There’s also the misconception that home learners do not get enough socialization or that they have behavioural or learning disabilities. We hope our blog and what Ethan does can help parents and children better understand the educational options that are available to them.

October 13

October 14

October 15

October 16

October 17

October 18

October 19

Let us know if you have any questions related to unschooling or SelfDesign, the distance learning program that Ethan is enrolled in.

Hello, 

Another fantastic week. I found myself watching all the google trick videos and trying them out. 

I have to admit I was so excited to play breakout!

 It was the only videogame I had growing up and I only had it when we went to Lake Tahoe on vacations. What a blast from the past and my breakout game was only in black and white. How times have changed. 

Ethan can you imagine a life with no computers, apps, digital computers, videogames, online research and programs? 

I mean you do read a lot of books, so you understand that. I had a set of encyclopedia from which I looked up information. Otherwise I had to ask teachers, parents, friends or just not know….

I was also very fortunate to have a bookshelf full of these from 1963-1995. Do you know what these are? They were an incredible resource for world cultures, animals, nature and space….

If you don’t know your parents might. 

Ethan you are learning so much theory and equations any desire for hands on? 

How about some ideas for building new science and physics projects?

 This looks like a pretty neat site.

in the morning, he set up this giant periodic table.

What is Ethan using this periodic table for? 

4 player chess

Seems like it has been a while since he played. Any new insights or is he just keeping up with his skills? 

Exploding pumpkin origami

Tell me more….does the pumpkin really explode. 

Halloween this week, making your costume, plans? 

Taking notes on google secrets, planning for 4 part video

You did so much research and demonstrated them all so clearly with your great sense of humor. Well done, comprehensive and engaging. 

I wonder if you could get your videos to come up in searches for Google trick? I think people would really enjoy them. I suppose you have to work on the key search words you enter. 

Photography Carl here… I noticed that the photos Ethan took of this 3D drawing only had part of the image in focus. So I taught Ethan about controlling depth of field using the camera’s aperture priority setting. This picture was taken at f13 to show how the lower f-stop made everything in focus.

Ethan are you interested in doing more photography or were you learning this to make your 3D pictures pop more? 

math is “powers to the imaginary unit”. Powers of i

Then,He learned About Solving sinusoidal Equations of the form sinx=d.

then, math: how to find the area of a hexagon.

learning about TESS and the new world it just found.

then, he made a simulation!

Ethan I could use some of your chalkboard tutorials on your recent math and physics. I have to admit I am quite behind you now . I never took physics, trig or calculus…

I guess I can ask questions though. 

How has you recent studies of force and acceleration influenced the ways you see objects, vehicles etc. in motion around you?  

phisics! today it is “centripetal force and acceleration intuition”.

reading “Things to Make And Do in The Fourth Dimension”

This book looks super interesting! Right up your alley comedy and mathematics!!

What are you learning from the book? 

Have you tried any of the games and puzzles? 

If you could write a letter to the author what would you say? 

Will you be making any videos based on the book? 

Have you watched any of his video talks? I attached one

Math is boring, says the mathematician and comedian Matt Parker. Part of the problem may be the way the subject is taught, but it’s also true that we all, to a greater or lesser extent, find math difficult and counterintuitive. This counterintuitiveness is actually part of the point, argues Parker: the extraordinary thing about math is that it allows us to access logic and ideas beyond what our brains can instinctively do―through its logical tools we are able to reach beyond our innate abilities and grasp more and more abstract concepts.

In the absorbing and exhilarating Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension, Parker sets out to convince his readers to revisit the very math that put them off the subject as fourteen-year-olds. Starting with the foundations of math familiar from school (numbers, geometry, and algebra), he takes us on a grand tour, from four dimensional shapes, knot theory, the mysteries of prime numbers, optimization algorithms, and the math behind barcodes and iPhone screens to the different kinds of infinity―and slightly beyond.

Both playful and sophisticated, Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension is filled with captivating games and puzzles, a buffet of optional hands-on activities that entice us to take pleasure in mathematics at all levels. Parker invites us to relearn much of what baffled us in school and, this time, to be utterly enthralled by it.

.

yes, it’s that bad.

the best is…a 500m asteroid with the impact 10 y away. so, the Earth goes the length of its diameter every 7 mins. so we need the asteroid to arrive 7 minutes before or after. so, divide 7 mins by 10 y is about 1/1,000,000. so we need to push it by 1 part in a million.there are six ways to do this.

1. force. slam an object into the side of an asteroid, knocking it off course.
2. nuke it… but miss. yup, explode a nuclear bomb right next to an astroidd, and that will push it off course.
3. graffiti. spray paint an asteroid white, and the sun will push it off course.
4. gravity tractor beam. get a 20-ton spacecraft flying next to the asteroid. the gravity of the spaceship will gradually pull the asteroid away!
5. rocket. the simplest. attach a rocket to the asteroid.
6. laser beam. shoot a laser at the asteroid and it will be gone.

the worst-case would be that we catch it only a few months before it hits. in that case, we need to shoot a nuclear bomb at it. but!!!!!! make it go deep into the asteroid.

