Unschooling Journal April 7-13, 2019

by | Apr 14, 2019 | Blog, Home Learning, Homeschooling, Unschooling, 언스쿨링 | 0 comments

Here’s Ethan latest week of unschooling and living life to the fullest.

April 7

Ethan was very excited to make some more origami and wanted to make his own coloured origami paper.
Ethan made this little frog. It’s supposed to hop when you press on it’s back.
He’s doing something a little different with the origami. Instead of folding the paper directly into the object, he first made all the fold lines.
Here is the finished design.
And here is what it transforms into.
We took the bike and scooter to the library to hang out and pick up some books. Ethan was fascinated by the kids playing video games.
We found Ethan some more challenging origami books because of his interest in the complex objects they made in the origami documentary we watched.
These objects have more folds, upwards of 30, so the designs are more intricate and lifelike. This sea horse is a good example of using more complex folds.
In the afternoon, we went to a friend’s place for lunch and stayed there the whole afternoon.
We saw a rainbow outside and only now did I remember how Ethan drew a rainbow pattern in the morning.

April 8

This morning, Ethan started the day by watering our neighbour’s plants and checking her mail.
Nice to see things blooming.
When he got home, Ethan started working on a video about boron.
Using Keynote to create boron for his video.
He practiced probability again today.
He tried the questions again because he said he couldn’t remember the answers.
Lunch at our new favourite place, Wooden Fish, the Vietnamese restaurant nearby.
Next, a walk along the beach to collect glass and just to see what other things are there today.
It was low tide so there was a lot to see.
The destination was the bookstore to pick up some new classic children’s books and more origami paper.
He tried the robin again after he got home.
He read a story about whales in captivity and practiced checking his knowledge of the words in the story.
He wrote about Japan’s Heian period. They had samurais at this time, so I asked if Ethan has ever seen a samurai. He said no, so we Googled samurai to see what they looked like.
His answers for the probability questions.
He was showing me the boron video he made today.
Afterwards, he watched this DVD about prehistoric beasts. We then read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. After that, Ethan spent some time chatting with Dong Eun before bed, which is something he really enjoys doing.

April 9

Ethan made a video this morning about finding the cube root of a large number.
Here’s a link to the video.
He made an element card for californium, the most expensive element.
He learned about using colons and semicolons, and he also learned about using apostrophes.
He made a chart to rank the things he likes the most on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest score.
Mom and dad made it to the top! 🙂
Guess he doesn’t want to take swimming lessons anytime soon.

Violin practice today was Hunters’ Chorus, Long Long Ago, Waltz and Bourrée.

And at night, we made our first vlog with Ethan talking about what he did today. Here it is.

April 10

Nature school in the pouring rain today!
After nature school, Ethan was pretty tired because of being out in the rain for most of the day but he still worked on some things like responding to questions asked by his LC, Natasha. He was going to email her the answers but decided to post them directly to the SelfDesign page.
Time to water plants and check the mail for our neighbour.
This one plant is blooming and the flowers are really unique.
He made a crumply origami flasher that does something cool.
But I was distracted by the two dragons he made for a couple of kids from nature school. They were talking about origami and somehow got on the topic of dragons, so Ethan said he would make the two kids an origami dragon.
Back to the crumply flasher.
It stands up!
And can be flattened when you press it in the centre.
He practiced converting measurements.
He made an element card for nihonium, which is a combination of zinc and bismuth.

April 11

For today’s math, Ethan learned about percentages and converting percentages to fractions and decimals.
He answered the math questions by making a slide in Google Slides.
Today’s element card was einsteinium.
He learned about using apostrophes and contractions.
He continued learning about Japan and wrote something about the Heian period.
Ethan answered some other questions that Natasha had for him.
He took a break to read about playing chess.
He learned about nuclear energy.
He made a coaster.
A bird on a rock.
The pyramids!
A bird.
A bird with a heart when you hold it up to the light!

April 12

Very busy day today!

