how to unschool Archives - How to Do Stuff With Ethan

Unschooling Journal March 22-28, 2020

carl376 — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 05:02:09 +0000

This week, Ethan spent more time indoors but it didn’t seem to bother him too much. He was plenty busy and still got in some fresh air by going jogging in the morning. We all went together when the weather was nice. The beach here is fairly quiet in the morning, so plenty of distance from other people.

Here’s Ethan’s week…

March 22

Making breakfast!

Learning about elliptical pool from numberphile. I wanted to watch this because these videos are fun and they explain things really well.
Carl: This was an interesting video using pool to demonstrate how an ellipse of a certain shape and size would allow you to sink the pool balls no matter where they hit the side of the ellipse.

March 23

Learning about density curves on Khan Academy.

I solved some problems for density curves.

Learning about pendulums on Khan Academy.

Then, I learned about what could be at the edge of the solar system, including Nemesis! (oooo!)

Writing about what is at the edge of the solar system.

Ethan also made the following videos on this day.

March 24

Learning about D-Day. This was a SelfDesign virtual “Field Trip.”

Here is the discription!

Doing some CSA activities to get into the space camp. This was how to drive a rover on Mars! (Basically)
Carl: We did this together. We took turns navigating the rover with verbal instructions from the other person. Only the navigator could peek. The goal was to collect five objects in five minutes. You had to wait 10 seconds after receiving instructions before you could move the rover. This was to simulate what it’s really like to control the rover from Earth.

Solving some problems about the area under density curves.

Still learning about the area under density curves.

Making a video of “Nemesis!”

I’m doing a beta reader feedback form for the “Tell your story” program.
Carl: The Tell Your Story program was offered by the library. It was originally an in-person program but they moved it online. Ethan had to submit something he wrote, which would be critiqued by other participants and eventually published as an e-book. Ethan had to provide constructive feedback, highlighting positive aspects of another writer’s work, as well as things they might want to consider improving. The e-books will be published in June or July. Ethan is using the “Adventures of a Piece of Paper” comic series he made a couple of years ago.

Here I am learning about World War 2.

JoggingTime!

Drawing time!

Doing an online taekwondo practice.
Carl: Next week, Ethan will take live taekwondo classes via Zoom. The instructors will be able to observe each student as they practice. This online class will count towards testing for Ethan’s next belt.

Here is my plan for spring break. (dad: “stop covering up the chalkboard!” me: “but- OW! my neck!”)
Carl: Ethan’s mom wrote everything in Korean for Ethan to translate.

The videos that Ethan made and published today.

March 25

Here is the beta reading done by somebody else, for me!

Joggingtime!

Ooo, cool photo!

Drawing and digging hole time!

Carl: Ethan drew geometric shapes in the sand. Some were hexagons and he tried to draw a decagon (a 10-sided shape).

Redoing my “Adventures of a piece of paper.”
Carl: Ethan redid these based on feedback from the beta reader in the Tell Your Story program. He has to scan the books afterwards and share them with the instructor for publishing.

Here is the cover I created for it!
Carl: The participants in Tell Your Story had to create a book cover using Canva. Ethan learned how to make a drop shadow effect. He also took feedback from his mom and incorporated it into the cover design.

Learning about stick figure animations and using “Mpuppet”, a animation software.
Carl: Ethan watched a tutorial about the 12 principles of animation and wanted to create his own animations afterward. We installed Final Cut Pro X and he learned about keyframing and wireframes. He also made the stick figure in Graphic and imported it into Final Cut Pro for this project.

ViolinPracticeTimeOfMinuet!

March 26

JoggingTime!

Me staring at the boats until my eyes hurt.

Another “fieldTripZoom!” from SelfDesign. This time, it’s poetry!

Yum, breakfast is yummy!

Learning about the person who hosted the FieldTripZoom! This is his website!

Remaking “Adventures of a Piece of Paper, Book 2” so it looks neater.

Wow, much better than the old ones!

This is my teacher for the Tell Your Story program. I’m just sending her the books.

Nice!
Carl: This is the finished book cover Ethan made for Tell Your Story.

This is what I have to taIk about with my teacher today! I wrote it down so I won’t forget.
Carl: The teacher is the Tell Your Story teacher, Patricia.

Violin practice!

Learning about how to use Mpuppet in Final Cut Pro.

Here is my Skype call with my Tell Your Story teacher!

Learning how to code the game of life. For some reason, it didn’t work.
Carl: This was in JavaScript.

Here is me editing and upIoading a video about box and whisker plots.

Here is where I learned it from!

And here are all the videos I made today!

Rereading “Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll.
Carl: Ethan read this because the field trip about poetry talked about the fun poems in this book. The instructor mentioned how Carroll used made up words and how that’s ok. Ethan enjoyed learning that you could use whatever words you like, even made up ones.

The videos Ethan made and published today.

March 27

Watching the live stream for Khan Academy.
Carl: Khan Academy had a live stream teaching Algebra.

Taekwondo Practice time!
Carl: This was a live class on Facebook.

March 28

Learning how to animate with Adobe Animate.

Ethan had a very busy week, learning new things about history, math and getting into animation by using Final Cut Pro and Adobe Animate. We still went out for some fresh air by going jogging when the weather was nice but also kept our physical distance from others.

Hopefully, this blog provides some inspiration for the families wondering what to do with schooling during this current coronavirus situation. Hope that you and your family are staying safe and healthy.

LC Response

Spring Connection:

My I Can… statement

I can get better at making new equations, and figuring out new equations.

My photo

I put in this image, since I was having a hard time copying yours.

My strengths

Complete these statements related to your I Can … statement

I feel I was really good at:

Figuring out those formulas was hard, and so was figuring out how to prove Heron’s formula, which said that if you have a triangle and you know it’s side lengths, you can figure out the area. (a, b, and c are the side lengths.)in fact, if s = (a+b+c) / 2, area = sqrt(s * (s-a)*(s-b)*(s-c)).

Thank you for your reflections Ethan, you are exceptional at figuring out new equations and finding new ones too.

I want you to notice:

That the above photo does not at all look like area = sqrt(s * (s-a)*(s-b)*(s-c)). so, I proved that they are in fact, the same! here is khan academy explaining it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZu7IZLhJRI

You are so resourceful at finding math equations and proofs which are of interest to you.

My stretches

If I could change one thing, it would be:

I would want to make a formula that solved both even and odd numbers.

because:

It can be a hassle to remember if it’s even or odd, and remember 2 formulas.

You have to use different equations based on whether the number is odd or even?

I know you are on Brilliant, have you seen these questions: https://brilliant.org/practice/area-of-triangles-herons-formula/

I guess they have challenge quizzes too.

I know you love visuals:

Heron’s Formula: a Proof

The area S of a triangle ABC, with side length a, b, c and semiperimeter s = (a + b + c)/2, is given by S² = s(s – a)(s – b)(s – c).

Heron’s formula is named after Hero of Alexandria (1 century AD. The formula is a specialization of Brahmagupta’s formula for cyclic quadrilaterals. For, after all, every triangle is a cyclic quadrilateral with two coalesced vertices. I find the proof presented below rather amusing because it exploits the dissection of a triangle induced by the presence of the incircle.

Self-reflecting is a tool to deepen your learning, thank you for engaging in this. You can use it anytime as you learn and evaluate new infomation:

You are an inspiration Ethan and your passion for learning is infectious. I wonder what new innovations and ideas are going to spark and ignite as a result of your passions.

Self Reflection on Core Competency

This was your submission for the Fall Connection:

I can … I can get new ideas, build on others’ ideas, and add ideas of my own, or combine other people’s ideas in new ways to create new things or solve problems.

Here is my example: I know I can because I figured out that, if you have a number that is even, and you add that to the next lower number, like n+(n-1)+(n-2)+…+3+2+1, you can rewrite that as (n+1)*n/2, or (n^2-n)/2, and from that, I figured out that, if you have an odd number, n, for n+(n-1)+, etc. +3+2 +1, that is n*(n+1)/n or ((n^2-n)/2)+n

My learning goal is:I can get better at making new equations, and figuring out new equations.

Now for the Spring Connection:

Please complete the following questions – you can use photos, videos, audio, drawings, stories, artifacts, or anything you want to answer the questions.

To edit and type right in this content block, double click on the title of this block. Make sure to press “Save” when you have completed it.

To print these questions, click here and choose print. Once complete, you can upload as a part of your Observing for Learning.

My I Can… statement

I can get better at making new equations, and figuring out new equations.

My photo

My strengths

Complete these statements related to your I Can … statement

I feel I was really good at:

I want you to notice:

My stretches

Complete these statements related to your I Can … statement

If I could change one thing, it would be:

I would want to make a formula that solved both even and odd numbers.

because:
It can be a hassle to remember if it’s even or odd, and remember 2 formulas.

Ethan’s response to week 28

Hello Natasha!

how are you?

I’m fine, just learning some new stuff.

here are the answers to your questions!

How has the week been progressing for you, Ethan?

My week has been great, I’m just learning math at home, doing science problems at home, hanging out with my friends online… that sorta stuff.

I make sure to get outside and exercise every day. What have you been doing outside most these days?

Well, I jog almost every day (my mom made me), but that’s pretty much it! On Sunday, I did a 10-minute workout at home on youtube.

Does it feel like homeschool as usual or have some things shifted?

Well, I still feel normal, just that I can’t go out and play and hang out with my friends. That’s it. COVID-19 hasn’t affected my life much at all!

I am sorry that this class was probably canceled due to covid-19? It was an in-person class, wasn’t it?

Actually, The class finished before the COVID-19 things. So I got to finish my city. and yes, it was an in-person class.

Are you able to work on some more of the designs at home? Do you some inspiration or new ideas?

Yes, I am able to work on my ideas and designs at home. And yes, I do, from the class. I’m thinking about adding more parts to the city, like an apartment building.

Do you draw your designs first before you build them in 3D?

No, I don’t draw my designs first. Actually, I just start building and see how it goes.

Thanks,

Ethan

ps. I really liked the videos. the one with the fog was really cool, but you had a typo with the URL. it should have been https://vimeo.com/69445362, not https://https://vimeo.com/69445362. 😉 Also, you said that the oceans came from comets, that’s wrong. the oceans actually came from asteroids! 😉

The post Unschooling Journal March 22-28, 2020 appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

Density Curves, Explained [Video]

carl376 — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 23:00:35 +0000

The post Density Curves, Explained [Video] appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

Unschooling Journal March 17-23, 2019

carl376 — Sun, 24 Mar 2019 19:11:43 +0000

First week of Spring Break, although for us, it might not be much different. It’s definitely a benefit when we’re not trying to scramble to enjoy time together over a two week period. Unschooling has allowed us to spend so much more time together as a family. Here’s Ethan’s week…

March 17

Sunday morning. Ethan watered our neighbour’s plants to start off the day.

We then headed to the beach to collect glass and ran into Kal.

Kal and Ethan played together non-stop, as they often do. Here, they were throwing rocks at a board in the water. Earlier, they were practicing skipping stones.

Then they found a long piece of wood that became a see-saw.

We went to Costco and one of Ethan’s favourite things to do there is grab some books and read them while we push him around. Today, it was STEM Lab and Maker Lab that got his attention.

After shopping, we went to my parents’ place and then out to dinner. My parents are regulars at this restaurant so they gave Ethan a treat… a glass of Coke! He tried to refuse because he knows we don’t allow it, but we said it was ok because it was a nice gesture by the restaurant staff. He enjoyed it, for sure. He’s playing chess on my phone.

After dinner, Ethan wanted to rush home to play chess on the computer. But he had to clean up his stuff so he watched some chess videos while tidying up his things.

After he finished cleaning up, he read one of his blog posts before getting ready for bed. We read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea before bedtime.

Reading Natasha’s comments and feedback for Ethan’s last week of learning.

Ethan made this card for rutherfordium earlier in the day.

March 18

Ethan learned what similar triangles are. He was studying the chapter about similar figures and scale drawings.

Some violin practice after math.

Beautiful spring day so Ethan was out playing with Kal.

They came in and played some chess.

He learned about alliteration and Buddy Benches.

He made an element card for protactinium.

He did some chess practice and learning on Chess.com.

He learned more about medieval India today and wrote about the Mongol Prince Babur.

He worked on remixing some platform games in Scratch and played a few, too.

He did his musical notation homework and did some extra work, too.

He saw something about limacon drawings and was very curious about them.

He tried to figure out how to draw a limacon with a compass.

