Unschooling Journal March 7-13, 2021

This week, I was sick for most of the week, and so I didn’t do that much, so here is what I did from Thursday to Saturday! I didn’t do any coding this week. I went to my symphony class on Saturday, but that was it.

LC Response

I hope you are feeling much better Ethan.

I made a mini mini-golf course out of paper and tape.

Now this is really cool! How do you play? Did you make a mini golf club and balls out of paper too?

Have you played miniature golf?

I used to love it as a child and I would try to visualize what the ball was doing in all of the features and creatures.  This is the mini golf course I would play in Lake Tahoe: 

I did some language arts problems on Khan Academy. I tried out 8th grade for fun!

I did Brilliant every day that I wasn’t sick. This was about friction and forces.

After Brilliant introduces new challenges and concepts, do you find yourself researching more about it? 

I learned about the electric field.

I learned how you can calculate the impact velocity from a given height. Yes you can! 

I would imagine impact velocity would depend on weight whereas velocity does not? 

I learned how you can prove the quotient rule for derivatives using the product and chain rule.

I learned how to solve nested derivatives, which is where you have the derivative of a function containing another function.

I wish I knew more about derivatives in order to engage in meaningful communication about them. Sounds like you are learning more and more about them all the time. 

I made a video about the solar system. I did a lot of research into how big the planets are, and I also got some information from a book called “Solar System.”

Good for you, have you posted the video? 

 I also got many many MANY Uranus jokes.

Of course you did! I had a friend in high school who lived on Uranus street in San Francisco. He loved giving people directions, turn right and drive straight up Uranus….haha

It’s a bit inappropriate, but funny nonetheless. I guess you have to “read the room” or at least know how the jokes will be received. 

What sorts of changes did you make to your schedule and why? Looks great by the way. I thought you were working with paper and pencil schedules, but it is easier to make changes especially big ones in a digital format. 

I hope you are enjoying your spring break week. 

For week 28 due Sunday March 28th please fill out the template I posted in the Platform. It is a reflection on how you have grown and explored the “I Can Statements” from the fall. Please reach out if you have any questions. 

This is for you to consider in the weeks to come and beyond, no need to respond (this is not part of the Spring Connection, just an offering for this week). 

British Columbia has embraced the First Peoples Principles of Learning into the BC curriculum here they are:

Here are some questions to ponder in terms of your own ancestry and how it connects to first peoples principles of learning…..

Questions to ponder (regardless of the learner’s ancestry):

1. How do these principles of learning already appear in my child/family’s educational approach?
2. What does my child know about his/her/their ancestry? How can the history, cultural traditions, languages, spiritual practices, and stories of our ancestors be explored more fully in your family?
3. Why might knowing about our ancestors be important to our identity and our sense of belonging in the world?
4. How is your family going about including resources that are curated and created by indigenous folks in your everyday learning?
5. How might your family include more Canadian indigenous knowledge technologies into your everyday learning journey?