Tuesday, September 29, 2015

My New Courses

Hello and welcome to today's blog post! Today's topic is the two new courses that I just started today.

The first on that I want to discuss with you is my piano lessons from PianoNanny. It teaches you about playing the piano or, in my case, a keyboard. My hope is that, by the end of these lessons, I can actually play songs on my keyboard instead of just pressing random keys that I think sound good. The course begins by identifying all of the names of the white keys and the notes that they represent. There are a group of two black keys, and the leftmost white key of that group is C. If you read my last musical musings, you'd  be able to discern the other notes, black keys included. It goes on to teach you how to not trip over your own fingers, so to speak, by using the following exercise, then do it on the actual keyboard or piano.

Your pinky is Finger #5
Your thumb is Finger #1
Wiggle Finger #5
Wiggle Finger #1
Wiggle Finger #2
Wiggle Finger #3
Wiggle Finger #4
Then do it on the other hand!

My other new course is on the Ancient Greeks. I do have some background in their religion, because I am a believer in their stories and gods/goddesses. This class is taught by Wesleyan University through Coursera. It talks about different civilizations, such as the Minoan and the Mycenaean. The Mycenaean era was, of course, followed by the Dark Ages, in which society was at a low point. The course also talks about their beliefs in the fourteen major gods/goddesses (as well as thousands of minor gods/goddesses):

Zeus: king of the gods, god of lightning and thunder
Poseidon: god of the ocean and earthquakes
Hera: queen of the gods, goddess of marriage and family
Hestia: goddess of the hearth and fire
Hades: god of the dead and wealth
Dionysus: god of wine and parties
Demeter: goddess of wheat and farming
Athena: goddess of wisdom and the arts
Hephaestus: god of blacksmiths and fire 
Ares: god of war and blood
Aphrodite: goddess of love and beauty
Hermes: god of thieves, travelers, and messengers
Apollo: god of poetry and archery
Artemis: goddess of hunting and archery

Thank you for coming to the latest School Stories (Where School Is ALWAYS In Session!) production, and I hope to see you again on tomorrow's FREE DAY!

Monday, September 28, 2015

Iowa: More Than Ethanol and Corn

Hello and welcome to yet another week of my blog starting. Today's topic is about the end of my Iowa Presidential Caucuses class, which I completed today. I also earned a certificate for completing this course.





It was taught by Dr. Steffan Schmidt, Professor of Political Science at Iowa State University. I learned a whole lot about the political process through this class. I learned  that Iowa is the first caucus, but New Hampshire is the first primary. 

Some other things I learned include that not the Iowa governor, but the New Hampshire governor, would "fight to the death" to maintain the Iowa caucuses first in the nation, New Hampshire primaries second. That way, they don't have as much pressure.

Iowa is like a training ground, or a weeding out ground, so to speak. They weed out candidates who won't do well.  I also learned that if you do not do well in the caucuses (first, second or third), you will not do well nationally.

An example, Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton in Iowa, but he lost in New Hampshire (2008). He still went on to win the nomination and win the presidency. Jimmy Carter was a "nobody", but won Iowa against well known people. He wound up winning the nomination and then the presidency. He went from becoming "Jimmy Who" to President Carter.

I learned that you do not have to be really famous and put a lot of money into it to win. Sometimes, if you are like Hillary Clinton in '08 and do not spend time getting to know the people in Iowa and act like you are the "shoe in" - well, if you act like that, chances are you are going to lose. You have to put real effort into Iowa. Iowans do not care if you are well known, but they expect the candidates to go around to all 99 counties and maybe hang around in a coffee shop or a deli. A lot of Iowans expect to meet the presidential candidates. That right there - that they expect to meet candidates - is viewed as almost ridiculous by people in the other 49 states.

  Finally, the caucuses are not the "horse races", so to speak, that the media portrays them as. The media doesn't give Iowa enough credit. They describe Iowa as being just about ethanol and corn. Journalists, though,  just go into Iowa a day or two before the caucuses, report on it and fly out to New Hampshire. 

They don't spend much time there. That is why you do not hear much about those who came in 4th, 5th, 6th or 7th. Since the caucuses began in 1972 (if I recall), there hasn't been a single person who won the party nomination who didn't come in 1st, 2nd or 3rd in Iowa. That tells me that Iowa is much more important that ethanol and corn! The caucuses are much more complicated than that, national news media people!

