One thing that’s happened with Ethan unschooling is that it’s become something very exciting to talk about and share with other families who are considering homeschooling. I’m not sure they really want to hear how well Ethan is doing but it seems like I’m doing him an injustice by not sharing in greater detail.
On Saturday, we met a couple of moms with children under 3 and they were already considering homeschooling. One mom had even researched SelfDesign so it was fun to share what Ethan has been doing and how much we’ve enjoyed unschooling.
We’re quite proud of Ethan and we are so happy that he’s far exceeded his grade level. I think that any child who is given the time and freedom to explore and learn like Ethan is doing can easily go beyond their grade level because children love to learn.
We just need to give them the platform and freedom to do so.
I know that’s not practical for every family but I would certainly encourage families to look into homeschooling as an option if they can make it work.
Anyway, onto Ethan’s week…
March 18
Ethan was working on an equation for calculating how many cubes there would be in one of his Rubik’s Cubes and he was back at it again this morning. One thing about unschooling is that if Ethan is interested in something, he’ll work on it until bedtime and then start right back up in the morning.
The Story Cubes have been a great tool for helping Ethan practice his writing. In this one, he purposely wrote with spelling mistakes to make the story more fun/difficult to read.
Ethan worked on a two-point perspective drawing
My parents came over for brunch and Ethan brought out his drawings to show them.
Ethan took the brunch order from each person.
Ethan solved his 5x5x5 Rubik’s Cube and said that he’d like to get a new one that’s stickerless because the stickers on his cube are coming off. So Dong Eun made a deal with him that he had to solve all his cubes and then we would get him a new stickerless 5x5x5 cube.
I’ve been looking for an alarm system for my parents and one of the devices we looked at displayed how long the battery will last in hours. We wanted to know how many days that would be so we had Ethan do the calculation.
He knew right away to divide the total number of hours by 24 to get the number of days, which worked out to exactly 365.
Once the grandparents had gone home, Ethan watched a video about crocodiles on Discovery Education.
And he got in some violin practice. He doesn’t like it when we photograph him playing because he says it’s distracting 🙂
He was very excited when “The Humongous Book of Basic Math & Pre-Algebra Problems” was delivered today. We got him this book as a supplement to the helping your kids with math book.
This new book is more detailed in its descriptions and shows step-by-step how to solve over 800 math problems. Ethan will likely find this book helpful in terms of jumping to a certain section and practicing whatever looks interesting, such as multiplying fractions.
Ethan was playing around with hugging himself and holding his hands.
Then he got into more serious things, like creating a solar system around a star using Universe Sandbox.
He switched gears to working on his 4x4x4 cube and watched a tutorial because he couldn’t remember certain things needed to solve this cube.
March 19
Ethan started his morning with a new story about a turtle. The turtle visited a place that didn’t allow turtles, but this rule was changed and the turtle was happy. Basically, this is the no pet bylaw we currently have in our building 🙂
Along with the story, he spent some time working on the 5x5x5 Rubik’s Cube and he also read the DIY mini weapons book.
Ethan saw these unusual wrinkles in a balloon. He made new wrinkles and was fascinated by how a deflated balloon could do this.
Later that morning, he met up with his friend and liitle brother for some play time at the beach.
They worked on building rock towers.
And different rock sculptures.
Ethan used his pavement chalk and some water to paint a happy face onto a rock.
At home, Ethan played with the alphabet cookies we got from IKEA and had fun spelling different words from the same letters.
Ethan and his buddy had more fun with bubbles by blowing them out our window.
They also enjoyed playing chess together.
While his friend was still here, Ethan practiced violin.
He then used his Story Cubes and wrote a new story about rainbows. He’s been enjoying writing, even though he limits himself to just a single page! We’re asking him questions about how the characters feel and what other details he could add.
I’m sure he’ll be more descriptive as he practices more and wants to express himself in greater detail.
Ethan enjoyed playing with his friend’s little brother.
March 20
He’s a man on a mission! The first thing he did this morning was work on another cube, which happened to be the 4×4. He then decided that today would be Cube Day and asked us to invite some of his friends over, so that would happen later today.
We registered Ethan for a workshop at the Vancouver Public Library that was about discovering your inner super hero. What it turned out to be was the kids taking photos against a green screen and learning how to use Photoshop to replace the background with one of their choosing.
Ethan designed this background and printed it out to bring home.
At home, Ethan went through his cube collection to prepare for Cube Day with is friends. He arranged the cubes from easiest to most difficult to solve, which is from left to right in this photo.
