Emma's Halloween Story

Emma has been working on dialogue and word choice. Here is a spooky story she wrote for her cousins:

It’s the Great Pumpkin!
by Emma Saunders

“Where are my flower shoes?” asked 4-year-old Grace, nervously.

“I don’t know!” Jaiden and Emma declared, looking under the table.

“If Grace doesn’t find her shoes, she can use mine.” 3-year-old Ava commented.

“Ah! Here they are!” said Grace. “Rachel was playing with them. Now can we go on our walk?”

“Sure!” laughed Emma, who was eight (almost nine). She put 1-year-old Rachel in her stroller. “Are we ALL ready now?” she asked, exhausted from going up and down, up and down, up and down (you get the point).

“Yes!” they all shouted.

“I want to go, too.” cried Tucker, who was two years old.

“Sorry, Tucker, this is the girls walk, and you just went with Papa, Mario, Tim, Rick, and Jacob.” Emma managed to say, half-way out the door.

They were in Arizona, going on a Halloween walk. Rick, Audrey, Jacob, Emma, and their dog, Shelby, lived in Ohio, but were visiting for a couple of weeks.

“Wait, take some snacks.” hollered Papa, from upstairs.

“And be back by 7:00, will you?” called Lala.

“Okay!” said Grace and Ava at the same time. They giggled, quietly.

Rachel started to cry, probably because she wasn’t getting any attention. So Emma picked her up and tickled her, which made her laugh. Then Emma put Rachel back in her stroller and they started walking.

“Where are we going?” Jaiden asked thoughtfully.

“Well, I thought we could go look for the Great Pumpkin in a pumpkin patch and get some pumpkins to carve when we get back.” Emma said.

“Yay!” they all shouted.

“And when we get back, we could all go trick-or-treating.” declared Emma.

They looked and looked and looked and looked, but they couldn’t find the Great Pumpkin. They looked in trees, bushes, under and over pumpkins, vines, and weeds. They even climbed trees! Grace, Jaiden and Emma leaned up against a tree. “Sorry guys, but I don’t really think we’re going to find the Great Pumpkin.” Emma said, holding Rachel, a sweat bead ran down her cheek.

“Me too.” Jaiden declared.

“Me three.” Grace said.

They waited for Ava to say “Me four,” but they could only hear the cool wind sigh in their ears. Then they heard a scream! So they spun around, terrified. It was Ava!

“Jaiden, hold Rachel. Here!” cried Emma. Then, in the blink of an eye, she sprinted to Ava, picked her up, and ran back with Ava in her arms.

“Are you OK?” Emma asked. “Please, don’t ever, ever do that agai-”

“What is that?” asked Grace, pointing to the pumpkin patch.

Another shriek tore from Ava’s lips.

“Shhhh!” Jaiden said. “Run to the trees!” And they did so.

Then, a large figure started to take shape in the patch. Ava gasped. The figure came to the trees calling, “Jaiden, Ava, Gracie, Rachel, and Emma! Where are you?”

Phew! It was only Papa looking for them.

“Papa!” they yelled excitedly.

“There you are.” he said. “I’ve been looking all over for you. It’s time to go trick-or-treating.”

“Yay!” the girls sang.

Then Ava looked back to the pumpkin patch, and there stood the Great Pumpkin. “Hey, Guys! It’s the Great Pumpkin.” she whispered. They all looked back and the Great Pumpkin winked.

“Bye.” The Great Pumpkin said, and then disappeared.

“Wow!” they murmured, as they quietly departed.

The End



About the Author:

Emma Saunders lives in Perrysburg, Ohio with her mom (Audrey), dad (Richard), brother (Jacob), and dog (Shelby). Jacob and Emma take swim lessons and karate at The Fort Meigs YMCA. Emma’s mom, Audrey, teaches Jake and Emma at homeschool while Richard works as a doctor at St. Vincent’s Mercy Medical Center. Richard also acts as a substitute when Audrey isn’t there. Emma’s extended family lives in Arizona and Utah. Emma misses her family dearly and hopes to see them soon.