Course Background Information
 
This was a four week course, each one containing a different Iowa-caucus-related topic. There was "Week 1: History of the Caucuses", "Week 2: Digging Into the Caucuses", "Week 3: Role of Media and Technology", and "Week 4: Future of the Caucuses". There were videos to accompany each unit, and they were:

 Week 1: History of the Caucuses

-Interview with Dr. Chis Larimer

- History of Caucuses, Iowa Public Television

- Interview with Richard Seagrave and Richard Bender

- The Choice 2008

 Week 2: Digging Into the Caucuses


 -Interview with Mary Richards

- Primaries, Caucuses and Conventions

-Caucus stories of the first Caucus and other caucuses

Week 3: Role of Media and Technology

-Iowa Political Scientists Meet 

  -Interview with Dave Price






- "Anything for a Vote" 


 Week 4: Future of the Caucuses





Well, that's all for today, folks! I hope to see you tomorrow on School Stories (Where School Is ALWAYS In Session!)!

Friday, September 25, 2015

The New Irondequoit Public Library

Today my mom and I visited the new Irondequoit Public Library on the corner of Titus Avenue and Kings Highway. It just opened a little while ago, and this was my first visit there.

This library has two floors. We picked up a total of thirteen books there: The Genius Files: License To Thrill by Dan Gutman; Magicalamity by Kate Saunders; Villain School: Good Curses Evil by Stephanie S. Sanders; The Misadventures of Edgar & Allen Poe: The Tell-Tale Start by Gordon McAlpine; The Misadventures of Edgar & Allen Poe: Once Upon A Midnight Eerie by Gordon McAlpine; My Zombie Hamster by Havelock McCreely; Game Over, Pete Watson by Joe Schreiber; Our Fifty States by Mark H. Bockenhauer and Stephen F. Cunha; Shakespeare Stories by Leon Garfield; Giants of Science: Isaac Newton by Kathleen Krull; Case File 13: Zombie Kid by J. Scott Savage; Case File 13:Making The Team by J. Scott Savage; and Super-Cyborg Gadget Glove by "Science Bob" Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith.

The Children's Library, which is their name for the children's books, seemed much bigger than the interior of our house. My mom remarked that this library is much nicer than the Webster Library, which we visited frequently over the summer. The last book I mentioned, Super-Cyborg Gadget Glove by "Science Bob" Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith, even has instructions throughout the book for building the customized Super-Cyborg Gadget Glove, complete with an LED signal light, emergency alarm, sound/voice recorder, and UV secret-message revealer!

The all-new Irondequoit Public Library is a real gem in our community, at least in my opinion. If you get the chance to visit it, do so! It is definitely worth the trip, even if you don't live nearby. That just about wraps it up for today's post though, so be sure to visit again soon!

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Pope Francis In America

Welcome to today's special post about Jorge Mario Bergoglio, more commonly known as Pope Francis, who is currently visiting the United States. I am sharing some pictures today that were taken by my cousin, who was able to see Pope Francis in Washington. Thank you, Alice!

 Photo credit: A. Ziegler

Photo credit: A. Ziegler 
 
Photo credit: A. Ziegler

In the Pope's address to a joint session of Congress today, the first Latin-American Pope in history said many things, including:

  1. He said he was "grateful" for his invitation to address Congress.
  2. He said that the work that lawmakers do is similar to Moses. 
  3. Throughout history, Americans have helped to make sure that the future is better for others than it was for them. 
  4. Older people are very wise. 
  5. There's not a single religion which cannot be affected by the reaches of extremism. 
  6. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dreams continue to inspire people to this day. 
  7. Family is a key part of what makes our country so unique-that you can come to raise your family here. 
  8. Climate change NEEDS to be helped right now. We have to act. 
  9. The U.S. should not be afraid of people who come from other countries. 
  10. Immigrants and refugees are people too 
  11. The Golden Rule applies to all human beings. 
  12. He said that there should be no death penalty because it is not humane. 
  13. He wants war/conflicts with weapons to stop because they are destructive to humanity. 
  14. Congress needs to stop acting so unwelcoming to immigrants.

