Luv'N Lambert Life

A blog about living with Epilepsy, IBHS, Homeschooling and so much more

Writing

Moving on from being stalked… {Thoughts From Me}

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Over the last few months, I find myself wanting to write less and less.  I used to greatly enjoy sharing with my friends online but I find that I am becoming less willing to share and less willing to allow myself to be “seen” through my presence online.  Being stalked by others and having that information, that really had nothing to do with the person using it against you, used against you, makes you think about every step you take.

Our life has moved forward to this, but I find when I go to write things now, I think of how that person who stalks me may use it against me in the future.  I think about the ignorance of this person and how they thought they were achieving something by bringing my life to the forefront, even though my life is an open book through my public persona.  Still I find myself doubting my writing because of their personal interpretation of what’s here.

Should this person and the others like her take so much of my happiness from me?  No and day to day they don’t.  It’s only when I come here to share that I’m stopped in my tracks.

The only way to overcome it is to keep writing, to get myself back on track and to continue to be the me I have always been.  I started this blog in 2009 and I continue to share here.  I want others to know our story.  I enjoy helping Momma’s like me who can relate to our struggles daily, even to the stalkers we face.

It’s a joy to have this job, to share this with all of you.

Many blessings,
Dana

High School Essay Intensive {Crew Review}

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The Institute for Excellence in Writing is one of the best curriculum choices available for writing curriculum and one of our favorites.  So when we were offered the chance to review High School Essay Intensive with the Homeschool Review Crew, I was happy to jump on the review train.  I must admit I wanted this program both for me and to preview for my high schoolers.  I’ve not been disappointed, but then I never expected to be because the Institute for Excellence in Writing provides only the best in it’s products.
High School Essay Intensive was created by Andrew Pudewa, the Director at the Institute for Excellence in Writing.  This program is designed to provide high school students with a firm education in how to write essays.  Pudewa breaks down each element of an essay to make it easy to follow and complete the lessons provided for high school students.  This program is also designed to help your student preform better on the essay portion of the SAT®.
What We Received:

We were sent a box for the program containing a small DVD case filled with 5 DVD’s required to work through and complete the program.  The contents of the lessons are included upon these DVD’s. 
 Also included and needed for the program, is a cardboard three fold folder called Portable Walls for the Essayist.  This folder begins with the word “Essay” displayed in cursive, followed by the definition of what an essay is.  A list of essay types follows this definition.
The second page of the folder shows a list of essay models, breaking each down for better understanding.  The next page provides specific essay models such as the Argumentative Essay, Persuasive and Rhetoric among others.  In the center, the Essay Writing Process is explained.  Discussed on the pocket page are Essay Writing Strategies and Sentence Pattern Variety.
On the back of this folder is a full list of Transitional Words and Phrases as well as Prepositions to help guide your writing and expand your vocabulary when writing.  These are great for any writer to use.  The entire folder is a wealth of information that is great for all writers and a major asset for the program as well.
Inside, filling the folder, is a 25 page guide for the program.  This is where you’ll find the program’s questions and other required exercises for completing the program.  This is basically your student workbook.  I personally would have preferred it to be bound and a little nicer but it works for it’s need.
The DVD’s are led by Andrew Pudewa himself and he jumps straight into the reason for the course and the first assignment for you to complete.  The DVD’s are fully directed, telling when to pause and for how long, then you come back to complete more of the program.  The DVD’s are also closed captioned making it easy to follow along either by listening or reading the prompts as you go.  This helps to eliminate confusion as well.
How We Used It:
This program was for me and my two high school students.  I used it as a brush up for my personal writing and blogging and they used it as an introduction to high school essays and more structured writing for their high school assignments.  This program is styled more as formal classroom instruction, reminding me more of my high school college-prep courses.  I liked this and so did my kids because it gave them a more independent style in learning which they prefer.  It also gives choices for their writing instead of keeping them writing only one thing at a time.  Having a choice allows more thought to go into their writing and allows them to create better writing in the end.
Together we watched the program.  We discussed what we were learning together and then on separate sheets, we wrote our answers using the provided guide/student packet for the program.  As I mentioned, I would have preferred this to be an actual workbook but it was more like a classroom handout instead.
Where Can You Buy This Product:

