Hockey

The reason my blog is called A Sk8r Girl, is because I love hockey. I love hockey because my Dad played hockey too. I use to go to his games all the time when I was little. That's probably how I got interested in hockey. I started skating when I learned to walk, now I'm trying to get my little sister on the ice, so I have a buddy to skate with. I'm not like those girls who want to stay in and have a tea party with their dolls. I want to go play hockey, play other sports, and climb trees outside.

One winter in Illinois, my parents and I (my younger sister wasn't born yet) built a hockey rink in our backyard!

Ever since I started skating I've always been a fan! No sport can get in the way of hockey! Other sports can give you skinned knees or you can get cuts, but not hockey! In hockey, you can get a busted lip, necks cracking, bodies getting beat up and concussions. You also hear the crowd in the stands shouting, "fight, fight, fight!" This is when hockey players break into a fight. 
My favorite team is....the Chicago Blackhawks! They are known for wining six Stanley Cups and they are also known for being apart of the "Original Six" ,along with the Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers.

Homeschooling

Homeschooling isn't really a pain at all. Well, maybe just for a mother with a one and a nine-year-old.
I like being homeschooled. You get to be with your family all day, you don't need to wake up early, and you don't have to get out of your pjs!
Sometimes I work on school at night so I have free time during the day.

Actually, some days we start with history and our assignment is to make pottery. I made a vase like the Minoans who lived on Crete.
My mom had me create a timeline so I can always look back and remember if I forget.
Some of my favorite subjects are math, piano, and cooking.
I like math so much ... I want to do more work! and I have thirty problems, plus the warm up. I'm in fourth grade and I complete mostly fifth grade work.
 I 'm learning piano quickly because I can practice all day. I like to play the song ''Let It Go'' on the piano for my family. Last night  I performed the song ''Let It Go'' on the piano while singing for a lot people.
When my mom found out I was interested in piano, she found online lessons called Hoffman Academy to help me learn. He's really good at piano and teaching it! His lessons are free and there's twenty lessons in each unit. There's also eight units. Here's a link to go to his website. http://www.hoffmanacademy.com.
I love cooking. I love it so much, I make up excuses to not do homework so I can cook. I've been helping my Mom cook since I was three. Now I know how to brown beef, boil chicken, make hamburgers, cook chicken in the cast iron skillet, and etc.

These are the things I do for school. (It's organized from what I do first to what I do last usually.)

• Math
• Language Arts
• Typing (computer)
• Piano
• History
• Reading (Mom)
• Reading (me)
• Blog/Creative Writing
• Bible Study
• Spanish
• Science/Nature Journaling

Are you a homeschooled kid or homeschooling mom looking for more information?
Check out my mom's blog for tips and ideas. http://www.twoarrowshomeschool.com

Calvin and Hobbes

My favorite comic strip is called Calvin and Hobbes. The author of Calvin and Hobbes is Bill Waterson. Calvin and Hobbes is about a 1st grade boy named Calvin and a stuffed tiger named Hobbes.
Calvin is a very imaginative boy. He imagines that his stuffed tiger Hobbes, is real. Here is an example of a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip.

Calvin and Hobbes are often competitive with each other. They are often competitive, in sports such as Baseball, Football (which Hobbes usually wins at), and Calvinball.













If you were wondering what Calvinball is, I'll tell you.
Calvinball is a disorganized game that Calvin came up with where each player cannot do the same thing twice.

Calvin doesn't like being around one of the girls in his class. Her name is Susie Derkins.
When he is in his treehouse he sees Susie and it's time to get out the water balloons and rocks! Speaking of treehouse, since he doesn't like girls he made a club with Hobbes and called it G.R.O.S.S.(Get Rid Of Slimy girlS).

Calvin is very often a trouble maker. One time he was reading a dinosaur book with pteranodons... and wanted to become one. Check out what happens next...

Sometimes comic strips are colored and sometimes they are black and white. This is because Bill Waterson was getting paid to make his comic strips during the week and on Sundays. On Sunday the comics were bigger and more colorful.
This is a picture of Bill Waterson making Calvin and Hobbes.

I love Calvin and Hobbes! I've read all of my of comic books probably more than twice, and I have a lot of books.
The reason why I made this blog was because my sister and I were Calvin and Hobbes for Halloween, everybody thought I was tigger from Winnie the Pooh.
A lot of people didn't know we were Calvin and Hobbes so I wanted to spread the word.
Sometimes, I wish I could bring back all the funny memories from the past and get more people to start reading it them again.
You can buy some of his books on Amazon.

American Heritage Girls

                             
American Heritage Girls is a Christian scouting troop I am a part of.  American Heritage Girls's mission is: 

"Building women of integrity through service to God, family, community and country.''

Through AHG I have got to do fun stuff, like doing service projects, skits, badge work, and cooking. One of my favorite AHG field trips was going to Feed My Starving Children. At Feed My Starving Children we worked together to help people in other countries get food they need. We did this by putting certain ingredients in a bag, weighing it, and putting it in a box. The grown-ups sealed the boxes and loaded the truck.

Another one of my favorite activities was going to a family fun center. We got to play mini-golf and water bumper cars as a troop.

Once a year, we have a troop lock-in. A lock-in is an activity where you stay with your troop all day or night to participate in skits, activities, songs, games, and work on badges. Lock-ins are really fun!

