Unschooling Journal May 8 – 14, 2022

by | May 18, 2022 | Blog | 0 comments

This week was pretty good! I worked on quite a lot of coding challenges. What’s a coding challenge? Well, it’s exactly what it sounds like. More detail is below! Anyway, I did a lot of math (calculus) and science (NVOL). I also did Spanish (Duolingo) and Brilliant (Brilliant). I also did some Big History on Khan Academy.

I did some Big History. I learned about the future and what might happen this week. I learned about the biosphere and how if humans don’t stop changing it, it will be hard to recover!
I did some Spanish on Duolingo. I learned about 45 words this week, such as “lavarse,” meaning “to wash.”
I started studying for the unit test on NVOL Science. I’m probably going to go in for the test next week.
I watched videos about AP calculus Course on Khan Academy.
I learned about how to search things properly on a search engine. For example, you can add a “+” operator to indicate that you want to search for this thing AND this thing. Or you could use a “-” operator to indicate to search for this thing but exclude searches for this thing.
I did some more Griffpatch speedrunning! It’s basically to play a game on Scratch as fast as possible. The footage is on my YouTube channel.
I did a coding challenge over the weekend. I basically challenged myself to make a 100% pen project on Scratch! This 100% pen project is a prototype of a shooter game made of 100% pen.
What is a 100% pen project? Well, there are a few rules for a project to be 100% pen.
1. You are ONLY allowed ONE sprite.
2. That one sprite can only have one costume: the drawing costume. (most people leave this drawing costume blank)
3. The whole project has to have the pen extension installed.
4. The pen then has to draw everything which sometimes includes the background too.
5. (not exactly a rule) Pen projects usually have a lot of code, and if you’re planning on making one, you should have a basic understanding of some trigonometry, Pythagoras, and how to point toward an x, y position. Also, you should be comfortable with variables and lists.

This clicker game (work in progress) is a 100% pen project.

LC Response

Hi Ethan,

Thanks for explaining a lot about what you’re doing in coding! I was also interested to see that you’re looking at AP Calculus and I see you’re coming along really well with Spanish. 45 new words in a week is a lot! We are indeed going to be in a difficult situation with our biosphere — in fact we already are and I hope we’re able to improve the situation soon! Have you taken a look at the Climate Change Learning Experience section of the SD Library?

Good luck with the Science test!

I’m keeping this response short as I’m working on your Year End Summary. You have only one more Observing for Learning to write this year, for week 35. If you like, instead of regular Observing for Learning you can share a couple of your biggest highlights of the year and a couple of plans you have for the summer.

Best,

Shannon

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