Carry on, Mr. Bowditch

"Carry On, Mr Bowditch" is about a boy who's father was a captain of a ship until it sank. He was a very smart person and was asked to go to a college which he could not attend because of his family low on money. One night he overheard his dad talking to his sister about school. He thought that he was going to school again. In the morning he woke and his dad wanted to talk to him. His dad said that he was going to go to stay at a place for nine years. The boy agreed. During those nine years he was not allowed to leave without permission and he was not to be interrupted during working hours. This was called an apprenticeship.

So the nine years passed. During the nine years, Mr. Bowditch lost his dad, grandma, mom, and sister. When he started on his apprenticeship, the captain was his friend. Then everything changed and they got a different captain whose name was Prince. Captain Prince was a angry fellow. This made things harder. But as time went on and they became friends also.

Mr. Bowditch completed his apprenticeship. Captain Prince asked him to go on other trips. He agreed and they went. During the second trip Mr. Bowditch found an error on one of the sailing instructional books. He was very angry because many lives depend on those books. These errors inspired Mr. Bowditch to write his own book on sailing ships.

Because Mr. Bowditch was so smart at mathematics and he taught the crew how to do what he did. Mr. Bowditch became popular and wrote his own book. Nobody thought that the British would accept that the book was better than the one with the errors. But the British accepted the book with complements.

I think that this book tells us about how Mr.Bowditch had lost everyone he knew. But he did not give up and quit,he just continued on with his life. Because of his perseverence knowledge, he became Captain . Because of his calculations, he was one of the only man to sail in the Boston harbor in the fog at that period of time. I liked the character of Mr. Bowditch and I enjoyed reading this book.

Fishing Trip

The fishing trip was fun but it was very windy and cold.
During the fishing trip we all caught a fish. My fish was the biggest of them all it was abouth 22 inches long and about 5 pounds. Steve had a fish that was a little smaller them mine, and Russell had the smallest of them all (for a change). We went in the morning and came back at night. In the lake it was very cold and we all got sick with the flu. It was nice when the sun was out and when the wind stopped. When we left we thought that we were the last ones in the lake. But we were wrong because when we were going out we saw many more people in the lake fishing. Steve caught the first fish at 10:00 A.M. in the morning, and I caught mine with Steve's pole when he went to help Russell. Russell caught his right before we left the lake.

"Kidnapped"

The book "Kidnapped" is about a boy whose father died and was sent to go to his uncle. The boy's name was David Balfour of Shaw's. His uncle was all about money and he tried to kill David and take his money. So one day David and his uncle went to the city where uncle met up with a sea captain of the "Covenant".  David got on the "Covenant" and he got beat up in the ship and sailed away because David's uncle made a deal with the captain.

 While David was in the ship there was a murder of a boy,  David's money got taken and divided with the crew; and many other bad  things. Luckily he got two thirds of his money back. One day in the ship there was an impact and they hit a boat. One man got on the boat in french clothing and with money. The captain wanted to kill the person and take the money. So David and the stranger decided to fight.

Before the battle David found out that the name of the stranger was Alan Breck. So they won the battle and the ship went into the storm. David got swept off the ship and landed on a island where there were no people to help him.  He survived for some days on the island till someone picked him up, and sent him into an actual island with people. He got a guide and went off. After his guide left he ran into red coats and someone killed the leader. The red coats thought of him as a stopper of the movement for killing and gave a price on his head. He ran far and found Alan. After he found Alan they went to help each other to get to their own homes.

I think in this book, the author wants us to know about frendship and courage. And how Alan and David "together" got through the British and went to their own homes; David, to claim his house and Alan, to go to his country where he would be safe. It tells us about how they were in situations where they could not do anything but be still and hope that they were not found.

Uncle Sam wants you in the US Navy

Uncle Sam wants you in US Armed forces, I don't know if Obama, does but Uncle Sam does [ha!!!]. My brother-in-law, Benjamin, just graduated from the Navy boot camp; my other brother-in -law , John, is thinking about joining the Air Force; and my brother Russell is going to Navy boot camp in March; and my sister Olga is thinking about joining the Navy; As for me, I like the Marines.

I worked on my normal subjects today in school. I worked on writing the Bible, I read more of "Kidnapped". I worked on my Science notes and finished a review for "The plant Kingdom".

Today in P.E. I jogged and walked about 2 miles; to my neighbor's Dale and Kim's house and back. I don't have a game this Saturday because of the sickness going in my school, so there was no practices, so Russell and I got our physical training by running.

Yesterday, I finished my Chapter on World History. We covered "Creation" (with a small study on Evolution), Cain, Abel, Seth, the "Flood", "Tower of Babel", Sumer, Babylon and how nations began after the dispertion at "Tower of Babel".

Field trip photos

Yesterday I went on a field trip to Westcliffe to take pictures of leaves. It was very exiting. We took our little dog with us. The leaves were turning different colors. The color of the leaves seem to change from green to gold or yellow. Actually, colors of fall were there in the leaves all along. They were hidden by the much brighter green of chlorophyll. Maple trees put on a great show and turn a brilliant scarlet. Sweet gum, cottonwood, elm, hickory, and walnut reveal leaves of gold, yellow, brown, and orange.

Most of the tree shed their leaves during autumn. The trees lose their strength to hold leaves and lose them because of the wind. The leaves lose their color because the sun start to become weaker in Autumn, so the leaves can't make enough Chlorophyll (the green color in leaves), to feed the tree and so as the chlorophyll slows down, the leaves begin to show the colors that remain. Slowly they die and trees lose the leaves.

All of my practices are canceled this week and my game is too. Because in the school many people got sick and could not come. The school canceled that day too. I think everyone is afraid of the swine flu.

The Bacteria Kingdom

Here is my Paramecium drawing.