Here’s Ethan latest week of unschooling. There were a lot of Ethan’s usual unschooling activities along with a lot of new learning.
February 24
Sunday at home. What to do? With the beautiful weather, we knew we had to go outside.
The morning started with Ethan helping to prepare pancakes.Enjoying the fruits of his labour.After breakfast, Ethan wanted to learn the notes for Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Winter.Now it was time to head out and go for a walk along the beach.Ethan spent some time playing on the playground, or above it, I guess.For lunch, we headed to A&W. After lunch, Ethan spent a couple of hours outside playing with his friend Kal.Once he got home, he worked on some math, learning about exponents and square roots.He was trying to figure out the square roots of irrational numbers.Oops. The order is reversed but he wrote about inappropriate shifts, when a number or pronoun is wrong. I couldn’t change the order of these photos without retyping all the stuff above because WordPress deletes everything. Ack!
February 25
Ethan started the morning with some violin practice. We watched some videos of Benjamin Zander, a music teacher with the Boston Philharmonic, and were inspired by the way he teaches and inspires students to view music as an extension of our lives.Ethan made a card for element 66, dysprosium.He read a story about the ISS and answered some comprehension questions.He learned about verbals and wrote a fun story using gerunds.He learned some more about Islam and wrote about the Islamic Kingdom.He played outside this afternoon and also did his 60 second exercise challenge after dinner.After his exercises, he listened to the Wow in the World podcast.Ethan got this Mensa boardgames pack from our neighbour Jane tonight.Ethan drew a magnifying glass looking into a solar system. Ethan drew this pattern using a compass.He explained that there are circles throughout. He also thought about how the negative space was a bunch of curved triangles.We finished the night by playing some chess and we also started to read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
February 26
This is the book that inspired Ethan to learn about the periodic table and to create the element cards.Fun video about punctuation.Getting in some violin practice.Ethan made a square root wheel. You turn it and it shows a square root and the answer.Ethan found a scavenger hunt that featured estimating square roots.Preparing the cards for the scavenger hunt.He put the scavenger hunt cards around our home and tried estimating the square roots.We’re trying to reduce the amount of packaged or prepared snacks we’re having so Dong Eun made these healthy cookies without flour, oil or sugar. We definitely feel that nutrition has played a huge role in how Ethan learns and behaves. Even when he was still in the womb, Dong Eun always ate well and continued to do so after Ethan was born.We read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. It’s an interesting book with some not so easy vocabulary and sentence structure. For example, he asked me what capricious means and I couldn’t answer. We know now 🙂 Ethan made this box while I read.
February 27
Still lots of snow at nature school.After Ethan arrived home, he got into his tasks and started with practicing square roots.Ethan practiced the violin.Once he was done with the academics and violin, he did some remixing of code in Scratch.He watched a video about solving the 2x3x3 Rubik’s Cube.He watched a video about how the Northern Lights form. The link to this video was given by Ethan’s LC, Natasha, and is a part of the SelfDesign online resources library.Natasha also sent links and information related to Ethan’s discussion about what makes something alive, so we all read and watched a few things together. One of those things was an article about the Gaia hypothesis. We found this quite fascinating.We then watched a little bit of a video where Rupert Sheldrake describes how the Sun has consciousness. This led us to watching a few other videos that talked about how dogs have the ability to know when their masters are coming home. There was another video about ESP, again featuring Rupert Sheldrake. These videos and ideas being shared were very interesting.Afterwards, Ethan watched a video about the science of snowflakes.
We wrapped up the evening by reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The story is getting more interesting because the narrator is now embarking on a journey to find what they think is a giant narwhal.
February 28
Ethan wanted to understand why the square root of 2 is irrational. He found out and then taught what he learned to Dong EunHe also practiced the violin.He learned about the proper way to use “myself” and “yourself.”And he wrote about how not to be confused by “myself” and “yourself.”He answered questions about the Muslim religion for his history studies today.He listened to The Wild Robot.And while listening to the book, he drew this.