High School Essay Intensive is for high school students to prepare them for Essay Writing.  It is available for order through Institute for Excellence in Writing for $79.  This includes the 5 DVD set for the program in it’s own DVD case, the Portable Walls for the Essayist folder and the printed Student Handout.
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Freewriting Creatively {Crew Review}

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What We Received for Review:

Home School Adventure Co. graciously provided us with a digital copy of Creative Freewriting Adventure: A Journey into Freewriting.  They also gifted us with an additional digital copy of the Creative Freewriting Adventure: A Journey into Freewriting, the Coloring Book Edition. Both of which have been wonderful resources for our school.
What Is Freewriting?
What is freewriting you ask?  Freewriting is a method of writing where you simply just write.  You don’t take time to correct puncuation or spelling.  You don’t worry about it making sense.  You just freely write and let your words and thoughts flow.
About This Product:
Creative Freewriting Adventure encourages students to release their creative side.  It’s suggested to set a timer for 15 minutes.  Then to write and see what comes out onto the paper.
Creative Freewriting Adventure is a bit more structured than just giving the student the assignment to write with no topic or instruction.  Students are provided with a lesson for each assignment.  There are 10 exercises included in this curriculum.
Thales was the first.  Through the lesson the student learned about Thales and how his prediction of a Solar Eclipse had stopped battle.  Then begins the writing.
There are questions to get the writers mind moving and motivated to help their writing come to life.  The scene is set for them but the ending is completely up to their imaginative minds.  And they are to write out, freely, what they think and feel happened following the suggested events in the guide.
Each lesson goes in this manner.  Each lesson explores a different person, thing or event in life.  And each lesson provides a different story for your student to freewrite about and learn from.
How We Used This:

Of the two versions, I decided to use the Coloring Book Edition of Creative Freewriting Adventure with my daughter, Emmalee who is 14.  She’s an artist so I knew this version would fit her better.  The Coloring Book Edition includes images to color and design along with your writing, so you are providing some illustration as well as the story itself.  This was a plus for her and kept her from becoming bored with just writing.
But really, she didn’t become bored with writing with Creative Freewriting Adventure because unlike other writing programs we used, this one allowed her to be herself and write the adventures her way.  She was able to not worry about what she was writing, about letter form, or spelling and instead she was able to concentrate simply on the stories themselves through her writing.  Adding in the additional coloring, artistic element as well was just a bonus.
Where You Can Buy This:

You can purchase Creative Freewriting Adventure: A Journey Into Freewriting from Home School Adventure Co. for $18.95 for the Digital Edition or $21.95 for the Print Edition.  The Digital Edition does allow typeable formatting so your student can type their stories instead of writing if you prefer that method.
The Creative Freewriting Adventure Coloring Book Edition is available as well for $21.95 in Digital Download only.  This edition has the same content as the original Creative Freewriting Adventure but includes additional art for coloring to enhance the learning experience.  We preferred this version to the original.
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Random Thoughts… {Thoughts From Me}

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Random thoughts.  Do you get those?  Totally random things popping into your head at any given time?  Usually with no rhyme or reason as to why.

Well, I suppose from this post you can guess that I do.  I go completely off track with my thinking and I feel that my brain is constantly going 100% all of the time.  I am always thinking of something and yet of nothing at all.  Not of importance at least.

Then there is the forgetfulness.  Sometimes I think so much that I forget mid-sentence what I was just thinking about.  For example, today I was talking to Donald, asking him about his day.   I was about to ask him something specific and mid-thought I completely forgot! 

Now this isn’t a big deal for something small but forgetfulness and randomness because an issue with bigger things.  Like forgetting to call in a medication script for my daughter.  Or forgetting to write out a blog post for the week or for a review item.  Forgetting you made an appointment for Thursday. (Yes, I did that one this week!  Eek!!)

I often feel that my blog posts are random as well.  I’d like to find a way to make them more structured and more focused but how can you do that when you have trouble focusing yourself?!  I contribute it to my undiagnosed ADD.  Or is it ADHD?  I’m pretty sure I have one of those and I know my poor kids do as well.

So how do you manage to keep your thoughts in order and stop being random with them?  How do you create posts that are structured and more organized?  Any tips you have for  me?  Feel free to leave me any ideas you may have in a comment below.  I look forward to all of your suggestions.

DSC_0089
Random sky pic from a few months back.

