I’m going to attempt to publish all of Houston’s Essential’s papers from the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 “school” years. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. Oh yeah, it’s because I was still the main blogger at this site (before I had my other venture, which shall remain nameless – tee hee), and it simply hadn’t dawned on me that y’all might wanna read these amazing papers. I guess sometimes good ideas take a while to be realized and executed. Ah, the story of my life!

Now, remember with Essentials and the writing program used therein (IEW: the Institute for Excellence in Writing), there is lots of parent help in the beginning. They call it hand-holding, and it’s supposed to teach through teamwork and educator modeling, so some of these papers from early on may be more me than Houston. So, pay attention to the dates, and know that anything done more recently is definitely more him than mama.

I will also be publishing the 3 Amigos’ papers from the 2018-2019 school year at our co-op once they start to pump those out in a few weeks. Houston will be in his third and final year of Essentials at our CC homeschool co-op, and Gabriel and Zeke will be in their first of three tours of this incredible writing program. And again, Houston’s upcoming papers will be done virtually independent (with me mostly helping with final editing only), but the twins will have a decent amount of my help during this first go round. The process works, people. IEW is amazing, as are kids’ brains!

Ali and the Magic Lamp
By Houston
14 November 2016

Huffing and puffing, Ali bolted through the vast withered valley of Afghanistan as he fled invaders. Arrows whizzed around him violently like a swarm of bees. Worried, woeful, and weary, Ali was stunned because his village had been destroyed, their temple had been desecrated, and his family had been apprehended by the barbarians. Ali panicked and thought, “Where can I ascend to escape these tenacious raiders?”

Hastily, he climbed into the ridged, rugged mountains to hide in a cave. Ali, who was happy he had found the damp, dark, yet delightfully safe space, explored the confusing cavern. Despite it being pitch-black and frightfully silent, it was his only refuge.

Luckily, Ali found a dusty silver lamp that bewitched him. He had picked up the heavy object, which exploded like a bomb, spewing out of tornado of smoke. An enchanting genie had suddenly appeared and granted him three wishes. Ali had desired to save his family, protect his village, and have riches beyond compare. The genie bestowed upon him the wishes, and Ali relished his good fortune in obtaining such a magical lamp.