Amazing speculative fiction + Curricular ideas

Well, the break is over and it's back to the salt mines tomorrow. But it's all good because as I've already mentioned, THE THESIS IS FINALLY COMPLETE and out of my hair! I think I can say a hallelujah to that :-P I'm hoping to finally get back on track with some goal outlining and planning starting tomorrow - atm I've just been focusing on getting the random clutter picked up and put away that accumulated from my hyper-focusing on the test, paper, and thesis revisions I had to get in before spring break... So anyway, for tonight I wanted to go ahead and post a couple more book reviews since I finished reading both of these over a week ago and I've just been too lazy to give them their due (which they both deserve!).

The Harvest by John David Krygelski (Book #18 of 2012)

One word: AMAZING!! Be aware that this is strongly speculative fiction and should not be taken literally in regards to Christian doctrine. But if you keep this in mind, you are in for some creative ride. This novel is about 440 pages long and you are left wanting to know even more! I don't mean know more about the characters, but more about the way God made the world and how the world functions - it is some trip. The vast majority of the story is dialogue (or rather monologues from primarily Elohim and Dr. Reese Johnson), but the topics discussed were so fascinating that the lack of action scenes throughout the majority of the novel was actually what made this book so incredibly intriguing. The only downside I saw in this novel were actually the action scenes, which seemed to be a little too drawn out when they did take place lol. If you don't have a conservative bent, I would warn against reading this one as it points out very strongly the harm that atheism has done to the world at large; something I strongly agree with (I was cheering on pretty much everything stated by Dr. Johnson), but that others may take issue with. Elohim (God as a guest in the FBI building - I know, crazy right? Trust me, it REALLY works!) describes the real functioning of physics, evolution, our souls, and more, to a point that the reader really has to be careful not to take these creative and believable explanations to heart! Read THIS BOOK, you will not regret it ;-)

Janice VanCleave's Ecology for Every Kid: Easy Activities that Make Learning Science Fun (Book #19 of 2012)

I borrowed this curricula book from my advisor because at a quick glance it looked like it had a lot of interesting ideas to offer as well as some great simplified explanations of ecological concepts. Not to mention it was a trip down memory lane since I used Janice VanCleave books back in middle school to help give me ideas for science fair projects. While I realize this book was for more of an elementary or middle school level, I found some activities that could be used as fantastic demonstrations in the high school classroom. Think a transparent earthworm home to demonstrate niches, or an ant farm to clearly show how division of labor works in a colony, or 3 different plants with 3 different watering treatments to show the effects of acid rain. All such simple activities, but the way she puts these activities in the context of ecological concepts made reading this book SO worth while!

Fantastic Blog Posts for a Happier Life :-)

So I know it's been awhile...I stayed up till 4am Friday night finishing up my Biology M.S. thesis revisions...it was a college flash back!! Well, it's done and now I can focus on my Secondary Biology Education M.A. - woohoo! I have been so relieved and so relaxed since Friday (plus it happens to be Spring Break) that I have just been utterly bumming it since. Finally a break where I do not have to worry about collecting or analyzing data - it's so weird... Anyway, I wanted to share several fantastic blog posts about a number of different topics, all pertaining to improving your outlook on life in some form or another...it's truly amazing how these sorts of insights from others really can help you live a happier life :-)

1. "Frumps to Pumps" by Sarah Mae from Stretching Into Blue

This is actually an e-book that is available for free if you sign up for email updates from the Stretching Into Blue blog. I've only scanned through the first several pages, but I'm really excited about this "motivotional." Sarah Mae has created a devotional with a strongly biblical perspective to help women get dressed in the morning. As someone who has difficulties taking a shower every day...don't judge! - I KNOW I'm not the only female with this problem...I think this book will be extremely helpful in getting ready every morning to conquer the day. The book is separated into 20 days of devotionals, each with a set of challenges and some very well-chosen and very uplifting verses from the bible. I love it when I can get my hands on super relevant biblical perspectives on every day life :-) Oh and a word I noticed in scanning through the book was "frumpflower!" How fantastic is that? Reminds me of the days when I throw on sweats, a long sleeve shirt, flip flops, and messily pull my hair up in a pony tail...hmmm.

