Unschooling Journal September 22-28, 2019

by | Sep 30, 2019 | Blog, Homeschooling, Unschooling, 언스쿨링 | 0 comments

A lot of math and science this past week of unschooling, along with some origami to round out the week.

September 22

We pulled out the Arduino kit and programmed a keypad to display a number on the screen. The project was quite challenging so we worked on it together, sharing the work as we put the electronic components onto the bread board.
We had some errors and had to go through the code to find the problem. But once we did, the keypad worked perfectly.
Ethan read about a thermometer project in a chemistry book.
Doing some multiplication.
Ethan wanted to try another coding project so he found one for creating an encrypting and decrypting program.
It took some fine tuning to find the errors and correct them, but eventually, he got it to work.

September 23

Monday morning. He usually starts the day doing some math or science on Khan Academy. He usually follows his daily schedule that’s behind him on the green poster board.
Learning about limits.
Practiced Spanish using Duolingo.
Learned about average velocity on Khan Academy.
He watched a video about a strange pulsar.
He then wrote about a weird binary star.
Practicing vectors in math.
Practiced the letter ‘b’ today in cursive.
More vectors.
From learning about average velocity.
He added the Song Dynasty to his history timeline.

September 24

He continued learning about vectors.
He spent quite a number of hours building this Rubik’s Cube out of paper.

September 25

Off to nature school.
Origami Pac Man that he learned from his favourite origami YouTuber, Jeremy Schafer.
Several origami projects he worked on today.

September 26

Working on math, right angle word problems.
Learned about calculating projectile motion.
His journal shows what he did today: Inverse trig functions in math and calculating distance when you know velocity in physics.
Practiced writing the letter ‘g’ today.
He answered some comprehension questions about Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors.

September 27

He learned about trigonometry with right angles.
More about projectile motion.
He learned about NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and how it capture a black hole tearing apart a star.
He then wrote about what he learned.
He added some more information about the Song Dynasty to his history timeline. Not sure why the foot is there, though 🙂
Spanish practice in Duolingo.
The letter ‘j’ today.
Solving velocity questions.
Worked on trig functions.
He organized his elastics.
And then he did a lot origami for most of the night.

September 28

He was a little sick this week so he mostly hung out at home. Today, he made a device that shoots rubber bands. I asked if he learned how to make it from someone else, but he said no. He designed it himself.
He spent a lot of time experimenting and making things.
We went for a walk and he did this while we waited for Dong Eun.
Bracelet for his mom.

And that was Ethan’s week. I’m sure there were other things he did, like violin class, taekwondo and swimming lessons that I didn’t include. But overall, it was another busy week on unschooling and SelfDesign.

LC Response 2

I really like the way you are learning about new topics and then doing your own original writing based on the subject, like you did for the binary star. 

The note taking you do complete with graphics is right up my alley. When I am learning something new, I like to summarize it in writing and use pictures which I can refer to later. 

Are you keeping all of these in one notebook? 

Do you refer to it before you make videos? 

Do you use this journal as a place to brainstorm and plan out your instructional videos as well? 

Origami Pac Man that he learned from his favourite origami YouTuber, Jeremy Schafer.

The origami rubik’s cube is stellar!!

What is it about Jeremy Schafer that you so enjoy, Ethan? 

Does he do things in his Youtubes that you would try to emulate? 

Here is a visual problem you might enjoy and video to follow. 

What are your Halloween plans? Costume this year. I loved the black hole last year. Check out the Library for more Halloween tips and ideas: 

All Hallow’s Eve…Boo

There are also content pages you can click on the right side for even more, by topic

Would you like to find out more? You may like to check out these Content Pages:

I have some questions you may want to consider: 

Either for discussion, writing or even in response to me in an observing for learning: 

Where do your new ideas come from? 

 What are you curious about? 

How have you used questions to learn more about something?

How could you share your idea with others?

What are different ways you could share your ideas?

When did you try something new this week? How did that go?

When did you try something hard this week? How did that go?

Tell about a time you made a mistake …

When was a time when you learned from a mistake you made?

LC Response

Another successful week. Here are some of my comments and questions. 

What are you using Arduino for? 

What is the number keypad for? 

Way to work through the challenges. 

Does Ethan get frustrated? How does he handle these more difficult emotions these days? 

Arduino micro-computers offer a more advanced way to build, program and control robots.

Learning about robotics with other kids is a fun way to problem solve and explore. Robotics camps and clubs are found across BC. Maybe there’s one near you! 

UntitledRobotics can be a solitary activity, but it can also be fun to do with a friend. What are the benefits of working alone or with others? 

If you don’t see something in your area on this list, check your local community centre program guide. Many are offering robotics and other engineering camps and courses. 

Vancouver/Lower Mainland:

I did the ladder illusion drawing with a class of 5th and 6th graders this week. Thanks again for the idea and inspiration. Ours did not quite come out as well as your did, but I think with more practice. I thought of you when I saw this artist who paints large illusion drawings on buildings. See article below

Mind-Bending Optical Illusion Murals Turn Ordinary Buildings into Giant 3D Abstractions
Arduino intro
https://youtube.com/watch?v=UCEvnwKpk-c%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26rel%3D0%26wmode%3Dtransparent

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