Much of what Pope Francis, who ate lunch with the homeless both yesterday and today, said agreed more with Democrats, in my view. 

For example, he sounded more like devout Catholic Vice President Joe Biden, who supports religious freedom, rather than Republicans such as Speaker of The House John Boehner, also a devoted Catholic, who both cried and rolled his eyes during the Pope's speech. I feel people like Speaker Boehner want to impose his religious beliefs and also put up a wall to keep immigrants out of the country. Why keep immigrants out and deport them, I ask, when we are all descendants of immigrants?

 It just doesn't make any sense, does it?

Thank you for tuning in to the special School Stories (Where School Is ALWAYS In Session) post about Pope Francis's visit to Congress.

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Free Day

Welcome to the latest Free Day on my blog! I'll lead off with a joke:

What's the main difference between a duck and George Washington?

One has a bill on his face, and the other has his face on a bill.

One of today's topic is the website IXL.com, which includes both ELA and Math practice, ranging from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade. I have mastered nine sets of skills in ELA(commas; restrictive and nonrestrictive elements; semicolons, colons, and commas; apostrophes; dashes; ellipses; hyphens; capitalization; and titles), and have earned fourteen awards in  Math (Piccolo, Choir, Bongo Drums, Microphone, Cowbells, Half Notes, Treble Clef, Kazoo, Handbell, Concert Ticket, Quarter Note, Chimes, Violin, and Electric Keyboard).

Soon, Social Studies and Science will be added there as well.

The other one is the historic event that is ongoing as I type. The first African-American President, Barack Obama, is meeting (or has met) with the first Latin American Pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio (or Pope Francis). "The People's Pope", as Francis is called, kissed babies, participated in a parade, and even was given a T-shirt by a five-year-old girl. He obviously is incredibly well-liked by many people not only in the United States, but also in the world. In fact, my aunt, uncle and cousins are there today to see him.

Well, that wraps up today's post, but I hope that you continue to read both the past posts and the future posts on School Stories (Where School Is ALWAYS In Session!)

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

The Great Python Language

Today on my blog, we will be discussing the great programming language of Python.





There are many programming languages out there, such as Python, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Ruby, Scratch, and Cobra, but today's focus is on the Python language. When I write "Python", what pops into your head? A computer language, or a big, long, ugly snake?


When the word Python has a capital "P", it typically is a reference to the programming language. It uses special "reserved words" to achieve various actions. You may not realize it, but computers are actually very dumb. Without human assistance, they'd just be boxes stuffed full of wires. As it is, computers have no imagination, creativity, or variety in their methods of work. They only know things that have been programmed into them. Anyway, back to the "reserved words" and their functions.

Here is a list of some of them, as well as what they do:

and: all conditions must be fulfilled

or: one condition must be fulfilled

is: equals

not: doesn't equal

print: writes letters and/or numbers

while: starts a loop that ends when the condition is rendered false


break: ends a while loop instantly


continue: ends the while loop run-through when reached

if: do this if condition is met


else: do this if the if condition is not met

elif: start another if if original if is false


I learned this information in my "Programming For Everybody" course from the University of Michigan School of Information with Associate Professor Charles Severance. 

Thank you for visiting School Stories (Where School Is ALWAYS In Session!)  today, and I hope to see you again tomorrow! Bye!

Monday, September 21, 2015

Politics

Hello and welcome to the second Politics Day on School Stories!




I watched the latest Republican debate, and I am sure some of you did as well. During "Donald Trump Bingo", Trump said everything on there except "C'mere and feel my hair". That may sound ridiculous enough, but he did say "Yooge!" (YOU-ju) (Huge!), "Stoopid", "They asked me for money", "Tremendous!", "I've turned down millions..." and "Ugly". He got blasted by Carly Fiorina about his comment on her face/persona, blasted the other candidates (as always), and had Dr. Ben Carson actually agree with him on something.

