HOME’SCOOL
+ … Segment: Where in the world is Rilee?!
Dear Readers, This year has been a great year for us and our publication, and hopefully for you readers as well. We’re branching out and hopefully going places. Thanks to all for your feedback, submissions and contributions. It’s nice to know that this e-zine is being enjoyed by others. First Off, thanks to Mr. Josh and Mr. Justin, from Impossible Possibilities for including Enoch and me in the 2013 Youth Poetry Slam, an amazing opportunity! Second, we enjoyed the immediate feedback on our Crooks&Co website, and I’d like to give a special thanks to Ms. Kandyce for the extra support, and to the contributors for this month’s publication. We (Crooks&Co) hope that you enjoy the holidays with your friends and family, enjoy the E-zine, and we wish a safe and speedy recovery for those of you who couldn’t wait until Cyber Monday and attempted making sense of the Black Friday Sales madness… Over all we wish you a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and as always, Happy Reading!
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Tia Crooks
December ‘13 Inside the Sic-Lic Poetry Slam! Hosted by Impossible Possibilities
*The True Meaning of Christmas Haven’s Horses Interview P. 8-12
Where in the world is Rilee? p.15-16 Discounts & Deals on P.1314
Merry Christmas!
Weeks before Christmas, there are so many people rushing to stores buying gifts for the people in their lives. Kids are sitting on Santa's lap or writing him defective letters and telling him which toys they want for Christmas. Nonetheless, during this hectic and presumably stressful time of year many Christians seem to forget the true meaning of CHRISTmas. Many of them forget that Christmas isn't about buying presents or some fictitious guy named Santa Claus and reindeer. The real reason for Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. One thing that causes many Christians to ignore the true meaning of Christmas is shopping. Christmas is the most commercialized holiday and the promotion for Christmas sales begin earlier each year. One of the best ways Christians can celebrate the true meaning of Christmas is to discover ways to practice the principle that says it's better to give than to receive, because if you think about it, although Christmas is about the celebration of Christ, the purpose of His birth was to give His life so that we might be saved. With everything that is going on, remember that this isn’t the celebration of yourself, but Christ.
old
Abraham was Jacob was insecure Peter was impulsive and Leah was unattractive hot-tempered Martha worried a lot Joseph was ABUSED Moses stuttered The Samaritan woman had several failed Gideon was poor marriages Samson was codependent Zacchaeus was Rahab was immoral David had an affair Elijah was suicidal Jeremiah was
depressed
unpopular
Thomas had doubts Paul had poor health Timothy was timid
Jonah was reluctant Naomi was a widow … If you stop making excus John the Baptist was He will use you too! eccentric, to say “O Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; w the least are all the work of Your hand” (Isaiah 64:8)”. Source: B.I.B.L.E.
Relatable Post #3523
Dear Kindergarten children, If you don’t like nap time, please give it to us. Sincerely, High Schoolers
Hey ! Can you find the barn cat?
HAVEN’S HORSES Interview: Haven’s Horses with Teylor Crooks
I
started volunteering for Haven’s Horses a couple of years back. Haven’s Horses is an awesome program that teaches horsemanship. It’s a great opportunity to experience, especially if you have a soft spot in your heart for children with special needs and horses. So I thought, what better way to let others know about how to get in on this spectacular opportunity, than to share this with our loyal readers! So I talked it over with my team, and we thought it’d be great to interview Ms. Celena Salinas, the coordinator of this volunteering program so that all of you could get all of the professional and detailed information about the program! I really hope that this interview helps those of you who are trying to figure out if this type of volunteering is for you, and I hope this also answers the questions for those who want to start but don’t know how.
The Interview
Q. What exactly is the Haven’s Horses program about? A. Haven’s Horse’s is a program that offers horsemanship Ms. Celena and SalinasPT (physical therapy) classes as well as With Therapeutic on horseback for children with physical disabilities and special needs kids. Q. When did the program begin? A. The program began in the Fall of 2008 started by Stephen and Kristen Kirkland Q. What is the age requirement to begin volunteering? A. We ask that you are at least 14 years of age to work with the children in therapy and 13 years of age to work in the barn and help with barn chores. Q. What steps need to be taken in the process to become a volunteer? A. Contact Ms. Celena Salinas then attend a volunteer orientation which is scheduled once a month on a Saturday then we put you on the schedule to volunteer. Q. Do you have to live close in order to volunteer? A. No not at all, just have a love for special needs children and horses! CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE…
Q. What are a couple of pros and cons of being a volunteer at Haven’s Horses? A.The pros: making lasting friendships with the children and other volunteers. B.The cons: Dealing with the crazy Texas weather because we are outdoors. Q. What can one expect in a typical workday? A. Sign in, groom and work with horses, assist the therapist with his/her rider and the horse barn chores such as cleaning stalls, mucking, and sweeping etc. Q. How often will the volunteer be needed? A. We like for our volunteers to sign up at least once a week. Q. Do you need any experience working with horses, people with disabilities or ranch work? A. No, we go over everything during the volunteer orientation and you learn as you go. Q. What is the proper attire one should don when working on the ranch? A. Wear closed toe shoes and dress according to what the weather forecast will be for that day. Q. Are there any incentives, such as rewards, horseback riding or certificates, that one could receive while volunteering for Haven’s Horses? A. Yes, we offer many different incentives we have recognition parties, etc. Your contact info: Celena Salinas 817-431-1544 ext 1016 csalinas@havenshorses.org
At Haven’s Horses, volunteers are considered heroes. They play an important role in the lives of our riders and they are a vital part to the success of our program. Volunteer hours must be scheduled by an instructor and volunteers must attend an orientation prior to their first visit to volunteer.
