Schooled: Chapters 1–6

by Gordon Korman
What happens when a homeschooled hippie suddenly has to navigate public middle school? Find out as you learn these words from Gordon Korman's funny and heartwarming novel.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–12, Chapters 13–18, Chapters 19–24, Chapters 25–31

Here is a link to our lists for Ungifted by Gordon Korman.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. commune
    a body of people living together and sharing everything
    If people didn’t know us, they couldn’t find us, and we could live our lives in peace. “It’s an alternative farm commune,” I explained.
  2. alternative
    pertaining to unconventional choices
    The officer goggled at me. "Alternative—you mean like hippies?”
  3. standard
    the ideal in terms of which something can be judged
    We wanted to avoid the low standards and cultural poison of a world that had lost its way.
  4. curriculum
    an integrated course of academic studies
    So that’s what I was doing when Rain fell—working on a vocabulary lesson. Most of the list came from the state eighth grade curriculum: barometer, decagon, perpendicular. . .
  5. psychedelic
    producing distorted sensory perceptions and feelings
    I could always spot the extra words Rain threw in: nonviolence, Zen Buddhism, psychedelic.
  6. superior
    of high quality or performance
    “If your project is excellent, it only proves that you’re getting a superior education right here with me” had been her reasoning.
  7. tsunami
    a cataclysm resulting from a destructive sea wave
    I’d been out of that place more than thirty years, but one sight of this kid, and it all came roaring back in a tsunami of Day-Glo ponchos and organic lentils.
  8. protest
    express opposition through action or words
    I ran around barefoot, wearing peasant dresses, shared my parents with the other kids, protested the Vietnam War, did farm chores, and listened to a whole lot of sitar music.
  9. tradition
    a specific practice of long standing
    The tradition at C Average was to nominate the biggest loser in the building. No one runs against him, of course, and he wins automatically. Then, for the rest of the year, you get the pleasure of watching President Bonehead giving speeches, running assemblies, and making a complete idiot out of himself.
  10. orientation
    a course introducing a new situation or environment
    “The combination,” I prompted. “There—printed on top of your orientation form.”
  11. bewildered
    extremely confused and uncertain what to do
    I would have sworn he was putting me on, except he looked so bewildered.
  12. rile
    disturb, especially by minor irritations
    He was beginning to rile me.
  13. imprison
    lock up or confine, in or as in a jail
    “When we lock things away,” he said with conviction, “we’re really imprisoning ourselves.”
  14. vicious
    able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
    I was horrified. I’d read about physical violence, but this was the first time I’d witnessed it in real life. It was sudden and lightning fast. Wild, vicious, ugly.
  15. spectator
    a close observer; someone who looks at something
    In seconds, a ring of spectators formed around the brawlers. Their gleeful chant echoed all around the schoolyard. “Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! ...”
  16. preparation
    activity leading to skilled behavior
    “I believe in the community,” she began, “and I believe in the life we’ve built together. But I was fooling myself to think that you were still so young that you wouldn’t have to learn about the world outside ours. It’s not a nice place, and I didn’t want you tossed into it without a little more preparation.”
  17. depression
    sad feelings of gloom and inadequacy
    I’d read about depression, but this was the first time I’d actually felt it. It was like a stone pressing down on my chest. I couldn’t lift it off because I didn’t have the strength.
  18. values
    beliefs of a group in which they have emotional investment
    All you have to do is focus on who you are and what your values mean to you.
  19. capable
    having ability
    You’ve passed every state test—always in the top five percent. You’re as smart and capable as anybody—more than most.
  20. experience
    the accumulation of knowledge from participation in events
    “True, information isn’t the same as experience. You know what television is, but you’ve never watched it. You know what pizza is, but you’ve never tasted any. You know about friendships, but you’ve never had a friend.”
  21. violence
    a turbulent state resulting in injuries and destruction
    I’ve been in real school for one day, and that’s plenty. People are constantly screaming at each other. Two boys actually resorted to physical violence! I thought violence only happened in crimes and wars, but this was over—” I shrugged helplessly. “I can’t even explain it.”
  22. rave
    talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner
    “They’ve got these things called lockers,” I raved on. “The halls are lined with them. And you won’t believe what they’re for! They’re for locking stuff away—so other people won’t steal it! Why can’t everybody just share?”
  23. complicated
    difficult to analyze or understand
    Everything was more complicated in the world outside the community.
  24. paralyze
    cause to be immobile
    There I stood, still facing her door, paralyzed with discovery. Beauty. That was precisely the word that had been haunting me.
  25. typical
    exhibiting the qualities that identify a group or kind
    He wasn’t nerdy in a typical way. He wasn’t a computer geek or captain of the chess club (that was me). He couldn’t speak Klingon; in fact, he’d never even heard of Star Trek. But just one peek at the guy and you knew that, dweebwise, there was a new sheriff in town.
  26. snub
    a refusal to recognize someone you know
    I stuck my hand out, but he just stared at it. It wasn’t a snub. Believe me, I could teach a college course on snubs. This was cluelessness. He honestly didn’t know what to do.
  27. hostile
    characterized by enmity or ill will
    “It must be nice to wake up in the morning and not have to worry about walking into a hostile environment, with your next wedgie a matter of not if but when."
  28. impact
    the striking of one body against another
    I tensed, waiting for impact.
  29. projectile
    a weapon that is forcibly propelled toward a target
    Instead, I watched the tiny projectile land and lodge itself amid Cap’s cascading piles of long hair.
  30. autonomous
    free from external control and constraint
    “Are you running for president?”
    “Of course not. I don’t believe in government. I come from an autonomous collective.”
  31. smug
    marked by excessive complacency or self-satisfaction
    The triumphant grins on the smug faces of Zach and company told the whole story.
  32. miserable
    very unhappy
    To be honest, she was kind of a bulldozer when it came to getting what she wanted, but I don’t say that in a mean way. People did what she told them to because they liked her—not just because she’d make their lives miserable if they didn’t.
  33. chortle
    laugh quietly or with restraint
    “The best part is the doofus has no idea what just happened to him,” Zach chortled.
  34. impression
    a vague idea in which some confidence is placed
    I personally got the impression that Cap thought all new students had to go through this.
  35. genuine
    not fake or counterfeit
    Eleven hundred kids took in the sight of a genuine middle school hippie—this tall, skinny, longhaired boy in tie-dye, toes poking out of those homemade sandals.
  36. pity
    share the suffering of
    He looked so silly, so goofy, so weird that he was almost cute. Not attractive, but adorable in the sense that you can’t help pitying him—like a wet puppy rolled in sand.
  37. bizarre
    conspicuously or grossly unconventional or unusual
    But when he finally spoke, his answer was as bizarre as his appearance: “I—I don’t know anybody’s name.”
  38. convulse
    shake uncontrollably
    We were convulsed with hysterics at the thought of our hippie asking Mr. Kasigi to convert the water fountains to Gatorade, and to erect a bullfighting stadium in the parking lot.
  39. grave
    dignified and somber in manner or character
    “I don’t have the answers to any of those things,” was his grave reply. “Maybe you picked the wrong person to be president.”
  40. sympathy
    sharing the feelings of others, especially sorrow or anguish
    But the look of sympathy on the hippie’s face was so honest, so pure, that it planted the emotions inside my heart.
Created on Wed Jun 14 16:36:02 EDT 2017 (updated Mon Sep 24 13:29:14 EDT 2018)

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