He figured it out!

Thanks to Natasha for suggesting Jamie York’s website.

Here’s where Ethan downloaded the limacon drawings.

Ethan and Dong Eun wanted to colour in the limacon drawings and follow a sequence of colours without getting them mixed up. Ethan came up with the idea of making a ramp for the felt pens. You remove a pen from the left and put them back on the right. The pens move to the left because of gravity.

Ethan finished colouring his. He liked it and said that it’s like him, a bit messy and more freestyle.

He said his mom’s was just like her, neat and clean.

March 19

Ethan started his day by doing some work with tables and ratios.

He also did the practice at the end of the tables and ratios section.

Element number 92, uranium!

He learned about adjective order from Khan Academy.

He then wrote about adjective order.

He wrote a funny story using dashes.

He was interested in this planetary fact sheet so he printed it out. We don’t have a colour printer anymore so he coloured each planet’s facts in the colours of that particular planet.

He’s been really into chess lately and spent some time learning and playing online today. Later on, he set up a chess puzzle for me to solve. The object is for white to capture all the black pieces in row 7. It took a while, as well as a hint from Ethan, but I eventually figured it out. This was a fun challenge.

While waiting for violin class to start, Ethan reviewed his music notation homework. Remember that if he gets everything right, he earns a prize. Sadly, he got the most challenging question wrong by just a little bit.

We went to the library after violin practice. Ethan borrowed a few chess books after enjoying some Garfield.

Once we got home, Ethan practiced violin again. His teacher said he shouldn’t start a new song on his own but then followed up by saying she knows he will anyway 🙂

Ethan ended the day by going to Don Steward’s math teaching blog (https://donsteward.blogspot.com/) and checking out some of the lessons there. He wasn’t too interested because it’s a plain looking website but he found something interesting related to geometry.

March 20

This morning, Ethan went upstairs to water our neighbour’s plants, as it’s been pretty warm lately so they need watering more often.

Afterwards, he spent most of the morning making this representation of all the types of numbers. This type of diagram is known as a Euler (pronounced OY-ler) diagram. He learned a version of this in his middle school math book and decided to make one for himself. He included examples of each type of number.

He labelled each section.

The number c starts at 0.1234567891011 and continues on forever.

He practiced violin and did his music notation homework, even though he’s off for Spring Break.

He listened to the Wow in the World podcast while having his lunch. He also read Chess for Children.

We did the 60-second exercise challenge together today.

He made a card for element number 106, dubnium.

Explaining the Euler diagram of the numbers.

Ethan practiced playing Waltz in the evening and then settled into reading A Wrinkle In Time.

March 21

Ethan completed his math board game. The object is to answer the questions on each square and try to get to the finish first.

He practiced Hunters’ Chorus, Long, Long Ago and Waltz on the violin.

He went out to play with Kal.

Ethan read Owls in the Family and A Wrinkle in Time. He finished both books.

Ethan continued his studies about India and wrote about Shah Jahan. Ethan has really improved his writing by remembering to capitalize words at the beginning of sentences and he’s also been more careful with his spelling.

He learned about apostrophes and plurals today and wrote a fun story using them.

Today’s element card was number 93, neptunium.

Ethan read about Remembrance Day in The Canadian Reader and answered some true/false questions.

He completed the editing of his video about types of numbers that he explained using a Euler diagram.

March 22

Today, Ethan decided to take the day off because we had a family lunch and would be out for most of the day.

Family lunch with the cousins.

We went shopping for most of the afternoon and after we came home, Ethan went to water our neighbour’s plants.

He then tried a cube-in-a-cube pattern on his 8×8 cube but failed.

He wanted to solve his Square 1 cube so he watched a video to help him.

He also spent some time playing chess.

We read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea before Ethan went to bed.

March 23

Day off yesterday, so he had to finish his Friday activities today.

He practiced violin.

For math, he learned about rates and solved some word problems.

For history, he continued learning about India and answered comprehension questions from that chapter in his history book.

He loves playing chess online, so he said that he would complete two tasks and then play a match. After the match, he has to complete two more tasks before playing chess again.
Since he’s using the computer quite regularly, we have him use a laptop stand so he can maintain good posture.

Good posture is important when trying to defeat opponents at chess.

He learned about subjects and predicates from Khan Academy.

He learned about intensifiers and wrote a story using them.

Here’s the story using intensifiers.

Next, he started working on an element card for seaborgium. He showed me this chart, which is used for giving placeholder names to elements that don’t have an official name, yet. He explained how the chart works and gave me some examples.

Seaborgium done.

He learned about using numbers in writing.

It was a nice day out so we had lunch out.

After we got home, Ethan and I went to the library. He read Garfield and I found some classic books for him to read at home.

Ethan rode his bike and I took his scooter. We stopped at the park on the way home because Ethan wanted to play at the playground.

One of the books we got was Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

Ethan chose Because of Winn-Dixie and I thought Ethan would love The Hobbit.

He also got some chess books.

It’s been warm and sunny lately so more frequent watering of our neighbour’s plants has been needed.

He learned about checking if a number is a prime number from Mathemagic.

We watched Bill Nye: Science Guy, a documentary about Bill Nye. This scene is from the solar sail project Bill was working on.

One of the main topics of the documentary is Bill’s fight against the anti-science community. He’s also involved in trying to bring awareness to climate change.

We learned that the solar sail spacecraft could travel indefinitely without needing it’s own power source so it can visit deep space or other galaxies. The spacecraft could also be used to monitor climate change on earth.

After watching Bill Nye, Ethan and Dong Eun had a chat before bedtime and talked about the similarities and differences between chess and Rubik’s Cubes.

Ethan said that the similarities are:

Need strategy to solve or win
Taking control of the centre is important
Both have colours
Can be done blindfolded

The differences between chess and Rubik’s Cubes are:

There are more pieces on a chessboard
2D vs 3D, as chess in played on a flat board
More possibilities on a chessboard
More colours on a Rubik’s Cube
Two players for chess versus one person for a Rubik’s Cube

And that was Ethan’s week. A lot of chess this week!

LC Response

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Wrinkle in Time, The Hobbit

This is quite a collection of classics! Some of my favorites of all time. I am wondering how you go about discussions about these books?

I notice you read some aloud to Ethan and then some he reads independently. The language is so incredibly rich in Alice in Wonderland and the Hobbit. Do you look up unfamiliar words, developing his vocabulary?

Do you look up open ended questions to deepen his reading comprehension?

It would be interesting to have him come up with writing around this fine literature. Maybe a book review, a book report, exploring themes, comparing characters. Do you think Ethan is interested in this sort of writing yet?

Here are some math connections for Alice in Wonderland books:

Make a chart of the sequence of events in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Many critics find a definite pattern to Alice’s adventures. Do you agree with them? Explain why or why not, and give examples from the text to support your argument.

One of the chief characteristics of Wonderland is its twisted logic. Read Carroll’s books on Symbolic Logic and The Game of Logic and compare Carroll’s concept of logic in these books to that in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Or some more general discussion questions, this novel is actually quite advanced so it will be interesting to explore wha Ethan’s level of understanding is at this point:

. Characterize Alice. How old is she? Does her character change during the story? If so, how?

2. Describe the Cheshire Cat. What makes this character important? Why?

3. Alice confronts the Duchess about her treatment of the pig-baby. Alice eventually finds comfort in her relationship with the Duchess. Describe the tension between the Duchess and Alice. How does the Duchess support Alice?

4. Cite two of the peculiar events in the novel. Why did the author include them? What purpose do they serve in the fairy-tale?

5. John Tenniel illustrated Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for Carroll. How do the illustrations support the story and characters? Would the story be as effective without them?

6. Alice changes sizes throughout the novel. Write down each time she changes size, and what mechanism she uses to do it. Note any patterns in the changes.

https://www.shmoop.com/alice-in-wonderland-looking-glass/questions.html

I suggest reading The Hobbit aloud. It can be fun to take turns and even animate the voices and characters a bit. Such a wonderful book to listen on a recording too if you go on a long road trip again. Let me know how it goes and I am happy to offer all sorts of resources or ways to extend his learning around this book. Tolkien is a genius.

Here are a few prereading activities you could try before even starting the novel. Puns

The word “hobbit” can be used for many puns involving the word “habit” and its derivatives. See how many students can invent. These puns can be used for slogans in posters about The Hobbit or in encouraging people to read the book (e.g. “Tolkien is hobbit-forming!”)

Dragons

Use the information given about Smaug in The Hobbit to create an encyclopedia entry about dragons: their habitat, appearance, behavior, diet and so forth. Don’t forget to include a picture!

Runes

Dwarf runes are used for the map to make it look more authentic. These are dwarf-runes that Tolkien invented, basing them on Anglo-Saxon or Viking runes. Make messages for each other and solve them using either Tolkien’s dwarf-runes or “real” Anglo-Saxon runes.

These are some introductory and/or pre-reading activities to prepare for the reading of The Hobbit.

1. Examine the book itself. Is it hardback or softback? Does it include illustrations inside or just on the cover? Check out the table of contents. Look at the back cover or book flap blurb that briefly describes the book’s content. Based on these items, make a chart of what you think you know, what you know, and what you would like to know. Keep up with this list as you read and see if any of your chart entries change.

2. If you have a reader that also enjoys art and/or characterizations, you may wish to create a character folder. In this folder, notate all the character names that you run across and then draw a picture of this character based on descriptions included in the book. If a description is incomplete, have them note which details they are including for the character drawing from their own imagination. As they read through the book, have them keep new information that they discover about two or three of the characters and see whether this changes how they perceive the character to look, dress, etc.

3. Before reading the book, you may wish to do an author study. Find out what other books that J.R.R. Tolkien has written. Read some of his life story and while you are reading (or as a culminating activity) try and figure out what parts of his real life influenced his writing style and content.

4. J.R.R. Tolkien really enjoyed maps. You could use this as two different activities.

(a) Find a map of the world and notate the different locations that come up while reading a Tolkien biography.

(b) Tolkien drew the maps that are used as illustrations (if you book has them) for The Hobbit. Copy the maps and using a different colored pen or pencil for each character, mark their trails on the map(s) as the story progresses.

5. Nature plays a big role in all of Tolkien’s books in one form or another. He mentions many species of trees and plants that actually exist. Create a Middle Earth Nature Sketchpad. Whenever you run across a tree, plant, animal, etc. in the book, draw a picture of it in your sketchpad. Differentiate those that appear in real life from those that Tolkien made up.

6. Music figures very strongly in many of Tolkien’s stories. The characters do a lot of singing. In your best handwriting, you may wish to keep track of some of these songs, and decorate the edges of the page(s) with drawings of the musical instruments mentioned and/or pictures of the characters doing the singing and/or pictures of items in the story that pertain to the setting the song is being sung in.

7. Choose one or more of the mythological creatures mentioned in The Hobbit and do further research.

8. Folklore is a particular kind of fiction. Learn more about the genre of folklore and how it differs from plain fiction. Do you think that classifying The Hobbit as folklore is appropriate? Why or why not? Be specific. You may wish to re-ask this question after the book has been read. Did your answer change? If so, why?

9. For those students who are studying oration or who enjoying reading aloud, have them read into a recorder one or more of their favorite passages from the book. Critique the recording and then re-record the same passage(s) to see if they can improve the sound, cadance, annunciation, etc. Have a friend or other family member listen to the recording. Ask them if it makes them want to read The Hobbit.

10. Most of Tolkien’s books are full of lesson, morals, parables, similes, etc. To “see” these, you must often look beneath the surface of the story. Make connections based on themes and character personalties with themes and personalities in the real world outside of the Tolkien universe of Middle Earth. Keep this in mind as you begin reading The Hobbit. See if you can see the difference between your average piece of fiction, and this masterpiece of literature.

11. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings triology have been called “epic fairy tales.” Both the heroic epic and the fairy tale trace back to the oral tradition. Identify vestiges of the oral tradition thriving in the popular culture. The possibilities can include jokes, riddles, nursery rhymes, urban legends, family anecdotes, narrative songs, and the contemporary storytelling movement.

12. Tolkien presented his original idea of the “eucatastrophe” — the sudden and felicitous turn of a protagonist’s fortunes — in a 1938 lecture titled “On Fairy-Stories.” Identify the eucatastrophe in particular myths and folktales you are familiar with. Do these amazing “lucky breaks” follow certain patterns? Can you offer examples of eucatastrophes in the Bible, Hollywood movies, presidential elections, and professional sports? Keep track of the different “eucatastrophes” that appear in The Hobbit as you read the book.

