"Counting By 7's" Book Review

I couldn't wait to read this book after I got it - I dove into it immediately after I received this book. But, I forgot to study for a test and scrambled to review Spanish conjugations......

It was still a good book. 😁

Anyway, here's the Goodreads synopsis: Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life...until now.

Suddenly Willow’s world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief. Her journey to find a fascinatingly diverse and fully believable surrogate family is a joy and a revelation to read.

This book was one of the best books that I have ever read. I am not kidding when I say this. Counting By 7's had extremely melancholy content, sometimes reducing me to tears. I had previously speculated, as I read the first couple of pages, that this would be a humdrum novel about an intelligent girl, like other books I have read. But, this book revolves around fickle feelings, and how people can behave - and how life can go in our way, or the opposite direction. Holly Goldberg Sloan, the author, has made me consider another approach to life. I would wholeheartedly, without hesitation, give this book five stars. 

(BTW, did you notice that the cover has 49 blue fish, a multiple of seven? And, try to observe characteristics about the red fish....)

Hey, guys! + Malicious HW

First of all, I apologize for not writing in a couple of months. My family and I were moving, and due to the fact that it was difficult to post on top of homework, I could not blog. But.....I'M BACK!!!!

So, I was pondering about my homework, and wanted to talk to you about the everlasting load of homework inflicted upon us kids. If you're thinking this, yes, this does have a relation to my previous post, The School System.

Children receive a TON of homework. And, if you think that you have a gargantuan amount of homework, well....your parents probably had more than twice as much as work. They practically lived in the local library! The school system has attempted to improve the school system, and in my opinion (this is my opinion), older adolescents are given too much homework. Okay, okay, you may suddenly retaliate and close your compu.....WAIT, WAIT!!! (sigh) Anyway, according to one study, 98% of students at participating high schools said that their primary stress is their homework and assigned projects. I agree with this fact because students are pressured to have passable grades, or what people call "straight A's." Too much homework can actually eradicate its purpose - to serve as a review for students. However, this can lead to overwhelming stress. With this excess amount of homework that takes approximately 90 minutes - 2-and-a-half hours, students are missing out on activities that require critical thinking and/or collaboration skills - both crucial in life.

Some schools, in order to decrease the amount of homework, schools are putting a block schedule in place. A block schedule consists of classes that are around 70 minutes long that meets a few times in a week, instead of the typical 50-minute class. Most people believe that if there are less classes, there is less homework. My school has a block schedule, too - let me tell you, that has helped me immensely!

Let's take a look into Finland, a country that has much less homework inflicted upon students. They believe that less homework is actually better because students learn everything in school, and they encourage students to participate in extra-curricular activities.

Why not focus on collaboration and critical thinking skills? Government, do you have time for our education?

- School Kid

Rise of the Isle of the Lost: A Descendants Novel

Melissa de la Cruz really elevated the Descendants series in the book Rise of the Isle of the Lost, the third book in the saga. This book is the prequel to the new Disney movie, Descendants 2, coming out in late July. When Uma, daughter of Ursula, catches wind that King Triton's trident is floating in the waters of the Isle of the Lost (an island where all the villains and their brethren have been exiled to), she wants to embark on a journey to find it in order to free them from the island. Back in Auradon, Mal and the crew discover that the trident was washed away, and they need to find it before Uma does. Meanwhile, Uma gathers up her crew alongside Harry Hook, Gil, and other rogues on the island. And with King Ben away, they don't have to play by all the rules, right? The thrilling, perilous race to the trident pits old friends—and current enemies—against each other with the future of Auradon on the line. Both teams might like to make waves, but only one will come out on top of this one.

My Review: Overall, the book was pretty good. I mean, it was okay, considering what happened in the second book, which I actually found boring. I didn't expect much from this book, but it blew me away. I liked the suspense in the beginning of the book, talking about a new character, Uma, befriending Mal. The secretly hidden enmity between them made me want to know more. The exposition really "hooked" me in (get it? Harry "Hook"?). However though, I felt disappointed that that feeling faded away as the book went on. In my opinion, the chapters talking about what King Ben was doing was really excessive, unnecessary, and distracting to the plot. The chapters about Uma were full of suspense and adventure. In contrast, the chapters about Mal and the crew were just plain boring. Nevertheless, I would rate this book 4/5 stars. 

Holidays & Penne Pasta!

