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 

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

Week 7 Review

Week 7 started with President's Day.  Instead of taking a day off of school, I went with my sister to a Junior Rangers camp about what life was like for our founding Presidents.  We made white-powdered wigs (but really it was just white  yarn), log cabins, and quill pens, and played games that the presidents would have played as kids.  I earned my fox badge by attending the camp.   I took the next day - Tuesday - off of school.

My mom and I have been reading a lot of books about our Founding Fathers - George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin.

We discovered that you can go on a virtual tour of George Washington's home - Mt. Vernon.  You can see a 360 degree view of his estate and each room in the house.  There are tidbits of information and videos with tour guides.  I highly recommend you take a minute to visit this site.

George Washington's Mt. Vernon Virtual Tour

Later in the week I attended my homeschool nature club.  We focused on chemistry and made slime, putty, and elephant toothpaste.

My mom and I finished reading Sign of the Beaver, and now I'm working on creating a stop motion animated movie preview of the book.  I'll share that soon - I hope.

I also continued to work on fractions and grammar, and I watched the second to the last John Adams episode on HBO.

Until next week -
Ollie and Mom - out

Week 6 Review

Last week, which seems like a long time ago since we are writing this on Wednesday instead of Monday, we celebrated Valentine's Day in our homeschool.  One of my Valentine's Day assignments was to write a letter to Abigail Adams from John Adams using conversation hearts.  During their marriage they were often separated and kept in contact by writing love letters.  Here's how my letter reads:

To My Dearest BFF Abigail,

Dear Abigail, please say yes and come visit me in France.  I hope you are very happy at home with the kids.  I barely have the power to go on without you.  The Rebels have fought like a dream in the last few battles.  The British have fought with a lot of power too.  Ask me anything you want to.  That was some sweet talk.  Lots of xoxo.  From John Adams

I wrote all the things I love in a heart.

My mom and I read about the human heart and then I drew this model and wrote 5 facts I learned.  One of them relates to the experiment we did.  The average pulse rate for a man per minute is 71, for a woman is 80, and for a child is 85.  We used our blood pressure monitor to check on the health of our hearts.  

My stats are on the top picture and my mom's are on the bottom.  We both have healthy hearts.  Our blood pressure and our pulse rates are below normal, indicating our heart muscles are strong.  My mom's heart rate is far below normal because she is a runner.  

On Friday night, my family went to Reed Creek (where I have my nature club) for a program called Nocturnal Nightcrawlers.  We learned all about the adaptations animals have to help them be successful nocturnal creatures.  We went on a walk in the dark and the instructor gave us a piece of paper and a crayon.  He asked us to draw a house, a tree, and to write down the color of crayon and paper.  It was difficult to see in the dark, but I did guess the color of my crayon correctly.  

Other things I did last week include:

• Practicing adding/subtracting fractions with unlike denominators.
• Coding.
• Finishing my persuasive essay.
• Reading many books with my mom about: George Washington, Isaac Newton, Abigail Adams, and Thomas Jefferson.
• Reading Sign of the Beaver.
• Watching another episode of John Adams.

We are finishing up many of the books we are reading this week, so soon I will have a lot of cool assignments showing what I learned from the books.  

That's all for now - 

Ollie and Mom - Out

Week 5 Review

When we write these weekly reviews, my mom and I are always amazed at how much we do every week!  I told my mom this morning that I keep having nightmares that she sends me back to public school.  I hope she never does.  I never want to leave homeschool, unless it's summer or vacation!

During week 5, I finished reading George Washington's Socks.  On a scale of 1-10, I give this book a 10.  I loved it because it was about a group of boys who time travel into history.  I learned a lot about The Revolutionary War by reading the book.

After reading the book, my mom gave me 10 vocabulary words from the book that I had to define and identify the part of speech.  Then I had to write a story using each vocabulary word.  Here's my story:

Samuel was indignant because his sister, Anna, hit him.  He went and told his mom, who told him to tell Anna to come here.  When she came, she conceded so she would not get in trouble for lying.  Her mom emphatically told her she was grounded.  Anna's friend tried coaxing her, but it did not work.  Instead, Anna was brusque with her friend.  Her mom said Anna was so vexed.   Anna tried to expedite her grounding by sleeping, but it still felt long.  When she calmed down, she wanted to exasperate her brother for revenge.  Then her mom told her she would not get any dinner!  Anna felt haggard.  When she woke up the next morning, Anna's mom was sick and became perplexed when Anna asked to play electronics.  In her state of confusion, she said yes.  Anna was happy.