Protactinium I had never heard of this element so I looked it up. I found this, so it made sense:

Uses of protactinium

Due to its scarcity, high toxicity, and high radioactivity, protactinium has no current practical uses other than basic scientific research.

Element number 92, uranium!

Now uranium, that is another story all together. It might be a good time to delve a bit deeper into uranium and Ethan’s understanding of nuclear reactors and power and if you choose nuclear bombs…. Not to mention the environmental concerns

http://teachnuclear.ca/all-things-nuclear/canadas-nuclear-history/uranium-mining/history-of-uranium/

Later, to meet the requirements of the fast-growing nuclear industry, uranium mining was expanded in the U.S., Canada, France, Australia, and Africa. Today, Canada was the second-largest producer of uranium from mines (about 20% of world supply), after Kazakhstan (27%).

http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/introduction/what-is-uranium-how-does-it-work.aspx

I loved your limacon drawings so much! And I am so happy you liked my math resource suggestions. I can’t wait to see what else you find of interest, please share with me!

I suggest you do a google search of limacon videos…I am sure it will lead you to some very interesting places…good luck. I tried it and it looks like it heads towards calculus.

Isn’t that so interesting? Amazing he could explain this to you! I wonder where he will head next in his chemistry studies once he completes the entire periodic table.

I thought this was pretty clever prop of my housemate (the teacher) when it was element presentation day in her class:

This is fantastic! Making the Euler diagram in 2D and then a fantastic and entertaining video as well.

Ethan read Owls in the Family and A Wrinkle in Time. He finished both books.

He loves playing chess online, so he said that he would complete two tasks and then play a match. After the match, he has to complete two more tasks before playing chess again. So much chess indeed this week! How do you see his play progressing or advancing with all this reading and practice?

Since he’s using the computer quite regularly, we have him use a laptop stand so he can maintain good posture.

Posture is so important, i am glad you are attending to Ethan’s posture as he does spend a lot of time on the computer and his body is still developing and growing. I use a laptop stand and mouse and keyboard too.

This is the solar sail spacecraft. Yes, it’s that tiny. The sail itself is gigantic but is folded up inside the spacecraft. Ethan knew that it was folded using origami techniques similar to the flasher origami he used to like making. Awesome connection Ethan! Origami and space exploration meet in the most unexpected and wonderful places.

We learned that the solar sail spacecraft could travel indefinitely without needing it’s own power source so it can visit deep space or other galaxies. The spacecraft could also be used to monitor climate change on earth.

OMG! I can’t wait to see what image and discoveries are ahead with this solar sail technology.

After watching Bill Nye, Ethan and Dong Eun had a chat before bedtime and talked about the similarities and differences between chess and Rubik’s Cubes.

Ethan said that the similarities are:

Need strategy to solve or win
Taking control of the centre is important
Both have colours
Can be done blindfolded

The differences between chess and Rubik’s Cubes are:

There are more pieces on a chessboard
2D vs 3D, as chess in played on a flat board
More possibilities on a chessboard
More colours on a Rubik’s Cube
Two players for chess versus one person for a Rubik’s Cube

And that was Ethan’s week. A lot of chess this week!

Thank you for sharing his comparisons between chess and rubik’s cube. I think there is more here…

Ethan how do they compare in terms of how you solve/play them?

How do they make you feel similarly and differently?

How are they in terms of playing yourself and then having an opponent?

The post Unschooling Journal March 17-23, 2019 appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

Unschooling Journal March 10-16, 2019

carl376 — Sun, 17 Mar 2019 06:03:06 +0000

The week started with searching for glass on the beach on Sunday and ended with another week full of activities and learning for Ethan.

March 10

On Sunday morning, we woke up to another amazingly sunny and beautiful day so we headed to the beach once again.

We looked for more broken glass along the beach.

Ethan suggested that we should try and fill up our big glass vase with the pieces of glass we find on the beach.

Ethan would find a piece of glass and make Dong Eun try to find it.

He found this heart shaped piece of seaweed.

Here’s the vase with the glass Ethan’s collected, so far.

As you can see, there are some miscellaneous items, including a guitar pick and a button, along with some rocks Ethan thought looked interesting.

Luca came over for a play date. This was the first time Luca had come over so Ethan was really excited.

They spent a couple of hours just experimenting with Universe Sandbox 2.

Dong Eun baked some chocolate and banana muffins that the boys loved. We all loved them, actually. Since we’re trying to watch how much sugar we eat, Dong Eun used very ripe bananas and only a little maple syrup, instead of regular sugar.

We played Blue Marble for most of the late afternoon and early evening.

Before heading to bed, Ethan did some music notation homework.

March 11

Ethan started the morning by continuing with his music notation homework.

He then drew cross sections of the galaxy all the way down to our home, the table and this drawing.

The image with the red is the sun. He’s colouring the earth in this photo.

He answered questions and word problems about triangles.

He worked on a program that calculates square roots. He added a mirror function so you can see yourself on screen.

He learned more about the Incas and then wrote about how the Incan Empire fell to Fransisco Pizarro in the 1530s.

Adding lines to his plain notebook to make a 3D drawing.

Ethan was on the NASA website and found this live mission status for Voyager I and II.

Here is the finished square root program. The colour trails continue non-stop and follow the mouse pointer.

You can enter any number and the program will tell you the square root using a computer voice.

He took a little reading break.

And a little cubing break, too.

Break over. Time to make a chess board with what he called weird spaces.

He borrowed some felt pens of mine and used them quite extensively to write about salutations and valedictions. It looks like he had fun writing these.

He learned about the Canada Games.

He made a card for platinum.

We then read the feedback we got from Natasha, Ethan’s LC, and read the Wikipedia page about overlapping circles that she sent to Ethan.

He coloured in more of his diagram.

He then got to work making more overlapping circles.

We went out and got Ethan a new set of Stabilo felt pens and here’s one of the first things he drew.

Dong Eun used the new pens to colour in Ethan’s earlier overlapping circle pattern. They decided we would make special occasion cards using these types of patterns.

Natasha asked Ethan if he could solve for the area of the curved triangle that’s in the negative space of the overlapping circles. Ethan found out how to do that calculation tonight.

One card done!

March 12

Ethan began the morning working on a new overlapping circles pattern. He’s really enjoying his new felt pens, too.

We had my dad over for a birthday lunch so Ethan made him a card and wrote some facts about his grandpa’s age, 75.

The cake on the card has 75 candles to match grandpa’s age.

We couldn’t have done this if Ethan was in school.

After his grandparents went home, Ethan got back to work. He made an element card for gold.

He also made a video about overlapping circles.

Time for language arts and learning about using the apostrophe.

Selfie time.

60-second exercise challenge selfie while doing squats.

He learned about 3 hard geometry problems. The first was dividing a line into 6 equal parts.

The second problem was taking a squiggle and trying to find the smallest area for the two shapes. We didn’t get a photo of the third and Ethan couldn’t remember what it was.

He learned about run-on sentences and wrote a silly story using them.

At his violin lesson, he completed Musette and started learning Waltz. He didn’t do as well with his musical notation homework so he got a start on it right when he got home.

He learned about graphing shapes on the coordinate plane and taught it to us.

March 13

Happy to head off to nature school for the day.

Sad to leave nature school? Haha. Maybe but he was definitely tired and happy.

Once home, Ethan learned how to prove the Pythagorean theorem from Khan Academy.

He did some graphing practice, following up with what he learned yesterday.

He did some coding in Scratch.

He then listened to some podcasts, like Forever Ago, a podcast about history.

While listening to the podcasts, he worked on a landscape illustration using his new felt pens.

He said this wasn’t finished, yet.

This week at nature school, Ethan had a substitute teacher named Anna. Here’s what she emailed us…

Anna’s Group (subbing for Scott):

Today was all about group challenge and invention. We started out by walking to the place called ‘Eagle Island’. Along the way we observed the changes in snow/ice cover from the previous week, and what it told us about different parts of the forest- for example, slushy or dry areas that we now know receive more sun (or retain more heat) than icy areas. does this affect what type of plants grow there, for example?

When we arrived at the island we set ourselves up for our first group challenge: Flying Squirrels avoiding capture by a Spotted Owl (an old-growth forest specialist that relies on sound to locate their prey). Working as a team, the squirrels successfully made their way from one end of the forest with their food cache (a mixture of seeds and insects) to the other. Stealth and collaboration were key skills that were used to escape the owl’s keen listening ability and reach home safely.

In the next group challenge we found ourselves more puzzled, however. The simple task was to lower a 4ft long, lightweight branch to the ground with all five of us maintaining contact (with a single finger from below) the entire time. Surprisingly, this brought about some bewilderment and frustration! How was the stick floating up away from us instead of what we were aiming for!? Was someone pushing it upward? Or was it a combination of minute movements by all of us? Perhaps more trust in each other and fine-tuning of our motor skills could bring us future success in this actually very difficult task. And maybe it teaches us something about group dynamic, the way we are all contributors to what’s going on, all the time,whether we feel it or not.

After breaking for lunch we came together for our next group challenge- problem solving the simple query of how to pass a stick around our circle without using our hands (then only using our lower body, then only using one foot, then using only our heads). Some times we invented ways to make it easier, using our brains to problem solve within the parameters; other times we relied on sheer balance and focus.

We also played a round of Fire Keeper (another stealth challenge) and a game where Grizzly Bears raced against the clock to bring back food from their territory before a new highway blocked it’s access.

Everyone was keen to stay at the island for the last part of the day, so we invented new ways to make ice boats and then created “magic moving fir cones” with Douglas Fir cones and the fishing line that we found. This was also a great opportunity to remember what trees we shared the island with, based on the type of cones that were available to us (mostly Douglas Fir and Hemlock cones).

As we left the island we had the opportunity to skate our way back along sections of the path, meet other groups doing knots and camoflauge, and share a bit of our day with our friends.

Finally, at night…

We’ve continued to read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. It’s a fun book with lots of colourful language to make us imagine what the characters are experiencing and seeing.

March 14

The day started with working on some math and learning about relations, lines and functions.

Some violin practice.

He answered comprehension questions about the Incas. He’s asking me to point out spelling errors nowadays, which is a big change.

He learned about the new Canada Food Guide.

He made 6 element cards today and is now up to 89, actinium.

He practiced playing chess online.

He learned some more chess moves that he wanted to try online.

And he taught us functions and how to validate them. I sometimes wonder if he really knows what he’s teaching us and I was pleasantly surprised today when he caught his own errors and could easily answer any questions we had.

Had to add this photo onto the end because it didn’t upload properly. If you rearrange the order of the photos after adding captions, the captions disappear!

Ethan said he was hot so Dong Eun helped him tie his hair up to cool down. He now wants a hair cut.

We finished the day by reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

March 15

Ethan continued learning about functions this morning.

He decided to answer the questions from the textbook by creating graphs and sticking them onto a piece of paper.

He imported some videos he made on my iPhone to his computer. He edited the videos about dry ice and how to calculate the area of the curved part of the triangles found in overlapping circles.

Time to water the neighbour’s plants and check her mail.

He learned about buddy benches today.

For history, he started learning about medieval India and wrote a short summary about what he learned.

He learned about dashes today and how to use them. He wrote a fun story using dashes as much as possible.

Today’s element was thorium.

Some violin practice.

Some cross-eye practice.

We were doing a bit of vacuuming and cleaning up. Ethan was reminded of the importance of keeping his thing neat and tidy. Here, they were reorganizing Ethan’s pens and felts.

We were having some toast for a snack and Ethan mentioned that he wanted a BLT. I told Ethan that a BLT is a very popular sandwich and he said the Elvis (peanut butter with bananas) was also popular. So we wanted to know if Ethan knew who Elvis was. He didn’t know so we Googled Elvis and talked about how his dancing was very controversial at the time. We watched Elvis’ dance moves on YouTube and compared them to the waltz.

March 16

Last day of skating lessons before Spring Break. He was hoping they’d do something fun.

Warming up.

Almost the entire lesson was playing games on the ice like this one. Each team tried to throw all their things to the other side. Whichever team could empty their own side would be the winner.

He made it to Level 3! Quite proud of him because he never took lessons before and jumped right into Level 2.

After skating, we went to the library to pick up a book.

Ethan finally wanted a haircut because he’s been complaining about being too hot when sleeping. The funny thing is that the stylist kept asking Dong Eun how she should cut Ethan’s hair because she was worried she was cutting off too much. Dong Eun eventually realized that the stylist thought that Ethan was a girl!

