Week 12 Review

Hi!  Ollie here.  Let's start at the end and go to the beginning for week 12.  On Friday, I attended a camp put on by Georgia State Parks for homeschooled kids where we learned about making dyes using plants.

In this picture I am holding a dyed painting I created using plants from the woods.  I laid the plants on the paper and then hammered - boom, boom, boom - them into the paper.  The natural dyes seeped out of the plants and were absorbed by the paper.

The bracelet I'm holding in the picture was created by dying cotton yarn with red cabbage leaves, turmeric, and purple onion.

I had fun at the camp.

Earlier in the week, I put to test some of the things I learned about static electricity with a few experiments.  The one I liked best we call, "Impress Your Date at a Restaurant" science.

Put some salt and pepper on your plate (not your date's).

Then, rub a ballon on your head to create a charge.  (Of course you should bring a balloon on your date!)

Then, take your charged balloon and place it about 2 cm above the salt and pepper.

Watch your date be amazed as the pepper dances away and jumps to the balloon.  After a few seconds, show your date the bottom of the balloon.  The pepper will be stuck to the balloon and the salt will be on the plate.  Aw-struck.

If your date can tell you that you created a static electric charge in the ballon that was powerful enough to pick up the oppositely charged pepper (and not the like charged and heavier salt), then he/she is a keeper!

Sorry this picture is vertical when it's suppose to be horizontal.

This is a picture of another project I completed during week 12.  I have been learning about the Three Branches of American Government.  We read books, watch some fun videos, learned some songs, and played some games - and then I had to put everything I learned into this project.

Here are some close-ups of what each branch of government is responsible for:

Some other things I completed during week 12 include:

• Finished reading Huckleberry Finn.  I got to watch two movies about Mark Twain's classics, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.  The movies were called, Tom and Huck, and, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  I liked the movie Tom and Huck a lot.  The movies helped to show me what towns looked like in the early 19th century, and what people dressed like, what their homes looked like, etc.  
• Finished filming my stop motion animated movie report on Sign of the Beaver.  I will edit it this week and post it soon.
• Played with my new favorite game, Snap Circuits, to apply what I am learning about conductive electricity.  I LOVE this game!  You should buy it.  
• Of course my mom made me do math and grammar too.  

That's all for now.  Peace Out - 

Ollie and Mom

Week 11 Review

During week 11, we celebrated St. Patrick's Day.  Almost every year since kindergarten I engineer a leprechaun trap.  This year, I was given the assignment to create a leprechaun trap with my little brother.  This is what I came up with.

It's a shoe box, with a door cut into it, and a sign next to the door that says, "Disco ball with gold this way."  Then I taped a flashing green 4-leaf clover pin on the inside top of the lid.  On the floor was double sided extreme sticky tape, disguised with crystals and gold (the foil from my mom's expensive chocolate bar).  My idea was that the leprechaun would be enticed into the box and then stuck to the extreme double-sided tape.  But instead he left me rainbows and gold (Skittles and Hershey Nuggets).  I'm not complaining!

Also during week 11, I had 12 vocabulary words from two books I recently finished: George Washington's Spy and The Illustrated Tom Sawyer.  I decided to be festive and write a story about Leo the Leprechaun using my vocabulary words.  Here's my story:

LEO THE LEPRECHAUN

Leo was about to play a sneaky trick on this boy, when he noticed an edifice with gold inside.  He went inside, and no sooner had he, when the doors snapped shut and a very wily, snot-nosed kid grabbed him.  While the vane boy shouted for joy, Leo thought of his options.

One:  He could plummet to his doom.

Two: He could plea for the boy to let him go.

Three:  He could play dead.

It was very hard to think with snot all over him.  Leo wished he could decimate all that snot, but his conscience wouldn't allow him to.  Meanwhile, thought Leo, the village was dancing, having fun, and enjoying the balmy weather at the St. Patrick's Day festival.  

