We started the week by going to a daytime astronomy event in Maple Ridge and ended the week with a birthday party for Ethan. He also attended a mountain biking camp so it was a busy week.
August 26
Ethan started the day by preparing a blog post about one of the videos he made.
Here’s another video he made about how the earth formed:
Then we headed out to Maple Ridge. We found out about the daytime astronomy event from a brochure we picked up at the Perseid meteor shower event. We have never been to Maple Ridge so it was a good opportunity to visit a new place.
The Watershed Stewardship Centre had some great educational signage to explain the purpose of the pond and how it works to manage stormwater.
Since it is also a hatchery, there were two ponds full of juvenile coho salmon and information about how many there are, when they will be released and when they will come back.
This is connected to the two salmon rearing ponds and we guessed it is where the salmon will be released.
We then made our way to the main building to check out the astronomy event.
We passed some empty salmon fry holding tanks.
We walked in just as a lecture about our sun was being given by a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. We’ve seen this guy before at different events. One day, I’ll have to get his name!
It was a very interesting lecture about how our sun works and what will eventually happen to it and earth.
I found it fascinating to see how Einstein’s theory of relativity was used.
And how/what sunspots are. We also heard about how long the sun has been studied by humans, which is about the 1600s.
We learned about how the solar flares from the sun can cause the aurora to be seen from different places depending on how strong the flares are.
We learned about CMEs (coronal mass ejections) and how they are more dangerous and more likely to hit earth than a massive asteroid.
We heard what will eventually happen to the sun and how earth will no longer be around in a few billion years. But the most interesting part of the whole lecture was that after it was done, I asked Ethan if he found it interesting and he said, “Kind of. I already knew all that stuff.” GAAAA! I had no idea he knew that much.
Anyway, it was still a good event. We saw a telescope that is used to view the sun and look for sunspots. We couldn’t try it because it was so cloudy. But we had a good time, nonetheless.
We went to Costco to do some grocery shopping then went to IKEA for dinner. We tried to find a Korean-Chinese restaurant but it was closed. Ethan was voting for IKEA, anyway. He ended up eating a lot of food!
When we got home, Ethan and I went upstairs to drop off a thank you gift to another neighbour. This one took us out for lunch last week so it was nice to be able to do something for them.
Ethan made a couple origami for them, too!
Time for more floor pong!
And more pool.
Ethan was determined to win tonight for some reason. He was using a lot of negative self-talk so we discussed how our words to ourselves can affect us. This seemed to help, as Ethan started playing better, instead of being too hard on himself.
He wanted to win by sinking the final ball, not because I had lost by sinking the 8 ball in the wrong pocket or scratching the cue ball when going for the 8 ball. He eventually did it. He won the final match by simply playing better and overcoming the challenges he had earlier.
When we got home, we read “What If?” and Ethan made a couple of swallows and gave me one.
August 27
First day back at mountain bike camp turned into an interesting one for Ethan because he had his first fall.
He said that he was trying to get something out of his pocket while riding a trail, then braked with one hand, but not realizing he was using the front brake and he lost control and fell. Lesson learned.
Certainly didn’t diminish his enthusiasm for riding his bike.
Chilling out at home with some reading about history.
Ethan then made a couple of videos. One video was about Egypt and the other was about LOG in math…
After making the videos, he did some language learning by using Babbel to learn Portugese.
He did some typing practice.
And he also read and took a break to go outside and ride his bike.
He made a new basketball hoop and tried to strengthen it so he could shoot a ball he made out of rubber bands. The rubber band ball is very bouncy.
We also talked about how the flash on the camera works better if you tilt it upwards. For instance, in the shot below, Ethan learned how the flash could produce a well-let shot without harsh shadows.
August 28
Back to mountain bike camp for the morning. Peddleheads is a great program, btw.
Back at home, he learned more about logarithm properties from Khan Academy.
He then did some work using Adobe AfterEffects to create animation videos.
The ice cube resembled a mushroom.
Ethan wrote a story about black holes.
Ethan then made a video about exponents with graphs.
