Creativity Project Film Festival

During my time with the "creativity project" - the homeschool class that took place once a week - we completed two short films. The Wizard of Odd, and Zombie Xing. But that isn't the only thing we did! Ginger, Julie, and Susan, the moms responsible for this awesome opportunity, put together a "Movie Premier / Film Festival" at the local theatre. 

I have to say, I was extremely surprised at the outcome of people, there was at least fifty people sitting in the audience, if not more. We started off by playing some cartoons, and then after those were over, Ginger got on stage and spoke about the event and the films being shown tonight. Afterwards, all the kids got to walk across the 'red carpet' along the stage while everyone clapped and cheered. 

Here is a little description I found for both films - "The first short film, The Wizard of Odd, is an all ages modern parody of the classic film. The familiar characters have been re-imagined as their mirror opposites which creates a series of strange and funny new dilemmas. The second film, Zombie Xing, is a suspenseful but humorous "thriller" in which a group of young zombies invade an unsuspecting neighborhood."





I love both films greatly, but I have to say, Zombie Xing was pretty funny! (even if I did help out with it, haha)  

At the end of the night there was a surprise, we all gathered on stage once more, and the moms / leaders of the group arranged little 'Oscars' for all of us. Granted they were plastic, it was still very awesome! Our names were even engraved in them!!

I was really glad to be apart of the experience, even if I did miss the first couple months of filming, I was glad to help out with the rest of shooting and editing!

The next day I was even more surprised to see my picture in The Roanoke Times newspaper, how cool!

bowling, floyd, & african dancing

Today happened to be a very long day, and I was really excited about it!

My friend Meghann and I were dropped off at bowling alley, and that's where she and I spent our afternoon hanging out :) It was really exciting for me, because I mean, she & I have hung out at the library before without a parent present, but this is the first time I've actually done something fun with a friend by ourselves!

She and I had an awesome time bowling together! Maybe some people think it's lame, but I really enjoy bowling, haha.
I had some extra money left, and the bowling alley had a little restaurant  so I bought us a Veggie Wrap, along with a big pretzel (and Meghann also got herself some curly fries as well!)

stuffed animal we got from the claw machine!

After bowling, Meghann's sister Shannon picked us up and drove us to Floyd, Virginia. That's where we spent a few hours there, walking around town, going into all the hippie shops, we also stopped at the Red Rooster Cafe (Shannon works there)
and we drank smoothies!~

ahaha afterwards, we drove to Roanoke, Virginia where we stopped at her uncle Ian's house.





We hosted the International Dinner / Potluck at her uncle's house - tonights theme was Africa! The reason for doing so, was that tonight in downtown Roanoke, an African music group was preforming, so we figured the African dinner would co-inside with the events tonight!

The food was pretty good, but I don't really like a lot of spicy food, and that's what a lot of the dishes were :) So it was eh for me.

Later on, we all drove over to the theater, it was a group of 10+ in total of us going. I was super excited for this performance!

It was soooo GREAT! It was incredibly lively, upbeat, and fun to dance to. During the intermission, some of the members talked about where they are from in African and what their life was like back then, which I thought was pretty awesome.

Near the end of the show, anyone who wanted to could come up and dance, so naturally Meghann and I headed up there to jam out!! It was tons of fun!! By the end of the night I was exhausted, we didn't get to Meghann's house until almost 1am! Since it was so very late, I just spent the night there :)

Sumo Wrestling & Tuesday Classes

The homeschool group in Virginia has classes every Tuesday - first is History, then we have a lunch break, second class is Film making, and third is Sign Language class.

our teachers - ginger and julie,
demonstrating how 'sumo' is done

History class is usually pretty fun! We read a few chapters out of our history book, and then our Teacher Julie quizzes us about it. Afterwards we do a craft or play a game related to what we just learned. This week in particular we learned about Samuri, so it was only natural to have our own sumo match! We learned all about the process the sumo will go through, how they have to drink water to purify themselves, and so on.


Film Making class was broke into two groups. Group A wrote and filmed a Wizard of Odd movie, based of the wizard of oz. Group B wrote and filmed a zombie movie. Each group got to work hands-on with deciding on props, special effects, editing the movie and even picking out the soundtrack. I ended up being on the Zombie making team!

Sam getting excited

Sign Language is a class I have mentioned before here.

Today for Sumo wresting we all brought pillows and just strapped on to our fronts and the other to our backs :) It was a lot of fun and it was nice to see all of the kids learning and even enjoying themselves!

Me and Jessie!

Meeting the Ocean

As of now, I am 15 years old and I've never been to the ocean - not even close. Southwest Virginia is the closest I've made it to the depths of the ocean blue. I mean, it was only just a few years ago when I left the Wisconsin/Illinois area for the first time in my life.