Last Monday, the first day of week 5, was Groundhog's Day.  We watched Punxsutawney Phil on You Tube.  Apparently, on an overcast and rainy day, he somehow saw his shadow - which means 6 more weeks of winter.  YUK!  I learned some facts about Phil that I want to share with you:

• His first prediction was in 1887.
• He has seen his shadow 102 times and not seen his shadow 17 times (there are 9 years missing on record).  
• Accuweather reports that Phil is 80% accurate with is predictions.
• Groundhog Day celebrates the mid-point between winter solstice and spring equinox.
• A groundhog is another term for a woodchuck.

Another topic we spent a lot of time on during week 5 was Super Bowl science.  Unfortunately, my beloved Seahawks choked and lost the Super Bowl.  But, I got school credit for watching it because it was a real-world application of sports science and physics.  For our Super Bowl science, I learned about Roman Numerals, the physics of football, g-force, Newton's Laws of Motion, and concussions.

Here are some interesting facts I wrote down:

• The average defensive back in the NFL can produce up to 1,600 pounds of force when tackling.
• Virginia Tech studied the g-force (gravitational force) on players in the NFL by putting sensors and wireless transmitters into helmets.  They routinely recorded g-forces of 100Gs, and occasionally forces up to 150Gs.  
• An F16 jet roll produces g-forces of 9Gs.
• A concussion happens at 100Gs.

Here is a video I liked from You Tube that explains the g-force and physics of a football tackle.

Another big thing that I learned in week 5 was how to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators.  I spent a lot of time with my mom on Kahn Academy and IXL.  I got it down now.  Here is what took up the rest of the week:

• Continued reading Sign of the Beaver with my mom.
• Wrote my rough draft persuasive essay on The Revolutionary War.
• Added a bird to my Field Guide.
• Progressed on Code.Org.
• Went to Nature Club and learned about rocks and minerals.
• Read A Dangerous Crossing about John Adams and John Quincy Adams' journey to Europe.
• Watched John Adams on HBO.

Until next week -

Ollie and Mom

Week 4 Review

I celebrated my 100th day of school for the year on Wednesday, January 28.  My mom downloaded a funny aging app that turned us into 100 year-olds.

We think we look great for 100 years old!  But we couldn't stop laughing :)  My assignment was to create any type of writing piece that highlighted what I would be like and/or what I will have accomplished at 100 years old.  Here's what I came up with:

Hello.  My name is Oliver.

We can tell you like colors, Oliver.  (In my notebook, I wrote this piece with many colored pencils.)

I do.

What have you accomplished in the last 100 years?

Well, I'm glad you asked that.  I have accomplished making it to the Major Leagues in baseball.  

How did you feel when you accomplished that?

Is this a question?!?  I felt great!!!

How many grandkids and great-grandkids do you have right now?

Sixty.  

Wow!  Did you hear that folks?  60!  What else have you accomplished?

Well, I did create a machine that takes the calories and sugar away, and the food still tastes the same.

Wow!!!  What kind of house do you live in?

I live in a mansion with many colorful stained-glass windows.  

Who are your favorite teams?

Always has been, and always will be, the Mariners and the Seahawks.

Other things I did during week 4 include:

• Reading a biography on Ben Franklin.
• Starting two new books about colonial America titled, Sign of the Beaver and George Washington's Socks.
• Outlined a persuasive essay about my opinion on The Revolutionary War, using the book George vs. George as my main reference.
• Learned how to write a persuasive essay.  My mom thinks paragraphs are like hamburgers.  They should have a bun, then bacon, cheese, and beef, and then another bun.  She's a wacky teacher.
• Finished my paper bag report on Woods Runner.
• Watched an episode of John Adams on HBO, and a documentary about The Sons of Liberty on the History Channel.  
• Learned about the physics of hitting a homerun and throwing heat from the book How a Curveball Curves.
• Continued chipping away on fractions and grammar on IXL and Kahn Academy.

Catch you next week,

Ollie and Mom

Week Three Review

I started off week three at an all day Junior Rangers camp learning several different ways to start fire.  This is a picture of me starting fire with flint and metal.  I also started fire with a battery, the sun, and a foil bubble gum wrapper.  It was a fun day, and I earned my Deer Badge as a Junior Ranger.

Later in the week, I went to my homeschool nature club at Reed Creek and learned about camouflage and adaptations.  I like the friends I am making in my homeschool group.

Also for science, my mom and I started reading a book about the physics of baseball, called, Why a Curveball Curves.