At dinner time, Ethan practiced twirling spaghetti with a spoon and fork.
After dinner, we headed downstairs to play some pool.
We play different variations, depending on how we feel.
Before reading tonight, Ethan demonstrated how he made a bouncy ball from rubber bands.
We have been reading “The Tales of Beedle the Bard,” by J.K. Rowling and we finished it tonight before Ethan went to bed.
August 29
Ethan has been waking up at 7am this week and has been taking advantage of the extra time. For example, Ethan made some origami before we had to go to mountain bike camp.
There were instructions for making a fancy goldfish and some information about how much some goldfish can be worth, so I showed Ethan some pictures of what fancy goldfish look like. Here’s a lionhead goldfish…
Time for mountain bike camp.
But first, some chasing one of the instructors and trying to throw a burr at him.
Ethan likes washing off his bike after camp.
Playing outside after getting home.
A present from Auntie Connie and Uncle Shane came for Ethan’s birthday.
He learned about unit circle, something used in trigonometry.
We had a call with Natasha, Ethan’s LC from SelfDesign. We talked about what Ethan did over the summer and what we were hoping to achieve for this upcoming school year.
Ethan was good at answering questions from Natasha. After he was done, Dong Eun and I asked Natasha about how we could deepen his learning in both math and reading comprehension and writing.
Natasha told us how we could ask Ethan to look for ways that math concepts are applied, connected and the order of learning that needs to take place.
She also suggested that he write in the same style as certain authors or books, as well as asking him more open-ended questions about the stories he’s reading. All great ideas!
After the call, Ethan worked on his 2018/19 learning plan. He had to fill out the goals, activities or projects he wanted to work on. He had quite a few things so he needed to duplicate a few of these pages.
Winding down with some reading a book about STEAM projects.
August 30
Day 4 of mountain bike camp. We’re very grateful to live on the North Shore and be so close to world class mountain bike trails. Even better is how much Ethan loves riding on these trails.
Home from camp and relaxing with “The Martian,” again.
Ethan learned about the conditions of Mars.
Studying math with Khan Academy.
Ethan worked on a new video about the solar system.
It turned out to be tour of the solar system.
We encouraged him to record a voiceover for the video because we thought it would be much more engaging. It would also be great practice with GarageBand.
The audio worked out really well, but what was good was how he had to record within a certain amount of time. And he got to learn how to edit an audio file in GarageBand. Cool!
Here’s the completed video…
August 31
Last day of mountain biking camp. This session had fewer kids enrolled, which meant more time with the instructos to really improve.
He made a couple more videos today, too. One about black holes and one about how to make shapes with cubes.
Ethan will have a birthday party tomorrow so we talked about what activities he’d like to do. He said he’ll be wearing the poo emoji hat.
We went downstairs to play pool and floor pong.
We then continued to read, “The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole,” which is a story about an 11-year-old girl who is speaking to her recently deceased father. It’s fun, humorous and a touch sad.
We’re recording this book so that Ethan can listen to it again.
Before reading, Ethan showed me the different shapes of orbits.
September 1
Birthday party! Ethan planned activities for his friends and we reserved our building’s penthouse to host the party.
Started the day with some reading about math.
Feeling excited about being the birthday boy. We’ve had this badge for several years and he loves it.
Before the party, we did a whole home cleaning and Ethan helped by cleaning up the kitchen table.
He made an origami “ball” for a game he wanted to play during his party.
Getting the penthouse ready.
Looking forward to getting the party started. Beautiful day today!
Here are the activities Ethan planned.
After his friends came over, they played and then it was pizza time.
Popcorn pizza. I thought I ordered pepperoni! 🙂
And here’s the cake!
Time to open presents.
One of the kids made Ethan a pop up card because Ethan had previously made him a pop up card.
Apparently, Ethan already knew what Eldon’s present was going to be.
Group shot before heading outside to play.
We gave each kid a bubble wand and they soon discovered wind and high places makes a great automatic bubble blower.
After most of the kids had gone home, the remaining kids played ping pong and did some of the other activities they didn’t have time for earlier.