Now to switch topics to the Iowa Presidential Caucuses MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). Today, I learned about the Iowa Straw Polls, past caucuses, and even learned a 2016 caucus timeline! Unfortunately, the straw polls have been canceled in 2015, and the past caucuses are, well, in the past, but the timeline is what really caught my eye. Here's a simplified version of my own design:

1 year early:  
-Decision is made by the National Committees to hold the caucuses (political event)

A few months early: 
 -Schedule the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary dates
 -Next two primaries take place in Nevada and South Carolina 
-Iowa = "Midwest,"
- New Hampshire = "Northeast,"
- Nevada = "West"/"Southwest" 
-South Carolina = "South." -
South Carolina is fighting schedule in 2016 (wants to go before Nevada)


January of election year:
  -need to fend off efforts by other states to “cut in line” and schedule theirs earlier than the caucuses
-caucuses are by definition the “first in the nation”
-New Hampshire primary MUST be the second event by agreement.
-Secretary of State of New Hampshire Bill Gardner will fight to the death to maintain sequence
 
 Prior to elections:

-events and fundraisers for candidates





November:

-election

Friday, September 18, 2015

The Wednesday Wars REVIEW

Welcome to my blog and to my review of The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt!


My Summary

In The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt, Holling Hoodhood, the main character, starts seventh grade at Camillo Junior High, and then believes that one of his teachers, Mrs. Baker, is out to get him. All of this is in 1967, with the Vietnam War raging, so everyone has bigger things to worry about, such as his family's business, Hoodhood and Associates, which means he has to be on his best behavior at all times, as well as get along with every single person in the town.

In the book, he ruins a batch of cream puffs with chalk dust, saves his sister from getting hit by a school bus, challenges his father's authority over his and his sister's actions, reads Shakespeare's plays Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, and Romeo And Juliet, and even gets a jacket signed and worn by Joe Pepitone, a famous Yankees baseball player.

My Opinions on The Wednesday Wars

I did not particularly love The Wednesday Wars, but that's not to say that it is a terrible book either. It is funny at times, but at other times, not so much. I think that this book aids readers in understanding  the sequel, Okay For Now, also by Gary D. Schmidt. I think it helps to show the important values of friendship, kindness, literature, and not judging based on first impressions as well.

I hope you enjoyed my first book review on School Stories (Where School Is ALWAYS In Session!), and hope you will join us next week!

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Dino Paleobiology

Hello, and welcome to my blog yet again!



I forgot to post a joke yesterday, so here are two to make up for it:


1. Where does the army keep its fish?

In a tank!

2. A pig fell in a meat grinder. It brought out the wurst in him.



Anyway, today is my day to tell you all about my Dino Paleobiology course that I am taking. It is from the University Of Alberta, which is in Canada, but the lectures and quizzes are on https://www.coursera.org/. So far, I have covered Lesson 1: Appearance and Anatomy, Lesson 2: Death and Fossilization, Lesson 3: Eating, Lesson 4: Moving Around, and Lesson 5: Birth, Growth and Reproduction

At first I considered it boring and super hard, but now it is both fun and boring, as well as not super hard. Before I started this course, my favorite dinosaur was by far the Tyrannosaurus rex, or "tyrant lizard king" in Latin, but now the T. rex is being rivaled as my favorite dinosaur by the Giganotosaurus, or "giant southern lizard" in Latin. 

This course has not yet yielded any surprises that I did not know, but it may, you never know! I do think that paleontologists will make a big discovery, such as a new dinosaur or something that yields much more knowledge about the prehistoric world, in the future. On the other hand, I haven't the faintest idea when this amazing discovery will occur, or where either. I do think that being a paleontologist would be an exciting career for some people, but it would not be for me due to the fact that I would rather deal with living animals.

Soon I will be going on a field trip to the Paleontological Research Institution at the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, NY. I will tell you all about it the Wednesday after the trip. Until tomorrow, see you, readers!

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Free Day: Art, Books & the Debate

Hello! Welcome to my blog's second FREE DAY! Today, a new manga coloring book came in the mail for me, as well as 48 gel pens. It has 31 pages of fun-to-color tear-out pages like a samurai, motorcyclist, and more!The gel pens have 2 metallic pens, 2 black pens, 12 glitter pens, and 6 swirl pens, which change color as they are used. 


With the arrival of my manga book came the start of a new class: Art. I spent about half an hour coloring the first picture, an inhuman fishing duo, to the best of my ability. In my opinion, it looks good, but is only about halfway done. My mom even joined me in Art, using her new grown up coloring book.