As soon as Ethan got up, he was making origami.
This is a shark!
Ethan’s backpack was pretty dirty after a rainy day at nature school, so he wiped it down this morning.
Ethan learned about calculating percentages today.
He later went outside to enjoy the amazingly beautiful day and to see the cherry blossoms. He loves trying to catch the petals.
More than catching the petals, he loves shaking them from the trees!
Climbing the trees is also high on the fun things to do list.
They went down to the beach to look for glass.
They found some dandelions growing on the beach.
A large branch became a drawing tool.
In case people want to know how to calculate the area of a circle.
And he made a big happy face.
After he got down from this tree, we had lunch with friends. Ethan made a couple of dragon origami for the friends’ boys, Nico and Paulo.
Back home, he made an element card for flerovium.
He learned about electron configuration of the first 20 elements.
He picked some flowers when we were out.
Ethan made a video about percentages using Powtoon. He narrated the video, too.
He answered questions about discounts and markups.
At night, he wanted to learn more about the elements and found a video about how to write the electron configuration.
He learned about Hund’s Rule and was very excited about what he was learning.
He wanted to make more element cards and made fermium.
He also made one for moscovium so that was three element cards in one day.
He continued learning more chemistry by watching a video about water and solutions. One of the topics covered was moles and molar concentration.

April 13

Ethan had symphony class and then skating lessons in the morning. He likes playing with his symphony classmates after the lesson. Here, he’s waiting for the group before his to finish their skating lesson.
Once home, he watched a Crash Course episode about chemical solutions.
He also made an element card for livermorium. It’s element 116 so he’s almost done!
Watching another episode of Crash Course.
This episode was about buffers in chemistry.
Ethan borrowed some new origami books that have more sophisticated designs. These objects are part of a modular design called a butterfly ball.
They all fit together and then fly apart when you throw it up and hit it.

We also had my parents over for dinner tonight. It seems like they finally seem to understand what Ethan is doing and are very proud of him.

And that was Ethan’s week of unschooling!

LC Response

Ethan was fascinated by the kids playing video games. This was an interesting observation? What was Ethan fascinated by? Did he share some of his thoughts about this with you?

Origami:

These objects have more folds, upwards of 30, so the designs are more intricate and lifelike. This sea horse is a good example of using more complex folds.

The dragons you made are exquisite!! I bet your friends in the nature school are going to be overjoyed when you gift them these dragons.

We saw a rainbow outside and only now did I remember how Ethan drew a rainbow pattern in the morning. Yes he is in tune with many things…So neat, a magical connection

He read a story about whales in captivity and practiced checking his knowledge of the words in the story. I attached a recent article in the text block below: http://petschronicles.com/2019/04/16/canadas-a-step-closer-to-banning-captive-whales-and-dolphins/

If Ethan is interested in how a bill becomes a law in Canada, there are several animated videos on Youtube.

This is the provincial process, but it is similar at the federal level: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_Vm7oaoOuU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9fpwiJ7wik

Ethan made a video this morning about finding the cube root of a large number.

Now this video made me feel like a math wizard. Thanks Ethan. I was able to solve cube roots when I used your well explained and iagramed step by step instructions, way to go!! This would be a really cool one to share with people, almost like a card trick, but it’s a math trick or hack.

He made a chart to rank the things he likes the most on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest score.

No doubt mom and dad are at the top! Must have felt so wonderful. It is quite meaningful how Ethan can number rank his favorite things.  I suppose he is letting you know his true feelings based on his rankings about swimming, haha.

For today’s math, Ethan learned about percentages and converting percentages to fractions and decimals. This is an awesome video! So practical, easy to follow and offers people lots of examples of how to solve quick percentage problems as well as the relationship between percentages and fractions. Ethan made a video about percentages using Powtoon. He narrated the video, too.

Chemistry

He learned about Hund’s Rule and was very excited about what he was learning.

At night, he wanted to learn more about the elements and found a video about how to write the electron configuration.

He continued learning more chemistry by watching a video about water and solutions. One of the topics covered was moles and molar concentration.

