A little late with this one so let’s dive right into this week’s unschooling journal with Ethan.
October 7
The morning started with some origami.
He then wanted to make a big origami flasher.
And a small flasher.
Cross-cube. A 3×3 mod where you remove the corner pieces.
Learning to tie ribbons for some gifts brought back from the trip to Korea.
Sorting through gifts and picking ones to give his cousins who were coming over for Thanksgiving dinner.
Prepared a new to-do list for this school year.
Picked some online resources that he likes.
Printed out his SelfDesign learning plan so that he can regularly see it.
Had Thanksgiving dinner with grandparents and cousins. The organic turkey was amazing.
That night, Ethan made a video about the Rubik’s cube and edited it in iMovie. He’s been using iMovie more nowadays.
October 8
After filming another cube video, he edited the video for publishing to his YouTube channel.
Practice estimating square roots of numbers that are not perfect squares. He practiced without a calculator. The calculator was used to check his answers and see how close he could get to a perfect square.
For example, he tried to find the square root of 102.
Playing chess with non-chess pieces.
He wanted to make a stop-motion video of a chess match.
A chess match with a snack break in the middle of it!
We then went to a friend’s place where Ethan got to play some video games. Ethan doesn’t usually get to play any videos games at home, but when he’s at someone’s house, it’s fine. He loves it, of course.
BC Exam Bank math practice to see where he’s at.
This was a bit of a logic question and it tripped him up. I think it was mostly because he assumed what the answer was, rather than working through it. These exams are a good way for Ethan to fill in gaps in his learning.
October 9
A Northern Saw Whit Owl. This is Ethan’s new nature name that he was given at Soaring Eagle Nature School.
His things to do list that he made.
“What in the World” is one of the SelfDesign subscriptions and Ethan has been practicing his reading comprehension with the articles. He’s gotten much better at writing complete sentences. He sometimes forgets, but overall, has improved this area of his writing.
A lesson about how to beat adults at tug-of-war from an online learning platform called Mystery Science. This is one of the websites Ethan has access to as part of SelfDesign.
A chart to track his jogging times.
Learning about elements with Gizmos, another learning platform. We like this one because there are several lessons for each topic.
Ethan learned about the plastic straw ban that will take place in Vancouver next year.
He learned about scale drawings in the Teach Your Kids Math book.
Then, he practiced scale drawings in IXL.
It was time for taekwondo class, so Ethan rode his bike and I took his scooter. It was a fun way to go to the community centre and a great way to enjoy the lovely fall weather, too.
After taekwondo class, we spent some time at the library.
Ethan learned about forces that push and pull from that lesson about the tug-of-war. There was a follow-up video showing how to make a hopping toy so Ethan made one to try out.
The ruler is used to hold down the cardboard. When you slide the ruler out, the cardboard jumps into the air because of the pulling force from the elastic. Very cool.
Adding a picture of a frog to the hopper.
This is a chart for cleaning up after himself. On the left is when he’s cleaned up and on the right is when he hasn’t. The character is the number 5 and is used to count how many times he cleaned up in a day.
October 10
Morning before nature school and reading on his Kindle.
He packed his own bag today.
He wrote his new nature name down on the print out of his nature name animal from last year.
Kal’s mom was driving so we headed over to their place.
After nature school, we went to the local used sporting goods store and got Ethan a new pair of ice skates, as his were way too small.
Then it was time to fuel up with some Vietnamese pho noodles for dinner.
After dinner, we headed to the local ice rink to try out the new skates. Ethan had a great time skating and we’ll be doing this every week from now on.
We went to buy some dessert after a fun skating session.
What a day. But still time to read some jokes while getting ready for bed.
Listening to me read The Secret Garden while solving the Mega Minx.
October 11
Started the day with more geometry. This time, learning about symmetry.
Khan Academy has been a great resource to expand and deepen Ethan’s learning.
After taekwondo, we went to buy a gift for Ethan’s friend’s birthday and Ethan spent some time looking for math books.
Ethan also had gymnastics class today and was showing us his handstand practice.
Ethan worked on a more detailed version of his things to do list. He also organized it by days of the week to break down the tasks he needs to complete.
October 12
He learned more about how plastic garbage is such a massive problem.
He decided that we should have a plastic-free home campaign to reduce our use of plastic.
Next, he learned about how water flows down rivers and conducted an experiment to see how water flows.
He learned about how all rivers eventually arrive at the ocean.
We then used Google Maps’ topography function to see where local rivers were and where they flowed down from.
Ethan has also been helping our neighbour, Jane, to check her mail and water her plants while she’s away travelling.
Afterwards, Ethan learned about hexadecimals.
He wrote out hexadecimals.
Then he learned about binary numbers and hexadecimals.
Converting to binary numbers on his calculator.
Converting to hexadecimals.
He used an online hexadecimal to binary converter.
We read this a while back, but as is often the case, Ethan likes re-reading certain books. This time, it was Gulliver’s Travels, which is a book he got from Jane, actually.
Used toast for counting practice. Squares were 100s, long thin ones were 10s and the cubes were 1s. Ate them after!
Talking about base 12 from one of the stories in Gulliver’s Travels.
He made a video about solving the Mega Minx.
And he practiced violin.
He learned about how the eye works.
He tried making a pop-up card with folding flowers for his friend Eldon’s birthday party.
But decided to make a different type of pop-up card, instead, as the flower one was a little more challenging than he expected.
He practiced his blue belt taekwondo pattern by following a video.
We read The Secret Garden before he went to bed.
October 13
Today was the first practice for a strings orchestra that Ethan joined. This is put on by the West Vancouver Youth Band and the leader is Ethan’s violin teacher. He quite enjoyed learning a new song and playing violin with some other children.
