A busy week of science and math, as well as a hike to end this week of unschooling. One of the thing’s Ethan has really enjoyed is the weekly workshop hosted by SelfDesign. He was looking forward to it all week so thank you to SelfDesign for hosting the workshop.
September 15
Sunday. Coding a platform game in Scratch.Grocery delivery brought a lot of dry ice for Ethan to play with.
September 16
Waking up on a Monday morning and taking time to read Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics. He’s read this book so many times. We’re trying to encourage him to read new books, reminding him that he can always re-read his favourites.He added to his history timeline. Notice the guy that brought a gun?Russia defeated the Germans on an ice lake.He learned how to solve for time using Khan Academy.He learned about discontinuities.He wrote what he did in his journal.He did his music notation homework.After violin and taekwondo class, we went to the library.Ethan found some history books.
September 17
He learned about vinyl acetate, how it was used and the potential harmful effects of it.He studied physics and learned about speed and velocity.He learned about continuity at a point.He did some language arts practice using an article from Canadian Reader.Cursive practice writing “s.”That night, he said he was a little bored but he got a package in the mail with a piece of string for doing cat’s cradle. He had the book from before.He’s been watching some interesting math lessons on Khan Academy where the teacher uses a notebook and speeds up the video while narrating. In this video, he learned about borromean rings.
September 18
Today was Soaring Eagle Nature School day.
After he got home, he made this optical illusion drawing.He also did some coding in Python.
Afterwards, Ethan had taekwondo class. Wednesday’s are very full days but he loves nature school.
September 19
SelfDesign workshop time! He said that his favourite part is when they have the breakout groups. He had to finish about 15 minutes early because he has swimming lessons.We went to the library for a little bit after swimming.He likes the Horrible Histories books.Learning about doodling in math and whether Shakespeare’s plays were encoded within pi or not.Making a flip book while listening to the math lesson.He learned about dragon dungeons.He made a He did some work in physics , learning about acceleration.Learning about infinite limits.He learned about the upcoming federal election in Canada and about initialism from Canadian Reader.He practiced writing cursive “r” and said it looked weird.
September 20
He learned about intermediate value theorem.He learned about acceleration vs time.He watched a Crash Course episode about Chinese history.He added more to his history timeline.Learning and writing about binary systems.Watching a Crash Course episode on astronomy and the history of the universe.Spanish practice using Duolingo.Practiced “w” today.He made a hexaflexagon and a game to go with it.You move around the board based on the number you get in the hexaflexagon.
September 21
He got a print of the photo from his symphony class.We went to the library in betwen symphony and swimming lessons. He tread water for 3 minutes and swam 400 meters.In the afternoon, we went to Lighthouse Park with Ethan’s friend Kal and his little brother.They loved running in the forest, playing hide and seek and when we got to the ocean, they played on the rocks and made things on the beach.It was a fun few hours of hiking and playing.Back after hiking and Ethan did some coding in Scratch.He also learned about Fibonacci numbers on Khan Academy.
With two swimming lessons a week, taekwondo and nature school, Ethan’s been more active so far than last year and it seems like he isn’t as tired. He’s also been ramping up his math and science studies. With the SelfDesign workshop, this has helped Ethan in terms of interacting with other home learners and we might try to find other classes where he can collaborate with other kids. Let’s see what next week brings on Ethan’s unschooling journey.
LC shorter response
I have to say this is one of his best optical illusions drawing’s I have seen of his so far. This ladder really looks like it is floating! Hello Ethan and Carl, Once again I am at a loss for words a bit after ready this week’s observing for learning. I am just in awe, especially of the eta carinae video. I think with a little bit of editing, he could submit to this NASA to show what he as a 6th grader is synthesizing and explaining to others in a visual way. Here I am at the end of the week trying to find the best responses and questions to support this wonderous learning journey that Ethan is on. But I will try: Can you tell me which Self Design workshop he is participating in? I would love to hear more about the content and how he finds connecting to other Sd learners in this online way. How fun that the grocery delivery uses dry ice. Here are a few ideas for ways to play/experiment with it: https://www.thoughtco.com/cool-dry-ice-projects-606405Freeze a soap bubble over a piece of dry ice. The bubble will appear to float in the air over the dry ice. You can pick up the bubble and examine it.How is Ethan finding handwriting? I see he is practicing which is great. I am curious about this statement, I would like to hear more from Ethan about this : whether Shakespeare’s plays were encoded within pi or not.What are his thoughts and findings about this? Has he read any Shakespeare? What would be the purpose or connection of pi and Shakespear’s writing? Tell me more….I really liked this image of working with Fibonacci numbers. Here are some examples of the sequence in art and nature. I am not sure if this is too advanced or of interest to Ethan, but just a suggestion: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271449804_Encounters_with_the_golden_ratio_in_fluid_dynamicsThis paper suggests that the golden ratio, prominent in nature and art, has also its presence in fluid dynamics. The first example draws from the investigation of the resonance in wind tunnels with ventilated walls. Using acoustic wave theory, the reciprocal golden ratio is shown to determine the critical Mach number below which refraction is possible and above which total reflection takes place. The second example concerns the vortex merger, such as observed in aircraft turbulence and large-scale atmospheric or oceanic flows. Based on a numerical simulation and available experimental data, a conjecture is made that the distance below which two identical Rankine vortices merge and above which they do not is the product of the vortex diameter and golden ratio. Keywords: golden ratio, wind tunnel resonance, vortex merger. 1 Introduction The ratio b a = Φ , 0 > > b a is termed \“golden” if a b a b a + = , implying that the ratio between the greater part, a , and the smaller part, b , is equal to the ratio between the whole, b a + , and the greater part, a . Combining the above equations yields 1 1 − Φ + = Φ , (1)
The Eta Carane-no, Carinae Cystem
This video is about what the eta carinae system is all about: so weird!
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