Unschooling Journal January 24-30, 2021

by | Jan 31, 2021 | Blog | 0 comments

This week, I did some coding in Scratch. I also finished a violin homework book (yay) and got a new one! I also kept learning my Calculus on Khan Academy. I kept going with my taekwondo, violin, and swimming! I also went to nature school on Wednesday.

This week, I completed my violin homework book!
And, of course, I get a new one 😛
I kept watching the Essence of Calculus videos, just for fun.
I did some EMF (Finally!), this was about adding and subtracting decimals.
I did some Brilliant every day of the week. This was about a letter puzzle, and you have to follow the two rules to assemble the puzzle and answer the question “What is the blank space in every solution?”
I started to learn the proof of why the derivative of sin(x) is cos(x).
I started the electrical engineering course on Khan Academy (yay).
I started the “intermediate” section in calculus on Khan Academy.
I finished “Derivatives: definition and basic rules” and now I’m moving on to “Derivatives: chain rule and other advanced topics.”
I was researching “how to make a good video game” online, and the websites said that you first need a good programming software, and many of them recommended Unity! I haven’t tried it yet, but I will next week.
My friend had a birthday party, so I made him this math-themed card!
Hehe…
After that, I got interested in fractal geometry and found this video by 3Blue1Brown (a YouTube channel) about fractal geometry.
I also learned about space filling curves on Wikipedia. A space filling curve is a 1D shape that, if you repeat it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, it starts to fill up 2D space!
I watched this video by Matt Parker about the formula for the perimeter of an ellipse.
He is the guy who wrote this book!
I was watching that video about fractal curves, and I found this, as this was a related topic, and was shown next to that video.
I started to learn about vector fields, and how they can model population growth (as shown here).
I FINALLY taught my mom about derivatives.
And I told her about the product rule and the proof of it. The full proof is too long to be drawn on the chalkboard, so I explained it on my notebook, as shown below.
I made an animation for my Scratch projects, just to go at the very beginning of every simulation and game I make.
See it here: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/481039518/
I made my own instant noodles for lunch!
I did my violin homework (in the new book, YAY)!
The following written by Ethan’s teacher, Mink from Soaring Eagle Nature School: Excited to be out in the beautiful softly falling snow, Mink’s group made their way to a nearby site named Gargoyle’s Garden for their morning shenanigans. Here we played a fast paced warm up game of shrew ball! Over snack, Mink told the story of when her bow drill chord broke just when she needed it most—when her partner on a survival trip was showing early signs of hypothermia. Yikes!
Whether you’re going full-survival or just out for a day hike, it’s very wise to come prepared for anything, which is why we spent our afternoon making home made fire-starters. We filled egg cartons with dryer lint and melted wax to create compact fire starters that last a good long time and could make the difference trying to start a fire from wet wood or in a pinch! Everyone got to take a few of these home. Be sure to put them in plastic baggies! While we waited for the wax to melt we played several very fun rounds of werewolf, in which different students got to try narrating the story-line!
I’m fresh out of wax but If your child is excited to make more firestarters, send them to program next week with spare tea lights or the remains of old, used up candles and we can repurpose them!

LC Short Response

Hello Self Design learners, 

I will respond to this week 20 in conjunction with week 21 next week. I finished writing up the Winter Connections  as well as made LRS requests this last week. I read of your week 20 reflections and made note of the learning highlights. Thank you for all that you shared. 

 You can read the WinC posted in the Seasonal Learning Connections tab. I apologize in advance for the strange passive voice verb tenses on the write ups. It is not how I was taught how to write effectively; however, It is the preferred language of progression that Self Design reports midway through the year. I look forward to writing a more authentic year end summary celebrating you and your learning for the BC Ministry.

 I have to say how incredibly proud I am of all of you and how well you are homeschooling yourselves and living life to the fullest. You are inspiring and have so much to teach me too. It is a strange and difficult time in the world in some ways, especially in for youth in education; and you shine so brightly.  

This response will be a time when I tell you about my week a bit. I wanted to share a few highlights. 

I have a beautiful hang drum song and film of far away places we can not visit right now. I find the melody peaceful and gently poignant somehow. What do you think? 

Secondly, 

I happened to catch the Dalai Lama live on a video broadcast last week. I think he is an incredibly wise person and leader with deep teachings to share. I want to pass on some of what  inspired me and my reflections with you. 

The Dalai Lama emphasized that in education the concept of “oneness” is the most important. We are all the same human beings who have to live peacefully together on this planet. That love is purpose. The teaching of differentness is important but secondary. We all should focus on more compassion, more peacefulness and more democracy. 

He encourages us to build something with our lives and share it with others. 

He spoke developing the head, heart and hands. Using one’s mind and one’s heart full of compassion/love and one’s hands for creativity and helping others. 

This concept spoke to my own highschool’s mission and history and how thankful I am for all the teachers and teachings I had there. It is a philosophy and value set I have brought with me and integrated into my own life. 

 I see you all doing this in your own ways in your own education, developing your minds, your heart and expressing so much creativity: Self Designing your learning and yourselves as human beings in this world. 

He said, “To be a happy person one has to gain knowledge of emotion and know how to promote good feelings.”

I know how important it is for me to promote and cultivate kindness and good feelings in myself and with others. 

I have been reading weekly how many of you are observing yourselves more closely and gently.  Observing your own thoughts and emotions and gaining new tools to work with them and cultivate your own sense of joy and peace. 

So with those wise words and ideas, I sign off for this week and look forward to catching up and conversing with you all more individually next week. 

I am so happily going on my first field trip of the year to ski with the grade 1,2,3 of the elementary school where I teach. So thankful and excited to share in my love of skiing and the mountains with them too. 

I am still in awe of this playground and happy to go check out another one at Red Mountain. 

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…And since it is winter and you know I love it when it snows and the skiing is so much fun here. It is basically the main thing I can do with my friends and community right now and I am so grateful.  

This film is for those of you into crazy adventure sports and skiing at least in films, this is a young man age 22 from Nelson, BC (where I live) who is being heralded as the best skier in the world right now….what do you think? He is also very nice and humble. What sorts of sports do you like to watch? Or are you like me and you love to do them too? His mother was a gymnast and so is he. More of an aerialist gymnast on skis and steep mountains. Enjoy. And no I don’t do any flips or spins, tiny jumps sometimes…

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