Jacob's Short Story

Jake LOVES to write. In fact, he's in the process of writing two books at the moment. In homeschool we're working on focusing our writing topics. The following is a short story Jake wrote about our dinner party last Sunday:

Steeles vs. Saunders

Ding Dong! I shut my book, The Invisible Man, and dashed to the door. I opened it. The Steeles stood, smiling at me. I welcomed them in as the crisp October air kissed my face. Once inside, they put their shoes by the door.

“Come on Max and Griffin!” I said. We ran up the stairs and into my room. I crawled under my bed and pulled out the box full of Nerf guns and bullets.

“Sweet!” said Max, as he grabbed the Long-Shot. I picked up the pistol, loaded it, and shot Griffin in the chest. He laughed. Grabbing another pistol, he shot me back.

“Let’s have teams. Jacob, Griffin, you guys get the closet and I get the bed.” said Max as the Long-Shot clicked. Griffin and I grabbed bullets and dove into the closet just as a bullet whizzed past my ear. We quickly built a fort to protect ourselves and returned fire. Click! Click! Click! Griffin got shot. I got shot. Max got shot. We loved it!

After about ten minutes I said, “Cease fire. Switch weapons!” Bullets lay everywhere. We picked them up and loaded our weapons. Max traded weapons with me. I also picked up a squishy ball and threw it at Griffin. “Open fire!” I shouted, and shot Max in the chest.

The shooting and trading went on for about an hour and forty-five minutes. We only stopped to eat, and then we went back to shooting each other. After the final trade, we put Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom into the DVD player in my room. Completely drained of our strength, we flopped onto the giant beanbag and watched the movie. We all had a great time.

Jake's Review of Parzival: The Quest of the Grail Knight

Katherine Paterson, author of Bridge to Tarabitha, brings a new adventure for us to read in Parzival: The Quest of the Grail Knight. Parzival, a boy just entering manhood, sets out to be a knight in King Author’s Round Table, so he can be like his dead father, Gahmuret. As Parzival is on his quest, he deafest the Red Knight, takes the Red Knight’s armor, and keeps it for himself.

Parzival is trained by Gurnemahz an old friend of his father. Gurnemahz trains Parzival all the techniques he will need while he is a knight. Parzival travels to a kingdom under siege and helps free the city. After the battle, Parzival marries Queen Condwiramures, the Queen of the freed city. Then, Parzival goes out into the place where he was raised to find his mother. Parzival stumbles across the Kingdom of Wild Mountain. Wild Mountain gives Parzival nothing but trouble. Parzival decides to leave Wild Mountain and becomes cursed for not asking “the question”. For two long years, Parzival wanders the Wilderness and in that miserable time, Parzival is reunited with his long, lost brother. Then, Parzival is set free of his curse. Parzival finds the Wild Mountain castle again and asks “the question”. Later, Parzival is reunited with his wife and his newborn boy twins whom he has never seen before.

I recommend Parzival the Quest of the Grail Knight to those who love to read about knights and action. Parzival the Quest of the Grail Knight is full of fantasy, sorrow, and adventure. Readers will not be disappointed!

Hieroglyphs

As part of our ancient Egyptian studies, we tried our hand at hieroglyphics today. Below is a sample of our work. Can you decipher our messages?

577 Foundation

Friday we went to the 577 Foundation for a field trip.

I had to trick the kids into going, but it was well worth the trouble. We viewed the community gardens, all of which are grown organically.

Marigolds grow heartily this time of year, and the last of the tomatoes are dropping of the vines.

I was so tempted to pocket a sample!

The kid-friendly garden features a hideout...

...and a hidden treehouse.

We also explored a wild grass maze created by children for children.

We followed a wooded path down to the Maumee River...

...and climbed the trees in the small orchard.

The kids and I loved observing a diligent squirrel busily gathering food for his storehouse. He would knock the apples from the tree and jump precariously from branch to branch.

In the winter months, birds come to feed here. The bird blind is a great place to watch the birds and other critters. We got lucky and saw a rabbit, a dove, and a bright red cardinal.

Another great feature of this place was the biodome greenhouse.

It functions year-round and houses many tropical and desert plants.

The cacti made the kids feel a little homesick.