Reasons to be a volunteer:
Gain valuable experience make an impact upon a child’s life. Make lifelong relationships Build volunteer hours for college resumes Gain valuable life skills Interact with special needs children Be around horses and livestock Volunteers must be at least 14 years old to work directly with therapy riders.
Duties:
Lead horses for therapy classes (specialized leader training required) Side walking with therapy riders Prepare horses for classes www.http://havenshorses.org/
Print and Use!
*check site for details
Travel
People have slowly started exploring Stockholm, a city with rich history and striking contrasts. It’s one of the places where you’ll find medieval buildings standing hand-in-hand with modern-day architectural wonders. As you move outside the city, you will come across an archipelago (arkeh-pell-ih-go) of 24,000
islands, which all seem to summon you to explore their sandy beaches. Stockholm is the capital of Sweden, along with being the largest city in that country. Some of the foods in Stockholm are no different than our foods such as French fries. Swedes speak Swedish but, a lot of people in Sweden like to speak English just as well. Source:lifestyle.ilovei
ndia.com/lounge/facts -about-stockholm1719.html
The One Minute Riddle Test Submitted by loyal reader: Aunt Mechell (Set your timer for 1 minute and let’s see how sharp you are)
1.Why can't a man living in the USA be buried in Canada? 2.Is it legal for a man in California to marry his widow's sister? Why? 3.A man builds a house rectangular in shape. All the sides have southern exposure. A big bear walks by. What color is the bear? Why? 4.If there are 3 apples and you take away 2, how many do you have?
Submitted by Aunt Mechell
5.How far can a dog run into the woods? 6. One big hockey fan claimed to be able to tell the score before any game. How did he do it? 7.You can start a fire if you have alcohol, petrol, kerosene, paper, candle, coke, a full matchbox and a piece of cotton wool. What is the first thing you light? 8.Why do Chinese men eat more rice than Japanese men do? 9.What word describes a woman who does not have all her fingers on one hand?
Answers: 1.Because you should not bury living people 2.No, because it is not legal to get married if you are dead. 3.The bear is white since the house is built on the North Pole. 4.If you take 2 apples, then you have 2,of course. 5.The dog can run into the woods only to the half point of the woods after that it would run out of the woods. 6.Because the score before any hockey game should be 0:0, shouldn't it? 7.A match, of course. 8.Because there are more Chinese men than Japanese men. 9.Normal - I wouldn't be very happy if I had all my 10 fingers on one hand! If you didn’t get it on the 1st try, you are not alone…
Sik’lik Poetry Slam – 2013 Hosted by Impossible Possibilities MC: Mr. Mike Guinn
Me!
sik’lik; The word “cyclic” means: revolving or recurring in cycles. "Cyclic" reminds audiences that every form of story starts with a beginning, moves toward a middle and culminates with an ending. “Sĭk'lĭk” is the phonetic spelling of the word "cyclic." “Sĭk'lĭk” is also an abbreviation for the words “sick lyric." The purpose of Sĭk'lĭk is to provide a medium for students to exercise their creativity by targeting an issue of substance through rhyme or lyrics. (Impossible Possibilities)
st 1 ,
nd 2
rd 3
and place Winners! Dillion Youngblood, a freshman at Chisholm Trail High School (Fort Worth) was named the 2013 Sik’lik High School Champion with a perfect score of 60 points over two rounds of competition.
Deion Hightower (Eastern Hills High School) ďƒ&#x;China Wilson (Love and Grace Home School)
Daasia Montgomery, a seventhgrade student from Clay Academy in Dallas, won the middle school division with a combined score of 58.8.
AJ Lockleair (Eastern Hills High School)
High School Finalists
Check out Impossible Possibilities at: www.http://www.impossiblepo ssibilities.org/ You can also show your support and contribute donations to this organization that inspires students through education!