The book Inheritance by Christopher Paolini arrived in the mail as well. It is the final book in the Inheritance cycle, which includes Eragon (Book 1)Eldest (Book 2), and Brisingr (Book 3), all by Christopher Paolini.  It is the book that the Varden finally overthrow the evil King Galbatorix, Eragon saves the Edulnarí, and the magical land of Alagaësia is freed at last from Galbatorix's evil reign. 

I look forward to reading it and hope you read my eventual review of Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and  Inheritance, as well as my next review of The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt. Thanks to my Uncle Jeff and Aunt Laura, I am also going to Barnes & Noble this week to use my birthday gift card to choose more new books!


 Finally, we are going to watch the second Republican debate on TV tonight. I personally strongly dislike Donald Trump for a number of reasons, but I am aware that many people support him and even like him. I don't like how he talks to people and it seems like, from my point of view, that he plays dirty to win. During the debate, for fun, we will play Donald Trump "Bingo", where you mark a spot every time he says things like "Stoopid" or "Ugly".


Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Music Theory Post

Hello and welcome back to my blog! Today we'll be talking all about music theory, particularly the kind on the keyboard or piano.

Last year at Harley, I studied Music Theory with Mr. Burroughs and caught on pretty quickly. I enjoyed it very much, as a matter of fact.



What is Music Theory?

I am taking Introduction to Music Theory online through the Berklee College of Music. Music Theory is a way to classify music that we hear. In other words, it is a musical "grammar" of sorts, that uses notes, chords, and other things. In my course I am learning how to use that "grammar" to figure out the musical "language" on a keyboard so I can play songs on it.

What I have learned so far:

Welcome to Introduction to Music Theory
Spotlight: Why Are Harmony and Ear Training Important?
Important Definitions
Structure of the Major Scale
Sharps and Flats

About Sharps and Flats:

There are these notes that are black instead of the usual white. Those keys are the sharp(#) and flat(♭) keys, and are in between the normal A-B-C-D-E-F-G keys. There's A♭, A#, B♭, C#, D♭, D#, E♭, F#, G♭, and G#. Note that there isn't a B#, C♭, E#, or F♭.

Something confusing is that some pairs of notes -- G#/A♭; A#/B♭; C#/D♭; D#/E♭; and F#/G♭ -- are the same thing!

I appreciate your visit to School Stories (Where School Is ALWAYS In Session), and don't miss tomorrow's FREE DAY! See you then!

-Nick

Monday, September 14, 2015

Politics Day Intro

Welcome back to School Stories! Today I will be telling you about our Politics Days. On Mondays, the focus will be on politics.



For example, I'll tell you about what I have learned most recently in my Iowa Caucuses class. I am taking a course from Iowa State University called Iowa Presidential Caucuses taught by Dr. Steffen Schmidt. Today and tomorrow I'm learning about John McCain and Barack Obama. For example, did you know that John McCain was a soldier in the Vietnam War? I learned that in my course today, in the video The Choice 2008, a PBS Frontline episode about the journey of 2008 presidential candidates John McCain (Republican) and Barack Obama (Democrat).

See you tomorrow, and have a good day!

Reader Request: Hag Moth Caterpillar

This is a post about my mom's friend Laura's request to identify an unknown insect on a garbage can. I have identified it as a hag moth caterpillar, or "monkey slug". Its preferred host plants are roses, sassafras, alder, dogwoods, hickories, and spirea. It is fairly common in North Carolina, where the picture came from.


Photo credit- My mom's friend Laura's cousin

It has over one dozen fleshy, leg-like appendages that will regrow when they are lost and are not used for movement. It is densely covered in short brown hair. Some of these hairs are hollow and contain poison that causes bee-sting-like symptoms. If "stung", be sure to wash the affected area to remove any hairs or poison. An ice pack will help minimize your swelling.

Friday, September 11, 2015

Special 9/11 Remembrance Post



Fourteen years ago today, and two years before I was born, Osama Bin Laden and his terrorist group Al-Qaeda committed an atrocious act against the United States of America. It was one that I always knew was terrible by what I've heard about it, but never truly understood until today when I saw the footage of the planes bringing the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center down to the ground. It was replayed today on MSNBC.

That surreal day, in just 102 minutes, Al-Qaeda doomed four jet liners, brought the Pentagon to its knees, and destroyed the Twin Towers forever. Afterward, 2,973 American people lay dead or dying, more than the Pearl Harbor attack or on D-Day.

