School For the Gifted and Talented...SYKE!

By Amir Ali Said

About two weeks ago I started homeschooling. I felt that homeschooling was the right choice for me. Plus, I thought that my old school (Philippa Schuyler, School for the Gifted and Talented) could no longer provide the right education for me. And since I left, the school has only gotten worse.

One of my closest friends has informed me that the school has been resorting to new heights. The atmosphere is much much worse. My former English Language Arts teacher has left and went back to Canada. Just two days ago, there were three fights, within three periods of each other. And today I was informed that kids just aren't going to class now, practically every period kids are cutting class. Plus, I already knew that this year kids have even began to cut school. I don't believe in coincidences, I think that this is only the beginning of the downfall for Philippa Schuyler, School For the Gifted and Talented.

Lazy Dog, Dum Dum Bullets, and War Medals! Oh, My!

By Amir Ali Said

Going into Social Studies class today I knew we were going to see some weapons from W.W.I (World War I.) I was looking forward to seeing all the different weapons that my teacher brought in from World War I. Then there was an announcement, "All 8th Grade Homerooms, kindly report to the Auditorium, thank you." That SABOTAGED everything! Once my class got downstairs we waited for about 10 minutes, to be notified by another announcement that, "The Assembly has been canceled and rescheduled, sorry for the inconvenience, may all 8th Grade Homerooms please report back to class." If I decided to describe my anger, it wouldn't be such a great idea, so I'll continue.

Once my class finally got back, we immediately started the lesson, since we already lost a lot of time. We started off learning about the words Squadron and "Ace". Then we went into the airplane used by America during World War I and the weapons used. A squadron is a group of six to seven airplanes. A "Ace" is a pilot that is able to shoot down 5 or more enemy planes. The "Ace" was seen differently throughout the world. Each major nation in the war, had its own standards for their fighter pilots. Germany didn't allow their fighter pilots to gain the title, "Ace" until they shot down 20 enemy planes. France and Great Britain also had their own standards. America probably had the lowest standards for their fighter pilots high ranking.

The Speed and Altitude level of the airplane dramatically changed over a four year period. In 1914, the airplane could only fly up to 80 MPH, could reach 12,000 feet in altitude and could only fly for two hours. By 1918, the airplane could fly up to 125 MPH, could reach 19,000 feet in altitude, and fly for four hours. Also, airplanes had the M2 Machine Gun, Browning .50 Caliber Machine Gun attached to the top of the plane. It shot 450-600 rpm (Rounds Per Minute), however, the gun jammed easily, so if it happened to jam on you, the fight was over, and you where going down. The airplane was really bulky and big, but over the years it improved.

The moment we've all been waiting for has come. Its time to announce the six out of about ten weapons my class should've saw (see paragraph 1). My class saw three medals handed out to fighter pilots. The Medals where given from America, Germany, and France. These medals were incredibly cool. We also saw the "hat" that American fighter pilots wore. Then we saw a round of Machine Gun casings, along with four bullets left, from the Browning .50 Caliber Machine Gun. I think that was the best thing we saw, those bullet casings and bullets looked incredible. I've never seen bullets before, but if you got hit with one of those it sure would do some damage. The last thing we saw was the Lazy Dog. The Lazy Dog was a small bomb during World War I. This little bomb did a lot of damage. As you may know, usually in a fighter plane two people are there. One in the front flying, and the other in the back watching the tail and shooting. Well the person in the back also had another job, to empty boxes upon boxes of Lazy Dogs onto the battlefield. This little bomb falling from 12,000 feet would instantly kill a wandering soldier. All of these weapons/medals were great, but I think the Machine Gun casings and bullets, and the American medal was the best.

My social studies teacher said he's brought most of these items at Army auctions, and I sure feel like taking a trip to one of them. These items are cool and valuable and they tell a lot of history. Tomorrow I look forward to seeing more weapons, if there isn't another assembly or assembly malfunction.

Non-Stop Sports = Low Energy

I went to Gersh today with my friends, we played about three or four games of basketball, it was really cool. We almost won a game against 3 kids from a summer camp but they had to leave. Allen beat me by 5 points and Maliq loss by 1. After all the games I went home and boy was I tired.

At Gersh my friends and I played one on one against each other. After that my friends and I played 3 on 3 against another group of kids from a summer camp. Game was 21 butwe never finished the game. Maliq had to go and so did the kids from the summer camp. After he left, Allen and I began to play basketball one on one, and we also shot around. Soon I left as well. Once I left Allen started playing someone else that was on the court.

Only Got 30 Mins. To Go, Then It's Time For The Social

The Social begins at 3:00 P.M. and its formal attire, but I don't have my clothes. So you know what I do, what any other kid does, go play a sport. Only this time I play football, and for the first time I quarterback for the whole game. And when I get the call that my parents are close, I run to the front of my school. Then I take my clothes and begin my journey for a place to change. So now I'm changing in the boys locker room. When I'm finished changing, I'm wearing a green polo, with black polo slacks, and my black Nike ACG boots. And once I go downstairs into the lunchroom, the social begins. We start the social off with a soul-train line.

At social I'm looking throughout the party for the good-looking girls, not only in the face but by the way they dress. A lot of girls looked really pretty and most of the girls knew how to dress for a formal event. But the only thing I was surprised to see was a good number of girls wore wedge shoes. But then again most of the girls wearing wedge shoes, were short.

