Dynamic Defensive Arts moves

By Nadine Sullivan-Nightengale

PHS Press staff member

Dynamic Defensive Arts is a self-defense school that uses leverage and redirection of force over an attacker’s strength.  Located in Brooklyn Park, they train real life self defense that involves many different techniques, blocks, and circles.  They also do taekwondo, which is for sport. They are hoping many people come to visit their new location. You can check out their website at www.dynamicdefensivearts.com.

Halloween Cartoon

by Ava Holsather
PHS Press staff member

How to make a Ghoul Costume

By Nadia Sullivan-Nightengale
PHS Press staff member

Supplies: One black hoody. One black skirt (or a pair of pants). White face paint  and black face paint.

Step 1. Put on the black clothing
Step 2. Spread white face paint all over your face.
Step 3. Put black face paint around your eyes.

Congratulations you are a ghoul.

QUIZ: What Halloween Creature are you?

Quiz by Emily Weinlick
PHS Press staff member

1.    What place(s) appeals to you most?
a.    Dark alleyways and rooftops
b.    Slimy swamps and sewers
c.    Your grandma's dusty catacombs
d.    An old and spooky mansion
e.    A eerie caravan in a thick forest
f.    A foggy cemetery
g.    Other

2.    Which would you rather eat/drink?
a.    Blood or animals
b.    Fish or lizards
c.    Nothing
d.    Anything from an abandoned refrigerator
e.    Children, mushrooms, or potions
f.    Brains or anything fleshy
g.    Other

3.    What would you rather wear?
a.    A tux and long flowing cape or a shredded plaid shirt and jeans
b.    Slime
c.    Dirty strips of paper
d.    Nothing, it would just go right through you!
e.    A simple black dress with a pointy hat to top it off
f.    Ragged clothes of any kind
g.    Other

4.    What would you do to spend your free time?
a.    Cower in a dark place and wait for an unlucky victim to terrorize
b.    Make your own slip n' slide out of slime!
c.    Sleep, sleep, sleep…
d.    Stroll through the hallways of your haunting home
e.    Boil a love potion to use on your next door neighbor
f.    Roam around moaning about nothing
g.    Other

5.    Which pet would you rather have?
a.    A bat or wolf
b.    A frog
c.    A mouse
d.    None, you don't really like animals anyway
e.    A cat, raven, or rat
f.    A skeletal puppy
g.    Other

Congrats on completing the quiz! If you answered mostly A's then you are a terrifying vampire or werewolf, if you answered mostly B's you are a humble swamp monster who keeps to themselves, if you answered mostly C's you are a lazy mummy, if you answered mostly D's you are a ghost or ghoul, if you answered E's you are a tricky witch, if you answered mostly F's you are a zombie, and if you answered mainly G's I seriously don't know whether this quiz was any use to you. Happy Halloween!

POEM: ∫• A Halloween Poem •∫

By Emily Weinlick

PHS Press staff member

Leaving the house on Friday night, going out for quite a big fright…

 candy corn, pumpkin pies, and popcorn balls soon all the dead will rise…

Lurking black cats and frightening rats, be sure to check under all mats…

Mummies, goblins, vamps, and wolfmen soon you will be crying for your mommy…

ghostly chills and terrifying creams, lucky dads at home paying bills…

ghosts haunting every hallway, you just wish it would become Saturday…

What’s that sound? A howl? A scream? You’ll experience all this on Halloween…

a cackling clown and howling wolves, a dead king still wears his crown…

And the Bogey Man howls…

“Happy Halloween!”

CARTOON: Box Head

by Nadia Sullivan-Nightengale
PHS staff member

REVIEW: A World of Wizards

By Bridger Berg (Wizard101: Malorn SoulBane)

PHS Press staff member

Wizard101 is a computer game released by Kingsisle games in 2008. Now, in 2014, it has over 30 Million wizards.

Kingsisle has since made Pirate101, Wizard101’s “Sister Game” and a few games for handheld devices. In Wizard101, the player is the wizard, and they complete quests and battles in worlds of the “Spiral” (The magical universe in which all Kingsisle games take place), such as Moo Shu, Wizard City, and DragonSpire. All of this takes place within a very rich storyline, which the game will have to be played to be fully experienced, but it includes a Fired Teacher, a dead wife, and a massive dragon. (What’s there not to like?)

