My friend Charles is a professional magician who used to perform around the US and abroad. He knew that Ethan likes magic, so he gave Ethan a magic book for a gift. Ethan loved the book and read it as soon as he woke up in the morning.
Magic is so much fun. I can imagine he is devouring his new magic book. What sorts of magic tricks are of most interest to him? Cards? Slight of hand?
There is a whole section on Magic in the SD Library: https://selfdesign.learning.powerschool.com/selfdesignlearning/library/cms_page/view/29568006
There is also a slideshow of novels with magical themes:
https://selfdesign.learning.powerschool.com/selfdesignlearning/library/cms_page/view/29568006
Ethan still likes carving sticks with his Leatherman tool. He does this whenever he has the time or is feeling bored. He is good at finding things to do to occupy his time.
On the way to the National Gallery of Art, we saw this memorial and left a lavender flower.
We passed through the sculpture garden and Ethan loved the optical illusion of the house.
How about these wonderful optical illusions?
http://www.optics4kids.org/home/content/illusions/
What if you drove up to this crosswalk? In the text block below…
The National Gallery of Art had a scavenger hunt for kids, so Ethan found that interesting.
At night, he spent time helping Dong Eun with her hair. As I mentioned before, he loves finding ways to connect with his mom, which is really sweet.
Ethan always finds things to play with from what we have lying around. For example, he wanted to use an empty cookie tin as a hat, but decided it was better to hold the rocks he’s been collecting on the trip. We let him keep some of the more unique ones he’s found.
We went to Washington DC again, and again, Ethan wanted to climb the trees.
We were headed to the Lincoln Memorial and passed by the Martin Luther King Memorial. I explained who he was to Ethan and the period in history where segregation and racism were “normal” in America.
How does Ethan do with comprehending these more difficult social and historical phenomenon? Does he ask a lot of questions? Or tend to be more reflective and absorb the information?
I recommend listening or reading MLK’s I Have a Dream Speech. It is powerful and still very relevant today embeded video below:
At the Korean War Memorial, Dong Eun explained to Ethan about the war and what the memorial meant for her.
After Lincoln, we visited the African American History Museum. It wasn’t particularly kid friendly, but Ethan enjoyed the art section.
And for dinner, we met a friend of mine and his family. Charles and I have been Internet friends for about 5 years and we met for the first time in person. Charles has an 8 year old daughter named Avalon. Avalon and Ethan had a great time playing together.
This is so exciting. It reminds me of how i have several Self Design families whom I have never met, but had online relationships with for years. I hope to meet all of my students in person someday.
Washington, DC
Where else are you headed in the USA? Will you be taking a more southerly route back? I can’t wait to see what incredible places this road trip brings your family.
First day here and we wanted to see some of the major monuments.
Ethan made a paper wallet for his US bills that we gave him as part of his allowance.
How does Ethan feel about one dollar bills and pennies? Does he like them or think that the US should eliminate them the way Canada has?
We were lucky enough to meet a professor of anthropology who recently retired from the Museum of Natural History. He gave us a history lesson about Washington while we walked with him. It was great for all of us to learn from him. His specialty is actually native Indian culture and he’s traveled to BC and other areas of Canada for his research.
Ethan was busy taking photos on this day, as well as climbing just about every tree he saw. He made hearts or found them in leaves as we walked.
When we went to the Library of Congress, we were turned away because Ethan had packed his Leatherman tool, which has a knife. They wouldn’t allow us in and suggested we hide the tool outside while visiting the library. Ethan was disappointed by what happened and worried about security checks at other places. Hmm, good learning here for Ethan. I can imagine how disappointed and surprised he must have been. He is just a kid with a carving knife! Unfourtunately, there have to be strict rules about knives and guns, especially in the US where there is so much more violence.
Times like these are good opportunities to talk about putting a positive spin on things. We talked about why they don’t allow knives, as well as having time to relax with a hot chocolate, instead of more walking. Visiting Washington DC requires a lot of patience and walking, so we needed the rest.
We also talked as a family about how we can communicate better, and the habits we’ve noticed in each other that we’d like to change.
Do you have regular family meetings where you check in about things?
Are you familiar with Nonviolent Communication? I find it an effective way to express one’s feels and requests based on observed behavior in others and one’s own feelings about it. It really separates the person from the behavior or action in a constructive way.
