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

by | Feb 16, 2019 | algebra, Blog, Home Learning, Homeschooling, math, Rubik's Cube, Unschooling, 언스쿨링 | 0 comments

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 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 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

Read-Aloud Revival

Superhuman Encyclopedia: Discover The Amazing Things Your Body Do

Super Human Encyclopedia: Discover the Amazing Things Your Body …

image

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

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