Poetry - Language Arts
I read about some famous poets, all of whom lived during the 1800s (the time period I'm studying in History) - Henry David Thoreau, Robert Frost, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson. I also read a few of their poems.
I also wrote my own Guyku Haikus. Here they are:
Honeysuckle grows
Wild, crazy, free, orange, white, green
The air smells so good
Baseball is awesome
I love to pitch the baseball
Baseball makes me smile
Statistics and Geometry - Math
My mom says she NEVER had to statistics and geometry in the fourth grade!!!! But I do. I did. I can tell you about mean, median, mode, range, and coordinate graphs. Now my mom can too! I've started my unit on geometry. I know all about shapes, angles, and congruency. This week I'm learning about perimeter, area, symmetry, and more! It's a good thing my mom went to college!!!
Energy - Science
In Science, I completed a unit on Energy. I made a lap book report of what I learned:
American Westward Expansion - History
I finished reading all of my books on the Westward Expansion of the United States. My mom went a little crazy, and checked out about 20 books from the library on the subject. I read 11 of them. My favorites were from the Dear America series. I read the ones about The Donner Party and The Oregon Trail. I also liked the ones from the series You Wouldn't Want To. I read You Wouldn't Want Explore With Lewis and Clark and You Wouldn't Want to Live in a Wild West Town.
I wrote an essay about some of the things I've learned so far, and how they apply to my own life - especially my upcoming move to Bangkok. My Mom helped me with the outline/structure, with the opening and closing paragraphs, and with transition sentences; otherwise, it's all my own words. Here's the essay:
During the 1800s, thousands of American pioneers set toward The West to find gold, adventure, and farming land. Like those pioneers, I will soon move with my family thousands of miles to a new land, Bangkok, Thailand. My journey will have some similarities and some differences, but despite the differences, I can apply a few lessons from what I’ve learned from the pioneers.
Pioneers needed to pack food, guns, clothes, cooking and eating ware, a tent, tools (like an axe), heavy coats and blankets, and maybe a toy, a pet, and a few books. They would transport these items by wagons pulled by mules, oxen, or horses. Sometimes they would use pushcarts powered by people. It would take about 6 to 8 months for the pioneers to start and finish their journey.
When I move with my family to Bangkok, we will pack almost anything we want to because we don’t have to fit it into a wagon and keep it light enough for an ox to pull. I want to take our TV, beds, books, phones, electronics (like my DS), movies, and toys. My mom will want me to pack some clothes too.
My move will be way easier than the pioneers because I don’t have to move my own belongings like the pioneers did. I will have hired movers to do it for me. My move will also take less time - about 2-3 months on a truck, then a boat, and then a truck again. I won’t have to worry about diseases, hemlock poisoning, buffalo stampedes, oxen crushing me, drowning, falling off cliffs, accidental gun shots, Indians, freezing to death, snake root poisoning, starvation, dehydration, and/or wagons crushing me. Wow! That’s a lot of things I don’t have to worry about.
Lewis and Clark were some of the original pioneers who blazed the trail West to find a water route, establish good relations with the Indians, and document new animals and plants. I learned some lessons from studying Lewis and Clark that I will remember and apply when I move to Bangkok. First, I will try to make friends with the local Thai people, and I will ask them to guide us since they know the area. Lewis and Clark made friends with Indian tribes along the trail. They used Sacagawea to guide them along the way. Second, I will work as a team with my family like Lewis and Clark worked together with their Corps of Discovery. Third, I will explore safe things in the city and suburbs of Bangkok, and I won’t go looking for danger. Lewis and Clark didn’t always do this, so they had some troubles (like bears). Sometimes you learn lessons about what not to do!
Another example of pioneers who taught me what NOT to do on my move to Bangkok are The Donner Party. The biggest lessons I learned from them are: don’t stray from the path and beware of people who claim to have a shortcut. The Donner Party followed a man named Hastings who claimed to have found a shortcut West with clean water and plenty of food. They took the shortcut and to their surprise there was no water, limited food sources, and they became stuck in the mountains during winter. Many of them starved. Some of them resorted to cannibalism to stay alive. When I am in Bangkok, I will make sure to follow people who know what they are talking about!
In conclusion, studying the pioneers who journeyed West to expand America taught me valuable lessons that I can apply in my own life as I move to Bangkok, Thailand. There are similarities and differences between our moves, and I am grateful that I have an easier journey with less danger. I will try to have the pioneer spirit on my move to The East.
National Sports and Physical Fitness Month - Physical Education
Did you know that May is National Sports and Physical Fitness Month? It's also National Bike Month. In honor of this, I got to count one of my travel league baseball tournaments as a day of school! Yay!
I've been playing baseball for three years. I like to win. But sometimes I lose. I've learned a lot from playing baseball almost year-round. I wrote a lapbook about some of the things I've learned:
Buying Lunch with Reading - Language Arts
And finally, I took my mom out to lunch with the money I've earned from reading in my free time. When we started homeschool, my mom said I would earn 1 penny per page of reading I did on my own time. I earned $30. That's 3,000 pages!
I took my mom out to a restaurant I've been wanting to try. It was really good! Especially the strawberry shortcake we ordered for dessert.
That's all! Pat yourself on the back if you actually read this whole post!
Peace Out -
Ollie and Mom