When a player has finished downloading the game, they will be taken to a room, in which they will be directed to choose their gender, name, look, starting clothes…and class!

There are seven classes of focus in Wizard101, which are Death, Life, Fire, Myth, Storm, Ice, and Balance, all with unique spells, such as Myth’s focus on summoning minions into combat and piercing enemy defenses. The combat in the game is another one of those “Card game dueling” Types, but don’t give up on it just yet! Wizards cast spells with cool animations to deal damage and heal themselves, shields to reduce damage of attacks by opponents (that have cool animations), Blades and traps to boost damage of their attack spells (did I mention these have cool animations?), and can train pets to give them many different special combat skills.

The game is free to play, but after a few areas of Wizard City, players will have to pay $10/Month for a membership, which unlocks all areas in game, or pay a few Crowns, the premium currency in the game (Differs from “Gold” in the way you can’t earn it, you have to buy it) to permanently unlock a single area in the game.

The game is an MMO (massively multiplayer online), so if you’re having trouble with an area, you can always go to Wizard City and ask for help! Well enough talking, it’s time for you to find out if the game is right for you!

Ghost story: Night of the Living Dolls

By Nadia Sullivan-Nightengale

PHS staff member

It was a dark and stormy night. Two girls were having a sleepover. Their names were Anna and Melody. They were playing dress up.

 Then Anna said, “Could you go down in to your basement and get some more of those old dress up clothes?”

 “Well… Ok.” So Anna slowly descended the staircase. As she went down she noticed that it seemed that some of her mom’s old dolls were watching her.

 Later that night Melody was awakened bye a scream. Next to Anna there was one of the dolls with a knife. To this day only Melody knows why Anna is afraid of dolls.

POLL: Cats or Dogs?

By Nadia Sullivan-Nightengale

PHS Press staff member

Here we are, the classic battle of which is better. Cats or dogs? Well, dogs won. Lets keep it at that, but there are also equal rights for animals.

How To Make An Elvin Archer Costume For Girls

By Aurora J. Pass

PHS Press staff member

You can be a wood elf any time you want especially on Halloween!

   

So here’s what you will need: Skirt or pants that flow (green or brown), white shirt, leggings (green or brown), elven circlet, two shawls/scarves in green and brown, elf ears (optional), bodice (optional), moccasins or furry boots, archers cloak (if you don’t have one just turn a regular cape so one arm is out this way you can still hold your bow!), and last but not least a bow and arrow.

 

So you have your leggings, skirt, shirt, and bodice (if you’re wearing one). So now one scarf is for around your waist and the other is for around your neck. The circlet obviously goes on your head, and now you add the elf ears and the archer’s cloak. Now you’re an elf!

 

I hope you like this costume idea I because I did my best to make it easy, nice looking, and cheap just for you! If you have any questions I am usually outside during lunch and can answer questions.

Best wishes for this coming Halloween from:

Aurora Pass!

Ghost story: The Glowing Shadow

The Glowing Shadow

By Willow Skidmore

PHS Staff member

    It all started with a walk in the woods. Natasha had gone out to avoid having to do her chores. She and the dog Agatha went further and further into the woods until she started to feel a growing unease. “Just a bit further; then we’ll turn back,” she told herself. They came to an abandoned cabin in the woods and curiosity overcame fear. They went in. 

Natasha first noticed something strange when she saw shadows in the dark. The windows were boarded up, but she could still see lots of them as though the room was filled with sunlight. Then she noticed the shadows were doing things that the owners were not. She shifted uneasily.

         “Agatha, maybe we should go back,” she told the dog. Natasha started to hear words. She looked around the room, but there was no one else there. The words steadily rose to an eerie chant. The shadows started swirling and glowing brighter and brighter until they solidified into one creature. Ghost, Man, Beast? She couldn’t tell. Its shape changed with every shift of either Natasha or Agatha. It spoke in an echoing, clanging voice. “State your purpose!” Natasha couldn’t speak for awhile. Then she steeled herself and said, “I was just going for a walk.” The Shape rose menacingly. “A walk?! In the holy places?! Why?!” With each word it grew. “I didn’t know!” she shouted bravely. The Shape disappeared in a puff of smoke. Natasha fell into a trance.

