Project day

Today in class we worked a bit more on our project. Its hard to get progress when were meant to be building it and we can't. Were all getting together, Me Abby and Brett, this weekend and are going to grind out this trireme. Until we begin to build our project, were just getting some notes. I think I've already put some of my notes in a blog so i won't make your bored just listing facts, instead ill tell you how my day is going. I got no sleep because i had to do two packets, and two worksheets for biology, studied for a math test, as well as a english test that I'm sure i just bombed. My math test didn't go bad but who knows to be honest because i wing every test i take... not exactly sure how i ended up with a 4.295 gap. Your probably thinking what I'm thinking: why didn't they just round that up to a 4.3? Who knows? Not me. Not you probably. Not anyone probably.

Test Review and project work

Today in class we began to go over our test, and working on our project. My grade just fell short of getting the bell rung... once again. Im making myself by the end of the year get at least one A on a test in this class. I blame one of the answers that I got wrong on the movie 300. I said the crop that allowed Greece to become powerful was wheat because that was the only crop I saw the entire movie; another flaw in the movie 300, they should've walked through fields of olives instead of fields of wheat. My project isn't looking bad so far but the construction of the trireme is going to have to be an out of school thing, meaning another thing i have to add to my list of crazy assignments I've gotten all this week. School is becoming very stressful for once considering how much time lacrosse takes up, and the mount of english math Spanish and biology homework I've been getting. I stress over if I've forgotten anything and end up doing extra half the time, making everything even more stressful.

Ancient Greece Test

Todays test went great except for one question. I wasn't here when we went over the Homeric Question so I had no clue what the best answer to the question could be. My answer could work if you are lenient with me. Take mercy and think how my answer could work. Otherwise I think I did well on the Test, my answers seemed right, I knew all the locations I'm pretty sure, and the rivers i think for the most part i did well. I cant get my mind off the Homeric Question and how it could possibly work. I said he wasn't real, which is debatable, so that would completely dismiss if his stories were his or not... because he wasn't even real. I came in to this room not sure if I would do well or not based on how many more notes everyone else had, but it is a massive relief to assume that I did fairly well on the test. My hope is that even if i didn't do well, I can still get a good grade on my project and it will pull my grade up no matter what my score on the test today was.

Greek Review day

Today in class we started to go over all we learned about the Greeks through a video. What I generically know is that the Adriatic Sea was North West, the Aegean Sea was East, and the Ionian Sea was West. Peloponnesus was the bulk in the South, Athens was South East of Greece, Sparta was South of Peloponnesus, Asia was far East and Macedonia was North. Draco in 621 thought all Athenians were equal, debt slavery was ok, and death was a common punishment. Solon was in 594 and outlawed debt slavery. All Athenians could speak at assembly's and any citizen can press charges.  Hippias was a ruler who became harsh after his brother was killed. He worked with Darius I in invading Marathon. Isagorus banished Cleisthenes after becoming ruler. In 508 BCE the average people revolt and throw Isagorus over. Cleisthenes came back into power and included free, male land owners, that were born in Athens in voting. The spartans were warlike and best on land, while Athens had an amazing Navy.

Ancient Greece 3/20/16

Today in class we went over the Persian War. They were much larger then Greece, and had a many times larger army, and amount of resources. The greeks started training for war at a young age, but the Persians had paid mercenaries. Then we went over the three ancient greek famous philosophers. I knew them each a tad bit, but having us learn this tad bit on each of them really helped me refresh my memory. They went in the order from oldest to youngest Socrates, Aristotle, then Plato. Socrates was a famous teacher that taught by essentially asking question, after being put to death, one of his students, Aristotle, took on the role. Plato followed soon after and had two famous books, Republic, and Laws. We went over our project quickly and decided that my partner was Brett. We are probably going to do something along with the famous trireme, probably make an accurate but miniature version of one.

Greek War

Today in class we went over a bit of Greek war. We talked (rather trashed) the movies 300 and how bad it was, along with how most events never happened. We went over the Phalanx, as well as the Trireme. The trireme was a massive ship that had 170 people rowing on three different events. The ship was the fastest at that time, and worked as a battle ram as well. The Phalanx was a group of soldiers that used long spears in almost all directions and was very good at splitting up armies. They were interlocked and had shields to defend them from almost all directions. The Greeks began training for hand to hand combat at the age of seven and were the best at this type of combat. I liked the movie 300 because it had a ton of fighting. I know it wasn't accurate but my favorite types of movies are the ones with lots of massive fights, and gore.

Greek Gods

Today in class we learned a bit more on the Greek gods and goddesses. Of course we started with the basic ones, Zeus and Poseidon: Gods of the sky, thunder, as we'll as the ocean and water. Dionysus is the god of wine, and was the son of Zeus and Semele, a human princess. Aphrodite is the goddess of love and had lovers of both Gods and Men. Athena was the goddess of wisdom skill, warfare, peace, intelligence, battle, and handicrafts. Born from Zeus's head and was the patron of Athens. Apollo was the god of music, arts, knowledge, and healing. his father was Zeus, and his twin sister was Artemis. Demeter was Zeus's sister, and the goddess of grain, harvest, and agriculture. One other fact that will be on the test is that citizens could be included in the votes, but nearly 20% of people were considered citizens. You had to have land, born in Athens, be free, and be an adult male.

Ancient Greece Leaders

Today in class we went over some of the ancient greek rulers and their mistakes, as well as how the government was run, the rich with the most power, and the poor with little to none. In this time, the people who ran everything were the rich and powerful. They would all meet up and have meetings while drinking, listening to poetry, and socializing. The middle class had no chance of moving up to this class, and only the highest in the top class were attending these meetings. The first overthrow of the government occurred in the 5th century BCE. The middle class people came together and overthrew a leader who ruled by scaring the people. This was the first time for that civilization that the ruler/tyrant was overthrown by the average people. Im surprised this didn't happen as often as it did but the fact that it led to the future democracy is crazy.

Ancient Greece

Im going to start putting more notes into my blob because of the most recent test, that i didn't do too bad on anyway because of my notes. Mesopotamia had the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, Egypt had the Nile river, India had the Indus river and China had the Huang He River. Mediterranean means middle earth. The Adriatic sea is NW of Greece, the Aegean sea is E of Greece, the Ionian sea is W of Greece, and the Crete island is very far S of Greece. Peloponnesus is S of Greece and is the massive land. Athens is SE of Greece, Sparta is S of Peloponnesus, Asia Minor is far E of Greece, and Macedonia is N of Greece. Greece was 3/4 mountains and the people were separated into city states that highly despised each other. They were impressive ship builders and sailors, and also weaved, worked with metal, potters, and sailors.

Test Answer Check and Assembly

Today in class we went over the test and gave all the right answers. I did a good bit better then I thought and ended up with an 88, which was close to my goal of getting an A. I know I had one question wrong with the 5th amendment and it actually being the 6th or something. On one written response I got half off because I miss worded it. I knew the answer and while writing it down I just wrote down the wrong answer accidentally. We met in the upper gym to discuss the issue going on with Josh Hammer. I feel real bad for him and his family, but it also makes me think what I've been doing wrong lately and how it I've messed up. As hard as it is to say, and as guilty as it makes me feel, death hasn't always been something that messes with me. I found my grandmother dead by myself and experienced the death of a lot of my family so I hate the fact that it doesn't tamper with me. What goes through my mind is how that family must feel and if it were my brother that got hurt.