2. "5 ways to get organized on the cheap" from Right@Home

This short post from R@H provides some great tips for using items you would otherwise throw away to help organize your mess! Upcycling for organization is always a great thing. Tips include using check book boxes as drawer dividers, a tissue-box as a grocery bag dispenser (this might actually be a way to better compact the grocery bags I now have just stored inside other grocery bags under the sink...), and more. All 5 tips aren't necessarily useful for me (I've recycled every shoe box I've ever owned), but I'll take what I can get!

3. "The Most Important Hour of the Day" from Michael Hyatt

Oh those extra few minutes of sleep...how lovely they are...unless they turn into a couple of hours and your morning schedule becomes a frenzied attempt to be somewhere on time!! This scenario happens way too much in my life, so I find these tips from Michael Hyatt worth considering. One of his consistent tips across many of his posts is to do some sort of devotional or reading of the Bible in the morning. I think this is definitely a great way to start the day and would help me get my thoughts into focus so that I can be more productive and aware. He also mentions going to bed early enough to get a full night's sleep, something that I have finally gotten good at (although every time I visit my parents they throw me off by staying up insanely late...ughhh...I recently visited them and am already way off my normal schedule). Prepping the night before...hmmm...well, maybe it's a female thing, but I never really know what I want to wear until in the morning (maybe I'm too emotionally driven with what I wear lol). Also, I tend to do a good bit of work in the morning as well, so packing my bag the night before could be counter-productive. It's a good thought at least and I guess I could go ahead and make sure that my purse has everything in it before I go to bed... His overall premise that every minute of the first hour of the day should be used productively and wisely is inspiring regardless.

4. "7 Tips For Pulling Out of a Slump" from Crystal in MomLife Today

You know, it is kinda funny that a number of blogs and such that I look too for inspiration and helpful tips are mom blogs...me definitely not being a mom nor even close to that whole marriage thing...haha...oh well, they are still very helpful. Anyway, this is a wonderful post! I frequently find myself in a slump where I feel bored, unproductive, lonely, and essentially dejected. My usual remedy for this feeling is just to take a nap...even when I'm not sleepy (not the most useful thing that I could do...). Crystal provides some great insight on how to get out of such a slump including getting up and doing something (So true! 10 mins of organizing or doing the 5-Things Rule not only gets your body moving, but also produces a lovely result), exercise (yeah, I really need to work on this one - the motivation just is not there), having a morning routine (she also includes reading the Bible in the morning - I really should start doing this), and remembering that "His grace is sufficient" (so simple yet so powerful and so easily forgotten - I love it).

5. "Slaying Your Dragons Before Breakfast" from Michael Hyatt

Another great post from MH. Since I've already rambled on enough, I just want to relay a really neat idea that he presented in the last few sentences of this post. He sees his car as a rolling "prayer closet." How great is that? I usually enjoy listening to loud music and singing along while driving, but those times when I'm in a super hurry and am really all too intent on getting to my destination, I think I could make the effort to slow down my thoughts and pray to put my day back on the right track :-)

Enjoy! And for those on Spring Break...RELAX :-)

3ish Book Reviews - Education Trade, Thriller, How-To, and Inspirational

So I've read 4 more books already including an education trade book, a thriller, a how-to book on speed reading, and a quick inspirational Christian read. This is CRAZY!!! It's totally my kindlefire's fault as well as the prevalence of FREE books for kindle available on Amazon.com in droves. But is being addicted to free books and devouring them insatiably really a bad thing? I'm leaning on the side of this being a positive addiction...

Mis-Education in Schools: Beyond the Slogans and Double Talk by Howard Good (Book #15 of 2012)

This education trade book, written by a former school board member and teacher, provides great insights into several of the current problems in our educational system. I love the way this book is set up in having chapters that each specifically focus on one issue in a sort of anecdotal form with citations of support where necessary. This guy is funny and extremely enjoyable to read! Chapters include discussions of arbitrary rules and regulations in getting students out of and into tracked classes, the administrative rewarding of snitching, the lack of meaningful civics education in schools, what makes being a teacher so difficult, and the mind-numbing realities of school boards. While I may not have agreed with absolutely everything Good presented, I really appreciated his personal experiences and thoughts on specific educational problems. This book is not dry in the least and is quite entertaining as he details his daughters "adventures" in school. I absolutely recommend this book for educators and non-educators! I'm also super excited about the references listed at the end of each chapter - looks like some great future reading... 5/5 stars

Still Coming by Joseph Flynn (Book #16 of 2012) [NOTE: Atm, this book is FREE for the kindle]