          When she woke up she was in her bedroom with her mother calling, “Natasha, can you come mop the floor?” As soon as she could get away she went to find the cabin. Even the clearing had disappeared. She never forgot that day. She could never shake the clinging cobwebs of the past.

QUIZ: What is the Best Costume For You?

By Willow Skidmore

PHS Staff member

1.What color do you prefer?

1. White
2. Blue
3. Red
4. Black
5. Purple
6. Rainbow
7. Other

2.What accessories do you prefer?

1. Wing and a Halo
2. Horns and a Trident
3. None
4. Other

3.Which do you want your costume to be?

1. Scary
2. Peaceful
3. Dark
4. Calm
5. Sparkly
6. Other

4.Are you a morning person?

1. Yes
2. No
3. Other

5.How complicated do your like you costumes?

1. Not
2. Lots
3. Other

6.What would you like the theme to be?

1. Scary
2. Serious
3. Funny
4. Sad
5. Other

If you got mostly A’s you are an angel.

If you got mostly B’s or C’s you are a random monster.

If you got mostly Others make it up.

If you got mostly F’s you are a rainbow fairy.

If you got mostly D’s you are a secret agent.

Aurora Pass is on a Swim Team

By Willow Skidmore

PHS Press staff member

           

Aurora Pass (Photo by Emily Weinlick)

Aurora Pass (age 12) taught herself to swim. She started swimming because she loves to be in the water. She started competitive swimming because she watched the Summer Olympics and wanted to be like the swimmers that she saw.

Aurora started swimming with the Otters team last year. Her swim meets are approximately every 2 months. Her best race so far is the 50-yard Butterfly.  She practices three days a week: on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. When asked where she swims, Aurora said, “Well, I swim all over the place because of the swim meets, but I practice at the YWCA in Midtown.”

 When Aurora uses swimming tools she uses the kickboard. When doing the Butterfly she likes to use flippers, because then she can go very fast. She says that she is fastest at the Butterfly. When asked whether she does a flip turn she said, “No,” emphatically and then described how to do the Butterfly.

So first you push off as fast as possible. Then you do one dolphin kick. Then you
             push your arms forward making an S-shape. You pull your arms out of the water at the
              back. Then you put them back in the water.

  

She finished up by saying that she enjoyed speaking about swimming.

A Community Which Opens Language Barriers…

by Willow Skidmore

PHS Press staff member 

Martha’s Vineyard is an island off the coast of Massachusetts where most of the population is deaf or culturally deaf (which means hard of hearing). About.com says that the first recorded deaf person on Martha’s Vineyard was Jonathan Lambert in 1692. He and his family came from England and established the first English settlement on Martha’s Vineyard. Lambert had seven children, two of whom were deaf.

Many of the early settlers carried a gene for deafness. This gene started with Lambert’s family and two other families: The Tiltons and the Skiffes. They created Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language, which later mixed with French Sign Language to create American Sign Language. At one point, one in every four children on Martha’s Vineyard was deaf .

History Collections tells us that Alexander Graham Bell noted the large amount of deafness on Martha’s Vineyard in the late Nineteenth Century after visiting the island. Previously, people believed  that “maternal fright” was the explanation for this phenomenon. The theory of “maternal fright” was an effect on the baby from psychological stress on the mother during pregnancy. Bell thought about this and believed that the deafness was hereditary. In the Nineteenth Century in America, one in every 5,728 people was deaf, while on Martha’s Vineyard, one in every twenty-five people was deaf.  Hearing people then and now communicate using sign language while on the island. According to History Collections, that is why the people of Martha’s Vineyard do not consider themselves a “deaf community,” but “a community which opens language barriers.”

POLL: Pepperoni Pizza vs. Pineapple Pizza

Poll compiled by Aurora Pass
PHS Staff member

Meet Meet Ava Holsather

Ava Holsather (Photo by Emily Weinlick)

By Nadine Sullivan-Nightengale
PHS Press staff member

1. Age: 12.
2. Favorite color: aqua.
3. Hobbies: minecraft and art.
4. Most interesting thing about your self: I once rode a horse being led by a creepy guy.
5. What she likes: animals and candy.
6. What she hates: mold.

