Fatima's Archives

Hey Readers! Welcome back. I noticed that I hadn't posted on this blog for about two months. Not that I was very busy or anything, I just wasn't in the right mood for blogging. I guess you can assume that I'm back in the mood now, for I'm back with a new page element on my blog. I had been working on it for several weeks. It is a Reading Log , and you are most welcome to check it out. But before you do so, I must inform you about a few things related to this reading log. First of all, this reading log is NOT a list of all of the books that I have read in the sixteen years of my life! That would be pretty much impossible to do. This reading log is actually a list of some of the books that I have read and enjoyed reading very much, or received some important lessons from. They include fiction and non-fiction books. Secondly, I would like you to know that I am not rating any of these books. I would not like to say that the books listed at the top are any better than t...

I wrote this story to share with Khan Academy on their Share your story page. I submitted this story yesterday, but I haven't seen it on their page yet. Maybe someone will read and approve it before publishing it... Anyways, I decided to publish it on my blog. Initially, I had thought of writing a few lines, but the finished story turned out to be over 350 words long. So of course, I had to publish it here. If I find that this gets published on Khan Academy, I'll share the link here as well. So here you go... I am a homeschooler from Pakistan, and I usually study by myself. I am sixteen years old, and  am doing O levels as a private candidate. I took a lot of help from Khan Academy while studying Maths, and was delighted to see that Sal Khan could make even the most complicated concepts understandable and easy in his videos. Here in Pakistan, people think that kids can't study by themselves, and even homeschoolers think that they need some sort of assistance or hel...

Hello readers! I have recently been attending this Advanced Writing Course on Coursera . Week 1's assignment was to choose any topic of your interest, and write an advanced argument essay on it, applying all the things we had learnt in that week. The essay was supposed to be peer reviewed. I chose Global Warming as my topic, since I am interested in the thing and what is causing it. I did a lot of research on on it, and spend several hours working on the essay. In the end when I submitted it, it didn't meet the criteria, because my essay had only three body paragraphs while an advanced essay should have more than three body paragraphs. So I added one more paragraph and some more detail to the other paragraphs, and submitted it again. I haven't received any feedback for my second attempt yet. Anyhow, I am posting this on my blog now. Global warming is a serious issue that is creating problems for the whole world. One of the major problems that have resulted is climate c...

Hey there readers! I hadn't posted on this blog for too long, and I was feeling pretty guilty about not having done so. And I had some kind of a writers' block, and wasn't able to write anything non-academic for quite a while. But after attending a five-day workshop on Spoken Word and Language Skills conducted by Spoken Stage at the British Council Library , and after doing a lot of writing activities, I broke the writers' block that had built up. Now I am back with a list poem on Sadness, which is one of the pieces that I wrote in the workshop. Sadness is when no one listens to me Sadness is when people fight Sadness is when my parents don't trust me. Sadness is when people leave Pakistan; Saying there's nothing in it for them. Sadness is when I lose hope Sadness is when I see the ugly truth. Sadness is when I realize that the people who matter so much to me don't really care, And sadness is when I stop caring for the ones who care for ...

Hello everyone! I'm sorry for being so inactive lately. I had a lot of things to do, and was especially busy with my studies. What I'm sharing right now is also something study-related. This is a Powerpoint presentation that I made while studying the topic 'Animal Nutrition: Diet'. I enjoyed working on it, and am sharing it in the hope that anyone else studying Biology may also benefit from it. Thank you.

Hi readers! I'm so sorry for not posting for so long; I was just too busy in a lot of stuff, especially my own studies... Anyways, if you remember my previous post, it was about Creative Clay Creations, a venture that I had started. So, this post is about something related to that; read on if you're interested. A while after I had started my company, I decided that the title 'Creative Clay Creations' was too long for a company's name. I realized that a company's name should be short, and besides, I didn't really like it's name, so I decided to change it. After a lot of thinking, we came up with the name 'Clayholds' for our startup. The name fits in well because most of our products are holders -that hold stuff- so the name Clayholds suits the idea. Even better, it hasn't been taken by anyone else yet, so maybe we can buy its domain later on as well. Anyways, I created another blog ( clayholds.blogspot.com ) for Clayholds, and updated it w...

Hello readers! I decided that now it was perhaps about time that I posted a bit about Creative Clay Creations on my blog. This is a small business that I have started and am running with my siblings. You may already know, if you have visited my art blog , that I already enjoy sculpting pots and jars out of clay. So, I planned to turn my passion into a kind of profession. I created a blog for this very purpose, which acts as an official website for the company. You can visit it at creativeclaycreations.blogspot.com . On that blog, I post details regarding all our products (though we currently have only a handful of them!), which include their description, length \ height, price, and so on. You would get a better idea once you visit the blog \ website. While on the topic, I thought I'd let you know that we'd soon be announcing a New Year's Sale, so if anyone of you would like to buy anything, you can get a discount in that season. Oh, and I also must inform you that curren...

