Notch #4

 11/22/2015
*  This evening I watched one lady's video on her Homeschooled education. Because I love to learn (I do somewhat miss being Homeschooled), I felt inspired to make up my own "curriculum". With this in mind, I have come up with an idea on what would consist as my "curriculum". 

   I enjoy learning German, history, government, and some science. So, here is my first rough draft on what I could study:

        1: German

        2: Hillsdale- Economics (Hillsdale has free online courses you can take at your own pace)

        3: Khan Academy- Math                                                                                                     

        4: Study for Learner's Permit
  Hmmm... looks good. Now the next step would be to figure out how much time I need to spend on each one. This little schedule may change as I integrate it into the regular day to day itinerary. This process may take awhile .... I'm determined to do it. Definitely, I will update this blog on how it's going.

Update 11/25/2015:
  The curriculum has been tweaked a little bit. I added some extra instruction to each subject, so that I have a better idea of where to start and what to do. 
     30 min. for each subject.
        German:               15 min. guided lesson
                                         15 min. translating
        Hillsdale:             Economics 101 course
        Khan Academy: Pre-Algebra
        Driver's ED:        Learner's Permit Practice Tests

Printed "Home Schooling Plan"

    Additionally, I may make a graph to track my progress. Once I have completed a subject, I could start studying Architecture. 
  I am beginning with Pre-Algebra in math, because that is an area in which I really struggled and would like to improve upon that.  

Notch #3

  College, university, or vocational school are all interesting places to consider for higher education. I did some research into what schools I might be interested in and found some pretty upstanding institutions. However, I don't know if going to school is what I should do right now. 

  Frankly, without a driver's license, going to school would be difficult; but that is slowly being remedied. I hope that I'll have my driver's license within a year. Unlike the typical American teen, I wasn't able to get a DL. Life just didn't allow for it, until now. Interestingly, some people are impressed that I am not going stir-crazy without a DL. I never really felt the need to drive till I reached my 20s. Even then, I am still not going "stir-crazy", just anxious. I'm happy to say that I'm ready to start learning how to drive.

The car that I'll drive, Lord willing, within  a year.

  In the meantime, I just work, study, clean, and write. Sometimes I will work on a project. I am also thinking about the future, but as I do that, I'm realizing I need to be thankful and content where I am at. In life, I've learned that we can't do everything we want to do. Going to school doesn't seem to be one of those things I can do right now. Correspondingly, my finances wouldn't even be able to cover the cost of higher education. 

  Lord willing, if I ever do become a student, I would like to attend one of these institutes: 

1) Hillsdale College        -http://www.hillsdale.edu/about

2) Cedarville University    -www.cedarville.edu/About.aspx

3) Southern Career Institute-http://www.scitexas.edu/

4) College of the Ozarks    -https://www.cofo.edu/Page/About-C-of-O.14.html

 I really like the concept of working for your education. It allows you to avoid debt (something I'd avoid like the plague). 

Notch #2

    Insulin is very important. I have been thinking about how important it is to those who are insulin dependent; those people need it to live. The thought that their lives depend on the supply, sitting in the fridge, bothers me. That got me thinking of ways to increase the supply without having to store it in the fridge.
  Imagine yourself as a Type 1 diabetic. What if some kind of drastic crisis took place, preventing you from acquiring insulin aspart? In that moment, you realize that your life is numbered by 3 insulin vials in your fridge. You will live just as long as those 3 vials will last. Wouldn't you want to avoid that possibility?   That scenario is very concerning to me. 
   There has got to be a way for these people to get an emergency supply and for it to last long enough outside of refrigeration. So, what if insulin aspart was in powder form? What if novolog and lantus came in that form, like the way the gluco-gun is set up?
   In addition, I thought about coordinating an effort to get emergency supplies of insulin out to insulin-dependents. This endeavor would be faster than me trying to research in a lab on how to accomplish that. Right now, I'm just thinking about the initial stages. I'm sure there is a lot more to this plan than I am aware of right now, but I'm still going to try to do what I can, at this time. Talking to people about my idea, thinking about ways to go about this, and praying about it, is what I am going to do for now.