D.I.Y Book Record

This is a fun little craft that I created whenever I was fourteen in order to keep track of what I’ve read, how much I liked it and how long it took to read. It’s great to remember what needs to be returned to a friend or the library, and what books you actually own. This is also a good way for homeschoolers to keep track of their required books for whenever they’re in college and need proof of the credit(or something). Here’s how to make it…

Step 1~ Get a good journal. Dollar tree ones would be fine. You can personalize it, decorate it or just leave it how it is.

Step 2~ Using a ruler, you can divide the page into the basics… author, book, date, etc. If you want, you can add a section of how much you liked the book or to whom the book belongs to. Make sure to leave space somewhere, whether underneath the book info, or in the back of the book, to write a paragraph essay.

Step 3~ Fill in the blank spaces according to the divided sections. Author with author, title with title, series with series… write the start date of the book, the end date, and fill in all of the extra information. You can write books that you will want to read ahead of time so that you don’t forget. Kind of like a ‘Wish List’.

Step 4~ After you have read a book, filled in the information and ‘rated’ it(optional), write a review or essay, describing what you liked, what you didn’t like, thoughts, comments… in the space that you saved in step 2. It only has to be about a paragraph long.

Now that you know how to make one, the question is will you use one? This project is not for everyone, but it is for some people. If you think that you won’t like it, just try it. It may turn out really well.

Thank you for trying my craft designed for, not only homeschoolers- but really anyone who is willing to read this.

Thank you,

                          ~Alison

Welcome Home!

Welcome Home Everyone!

   

2016. A year full of grace and promise. An ‘untouched’ year without any mistakes yet. A year to make us feel old and to remind us that anyone born in the year of 2000 is now, or soon will be, 16 years old. That would be me. I was born in 2000.

It’s nice. As time flies by and I start to forget how old I am, all that I will have to do is remember what year it is. 2028, 2032, 2087, 3000… the real question is, is that a curse or a blessing?

Hi. I’m Alison. Blogger, Highschooler and, oh… did I mention I’m homeschooled? For seven long years.

The story of why is a mystery to me. Perhaps it is because my mom decided that she didn’t want to send me to the local middle school that I was about to enter in another town (we moved away), or maybe it was the fact that she had a friend homeschooling(her own kids) at the same time, and wanted to try it out for herself. Either way, I ended up homeschooled :)

However, a more interesting story to tell is of how this blog started. You see, last semester, my first year of highschool, the co-op that I go to offered a newspaper class to teach a few of the older kids in our little ‘school’ how to write. My cousin, an x-journalist and editor for an award winning paper, was the new teacher. My first week of writing on a strict deadline was, to say it bluntly, terrible. The ‘subject’ of my first article was a male teacher that sparked the interest of the majority of the school. I emailed him with a list of questions such as, what made you want to become a teacher or why are you so good at what you do… that sort of thing. Saddly, the teacher never wrote me back, and with a deadline just days away, I texted my cousin in panic of what to do. Without my article, I could hurt the ‘flow’ or ‘order’ of the newspaper, on the first week!

Together, we brainstormed until my mom suggested the obvious… “Why not write a weekly column?”. That was what started ‘Homeschooling in Highschool’ with Alison. As the weeks went by, the older newspapers were thrown away and deleted. But I saved my articles, hoping that soon, I could use the hours spent of good writing in something else. Well, it wasn’t hard to come up with a blog. And so, here I am. Blogging for an entire semester. So, when you read these posts and laugh at them because you either think that they are funny or that the writing is terrible, know that they have been reviewed, edited and written with love for those who are willing to read them. Thank you for reading my bio, and for not being, what we call in journalism, a ‘lazy’ reader.

                                                             ~Alison Hope