I was wondering when he would venture into moles….I bet he will be balancing and solving chemistry occasion by the summer. If he wants to of course.

  • They all fit together and then fly apart when you throw it up and hit it.

Now that origami design could be a wonderful party trick or way to celebrate and occasion.

We also had my parents over for dinner tonight. It seems like they finally seem to understand what Ethan is doing and are very proud of him.

And that was Ethan’s week of unschooling!

What a wonderful breakthrough with his grandparents. It must make everyone feel much better and Ethan to feel more supported in his unschooling journey.

I have been struck by the ingenuity, humor, education and meaningful production Ethan puts into his videos, perhaps he would like to engage in TED-ed for students in someway. I think it could be a great platform for him. I included a student TED talk by a student’s incredible science project!

TED-ed student talks: https://ed.ted.com/student_talks

Canada one step closer to banning whales and dolphins in captivity

Canada’s a Step Closer to Banning Captive Whales and Dolphins

April 16, 2019

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While the world continues to turn against keeping whales and dolphins in captivity, animal advocates are hopeful Canada will be next to make it illegal following a crucial vote to pass legislation that will ban the practice.

The legislation, Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act (S-203), would effectively phase out captivity by banning captive breeding, imports and exports of all whales, dolphins and porpoises in Canada, with exceptions for situations involving the rescue of injured animals. If it’s passed, anyone found violating the law could face fines of up to $200,000.Photo credit: Getty Images

It was first introduced back in 2015 by now-retired Senator Wilfred Moore, but even with widespread support from the public, animal advocacy organizations and scientists, it’s continued to be blocked by other senators.

Now, however, its supporters are celebrating a major milestone towards seeing this bill become a law with a vote from the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans that has advanced it without any amendments. As the CBC notes, if there had been even one, this bill would have been sent backwards yet again further delaying its progress and that win is being largely attributed to public pressure in the days before the vote.

“I am delighted that the Liberals resisted pressure to kill the bill. I think the reason they were convinced to save this legislation is because … of the power of Canadians who contacted these politicians in droves,” Camille Labchuk, the executive director of Animal Justice, told CBC News.

“Probably over 20,000 e-mails and phone calls were made in the days proceeding this vote. This [captivity ban] is something Canadians across the country are really ready for.

They’ve seen Blackfish and The Cove, they understand that whales and dolphins shouldn’t be kept in tanks anymore — those in the wild travel vast distances, dive deeply, live in complex family structures and enjoy a quality of life that is much better than the abject misery and barrenness of living in a tank.”

There are now only two facilities in Canada that keep captive cetaceans, including the Vancouver Aquarium and Marineland. The Vancouver Aquarium now only has Helen, a Pacific white-sided dolphin, and has already committed to ending the display of whales and dolphins, while Marineland still has Kiska, Canada’s lone captive orca, along with about 50 belugas and five dolphins.

Although the bill would grandfather in those who are currently in captivity, this groundbreaking legislation will ensure they are the last to endure lifetimes of confinement in Canada, and will set the stage for a future where we work to protect and learn about them in the wild where they belong.

The bill now just needs one more vote in support from the House of Commons, which supporters hope to see before lawmakers take a summer break.

“The scientific evidence has proven that cetaceans don’t thrive in captivity. Moreover, we as Canadians have a moral obligation to phase out the keeping of these intelligent creatures all for the purpose of public entertainment,” said Barbara Cartwright, CEO of Humane Canada.

“The public has been crucial in advancing this bill. We want to urge them to continue asking their MPs to support this ground-breaking piece of legislation.”

Hopefully Canada will be the next to step up for captive whales and dolphins by ending their confinement, and will continue to help set a precedent for even more countries to follow.

TED kids talk

A student designs a way to recycle Styrofoam

https://youtube.com/watch?v=HR9956gDpUY%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26rel%3D0%26wmode%3Dtransparent

View in popup 

Da Vinci, Pi and philosophy
https://youtube.com/watch?v=aMsaFP3kgqQ%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26rel%3D0%26wmode%3Dtransparent

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