Home Learning Journal September 30, 2017 - Thunder Bay & The Fort William Astrological Observatory

Dryden was nice but we wanted to get to Thunder Bay and had to get an early start. We knew it was going to be a long drive. Ethan spent almost the entire drive working on his origami designs. We like how he has found ways to be creative and to keep busy while we drive long distances.

Roadschooling thus far has allowed Ethan to express his creativity and live in the moment. This is what we hoped for when we decided to go the unschooling route.

Video to come!

Morning

After breakfast and some gas, it was time to head to Thunder Bay. Ethan helped fill the gas, which he’s been doing for most of the trip.
The Trans Canada to Thunder Bay was again, amazing. The views are spectacular and better than we expected.

Ethan worked on more origami and created an elephant. He also practiced French with Dong Eun using the Babbel app.

Afternoon

We arrived in Thunder Bay after 3pm and just needed to relax after that long, 5 hour drive from Kenora. So we spent most of the time at the Walmart parking lot before heading out to Winston Churchill Pool for a swim.

Evening

As the road trip continues, we’re finding it’s better to use community centres for their pool and showers, and Walmart’s for their bathrooms and water fountain, than it is to stay at a campsite.

We went to a local pool to swim and play. An hour and a half of swimming was an excellent way to spend the early evening. But our night wasn’t over, as we wanted to do the Star Walk experience at Fort William’s Astrological Observatory from 9-11pm.

Ethan loves space, so we thought it would be the perfect activity for him. We weren’t wrong, as he loved listening to the astronomers. But the highlight was getting to see parts of our night sky using the 20 inch telescope at the observatory.

The telescope is unique to Canada because you actually get to look through the eyepiece and see the objects firsthand. Ethan loved every moment of it, even though it was tough being crammed in the observatory dome but the objects we saw were worth it.

The following photos of the moon were taken with the 20 inch telescope and a 3D telescope, respectively.

Tomorrow, we’re going to slow down the pace of our driving and see where we end up.

Response to LC

Hi Natasha,

Ok, understood about the need to copy/paste some from the blog. I’m wondering if it would be ok for me to just copy/paste entire posts after they’ve been published. Being on the road, we have limited time for posting and wifi usage, so it would be easier if I could simply share entire posts each time.

Thanks for the resources. We’re trying to reduce dependency on apps and gadgets because we’re finding that Ethan only wants to do what’s “fun” with an app or device, rather than learning from something more tactile. Any suggestions?

Carl

LC Response

Week 5:

I took the time to copy and paste some of the highlights I found from this week of blogging.

The Self Design administration would like you to do the same for future Observations for Learning (I will do week 6 again no problem). You are welcome to include the links as you have, but we need to have some of your reflections posted here on the Platform just in case the weblink ever breaks etc…here is what they wrote when I described the very rich and wonderful blog you have been writing about Ethan’s learning:

“Please hae the parent to copy and paste a few key pieces from the blog right into PowerSchool each week and the parent can also include the blog link saying, “click here to read more”.

That way SelfDesign has a record that is consistently accessible that we can show in an inspection. Just depending on the blog is not adequate as links can break, blogs can come down or crash, blog addresses can change- many things can happen that we can’t control and we are responsible to have the Observing for Learning in our systems for the ministry.

I will respond to some of the highlights I found, look for my feedback in purple below.

Over lunch, Ethan taught me how to play Sudoku, as I never tried it before. He was a very good teacher and I found the game quite fun.

I just love this! I often say the best way to trully learn something is to teach someone else. He is applying his understanding of Soduku and then teaching someone else how to use the skills and techniques he has mastered. This is the highest form of learning. I encourage you to have him reteach things back to you. It is a wonderful way for you to check for understanding and see where he might need more instruction or clarification.

During dinner, Ethan showed us how you can balance a canned drink on an angle. We had never seen something like that before so we were quite impressed.

After dinner, Ethan wanted to download Babbel on the iPhone to try learning French. I’ve mentioned that we’d love it if Ethan learned another language so we were happy to let him try it. He learned about Babbel from the Brains On Science Podcast.

Once again he is using his resources and finding out about new ways to learn. After reading this week observation, it sounds like he is really jazzed on French and Babbel in particular. Have you tried looking at French books at the libraries you visit?

For Ethan, I feel like he’s learning a lot from observing how we are handling situations that arise during the road trip. He’s always been easy to adapt to new environments, and this roadschooling journey has shown us that he’s happy just enjoying the moment.

Travelling is a wonderful teacher for us all.

After dinner, Ethan wrote a poem about trees. We’re not sure what inspired him, but anytime he wants to write is a good thing. He likes writing, but he doesn’t like answering questions in workbooks.

Yes keep up the authentic writing experiences! I loved his ode to trees, maybe have him write another ode sometime.

Ode to trees and then folded it up into origami.

The theme for the week seems to be origami, as Ethan has been folding his own designs almost every day. And he seems to wake up with new ideas to try.

He’s also been filming how to videos in some unlikely places, such as the walkway outside of the Walmart we stayed at in Swift Current, SK.

His love for origami is really taking off! He wants to share his passion with others in how to videos. Is he making other instructional videos these days?

Ethan played grounders with some of the local kids at the playground outside the library. I’ve said it before, but it surprises us every time we see him approach new kids and just easily start playing with them. Maybe it’s because he’s an only child? Anyway, he had a blast at the playground.

Seems like this ability to meet new children and play is really serving him so well as he travels from town to town. These connections with his peers all across the country are precious opportunities to share and connect with the people his own age from the new towns he is visiting.

After dinner, he used Babbel to practice French, something he has really been enjoying. He learned about Babbel through one of the science podcasts he listens to. Since downloading the app, he asks every chance he gets if he can practice his French. We’re happy to oblige and are also trying to learn with him. Hopefully, this will help when we get to Quebec and spend time there. Yes his time in Quebec will really shine with his interest in learning French. Perfect timing indeed.

After breakfast, we headed to the Manitoba Children’s Museum and spent the entire morning there. Ethan loved the hands on exhibits, especially the water ones and the optical illusions.

The Canadian Human Rights Museum was there and we went in to ask if it was a kid friendly place. We were told that there is a scavenger hunt for kids and some interactive activities that kids would enjoy. So we made our way in and were blown away by the building and the exhibits.

Ethan did a second one that he didn’t want us to see until he was done. It’s the one on the far right in the pic below.

What a special museum! I hope to get there someday, so relevant in a world full of diversity and conflict. I am certain Ethan took away some very important ideas from his time there.

After dinner, Ethan helped with adding up our daily expenses. We’re keeping track of our daily spending so this is a great way for Ethan to practice some math and get a better understanding of budgeting. This is great! Hands-on relevant math. There is a ton of math opportunities on the road from budgets, to mileage, to shopping math, counting different vehicles, charting, graphing etc…As you get into the FSA I encourage you to come up with road trip related math word problems to help him gain confidence for answering these types of questions.

After breakfast, Ethan wanted to make a star shape to go over his flashlight so that it would project a star. It didn’t quite work out, but we always encourage him to learn from the failures until you find the right solution. We’ll see how this one turns out. Yes mistakes are such an important part of learning! Get comfortable making mistakes and applying what you learn from them.

every day is a fieldtrip for your family, here are a few apps and ideas you might take advantage of:

Field Trip App

Field Trip is your guide to the cool, hidden, and unique things in the world around you. It can help you learn about everything from local history to the latest and best places to shop, eat, and have fun. You select the local feeds you like and the information pops up on your phone automatically, as you walk next to those places.

https://youtu.be/zusjUjaiWJQ

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