On an additional note we’ve reached 700 blog posts at Luv’N Lambert Life and have many more to come!  This particular post is my first written and posted with Open Live Writer.  So far I’m loving this blog writing software and look forward to using it for my posts from now on.  All the ease of blogging with a format like a word processor program.  Added benefit is that there is a word count tool built in too! (So far this post is at 389 words and counting.)  You can even link up and add images to your posts right from Open Live Writer.  Awesome right?

Well that’s it from me tonight.  Hope you all have a blessed week!

Dana

About blogging… {Thoughts From Me}

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Some days I have no idea what to blog about so then this becomes a sort of diary for me.  An  outlet to get out my frustrations.  A way to let go and share myself with the world.

Most days I have no idea where these posts are going to go.  I just let my fingers type and my mind release it’s thoughts onto digital paper.  As with most of our life, I go with the flow of things.

The problem with this is that there is no real stability in my blog content.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing but just not a great thing when you’re a blogger.  There is no particular spot for my posts.  There is no particular format for my posts.  There is no particular topic or style or method for my posts.  They just are.

As a blogger, as a writer, I would prefer to see myself writing more interesting posts to share with my readers.  I would prefer to see myself more organized in blogging and talking about life, homeschooling, even Epilepsy.  I would prefer to find my spot in this blogging world, claim it for myself and let it build into something beautiful.  I know that comes with time and effort though.

I have many friends who make blogging look so easy and in some ways it is when you have the content provided, such as in providing reviews and information to the public.  But when it comes down to the real life heart of blogging, it becomes harder to get past the chatter and into the meat of writing.

So this months goal is to just get back to writing.  Put pen to paper and go, or in this case, fingers on keyboard to digital paper and type.  Both end in fabulously unique results and that’s my end goal.

This month is Epilepsy Awareness Month.  As you all know, it’s a subject close to my heart as three of my four beautiful babies, along with myself have lived with Epilepsy for most of our life.  This month I will be sharing more about our life with Epilepsy, as I do often throughout the year.  Please message me if you have any questions you would be interested in having me answer for you.

And as always stay tuned for the next post…

With all my love,

Dana

Fortuigence: Essay Rockstar Textual Analysis {Crew Review}

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Writing is a course that we’ve recently introduced into our family’s learning program this year so when this review for Fortuigence came up I was immediately intrigued.  I knew that my children were not quite ready to complete this course but I was interested in trying it myself so that we could possibly use it for homeschool writing in the future.  I signed up for the Essay Rockstar Textual Analysis Writing Course.  
I, personally, chose this course so that I could brush up on my writing skills for review purposes.  I felt the need to have an extra challenge and a class all of my own to complete.  I wanted to make sure I was providing the best in writing that I am able to and this course was perfect for that.
Fortuigence provides a course of lessons which help to inspire students to perform better.  It helps students learn to become independent writers and self-sufficient thinkers through each lesson of the course.  This is true learning at it’s best.
Essay Rockstar Textual Analysis Writing Course is a short course of 7 lessons, complete with video instructions for completion.  Each section of the course requires the student to watch a short video on an explanation of what’s expected during that part of the course.  Then the student can either read through or listen to the next section of the course, learning to put in place the part of the lesson they are learning.  Lastly, students must create their own piece of writing to turn in for the assignment they are working on.  This writing assignment is checked and corrected by Lily Latridis herself, the Founder of Fortuigence.  Lily then emails the student back with constructive criticism on the student’s selected work.
I found these courses to be exceptionally easy to follow along with and complete.  I was encouraged in using the program.  I knew that I was a good writer already but this program did help me to polish some of my skills and encouraged me to continue on the path I am on in writing.  Sometimes I have self-doubt, after all we are our biggest critics.  Through using this course, I learned that I am often harder on myself about my writing than it is necessary for me to be.
Essay Rockstar Textual Analysis Writing Course is for students who are ages 12-18. A Textual Analysis is simply a review of another person’s work, which is exactly what I blog about several times a month working for the Schoolhouse crew.  This course helps develop critical thinking skills and helps students learn to explain how they feel about something they’ve read, seen, or even used.  They learn to be descriptive in their writing by really telling about the product or subject.
Essay Rockstar Textual Analysis Writing Course from Fortuigence is available for $57 for the 7 lesson course.  Each lesson varies in length but follows the same format as I mentioned above.  The lessons are very thorough in covering the method step by step, one leading to another.  There are also various other writing courses available through Fortuigence for around the same price per course.
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