 At 8:00 A.M., Eastern time, nineteen men from Al-Qaeda hijacked four planes: two from Boston, Massachusetts; one from Newark, New Jersey; and one from Washington, D.C. At 8:46 A.M., Eastern time, the first plane smashed into the Northern Tower. The impact of a plane traveling 450 miles per hour is devastating, and it was felt on floors 93 through 99. Seventeen minutes later, at 9:03 A.M., Eastern time, a second plane barreled through floors 77 through 85 of the Southern Tower.

200 miles away and 34 minutes later, at 9:37 A.M., Eastern time, just as people were beginning to realize that the country was under attack, the U.S.A. military headquarters known as the  Pentagon was also targeted. That impact resulted in numerous government buildings being evacuated. What about the fourth plane, though? As it was soaring through the Pennsylvania sky, passengers who had heard about the other attacks stormed the cockpit, intent on taking the plane back. As the terrorists struggled with the passengers, the plane crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 A.M., Eastern time.

As you read this post, I hope that you look back on that fateful day and remember the heroes who lost their lives so that others might live. People like William Burke, Orio Palmer, Frank De Martini, Ed Beyea, Pablo Ortiz, and Kevin Pfeifer.

 They attempted to minimize the damage dealt by the acts of (in my opinion) horrific, inexcusable,and terrible terrorists.  I learned about these heroic people from the book America Is Under Attack: The Day The Towers Fell by Don Brown, which describes 9/11 and the heroes.

I would like to share some pictures from one of our trips to New York City:








 For those who were eager for my book  review, I am postponing my review of The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt until next week. See you next week!

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Science Thursdays



Welcome to Science!
Today, I'll be telling you all about Science Thursdays. Every Thursday, I'll discuss my latest study, such as my project on...



That's right: Entomology! Today's topic is the brown marmorated stinkbug, or Halymorpha Halys.

I have chosen this topic because I enjoy working with insects. Also, we have had a few Halymorpha Halys joining us inside our house, so I decided to study them. Finally, I wanted to know if there was another way to remove them from our house besides crushing them and dealing with the resulting unpleasant odor.

They are native to China, Japan, and Taiwan, but were accidentally imported to Pennsylvania and Maryland. They first were noticed in 2003, and it was noted that they have a shield shape, grayish-brown speckling, wings, and are about 12mm-17mm in size. Females are larger than males and lay 20-30 eggs on the underside of a leaf at any 1 time, which hatch into wingless nymphs.


Today, I found a stinkbug on the window. This was a Halymorpha Halys, which we have been discussing above. However, I could not tell for certain if it was a male or a female, because I did not have a specimen to compare it to.

Before you go, DO NOT STEP ON A STINKBUG, because they will stink if you do. See you next time!

-Nick

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Free Days Explained

Hello again, readers! Today I will be informing you about my Free Days that I have every Wednesday.



I'll be sharing funny jokes, pun-ny puns, homeschooling thoughts, and book review previews. For example: My favorite class so far is the Computer Science 101 from Stanford University because I have some prior experience as a programmer. On the other hand, I'm not too fond of the Dinosaur Paleobiology from the University of Alberta because they expect me to have a perfect memory! On Friday, I'll be reviewing (drum-roll please!) The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt. Now for the joke/pun of the week:

--"What do you call a cow with no legs?"
--"Ground beef!"

-Nick

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Computer Science

Welcome to the first computer science post on School Stories. Today, we'll be discussing "Computer Science 101", from Stanford University. So far, this course has not been very challenging for me, regardless of the fact that it is a college course. In the course, you learn how computers function by implementing the use of code. Computers are powerful, but also stupid because they have no knowledge until it's programmed into the computer.

-Nick

Welcome to School Stories!

Hello, and welcome to my blog! Here I will be sharing tales of my homeschooling adventure. There will be posts about all of my classes, as well as jokes, puns, and riddles. I will be posting daily, Monday through Friday, except for days I don't have school. There will be book reviews, field trips, and more.

I am studying dinosaur paleobiology, computer science, and more! I hope that you will visit my blog often, as well as do the different activities that will be included in this blog.

Thanks, and enjoy! -Nick