Wow, what a crazy and unique concept. A super-selective small liberal arts college receives a variety of threats from a group of students who were not accepted. Are these students already on campus? What did the school president do that was so bad? What will the big finale be? These questions and more were all running through my mind throughout most of the novel and while some were answered just over a third of the way into the book, others were not answered until the very end. I was really impressed with Flynn's ability to carry out a thriller in which the main characters were truly fleshed out people the reader actually cared about...or in Dula's case, really hated! Despite the book's frightening cover art, this novel is mostly quite light hearted in a sense, although the emotions felt by the rejected students are certainly palpable. There is a sub-plot that threw me off for a while, but as the book progressed, I saw why it was a necessary part of the story. The only criticism I have is that the chapters are WAY too long at times, but maybe that's just me. When chapters are shorter I find it much easier to get hooked into a book thinking, "Oh I'll just read one more chapter." But with some of these chapters being some 30 or more pages long, that wasn't really possible. Regardless though, it still managed to be quite a page turner most of the time. I think in the end I have to give this book 4.5/5 stars because while all of the mysteries/questions were explained eventually, one of them was not really explained in much detail and I was left a little confused as to the logistics of it, but then I'm always hungry for the whys and hows of pretty much everything, so others may not have the same issue. Essentially, I loved it!

Since the following 2 books were both quite short (one was really short), I've combined them into Book #17 of 2012.

Visual Reading and The Snowball of Understanding by Hyo Sang Shin [Note: Atm, this is free for kindle IF you are an Amazon Prime member]

Hmm...this one was a bit strange. It's basically a book about speed reading, but from a more New-Agey perspective. At least I thought it was quite New-Agey. The concept was pretty far out there to say the least. I bought this book because it was free at the time for kindle and I thought it might be an informative read, which it certainly was, I just don't really think the method is for me. Shin seems to be a super legitimate person in regards to this technique so I guess I shouldn't be so skeptical. The book presents 2 case studies of students who have gone through his 10-week program and consequently went from 120 words per minute to 600+ words per minute - wait...600+ wpm! I'd like to see that... Essentially, visual reading is a method where you see the connections between all the words and see sentences as structured 3d objects. When you achieve this, words seem to flow together, and as place receptors in your brain are turned on (the cells that allow us to create memories of experiences) you begin to see the words on the page as a movie in your mind. As you get into the rhythm of reading in this way, you increase your speed immensely and a snowball of understanding occurs where all the connections are automatically formed in your brain and you can remember far more of what you are reading. Shin's argument is that people who sub-vocally or vocally read are only using their working memory to understand the words on a page and since this part of our memory is so short and limited in capacity, these readers quickly forget what they have previously read. I have never found this to be a problem though and I am definitely a sub-vocal reader. If I get confused about something I'm reading I just flip back and see what I'm missing to make the proper connections with what I'm currently reading. And when I'm reading academic material, I like to take notes in the margin and highlight important passages so that I can consciously make connections to my own experiences, personal thoughts, and previously learned information. Shin's reason for promoting this type of reading which apparently can yield up to 1200 words per minute (CRAZY!!) is that if people can read this fast with the supposed enhanced understanding that comes with it, then more people can be exposed to all the great ideas people have presented in the past on how to fix the ills of the world. A noble goal, but I guess I'm too set in my reading habits to consider the training required to master this method of reading worth my time...

Faith Notes (101 God Notes) by Pauline Creeden [NOTE: Atm, this book is FREE for kindle]

Okay, so this was actually only 18 pages long (I guess it's more of a pamphlet lol). Very short, very uplifting. It's just a list of 101 Bible verses and biblical thoughts from the author. I think having this book handy could be quite useful when I get down on myself or upset with others. Definitely some great insights into paralleling your life more closely with that of Christ's. 5/5 stars

That's all for now :-) Happy reading!

February goals update...woops!

Well, it looks like my February goals are going to have to carry over to the month of March, because...it just so happens to be March 4th already!! Ack...time is going by SO fast. But it's all good because I did fully complete my web and computer folders goal and now have a much more organized computer to deal with which happens to make life way easier...so yayay!!! :-P

For now I think I'll just keep the 3 remaining goals in mind and not add anything else until they are close to completion as I have a feeling that overwhelming myself will not yield any progress at all...