And finally, Nico and Paulo’s dad generously treated Ethan to a sushi dinner, which is his favourite, so he was very happy.
The week was eventful and a lot of fun with Ethan’s birthday party to end the week. It wasn’t his actual birthday because on his actual birthday he’ll be travelling to South Korea for a whole month!
With the school year officially starting this coming week, we are grateful that unschooling allows us to take time to travel. And that’s what the next month’s worth of posts will be about… the homeschooling experience while spending time abroad.
Week 1: Direct Contact
I had a wonderful Zoom meeting with Ethan and his parents. We caught up about the summer and talked about the year ahead with Self Design.
First I heard about the summer from Ethan. He told me he spent a lot of time with friends. He read a lot and mention to the stack of books behind him on the shelf. He is really interested in math, science, astronomy right now.
He made more videos of how to do stuff.
He also went on a van camping trip and reports that he likes the van again.
He really enjoys going to parks and beaches
When it got really smoky he mostly stayed home. He has been practicing his violin.
He is looking forward to his trip to Korea and planning for that right now. He wants to see what happens and learn from his experience there.
——————————————————-
Next, I heard more details from Ethan’s parents. They explained that they basically continued with homeschooling through the summer since it felt like such a good fit for Ethan and it felt natural to do so. They did spend more time outside and enjoyed more free time.
Ethan has his own Kayak and he spent quite a bit of time with a friend paddling in the ocean.
Ethan has been actively working on math and making videos to express what he is learning. He also attended a mountain bike camp to improve his riding skills. He has really enjoyed that.
He also went to an overnight meteor shower event. It was great, but unfourtunately too cludy to see shooting stars. They went on a camping trip to the sunshine coast.
Ethan has also been exploring making his own music and sampling with garage band. He taught himself how to play happy birthday from Youtube on the violin and presented it for his dad’s birthday.
Carl asked me how to go about deepening Ethan’s learning especially in math topics. He tends to jump around and they wanted some ideas as to how to go deeper and where he might go next.
I shared:
*consider how and where the topic is applied in the real world.
*have Ethan consider what other concepts or ideas the topic is connected to that he has already explored
*see if he can find this concept in the natural or man-made world around him
*have ethan ask a few questions he has about the topic and see where that leads
We also talked about writing, ways in which Ethan can communicate his ideas more clearly in the written form.
-I suggested moving away from summarizing reading and begin to answer open ended questions about his opinions, inferences, thoughts on a story or piece of writing.
A brief explination of open ended vs closed ended questions. Have ethan write his own open ended questions after he reads a text. Take turns answering them. Model writing for him too
-Have him make connections in his writing to himself, the larger world or other texts
-Have him try to emulate a style of writing or author
APRIL 28, 2011 BY: RACHEL LYNETTE
20 Literature Response Questions for Any Book
Here are 20 interesting literature response questions to use for discussion during literature circles or as writing prompts.
You can get all 64 Lit Spark Question cards here.
- What is the most interesting thing you know about the main character of your book?
- Think about a setting in your book. If you were in the setting, what are some things you might see?
- Describe an important event from your book and tell why it is important.
- Who is your favorite character in your book? Why is this character your favorite?
- What do you think happened just before your story started?
- If you could give the main character in your book some advice, what would you tell him or her?
- Is your book more funny or more serious? Why do you think so?
- What point of view is your book written in? How do you know?
- Do you like the main character of your book? Why or why not?
- Think of an important event in your book. How would the story have changed if this event had not happened?
- If you were in the story, what would your relationship be to the main character?
- List three facts about this book. Then, list three opinions about it.
- If you could ask the main character of this book three questions, what would you ask?
- Think about your book. Then finish this sentence in 3 different ways: I wonder….
- Thinks of a new title for you your book. Why do you think this is a good title?
- Do you think this book was well written? Why or why not?
- In what ways would this book be different if it were set 100 years in the past?
- What is the main conflict that the main character in your book must face?
- What are some important relationships in your book?
- Think about a supporting character in your book. How would the book be different if that character did not exist?
Recent Comments