When the boy finally calmed down and came back to Earth, Leo tried plan 1, 2, and 3.  The boy caught him on plan 1; said no on plan 2; and just poked him a lot until Leo stopped playing dead on plan 3.  

Leo quickly asked the boy what he wanted.  "An x-box 1!" said the boy.  Leo gave him the gold to buy an x-box 1 and started running.  That was when a second snot-nosed girl grabbed him!  

Leo asked what she wanted.  "A barbie!" she exclaimed.  Leo gave her the gold to buy a barbie and then ran even faster back to where his village was celebrating.

When the whole village asked him where he had been, he told them his harrowing story.  At first they all thought he was crazy!  When he finally got them to believe, they were flabbergasted and then started laughing with frivolity.  Leo felt sheepish.

The End

Some other things I did during week 11, include:

• Learned about the Spring Equinox (it's officially spring y'all!).
• Started to learn about the Three Branches of US Government.
• Explored a new book about Ben Franklin and science.
• Learned about stocks, bonds, and investments with my Dad.
• Filmed 4 scenes in my stop motion book report.
• Completed a lot of iXL math and language arts.

Happy Spring!

Ollie and Mom - Out

Fox Brothers BBQ - Review

Last weekend we went to Fox Brothers BBQ, in Atlanta.  We went with my Aunt and Uncle and it was a 40 to 1:30 minute wait!  We decided it would be best for all the kids to go home and swim while my dad and uncle waited for the BBQ.  When they got home everyone was excited to eat the BBQ.  It was sooo good!  It was probably the best BBQ I have ever had. I will list all the food items I had: Ribs, mac and cheese, beef brisket, pulled pork, and chicken.  My two favorites were the mac and cheese and beef brisket.  After it was all gone, I felt as if I were going to go into a food coma because I ate so much!

If you're in Atlanta, and you like BBQ, try Fox Brothers.  It's rated one of the best in the countries by many critics.  Be prepared for a long wait, bad parking (says my mom), but amazing BBQ!

Here's the link to all of their awards:
Fox Bros BBQ Awards and Press

Here's a link to their website:
Fox Bros BBQ

Ollie and Fox Bros - Out

A Library Like President Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was an avid reader.  He collected thousands of books about hundreds of subjects throughout his life.  His books were lost to fire several times, but he kept buying and refurbishing his collection.  

During the war of 1812, the British burned the Library of Congress.  Thomas Jefferson offered to sell his collection of nearly 6,500 books to the Library for a minimum amount.  Today the Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. 

I am also an avid reader.  But I prefer fiction, fantasy, and adventure.  If I were to donate books to the Library of Congress, here are the ones I would contribute:

1.  Harry Potter - The Complete Series by J. K. Rowling.
Genre: Fiction and Fantasy
A young boy discovers he is a famous wizard.  The series is about his adventures at wizarding school, and how he and his friends save the world from evil.

2. Percy Jackson the Complete Series by Rick Riordan.
Genre: Fiction and Fantasy
This series is about a boy who finds out he is a demigod and goes to a camp called Camp Half Blood. Later in the series he and his demigod friends need to stop the Titans from taking over the earth.

3. The Heros Of Olympus the Complete Series by Rick Riordan.
Genre: Fiction and Fantasy
This series is about seven demigods Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Jason, and Leo. They need to save the world from the Titans and the Giants.

4. Game Changers, Play Makers by Mike Lupica.
Genre: Fiction
This book is about a boy who loves to play sports with his friends.  Everyone thinks he is the best until the new kid comes. 

5.  The Maze Runner by James Dashner.
Genre: Science Fiction and Action
This book is about a boy who had his memory taken away from him, just like all the other boys in the Glade.  That is until the first girl comes and changes everything, eventually giving the boys hope that they can escape the Glade.  

6.  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
Genre: Science Fiction and Action
This book is about a girl named Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers (to save her sister) to go into the games where there are 24 kids her age who have to fight to the death for the entertainment of the Capitol.