1. Web and Computer folders - COMPLETE...1 out of 4 is still something to be proud of...:-)

a. Make appropriate sub-folders within bookmark folders - CHECK

b. Sort all websites into their proper folders - CHECK

c. Move downloaded documents, etc. to my Documents folder - CHECK

d. Make sure all sub-folders in Documents make sense - CHECK

e. Put desktop folders where they should go - CHECK

2. Education "Stuff"

a. Locate all test results and legal documents and put in one folder

b. Put all past teaching materials in one folder that is BIG enough

c. Figure out the best way to deal with all of my loose newspaper clippings

d. Separate out materials from previous courses and put each of these stacks together

e. Put all graduation requirement items in one folder

3. Dresser

a. Top drawer

b. Second drawer

c. Third drawer

d. Fourth drawer - still very close...

e. Bottom drawer - CHECK

4. My BUGS!!!

a. Throw out not so well preserved bugs

b. Find a better way to store my spider collection

c. Figure out what to do with my ridiculous number of M.S. thesis vials

d. Reorganize collections from college

A couple of great organizational blog posts I found!! + Feb Goals

Check out these 2 great organizational guest blog posts from Money Saving Mom:

1. Simple Tips to Get Organized

In this post, Andrea uses the word SIMPLE as an acronym for various steps to take in organizing your life. Love it! Especially I=Immediate Action which mentions how when you cross off one thing on your to-do list, half of it is crossed off before you know it!

2. 15 Ways to Repurpose Items You Already Have for Organizing

In this post, Heidi brings together an array of ideas (photos included), from many different blogs, for outside-of-the-box organizing tools. Very cool, especially for those who love to D.I.Y...which I most certainly do!

February Goals Update - Not too much progress, but some is better than none ;-)

1. Web and Computer folders

a. Make appropriate sub-folders within bookmark folders

b. Sort all websites into their proper folders

c. Move downloaded documents, etc. to my Documents folder - CHECK (now I can easily maintain the Downloads to Documents flow :-)

d. Make sure all sub-folders in Documents make sense - VERY close to having this completed

e. Put desktop folders where they should go - I really need to do this next!

3. Dresser

a. Top drawer/tights and undershirts drawer

b. Second drawer/t-shirts drawer

c. Third drawer/t-shirts drawer

d. Fourth drawer/running drawer - VERY close (I've already put several items in my Thrift Store and Plato's Closet give-away containers)

d. Bottom drawer - CHECK (I actually dealt with this in tandem with the closet clearing goal)

3 Book Reviews + 1 Movie Review

I'm really rackin' it up on books read so far this year...my amazing kindlefire has certainly helped with that ;-)

Guardian by Elita Daniels and Blair Kenny (Book #12 of 2012)

The premise of this book greatly intrigued me and so I started it the minute it downloaded to my kindle. Basically, vampirism is a man-made virus that has created a group of people who must each be assigned a Guardian to make sure they cooperate with human customs and aren't carriers of the virus. Only carriers, who are actually quite few in number, can pass vampirism to others which allows the majority of vampires to feed on volunteering humans at will. The main character, Anna, is a very real person with roller coaster emotional episodes. I think a lot of people could empathize with her especially when her first love does something that is absolutely irredeemable. Be aware that this book does contain explicit love scenes and so I would only recommend it for older readers. I did find this novel quite gripping and page-turning in regards to Anna's life and the things she must deal with. Also, the way vampirism is portrayed is fairly interesting. Unfortunately, I did have two big problems. First off, the secret behind the vampire disease was not really expounded upon all that well and when it was introduced as a hit you in the face revelation, Anna had no reaction and I felt like the revelation had already been discussed previously. Secondly, the ending, forgive my bluntness, sucked! There was absolutely zero closure and it was the kind of cliff-hanger you would expect of a 2-part season finale on a TV show NOT for the first novel in a potential series (I actually found myself flipping around to see if I was just having difficulty getting to the next chapter). I couldn't even find evidence that there IS going to be a second book. Oh well, here's to hoping! 3.5/5

Thirst by Claire Farrell (Book #13 of 2012) [NOTE: This book is FREE atm for kindle]