Are these really the proposed solutions to an asteroid heading toward earth? I could not tell if you were joking or completely serious. 

Have a wonderful week and I will be in touch about setting up a Zomm call for the fall connection. 

Natasha

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This is from Ethan’s nature school teacher Mink for their October 16th class…

It was a wet morning but it didn’t stop the Wednesday North Van crew from playing hard! Everyone enjoyed playing “freeze fox” followed by a wildly popular forest ecology game lovingly titled “oh no, I’m poop!”. Mink taught a fun two part rain song that was written by her friend in Ontario and everyone sang, stomped, clapped and snapped as the rain poured down. Scott told part 1 of what promises to be an epic story, as we all huddled under the big white tarp eating snack.

After story, Mink’s group (the Ravens) made their way toward eagle island. On the way Mink got laughed at for her poor beatboxing skills by kids who wouldn’t even try! Once there, The Ravens played a few rounds of a sneaky movement by game called “icky stick”. Afterward they all snuck out to individual sit spots. Some of the awesome sights included jumping fish, bird alarms warning of a swooping bald eagle, the sight of mist moving through the mountains and the sound of rain on the lake. It was suuuuper peaceful. Until Mikaela’s group showed up (haha just kidding). After some free play and crafting time, Craig’s group joined the Ravens in Eagle Island for some friction fire practice!

Scott’s Group started by walking to the Lake and overlooking its foggy gloriousness and saying ‘WOW!’- captivated by the beauty. They went onwards to a favorite forested spot and got going with setting up a tarp. It was exciting to see the enthusiasm of everyone to play a part in learning the knots and figuring out which trees to attach it to. After this, they all sat down and started focusing once more on carving and sanding elderberry containers! Some people even started shaping their corks. Next, everyone was keen to play a game. Scott presented  a team building game called Red Fish Blue Fish. It requires a combination of teamwork, sneakiness and patience. The group succedded eventually- after a decent amount of exasperation… and after enduring all of Scott’s trickery and refining their strategy.

Mikaela’s group collected edible plants along their walk to a spot on the East side of the lake! With a pot full of trailing blackberry, huckleberry, salal, and thimbleberry leaves plus western hemlock needles for a citrus taste, the group found two big boulders to climb before lunch and tea brewing! The group was so excited to put together the stove and watch over the tea that they almost missed the three young deer that came right into their lunch spot! They watched the deer graze the same huckleberry leaves that were in their tea for a while before they slowly make their way out of sight. After lunch, it was time to warm up their bodies and Mikaela introduced the game Titanoboa! The group had to find the ”poison dart frog balls” and hit the Titanoboa with all three balls at the same time before getting frozen! The group all agreed that Titanoboa is their favourite game. They headed back to the big group, playing many trail games and one more round of Titanoboa!

Looking forward to seeing you all in a few days for another round of crazy forest adventures!

-Your North Van Nature Fam

Ethan’s writing about ‘a potentially habitable planet!’

by Ethan Kwan | Oct 18, 2019 | Blog | 0 comments

so, there is a star, called GJ 357, and TESS(the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satelite) found a planet around it!https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13266

of course, scientists had to confirm it. tess finds its planets by looking for little dops in starlight.https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/transit-light-curve.html

when scientists confirmed that existed, they found two more!https://scitechdaily.com/tess-discovers-habitable-zone-planet-in-gj-357-system/

also, one is in the habitable zone!

I guess that is all Ethan wrote! bye!

Ethan’s writing about how to stop a “killer” asteroid

by Ethan Kwan | Oct 15, 2019 | Blog | 0 comments

so, there is an asteroid headed for earth. what do you do? well, it depends on the size of the asteroid, and when its gonna hit.yes, it’s that bad.

the best is…a 500m asteroid with the impact 10 y away. so, the Earth goes the length of its diameter every 7 mins. so we need the asteroid to arrive 7 minutes before or after. so, divide 7 mins by 10 y is about 1/1,000,000. so we need to push it by 1 part in a million.there are six ways to do this.

1. force. slam an object into the side of an asteroid, knocking it off course.
2. nuke it… but miss. yup, explode a nuclear bomb right next to an astroidd, and that will push it off course.
3. graffiti. spray paint an asteroid white, and the sun will push it off course.
4. gravity tractor beam. get a 20-ton spacecraft flying next to the asteroid. the gravity of the spaceship will gradually pull the asteroid away!
5. rocket. the simplest. attach a rocket to the asteroid.
6. laser beam. shoot a laser at the asteroid and it will be gone.

the worst-case would be that we catch it only a few months before it hits. in that case, we need to shoot a nuclear bomb at it. but!!!!!! make it go deep into the asteroid.

I guess that is all Ethan wrote! oh well. huh.

The post Unschooling Journal October 13-19, 2019 appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.