Cube Day wasn’t just about cubing since most of his friends are still learning how to solve the 3×3 cube. Here they are playing UNO.
Cube Day also turned into time at the playground!
And it was another chance to create a track to run through.
That night, Ethan practiced his violin, which he’s been really improving with the daily practice.
He then read about inequalities in the Humongous Book of Math.
And he finished the day reading the pencil drawing book.
March 21
Ethan started the morning by reading the pencil drawing book he got from the library. He’s been very interested in this particular book.
After breakfast, he practiced playing the violin.
He then worked on exponents using the Korean version of Murderous Maths.
He was curious about who invented Roman numerals and did a Google search for the answer. He learned about Roman numerals before he was curious if they were invented by the Romans.
While reading the pencil drawing book, he found out about a star that is basically a 10 billion trillion trillion carat diamond because it’s made of crystallized carbon.
This led to Ethan asking how big a carat is so we found this image online to help him picture different carat sizes.
Ethan started solving a different cube as he works his way through his cube collection.
He found out that the fisher cube, which he thought was hard to solve, was just like the regular 3x3x3 Rubik’s Cube, so he was able to solve this one in short order.
Next up was the ivy cube, a cube he’s had difficulty solving but he was able to complete it with some help from YouTube.
We headed to the library to pick up some books on hold and Ethan found some others he liked, too.
But he’s on a bit of a mission to solve all his cubes so he can get a new 5x5x5 cube; therefore, he decided to work on the big daddy, the 7x7x7. He’s solved this one before but it’s the most challenging cube he has.
After the library, Ethan played outside for over two hours with his friend and little brother. Ethan and his friend made an elaborate pattern in the playground and played different games that involved following the pattern.
Back at home, he tried a non-Newtonian fluid experiment with cornstarch and water that he found in a new book he borrowed.
He ended up putting the fluid into a balloon to make a stress relief toy.
Ethan read about the different temperatures of a candle flame and we were surprised by just how hot a small flame can be. We also talked about how we can use a candle to stay warm inside a vehicle and that we did that during our road trip.
One of the new books from the library is filled with fun science experiments to try.
Ethan hasn’t forgotten about coding! This is a book he’s borrowed before but got it again.
March 22
In the morning, Ethan downloaded a Rubik’s Cube timer app and practiced solving the 3×3 and 2×2 cubes.
At breakfast, he was learning how to code a new type of game where you shoot at objects.
Since figuring out that this fisher cube was like a 3×3 cube, he experimented with creating a checkerboard pattern and was able to do it.
Ethan was registered for another class at the Vancouver Public Library and this time, it was a stop motion video class using iPads.
Here’s the video…
In a book called How Stuff Works, Ethan read about these burrs and how they work. Ethan had first-hand experience with burrs during our road trip when he got some stuck on his shoes and pants in New Brunswick… or maybe it was PEI?
Ethan made a new video about how to solve the 3×3 Rubik’s Cube…
Ethan spent some time drawing his own maze while the video was uploading.
Then he listened to some French language CD courses we borrowed from the library.
He wrote a funny story about what a Rubik’s Cube is.
And finished the day by reading a couple chapters from Neil Degrasse Tyson’s book called “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.”
March 23
This morning, Ethan put all his cubes on the coffee table to get a visual inventory of what he has.
Inside this jar are cards from his good behaviour cards. He calculated how many cards he needs to get in order to get the present 🙂
Working on Universe Sandbox has been a lot of fun for Ethan because of the freedom to experiment with gravity on different objects.
He made a shooting game where you angle the arrow and shoot them to pop the balloons.
He then went to work on another cube. Notice the egg carton under his laptop? That was something he learned about that helps keep your laptop cooler.
Ethan practiced converting fractions to decimals and to percentages. He found this section in his math book and wanted to try it. He printed out a worksheet to test himself. It wasn’t easy but he started to get the hang of it.
He also practiced some French lessons.
And tried to set a new personal best for solving the Rubik’s Cube and the 2×2 cube.
Time to play outside with his friend.
He solved the 5×5 cube again.
And built towers from his cubes.
He told us about how you can see one million granules of sugar.
He told us about how long it would take to count to a million if you counted one number per second. Then he told us about how long it would take to count to one billion. These things contribute to his love of numbers and math, so we love hearing these things.
Ethan started writing in his journal again and here was the latest entry. He talked about using the computer and Universe Sandbox and how happy he was to have sushi for dinner.
March 24
Ethan woke up and was working on another cube. He’s very determined to solve all of his cubes in as short a time as possible.
At breakfast, he read the Math Quest book, the one that’s like a choose your own adventure but with math problems.