This book was a fairly light affair which was pleasant since it was also about vampires. Ava Delaney is a human who was born with vampiric traits because her pregnant mother was bitten by one. A number of mysterious characters appear, most especially Eddie, and intrigue abounds. Real vampires come into play as well as they show their own special interest in Ava's situation. I still don't know what special role Ava plays in the vampire world or who she really is in regards to her destiny for that matter. It seems like there is a LOT more to tell and I am quite excited for the second book in this series (since this book was subtitled "Ava Delaney #1" I was comforted in the fact that I wouldn't be left hanging in the long run). This book is sweet and clean and you really do care for how Ava must deal with her accidental enslavement of Carl. Oh poor Carl :-( Honestly, I really can't wait to find out how everything fits together what with Eddie's unexplained power, Peter's strange relationship with a mysterious woman, and Carl's lingering affection for Ava...a good read. 4/5

Situated Language and Learning: A Critique of Traditional Schooling by James Paul Gee (Book #14 of 2012)

As I did with a previous book I reviewed, I'm going to go ahead and say that if you are not an educator or a future educator, this book will be of no interest to you. I really stress that with this one because it can be quite technical at times in focusing on how our current generation of children experience true learning. Regardless, I 100% recommend this book! It's overarching theme is about how video games are the perfect learning tool with inherent scaffolding built in and so allow a learner to always be in their proximal zone of development while playing. The explanations of various types of video games and how they do so was absolutely fascinating. I was disappointed though in being left with no real ideas for how to practically implement such learning situations. Hopefully I can find some methods oriented books that expand on Gee's ideas.

The last thing I wanted to do this morning was review the movie Contagion. Not because it was so incredible that I couldn't pass up a review, but because it is SO OVERRATED!!! I cannot believe the hype this movie has gotten. [Please check out the 1995 movie OUTBREAK if you want to see a truly good movie about a terrible disease that has the potential to cause mass devastation (Click the link for the trailer!). Plus, with Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Spacey, Donald Sutherland, and...Morgan Freeman you just cannot go wrong!] Back to Contagion. Matt Damon was not the great actor in this movie that all the critics said he was, instead he was stiff and unemotional for the most part. Also, there was NO ENDING! Why do so many current highly acclaimed movies leave the viewer in confusion over what actually happened. When I sit down to watch a movie, I want closure and a story with a beginning and end - this had none. They even decided to throw a little bit of "mystery" in right before the credits rolled by showing a flashback that just made me laugh. Actually, I was laughing quite a bit once this movie ended and couldn't help saying out loud, "Wow that was incredibly dumb." See, the catch here is that I LOVE disease movies and find the mystery behind how a disease develops and how it spreads absolutely fascinating, but this movie did not cater to those particular interests. Additionally, it was incredibly inconsistent in how the world started falling apart - there just wasn't any real flow from one moment to another. *Sigh* it really is too bad...

Happy reading!!! :-)

Helpful Posts on Decluttering!

It has been FAR too long since I last posted - courtesy of my defense last week I'm sure! Well, I PASSED - woohoo :-D I am officially a Master of Biology :-P Now all I have to worry about are the revisions to my paper and then I can relax and enjoy my road to becoming a secondary school educator *relief*.

Anyway, this morning I wanted to share with you some really great blog posts about decluttering since this is one of my favorite topics. Although you wouldn't know it from looking around my house, I guess I just haven't quite gotten to the point where I can easily maintain yet. School seems to always get in the way...

First, I'd like to share a guest post on the MoneySavingMom blog entitled "A '100 Things' Decluttering Challenge." Yes, the prospect of getting rid of 100 things all at once absolutely terrifies me, but I might be able to modify this into a "10 Things A Day Challenge" or a "30 Things a Weekend Challenge." And then once I reach 100 I can breathe a sigh of relief at my less cluttered home.

Second is another guest post on the MoneySavingMom blog that is entitled, "How I Purged 91% of Our Stuff." This post has some wonderful, seemingly obvious tips on how one can approach getting rid of clutter. For example, about a year ago I purged my tupperware accumulation, but have since then reacquired more than I will ever use - looks like I need to purge the multiples!

Third, this is a great short article from Home Made Simple entitled, "Hour-a-Day Organization" that just gives some quick organizational tips. I LOVE the 3-5 things rule and have been doing this for years as a way to break up studying or arduous tasks that take a long time. Essentially, you find 3-5 things that you can put away or throw away. This takes no time at all and really does clean up your space, especially if you do this continuously throughout the day.

I hope you find these helpful!!

Note: I'll be updating my February goals progress soon...but it's slow going right now...