Playing catch up with the blog the last couple of weeks. So this one is going to be mostly visual with minimal explanation. However, on April 1 Ethan explained Graham’s Number so that required some typing. Unschooling has been good overall, though we are trying to encourage Ethan to try more writing and develop his language arts skills because we feel they are important if he is to communicate his ideas and think creatively. Might take a bit of time 🙂
April 1
Ethan made an iPad stand using his Rubik’s Snake puzzle.
Solving one of his puzzles.
Trying to recreate the early solar system in Universe Sandbox 2.
Always thinking about math.
Practicing fractions.
Depositing some allowance and gift money.
We hung out at the beach playground where Ethan made a new friend.
Ethan explained Graham’s Number
Ethan was watching a video about large numbers and told me what an n dimensional hypercube is. Apparently, this is a 4D shape and n represents the number of faces the shape has.
Then he began talking about Graham’s Number and how incredibly large it is.
Basically, he used mathematical expressions(?) for how to describe large numbers:
3↑3 = 27
3↑↑3 = 7.6 trillion
3↑↑↑3 = 3↑↑3↑↑3; this equals 3 to the power of 3 to the power of 3 to the power of 3… 7.6 trillion times.
3↑↑↑↑3 = 3↑↑↑3↑↑↑3; this number is so big that it can’t even be imagined. And we can just call it G1.
Now take G1 and 3↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑…3 and put G1 number of arrows until the 3 and this would be G2.
And then G2 and 3↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑…3 and put G2 number of arrows until the 3 and this would be G3.
Repeat this process until you reach G64, which is Graham’s Number.
We went to my cousin’s place and Ethan came along so he could play with his cousins. They played a Chinese dice game.
April 2
This day was spent mostly with his friend, Kal.
Making a maze.
Hanging out at the beach.
Making stick bombs.
Kal stayed for dinner, too.
Learning about 4D shapes and how they are created with individual 3D shapes.
April 3
Taekwondo was today, but there was a lot going on before heading to class.
These note cards are for good behaviour. He puts a red card in a jar for each good behaviour. Ten red cards equal a yellow card. If he has 10 yellow cards, he gets a blue card. If he gets 10 blue cards, he gets a prize. This system was Ethan’s idea.
He figured out that he would need 1000 red cards to get a prize.
Doing some coding and playing games.
Seeing what happens when three Saturns come close to one another.
Practiced yoga with Dong Eun.
Learning about how computers work.
Practicing subtracting fractions.
And converting improper fractions to mixed numbers.
Read Classroom Ready National Science News, September 2017. Read about space exploration plans and rip currents.
We also read an article about possible life in the clouds of Venus. Could be microbes.
Ethan asked to see if Venus was in the habitable zone, but from a map we saw, it’s not. He saw Proximus Centauri b on the map and explained how it’s the closest planet to us orbiting its own star. He knew exactly how far away Proximus Centauri b is from earth (4.2 light years).
Photo by Chester Harman – Send to me personally upon request, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64107813
April 4
A day at nature school is always a fun day for Ethan. He really enjoys the time with the other children and learning about nature.
Ethan brought home this very nice pine cone.
At home, he continued to practice with his Rubik’s Cube by solving different scenarios one can encounter.
He made a video about impossible scenarios on the Rubik’s Cube…
Later, he worked on comparing proper fractions using some worksheets we found online.
Ethan practiced the violin and has been doing so regularly.
More stick bombs!
He learned about blue hypergiant stars, but he meant to look up blue supergiant stars. Ethan said they’re actually the same thing.
April 5
Ethan began his day with his Rubik’s Cubes; once again working on solving different scenarios.
He practiced yoga with Dong Eun after breakfast.
Then he did some work with comparing fractions while enjoying a snack sent from Korea by his auntie.
He also worked on converting decimals to fractions.
The plumber came by to some work on the building’s drains and needed to remove our toilet. Ethan was quite curious so he hung out and watched as the plumber pulled out our toilet. Drains are fine, btw 🙂
Reading and more reading. This was a stop motion animation book.
We’ve been trying to introduce history and these Horrible Histories books have been helpful.
Next up was time using Universe Sandbox 2.
And watching videos about the earth and our solar system.
Along with learning about meridians.
Taekwondo time!
Back at home, he read a book on mapping.
He also practiced fractions and this actually came from a real-life situation. We asked him something about the math behind the situation so he had a chance to do the calculation. Can’t remember what the situation was, though!
Ethan talked about rogue planets and dwarf planets…How they form, why they exist, how the earth was hit by a dwarf planet called Theia that was the size of Mars. That’s how the moon was formed. The moon caused our rotation to slow from 6 hours to 24 hours a day.
Read a story in Classroom Ready Science News about the hyperloop and how fast it can go. Potentially, you can go 1,500km from Vancouver to Saskatoon in 1.5 hours.
We then read the discussion question about how transportation may change in 25 years. Ethan said we may each of flying transportation devices. I mentioned teleportation and we looked up what that was.
We read that Chinese scientists teleported information in a photon out into space into another photon. One theory for how teleportation can work is you would be disintegrated and your doppelganger would be rematerialized in another place. T
hat led to finding out what a doppelganger is and playing with Google’s Arts & Culture app.
April 6
Ethan made a staircase to demonstrate the habitable zone of our solar system, how each part of the staircase is different and how the earth is located in just the right place for life to exist.
He practiced ordering fractions. Whenever he doesn’t know how to do something on a worksheet, he uses the help your kids with math book or Khan Academy videos to figure things out.
He then practiced yoga with Dong Eun.
Ethan and Dong Eun spent time at the Vancouver Public Library while I was at a client’s office. This was a great way to get out of the apartment and do something different.
Later that day, we went to Simon Fraser University for an event called Starry Night at the university’s observatory. If the night was clear, we’d be able to use the observatory’s telescope to view objects in space.
In front of the observatory were plaques that gave distances and stats using exponents. Ethan loved this.
A constellation chart outside the observatory. We were a bit too early and it was still light out, so we went for some food.
When it was finally dark, we made our way back to the observatory and Ethan noticed a spider building a web inside a lamp.
Ethan loved being in the observatory and was hoping to see some objects in space. Unfortunately, it got cloudy and we weren’t able to see anything other than clouds!
However, the event is hosted by university astronomy students who were there to also answer questions.
Ethan stood right in front hanging on every word. When they asked questions, he was a bit shy to answer but he said he knew the answers to all their questions about the solar system.
We’ll definitely be back as the event is scheduled for every week; however, it is cancelled if the weather isn’t cooperating.
April 7
Breakfast started with Ethan helping out. He drew a face into his avocado 🙂
Ethan learned some stop motion techniques.
He then practiced comparing fractions.
And practiced yoga again.
He practiced adding decimals.
And made a new stop motion video; actually, he made a few.
Here are the videos he made today…
The week was full of activities and learning for Ethan. We like that he can explore topics he finds interesting, such as the stop motion videos and even fractions.
Since this post was quite late, I’ll wrap up and include more thoughts in the following posts.
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