Home Learning Journal October 7, 2017 – Ontario Science Centre & Turkey

Week 6:

Quote from an email I received this week.

“Better than great is reassuring. We feel like we’re winging it a bit too much. Is there something we can do to add more structure?

Dong Eun is doing multiplication tables with him using a Korean method, which is to sort of sing them. He finds it fun, which is great and important. Maybe your word problems idea would work.

Yes the multiplication tables need to be pretty much memorized and doing it to song is a great way to do it. Another thing to add is to show Ethan how multiplication problems are part of a  fact family with division. This is what I mean, you can create your own houses or fact families to show how multiplication and division are related:

Also take note of what was easy and more difficult for Ethan in the FSA, it can provide hints as to areas that might need a bit more attention. Once you identify them, please share and I can suggest some more engaging or interactive ways to learn the skills than worksheets.

If you’re just reading this blog for the first time, we are a family of three traveling across Canada (and likely beyond) in a 1994 VW Westfalia camper van called Juju Jr. Our son Ethan, age 9, is unschooling and so we want him to learn from being on the road and traveling. So he’s also now a roadschooler and we are documenting the trip and his learning on this blog.

There was also another boy at the playground and Ethan wanted to show him a couple of his Rubik’s Cubes. I could tell that he wanted to talk to the other kid, but the kid was with his aunt and having a snack. So Ethan decided to use the Rubik’s Cube as a way of starting a conversation. It turned out that the other boy was also interested in Rubik’s Cubes, but didn’t know how to solve it. Ethan happily showed him. He is quite skilled at ways to approach and engage with other children while on the road.

..Ethan wasn’t so interested in the messages, as animal welfare is something we have discussed many times with him. He was more interested in why the writer used hashtags at the end of each message. After explaining the reason to him, he understood that it was the same as using tags when publishing his videos.

It was not that long ago that I needed an explanation of what hashtags were myself. I saw a Saturnday Night Live skit with hashtag as a theme and I did not understand why or what made it so funny…the information age moves so quickly. #alwayslearning, #keepingupwiththetimes

My friend who is a very talented developer who works internationally just shared this video and article on quantum computing. I have to admit I need a bit of a tutor to walk me through what this all means and how it might be applied. I have a basic understanding of entanglement and quantum physics, but as it relates to quantum computing I get a bit lost. Perhaps Ethan will be understanding and using this technology sooner than myself. I am open to that as a possibility for sure.

https://futurism.com/quantum-computing-change-sooner-than-expect/

Quantum Computers Explained – Limits of Human Technology

There was also a place for tai chi, so Ethan got to check out the Yin and Yang symbol. He thought it looked like a face.

While Dong Eun prepared dinner, I played outside with Ethan. He wanted to make a stone fort and even said it was the engineering part of STEM; or as he called it, STEAM, because he was also doing art by designing the structure. I love that putting the art in engineering, brilliant!

After dinner, he had another smore and he wrote in his journal and drew some pictures inspired by the Ontario tourism guidebook.  The journal is a wonderful tool and I encourage you to come up with follow up activities, research or projects after he visits museums or places which really interest him. Take advantage of any activities or resources that the museums offer as well. He could make a scrapbook of his travels, create questionnaires or guidelines for other kids who are on the road like him, write down questions he is still wondering about, make a collage, create a word sort or poetry (like his ode to tress)…anything really.

One thing that’s happened over the course of the trip is how much Ethan has been helping out with different tasks and chores. We are quite impressed by how many things he is helping with and how he has grown. Yes!! Wonderful for you to observe. Chores and responsibility contribute to growth in many ways exspecially in terms of self-esteem. I often send this useful list of chores and task for various ages, I think it can offer some ideas:

Anyway, he likes Sudoku and decided to make his own Sudoku puzzle for Dong Eun to solve. He then made a paper tie for him and I. He is really applying his Soduku skills by making his own!

He then did some reading on his Kindle.

We also enjoyed some fresh popcorn and Ethan got in some more reading time on the Kindle. The Kindle is always in his hands, if he’s not listening to a podcast. It’s really been great to have it, as he’s able to read old favourites and download new books, too.

Can you tell me a bit about what he is reading? How do you check for comprehension after he reads? Does he retell, compare with other  stories? Find ways in which he relates to the story?

We went to check it out and sure enough, there were quite a lot of salmon in the water. These were much smaller than the salmon we see back home making their way up the Capilano River. Not sure what species of salmon they were but it was cool for all of us to get an up close glimpse of them. So here is an example of a topic, Salmon, in which you could take the experience of seeing them and then find out more about them, draw them, make salmon origami….

Amazing Facts about Salmon

We weren’t sure what to expect but were very happy to have gone to see the insects. Entomica is a great place for insect lovers and especially, kids because you get to hold the insects and really see them up close.

Ethan had an awesome time learning about the different insects, where they’re from, what they eat, etc. The tour guide, Max, was super in explaining things and asking Ethan questions, such as what nocturnal means. Ethan knew, probably from watching Planet Earth or listening to the science podcasts.

What a super fun and engaging museum, look a those bugs! I would be interested to hear more from Ethan about this experience and how his relationship to insects grew or changed from this?

Madde an optical illusion book

We enjoyed our dessert and went back into the library to do some more work and reading. This particular library closed at 9pm so it was perfect for us. Ethan made a new optical illusions book and published it to the blog. Check it out here.

This published book is wonderful! Nice work Ethan

Swimming…Interestingly, if you’re between 7 to 11 years old, they’ll make you take a swimming test before letting you go in the deep end. Part of the test is treading water without moving around for one minute. Ethan wasn’t going to go in the deep end, but he wanted to try treading water, anyway. He got to about 15 seconds, so he’ll need some more practice.

here were many hands on exhibits, which made it a lot of fun for Ethan. We also wanted him to write down anything he found interesting, but wasn’t easy to stop when you’re so excited to see things. Yes he might need to take a bit of time after the museum to take notes. Or dictate notes to you which he can later write down.

However, he did write that the touched the tarantula.

That sounds like a good thing, but when observing him, it seems like he’s being overstimulated. He doesn’t focus on one activity for very long the way he normally would. Perhaps if he went to the science centre everyday, he would eventually find one of two things to explore more deeply.

But the other issue is that all the exhibits were designed to perform a set number of actions in a specific way. We encourage Ethan to explore and uncover something new, rather than give him things where the outcome is predetermined. For that reason, we feel that he would do better in a setting similar to the fossil casting we did at Drumheller.

It can be a bit of a challenge to deepen into an activity or topic as everyday is so stimulating and different for him right now on the road. Taking those quiet times to reflect and settle are helpful to integrating. It seems like he really enjoys building and creating things with his hands, find those hands-on opportunities as you can.