After we told her that he’s a boy, we all had a good laugh and she gave him a boy’s style haircut without needing to ask us much.

New haircut, old favourite snack. We went out to Richmond because my cousin was going to treat us for a sushi dinner. We were early so we did some shopping to find Ethan some new clothes.

We had an old favourite snack of mine, cocktail buns, and had a nice afternoon together.

After dinner, we did a bit of grocery shopping before heading home exhausted after a very busy Saturday.

After we got the felt pens for Ethan it was like opening up a new world of creativity for him because of all the colours. He also continued expanding his knowledge of math and did a great job with his writing, too.

I told a couple other parents about unschooling this past week, as I usually seem to end up doing. I hope to inspire other parents to look at the options available for their children.

Anyway, let’s see how this next week goes for Ethan.

Response to LC

Thanks for the great feedback once again.For the history, the plan is to have him go through the book he has and then go through it again in more detail and to pull from other resources at that time.We have occasionally brought in additional books or watched documentaries if it seems like Ethan has an interest in something. The cross-section drawing…Ethan mentioned that he was already thinking about making a bigger version :)The editing tips are really helpful, as is going back to look at his past work.Maybe Ethan will make a video to answer your questions about the Big Bang and expansion of the universe. We’ll see.Thanks.

LC Response

Thank you for your note, I am honored to be of any support that I can as Ethan’s LC. As per my recent responses to Ethan’s week I am choosing a few highlights to expand on and explore:

He then drew cross sections of the galaxy all the way down to our home, the table and this drawing.

Now these images are fascinating to me. I would love to see more of his corss section of the galaxies pictures. I want to learn more from Ethan!What is he basing this on? Did this information come from other sources? A few questions for Ethan to answer I guess. Maybe he can draw these on a large piece of paper so he has room to expand the cross sections. I see a wonderfully animated film about this in his future. I am impressed beyond words as to how he can visualize and then depict the relative size and placement of these celestial bodies. Ethan: what do you know about the Big Bang Theory? What are your thoughts on the creations and expansion of the universe? Here are two articles on the same Hubble image showing a cross section of the universe:https://scitechdaily.com/hubble-image-reveals-cross-section-view-universe/https://earthsky.org/space/new-cross-section-of-the-universe

He learned more about the Incas and then wrote about how the Incan Empire fell to Fransisco Pizarro in the 1530s.For history, he started learning about medieval India and wrote a short summary about what he learned.Is Ethan mostly writing summaries about the history he is learning?I notice he often uses one main source for his information. Does he research more topics which interest him or get other books from the library? Let me know if there is any particular time period he would like to delve into more and maybe there are other writing assignments I could offer.Do you ever pose questions for him to answer in his writing? There are many examples you can find online, for example:

Who were the Inca? How did they maintain their vast civilization?

How did the Inca increase the amount of arable land available for agriculture in their mountainous home region?

Describe the expansionist policies of the Inca rulers. How did they “grow” their empire?

How did the rulers of the Inca empire maintain order? How did they control the population of the nations they defeated militarily, the majority of whom were not ethnically Inca?

He borrowed some felt pens of mine and used them quite extensively to write about salutations and valedictions. It looks like he had fun writing these.He answered comprehension questions about the Incas. He’s asking me to point out spelling errors nowadays, which is a big change.Dong Eun used the new pens to colour in Ethan’s earlier overlapping circle pattern. They decided we would make special occasion cards using these types of patterns.Ethan is really blossoming in several learning areas from writing to art with these new pens! I suggest giving him a set of color pencils as well. They can offer even more possibilities in terms of shading and blending colors as well. I always really enjoyed the pencil drawings of Waldorf students…After we got the felt pens for Ethan it was like opening up a new world of creativity for him because of all the colours. Natasha asked Ethan if he could solve for the area of the curved triangle that’s in the negative space of the overlapping circles. Ethan found out how to do that calculation tonight.YES ETHAN, way to go, thank you for accepting and going for it! Plus you made a video. He learned about 3 hard geometry problems. The first was dividing a line into 6 equal parts.I was a little confused by the photo of this problem, but it looks like Ethan is using that chalkboard well to help him figure it all out. Once home, Ethan learned how to prove the Pythagorean theorem from Khan Academy.He did some graphing practice, following up with what he learned yesterday.This is one of my most memorable proofs as a middle schooler. If you can prove why something works it really solidifies your understanding of the concept!He learned about run-on sentences and wrote a silly story using them.It is so important to be able to identify run on sentences and incomplete sentences in your own writing. As Ethan learns more and more grammar, it would be a good exercise for him to choose a piece of writing and go back and edit it. He could review all the grammar rules and things he has learned in order to improve and work with a piece of his own writing. It is advantageous to think of revising and editing as two distinct practices. There do cross, but essentially, revision is a recurrent process of writing and re-writing whereas editing focuses more on stylistic and grammatical facts once you have a satisfactory draft.https://writeshop.com/why-self-editing-is-hard-make-it-easier/

Self-Editing Is Hard!

During self-editing, a writer reads and re-reads his rough draft. As he does, he finds ways to improve structure, flow, and word choice. And of course, this is the time to get serious about conventions such as spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.Sounds easy enough, right? So why do kids have such a hard time identifying errors in their own writing?

They really don’t see the mistakes. When we read, we think we see every word and punctuation mark, but in truth, most of us read in chunks. Our brains are funny that way.

They fail to see self-editing as an essential part of the writing task. At best, they consider it unnecessary. At worst, they view it as punishment.

They feel attached to their writing. To most kids, it really is personal. Looking for errors is no less painful than, say, plucking out an eye.

They attempt writing and self-editing in the same day. Writers—and not just kids—often don’t put enough space and distance between themselves and their writing piece before beginning the self-editing process.

Seven Self-Editing Strategies for Homeschool Writing

Self-editing, like any other process, must be developed. Here are just a few tips and tricks you can try.

1. Just Write

Tell your child not to worry about self-editing during the first draft. The important thing is just to get the words down on paper.

2. Make a Copy

Let children edit a photocopied version of their paper. This is especially effective with elementary-age kids who feel anxious about marking up the original.

3. Let It Rest

Have them wait a day or two rather than try to self-edit right away. Explain that it’s easier to proofread writing after it has had a chance to rest. Stepping back helps kids distance themselves emotionally from the words, characters, or story details they’ve chosen so carefully.

4. Read Out Loud

Have them read each word aloud slowly. Reading will slow them down, making it easier to catch her errors.

5. Read Backwards

Encourage them to read the paper backwards, from the end to the beginning. Reading one wordat a time helps them proofread for repeated words and misspellings. Reading one sentence at a time encourages general editing.

6. One Thing at a Time

Explain that they’ll need to read their paper several times while looking for a certain kind of error (such as capitalization) each time. This is more effective than trying to find all the errors in a single reading because it gives them one small thing to focus on. One pass at a time, they can also look for things like overly repeated words, boring or vague words, sentence starters, or punctuation.

7. Rely on Resources

Teach kids to use resources like a dictionary, thesaurus, grammar reference, or word banks so they’re less likely to make guesses about how to fix mistakes.

Message to Natasha

Hi Natasha,We wanted to thank you for all your thoughtfulness, encouragement and resources.We read everything you send us and we’re always so grateful. We know that with how much Ethan does each week, it must take you a lot of time to research and provide links and feedback.In particular, we’ve been wanting to find some new math resources because Ethan has pretty much finished the middle school math book he has. Your timing with the math learning links was perfect. Btw, we’ve been trying to go through all the things you send us on a daily basis. What we did was we read your comments and visited the sites you provided; it was very helpful!Thanks again!

Carl and Dong Eun

The post Unschooling Journal March 10-16, 2019 appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

Unschooling Journal March 3-9, 2019 – 4-Player Chess and Collecting Glass

carl376 — Sun, 10 Mar 2019 05:25:25 +0000

Amazing, beautiful weather meant more time outside along with Ethan’s usual array of activities over the past week. Here’s what happened this week on Ethan’s unschooling journey.

March 3

Sunday and what a beautiful day! It’s been so sunny and nice in Vancouver lately that we try to go outside as much as possible to enjoy it.

Ethan somehow found out about 4-player chess and was fascinated by it.

He decided to create his own 4-player chess board and the chess pieces he needed.

We took a walk and Ethan asked why there are two versions of the same map. He learned that there is a more detailed version and an overview version of the map.

The main purpose for going out was to find glass because Ethan has started collecting glass this past week.

He had to make the chess pieces and used Apple Keynote to make multiple copies of the pieces. He had to play around with adjusting the size of the pieces so they would fit his chess board.

He also had to learn how to quickly duplicate the images so he could make the chess pieces quickly. We worked together to do the colouring, since our printer only prints in black and white.

He glued the paper onto a lightweight sheet of cardboard to add some rigidity to the pieces.

All done and we played the game. It was very challenging and fun.

Ethan has to help our neighbour with watering her plants and checking her mail, as she’s away on vacation.

We headed back outside in the late afternoon to find more glass.

Ethan said the sun looked like it had a ring around it, though it’s hard to tell from this photo.

Back at home, Ethan was allowed to play 4-player chess online and he spent most of the night doing so. We wrapped up the day by reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

March 4

Ethan started the day by learning how to calculate 5th roots.

For his element card today, he made one for ytterbium.

He read an article and answered questions about the latest Canadian food guide.

Ethan listened to the Wow in the World podcast.

He practiced Hunters’ Chorus on the violin.

His main goal today was to play 4-player chess. He was allowed to play one match after completing one of his tasks for the day. In this photo, he’s waiting for other players to join because it’s a live online match.

He learned some more about the Mayans.

He wrote about what he learned about them.

He learned about active and passive verbs.

He wrote about active and passive verbs. I noticed that he basically copied what he read so we’ll have to work on this.

Time to play outside. He’s making a heart symbol for Dong Eun.

And once he got home, he spent most of the evening playing 4-player chess.

This is a screenshot of a match he won, along with notes and comments that he added.

Another screenshot of a different match that he won.

We finished the day by reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The main character has now realized that the whale they’ve been chasing is a machine. Ethan is definitely enjoying the story.

March 5

This morning, Ethan practiced the violin after breakfast.

He then worked on a Scratch project to create a game about calculating fifth roots.

He read one of the science comic books he borrowed.

He made an element card for lutetium.

He always reads about what the element’s properties are, where it’s found and how it is used, if at all.

He learned about how the dictionary helps you pronounce words using phonetic the alphabet. He also learned about how a thesaurus can help you use different words to talk about the same thing.

He made a list of words and found up to five synoyms by using an online thesaurus.

At violin class, he got all his music notation homework correct. He was very proud of this because of how challenging music notation is. He’s also now owed some kind of a reward 🙂

This week’s music notation work was especially challenging because there were two pages of work to do. He worked hard and got everything correct.

After dinner, he played 4-player chess again. He played at other times during the day, too.

March 6

Ethan practiced violin in the morning before heading off to nature school.

Running because he didn’t want his photo taken when arriving at nature school.

Reading Girls Think of Everything back at home.

He learned about infinite sequences today and taught it to Dong Eun.

The element card he made today was rhenium.

I needed to film a chess game for a client’s video and asked Ethan to help. I needed to show how certain moves could lead to potential risks and Ethan was able to set up the pieces to demonstrate how a bad move could lead you to trouble. After this part was filmed, he helped me set up a checkmate scenario. It was fun to have him help and I couldn’t have done this without him.

Soaring Eagle Nature School’s teachers send us an email with what happened each week. Here’s what Ethan’s group did:

Hi Parents,

Today was a day of frigid slipperiness and togetherness-fun for us at Soaring Eagle.
We started with an epic giant game of Watchtower, creeping through a giant stretch of forest towards an eagle-eyed lookout. We then circled and talked some about the nature of gratitude, before Scott told us the final piece of the ancient epic “The Firebird.”

Scott’s Group:
On this, the slipperiest day of the year, we first searched for where we could go to find bare earth to stand and walk upon.
We found a sweet spot atop a hill. Some of us delighted in sliding down the hill while others gathered ingredients for a tinder bundle. We also practiced carving.
After carving, we developed an excellent harry potter themed game involving douglas fir cones and dementors.
At the end of the day, we focused on working as a group to light our tinder bundle with our tug o war bow drill setup.

March 7

Ethan drew an abstract design for fun and attached it to the fridge with a stick on magnet. He drew this as soon as he woke up in the morning.

