Spirited Woman Blogger Team

Comparing 4th Grade to 8th Grade - You've Got to be True to Yourself!

On the left of photo that's Alice in 4th grade. On right, 8th grade.

School, like the air conditioning, is in full blast now. You would know this if you step into any of the classrooms this year. The second week of school is already half over and is jam packed with tests and quizzes. Any hope of a homework free, lazy day is gone. As I wrote in my last post, I am getting organized.

So far this is working out well. My homework is turned in and I seem to be managing my time nicely. Since the new school began, I am back with my friends. I have also become friends with a few of the new students and hope that they feel welcomed. The subject of today's post has nothing to do with the homework I have, but more with what it is like to be a brand new eight grader.

Let's rewind a bit first. It is the first day of fourth grade. My friends and I are discussing how great middle school will be. We get to decorate our lockers, change classes, be with our friends more, and we have more trust. What we are giving up is being leaders of the elementary school. We go back to the bottom of the school food chain with no information about our teachers.

Now we skip the three years of middle school which went way to quickly and nothing has changed. Sure we know more and are taller. We act differently. There are a couple new people here and there, but we really are the same. We think about what life will be like in the unknown world of high school. We dream of being able to where ever we want everyday. We think about all the opportunities and things high school has to offer us and how things will be amazing if we can just survive one more year of middle school.

Eighth graders are very similar to fourth graders in a way. In fact we are almost identical. I remember complaining about the exact same things in fourth grade. Pressure, homework, studying, and no time.

Part of being a Spirited Woman is staying true to yourself. Changing the the big imperfections that hinder you, but keeping the small ones that help you. When I look back at younger me I see what I have changed and the person I have become.

- Alice, The Spirited Kid
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She Goes Back to School - With a Clean Slate!

I posted about going Back to School - now I AM Back to School. Big difference.

The summer has officially ended - I am on my third day of school and it is already in full swing. Which means homework. It is really hard to get back into the school groove. Especially after a long lazy summer, but unfortunately I don't get to pick when I have school so to help myself this year I have decided to get organized.

Anybody who knows me really well is most likely laughing hysterically right now because I am the least organized person in the world, but so far I am doing well. I have all of my books in my locker sorted by class, my pens all write, and my pencils are all sharpened. I think I am off to a good start.

I like to think of the new school year as a clean slate. My mistakes from last year are gone. It is like I am starting a new school except with all of my friends, and I am ready to have fun. (except for homework which I can wait on)

Part of being a Spirited Woman is letting yourself start over. Everyone makes mistakes and even though we can't turn back time we can forgive ourselves and learn from the past. When you are starting a new school year or a new position in a job or even a new day you can start yourself on a clean slate.

- Alice, The Spirited Kid
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Alice Goes Cross Country (Again)

The first day of Cross Country was yesterday. It was so much fun seeing the team again. I really  enjoyed meeting the new people. It was also so great seeing the team together. I am really ready to start racing again.

The whole team isn't at practice but after the first week of school the whole team will be together. Going into eight grade I am around the middle of the team age. Even though there are older kids I am mainly friends with the people my age and younger, but I am still friends with people older than me.

The hardest part about cross country is to push yourself to the limit. There are times when you are running and you want to stop. It is really hard to push on during a run but you know that it is worth it. When you race and you finish with a good time it is the most rewarding thing ever.

Part of being a Spirited Woman is trying hard to get the things you want. Not everything you want comes easy, but when you try hard to get what you want it is worth it.

- Alice, The Spirited Kid
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Back to School

The last days of summer are approaching and even though I am not totally ready for my lazy summer days to end, I can't wait to get back to school. I am looking forward to seeing my class mates again. I already have my locker and my homeroom teacher and have a lot of friends in my homeroom. I am not looking forward to getting up early.

Two days before school starts there is locker day. My favorite part about locker day is deciding how to decorate my locker. There are so many different types of magnets and  design ideas. It is really hard to choose.

Choosing how to decorate your locker challenges your creativity and your locker design shows individuality. Standing out is part of being a Spirited Woman because it shows that you are unique and don't care what other people think. Spirited women don't blend in they shine in the crowd. By making an original locker or decorating your work desk you stand out, too.

- Alice, The Spirited Kid
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Writing a Real Letter by Alice, Age 13

Now that it is summer a lot of my friends are going to sleep away camps. At sleep away camp no electronics are allowed. To keep  in touch with my friends I have to write them a letter.

To the average kid, I would imagine, writing a letter is something that we only do for homework assignments. Today we can communicate in so many ways that are a lot faster than waiting for the mail to come. I actually enjoy writing letters though because it gives you more time to think about what you are going to say. When you are writing an email or sending a text message you can easily say the wrong thing. Now that we can receive things almost instantly over the computer it applies a small amount of pressure on the writer to get the response back almost instantly. Whereas, when you are writing a letter you can think about what you want to say before you write it down and nobody is expecting an instant response.

Writing letters is a form of communication and part of being a Spirited Woman is communicating with others. Not only is communicating important, but communicating correctly is major to having a good conversation. When you write a letter it is perfectly fine to write about what you saw at camp or how much fun you are having, but sometimes things need to be said face to face to get the full idea. It is really easy to get wrapped up in modern technology, but sometimes a face to face conversation is better.

- Alice, The Spirited Kid
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Tennessee ReCap

My last two posts have been about me in Tennessee, so I have decided to make this post a recap of my adventure there.

Top 5 things I loved:

1. I loved hiking in the mountains. All of the nature around me and connecting with nature was so much fun. It was so much more beautiful when I was there than in any picture. It also provided plenty of time to talk to my family.