A lot of people have watched the movie ‘Life of Pi’, but a few bother to read the book. Even I, who have always believed that books are far better than movies, when watched the movie, thought that perhaps its novel couldn’t be much better, since the movie is already amazing. But as it turned out, I was quite wrong about it. The book is spell-bounding, amazing – I cannot just describe how  wonderful it is. Those who have watched the movie (like me) already know what the story is about and what to expect from the book. But this should not stop one from reading the book, because it’s not just about the storyline. It’s about the descriptions, the thoughts, the emotions, and feelings. Of a boy stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with hardly any supplies and a Bengal tiger for company. The book is divided into three main parts, as well as into 100 chapters. Part one is Toronto and Pondicherry . This part mainly is mainly about Pi’s early life; his deep interest i...

A question that I have often been asked during the four and a half years since we started homeschooling is about how we manage to study at home. ‘Do your parents teach you?’ People ask. ‘Does your father teach you? Or does your mother teach you?’ They ask with curiosity. ‘No one teaches us.’ I always answer truthfully. ‘We study by ourselves.’ While this fact is hard for many people to accept, I don’t see why this is impossible. With amazing textbooks for each subject, plenty of reference material and resources, access to libraries and bookstores, and limitless help from the internet, it is very feasible for a student to study on his\her own. In this article, I intend to give an insight into how I – and several other homeschoolers – take charge of their studies. Taking charge of your studies: The first thing that I realized as a homeschooler was that I am responsible for my studies. Unlike at school, where someone teaches you something and then gives you questions and workshe...

Eid-ul-Azha is just round the corner, and no-body can miss that fact, especially in Karachi. The already polluted air of Karachi has now an additional stink of animals in the air. Every now and then, you can hear the sounds of an animal being led on a walk by its owner, accompanied by the screams, yells and shrieks of children who are taking the animal on its walk. Eid-ul-Azha is one of the two Eids (festivals), that Almighty Allah has blessed Muslims with; the other being Eid-ul-fitr. The history of Eid-ul-Azha goes a long way to the Prophet Ibraheem AS, who was willing to sacrifice even his son, Ismail, on Allah's command. However, God replaced his son with a ram when he was about to slaughter him, making Hazrat Ibraheem slaughter the ram instead of his son. Eid-ul-Azha is celebrated by Muslims every year to remind us of Hazrat Ibraheem's sacrifice, and to make us realize that we should be willing to sacrifice whatever we have for Allah, on his command. Muslims have to sac...

Hi readers! Here's another one of those essays that I mentioned I'd be sharing in here. This one was written on 12th April, 2016. The topic is mentioned below. Comments, feedback, and suggestions are very welcome! :) What changes would you like to see take place in your country in the next five years? Everything has some space for improvement, to strive to make it better, if not perfect. There are many changes that I would like to see take place in my homeland for it to improve. Firstly, I would like to see my country cleaner. The garbage disposal system of many places in Sindh, especially Karachi, which is the provincial capital, needs to be regenerated. The bio-degradable waste needs to be sorted and tackled accordingly, and the recyclable waste recycled. This change would not only be a relief to the common people, but also improve the country’s outlook. Secondly, I would like to see Pakistan greener than it already is. Although the province of Punjab, and Kash...

This is a descriptive essay I wrote on 23rd December, 2015. I guess if I wrote on the same topic now, my composition would be very different from this. I had to describe a place, and I chose a gymkhana we visit regularly. I've exaggerated at some points, I suppose... for example, winters aren't that intense in Karachi. But you have to exaggerate, and even make up some facts, at times, to make your writing stronger. (I wouldn't do that in tasks other than I did for the exams, though!) So here you go: Describe a garden or park at two different times of the day or year. North Nazimabad Gymkhana is a wonderful place for relaxing on summer nights. Its lawns are in full bloom, trees and plant displaying their greenery to their full extent. A lovely breeze is blowing, causing the leaves to make a soft rustling sound. The lawns and walking tracks are illuminated with lamp posts, and abuzz with the sounds of people talking and laughing. The air is filled with wafting aromas ...

A few days ago, I was going through my English notebook, which was filled with stories and compositions I wrote while preparing for my exams. A lot of them hadn't been posted on my blog, so I marked the ones that were good enough to be posted on this blog. And so, I'll be posting them here one by one. This one is an argumentative essay on the topic below. I wrote this on 15th April, 2016. Have classroom teachers become less important with the increased use of the internet in education? The use of internet in education is on the rise. It is accessible to everyone, to people of all ages. From school children to university level students, the internet is of great help to everyone in their studies. Online courses can be attended at home to master any skill. Many of these courses are free, while some charge an adequate amount. Courses are offered from overseas and international universities from all over the world. People can get a diploma without having to travel anywhere ...

I attended a photography workshop last month. It was an amazing workshop, and I learnt a lot about the art of capturing moments in photographs in it. You could make an ordinary event a special memory if you take a good photograph of it. I also learnt about taking pictures from different angles, about taking care of light, shadows, and various rules and principals to keep in mind. Anyways, in the workshop, we had an assignment to make a presentation of twenty best photographs that we have taken, and then give our presentation on the last day of the workshop. Like everyone, I also made the presentation and presented it. I thought about posting the presentation on my blog, but realized that as it has portraits of many people, they may not like it if I post the presentation with their pictures online. (Also, I wouldn't like it if someone posts their presentation online if it has my photograph without my permission.) So instead, I am sharing here some of the photographs that I took in ...