Nonviolent Communication (abbreviated NVC, also called Compassionate Communication or Collaborative Communication) is a communication process developed by Marshall Rosenberg that emerged from work he was doing with civil rights activists in the early 1960s, and that during this period he also mediated between rioting students and college administrators, and worked to peacefully desegregate public schools in long-segregated regions.
Nonviolent Communication focuses on three aspects of communication:
1. Self-empathy (defined as a deep and compassionate awareness of one’s own inner experience).
2 Empathy (understanding and sharing an emotion expressed by another)
3. Honest self-expression (defined as expressing oneself authentically in a way that is likely to inspire compassion in others).
Nonviolent Communication is based on the idea that all human beings have the capacity for compassion. Rosenberg developed the theory that habits of thinking and speaking that lead to the use of violence (psychological and physical) are learned through culture. NVC theory supposes all human behaviour stems from attempts to meet universal human needs and that these needs are never in conflict. Rather, conflict arises when strategies for meeting needs clash. NVC proposes that if people can identify their needs, the needs of others, and the feelings that surround these needs, harmony can be achieved.
While NVC is often taught as a process of communication designed to improve compassionate connection to others, it has also been interpreted as a spiritual practice, a set of values, a parenting technique, an educational method and a worldview. The following workshop showcases Marshal Roseberg, the pioneer of this groundbreaking method, leading a live audience through NVC basics in a 3 hour workshop in San Francisco.
Iceland Slows Traffic with Stunning Optical Illusion
By Jessica Stewart on October 24, 2017
The use of illusion in art is nothing new, but a small town in Iceland is using the effect to help with public safety and traffic issues. In the small fishing village of Ísafjörður, a 3D pedestrian crossing was painted last month in an effort to slow traffic on a narrow street. The eye-popping illusion gives the effect of walking on air as pedestrians move from one side of the street to the other.
Environmental commissioner Ralf Trylla came up with the idea after seeing a similar project in New Delhi, India. Trylla was researching creative ideas on how to slow traffic when he stumbled upon the India project and came together with street painting company Vegmálun GÍH to create the effect. They experimented for several weeks before perfecting the technique and painting the crosswalk.
The visual effect is striking, as the optical illusion shifts depending on your perspective. From the air, the white stripes jump up, making them appear as a column of walls. While at ground level, the bars seem to hover just above the ground. Right now the project is experimental, with the town seeing what effect the creative zebra crossing will have before deciding if they’d like to roll out more in other areas of the village.
In Iceland, a 3D crosswalk is making the streets safer—and more fun to cross—by slowing down traffic.
After weeks of practice, the optical illusion took shape on the road.
Photo: Ágúst G. Atlason
Environmental commissioner Ralf Trylla suggested the idea after discovering the success of a 3D crossing in New Dehli, India.
My friend Charles is a professional magician who used to perform around the US and abroad. He knew that Ethan likes magic, so he gave Ethan a magic book for a gift. Ethan loved the book and read it as soon as he woke up in the morning.
Ethan still likes carving sticks with his Leatherman tool. He does this whenever he has the time or is feeling bored. He is good at finding things to do to occupy his time.
On the way to the National Gallery of Art, we saw this memorial and left a lavender flower.
We passed through the sculpture garden and Ethan loved the optical illusion of the house.
The National Gallery of Art had a scavenger hunt for kids, so Ethan found that interesting.
At night, he spent time helping Dong Eun with her hair. As I mentioned before, he loves finding ways to connect with his mom, which is really sweet.
Ethan always finds things to play with from what we have lying around. For example, he wanted to use an empty cookie tin as a hat, but decided it was better to hold the rocks he’s been collecting on the trip. We let him keep some of the more unique ones he’s found.
We went to Washington DC again, and again, Ethan wanted to climb the trees.
We were headed to the Lincoln Memorial and passed by the Martin Luther King Memorial. I explained who he was to Ethan and the period in history where segregation and racism were “normal” in America.
At the Korean War Memorial, Dong Eun explained to Ethan about the war and what the memorial meant for her.
After Lincoln, we visited the African American History Museum. It wasn’t particularly kid friendly, but Ethan enjoyed the art section.
And for dinner, we met a friend of mine and his family. Charles and I have been Internet friends for about 5 years and we met for the first time in person. Charles has an 8 year old daughter named Avalon. Avalon and Ethan had a great time playing together.