After breakfast, we went to Stanley Park because we were registered for a Nature Club event.
It turned out there were only three kids, but the other two were about 2 1/2 years old. Their moms were both quite interested in homeschooling so I shared some of our experiences with SelfDesign and unschooling. It’s pretty cool how quite a few parents are considering homeschooling as an option.
It was good for Ethan to spend time with younger kids like this, as he’s learning to be more patient and understanding of how little kids behave.
For example, shortly after he made a tunnel in the sand, the two little ones came over and one of them accidentally crushed Ethan’s tunnel.
Very interestingly, we spotted a beaver swimming by. Odd because we weren’t at a river or lake, but out in Burrard Inlet. It definitely wasn’t an otter because I saw it before it went in the water. Hope he wasn’t lost or anything like that.
Snack time. Pamela, the group leader, gave us a challenging riddle about what things can go through a “green glass door.” It took a while but Ethan eventually figured it out with some hints.
Next, we went into the forest and spotted this very unusual tree.
And the tree was great for climbing! One of the little kids tried to climb it but got frustrated when he couldn’t make it up 🙂
More exploring and then all the kids worked together to build a sort of house with sticks.
Nice to see Ethan interacting with the little ones.
They obviously liked being around Ethan because they held his hands to walk back from our adventure.
After we came home, Ethan worked on his 3×3 cube solving speed before spending the afternoon with a friend.
When he finally returned in the early evening, he brought Dong Eun a treat… Pistachios, which are her favourite.
Ethan wanted to try coding a new game with an airplane and was able to complete it in about 30 minutes. He’s become much more proficient at coding in Scratch in only a short time, but that’s the great thing about unschooling…all the time to explore and deep dive into a topic.
He solved the 7x7x7 cube! He was very determined to solve this one and found some tricks to help him.
He used techniques from solving other cubes to help him solve certain parts of the cube. He was able to combine knowledge from those other cubes in a new way to help him solve the 7×7. Pretty cool!
And he also wrote a journal entry for today, which was a recap of his day with a repeating loop that goes back to how much fun he had at his friend’s place.
Before bed, he wanted to try some yoga and worked on his plank pose and transition to upward facing dog.
What a week…again! When I prepare these posts and look back at all the things Ethan has done, it’s quite astounding.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I was talking to a couple of moms about homeschooling, and unschooling in particular, and it struck me how fortunate we are to have this type of learning experience available for Ethan.
Sure, it hasn’t always been easy and we have our occasional challenges, but overall, it’s been such an amazing experience for Ethan and for us.
Until next week!
One thing that’s happened with Ethan unschooling is that it’s become something very exciting to talk about and share with other families who are considering homeschooling. I’m not sure they really want to hear how well Ethan is doing but it seems like I’m doing him an injustice by not sharing in greater detail.
On Saturday, we met a couple of moms with children under 3 and they were already considering homeschooling. One mom had even researched SelfDesign so it was fun to share what Ethan has been doing and how much we’ve enjoyed unschooling.
We’re quite proud of Ethan and we are so happy that he’s far exceeded his grade level. I think that any child who is given the time and freedom to explore and learn like Ethan is doing can easily go beyond their grade level because children love to learn.
We just need to give them the platform and freedom to do so.
I know that’s not practical for every family but I would certainly encourage families to look into homeschooling as an option if they can make it work.
Anyway, onto Ethan’s week…
The idea that humans be them babies, children or adults are natural learners is the basis of the philosophy of Self Design. As an early childhood educator my job was to create an environment in which young children could learn, grow and thrive. It was primarily play based which means children self select whatever game, toys, blocks, art they want to do at any given time for as long as they need to because that is how they learn. This is the premise for most early childhood education and it is based on brain research. We learn everything as babies through play, mimicking and experience be it walking, eating, cause and effect, language…everything. It takes an interactive, loving, safe physical, emotional and spiritual environment full of positive social relationships to raise a healthy and bright child. Much of this natural child-initiated learning is stifled when they enter traditional schools at the age of five or so. I often wondered how could we create schools/learning which extend this natural learning and what would it look like? I found this model in Self Design. When families are willing to trust their child and let go while providing enough structure and opportunity the results are truly awe inspiring! I think you are recognizing Ethan shining in the wonderful unschooling/homeschooling experience you have provided. The love of learning that is innate in humanity is expressing itself in your son and yes you have much to celebrate and be proud of. Thank you for sharing your experience and inspiring other families to explore these possibilities with their own children.