March 1
Ethan and Dong Eun went out for a walk along the beach because it was a beautiful day out. Ethan collected pieces of glass from the beach and started a collection.Ethan printed out a square roots worksheet. He checked the answers himself and got the answers wrong because he didn’t round to the correct decimal point.He learned about the Mayans and wrote an introduction about them and how they farmed the land.He made element number 69, terbium.He listened to several episodes of Astronomy Cast.We went shopping for a new set of frames so Ethan could have some prescription sunglasses.When we came home, Ethan did some code remixing in Scratch.He then watched some chess videos.And the rest of the night was spent on chess and watching a chess TV program from the UK on Netflix.
March 2
After Ethan’s symphony class, he played with a couple of his classmates while waiting for his skating lessons. Today was the West Van Run and the start and finish point was the community centre. This was great because there were free balloons.Ethan and his friend tied a stick to the end of a balloon and one of them went up a couple floors to let the balloon drop.Success!Time for skating lessons. Ethan is confidently skating and even stopping now.At the end of class they played some hockey, which he really liked.After skating, we had to wait for Dong Eun, who was taking a class at the community centre today. While waiting, Ethan went outside and tried to drop his balloon from the rock sculpture in front of the community centre. Unfortunately, a gust of wind picked up the balloon and carried it into a nearby tree.We tried getting the balloon down by throwing pine cones to dislodge the balloon from the branches. Ethan found a tree branch and we tried to use that to move the balloon, which eventually worked!Very happy to get his balloon back.My parents, cousin and his family were coming over for dinner, so Ethan helped with some of the prep work, such as peeling potatoes.He cracked the eggs and poured the flour to make Yorkshire pudding.He also mixed the Yorkshire pudding batter.Time for a break to read a copy of Science Comics.Dinner time. Ethan enjoyed the food that he helped make.After everyone went home, Ethan watched Checkmate again.He really loves this show. These are the hosts. They explain what’s happening in the game so it’s a fun way for Ethan to learn new things about chess.Enjoying another Yorkshire pudding while watching Checkmate.Ethan drew our solar system just for fun.
And that was Ethan’s week! He helped with preparing food for the family and did a lot of his usual activities.
LC Response
Ethan started the morning with some violin practice. We watched some videos of Benjamin Zander, a music teacher with the Boston Philharmonic, and were inspired by the way he teaches and inspires students to view music as an extension of our lives.
I listened to Benjamin Zander’s TED talk on classical music. Thank you for introducing me to a new inspiring person. Did you watch this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LCwI5iErE
He learned about verbals and wrote a fun story using gerunds.
Now gerunds are fun…my favorite ones I think involve sports kayaking, biking and skiing!
He explained that there are circles throughout. He also thought about how the negative space was a bunch of curved triangles.
I really appreciate how Ethan is looking at the curved triangles in this image and considering negative space. I wonder if he will try to figure out how to find the surface area of these curved triangles?
I am interested in the relationship between with this geometric pattern often called overlapping circle grids or sometimes the “Flower of Life” and physics. Ethan might find some interesting history and ideas to explore too:
Ethan drew a magnifying glass looking into a solar system. More exploration of perspective here…
Ethan made a square root wheel. You turn it and it shows a square root and the answer.
Now this was so cool! Where did he find this idea or did he come up with it on his own?
We’re trying to reduce the amount of packaged or prepared snacks we’re having so Dong Eun made these healthy cookies without flour, oil or sugar. We definitely feel that nutrition has played a huge role in how Ethan learns and behaves. Even when he was still in the womb, Dong Eun always ate well and continued to do so after Ethan was born.
I would have to agree. Often families seem at a loss as to how to address their children’s difficult behaviors. My first question (but I don’t often say it) “is what is your child eating and drinking?” “How might a healthier diet and long nights sleep help support this child to self regulate better.”
Ethan does seem very healthy and bright. The in utero nutrition that Dong Eun so carefully attended to can not be underestimated!
We read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. It’s an interesting book with some not so easy vocabulary and sentence structure. For example, he asked me what capricious means and I couldn’t answer. We know now
It’s so wonderful that Ethan enjoys classic novels so much! The richness of language really sets them apart from some more modern children’s literature.
LC Response-expressing feelings
I said that I would offer some more resources for Ethan to better express himself including his needs and feelings. I would like to suggest non-violent communication. There are many resources on the internet. Here is a simple overview in a graphic:
Communication can be a friend or foe. Effective communication leads to improved relationships and experiences. Poor communication can have the opposite effect. Want to become a better communicator? Learn more about skills in verbal and non-verbal communication here.
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