Dillion Youngblood (Chisholm Trail High School) Deion Hightower (Eastern Hills High School) China Wilson (Love and Grace Home School) AJ Lockleair (Eastern Hills High School)
Junior High Finalists
Daasia Montgomery (Clay Academy) Tommie Jemerson (Kennedy Middle School) Tayva Wilson (Shirley Hall Middle School) Tia Crooks (Lighthouse Prepatory Home School) Whitney McClelland (Shirley Hall Middle School) Lexi Vier (Bailey Junior High)
The Poetry Workshop that was offered was amazing and it helped us prepare for the Poetry Slam
Approximately 50 middle and high school students participated in the event, which included a writing and performance workshop hosted by national-award winning poet Mike Guinn. Nineteen of those students then showcased their talents on stage, competing in a two-round poetry slam competition. (JUDGES)
Poem about a Motherless child Poem about a form of words
Last year’s Winner
2nd Place Poetry/Rap about success
Poem about being nervous
Poem: I’m A NERD
Poem about insecurities and tough situations
Impossible Possibilities co-founders , brothers, Mr. Joshua and Justin Hernandez
Food and Health
Beyond Food.
They say the proof is in the pudding, but is it even pudding anymore? Nowadays, you can’t tell the difference between what’s real, and what’s fake. But “nowadays” is just the beginning of a ‘food revolution’ *ahem* crisis. Fraudulence is in the food factories now more than ever, and if you want the scoop, of what’s to hit supermarkets and Whole Foods stores next year, read on because now, phony bologna is the least of your problems and in this case Vegetarianism won’t help you. The majority of us know that most freeze-dried pre-packaged chicken and meat products are most likely 10% or less of what the box or description says it is. But 10% is still some, right? Not that it makes it any better, but even chicken hot dogs have more nutritional value than a chicken-less chicken tender.
Food Factories and food scientists have been toying with an idea. One that will help marketing in any store that sells meat or chicken. You name it: McDonalds’s, Burger King– but it doesn’t stop at the obvious. These workers have gotten bold, they’re aiming at whole food stores too! The idea is to create a product that tastes like meat, looks like meat, feels and smells like meat, but a product that IS NOT meat. Why?, you ask. It’s for the vegetarian market, of course! As we consumers catch wind of the food industry’s bad air, a lot of people have decided to make more careful decisions in eating habits and for some, that meant slowly converting to vegetarianism. Products such as chicken-less chicken tenders, meatless burgers and egg-less protein substitutes, have been aimed and targeted with this type of audience in mind. The ones who are reluctantly changing their eating habits solely for health reasons. These products are intended to play on the inabilities of self-forced or prescribed vegetarians to pass up foods that they may have enjoyed all of their pre-vegetarian life, not to mention those of you who just grab food at the grocery store and those that judge nutritional value by pictures alone.
In early 2014, Beyond Meat’s plant based beef crumbles (?!?) will make their super-sized supermarket debut. Although details were not given, Hampton Creek Foods (creators of Beyond Meat) claim to be working with Heinz, who refused to comment on their contributions to any collaborated product, and other Fortune 500 companies to bring out more products. The Mother Jones magazine wrote an article about these products in 2012. “After sampling Beyond Meat’s Southwest style Chicken-Free Strips, I tended to agree with Stone’s cautious optimism. They really did taste startling similar to what I remember from my pre-vegetarian days. There was that tissue like resistance—I could tear off strands that felt like muscle. Granted, without the sauce or fixings, the strips’ flavor resembled that of a grilled Chick-Fil-A breast abandoned in a cup holder for a few days. But that didn’t stop me from finishing the whole 12 ounce package.” --The Incredible, Hypothetical Egg by journalist Sydney Brownstone The lifelike texture described by Mr. Brownstone is a result of almost a decade of testing at the University of Missouri. I mean, think about it-- How much will most consumers want to know about how Chicken-Free Strips are made? Soon we’ll find out. With the hook “plant-based”, the product will not be questioned by a number of people! In the spring of 2012, the Founders Fund, one of the first firms to invest in Facebook invested $1 million in Beyond-Eggs and in September of last year, Whole Foods stores in Northern Carolina began selling fake mayo *ahem* mayo made with Beyond Eggs, a completely different product. Beyond Meat and Beyond Eggs’ products are expected to hit grocery stores, supermarkets and Whole Foods stores early next year (2014). Ah, America the Beautiful. Please beware of these counterfeit products that food factories are peddling. Read the small print in the nutrition facts and do your research… you heard it here 1st !
Grandaddy Wille
Grandaddy Rodney Kyla Kevin @ABC homeschool support Marleena
Aunt Reshema Cousin Dwaine Flanagan