2. Rock hopping was another thing that was fun. It involved taking risks. Taking risks is a huge part of being a Spirited Woman - because if you never took chances so many great things would never happen. When you rock hop if you fall you could die, so I had to find ways to get across safely. Even when I had to make a big jump I still had a lot of fun.

3. Swimming in the mountain stream was so cool. It was also really cold. At first I didn't want to do it, but there was a waterfall and I really wanted to go under it. I eventually made it in the water, which felt like ice, and walked over to the waterfall. The waterfall was also really cold but worth it.

4. Fourth of July fireworks. As I have said before I love the creativity of fireworks so I had to watch the ones in Tennessee! Normally when you watch fireworks you look up at them, but because the cabin we were in was so high up we were looking down on them. This was really cool because it was different than what I am used to and made the fireworks seem even better.

5. My fifth favorite thing was spending time with my family. I had a great time with my family and we did a lot of things together. Bonding with your family is part of being a Spirited Woman because it keeps your life a lot more peaceful which makes you a better person and more spirited.

All in all I thought Tennessee was a great trip and I can't wait to go back. Tennessee was such a peaceful place and really made me feel relaxed. I would tell everybody I meet to go into The Smokey Mountains in there lives.

- Alice, The Spirited Kid
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Alice Continues Her Climb (In More Ways Than One!)

Hiking to the top of the Chimney Tops - Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee was a challenge. I climbed over 1,000 feet in the air. I was short of breath and tired, but I kept going. The two-mile hike up, which would have been easier and faster if I was running on flat land, felt like it was taking forever. I knew that if I kept going though, the view would be beautiful.

Part of being a Spirited Woman is perseverance. Having the courage to go on.

At the top of the Chimney Tops was 400 meters of climbing rocks to get to the very top. My dad and I took the challenge and soon learned that it was for expert climbers only. We didn't make it to the top but we saw the beautiful view we came for.

It was exactly what I pictured. I was proud I had made it that far and hadn't stopped.

Perseverance, like I said before, is a huge part of being a Spirited Woman. If you don't keep going you'll never get to see some really great things. My dad always says that some of the greatest things are some of the hardest to get to. That is why I believe it is important to never give up!

Many people have been to the mountains I climbed. It was a great climb and I am glad I made it.  

- Alice, The Spirited Kid
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Alice Conquers The Mountains

Fear. We all come face to face with it almost everyday. It can be fears of little things like spiders or bees or big fears like climbing mountains.

Today I came face to face with a fear of falling off a water fall trail. The waterfall was on a hiking trail in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee. It is not very high up and is on a marked trail, but if you want to see the lower part you need to stray off the trail and climb down a 50 foot rocky ledge. I'm not sure what my urge was to climb down, but I really wanted to. It was probably sitting up on the rocks above and looking at the beautiful continuation of the waterfall below that made me say yes when my dad asked, "Who wants to go down there?"

Climbing down was super creepy. You had to make sure the rocks weren't loose before stepping on them. It would have been even more scary if the woman behind me wasn't so spirited. The whole way down she was making the climb seem fun and not dangerous. Spirited women like that are amazing. They can look fear in the face and laugh.

Once I got down the waterfall I looked up at the distance I had climbed. It had only taken a minute or two and wasn't high, but because I had never done anything like it - I was so proud of my self for accomplishing it and not just missing the opportunity.

In life we will always meet fear that will push us away from great opportunities. Part of being a spirited woman is knowing when to look at fear and leave it behind because the adventure will be worth it.

Challenge: Conquer one of your fears.

- Alice, The Spirited Kid
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The Mark Twain Cave in Hannibal

This week I was in Hannibal, Missouri visiting the home town of author Mark Twain. Mark Twain has written many books that many people have read. In one of his famous books, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, two characters named Becky Thatcher and Tom Sawyer get lost in a cave. It was in this cave that I took an hour tour with my grandparents, sister, cousin, and other people who wanted to see it.

The cave is very large and there is a trail with lights so that we could see. One of my favorite parts about the cave was the signatures. When tours were first began in the late 1800's and early 1900's people were encouraged to sign the cave. Now it is illegal. When you look at the signatures that were written, which is a lot, some of them have dates. Looking through the cave we saw signatures from the 1920's and 30's. Some of the signatures were burned on the wall and others were painted or written.

Walking through the cave really made me wonder about all all the people who had been there. It amazed me that I was walking in the foot steps of thousands of spirited women from different years. Their names were forever stuck on the wall of the cave.

On the car ride back the thought of the signatures was still stuck in my mind. The world was so different when those women signed their names. When some of them wrote their names the tour was guided by lanterns, not lights. The world outside the cave also was very different. When the names were written on the walls there was no computer or email, but even though the world is different and our lives are different, we all have a connection with the women who signed their names inside the cave.

We are all united by our spirit no matter our age or when we were on this planet.

- Alice, The Spirited Kid
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Fireworks

Fireworks are one of my favorite things. They just remind me of magic exploding in the sky.

On my mom's birthday I got to see one of Disney's firework shows from out of the window of the restaurant we were eating at. The firework show was on water and it was beautiful. I was reminded of the time I was watching a movie on Disney fireworks and the narrator said that the story told through the fireworks is a blend of the viewers imagination and the music. I found it so fascinating that I could picture a story in my mind with music and fireworks.

I think that the way that you can imagine what emotions are being played in music is amazing, then combining music with lights and making a story is truly amazing. The power that a person's imagination has so powerful.

Part of being spirited is using your imagination, whether to enjoy fireworks, think of a brighter out come, or to design something. Using your imagination is never a challenge and can result in great things.

I have used my imagination in school. I especially use it in art class to help me think of the end result for the project I need to make.

- Alice, The Spirited Kid
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