"The BFG" Book Review- Read the book first!

I just turned nine last month and often get bored of T.V. When this happens, I try to find a good book to read. A few days ago, my Grandpa bought me a book called "The BFG."(The Big Friendly Giant) Now, this is a really good book I think you should read! I want to bring it everywhere to read it! Every time we go somewhere like a grocery store, I am even asking mom if I could bring it in.

"The BFG" is a story about a little girl named Sophie and a giant who kidnapped her. The giant is a dream blowing giant, which means he catches dreams and blows them to little kids and adults at night. Nobody must see him though. (Except Sophie does now.) I can't tell you any more about it, so you will just have to read it yourself. But there is an interesting point made in the book. It is about us killing other humans, while animals don't kill their own kind. So this book kind of made me think. I think this would be a great book to lift your childs' imagination level and make he or she's mind think a lot more. Personally, I loved it. When my mom introduced this book to me, I wasn't really into it. But when my Grandpa got it for me, I couldn't stop reading it!

 The BFG movie is already in the theaters, but I recommend you read this book first!

Two weeks ago, our neighbor was cleaning the garbage out of our pond when he saw an alligator!
I ran to get my shoes on and went outside with Dad. My dad took some pictures of the alligator in our pond. It almost seemed like a minute until the whole neighborhood found out!

The alligator in our pond!

I made a warning poster and posted it on the other side of the pond. That evening, we had dinner with our window open and saw our neighbor fishing in the pond. We saw the alligator swim away. Our neighbor casted his line and reeled it in. The next cast of the line he swung through the air and guess what?...... He caught the alligator with a fishing hook!!! It took about three minutes to get the whole neighborhood to that spot. We thought the alligator was about two years old and five feet long. When our neighbor pulled him out, he taped up his mouth and I was able to pet him!!! We assumed he was a boy and I named him Noah! Since Noah came from the the water. It took the people a little bit to get there, but the people who took him away (to relocate him) were a couple of kids! When I heard this, I kind of wanted to help them!!!

The alligator our neighbor caught with a fishing pole!

For those of you who don't know me, I like to help cook and make desserts for my family. For my birthday, my Mom and Dad bought me a 10 inch cast iron skillet. So the next day, I made a huge and thick chocolate chip cookie in it! This was my first time using a cast iron skillet so I was happy to use it on my own. The cast iron skillet is really heavy and not so easy to take care of to keep it seasoned. They also got me a cutting board and a sharp knife. I can't wait to use it all!!!
This is the recipe for the chocolate chip cookie I made.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup ( 2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

Instructions:

First, you get out the ingredients listed above and preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Then you get out a large bowl, a medium sized bowl, measuring cup, and a teaspoon. Then, you take two sticks of softened butter and put them in a medium sized bowl. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar to the large bowl.Then add flour, baking soda, and salt to the large bowl. Add vanilla and eggs to the medium sized bowl with the butter and mix well. Add these wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in the large bowl. When you are done mixing both of the bowls together, pour 2 cups of chocolate chips into the bowl. Mix chocolate chips in with the dough and pour the dough into the cast iron skillet. Cook for 35-40 minutes.

Most of the time, some of the dough doesn't make it to the skillet. It ends up in Dad's stomach.

Spreading cookie dough 

Cookie when it was done

 

This is me doing a Makey Makey project at the library. Makey Makey is an invention kit where you can make your own controller out of anything. You can even make a game controller using a banana! I made a controller that looked like a piano made out of paper and aluminum. But you have to have a aluminum bracelet so it will work. This is because you have to ground the controller. You have to have an alligator clip though. You can buy Makey Makey for $49.95 at shop.makeymakey.com.

This is a review for a great book I read about two years ago called In A Blink. It is the first book of the Never Girls series written by Kiki Thorpe. She has written 12 books in the Never Girls series.

In A Blink is about four girls going on a magical journey to an island full of pirates, fairies, mermaids, and more! These four girls are named Gabby, Kate, Lainey, and Mia. One day, the girls decided to play outside together and Lainey saw a flock of flamingos flying above them. That was unusual for where they lived. A few days later they found themselves doing so much. Like visiting Never Land, meeting fairies, sleeping in the Hollow Tree, flying from the pixie dust they sprinkled on themselves.                       

           

Yes, I think this book would be a great one to buy or borrow for your five year old girl or older. You can borrow it from your library, buy it from Amazon, or at Barnes and Noble.

I am excited to do my first blog! I am eight years old and love to play hockey, skateboard, rollerblade, and cook for my family.

          How I Make Italian Meatballs

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup fine breadcrumbs
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup parsley
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (or one clove, finely minced)
• 1 pound ground beef (or ground turkey or maybe chicken)

      Instructions 

1. First, we add the ground beef into a large bowl.
2. Then we put the milk, breadcrumbs,and the egg, in with the beef.
3. Next, mix salt, black pepper, parmesan, parsley, onion, and the garlic powder (or 1 clove), in the bowl with the beef, milk, breadcrumbs, and egg. 

Then, you stir the meatball ingredients with your hands,when it is fully stired you start making the balls (we usually do a size of meatballs that is as big as a sock rolled up into a ball).

Here I am making meatballs for dinner

This is me and dad ice skating