He learned about the number wau and wanted to remember the different definitions of wau.

These are 3 definitions of wau that Ethan explained to Dong Eun.

Seven more definitions of wau. He explained each one. Wau is used in physics and it’s basically the number one.

He learned about the Aztecs and wrote something about their history.

He learned about the three types of sentences.

He edited a video about wau.

He wrote about the three types of sentences.

Doing his 60-second exercise challenge.(p.s. from Ethan:dad!!!)

He wrote his own sentences to demonstrate the three types of sentences.

He learned about the element osmium.

He made an osmium card.

He played 4-player chess. Again. This time while scratching his neck.

We went to A&W for dinner and Ethan really enjoyed himself.

March 8

Quite the day today!

Ethan did some practice with homophones in the morning. For the last part, I asked him to follow the instructions more closely next time. He only found one example but the instructions ask for more than one 🙂

He wrote about the Incas. It looks like he’s trying to write more in his own words when doing this type of work.

He watched a video about the Inca Empire.

Today’s element was iridium.

He learned about the atomic structure of elements and atoms on Khan Academy.

He also practiced violin. The periodic table is getting bigger and bigger!

He learned about infinite nested radicals and explained what they are.

He listened to the Wow in the World podcast.

He read Science Comics and The Story of Inventions.

Time to play outside. He was only out for a short time as the kids got out of school early today so most of his friends went home earlier than usual.

He learned about parentheses. He then wrote a story and used parentheses throughout.

He started using Universe Sandbox 2 again and enjoyed manipulating the properties of the planets.

Ethan and Dong Eun went out for a walk along the beach to collect glass.

That’s not glass 😉

Ethan was hungry and a bit cold so they went for pizza and did some grocery shopping. Ethan helped carry groceries home.

Time for some 4-player chess.

He spent some time on the xkcd.com website.

He also played some chess on ChessKid.com.

I mentioned that a new species of orca has been discovered so we Googled it and learned a little bit about these new orcas.

Our grocery delivery included a nice surprise…bags of dry ice! Ethan immediately searched online for ways to experiment or play with it.

First, he tried putting a small piece in a small vase.

We then got out a big serving bowl and put more dry ice in it.

He knew that dry ice is made from carbon dioxide. He also saw how the bubbling slowed down as the water got colder.

We warmed up the water and put in more dry ice! We also noticed the occasional ring of dry ice that would fly up.

I told Ethan about how scientists may have found a new planet just outside our solar system.

We read the notes from Natacha, Ethan’s LC, that she sent us and really enjoyed the Benjamin Zander video she linked to.

We also really enjoyed the non-violent communication links and will explore this further as a family.

We printed out the image and Ethan taped it to the window.

March 9

Ethan had his symphony class followed by skating lessons this morning.

Finished skating and removing his skates.

We went to a local restaurant for lunch and Ethan spent part of his time there playing online chess.

Ethan enjoyed his udon noodles while wearing his new glasses that have photochromic lenses so he can have a pair of sunglasses.

Then we had some Earnest Ice Cream for dessert.

One of Ethan’s rewards for getting his music notation homework 100% correct was buying a new book. He chose The Chess Player’s Bible.

At home, Ethan helped with preparing dinner, as my parents were coming over.

He cut up the vegetables in the oven pan.

He also watered plants and collected mail for our neighbour.

He read his new book.

Ethan and Dong Eun wanted to get rid of some of Ethan’s old clothes and found this hat and scarf. The hat was too small but Ethan wanted to try it on. The clothes he’s grown out of will be donated.

Here’s the dinner that Ethan had a hand in preparing. He also helped with the clean up.

Ethan read some of the Q&As on xkcd.com after he helped clean up after dinner.

Ethan did some music notation homework to end the day.

And that was another week of Ethan being immersed in unschooling and finding his own way to learn.

Response to LC

Natasha, these resources and feedback are fantastic! In particular, the math links are very timely.

As for the limits on playing chess… Actually, I was mistaken because it wasn’t Dong Eun who set the rule about getting a task done before playing a round of chess. It was Ethan himself who set that as a rule.

Anyway, thanks!

Carl

Math Resources new

I had some conversations with some other teachers I know and I showed them some of your videos. She commented that you were a math genius Ethan. The good news is I found some new Fabulous Math Resources!! Please check them out.

One is a former Waldorf math teacher https://www.jamieyorkpress.com

I think this next one will be of more interest as it is for teaching math for ages 10-16 and there are a ton or resources and worksheets and lessons. Let me know how you find it.

my interest is in effective tasks for teaching mathematics to 10 to 18 year students ~ I have collected and trialled many people’s ideas for tasks for many years and have played at making these work ~

https://donsteward.blogspot.com

LC Response

We took a walk and Ethan asked why there are two versions of the same map. He learned that there is a more detailed version and an overview version of the map.

Great lesson in action here with mapping. Does Ethan use Google maps much? Does he see the connection between the grid maps, satellite maps and street view. I know he has been tracking some of his walks and runs…I just love maps so much. I still use paper maps and it is funny to see people’s (mostly urban types who use mapping apps all the time) reactions to them when they see them. I know Ethan did a ton of mapping when he was on his road trip last year. Fun to see him furthering his mapping skills. Has he ever worked with topography maps?

He had to make the chess pieces and used Apple Keynote to make multiple copies of the pieces. He had to play around with adjusting the size of the pieces so they would fit his chess board.

He also had to learn how to quickly duplicate the images so he could make the chess pieces quickly. We worked together to do the colouring, since our printer only prints in black and white.

It is so exciting when Ethan finds a new thing he is passionate about. He is so motivated and excited to learn as much as he can right away and delve right into it. I have never heard of 4 player chess, it does sound complicated but very fun.

He gets so engaged that you have to regulate him a bit so that he still does other tasks and activities. How does Ethan react when you set these sorts of boundaries?

He wrote about active and passive verbs. I noticed that he basically copied what he read so we’ll have to work on this. Good observation on your part. He does do a fair amount of creative original writing as well. It is important that you point out when he is taking notes on subjects or ideas and when and ways he can make it his own work.

Active voice vs passive voice

I had a composition teacher in high school who was a stickler about not using the passive voice unless it was for very specific reasons. She was an advocate of using the active voice primarily in writing. It is one of my main complaints with the seasonal reflections as Self Design encourages to use the passive voice mainly because they want us to show “language of progression” or learning that is continuing to happen.

Here is what I mean:

Ethan is progressing in math problems by challenging himself to new concepts and watching videos on Khan Academy.

This sentence would make my teacher cringe. A grammatically stronger sentence would be:

Exploring new concepts and watching Kahn Academy videos contributes to Ethan’s ongoing progression in math

If he is interested in active vs passive voice he can read more here, but it is pretty advanced for his age level maybe in the future. I like the example she uses here:

What Is Active Voice?

I’ll start with active voice because it’s simpler. In an active sentence, the subject is doing the action. A straightforward example is the sentence “Steve loves Amy.” Steve is the subject, and he is doing the action: he loves Amy, the object of the sentence.

Another example is the title of the Marvin Gaye song “I Heard It through the Grapevine.” “I” is the subject, the one who is doing the action. “I” is hearing “it,” the object of the sentence.

What Is Passive Voice?

In passive voice, the target of the action gets promoted to the subject position. Instead of saying, “Steve loves Amy,” I would say, “Amy is loved by Steve.” The subject of the sentence becomes Amy, but she isn’t doing anything. Rather, she is just the recipient of Steve’s love. The focus of the sentence has changed from Steve to Amy.

If you wanted to make the title of the Marvin Gaye song passive, you would say “It was heard by me through the grapevine,” not such a catchy title anymore.

He learned about how the dictionary helps you pronounce words using phonetic the alphabet. He also learned about how a thesaurus can help you use different words to talk about the same thing.

How lucky he is to have online dictionaries which will pronounce words for him and online thesaurus. I am so happy you are exposing him to these resources. It can be a good exercise to use a real book copy of a dictionary from time to time too…if you don’t have on at home, try looking up a few words at the library sometime.

Ethan said the sun looked like it had a ring around it, though it’s hard to tell from this photo.

What makes a halo around the sun or moon?

We get many messages throughout each year from people who’ve just spotted a large ring or circle of light around the sun or moon. Scientists call them 22-degree halos. Why? Because the ring has a radius of approximately 22 degrees around the sun or moon.

People always ask, what causes these gigantic rings?

There’s an old weather saying: ring around the moon means rain soon. There’s truth to this saying, because high cirrus clouds often come before a storm. Notice in these photos that the sky looks fairly clear. After all, you can see the sun or moon. And yet halos are a sign of high, thin cirrus clouds drifting 20,000 feet or more above our heads.

If That Is a Sun Halo, Then What Is a Sun Dog?

Similar to sun halos, sun dogs form when ice crystals with diameters larger than 30 micrometers form and lie flat on the broad end of the crystal. Light double refracts through the ice crystal, but because of the different size and orientation, a brighter “spot” is now visible within the halo. But ice crystal orientation is important: if they are randomly-oriented, then just a halo will appear. If the ice crystals are lying flat on the broad end of the crystal, then sun dogs will form as well as the halo.

https://weather.com/news/news/sun-halos-florida-20140416

This week’s music notation work was especially challenging because there were two pages of work to do. He worked hard and got everything correct.

One of Ethan’s rewards for getting his music notation homework 100% correct was buying a new book. He chose The Chess Player’s Bible. I am so proud of Ethan’s hard work on his musical notation. His reward was well earned and now onto more chess!

He learned about the number wau and wanted to remember the different definitions of wau.

I watched the whole video and he really got me. His math was so advanced and he had such a straight face through it all. I did look up what wau was before I watched the video, but somehow even this spoiler did not wreck it for me. I wonder what math video he will produce next?

He learned about infinite nested radicals and explained what they are.

Seven more definitions of wau. He explained each one. Wau is used in physics and it’s basically the number one. He is pretty clever that Ethan. I love how he learned a ton about the qualities of one or wau and how it can be expressed mathematically, deep learning and understanding happening for him.

Thank you for informing me about the new orca species and the new planet outside of our solar system. Exciting! And I could share with other students I was subbing this week.

The post Unschooling Journal March 3-9, 2019 – 4-Player Chess and Collecting Glass appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

Unschooling Journal February 17-23, 2019 – Friends and Math

carl376 — Sun, 24 Feb 2019 06:34:25 +0000

Here’s what unschooling was like for Ethan this past week.

February 17

We went out to do some grocery shopping because Ethan’s grandparents were coming over for dinner. But Ethan managed to get some violin practice in first.

Ethan’s friend Eldon came over after lunch to hang out with Ethan.

It was a beautiful day out and the boys were able to get some time outside.

Ethan wanted to work on some elements with Eldon but Eldon left earlier than expected. So Ethan made three element cards on his own today.

Ethan has started on the lathanoids and made cerium, praseodymium and neodymium.

We finished the night by watching Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and reading Q&As from xkcd.com.

February 18

Today was Family Day so we spent even more time together than usual 🙂

Ethan folded an origami heart that’s also a bookmark. He gave it to Dong Eun as a present.

We’re going to work on being a plastic free home after watching CBC Marketplace’s episode on just how much plastic is still being used. In particular, they talked about how much plastic there is at grocery stores and how consumers can demand that stores ask their suppliers to go plastic-free.

We’ll do what we can and when we don’t have much choice, we’ll be sure to recycle.

Today’s element was tungsten.

Ethan practiced Hunter’s Chorus and he actually let us make a video!

He learned about how math is also a part of music from this TED Talk.

He did the spiral pattern on his cubes.

In the afternoon, we met up with our good friends Maria and Carlos, along with their two boys. They gave us a couple of cool little cars that are made from old aluminum cans.

After spending a couple hours outside, we all came back to our place to warm up.

After dinner, Ethan made some other cube patterns using his 3×3 cube. This is the cube in a cube pattern.

This is the twisted peaks pattern.

The other side of the twisted peaks pattern.

The other side of the cube-in-a-cube pattern.

February 19

Ethan worked on his Rubik’s Cubes this morning.

Always trying to eat healthy and promote good nutrition as important.

Ethan practiced violin.

He worked on mathematical expressions today.

He completed everything in this book! We bought this book in fall of 2017 during our cross-Canada road trip. It was also when Ethan first started unschooling. He’s always loved this book and it’s been a great resource.

Learning about rogue pronouns and writing about them.

Coding in Scratch.

