dodgson also known as: Lewis Carroll. It is about a girl named Alice who fell down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world with all “peculiar” creatures. The story, even though is a fiction book, has logic, helping the story last in both adult’s and children’s memories. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the nonsense genre. That is the summary of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland! I would rate this book as a 9 because for me it is very crazy and odd. However I love the storyline and it is a fun story to read!

Another book that I have read that I really enjoyed was A Christmas Carol. I have also written a book report on this. Check it out in the link! A Christmas Carol is a story by Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol tells the story of a bitter old man named Ebenezer Scrooge and how he changed his personality in just one night because of visits by the ghost of his previous business partner, Jacob Marley, and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future! This is the summary of a Christmas Carol! I would rate this book a 10 because it’s a classic story that everyone knows and is very well written!

This is my semester report on what I have learned in English! Thank You for reading this post! Come to my blog for more learning in pajamas!