Sorry for not posting in a while! There were many holidays this week, well, for me, at least. On the 18th, we celebrated our loving dads on Father's Day! My family and I made him a movie to show how much we love him on the app iMovie. If you don't have this application, I highly recommend to get this app. We also gave him a Starbucks gift card. Yesterday was the summer solstice, which "occurs when the when the tilt of Earth's axis is most inclined towards the sun and is directly above the Tropic of Cancer," quoted from The Telegraph. So, the days will get shorter very leisurely until the winter solstice. Also, last night, my sister and I decided to make dinner for the family. We went shopping to get spaghetti, basil sauce, and creamy alfredo sauce at Target. There, we also bought swimwear for my little sister, who's 18 months old. When we got home, I realized we forgot to get vegetables for the pasta. Because we were in a hurry, we also found out that we accidently got penne pasta instead of spaghetti. So, as we were to lazy to go back and return the pasta and get vegetables, we decided to make do with the items we had. So, we first cut one tomato, one onion, some spinach, and a head of cauliflower and boiled the pasta. Then, we sautéed the vegetables while the pasta was cooking. After the sautéing and boiling was finished, we mixed the pasta and vegetable and divided it into two batches. We covered each batch with a sauce. And, I actually have to say, it tasted pretty good amazing phenomenal! Try cooking yourself sometime!

Sorry for not posting in a while! There were many holidays this week, well, for me, at least. On the 18th, we celebrated our loving dads on Father's Day! My family and I made him a movie to show how much we love him on the app iMovie. If you don't have this application, I highly recommend to get this app. We also gave him a Starbucks gift card. Yesterday was the summer solstice, which "occurs when the when the tilt of Earth's axis is most inclined towards the sun and is directly above the Tropic of Cancer," quoted from The Telegraph. So, the days will get shorter very leisurely until the winter solstice. Also, last night, my sister and I decided to make dinner for the family. We went shopping to get spaghetti, basil sauce, and creamy alfredo sauce at Target. There, we also bought swimwear for my little sister, who's 18 months old. When we got home, I realized we forgot to get vegetables for the pasta. Because we were in a hurry, we also found out that we accidently got penne pasta instead of spaghetti. So, as we were to lazy to go back and return the pasta and get vegetables, we decided to make do with the items we had. So, we first cut one tomato, one onion, some spinach, and a head of cauliflower and boiled the pasta. Then, we sautéed the vegetables while the pasta was cooking. After the sautéing and boiling was finished, we mixed the pasta and vegetable and divided it into two batches. We covered each batch with a sauce. And, I actually have to say, it tasted pretty good amazing phenomenal! Try cooking yourself sometime! 

Is a College Education Worth It?: The Pros and Cons

IT'S DISCUSSION TIME!

The American debate over whether a college education really worth it started in 1636 when English colonists founded "New College." (now is Harvard) People who argue that college is worth it say that a college education provides many benefits, such as a higher employment rate, bigger salary, and more work benefits. Some people on the opposing side say that the debt for college loans is too high and delays graduates from saving for retirement (I mean, they're not even thirty!), buying a house, or getting married. With 20.2 million US students in college in 2015 and an average debt at $28,000, the debate continues today.

The Pros
One thing that benefits almost all degree recipients is that they have a higher salary than people with a high school diploma. As of 2016, the average income for people 25 years old and older with a high school diploma was $35,615, while the income for those with a bachelor's degree was $65,482, and $92,525 for those with advanced degrees. Also, more jobs nowadays have a requirement of college degrees. During the recession between Dec. 2007 and Jan. 2010, jobs requiring college degrees grew by 187,000, while jobs requiring some college or an associate's degree fell by 1.75 million and jobs requiring a high school degree or less fell by 5.6 million. In 2018, it is estimated that about 63% of jobs will obligate some college education or a degree. Young adults also learn interpersonal skills in college. Students have the opportunity to interact with other students and faculty, to join student organizations and clubs, and to take part in discussions and debates. College graduates have lower poverty rates. The 2008 poverty rate for bachelor's degree holders was 4%, compared to a 12% poverty rate for high school graduates. College graduates are more productive as members of society. Henry Bienan, Ph. D, President Emeritus of Northwestern University, argues that a college education results in "greater productivity, lower crime, better health, [and] better citizenship for more educated people." College exposes students to diverse people and ideas. Students live, go to classes, and socialize with other students from around the world and learn from professors with a variety of expertise. The community of people on a college campus means students are likely to make diverse friends and business connections. And also, I think that earning a college degree is a major life achievement.