In terms of this week specifically I am going to respond to a few of the highlights I pulled out. You offer so much that I am not able to respond to it all, but rest assured I take it all in, read and read your post a few times in order to gather my thoughts about what would be the most helpful to reflect back to you or what resources I could offer. Honestly, I think Ethan is on such a positive roll. He is self designing his days, diving deeply into anything and everything in which he is interested and like you said learning from morning till night. What else could one ask for as an educator or facilitator of learning? I find him to have a great balance of activities too. He plays outside, practices violin, writes stories, does research, makes moveis to teach others, codes, explores math, makes art….I don’t really know what to offer sometimes, I just really trust Ethan’s process and want to continue to lead him guide his own learning. I like you am really just trying to deepen my own observation of his learning.
His impressive perspective drawings and his dedication to solving rubic’s cubes really stood out to me this week. I actually have never understood how Rubic’s cubes can be solved and I learned so much from Ethan’s level 1 video. Please thank him for me, it has been a mystery to me for ever 30 years, but I guess I could have hopped on Youtube anytime in the last decade to find out….It is one aspect that I really appreciate about being and LC, my learners’ interests invite me to be curious and research about topics, people, places, ideas that were outside my awareness all together. And it being an online job I have access to so much information right away as I try to catch up to where the learners are…lol. I suppose this is all apart of evolving my own practice and connecting to the growing sharing economy on the planet.
I am so impressed by Ethan exploring and solving percentages, fractions and decimal problems. He is seeing how they are all related and expressions of the same number value, very cool! Does he make other mathematical connections at times between his rubics cube, coding, perspective drawings or math problems? Just wondering..
So the story cubes seem to be a great success with helping prompt Ethan’s creative writing. I am looking for other similar resources which might work for him. I suppose there are other sets for a bit of variety:
I suppose Ethan could even build/create his own story cubes and see how that works as a writing prompt. What do you notice is so effective about this tool for him? It might help me find other similar resources…here are some other ways to use Story Cubes:
A homeschooling mom’s 20 ideas for Story Cubes: http://hspmom.com/20-ways-to-use-rorys-story-cubes/
- Work as a class and ask someone to roll the dice. Show the set of 9 pictures (under a visualiser if available) and ask a child to begin a story using one of the pictures as their starting point. Then, ask a new child to continue the story by including another of the pictures. Repeat until all 9 pictures have been mentioned in the story.
- Work in small groups and have ‘story telling’ sessions where the group works together to tell a story which involves all nine of the pictures.
- Let the children work in pairs. One child rolls the dice and tells a story using the cubes. The other child has to listen and remember the story, then retell it to others in the class.
- Begin a session with a story telling activity based on a roll of the cubes. After, ask the children if they can write the same story down… can they remember what happened?
- Roll the dice and share the nine pictures with the class. Ask all of the children to tell / write a story which includes all of the images. Share the stories at the end of the session and compare them… how were they similar / different?
- Roll two or three of the cubes and ask children to think of a super sentence which involves the pictures shown.
- Give the children a grid with nine boxes on it. Ask the children to roll a set of dice and put one in each box on the grid. They should then tell / write a story which includes the images in the order shown on their grid.
- Roll one of the dice and identify the picture (e.g. plane). Then:
- Ask the children for words to describe the plane.
- Think of ways (mnemonics) to help them remember how to spell ‘plane’.
- Share words that mean the same (synonyms) as plane.
- Think of words which rhyme with plane.
- Give the children some cube nets and ask them to make their own paper sets of story cubes. Which images would help to make an interesting / exciting story?
Some spring origami ideas for Ethan…not sure if you celebrate easter but might be fun to make some new baskets and rabbits. Click to see youtube videos
Origami Easter Basket Tutorial (Traditional)
Origami: MeiIris’ Easter Origami Basket Tutorial
How to Fold the Origami Easter Bunny
Easter Origami Tutorial: Paper Rabbit / Bunny (Jun Maekawa)
Or maybe some fun new egg shell votive candle ideas, cool upcylcing of those eggshells when he makes his eggza creations:
- First, make a hole in the top of each egg with a pin or needle; enlarge the holes, and pour out the yolks. Remove the shells to one-third of the way down and clean the shells well (you can use vinegar).
- Dye shells with food coloring (follow package directions). Nestle shells in a carton.
- In a double boiler or two pots, melt and tint wax with dye pellets.
- Cut wire-core wicks to 4 inches long, flatten one end, and fasten in shell with a bit of warm wax.
- Use a funnel to fill the shells with wax. Let the wax harden, at least 1 to 2 hours. Trim the wicks to 1/4 inch (6mm), and place the candles in ceramic eggcups before lighting.
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