Yesterday was Family Day so Ethan didn’t do as many of his normal Monday tasks. However, we never really clearly communicated expectations for holidays that fall on a weekday so Ethan and Dong Eun shared their thoughts and feelings about this issue. Ethan said that if it’s a holiday, he can take the day off but will make up for it the following day.

He read about Indian Relay Racing from Canadian Reader and did some comprehension and vocabulary practice.

Next element, promethium, done.

Ethan had taekwondo and violin class in the evening. At violin class, he made a couple mistakes with his musical notation homework so he was more determined to get everything correct for next class. He gets to choose a reward if he gets the notation homework correct so he’s quite motivated.

Ethan finished the night reassembling his 2x4x4 cube and did some video editing, too. He made a couple of Rubik’s Cube tutorial videos today.

February 20

Today was nature school and it was another beautiful day to spend outdoors.

After nature school, he had a playdate at his friend Luca’s house. Once he got back home, Ethan practiced Hunters’ Chorus on the violin.

He also learned about nonlinear functions from his math book.

He watched a video about nonlinear functions.

Once he finished learning about nonlinear functions, he taught us how to graph equations.

He learned more about Islam.

He then wrote about things that he learned about Islam.

He completed another element for his periodic table, samarium.

After he finished, Ethan did some coding by remixing a platform game.

He then edited one of his Rubik’s Cube videos.

February 21

It was a beautiful morning, so Ethan and Dong Eun took a walk to get some fresh bread for breakfast.

Ethan spent some time reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

He learned about musical notation on Khan Academy.

He practiced violin.

And he did his musical notation homework.

He did some work on volume.

And explained what he learned.

He practiced some long division for fun.

He learned about Islam.

He wrote about the teachings of Islam.

He learned about possessive pronouns and adjectives.

He made element 63, europium.

He also read Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics.

And he worked on editing a video about the 3×3 Rubik’s Cube.

February 22

Ethan played the violin in the morning. He practiced Hunter’s Chorus.

He learned about why the surface area of a sphere 4πr squared.

Here’s the explanation of the above.

He learned about why the area of a circle is πr squared.

Here’s an experiment he did to prove that the area of a circle is πr squared.

He made the cube-in-the-cube pattern in the 4×4 and 6×6 cubes.

He practiced finding the volume of a cylinder.

Ethan learned about verb aspect.

He read and wrote about the Islamic kingdom of West Africa.

He did a lesson about superlatives.

Ethan went out to play with friends.

He wrote about the difference between a verb and verb aspect.

He made a card for gadolinium.

Ethan made a video about how to calculate the volume of a sphere.

February 23

Ethan had symphony practice this morning. After class, he spent time playing with his classmates, running around the community centre.

Next up was his skating lesson. Today was a test day but we didn’t get any other information from the teacher. Ethan was happy and excited about the class. However, he mentioned that one of the boys in his group had been pushing him down and laughing at him. We explained to Ethan that he had to take responsibility and talk to the teacher, rather than only being upset and telling us afterwards.

After skating, we went to the library to hang out.

Once home, Ethan did some more reading. This time, it was Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics…again 🙂

He then started learning about comparing irrational numbers.

While watching a video about comparing irrational numbers on Khan Academy, he worked on solving his 6×6 Rubik’s Cube.

Later on, he wanted to tell us about comparing irrational numbers. This was his first example.

And then he used a second example.

We went grocery shopping but Ethan didn’t want to go. He was a bit whiny and so we had a talk about being better at using words to express himself, rather than just reacting with displeasure.

Back home, Ethan did some more work on comparing irrational numbers by using a number line and his whiteboards.

He answered the questions about comparing irrational numbers on his whiteboard, too.

And that was Ethan’s week. We also received Ethan’s Winter Connection from his LC, Natasha, which is a progress report.

Ethan is doing very well, according to the report and he was very happy and proud to hear the praise that Natasha had for him.

Unschooling has certainly been a perfect fit for Ethan.

LC response

I picked out a few highlights from your observing for learning. Ethan has such full and incredible weeks. I get a real sense of each day because you share so many pictures too.

I can’t believe how many different ways Ethan uses his chalkboard. I also really appreciate that it is not a whiteboard. I feel like there is something very tactile about chalkboards that are lost in whiteboards. Also the medium of chalk versus marker is much more dynamic. I also prefer the dark background versus white, but this is my opinion.

Some interesting facts about chalkboards:

In recent years, green colored boards have largely replaced blackboards. Studies reveal that green color relaxes the eyes and prevents fatigue. Furthermore, the human eye is highly sensitive to the green color, and for this reason, the use of green boards has extensively increased.

As compared to whiteboards, blackboards still have a variety of advantages: … It is easier to draw lines of different weights and thicknesses with chalk than with whiteboard markers. Dashed lines can be drawn very quickly using a technique involving the friction of the chalk(or chalk marker) and blackboard.

For teachers like my mother, the chalkboard’s appeal is largely aesthetic. My mom found chalkboards easier to clean and considered their green color more calming than white. (This perceived calming benefit is among the reasons chalkboards remain popular in Japan, where they are still present in 75 percent of K-12 classrooms.) Likewise, my mother enjoyed the feel of the chalk in her hand and liked how her handwriting looked on the chalkboard.

A good article here in case Ethan is interested in the history of chalkboards, whiteboards and smart boards in education: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/10/theres-no-erasing-the-chalkboard/503975/

I think Ethan has really found something special in his chalkboard. I am so glad you are taking so many photos of how he uses it because the thinking and learning that he is expressing on it is phenomenal!

How to find the volume of a sphere-

This is such a great video! I shared it with a few of my other learners. Ethan has really improved his animations and transitions. I love the music and editing he did on this piece, creative and informative. You are such a great teacher Ethan and using very engaging tools.

I wonder if you will make a video someday about unschooling or homeschooling. I would be so interested to see wht principles or ideas you would share on the topic.

Solving cube in a cube pattern videos

All I can say is wow, not only was I unaware that cube in a cube was a thing or that you could solve cubes in this way. Thank you for continuing to expand my knowledge Ethan

video of playing Hunter’s chorus, filmed in black and white.

This video is beautiful. I think the choice to film in black and white is lovely. I am so happy to actually hear and see you playing the violin!

We finished the night by watching Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and reading Q&As from xkcd.com.

I checked out the xkcd.com website. Interesting and sort of strange to navigate around. I think I need a bit more time to explore. How does Ethan like to use this website?

This is a very difficult challenge. Less plastic is a great goal. There are many ways to accomplish this from using pyrex storage containers, wax wrapping instead of plastic sandwich bags, using reusable shopping bags, buying items in bulk….I am sure Ethan had a bunch of more ideas, but there is still so much plastic in use around us!

https://www.treehugger.com/green-home/11-easy-ways-reduce-your-plastic-waste-today.html

I was really struck by plastic when I was in Nepal. There is no recycling going on there and even trash removal is very rare, so many people burn their trash and plastic as in much of the third world. Not to mention all of the plastic that winds up in the ocean and Ethan has been learning about that. I think it is so difficult for us (any age) to really take in all the damage all this plastic is doing to the environment.

Here is one cool idea. I had grade 5 students tell me how they are making their own beeswax reusable wraps. Here is a tutorial and I saw several youtube videos as well: https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-make-your-own-reusable-food-wrap-244307

Are there any grocery stores like this one in London which are packaging and plastic free yet?

Ingrid Caldironi decided to cut down on plastic two years ago and says the best advice is to “be prepared”.

She told Newsbeat: “At first when you’re trying to do your weekly shop it can be difficult to avoid plastic packaging.

“I found local shops and markets were good because I could bring my own boxes to put cheese or vegetables in, but it does means you have to plan ahead.”

She now runs her own waste-free shop where customers bring their own containers to refill with products like shampoo, pasta or tea leaves which are stored in glass jars.

The Bulk Market in East London

Image caption The Bulk Market in East London
Ingrid says: “Obviously, running the shop makes it much easier for me to avoid plastic.

“What I’ve found since starting the shop is that people pretty much want the products and they don’t care about the packing.

“Our customers are happy to bring their own containers and they don’t mind travelling a bit further to shop with us because of that.”

Ingrid says starting out on a plastic-free life can be as easy as changing one thing.

“The first thing I did was buy a reusable coffee cup. I drink coffee everyday and buying throw away cups is such a waste.

“It made a big difference in the waste I was producing.”

She also has a few suggestions for other ways you can cut scale back on the plastic in your life.

He learned about how math is also a part of music from this TED Talk.

I am glad you watched this talk. The world’s ugliest music…strange to hear someone play it on the piano isn’t it? And the way they used math to find notes for music that had absolutely no pattern or rhythm and how ugly we find that sort of music. How is the piece based on pi going?

I can’t believe he did everything in the math book! What an accomplishment! Hooray Ethan. Now what?

What sort of larger patterns or mathematical understanding does Ethan have now that he feels this sense of completion?

He also learned about nonlinear functions from his math book.

Here’s an experiment he did to prove that the area of a circle is πr squared.

This is wonderful. I remember when I went to a French school for K-8 we had to do a lot of proofs not just equations, especially in geometry. This reminded me of doing a proof, but in a video format not just on paper…so cool. He is already doing proofs on his own as well as equations. I will see if I can find some other ones for him to try.

In mathematics, a proof is an inferential argument for a mathematical statement. In the argument, other previously established statements, such as theorems, can be used. In principle, a proof can be traced back to self-evident or assumed statements, known as axioms, along with accepted rules of inference.

As I understand it, a formula is a method for solving a mathematical problem expressed using alpha numeric characters like the quadratic formula is a method for solving quadratic equations when factoring will not work. I understand a proof to be a logical argument that may or may not produce a formula, but will produce a statement that something is true or false mathematically.

Here are some Algebra proof examples on IXL: https://www.basic-mathematics.com/algebra-proofs.html

https://www.analyzemath.com/Equations/proof_quadratic.html

This is the sort of proofs I would have to do in grade 7/8…all in French.

I will take some time to respond to the next two events you shared regarding Ethan expressing himself, his feelings and finding ways to problem solve more difficult inter and intrapersonal relationships. I will take a bit more time to reflect and share in Week 26

Next up was his skating lesson. Today was a test day but we didn’t get any other information from the teacher. Ethan was happy and excited about the class. However, he mentioned that one of the boys in his group had been pushing him down and laughing at him. We explained to Ethan that he had to take responsibility and talk to the teacher, rather than only being upset and telling us afterwards.

We went grocery shopping but Ethan didn’t want to go. He was a bit whiny and so we had a talk about being better at using words to express himself, rather than just reacting with displeasure.

The post Unschooling Journal February 17-23, 2019 – Friends and Math appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

How To Solve A Rubik’s Cube Pt 1 of 2 [Video]

carl376 — Sat, 23 Feb 2019 04:44:55 +0000

Here’s a video Ethan made about solving the 3×3 Rubik’s Cube.

The post How To Solve A Rubik’s Cube Pt 1 of 2 [Video] appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

Unschooling Journal February 10-16, 2019 – Snow and Constant Learning

carl376 — Sun, 17 Feb 2019 06:59:06 +0000

What happened this past week.

February 10

We went grocery shopping at Costco today and Ethan brought along a few cubes. Here, he was counting how many moves were needed to solve the 3×3. I think he said 93.

He also had his mini whiteboard and drew some 3D shapes.

Back home, he played with his Snap Circuits set.

Snow! Time to head out and play with his buddy, Kal.

They built a snow wall.

Wall complete. They spent the rest of the time throwing snowballs and snow at each other.

Somebody drew a cute happy face onto our van! 🙂

February 11

Ethan and Dong Eun had an interesting talk about what makes something alive. Out of curiosity, Dong Eun asked if the planets and stars are alive.

Ethan said that it depends on what you consider alive. Ethan explained the different definitions of “alive.” Dong Eun asked what being alive meant and she said that something alive might have energy in order to come to life.

Ethan said some rocks have potential energy to roll down a hill but they’re not alive.

They talked about what else can define being alive.

Ethan said that maybe whether or not something can grow could be alive, but Dong Eun said that at the start of the solar system, everything clumped together to form planets and stars.

She asked if that should be a definition of being alive?

Ethan said that the earth is constantly being bombarded by meteorites and is growing but that doesn’t mean that the earth is alive.

Ethan finally suggested that something alive is something that can reproduce.

They finished the conversation with Dong Eun wanting to think more about Ethan’s last point and find a counterpoint.

