Riley Says...

We're about a week and a half away from semester break.  I've been enjoying everything we're doing this semester, especially the unit study on the Election that we did in October/November.  I won't be old enough to vote in the next election, but it was fun following along and in 2020 it'll be my turn to vote!

The Japanese Festival was interesting this year.  I attended a lesson on painting cells for Japanese animation, listened to a lecture on attending high school in Japan, took a brief class on kanji, and saw a performance by the Ottawa Suzuki strings orchestra.  I also got a lot of information on foreign exchange programs for when I'm in college. A lot of the area colleges have programs in Asian studies, Japanese, etc!

When Grandma visited, we found the perfect opportunity for a sewing lesson.  We spent an afternoon selecting fabric and a simple pattern and when we got home I read through the pattern, cut the fabric, and sewed the beginning stitches of a pair of cute flannel mermaid pajama pants.  The easiest part was stitching using the sewing machine.  The most difficult part of the project was putting in the elastic.  I'd like to try another sewing project one day (and maybe even knitting, since mom just found a bunch of yarn and learning needles).

In November, I studied for--and competed in--a local homeschool spelling bee.  I got third place (which is nothing to sneeze at!) and went out on the word "comportment", which I totally knew how to spell but I lost track of my letters and dropped the second "o".  DOH!

Another fantastic thing I've done in the past few months was take an art class at the Kansas City Art Institute, which was specifically about drawing my favorite kind of art--Japanese comics or Manga.  I learned a skeleton drawing technique, which has been helpful in all of my artwork sense.  Also, I feel I should  specify that it is not a literal skeleton, but a series of circles and lines that help when I'm drawing people.  There are still a bajillion different coloring and inking techniques to learn, but I think this class has gotten me a few steps closer.  I hope to take the next class in the spring!

This semester of choir is almost over, too.  We're preparing for our big December performance on the 13th. We'll be singing Silver & Gold, Sleigh Ride, My Favorite Things (from the Sound of Music) and Silver & Gold.  I'm feeling pretty confident about all but Silver & Gold.  I haven't had much time to learn that song.  The band and strings groups and handbell choirs are performing that night, too.  It should be a fun night :)

Guess that's all for now!  (I'll cover Christmas stuff in another post.)