7.  Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.                                             
Genre: Science Fiction and Adventure
After the games, Katniss Everdeen thought she was going to live a free life for winning the games, until the president says that for the the 75th Hunger Games, 24 victors will be chosen to go back in the games.

8.  Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen.
Genre: Historical Fiction
 When 13 year old, Samuel, comes back from the woods to his village, he discovers it's been burned down.  He goes on a journey to rescue his mom and dad from the Redcoats, and becomes involved in the American Revolution.

9. George Washingtons Socks by Elvira Woodruff.
Genre: Historical Fiction
This book is about a boy and his friends, and a tag-along sister, who travel back in time to the American Revolution and fight alongside the Patriots.

10.  George Washington's Spy by Elvira Woodruff
Genre: Historical Fiction
When Matt, Q, Tony, Hooter, Elizabeth, Lily, and Katie go back in time again, they all get split up.  Tony, Q, Matt, and Hooter get stuck with the Patriots, and Katie, Lily, and Elizabeth get stuck with a Loyalists family.  They struggle to get back together, and try to return to their own time.

11.  Geronimo Stilton by Elisabetta Dami.
Genre: Fiction
This book is about a mouse who is a reporter at the biggest newspaper in the world. In every book he goes on a new adventure.

12. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.
Genre: Fiction
This book is about a boy who is the only survivor of a plane crash.  All he has is his hatchet his mom gave him to survive in the wilderness. 

13. Baseball Card Series by Dan Gutman
Genre: Historical Fiction
This series is about a boy named, Joe Stosh, who can travel back in time through baseball cards.  Each book in the series is about a different baseball player and Joe's adventures in meeting them.  


Ollie, Mom, and Tom - Out

Sublime Donuts Review

Last weekend my family went up to Atlanta to see my aunt and uncle.  We decided to go to Sublime Doughnuts because we read it was rated one of the best doughnut shops in the country!!!  There are two Sublime Doughnuts - one in Atlanta and one in Bangkok.  Since my family is moving to Bangkok, we decided it would be fun to try both locations.

I got the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup doughnut.  This is what it looks like:

It was soooo delicious!!!  Very pricy though - $21 for 12 doughnuts!!  Here are the doughnuts my family ordered: Nutella, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, Strawberry and Cream, Orange Cream, Chocolate Raspberry, Double Chocolate, Thin Mint, S'more, and Caramel Apple Fritter.

Don't those look good! Look at the bottom of the picture we took and you will see how much we liked the doughnuts.  My favorites were the S'more, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, and Strawberry and Cream.  My least favorites were the Chocolate Raspberry, Orange Cream, and Caramel Apple Fritter. 

If you want to know more about Sublime, check out there website:

Sublime Doughnuts Website

See you next time,

Ollie and Sublime Doughnuts - Out

Week 10 Review

Did you celebrate Pi Day of the Century?  It was on Saturday, March 14, because that day was 3.14.15 and Pi is 3.1415.  In fact, at 9:26:53 on 3.14.15, the world celebrated Pi Day of the Century as the date and time included the first 10 numbers of Pi.  

I learned all about Pi and how it helps to determine the circumference of any circle that exists in our universe.  Then, I created this fun Pi art, graphing out the first 12 numbers of Pi to create a city skyline.  Did you know there is not a known circle that exists in our universe whose circumference cannot be calculated with Pi to the 11th decimal?

Pi.  All the cool kids know it.  Pie.  All the cool kids eat it.  If you write the mirror image of 3.14 inversely to read 413, it will spell Pie.  Try it.  Mind blown.  

I also finished making my moccasins.  That's right people, I made these!  They were an engineering and art project in response to the book, Sign of the Beaver.  I love my moccasins!  I wear them a lot, especially when I want to sneak up on someone.

My parents bought me this cool new game called Gravity Maze.  It's like coding in 3D.  There are four levels of puzzle cards, and you have to follow the code to create a functional marble run.  I thought it was going to be easy . . . but it's soooooo hard!  Especially the expert level.

My mom lets me play this for homeschool because it is a real-life application of science (physics), technology (coding), engineering, and math.

