I hope my blog inspires dreamers to dream big and leaves wisdom seekers a little wiser. :) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 1 Jan 2007 15:26:00 -0600 Mon, 1 Jan 2007 15:26:00 -0600 This week I have been playing around with other blog sites and I have found blogspot to be much easier to use and since I now have two other blogs there I am moving this one over there too. My new home for Musings of a Mentor is http://rgrc.blogspot.com/ it will take time to get things moved, but this is my last new post at this site. I hope you might come by and visit sometime. Peace and happy new year to all! Sandie http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/262094/ Mon, 1 Jan 2007 15:26:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/262094/ Today is Holy Innocents Day, or the 3rd or 4th day of Christmas depending upon your tradition. Here is prayer I find very meaningful. My husband and I say it together over the children after dinner every 28th of December to remember all the lost children of the world.... Let us pray. O Lord, Jesus Christ, Who didst embrace and lay thy hands upon the little children when they came to thee, and didst say to them: "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs, and their angels always see the face of my Father," — look with a Father's eye upon the innocence of these children, and bless them this day and all days to come. By thy grace and goodness let them make progress in desiring thee, loving thee, fearing thee, obeying thy commandments — thus coming to their destined home, through thee, Saviour of the world, Who with the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, God, forever and ever. Amen. Here is wishing you and yours a wonderful Christmas season! Savor each day until Epiphany!!!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/260282/ Thu, 28 Dec 2006 13:21:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/260282/ These are four of the final essays done on Lord of the Flies.  Its themes of where do we really encounter the beast in our lives is still very relevant. I am extremely proud of these young men and how they continue to dig into the literature we are reading. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/257588/ Thu, 21 Dec 2006 10:09:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/257588/ New Ending by Cody Priddy     Awoken by the shrill cries of the savages, Ralph realizes that he has to run. He picks himself up and takes off. He can recognize jack’s voice above everyone else’s, chanting, “Kill the enemy! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!”  Ralph picks up his pace, his heart throbbing faster than ever before. He looks back and sees the group of maniacs. He realizes that this may be the end. He quickens his pace, his legs feeling almost disconnected. Then out from the sky lands Jack. They stare at each other, eyes linking, one full of terror, the other full of hate and the want for blood.     “Jack, why are you doing this?” an out of breath Ralph questions.     Jack chuckles, “You’re the enemy, Ralph. I have to kill the enemy.” A vile grin runs across his face.     “I just want to get off this island, like everyone else!”     “Who cares about getting off this glorious sanctuary? We have all we need and no bloody adults!”     “Sanctuary!? SANCTUARY!? This place is. . .Hell!”     “And that’s where you’re be going soon enough!”     “Wha...just listen to yourself, you’re batty!”     “Perhaps. But, I own this island now, and I’m never leaving!”     “What’s the use with you? Just kill me, but you’ll rot on this island.”     “Great.” Jack turns off his smile and runs toward Ralph. He stabs and kills him.  Blood spurts into the air, and mixes with the clouds. It lands on Jack’s face with a satisfying splat. He licks it off his lips, smiles and walks off into the distance, blood dripping from his hand.     One year, seven months and six days have gone by since Ralph’s murder. No more animals inhabit the land, except for the humans, of course. The fruit is gone and many people are ill. Jack’s a mess. By now he is realizing how right Ralph was. Suicide crosses his mind, but an old memory crosses his mind. “Kill me, but you’ll rot on this island.”  “Great.”  Jack created what the island is today and he cannot allow himself to escape from it, whether it be by ship or death. So Jack stayed and watched as many people died. Soon two years have passed and he is the only one left, not tainted by illness or death. He has eaten the corpses of others to survive. But eventually there is absolutely nothing left. He starved to death, never thinking to fish. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     This is what probably should have happened for a number of reasons. The kids should not have escaped their island, they should have rotted on what they created. Only Ralph should have been set free, since he had no part in ruining the island. So by dying, he actually won. While Jack lost as he watched all the people he had been with for years die. For a time he was this so-called “beast,” but near the end his sanity returned and he regretted many things. This made his end even worse. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/257585/ Thu, 21 Dec 2006 10:07:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/257585/ New Ending by Gabe Wright     My ending picks up after Piggy died. Ralph was stabbed in his ribs. He felt horrible pain. The tip of Spear still stuck in his side. He fled All the boys laughing at him. They were victorious, this time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ralph looked back in agonizing pain, he had to sit down. He was at least a third of a mile away from Castle Rock. He leaned his back against a rotten log. Ralph looked at his wound, seeing that it was only a flesh wound, he grabbed the end of the spear and pulled it out. Blood oozed out and he felt the warm liquid across his stomach. He ripped what was left of his shirt and wrapped it over his gash. Ralph breathed in and out feeling his side burst with pain. He clenched his teeth. He laid back his head against the rotten log; and, breathed slowly outward. He eyes closed. Piggy flashed in his head. “Piggy didn’t deserve to die. Jack and Roger will pay!” he mumbled to himself. “It seems safe for now. Tonight I will strike,” he said with a smile. Raising his fist into the air, and then pulling it back from the pain caused by his wounds.     “Piggy is dead and he died horribly. Roger killed Piggy. He had no right to do that,” Ralph thought to himself, “How could he do that?”  Tears started to stream down his face. He leaned his head down, trying to hide his tears from the world. He felt a rain drop on his head. He looked up tear streaked. “I will avenge your unnecessary death!” he yelled. As his voiced echoed through the trees it seemed to reach the end of the world. He lifted his dirty head with blood red eyes and a grimacing smile, and said, “If they want savage, I’ll give it to them!”     Jack looked at the overcast sky, it had been orange just a minute ago. It was as if someone had summoned these unforgiving clouds. He looked at the fire. The wind was blowing at the back of his head. And, he noticed how the fire flickered in the dimming sunlight. He didn’t care if it went out, he had Piggy’s specks. He had fire.     Jack turned around and looked at Roger. “It’s going to rain. We will go and hunt tomorrow for Ralph,” said Jack with his red and white striped face. “Well, we will get him tomorrow for sure. We’ll smoke him out and we’ll scan the place so good that he’ll have nowhere to hide. But the storm...the storm is rolling in....What about the fire?”     “What about it!” said Roger with a disturbed look on his face. Roger looked at the dark gray sky. He frowned thirsting for more blood.     Ralph was there...Castle Rock. He was fidgeting with the spearhead in his hand. He smiled with vengeance oozing out of his teeth. He was ready but the time was not right. The fire was going and people were still looking out for him. Ralph would have to wait for it to rain. The smell of fresh salty rain was in the air. Ralph licked his lips with dissatisfaction they tasted like dirt and salt. Ralph waiting for the time to be right went to the left side of the camp and sat down. Looking at his wound, he smirked. The rain was close, he smelled it. He closed his eyes.     Ten minutes later, Ralph raised his eyelids. He looked up, the rain was beating hard on his face. “Perfect!” he said with a very happy smile. “Now is the time to strike!” Ralph stood up with the spearhead clenched in his hand. The smell of smoke had diminished. He walked towards the rock. No one was patrolling the area where he had been waiting. The fire was out and he could sneak in. He went to the side of the rock were the fire was completely out. He knew that almost everyone was asleep inside, but a few were still patrolling the area closest to the fire. But, it was too dark to see them as more than just silhouettes.     He sneaked closer, he is in the middle of the sleeping boys. I must strike quickly before anyone wakes up, he thought.  Stepping over a boy who was squirming, he reached towards a boy who was sleeping comfortably. Ralph couldn’t see who it was but it didn’t matter, he put his knife to the boy’s neck. A centimeter away, he covered the boy’s mouth slowly. The boy yawned, his hot moist breath heating Ralph’s hand. Ralph smiles, pulls back his hand ready to strike, sweat dripping from anticipation.     Ralph swooped the knife deep into the boy’s neck. Blood squirts out. Splats over his face. Ralph smiles. The boy opened his eyes in horrific terror. He tried to yell, but choked on his own blood. The only sound was a bloody gurgle.     The boy’s eyes close and he stops breathing. Ralph took his hand from the silhouette who laid dead in front of him, looks around to see if anybody has awakened. Nope, they still lay sleeping. Ralph looks back at the body. It laid motionless. Ralph smiles.     Crouched and stepping over the pool of blood, searching, seeking for his next victim, Ralph sees slight movement and moves into the shadows. Behind a rock, he hid and spied his next target. It was still too dark to see and he didn’t really care who it was. Ralph stepped carefully over sleeping bodies. Finally, he stood over the squirming body with the bloody spearhead in his hand. He reached for the throat of his target, moving ever so slowly, ever so carefully, ever so close. He had very little time so he must work fast. His sweat mixing with the blood of another.     Placing his hand over the sleeping victim, Ralph’s heart was beating fast. He crept the knife close to the sleeping body, then swooped it across the boy’s neck. A gurgle spurted from his lips and blood streamed out. The boy fell silent and still. He was dead. “Sleep, your nightmare is over,” Ralph whispered. Looking for another, Ralph saw who he thought was Sam. This should make an impression and tell them that this is NOT a game! Ralph said inside his head.     Reaching for his final victim, his hand is now covered in blood. Moving slowly, he crept over to the boy. His hand shaking from excitement. The blood dripping...drip, drip...a drop falls on the third victim’s face. Ralph stops and looks around. The boy sleeps on. Knowing he has little time left to strike, it is getting light, Ralph covers the boy’s mouth. His hand is wet from blood, the boy opens an eye. He screams at the figure looming over him. Ralph puts Spearhead right into the boy’s forehead. The blood sprays over Ralph and showers him in warmth.     Jack stood up as did others and scanned the dark room.  