PHS Students

PHS Students (Photo by Emily Weinlick)

Percy Jackson or Harry Potter?

by Nadine Sullivan-Nightengale

PHS Press staff member

Percy Jackson or Harry Potter? It’s a battle for the ages! Many people have in the past promised allegiance to Harry Potter, their enchanting hero, but that all changed when Percy Jackson took the lead. Here are the votes: PERCY JACKSON 8 HARRY POTTER 13. You thought that Percy Jackson was in the lead? Well he was, until Harry Potter fans swept him away. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner: HARRY POTTER!

Willow Skidmore and the Orchestra

by Aurora J. Pass

PHS Press staff member

 

Willow Skidmore (photo by Paavo Downing)

Willow Skidmore, age eleven, is a student at Planet Homeschool. She plays violin in an orchestra called Sinfonia. Willow started playing violin when she was five, about six years ago. She said that what inspired her to start playing violin was hearing other Orchestras play beautiful music.

Willow’s concerts are at Orchestra Hall, and she practices at Wooddale Church. The orchestra plays on holidays and some Tuesday nights. She plays in first violin, and thinks that being in an orchestra with lots of people helps her people skills.

Willow enjoys playing violin. She said it was hard to explain playing the violin. “Playing the violin is indescribable. You just do it.”

My Wee Little Cabin

By Aurora J Pass

I live in a wee little cabin,

That smells of the finest things,

Of cinnamon, of ginger, nutmeg, and pine,

And sometimes some blueberry muffins of mine.

It’s small; it’s dear; it’s a gingerbread house,

My wee elfin yard is a woodsy hollow,

With trees a-swishing and birds a-singing,

And wee little me just happily living.

Meet Willow Skidmore

Willow Skidmore (Photo by Emily Weinlick)

by Emily Weinlick

- Willow Skidmore

- 11 years old, 8^th grade

- City/town: St. Paul

- Favorite album: 35^th Anniversary LIVE in Poland

- Best book/blog you read this summer: Catch Your Death

- Favorite newspaper/magazine: Smithsonia

- Hobbies: Reading, writing and crafts

- Most interesting thing about yourself: I’m weird, I know it, I enjoy the fact

- What do you like most about Planet Homeschool? The classes and teachers

- Why did you join the newspaper/photography class? Because I like writing and taking pictures

- What do you like to write? Short fiction stories

Meet Aurora Pass

By Paavo Downing

PHS Press Staff Member 

Aurora Pass (photo by Paavo Downing)

1)   Name: Aurora Pass

2)     Age/grade: 12 and 7^th grade

3)     City/town: Minneapolis

4)     Favorite Album: Don’t have one

5)     Best book/Blog you read this summer: Percy Jackson Series

6)     Favorite Newspaper/ Magazine: USA Swim magazine

7)     Hobbies: Swimming

8)     Most interesting thing about yourself: Can’t think of any

9)     What do you like most about Planet Homeschool: Seeing friends and going to classes

10)  Why did you join this class: Because Tesha is teaching the class and it’s really interesting

11)  What do you like to write: Poems

Meet Emily Weinlick

By Willow Skidmore

Photo by Paavo Downing

- Emily Weinick

13 years old, 8^th grade

- City/town: Woodbury

- Favorite album: Phantom of the Opera

- Best book/blog you read this summer: Marie Antoniette Royal Diaries

- Favorite newspaper/magazine: National Geographic

- Hobbies: Theater, reading, and writing

- Most interesting thing about yourself: I went to South Africa to volunteer at an orphanage

- What do you like most about Planet Homeschool? General atmosphere

- Why did you join the newspaper/photography class?

- What do you like to write? Adventure Fiction novels

Meet Bridger Berg

by Aurora Pass

Photo by Paavo Downing

- Bridger Berg

- Age 11, 6^th grade

- City/town: St. Paul

- Best book/blog you read this summer: The Missing Book 8 Revealed

- Hobbies: Reading, playing Mindcraft, trampoline

- What do you like most about Planet Homeschool? New student this year

- Why did you join the newspaper/photography class? It sounds fun

- What do you like to write? Short stories

Meet Ellise Jackson

by Bridger Berg

Photo by Emily Weinlick

-  Ellise Jackson
- Age: 13
- City/town: Coon Rapids.
- Favorite book read this summer: Walk to the moons
- Hobbies: Swimming Writing Reading
- Favorite thing about PH: None, first year here.
- Why did you join the newspaper/photography class? I love to write.
- What do you like to write? Stories about all kinds of things.