Some other things I accomplished during week 10:

• Finished my unit on fractions.  That's right, people.  I'm a fractions genius.  
• Read two about John Audubon and one about ornithology.  
• Finished my physics principia (check out my post) and my Pizza with the Founding Fathers (check out my post).  
• Went to nature club.
• Filmed two scenes of my stop-motion animated book report.

That's all for now.  Out -

Ollie and Mom 

Newton and My Principia

My Mom and I spent some time learning about Sir Isaac Newton.  We studied his three laws of motion and did some experiments to test the laws.  Then I wrote everything I learned down in this handy dandy principia.

Here are the definitions you need to know to talk about Isaac Newton and his laws of motion.

Here are the three laws of motion:
1.  The Law of Inertia that states an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion.
2.  The Law of Acceleration that states if you apply a force to an object it will move; the greater the mass of the object, the more force it takes to move it.  An equation that represents the law is force = mass (x) acceleration.
3.  The Law of Equal and Opposite that states for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction.

My Mom thought it would be fun for me to make a Facebook page for Isaac Newton.  I enjoyed coming up with the other pages I think he would "like" on Facebook: Gravity, Solar System, Being Different, Apples, Calculus, I Survived The Great Plaque, and Halley's Comet.

Sir Isaac Newton is famous for some quotes that I like.  My favorite is, "We build too many walls and not enough bridges."  But I also like, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

Ok, here are the videos of the experiments we did:

Law of Inertia - To show that a dime at rest tends to stay at rest, we put a piece of paper under a dime and then quickly removed the piece of paper.  The dime stayed put.  To show that an object in motion tends to stay in motion, we rolled a marble on the floor and it kept going until outside forces (friction, carpet, objects in the room, etc.) caused it to stop.

Law of Acceleration - To show that force equals mass times acceleration, we took a marble and a small wad of paper and dropped them from the same height into a container of flour.  The marble created more force because it weighs more and accelerated faster.

Law of Equal and Opposite - To show that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction, we made rocket balloons.  When we released the air out of the balloon, it propelled the balloon forward on its track with the same force.

Peace Out -
Ollie, Mom, and Isaac

Pizza With The Founding Fathers

Dear Readers, I have invited the Founding Fathers into our modern time to take them to my favorite restaurant, Mellow Mushroom.  I will buy them a Coke, a cheese pizza, and a brownie dessert.  While we eat, I will ask them these questions:

1. President Washington, you owned hundreds of slaves and your views about slavery changed throughout your life, ending with you giving your slaves their freedom upon your wife's death. What made you change your mind about slavery?
2. Do you think you still would have freed your slaves if you had not fought in the war and seen the African Americans fighting for their country alongside you?
3. President Washington, you are known as one of the greatest leaders in history. You took a makeshift army and won a war against the most powerful country on Earth. What qualities do you think make a good leader?

1. President Adams, I admire you for not owning slaves during a time when in was common and accepted. Why did you chose not to own slaves?

2. You were the last of the Founding Fathers, who are here at Mellow Mushroom with me, to die. It is reported that you said on your deathbed that, "Jefferson still lives." But actually, he died several hours earlier than you on the same day, July 4. Are you surprised to find out you were the last one standing? How do you feel about it?
3. President Adams, people wrote bad things about you during your Presidency. Your close friend and Vice President, Thomas Jefferson, is reported to have instigated some of the slander. How did this make you feel? How were you able to forgive President Jefferson?

1. President Jefferson, what were your inspirations to write the Declaration of Independence?

2. Why did you say slavery was wrong, but you still owned slaves?

3. President Jefferson, I like to read books just like you liked to read books when you were alive. If you could recommend three books to a boy my age, what would they be?