She couldn’t find something to argue against Ethan’s point so they decided that perhaps Ethan’s definition of being alive is the most logical explanation.

Dong Eun said that even in humans, if our cells are no longer reproducing, we can’t live.

Talking about what’s “alive” over breakfast.

They went down to the beach. Ethan brought a shovel and threw snow into the ocean to see what would happen. The snow turned into slushy ice.

They went to the skatepark and Ethan slid down the “slides.”

Ethan made a snowman.

They came home and went out into our tennis court to play with the snow.

They made this giant heart.

Back home, Ethan listened to π played on the piano. He was looking for violin and piano music when he found this song. They used the numbers from π and matched them up with notes.

He wanted to try playing the song from π on his violin so he wrote out the notes himself. The notes are D3 = 0 until E4 = 9. And you’re supposed to assigned each note to a letter in the alphabet.

Ethan taught Dong Eun the Fibonacci sequence.

He found a video with someone who turned the Fibonacci sequence into a song.

He wrote out the first 30 Fibonacci numbers.

It started snowing again.

Ethan and Dong Eun listened to Vivaldi Four Seasons: Winter. This version had the story behind the song.

They listened as they watched the snow falling and could relate to the music better because they understood how Vivaldi was inspired by the winter.

Ethan made element number 48, cadmium, for his giant periodic table.

He learned about similar triangles, how triangles that are different in size can have angles that are the same or the ratio between the sides of triangles can be the same.

He practiced some adjectives after reading a story in Canadian Reader.

He learned about phrases and clauses.

He wrote an explanation of what phrases are.

He continued learning about the Byzantine Empire and wrote about what he learned.

He finished the night with some coding and read some questions and answers on the xkcd.com site.

February 12

Snow day again!

After breakfast, Ethan cleared the sidewalk… No, just kidding. He was on his way to the playground to play with his friend.

The two of them made snow forts.

And they threw more than a few snowballs at each other.

Back home, Ethan learned about bearings, or how to show direction.

He explained how to find the distance of an airplane when you know the distance between two points and the bearing of the airplane from those points.

He practiced violin and when he went to class, his teacher said that he has now officially completed Suzuki Book 1. Ethan was very proud of his achievement.

For language arts, he learned about dangling modifiers.

Ethan helped clear the snow from Juju Jr. before going to his taekwondo and violin classes.

When he got home, he explained dangling modifiers.

He finished the night reading questions and answers on the xkcd.com site.

February 13

Wow! Another beautiful, sunny day with snow covering everything. It was certainly magical.

And Ethan was excited to head off to nature school.

A lovely scene as I drove up to pick up Ethan from nature school.

They were finishing their circle time when I arrived.

And immediately started a massive snowball fight. It was great to see the teachers having fun and throwing snowballs, too.

Ethan getting in on the snowball action, of course.

Ready to head home after a day of fun outside.

Back home, practicing violin.

Doing music notation homework.

Ethan learned about solving for variables when there are variables on both sides of an equation.

Element 50, tin, complete. He’s almost halfway through the periodic table.

Because he completed the first violin book, he got a reward. He chose to have dinner at A&W.

After dinner, Ethan read some new questions and answers on the xkcd.com site. We finished the night by reading a couple of the Q&As together.

February 14

Ethan practiced solving for a variable on both sides of an equation using a worksheet he made himself.

Ethan practiced playing Chorus From Judas Maccabaeus, Musette and Hunter’s Chorus.

For language arts, Ethan learned about irony today.

He continued learning about the Byzantine Empire.

And wrote about how the Byzantine Empire changed over time.

He read more about irony.

And he wrote an explanation of irony.

He completed element 51, antimony.

He learned about antimony from his periodic table book.

We had a call with Natasha, Ethan’s SelfDesign LC (Learning Consultant), as part of the winter reflection report she was preparing. The reflection is sort of like a progress report but it follows the learning principles created by SelfDesign. Ethan did a good job explaining what he’s been doing and was also good with answering questions.

February 15

Ethan practiced solving for a variable in an equation this morning.

Ethan loves Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library so we tried to find similar books. So we looked at the ebooks available from the library and found a few books that Ethan liked.

More solving equations.

He practiced the violin, as usual.

Today, he watched a live show of Astronomy Cast on YouTube but he didn’t know about some of the things they talked about so he watched previous episodes to catch up.

He answered comprehension questions from an article in Canadian Reader.

Ethan started working on his big periodic table of the elements again. He planned to do more than one today to finish the row. This is tellurium.

He answered comprehension questions about the Byzantine Empire.

He wrote about what understatements and overstatements are.

Ethan also read Mr. Lemoncello’s Great Library Race and Library Olympics today. He finished both books in a couple of hours and Dong Eun asked how he reads so fast. He said that he skims and then he re-reads to catch more details.

He practiced violin again after dinner.

And he also completed six elements today, which included tellurium, iodine, xenon, caesium, barium and hafnium.

He said that he wanted to get to the fun, radioactive elements so that’s why he wanted to do more of them today.

February 16

Ethan was supposed to have symphony practice and skating lessons but there was no class this week because of Family Day.

However, we didn’t know about symphony class until we arrived at the community centre. We decided to hang out and go to the library instead.

While waiting for the library to open, Ethan kept himself busy with some Rubik’s Cubes.

We decided to make a timelapse video of Ethan solving the 8×8 cube.

We then spent some time at the library. Ethan read some Diary of a Wimpy Kid books.

We had put Mr. Lemony Snickett’s Library Olympics on hold and it was ready to be picked up. Ethan had already read it the day before in ebook format…twice. He was still happy to read it again and said that he preferred the real book version.

We went for a walk along the beach before picking up some pizza and veggies to make dinner at home.

After dinner, we finished watching Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Now we’re just waiting for Episodes I and II to be ready for pick up at the library.

Ethan completed another element, cerium.

Another week and we’re now into mid-February. We can see how Ethan has continued to progress in his learning.

Our call with Ethan’s LC, Natasha, helped reassure us that Ethan is doing well and to keep letting him lead the way in his learning.

That’s sort of the whole idea of SelfDesign and unschooling and it’s something we’re very happy about because of how happy Ethan is.

LC Response

Ethan and Dong Eun had an interesting talk about what makes something alive. Out of curiosity, Dong Eun asked if the planets and stars are alive.

Ethan finally suggested that something alive is something that can reproduce.

She couldn’t find something to argue against Ethan’s point so they decided that perhaps Ethan’s definition of being alive is the most logical explanation.

I think this is a very interesting discussion. What makes something alive? Ethan i am going to ask you some questions and propose some interesting theories to go further on this topic, if you are interested….

Have you ever heard of the Gaia theory. It is a theory which suggests that the earth is a self regulating system which is alive. You can learn more about the science upon which James Lovelock developed this theory. Let me know what you think.

The Gaia hypothesis, also known as Gaia theory or Gaia principle, proposes that all organisms and their inorganic surroundings on Earth are closely integrated to form a single and self-regulating complex system, maintaining the conditions for life on the planet. The scientific investigation of the Gaia hypothesis focuses on observing how the biosphere and the evolution of life forms contribute to the stability of global temperature, ocean salinity, oxygen in the atmosphere and other factors of habitability in a preferred homeostasis. The Gaia hypothesis was formulated by the chemist James Lovelock and co-developed by the microbiologist Lynn Margulis in the 1970s. Initially received with hostility by the scientific community, it is now studied in the disciplines of geophysiology and Earth system science, and some of its principles have been adopted in fields like biogeochemistry and systems ecology. This ecological hypothesis has also inspired analogies and various interpretations in social sciences, politics, and religion under a vague philosophy and movement.

https://courses.seas.harvard.edu/climate/eli/Courses/EPS281r/Sources/Gaia/Gaia-hypothesis-wikipedia.pdf

Many people are involved in this discussion and debate. Here is just one example, read more at this link: https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_does_being_alive_or_Life_different_from_being_conscious_or_Consciousness

http://www.gaiatheory.org/

Person 1: Hey, I am interested in knowing what is Life and What is Consciousness? How different are they? How are they interconnected?

We have various life forms like plants, fungi and other microbial systems that we treat as living but science declare them not to have consciousness. So how is ‘living’ different from being ‘conscious’? Science declares that even advanced life forms like few animals don’t have consciousness.

So is it that: “Not all living entities have consciousness but all conscious beings or forms are living.”

Person 2:

I’d equal ‘living’ with ‘showing metabolic activity’. No presumptions about the amount of metabolic activity made.

‘Consciousness’ is different: where do you draw the line between consciousness and ‘mere reflexes’? Science is continuously redefining this line… OK, without a brain consciousness is hard to imagine. But how many nerve or brain cells are required to develop consciousness?

So here are my questions:

Is the earth a living being, a self regulating system? is the earth alive? Are stars alive?

What is the difference between alive and consciousness? Or how are they related?

The scientist Rupert Sheldrake (whom I have met and listened to this very talk) suggests that the sun is also indeed conscious.The talk is a bit long, but he is quite interesting. It might be a film you watch in a few years…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEyT1tqz7vk&feature=youtu.be Is the Sun Conscious.

However Sheldrake has done some very fun and surprising research with dogs and their ability to sense when their owners are coming home. Doggie ESP (extra sensory powers). He likes to explore topics using scientific methods, but are on the edge of what everyday science says is possible.

This video is in German with English subtitles but one of the shorter easier ones I could find today: very cool.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrXiymq.3NczA4ABUEPxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTB0NjZjZzZhBGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNwaXZz?p=sheldrake+ESP+dogs&type=dhm_A0HGR_ext_bcr_T__alt__ddc_srch_searchpulse_net&hspart=domaindev&hsimp=yhs-st_emea&ei=UTF-8&fr=yhs-domaindev-st_emea#id=1&vid=3148cab0607beeb7e3b8a3ff48871014&action=view

I also wanted to share some really cool winter science activities in the Library.

https://selfdesign.learning.powerschool.com/selfdesignlearning/library/cms_page/view/29554346

You have had a lot of snow in Vancouver! It’s freezing here in Nelson, one of the coldest February’s I can remember.

Resources Ethan might enjoy

I wanted to pass along a long list of resources from another LC.

If you see a book he would like, I have had learners in the past request them at their local library and the library will order, purchase and hold it for you…

Some resource recommendations to inspire further learning ~

Nick and Tesla Series by Bob Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith: High Voltage Danger Lab, Robot Army Rampage, Secret Agent Gadget Battle, Solar Powered Showdown, Super-Cyborg, Gadget Glove, Special Effects Spectacular

Nick and Tesla Series – Penguin Random House

The Story of Inventions by Anna Claybourne

Story Of Inventions: Anna Claybourne: 9781409555551: Books …

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions …

The Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words by Randall Munroe

Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words: Randall Munroe …

Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women by Catherine Thimmesh

Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women …

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

The Girl Who Drank the Moon (Winner of the 2017 … – Amazon.ca

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library: Chris Grabenstein – Amazon.ca

Read-Aloud Revival

Superhuman Encyclopedia: Discover The Amazing Things Your Body Do

Super Human Encyclopedia: Discover the Amazing Things Your Body …

John Muir, Earth – Planet, Universe, by Julie Bertagna and William Goldsmith

John Muir, Earth – Planet, Universe by Julie Bertagna – Goodreads

Bold & Brave: Ten Heroes Who Won Women the Right to Vote: Kirsten …

Children’s Book Review: Bold and Brave: Ten Heroes Who Won …

I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark – Amazon Canada

YouTube: If Punctuation Had Sound

If Punctuations Had Sound, English would be so fun – YouTube

BUGGED: How Insects Changed History

Natural World: A Visual Compendium of Wonders From Nature

Science Comics series

Birding Is My Favourite Video Game: Cartoons about the Natural Word from ‘Bird and Moon’ by Rosemary Mosco

Birding Is My Favorite Video Game: Cartoons about the … – Amazon.ca

Pacific Northwest Plant Knowledge Cards: Pacific Northwest Plant Knowledge Cards highlight 65 edible and medicinal plants from the Pacific Northwest coastal region. The cards include beautiful photographs and descriptions to help identify plants, names of the plants in three different Indigenous languages, including SENCOTEN, Hul’q’umi’num, and Dididaht. The cards were inspired by Feasting for Change: Reconnecting Food, Land & Culture where Elders and Knowledge Keepers led plant walks and discussions about edible and medicinal plants. Each card describes traditional uses and ways of harvesting each plant, featuring seasonal indicators and a legend to help quickly identify uses of each plant.