So this new life I am living is fascinating, because I'm seeing the country, even if it's just a small portion of it. I'm meeting people and experiencing new things, and that's pretty awesome!

touching the sand for the first time.
couldn't believe how white it was!

I was ecstatic for this trip to the beach, I honestly couldn't wait. Our destination was Kure Beach, North Carolina! The drive was long, but the place awaiting us was worth it.



Day one was just mostly chilling and hanging out, we got to our 'hotel' room late in the day and the only thing the boy and I wanted to do was get in the water!






Something rad was we got a hotel room, but it's wasn't like an ordinary hotel room, it had a kitchen and such, and we had a balcony overlooking the blue sea! It was like a dream!

Weekly Fieldtrip - Wilderness Road Regional Museum

I woke up suuuppeerr early at Meghann's house, needless to say I was pretty exhausted! We made sure to pack a lunch and we caught a ride to the community college with her older sisters, and from there we got picked up by Ginger, who surprisingly took us out to eat that morning, it was nice :) 







A whole group of us homeschoolers met at the Wilderness Road Regional Museum for our weekly fieldtrip! There was at least 30 of us in total, if not more, it was a huge group! 


"Located in an 1800's era house;  owned and operated by The New River Historical Society and contains local area books, records and exhibits." is just a brief description of where we went. 





The enormous old house is filled with tons and tons of artifacts that were from this area. We learned all about the people who lived in this area of Virginia, the clothes they wore, the food they ate, how they lived their lives. 

accurate representation of our relationship

some of the kids making butter!

After our several hour long interactive fun fieldtrip, we headed over to the park for lunch :) It made me really happy to spend time with friends! We all ran around and hung out for awhile. Meg, Austin (my boyfriend), Jess, and I went for a walk in the woods before Meggie had to leave :( 
Later on we played a game of catch and hung out at the playground before it was time to go home for the day.

homeschool train

International Dinner - Brazil

Once a month, a local homeschool family will host an International Dinner / Potluck. Each month has a different theme as well, and for September it was Brazil! The kids learn about the culture, fun facts and traditions of that country.

And each family who attends will make a traditional meal of that country to bring for the potluck. We made a delicious rice dish that I was very excited for! Everyone will grab a plate, and sometimes before or after food the kids will put on a presentation about that country and such.


Usually afterwards the adults get to chatting and the kids wander off outside! Sadly, I did not get any pictures of the food, but I got pictures of some of the kids playing a game on the trampoline!

By the time the night was over, about 8 families showed up and there was at least 14+ kids!

F is for Friends

A week has gone by! Not much has happened... we've rolled around to another Thursday and that means it was park day :) I wanted to share some pictures we took!

jess, austin, sadie, me, jessie, and meghann

me and my boyfriend austin

Park Day with Friends

meghann & I being 'power rangers'

The homeschool group here in Pulaski County / New River Valley gets together once a week and has what we call a 'park day'! 

me and Sadie!

jessie

meg and sadie

I love park day, because all the homeschool kids just run around and have fun at the park. 

Sometimes we'll organize games of soccer, and so on, but today we just hung out. :) 
It was a really nice day, and I'm glad I got to spend it with friends!

Summer Reading Program

Unfortunately the Summer Reading Program has come to and end :( I have proudly read 17 books and over 50+ hours this summer, what an accomplishment! We all had so much fun at the library this summer, they offer the greatest programs and are very child and teen friendly. It's a wonderful atmosphere and I've enjoyed myself greatly.

A fantastic program the library offered was learning about Belle the giant green-winged macaw! Did you know that Macaws are able to reach speeds of up to 35 miles per hour? They also have very strong beaks, and can break open a Brazil Nut shell.

We've also learned about Bats, Foxes, Rabbits, and Owls! Joshua and I love animals, I'm glad that we both really learned a lot from these events.

• Did you know what grey foxes can climb trees? I had no idea!

 


And just today there was a teen program, ART DAY. It was so much fun, art is something I am very passionate about, so a day of sitting around sculpting, painting, and coloring is defiantly fun for me!




 
During the summer you received "book bucks" and at the end of the reading program you could use your book bucks at the teen auction/raffle. I bought a tie dye kit and a new book, it was very fun!

Lego's and Soccer!

After our weekly Sign Language Class, we have some extra time to burn before going home. So this week in particular, we took our friend Meghann with us to the library.

You are never too old to play with Lego's! The library is rather refreshing in the summer time, because it is so hot outside!






I also happened to find a Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal, I was very excited!

After such fun at the library, we wandered over to the park for a game of soccer!