I'm excited to finally start learning French this year. It'll be my first language besides English. My friends said that French is a little more difficult to learn compared to Spanish, so I want to be prepared. The software will help me learn the language faster because I'll have more chances to practice. What will be really fun is that my Dad wants to use the software with me so he can help me learn French! There are lots of software titles that work well like the ones from Rosetta Stone, Instant Immersion, and SmartFrench. There's so much going on in high school and keeping as organized as possible is super important for doing well. I like to label everything. An electronic label maker makes it easy to label notebook dividers, the outside of my binder, and even my paper notes. I hate losing stuff at school, so I like to use the labeler to write my name on my books and electronics. Labelers can even print on different colored labels and use different colored fonts for even more organization. Remember to buy replacement tape! Like for the label maker, being organized is essential for getting good grades in school. It's easy to lose an assignment or important piece of homework if you're not organized. I use one organizing binder for all my classes and bring it to school every day. I like to use a big one that has a lot of pockets and dividers for my work and storage for my school supplies. I keep everything in it so everything's in one place and easy to find. I use a USB flash drive to save all my homework and project research. I spend a lot of time at two different houses. Sometimes, I used to save a Word file on the computer at one house, but forget to email it to myself so I could access it on the computer at my other house. My parents would have to drive me back and forth to get my documents. Now, it's easy to carry my computer work with me all the time because it's the size of a finger. I just save everything to my flash drive so I have it at my two houses, friends' houses, and school. They also come in cute colors and different sizes. My girlfriends and I all use big purses to hold our school stuff because they're more fashionable than using a backpack. My black purse holds my school binder, calculator, pens, highlighters, pencils, whatever else I need for the day. It's even big enough to hold my free-time and assigned reading books that I have to carry every day. Some girls will even get expensive designer bags for school. I like to buy the DVDs for the books that I read for school. After reading the book, we'll watch the movie in class. Having a copy of the movie at home is fun because I can watch the movie with my friends at my house before we watch it in class. It helps us study together and remember the books better. Last year, I bought Of Mice and Men and Romeo and Juliet. Teachers let us use notebooks in class now, so more and more students are bringing a notebook to class. Having a computer with you at all times is very convenient for class research, email, typing reports, and taking notes in class (because it's way faster than writing). Because we would carry it everywhere, a super thin one's best. Apple, Thinkpad, Toshiba, HP, and other computer companies make nice ones. Last year, one teacher taught us about geocaching with Google Maps and the students that had their own notebook could easily follow along on their own. I use Word and PowerPoint all the time for school, so be sure to order the latest version of Microsoft Office 2007 when you buy your notebook. It's way easier to use than the previous version. I know that this is probably a weird recommendation, but I think it's important. The desks at school don't always get cleaned regularly and students always get sick. I got sick a lot this past year and I think it was because of germs on the table from other sick students. I'm going to keep a small bottle of hand sanitizer in my purse and use it a few times a day. Being sick makes getting good grades hard. The iPod Touch is awesome. It's skinny so I can carry it everywhere, but has a big screen and lots of useful features. When we're doing individual work in class, we can use my iPod Touch to listen to music. It helps me focus on what I'm working on, but doesn't bother anyone around me because I use headphones. We have wireless access at school, so when the teacher is discussing various topics, I can go online and read more about what the teacher's talking about. Plus, it has a powerful calculator that I use for checking my math homework.