When social officially began everybody was talking, with drinks in hand. The music wasn't that great. But people weren't just talking about the bad music, we talked about school, and other things. Then everybody began to dance, once the music got better. But soon after it was time to eat. After we ate social became like a 7th grade party. The music got much better and everybody was able to enjoy themselves. The song that had everybody go crazy was "Crank that Soulja Boy", that song has most kids at my school go crazy. When kids at my school hear that song they want to join. After that song the social was on a roll. By the end of social everybody talked, danced, and ate. Just how the social's suppose to go, right?

Naomi's Birthday, Best Party Of The Year

On Saturday I went to my friend, Naomi's birthday party. That party was dope! It was better than Destiny's party, and that was pretty hard to beat. At Naomi's party everybody was constantly dancing. And she's West Indian. Just pause for a little bit and think of how a West Indian birthday party would go. We were told, "No more bumpin and grindin". That should say enough.

I danced with every girl in the party. There were a lot of girls and we danced with her family. Every girl danced with almost every girl. At the party it was just constant dancing. I had mad fun at the party. And when we got to the cake, Naomi got smacked in the face with cake, her family even spread it around. Then we went back to dancing. I left at around 11 P.M. by that time I had already had all the good dances. All the girls were going in, it was crazy. But when I got home, I was mad tired. Naomi's party is officially the best party of the year.

Specialized H.S. Program

On Monday I was accepted into the Specialized H.S. program at my school. And classes began the same day. The goal of this program is to get a certain amount of 7th grade students prepared for the Specialized H.S. Admissions test. Qualifications are uncertain to me, but I think a student must have good grades and needed to have scored well on last year's statewide Math and Language Arts test. The program is headed by an 8th grade Language Arts teacher and the teachers in Math and Language Arts vary from 7th and 8th grade.

So far, the program is going well. All classes alternate Math and Language Arts teacher's throughout the week, except Friday. In the last four classes, all students in the program have taken a mini test for Math and Language Arts. The test is for placement reasons, that basically means, will the teacher's life be easier or harder. The teacher's life will be harder if most students didn't do well on the mini tests. On the other hand if students did well, their life will be easier. However, everybody will still have to work hard to gather the little information needed for the Specialized H.S. Admissions test. I look forward to completing and learning more about the Specialized H.S. Admissions test during this program.

Playing Basketball With 8th Graders

Yesterday a 5 on 5 basketball tournament began at my school. 7th and 8th graders get to play. Most of the 8th graders are on my school's basketball team. I'm cool with most of the 8th grade and the basketball team. However, when it came to the court that went out the window. The 8th graders play hard for no reason, we were having a scrimmage and they were hacking (slapping at the ball and fouling repeatedly) the 7th grade like crazy. I had 3 steals. But on one steal one of the 8th graders I'm cool with tried to get the ball and jammed my finger. Only two people from the 7th grade even scored and there was about 12 7th graders. I only got to take 4 shots, but my game showed through my defense and I had two assists. It was an awakening experience, now I know I have to play twice as hard with the 8th graders. Instead of sitting back, I have to create my own shots, because the 8th graders chuck (a person who never passes the ball and only wants to score) the 7th graders.

Writing Last Minute, Again

Today I had a social studies project due. In the project I had to include: an essay (2-3 pages), and a physical project. My topic was, "How did colonies in North America develop"? Yesterday I began finalizing my essay, however, it was the day before the project was due. That's poor planning. I had a week and two days to complete a essay and a physical project.

I started writing my essay on Wednesday. And, I never informed Pop that I was working on my essay. If I informed Pop about my essay I could've got help, but I didn't. Yesterday I asked Pop for help, and he helped me structure my essay. I worked on my essay until about 11PM. Then I went to sleep. But keep this in mind, I had a week and two days to complete a two-page essay, and I'm almost finished Sunday. That is really bad planning.

I woke up early in order to work on my essay some more. Now here's the dilemma, I'm writing last minute on a two-page essay. Keep in mind this isn't the first time that I've done this with an essay. This morning I worked on my essay for about two hours, to the point were I left at about 7:30AM, to get to school at 8:10AM. Hopefully this will be the last time I write last minute. There is no need to write last minute if I know I have an essay due one week in advance.

April Fools Day, Not Stink Bomb Day

Did anybody at school get the memo? It was April Fools day. But apparently nobody at school knew. IT'S NOT STINK BOMB DAY! Let me repeat, IT'S NOT STINK BOMB DAY! Today at school there was probably a stink bomb on every floor, every period. I was extremely upset, it just made walking to class so much harder. And some stink bombers took it too far, it smelled like they dropped more than one on some floors. It's not funny. Do stink bombers think it's funny because it stinks in the hallway? It's not funny and it's stupid. Your going to smell it too, so your hurting your nose and noses around the school.

Time To Work

I come home everyday and begin my school work. However, sometimes before I start, Pop and I will play Madden to get me up or we'll do something together. But the times I don't immediately begin my school work, I'm sleep or working with Pop. Today I slept to 7 P.M. But consider the fact that Pop and I got home at around 5 P.M. Then when I woke up Pop was playing Madden. (That's a whole nother subject). Now after he finished playing, I hadn't brought my books out for school work. Instead, I did other things, then gave an excuse. I didn't even realize it until Pop brought it up, but it was my fault. I should've just said I was checking other things before I started my school work.