When he got home, he practiced what he learned.
We then met my parents and went to the cemetary to pay respects to Ethan’s great grandparents, as well as his great-great grandmother. This was for a special Chinese celebration, which is the 9th day of the 9th month in the Lunar calendar.
We then went for lunch at a place near my parents’ house and ran into one of my cousins and her kids. Ethan showed Matthew how to solve the Rubik’s Cube.
We then went to my parents’ house and had Ethan pick figs from the neighbour’s fig tree, as it’s literally growing into my parents’ yard. We’ve known the neighbour for years and they’re very happy that someone is taking the figs.
We also got some vegetables from my parents’ garden.
My cousin’s family came over to our place later that afternoon to hang out, so it was another chance for Ethan to play with these cousins. We don’t see them very often so this was a good time for them to bond.
Day’s not over! Now it was time to go to Eldon’s birthday party at the lazer tag place. Kal was also invited so off we went.
I couldn’t go into the laser part so we only have pics from the pizza time.
There was rock climbing after the food.
Next, it was time for cake. Apparently, Eldon has two girlfriends.
What a week! Can’t wait to see what the next one brings.
I will only be responding to a few key points I pulled from Ethan’s week 7. He does so many wonderful and exciting things each and every week.
I was particularly struck this week by how reflective and proactive Ethan is becoming of his daily learning. He is making to do lists for the day as well as wanting to see his yearly learning plan to monitor and reflect on. Please let me know for the Fall Reflection if he would like to revise his learning plan in anyway. I am eager to adjust and include his new interests and activities as they develop.
I am quite a list maker myself. I make daily, weekly, monthly lists as well as dreams and goals to accomplish in a year or more. I keep a handwritten calendar (or two) and love to the act of physically writing, editing and crossing things off my list. I can relate to Ethan’s process in this way.
Ethan Prepared a new to-do list for this school year.
Picked some online resources that he likes.
Printed out his SelfDesign learning plan so that he can regularly see it.
His things to do list that he made. https://selfdesign.learning.powerschool.com/selfdesignlearning/library/cms_page/view/35616424
Ethan is not only unschooling but engaging more and more in self designing. There is an entire learning experience now in the Library on Self Designing if you would like to see more. I copied a relevant article and image below:
“The SelfDesign Learning Paragon illustrates eight kinds of human learning, only one of which (3) is common in conventional schooling. The other seven emerge out of our curiosity and presence in the moment through our engagement in the world we learn and discover.
Learning as process involves the first three modes of learning. Learning as process refers to the way we are designed as learners and to how our neurology is predisposed to creating relationships and making distinctions and associations. In learning mode 1, our early experience of bonding sets the tone and ground for our sense of ourselves and others. It is the basis for modeling and for relationship. It establishes our individuality and our connection with the world. Learning mode 2 is based on our natural enthusiasm and curiosity. Our fascination with newness allows for the growth and expansion of our intelligence. Our explorations become creative play, and we start to understand the dynamics of relationships throughout our experience. Learning mode 3 explores the mapping of name to process, fundamental in language acquisition. Memorization of facts and figures through direct instruction resides in this mode, and it is the heart of traditional schooling methods. The acquisition of such knowledge is certainly an important learning process, yet it is only one aspect of an entire complex of learning.
Learning as strategy is represented by learning modes 4 and 5 as we develop a conscious perspective on learning and begin to design and modify the learning process. Setting goals and developing a sense of identity and character are second-level modifications, whereby we reflect on our process and begin to make choices according to evolving criteria.
Learning as pattern and learning as conversation are intimately involved in learning modes 6 and 7, mentoring and synergistic community. Our patterns of living can be modeled to perfection by working with mentors—those individuals already engaged in the praxis, or practice, of excellence. And working on group projects creates a synergistic energy that transforms the learner through the process itself.
Learning mode 8, LifeQuest, is an integration of all learning modes in alignment with a learner’s unique sense of purpose. Being in touch with why we are here and how our deepest meaning arises is an expression our humanity and our sense of fulfillment”
Ethan learned about the plastic straw ban that will take place in Vancouver next year
He learned more about how plastic garbage is such a massive problem.
I will respond to his learning about the problem with plastics in Week 8 as he wrote more about it there…
We then used Google Maps’ topography function to see where local rivers were and where they flowed down from.
I love topography! The topography of the mountains is so shaped by the rivers. I pay attention to them whenever I am in the mountains be it skiing in the winter (to stay out of creeks, terrain traps and navigate) as well as hiking in the summer. There are some incredible maps which highlight this:
Here are free topo maps you can print: http://www.canmaps.com/topo/
Here is where I live, in Nelson near mountain station
“What in the World” is one of the SelfDesign subscriptions and Ethan has been practicing his reading comprehension with the articles. He’s gotten much better at writing complete sentences. He sometimes forgets, but overall, has improved this area of his writing.
He wrote out hexadecimals.
Then he learned about binary numbers and hexadecimals.
Converting to binary numbers on his calculator.
So please tell Ethan that I had to do research on binary numbers and hexadecimals to educate myself . I remember learning about counting in different bases in French math classes in elementary school . I understood the premise then and could count in different bases, but wondered whatever would we use this for?
So when I looked up the uses of binary and hexadecimal numbers the world of coding and computer programming revealed itself! Is computer science and coding the main interest that Ethan has in this counting system or did he discover it separately and then make the connection later? Has he been using these number systems for a while already?
Lastly, I was blown away the Ethan most recent video on black holes. I loved the way he was able to express the massive size of different size black holes as compared to the relative size of our sun.
I am always in awe of how his sense of humor and playfulness comes across in his movies as well. Brilliant! I showed it to a few more of my friends who also learned from it and and hopefully he
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