by LDS Homeschooled Students
We asked homeschooled students of all ages to write short essays explaining what they learned during the summer vacation. These are the responses we received... originally published September 2006
My neighbor Rachel was selling cool-aid to save money to buy a motor scooter. My sister and I decided to help her sell cool-aid. I rode my bike to tell other neighbors about the cool-aid stand. I did get some friends to come buy cool-aid drinks. I was very tired but I learned that I felt very good helping someone instead of getting money for myself.
Hitomi Hilton, age 7 Smithfield, Utah
This summer I learned some pretty important lessons. I learned both spiritual and temporal lessons. The most important lesson is that Heavenly Father does answer our prayers. My family and I were taking thirty-two hour driving trip from Texas to California. Before we left, I said a personal prayer and asked for “a safe and eventful trip” because the drives are always boring. My prayers were answered. We were safe, but it was an eventful trip. After three hours of driving, the air conditioner in the car went out. Temperatures reached 109 degrees. That night, just as my parents had decided that they would drive all night and sleep in a hotel during the day so we would travel in the cooler time periods, we blew a tire. That was another of the eventful parts. The safe part of it was that we were in the right hand lane of the highway when the tire blew and could pull off easily. We had a spare tire. The exit was less than a quarter of a mile away with both a hotel and a tire repair shop. If you have ever traveled in West Texas, you would know that there are stretches of miles with nothing around. This was definitely a blessing. This summer has had its important lessons. Whether spiritual or temporal, they have been life-long lessons. One of the biggest lessons I learned is to be careful of what you pray for because Heavenly Father does hear us.
Ricky Blomquist, age 14 Houston, Texas
I learned about Ancient Egypt and how the people would bury and mummify pharaohs. I learned how to fish and I learned how to swim (except I already knew how to swim because I do swim lessons every summer). I learned that you must have patience even though you don’t want to and that you don’t have to call everything you get mad at stupid. I learned from my aunt that you should play with toys anyway, even if you don’t want to clean up. I had a great summer and I learned a lot.
Ptolemy Takis, Age 10 Nibley, Utah
I love learning about Egypt. I love watching movies about Egypt. I love it very much. I love drawing pictures of Egypt. I like the Scooby Doo movie* because it’s really, really funny. *Scooby Doo in “Where’s My Mummy”
Ptobias Takis, Age 5 Nibley, Utah
We’re doing a unit on ancient Egypt this summer. Egypt is in the desert. A desert gets less than ten inches of rain per year. The desert is the hottest place in the world. The Nile River is the only flowing water in Egypt. Without the Nile the Egyptian civilization would have never existed. I made a model of the Nile River valley. I learned how the ancient Egyptians mummified the pharaohs. We are mummifying a chicken to make our own mummy. We also got to play “Archaeologist.” It has been a great summer learning about Egypt.
Ptolian Takis, Age 8 Nibley, Utah