A few slept on, three would never wake up, again. Ralph looks up and sees the commotion, it is time he made his exit! As he is running out of the cave and into the forest, Jack is trying to wake everyone up. He screams, “Turn the fire back on!”  His face damp from the dew, Jack takes a step and felt a warm puddle between his toes. Reaching down, he feels the goop. He steps outside into the dim light. Dark red. Must be blood. Looking back with startled eyes asks, “Whose blood is this?” The crowd of boys looks back into the cave. Three figures lay still.     Ralph lies at the end of the beach, his heart throbbing and his side bleeding freely, again. Tearing more of his shirt off, he ties his wound once more. Lying on the beach watching the light coming from the horizon, he puts he head back and lets a tear drop fall down his check. There is the smell of smoke in his nostrils, the island is on fire! Ralph turns and faces the horrid flames. A shadow looms over him, turning he finds himself staring at a pair of kneecaps covered by socks. He looks up into the face of a bearded man. “Are you the only one?” he asks in a husky tone. “Yes!” “Well, get on the boat, we’re set’n’t sail.” Once on the ship, Ralph looks back at the blazing hell that he is finally leaving. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     The reason that I wanted Ralph to go a little crazy was because I wanted to see his evil side. Throughout the story, Ralph battled to choose which side he was on. I made him go temporarily insane for two reasons. First, by giving into his “dark side” he survived. Yet, in surviving he turned into what he didn’t want to be. He became a changed man by leaving his Enemies on the island to live out what they had made.     Second, I wanted Ralph to kill the three boys to show that even though he was trying to do the right thing, he went in the opposite direction. He succumbed to revenge and savagery. He realized that Piggy was his only true friend. Even though Piggy wasn’t rough and strong, he was an innocent, he didn’t hurt anyone, always trying to do the right thing. In my ending savageness beat out the proper way to live.  I see it that Piggy was Ralph’s good conscience and that Jack sat on his other shoulder.  In loosing Piggy, Ralph lost the part of him that made him reasonable and civilized. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/257584/ Thu, 21 Dec 2006 10:06:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/257584/ by Thomas Campbell     The three main symbols were Piggy’s glasses, the conch shell, and the head of the pig.  Piggy’s glasses represent technology because when Piggy wears them he speaks rationally, intelligently and scientifically.  The conch shell represents democracy and everybody’s chance to speak.  It gathers them together and brings structure to all the boys.  It helps them choose the leader with less arguing. The pig’s head represents superstition and savagery.  The superstition is that there is a beast and the savagery is that it would want a blood offering.  Jack uses the pig’s head to excite the blood lust of the tribe. In this book there were many symbols knowing how to recognize the symbols will help you understand a book better. by Brandon Hamilton     The conch is one of the most important things on the island. It symbolizes government, justice and society, instead of savageness. When the story first started Ralph and Piggy found the conch on the beach. Ralph blows it to assemble all the children on the island. Then they all vote on a chief, which ends up being Ralph. As chief, Ralph decides to use the conch so everyone has a chance to be heard by passing it around. Whoever has it is able to speak so everybody wasn’t talking all at once. Ralph also decides when he blows the conch everyone is to gather for a meeting.     After a while, Jack stops listening to Ralph and starts his own tribe. The children that were Jack’s friends when the plane crashed were the first to join Jack’s tribe. Later, almost all of the kids joined Jack because they saw that his tribe had no rules.  The only five that were left in Ralph’s tribe were Ralph, Piggy, Simon, Eric and Sam.  Jack didn’t respect society, he also didn’t respect the person that was speaking with the conch because he talked when he didn’t have the conch, in fact, he really didn’t respect any of the children on the island.     At the end of the story Piggy tried to use the conch to get everyone to calm down and act civilized. His valiant effort cost him his life because he could not see without his glasses, therefore, he did not see the rock coming straight for him. After Piggy’s death, the conch was destroyed; and, Jack’s tribe tried to kill Ralph, but was unsuccessful.     Even though the conch represents well being it wasn’t fool proof.  At first it worked, until Jack began to disobey the rules and do what he wanted. It is worst to be a savage then to be civilized.  Society doesn’t easily accept or tolerate those who act wild and uncivilized.  In this story Simon, Piggy and Ralph are the civilized ones while those who deserted to Jack’s tribe did so because they believed that savagery was just another fun game. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/257582/ Thu, 21 Dec 2006 09:58:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/257582/ As in life, I found several types of love in the story The Bridge of San Luis Rey written by Thornton Wilder.  Parent to child love was illustrated through the relationship of Dona Maria and her daughter, Dona Clara.  This was a bad love because Dona Clara did not love her mother, but her mother loved her more than anything, even herself.  Another bad family relationship was shown between Camila and her son Don Jamie.  Camila did not know how to be a mother.  The parent-child relationship between Camila and Uncle Pio was a good love because he loved her and took care of her.     