1. Mr. Franklin, what was your favorite quote from Poor Richards Almanack? My favorite one is, "Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead."
2. Mr. Franklin, you had many jobs during your life - scientist, inventor, printer, writer, politician, ambassador, revolutionary, post master, and others. Which one was your favorite job and why?
3. Mr. Franklin, you spent many years as an ambassador to France for the colonies, helping us to gain France as an ally and win the war. What was your favorite thing to do as an ambassador in France?
4. May I ask you an extra question? I also admire you for choosing to stand up against slavery. What do you think are the long-lasting consequences of slavery in America?


My assignment was to write three questions for each Founding Father that both informed and inquired. This was extremely difficult for me! But, in the end, I would love to sit down with these Founding Fathers, eat good pizza, and ask them these questions.

Peace Out -
Ollie, Mom, George, John, Tom, and Ben

Week 9 Review

I was busy during week 9 with projects, projects, projects.  This week - week 10 - I should finish up most of my projects, and I will publish them outside of my weekly review.  The top projects I am working on are:

• Dinner conversation questions with our Founding Fathers.
• Books in my Library - Just like President Jefferson
• Physics Principia - Just like Isaac Newton
• Making moccasins - Just like Matt and Attean from the book Sign of the Beaver

Speaking of Sign of the Beaver, during week 9, I made the figurines and some of the scenery props for my stop-motion animated book review.  I start filming this week, week 10.

Week 9 brought Dr. Seuss' birthday.  I read Oh The Places You'll Go, and watched a mini-biography on Dr. Seuss, to celebrate.  

I also graduated from level 2 on Code.org.  It was a lot of work . . . no need to cheer.  I am getting really good at coding.  

I worked on grammar and multiplying fractions.  I started reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and A New Nation with my mom.  

One last thing - that book up there, Perfectly Perilous Math.  We checked this out from the library and it is fun!  During week 9, I used math to free myself from a death trap.  Thank heavens I'm still alive to write this post.  

On that note, peace out - 

Ollie and Mom

Week 8 Review

Last week, at the end of week 8, we finished the HBO movie series about John Adams.  I am going to be writing and publishing a review on it soon.  I also finished my unit on adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators.  I'm glad to have that over with!

During week 8, my mom and I finished reading this book, Master George's People.  I was surprised to learn that George Washington owned slaves.  This book is about the people he enslaved at his plantation, Mt. Vernon.  You learn some of their names and life stories.  It also documents President Washington's changing views on slavery throughout his life.  I discovered by reading it that the people who worked on Mt. Vernon made enormous sacrifices so that George Washington could be off leading the Revolutionary War and being President.  Without them, he would not have been able to make a living and keep up his most beloved Mt. Vernon.

I also learned about the Culper Code and how it helped us win the American Revolution.  I wrote a secret message for you using the code:

553 193 74 KRETL

If you want to break the code, visit this link at Mt. Vernon's website with the entire Culper Code and the history about how the code helped us win the war:

Culper Code at Mt. Vernon

Another thing I did during week 8 was write a story using my vocabulary words from the book Sign of the Beaver:

Do You Have A Mean Coach?!?
Is your coach finicky?  If he is, please read more.  If he is, and you read this essay, you might find it easier to nonchalantly walk into your next game.  Is he trying to lie and act dumbfounded if you told your parents, and they talked to your coach, and he said he didn't do it?  I bet you felt contemptuous about that.  I'm pretty sure you glowered at him next game.  Remember your manitou and rise above this incomprehensible man.  When your parents find out they are going to be disdainful toward him.  He will act disgruntled, but he always has.  You and your parents have to be wary next year.

This is a picture of a storyboard I created last week for a stop motion animated movie I am making as a report for the book Sign of the Beaver.  I made ten storyboards that outline the props, scenery, and sequence of each scene I will film for my movie.  It might take us a few weeks, but when we are done, I will publish my first stop motion animated movie!

Some other things that kept me busy during week 8:

• An All About Frogs nature club at night at Reed Creek.
• A nature walk with my mom where we saw many signs of Spring.
• Learning and testing Newton's first two laws of motion (videos coming soon).
• Some IXL grammar and Code.org coding.

That's all for now.  Peace out - 

Ollie and Mom