Pacific Northwest Plant Knowledge Cards – Resources | Vancouver …

Crystal Experiment:

How To Make Crystals with Borax Science Project for Kids

Borax Crystals: How to Grow Giant DIY Borax Crystals | Dans le …

Nature’s Art Box: From t-shirts to twig baskets, 65 cool projects for crafty kids to make with natural materials you can find anywhere

Wildwood Chronicles

Wildwood (Wildwood Chronicles, #1) by Colin Meloy – Goodreads

Keeper Of The Lost Cities Series – Shannon Messenger

Cressida Cowell’s series starting with the Wizards of Once https://www.cressidacowell.co.uk/book/the-wizards-of-once/

Mashup Math MashUp Math

https://mashupmath.com/

Carson-Dellosa Guinness World Records Math, Grade 3

Carson-Dellosa Guinness World Records Math, Grade 4

Canadian Girls Who Rocked the World

Canadian Girls Who Rocked the World: Tanya Lloyd Kyi – Amazon.ca

Canadian Boys who Rocked the World

Canadian Boys Who Rocked The World: Tanya Lloyd Kyi – Amazon.ca

Boys who Rocked the World

(U.S. version)

Boys Who Rocked the World: Heroes from King Tut to … – Amazon.ca

And finally,

cute factor is high in this resource 🙂

For learners 14 years old and younger:

Name the Puppy 2019: Help the RCMP name their newest puppies …

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police needs your help to name the next generation of police dogs. The chosen names will be given to 13 German Shepherd puppies born at the Police Dog Service Training Centre in Innisfail, Alberta. The 13 children whose names are selected will each receive a laminated 8×10-inch photo of the pup they name, a plush dog named Justice and an RCMP baseball cap. Contest rules are simple Names must begin with the letter “M” Names must have no more than nine letters Names must be one or two syllables Contestants must live in Canada and be 14 years old or younger Only one entry per child will be eligible Entries must be received by March 26, 2019. Contest winners and the winning names will be announced on April 30, 2019, on the RCMP website and social media. There are two ways to enter Enter online Send a letter to the following address. Be sure to print the child’s name, address, telephone number and the suggested name for a puppy. Attn: “Name the Puppy Contest” Police Dog Service Training Centre Box 6120 Innisfail, AB T4G 1S8 We love to receive drawings and paintings! If submitting by mail, children are invited to get creative with their entries.

TED talk math and music

View in popup

The post Unschooling Journal February 10-16, 2019 – Snow and Constant Learning appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

Timelapse Video of Solving the 8×8 Rubik’s Cube

carl376 — Sun, 17 Feb 2019 06:56:23 +0000

We were waiting for the library to open and decided to make a timelapse video of Ethan solving the 8×8 Rubik’s Cube.

The post Timelapse Video of Solving the 8×8 Rubik’s Cube appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

Unschooling Journal February 3-9, 2019 – Family

carl376 — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 06:43:14 +0000

The first week of February included Lunar New Year so we spent time with family, but much of Ethan’s week was as busy as usual. It never ceases to amaze us what Ethan does and learns as he continues on his unschooling journey.

February 3

Ethan cooked the scrambled eggs we had for breakfast this Sunday morning. It was actually snowing and he was excited about that, but the snow didn’t last long. Eggs were great, though.

Ethan checked out xkcd.com, the “What If?” book author’s site, as they have more recent questions and answers there.

Ethan practiced solving his 8×8 Rubik’s Cube but only for a short time.

The Empire Strikes Back became more interesting than the cube. Ethan loved watching the movie and eating his lunch from the coffee table, something we normally never do.

After the movie, Ethan did some music notation homework.

After staying home all morning and watching the movie, we headed out for a walk and to pick up some groceries. Ethan was busy trying to gather enough snow to make a snowball.

After we got home, Ethan and I played Gravity Maze.

And then we played some chess, something we haven’t done in a while.

We watched Return of the Jedi to complete the Star Wars trilogy. Ethan got to have his dinner at the coffee table, which he again liked. After the movie, Ethan had some dessert and read about the Colosseum. He spent some more time on the xkcd.com site before getting ready for bed.

February 4

Ethan started the day checking out the xkcd.com website again. The question he was looking at was about how long it would take a 7kg bowling ball to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

It was another beautiful day out, so Ethan and Dong Eun went to the beach.

Ethan plotted a graph in the sand.

Back home, Ethan learned about finding missing angles.

He worked on slides to help him with a video he wanted to make about finding missing angles.

Heading outside to play.

Learning about the moon from Classroom Ready Science News.

He learned about the decline of the Roman Empire today.

And he wrote a story describing the decline of the Roman Empire.

He learned about relative clauses and wrote a fun story to illustrate how to use relative clauses. Notice the joke in the drawing?

Today’s element that he worked on was technetium.

He also learned about inverse trigonometric functions today and taught what he learned to Dong Eun.

He then worked on remixing a game in Scratch before we read Math Explained with Bad Drawings.

He wanted me to record the parts that he liked so he could listen again on his own.

February 5

It’s been colder here for sure, but these sunny days have been amazing. Ethan and Dong Eun spent the morning outside enjoying the beautiful weather.

Ethan always finds a way to entertain himself at the beach.

He made a sort of track to walk on but there are dead ends. The track goes all the way until the end of the beach that we can see in the photo.

He has started up his 60-second workout challenge again.

He learned about inverse trigonomic functions.

He learned about photosynthesis.

He practiced violin.

He learned about personal pronouns.

He then wrote a fun story using personal pronouns.

Ethan made FIVE videos today about inverse trigonometric functions.

The element he made today was atomic number 44, ruthenium.

He worked on remixing a platform game in Scratch.

And he went outside to play with his friends.

He had taekwondo class and violin class. His violin teacher said that he could start learning a new song, Musette. Ethan was very excited about that.

He worked on his music notation homework.

He then spent the last part of the night working out again and reading some of the questions from xkcd.com. The question he read tonight was about what would happen if a powerful jet of water could be continuously aimed at the sun. Interestingly, the sun would get hotter!

February 6

Today was nature school day so we only saw Ethan when he came home. He was very tired. According to his fitness tracker, he walked over 12,000 steps today.

Since he was tired and hungry early, we went out for sushi.

February 7

Ethan and Dong Eun went for another walk along the beach this morning. We’re really fortunate to live so close to the water.

There were all kinds of water birds gathered today.

Ethan worked on rhodium for his element today.

Ethan learned about sequences today for math and taught us what he learned.

Practiced violin.

And learned more about math while having his snack.

He learned about auxiliary verbs today.

Ethan drew arrows on this mini Rubik’s Cube to turn it into a super cube. You can only move the pieces in the direction of the arrows, which makes solving the cube much harder.

Answering questions about Rome and the interesting or unique things that they did in ancient Rome.

He went out to play with his friends.

And he learned about prepositions.

He did some work on a platform game in Scratch.

He wrote a story using prepositions.

Later on, Ethan had his taekwondo class and after dinner, he watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

February 8

Ethan got to work this morning and tried to finish up his tasks early because we were going out early. He learned about the Byzantine Empire today.

He wrote a story about the Byzantine Empire.

He learned about compound-complex sentences and wrote an explanation for what they are.

For math, he learned about chords and cyclic quadrilaterals.

And he practiced violin, too.

Ethan came to my client’s office with me today and continued his work. He started with simple and compound sentences.

He also worked on a Canadian Reader article and learned about using quotation marks.

He also finished making the next element in the periodic table, silver.

I was at my client’s to take some headshots for some new team members so I took the opportunity to take one of Ethan, too.

Amy loves it when Ethan comes to visit. She loves kids and Ethan likes talking to her, too. He showed her how to make the paper airplane that set the Guinness World Record for distance.

They tried out the plane in the hallway.

We met with my parents, sister and cousin for Chinese New Year dinner.

Once we got home, Ethan used some electrical tape and cut arrows to stick onto my old Rubik’s Cube from the 80s to make a super cube. We were going to try and buy some arrow stickers but Ethan found his own solution.

And before he went to bed, he got to number 71 on his Perplexus puzzle.

February 9

Ethan made another super cube. This time, he used his 4×4 cube and again, cut out the arrows from electrical tape.

Ethan had skating lessons and had a great time. He’s progressing quite well and was practicing crossovers today.

For lunch, we headed to A&W because everyone was craving A&W.

Ethan received a Wal-Mart gift card for Christmas so we decided to find a new board game.

He also checked his blood pressure. He was fine, btw 🙂

He got the latest issue of Bark!, a magazine that the BCSPCA puts out for kids. Ethan has a free subscription because of the money he donated last year after our yard sale.

He wanted to learn about the algorithm to solve the 2×4 cube.

He watched about half of Rogue One before getting ready for bed. We read from the xkcd.com website and recorded it so he could listen anytime he wants.

And that was Ethan’s week! He had a busy week with a lot of outdoors time because of the great weather.

I talked about Ethan’s experience as an unschooler to a couple of parents this week and felt grateful that we can do this with Ethan. It’s great being able to spend so much time with him as a child, especially because he’s now 10 and growing up fast.

Direct Contact: Zoom

I had a Zoom session with Ethan and his parents this week. I will be including all of their mid-year reflections in the Winter Connection posted by Feb 24th. Here is a summary of what they shared as highlights so far:

Chemistry: Ethan made his own version of the periodic table, he got the idea from a science book, and had a the thought to make his own. He wanted to explore what the atoms look like and made a big one.

I shared ideas about the elements that go into making a cell phone. Ethan is wondering what do new elements look like, and how they have not discovered them yet.

We discusses his recent explosion of writing. I asked Ethan what had shifted? He explained that writing kind of like drawing using specific symbols. He enjoys writing about things which interest him. He considers writing as a way to show you know. A means to express something. His parents added that his writing is increasingly neat and Ethan is putting more energy into.

We talked about how he got his new chalkboard. It helps him express ideas better than on paper, he can erase quickly and it is a fun feeling to scrape chalk into meaning on the chalkboard. He says getting the chalkboard was his idea. He had seen it few times. And then it was only $19.99 on sale. He absolutely loves it.

I asked them about all of the videos ethan has been making in the last few months and which apps and programs he uses. He explained that he is making videos using powtoon to make animations, like in the climate change video. He is drawing on the computer drawing tablet, and the app graffic for mac. He can use the tablet and the recording app screen flow making those math videos, And he uses keynote to make slideshows. Apple imovie to edit the videos.

Ethan talked about violin, he sees his violin teacher on Tuesdays, then he practices until the piece feels complete. The teacher tells him how to improve, lets him continue for the rest of the week.

Ethan says playing the violin is just fun. His parents see him always very motivated to play the violin. He is teaching himself to play other songs. Despacito, aha take on me, spring from four seasons. He recently was inspired to take the digits of pi, link them to notes and create a new song. It is a work in progress. I can’t wait to hear what he creates! Wow!

Ethan explained his learning process in math, “I find what’s in the book, what’s interesting. Sometimes I learn a bit more, continue it to the next day.” Right now he is learning how to solve algebraic equations on both sides.

Lately he has been working on lots of cubing stuff, challenging himself adding arrows on the pieces, makes it harder, not just colors but get arrows in right direction. The 3 by 3 cube is easy, 4 by 4 really hard. He says he will watch youtube if he gets really stuck.

Ethan is having fun! Enjoying every moment, into every single thing. He is very inspirational and a very good teacher.

Going outside and playing, weather so nice, find a way to express himself drawing lines in the sand, track, like a road, dead end

His parents spoke about feeling more comfortable with unschooling and that they are no longer concerned about ethan’s home learning experience. The experience has been eye opening for all of us. They are confident about what he is doing, and getting to know him better. Home schooling provides special time and they all cocreate that time together.

They talked about how they want to share their success with other families and not sounds like they are bragging, but if they hear of a kid where school is not working they feel compelled to share their experience with Self Design and Ethan unschooling. They have to try it.

When his parents ask him, “Do you want to go back to school? He says, “No” right away. They respect his decision and also feel like they might need to find someone else to work with him, in math particularly. Also they have looked into summer camps for science, space camps in the states, but it is far away. There is a possibility that they might go to Florida in september, if so they will definitely go to the Kennedy Space Center.

Ethan encouraged me to t try to push him as his LC. I can ask lots of good questions. I will write to Ethan directly.

Spring goal by Ethan is open ended and quite profound: “To learn things and see where it takes me.”

I told them all that Ethan is a Self Design star.

The post Unschooling Journal February 3-9, 2019 – Family appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.