It's the Avengers! {guest post by David}

A lot of us are excited for the Avengers movie coming out on May 4th of this year. Since some of us don't know who Hawkeye (Clint Barton) is, I'll explain that here.

 As with most superheroes, Clint's parents die while he is a young age. He and his brother Bernard (AKA Barney) are sent to a orphanage, and then they both run away to a circus, Carson Carnival of Traveling Wonders), where he was trained by "Trickshot" (Buck Chilholn) and and the first "Swordsman" (Jacques Duquesene).

He sees Swordsman robbing from the circus, and Clint is asked to join him but he refuses and has a fight with him, which Clint loses and is left for dead. He then wanders around the country, until one day he sees Ironman in battle and is inspired to fight crime.

Clint decides to use the persona Hawkeye, but is mistaken for a criminal and ends up fighting Ironman. Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff, who is then working as villain) convinces him to join her so she can kill Ironman (Diana wishes she would have!).

But while in the act of doing so he changes his mind. He then decides he want to be an Avenger and breaks into the "Avenger mansion" in the hopes that he can join; Ironman vouches for him and he becomes an Avenger.
The movie seems to have changed the his history a bit, however.

As with other Marvel films, it will probably have a sneak peak to a film coming out next year.
Prophecy: at the end of The Avengers there will be a sneak peak to The Wolverine!

Go to my blog (http://tahdas.blogspot.com/) to participate in my upcoming character discussion of Captain America.
Thanks to Diana for letting me guest post!  

{sources: here and here.


Thanks for guest posting, David!
Love ya, can't wait until MAY 4TH!
~ Your sister

homeschooling myths: a guest post by Evelyn

Hello, all you inhabitants of the blogging world! I'm Evelyn, crawling out from my rock because Diana asked me to. :D More specifically, because she asked me to write a guest post on homeschooling myths.
As homeschoolers, we are often judged by unfair myths, passed down from skeptic to skeptic. I am here to set the record straight.



Homeschooling myth #1: Homeschoolers are not properly socialized.


My answer: Oh, that's right! Thank you for correcting the error of my ways! I remember now... The entire point of public school is the social aspect! Duh!


Not. If I, or any other homeschooler, were enrolled in the public school system, it would be to gain an education.
I will admit that it is true: The AVERAGE homeschooler probably does spend less time in the same room as peers. Notice that I say "In the same room." 


Homeschoolers have about the same time for active socilazation as children in the public school system.
Is this a bad thing that they spend less time in the presence of their peers? Let's look at this for a minute.


We have two students, the same age and gender, studying for the same lesson. Let's say that they are fourteen-year-old girls. One is homeschooled, one is not.
The homeschooler is at home with her mother and four brothers and sisters. The younger kids get noisy, and the girl retires to her room to study.
Then, she needs additional assistance from her teacher, usually known as Mom. She is only competing with four other students for the teacher's attention.
Now let's switch to the public schooler.

She is studying in a room of, oh, let's say twenty-five other students.
To her left is her best friend, excitedly whispering the latest juicy piece of gossip into her ear.
To the right and behind her is the boy who has recently chosen her as the perfect target for his pencil-throwing skills.
 Directly in front of her is that oh-so-cute boy who has managed to catch her eye.
The girl finds herself distracted. Too bad for her, as she can't leave the room.
Then she has trouble understanding some of the material in her lesson. Again, too bad. So do fifteen other students, and she must wait her turn.

Homeschooling myth #2: It's illegal.


Not so! As long as the student meets the requirements for his or her state, it is perfectly legal.
Some states are harsher when is comes to homeschooling than others. The state of Missouri requires 1,000 hours of instruction during the official school year, with at least 600 of those hours falling within the basic subjects of reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science.

In Minnesota, a homeschooled child must be given an annual assessment with a nationally standardized achievement test to ensure that he or she is meeting all requirements.

Besides, homeschooling parents still pay school taxes. Either way you're getting our money, so get off our backs. :P

Homeschooling law #3: Homeschoolers can't get into good colleges. (Or any college at all.)


A valid concern. However, once you do your research, you may consider this myth busted.
Nowadays, many colleges actively seek out homeschoolers.
 Abilene Christian University, in Abilene, TX.
Alaska Bible College, in Glennallen, AK.
Albion College, in Albion, MI.
All homeschooler-friendly colleges. Do a Google search and you can find very extensive lists.

And while there are many more myths out there, (don't even get me started on prom) it would take much too long for me to bust them all, and you would get bored.
So thank you for reading, and thank you to Diana for letting me write this!
-Evelyn


Thank you, Evelyn! Great post.
~ D

guest post by Savanna

Hey! I'm Savanna, you may know me from my main blog Pandas, Lightsabers and Cameras, oh my!! Diana kindly asked me to do a special guest post for her. Obviously, I accepted this honor. Today I'm going to talk about how I got into blogging and why I love Star Wars so much.


In May of 2011, I joined The Lakehouse Forums and became very well acquainted with the group of girls over there. Almost everyone on TLF had blogs and discussed Star Wars on their blogs. In June, I decided to join the pack and create one to keep up with all the girls and talk about my favorite things in life. My good friend Fallon suggested the name "Pandas, Lightsabers and Cameras, oh my" because I love each of those things so much. In the beginning, I just wrote about silly things in my life and complete randomness. After reading more professional blogs, I soon realized that my random blogging was dumb. It didn't express my personality correctly.


I sent out emails to a few different voice-actors and actresses from The Clone Wars in early August. Since I'm such a big Star Wars fan, I thought it would be fun to ask them some of my questions and make an interview post. My first interview success was with the voice of Ahsoka Tano and creator of Her Universe, Ashley Eckstein. It was such a joy to hear directly from her. As of right now, I've completed 11 interviews with various actors, voice-overs, and artists involved with Star Wars.


Through these interviews and other frequent posts, my blog has become more "professional" with just enough of my personality in there. Blogging has taught me so many great qualities. I've learned how to be patient during the interview process, kind to others when I get nasty comments, and overall...just a really happy person. I love meeting people in the world of blogging that share the same interests as myself. Since I've gotten such positive feedback from awesome people like Diana, I'll probably be blogging for a very long time.


Now, to the more interesting question....why do I like Star Wars? Well, as Fallon once said, "what's not to like?  I mean, COME ON!  Heroes with dysfunctional families in SPACE???  How can you be human and NOT like that?!" She's very right with that statement but I also love the saga because it's so pure. Good, clean fun and adventure. I was raised on these movies so they hold a dear place in my heart. Star Wars also inspires me to dream big, like Luke Skywalker. He was just a simple farmboy in Episode IV but became a powerful Jedi by the time Episode VI was finished. Plus, all the different characters and planets are fun to explore. My all time favorite character is Cad Bane, from The Clone Wars. His Western gunslinger look is just simply epic. I also like Han Solo for the similar reason...since he is a scoundrel. 


Well, that wraps up this guest post. I hope you enjoyed reading a little bit about me, my love for blogging, and Star Wars. Don't forget to check out Pandas, Lightsabers and Cameras, oh my for all of this and more! God bless and may the force be with you. 


Thank you so much, Savanna!  I really appreciate you taking the time to write all this. :D
To any lurking readers, if you would like to do a guest post  shoot me an email at dilbertina(at)gmail(dot)com.
~ Diana