The Dooms of the Dunes

                         P  r  o  l  o  g  u  e
Jierra Flourence Meetlofe's parents  had passed in a car wreck when Jierra was only six. Fortunately, Jierra was so smart that when a policeman came to her, she was able to tell him where her aunt and uncle and cousins Edlia, Dave, and Mozar  lived. They took care of her for the next six years of her life, but as soon as she turned thirteen, they let her go to the beach by herself because they lived really close. But when she goes at midnight with a basket of cheese , apples, and hot cocoa, a lantern, her phone, and a chart to study the night sky, what will happen?

Mr. Plumbottom's Harp

One day Sarah was bored, so she decided to play her guitar. So Mr. Plumbottom listened. He decided that he wanted to play a musical instrument too. After a minute he finally decided that he wanted to take   harp lessons. So he signed up. They were very expensive, but
Mr. Plumbottom thought that they were worth it. Plus which, he had a pirate ship filled with gold. After his first lesson, though, he realized that the songs he was assigned to play were all too hard and the teacher was too strict. So he quit lessons. Suddenly, he remembered his friend Macy. She was only a tiny girl at the age of five, but she was amazingly good at playing the harp. She could even teach Mr. Plumbottom how. "Why didn't I think of that before?!" he exclaimed out loud to himself. So as soon as he called Macy (the answer was yes), he ran to her house as fast as his fat little legs could carry him. He had a great time, and after he had taken ten long but fun lessons, he was as good as a nautral!!!!!!! On his sixty-first birthday, Macy gave him his VERY OWN HARP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sarah's Baby

Good news! Mr. Plumbottom is back! But there is also good news for Mr. Plumbottom. His daughter Sarah is going to have a baby! If it is a girl, Sarah wants to name it Isabelle after her mother, Mrs. Plumbottom. If it is a boy, Sarah wants to name it Michael, after her father, Mr. Plumbottom, who you all know, of course. But her husband, George, wants to name it Karen or Farley. So Sarah says, "If it is a boy, we will name it after my father.  A girl, your mother." George reluctantly agrees. Now I know we all hope that it will be a boy so that it will be named after our favorite character, Mr. Plumbottom. But we will just have to wait and see.  Sarah got her ultra-sound  and it was a... Can you guess what comes next? BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! George was mad, but he got over it and loved the baby just the same as he would have if it were named Karen.






THE END

Past & Present Poem

In the past people ate bread and milk and eggs.
Now we eat pizza and elephant ears, but not elephant legs.

In the past people used wagons to get from place to place.
Now we use cars or planes or have a marathon (a race).

In the past people celebrated Christmas and the Fourth of July too.
Now we celebrate a lot of the same things we used to do.

In the past people believed that women should cook and clean.
Now we believe that women have their rights. Back then they were mean.

In the past people did lots of things like doctors for jobs.
Now we do even more like selling junk like old doorknobs.

In the past people lived in strawbale huts.
Now we live in houses so big sometimes that we have spare room to sit on our butts.

In the past people watched plays for fun.
Now we have t.v. and popcorn- BEEP! The popcorn's done.

In the past people had a school with one teacher, maybe Miss Sue.
Now we have big schools with kids numbering two thousand two.

The Truth About Fairies

Eliza's mom here with a first-time post & introduction to a videoblog.

Many of you wonder how homeschooling works & sometimes so do I.  But, days like today are my favorite - when Eliza is her own teacher and creates wonderful masterpieces!  We visited a storytelling arts performance this morning and saw stories by Bob Sanders and Clare Muireann Murphy.  VERY entertaining storytellers.  We noticed how they used vocal sound effects when they told their stories but Eliza thought that this would embarrass her so she decided against this method.  Her "assignment" was to write a story with a beginning, a middle, and an ending.  So, she spent about an hour and came up with this.
A very easy almost 8 year old child to "teach" she is!  :)

Anseliesio

Once upon a time, about nineteen ninety, there lived a young couple, and they were from China. But they had moved to the united states about a year ago because they wanted to check out the foods they ate there, like peanut butter and hamburgers. They had two daughters, Jingyu, who was twelve, and Chun, who was ten. I chose those names because I learned  Chinese names, but I made up the name Anseliesio, who you will meet in a minute. The couple loved Jingyu and Chun dearly, but they always longed for a little boy. Finally, they tried one more time and they had a beautiful baby boy. They named him Anseliesio.He could speak really good English. One day, Chun tried peanut butter and apples.  She liked it fine, but she thought peanut butter and hamburger was better.
Years passed and Anseliesio was soon six years old. The woman and the man and Jingyu and Chun and Anseliesio moved back to China because they were done checking out the foods and they began to really miss their friends.

One day, a week later,  his friend George (who was from the united states and had come to visit), went out for a walk with Anseliesio and Anseliesio spotted a beautiful girl.  He and George said hi and it turned out that her name was Kilu. She could speak really good English. Kilu tossed Anseliesio and George peppermint sticks.  Anseliesio was quiet at dinner that night because he was embarrassed because she was such a beautiful girl.

At the store the next day, Anseliesio sees Kilu shopping with her mother. Kilu says, ''Anseli, Anseli, Anseli, Anseliesio!'' ''How did you know my name?''Anseliesio asked. ''Ansel, dear, you see, I've met Kilu before. She is a magical fairy. She spies on you,"said Mom. Anseliesio's mouth dropped open but no words came out. Suddenly, Anseliesio saw a dark figure with a wand. Just then, Ansel said, ''SHUT UP!'' ''That's the dark princess,'' said Kilu. "She casts spells that make people say bad words. You should aviod her, or else you'll say much worse words.

When they got home, Anselisio's mom told his dad about the dark princess because she didn't want him to be surprised when he said a bad word. Mom said, ''She wears a dark blue gown and has long black hair and            lavender skin and a dark purple wand with dark green sparkles on the end. She looks about fourteen and three quarters.''

That night, when Ansel was in bed, Kilu appeared. ''Anseliesio, I spy on you because I want to load you with good wishes.''''How do I avoid the dark princess?''asked Anseliesio. ''Oh, I completely forgot about that. Well, you have to be brave and when she appears, say,'Piggie farts,''' said Kilu. The next morning, the dark princess appeared. Ansel was eating breakfast. He said, ''Piggie farts.'' The dark princess vanished.

That afternoon, Ansel's mom got sick. She had eaten poop to see what it tasted like. Her science teacher told her to. Ansel's mom didn't know anything about how poop can make you sick.  She was so sick that she couldn't go to class so her husband went for her. He told her when he got back that her science teacher had taken off a costume and it turned out she was really the dark princess dressed up!

Ansel's dad called the police. They couldn't do anything about the dark princess. Then Kilu appeared. She used some powers to shut the dark princess' mouth. She knew it could only stay closed for two days, but she could zap it closed again.

The next day Anseliesio's mom got better. She learned that poop can really hurt you.  It could even kill you if you eat it so she never ate poop again.

Ansel thought it was really funny that something as simple as saying "piggie farts" could make the princess vanish. So that was how Anseliesio learned that inappropriate stuff is really funny.

Mr. Plumbottom turns sixty

Years passed. Soon Mr. Plumbottom turned sixty. Mr. Plumbottom looked out the window of the ship. He recognized Denis out in his canoe. He was fifteen or sixteen now. Mr. Plumbottom ran out on deck to meet him. He thought it would be nice if Denis could be here on his birthday. They had a conversation about how Denis was so excited to get a new dolphin. Soon Mr. Plumbottom was called in for his birthday apple pie. Denis came too. Mr. Plumbottom realized that even eighty- four, like his mom, was not so bad.