The Cons
Student loan debt is crippling for college graduates. As of June 2016, about 42 million Americans owed $1.3 trillion in student debt, and 45% of people with student loan debt said college was not worth it. 10% of students graduate with over $40,000 in debt and about 1% have $100,000 in debt. Student loan debt often forces college graduates to live with their parents and delay marriage, financial independence, and other adult milestones. Many college graduates are employed in jobs that do not require college degrees. According to the Department of Labor, as of 2008, 17 million college graduates were in positions that did not require a college education. 1 in 3 college graduates had a job that required a high school diploma or less in 2012. More than 16,000 parking lot attendants, 83,000 bartenders, 115,000 janitors and 15% of taxi drivers have bachelor's degrees. Many recent college graduates are un- or underemployed. The unemployment rate for recent college graduates was 8.8% in Feb. 2013, down from 10.4% in 2010, but up from 5.7% in 2007.  The underemployment (insufficient work) rate for college graduates in 2015 was 6.2% overall. Many people succeed without college degrees. The following successful people either never enrolled in college or never completed their college degrees: Richard Branson, founder and chairman of the Virgin Group; Charles Culpepper, owner and CEO of Coca Cola; Ellen Degeneres, comedian and actress; Michael Dell, founder of Dell, Inc.; Walt Disney, Disney Corporation founder; Bill Gates, Microsoft founder; Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple; Wolfgang Puck, chef and restaurateur; Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple; Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook. Learning a trade profession is a better option than college for many young adults. Trade professions are necessary for society to function, require less than four years of training, and often pay above average wages.   

My Opinion
My opinion is definitely to choose college and universities if you have the ambition of achieving a professional career, or, alternatively, trade school, to learn other types of careers needing supplementary training. Please write what you think about this article in the comments below!

Jokes #1

Here are a couple of jokes I found funny:

Q: What do you call an old snowman?
A: Water!

Q: Which dinosaur knew the most words?
A: The thesaurus!

Q: Who did Frankenstein take to prom?
A: His ghoulfriend.

Q: What does a nosey pepper do?
A: Gets jalapeno business!

Five guys were on a plane: a kid, a preacher, a doctor, the pilot, and a lawyer. On the intercom, the pilot said, "Mayday! Mayday! We're going down and there are only four parachutes on the plane. You decide who is staying but I'm jumping now!" The doctor said, "I've saved lives my entire life, so I think that I should get one" and he jumped. The lawyer said, "I'm the smartest man in the world, and have won hundreds of cases so I should get one" and he jumped too. The preacher went up to the kid and said, "I've lived a long and happy life and I know I'm going to heaven, so you take the last parachute and go." The kid said, "No, you take this one and I'll take the other one. The smartest man in the world just jumped out with my backpack." 😃

Guy in a library walks up to the librarian and says, "I'll have a cheeseburger and fries, please."
Librarian responds, "Sir, you know you're in a library, right?"
Guy says, "Oh, sorry. [in a whisper] I'll have a cheeseburger and fries, please."  😃

So, for almost every joke post, I will choose a topic for a joke/pun. This week's topic is doctor jokes.

My doctor took one look at 
my gut and refused to believe that 
I work out. So I listed the exercises 
I do every day: jump to conclusions, climb the walls, drag my heels, 
push my luck, make mountains out of molehills, bend over backward, run around in circles, put my foot 
in my mouth, go over the edge, and beat around the bush. 😃 Get it? The "exercises" were actually just idioms!

Our School System

IT'S DISCUSSION TIME

Our school system in the United States is ranked 30th worldwide. Many people who emerge from our schools are successful, and that's what people value. What they don't acknowledge are the people who are struggling. The kids who need help. They don't understand concepts, they feel stressed, their mind is swirling with all these formulas, poems, essays, and homework. Why are these kids this way? We need to help, to understand, to do these things for a kid's future. "Although they are 20% of our population, they are 100% our future." Here's a video that I want you to watch.

Now, there are some things I would like to discuss with you. This video will probably seem very inspirational to you in many ways. First of all, the content of this video is appealing because of many controversies you might have heard of. Also, the video has inspiring music that makes the lesson much more interesting. There's also a visual impact. Because of these things, a video usually has an advantage over articles. And, we also need to nurture a child's learning, instead of leaving them in the dust. A great teacher teaches the math lesson with a very clear explanation. An outstanding teacher helps the children understand the lesson, reflecting back to other strategies and formulas, and takes the lesson to a whole new level. If you agree with me, please write in the comments below!