Washington, DC
First day here and we wanted to see some of the major monuments.
Ethan made a paper wallet for his US bills that we gave him as part of his allowance.
We were lucky enough to meet a professor of anthropology who recently retired from the Museum of Natural History. He gave us a history lesson about Washington while we walked with him. It was great for all of us to learn from him. His specialty is actually native Indian culture and he’s traveled to BC and other areas of Canada for his research.
Ethan was busy taking photos on this day, as well as climbing just about every tree he saw. He made hearts or found them in leaves as we walked.
When we went to the Library of Congress, we were turned away because Ethan had packed his Leatherman tool, which has a knife. They wouldn’t allow us in and suggested we hide the tool outside while visiting the library. Ethan was disappointed by what happened and worried about security checks at other places.
Times like these are good opportunities to talk about putting a positive spin on things. We talked about why they don’t allow knives, as well as having time to relax with a hot chocolate, instead of more walking. Visiting Washington DC requires a lot of patience and walking, so we needed the rest.
We also talked as a family about how we can communicate better, and the habits we’ve noticed in each other that we’d like to change.
Driving to Washington DC.
Ethan received a new cube from Dong Eun’s friend who is living in NYC. So we downloaded instructions for solving the cube, which Ethan read and worked on for most of the day.
The guy in the NY Giants jersey, who we met at a rest stop, claimed to be a Giants practise roster player. He likely wasn’t, and got $10 out of us for gas after telling us a pretty good story about himself. He was nice and polite, in spite of what the picture shows. I’m including this because Ethan was around while we spoke with him and he said later that he didn’t really trust the guy. Neither did we, so it was a good experience in trusting our instincts when meeting strangers. We’ve been more cautious since.
Ethan spent quite a lot of time that day making videos for his YouTube channel. He had a goal to reach 20 subscribers and had written it in his bullet journal. He was happy that he reached his goal, so he wanted to make more videos. Unfortunately, he hasn’t completed the uploading because the Internet was slow and he didn’t have time.
We went grocery shopping. Nowadays, we let Ethan do as much as possible to help with shopping and paying for groceries.
That night, we spent time playing games as a family and Ethan practised some yoga before bed, as he likes to connect with Dong Eun in so many different ways.
We went to Central Park and saw the Empire State Building, but the main destination was the Museum of Mathematics. This was a great place for Ethan to see how math is used in a variety of ways. He loved it. The last photo is a chart he made for the rewards he’d like to get if he does a certain number of good deeds/acts over a period of time. I think it was a week. Interesting that one of the rewards he wants is more play time with us. I think we’ve been driving and seeing so many things that we need to remember to slow down and spend time just hanging out as a family, doing nothing.
Photos from November 13 in NYC.
It was Dong Eun’s birthday when we arrived, so Ethan and I both made cards for Dong Eun. Ethan even gave her a present… A dollar bill, because he knows that Koreans usually give money to their parents as a gift.
We also wrote messages for a kindness event they were having.
Ethan used some allowance money to buy a mini Rubik’s Cube to add to his collection.
And we went to the NYC public library to do some reading.
NOTE: I wrote this post several times, but the changes weren’t saved and I lost the writing when I tried adding images to the post. It was quite frustrating, so I’ve had to shorten the rewrite due to time constraints. I also realized I could upload the photos as a gallery and then just write about them, so that’s what I’ve done from November 13th onward.
Anyway…
We had a busy week. I wasn’t even able to blog because we traveled from Massachusettes to New York to Washington, DC, where we still are. So I’ll recap what we did in each state, thus far.
Massachusettes – Walden Pond
Dong Eun has dreamed of coming here for a long time, so this was mainly a place for her. But Ethan has read a children’s book on Thoreau, so he knew who he was and what he did. We are trying to live a more simple life, so we hope Ethan was inspired by being at Walden Pond.
Ethan found a book on composting that he was interested in and found a Kindle version to read. We were surprised that this was of interest to him because we haven’t talked about this topic.
Ethan made a type of snow globe using crayon shavings and paper.
He also made a coin holder because we started giving him his allowance again to learn money management skills.
Ethan also made his own multiplication exercises, and he practised some math from his workbook. He loves math.
Then he made a lot of hearts for Dong Eun. This is something he loves doing… finding or making hearts for his mom. She loves it, too.
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