Physical love was shown between Camila and the Viceroy; and Camila and the Matador.  Both of these relationships were only physical, Camila was interested in only what she could get from her lovers.  She did not understand that true love is giving not always receiving.     Uncle Pio and Camila’s relationship also demonstrated mentor to student love.  This was a good one because she felt comfortable discussing her life with him.  Camila knew in her heart that Uncle Pio was a good role model.  There should have been a mentor to student relationship between Dona Maria and Pepita but there wasn’t because Dona Maria was too wrapped up in her own world and didn’t know Pepita was with her most of the time.    Towards the end of their stories Pepita was Dona Maria’s mentor, when Pepita taught Dona Maria about real love and courage.  Pepita’s real mentor was the Mother Superior.  It was she who Pepita truly learned from and could talk to.      Throughout the whole book, the love of Yahweh shines bright.  It was Brother Juniper’s love of Yahweh, and his need to “prove” that love, that led him to investigate the lives of the five people who died when the San Luis Rey Bridge fell.  The Abbess showed her love of Yahweh by dedicating her life to the needs of those less fortunate.  Uncle Pio’s life was an earthly example of Yahweh’s total unconditional love of man. Dona Maria after being shown how to love by Pepita wrote her Corinthian letter, which showed Yahweh’s love regardless.  After the tragedy, Camila joined the convent and became a true servant of Yahweh.      Love is one of the most important aspects of human relationships.  This story illustrated that Yahweh’s love is the source of all love.  Man takes this love and expresses it in many simple and complex ways.  Wilder has shown us different ways that people express love, both good and bad, it is up to us to learn how to love like Yahweh. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/257014/ Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:00:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/257014/ These seven essays on the Bridge of San Luis Rey were the best and most diverse that were turned in. The students are getting better and better at seeing and using literary tools. If you have never read this book, I strongly suggest it. The theme of Live by Divine Purpose, Die by Divine Purpose or Live my accident, Die by accident is an important one. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/256998/ Wed, 20 Dec 2006 08:18:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/256998/ Esteban was twin to Manual. He and his brother grew up in an orphanage. They were tall, handsome and hard workers. These two were as one, no one really knew which was who. It was almost as if they were one person living in two bodies. Until one day Manual fell in love. This was when the two began to separate. Esteban and his brother kept to themselves most of the time. There were a few people who impacted Esteban's life. The Abbess raised the boys, influencing them in their writing, other skills, and teaching them the way of the Lord. After Manual died, Esteban went into a deep depression. He even tried many times to kill himself by doing dangerous rescues. When these attempts didn't work, Esteban attempted to hang himself. This is when Esteban was saved by Captain Alvarado. The Captain asked Esteban to come with him , to help on his ship, and busy the pain away. Esteban agreed, a couple days later, he died on the Bridge. Was Esteban's death an accident or a plan by the All Mighty? Esteban was starting over, but in what, a new life without his brother or a new life with God? In this story, Wilder expands our minds to think about the question, are we all an accident and just die by accident or are we all part of a plan and our death is planned out before it happens? I believe God created us to make choices. Our choices create our destiny. I also believe God is with us when we make our choices and hopefully His word influences the choices we make. While I don't believe life is a total accident, I don't believe God has it planned out in stone either. We are part of God's plan, making our choices with His guidance. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/256991/ Wed, 20 Dec 2006 08:16:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/256991/ In the book we read , The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Dona Clara was the daughter of Dona Maria. When she grew up her mother worshiped her which really got on her nerves. She would take advantage of her mother's wealthiness and the way she felt made it easier to get it. When she got older she totally forgot about her mother and moved to Spain and got a very wealthy man. In the story Dona Maria kept sending countless letters to her daughter. She never read them though. Her husband kept them and they still survive today thanks to him. Before Dona Maria died she sent a final letter that showed something her daughter had never seen before. It showed true love, love that had never been felt by Dona Clara. She then gave her mothers money to the church and orphanage instead of donating it to science which she had previously planned. The whole book has to do religion versus science. The author used the characters to illustrate theme by showing that either by an act of god or an accident. People die and that can change people's perspective on life. If the collapse of the bridge was just a random event or those five people deserved to die, it still happened an they did die, and that combined combined with that last letter changed Dona Clara's view of her mother and her life. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/256989/ Wed, 20 Dec 2006 08:14:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KyMentor/256989/