Here are some interesting scientific facts I learned from the book:

• An increase in bat mass will increase batted ball speed (BBS), but swing speed is a greater factor in increasing BBS.  
• Using Newton's 2nd Law of Motion, scientists have determined that the average pro swing imparts 4,145 pounds of force to the ball, with peak forces up to 8,300 pounds.
• A bat vibrates at multiple frequencies when it collides with a ball.
• You want to hit the ball in the "sweet spot" to transfer energy to the ball instead of down the bat and back through your body.  (That hurts!!!)  
• Scientists have discovered that the sweet spot is between two nodes on the bat.  Node 1 is 6.5 inches from the barrel end, and Node 2 is 4.5 inches down the barrel.  Hit between the two nodes for zero vibration. 
• A 90mph fastball reaches home plate in 400 milliseconds.  The batter has 100 ms to see the ball, 75 ms to identify the type of pitch, 50 ms to decide wether or not to swing, and 25 ms for the brain signal to activate the swing - leaving 150 ms to swing.  That's some quick thinking!

I wrote the rough draft of a report I am doing on Woods Runner.  More on that in Week Four.  Here is the story I wrote using my second round of vocabulary words from Woods Runner:

When I was writing a note, I looked up to find a mercenary staring at me.  When he saw me, he tried to run, but his injured leg abated his progress.  I chased after after him and flung myself on him, tackling him to the ground.  He screamed, "Ouch!  Me leg!"  Upon searching him, I found he was a covert spy intercepting my notes to George Washington.  A dirty scoundrel.  I found one note, and he said he had no others, but I figured he was in for a penny, in for a pound.  I searched again and discovered more notes.  The liar!  He ran away, fearing for his life, but I did not chase him because that horse was gone from the barn.  

I continue to progress on IXL, Kahn Academy, and Code.org.  I watched some more of John Adams.  I wish I could watch it EVERY day, but my mom says no :(  I also played two basketball games.  We won both of them!

Catch my next post about Martin Luther King, Jr., and my I Have A Dream writing assignment.  

Until next time - 

Ollie and Mom

Week Two Review

During week 2 of homeschool I accomplished the following:

• I progressed in Language Arts and Math on IXL and Kahn Academy.  I am reviewing parts of speech and fractions.
• I progressed to Stage 2 Module 7 on Code.org.
• I finished reading Woods Runner, a historical fiction novel about the Revolutionary War.
• I watched April Morning, a fictional movie about the Battles of Lexington and Concord.  I wrote a character review about the movie.
• I started watching John Adams on HBO.
• I continued to read George vs. George with my mom.
• I learned all about the Scientific Method and conducted an experiment with bubble gum.
• I spent a couple of hours as an ornithologist, observing birds in their natural habitats.
• I learned 5 new words and wrote a story about The American Revolution using the words.
• I began to research Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for a project I am working on this week.
• I planned a 3 course meal, did the shopping, and made the meal for my family and friend.
• I played in two basketball games.

Here is my character review on the movie April Morning, featuring the actors Tommy Lee Jones and Chad Lowe.  The movie can be found on Netflix.

I watched a movie called, April Morning, about the battle in Lexington that started The Revolutionary War.  My job is to write two character traits about the two main characters in the movie - Adam, and his father, Samuel.  I admire Adam because he is courageous.  When he saw his Dad shot down in front of his face, he continued to fight.  I also admire Adam's respect for life.  He would not kill people unless his life depended on it.  I admire his dad, Samuel, because he let his son go into war.  I thought that was courageous.  I also thought he was honest when he spoke to God.  

Here is my story about The Revolutionary War using my vocabulary words from the historical fiction book I read, Woods Runner.  

George Washington was a sensible leader.  His keen spies won the war with their tactics.  A lot of people suffered anguish during The Revolutionary War.  The Rebels had to contemplate life and death, and liberty and justice, during the war.  Marauding Redcoats and Hessians killed a lot of innocent civilians.  

Here is an updated log of the birds I have seen as an Ornithologist:

On Friday, I got to go the Savannah River and Augusta Canal with my Dad to observe birds.  I saw a lot of water and land birds.  My favorite bird I saw was the Great Blue Heron.  This next week in school I will have to learn about all these birds and add them to my Field Guide.

Signing Off,
Ollie and Mom

Week One

Welcome readers.  I recently decided to be homeschooled.  This is a picture of me and my mom.  We make a good team.  This blog will be all about our adventures during homeschool.  My mom and I will write it together.

During my first week of homeschool, I accomplished a lot.  I joined Kahn Academy (https://www.khanacademy.org/), a website that teaches me math - so far I've evolved my avatar and earned 6,000 energy points.  I also joined IXL (http://www.ixl.com), a website where I can practice math and language arts.  I went to the library and checked out A LOT of books.  I started reading a couple about the American Revolution: George vs. George and Woods Runner (just in case you want to read them).

I kept a daily journal and answered prompts from my mom where I learned that I'm interested in doing a lot of science experiments and reading.  I want to learn how to type, cook, code, and identify birds.  I'm interested in hands-on learning.

Also this week, I joined a science club at Reed Creek Nature Park for homeschooled kids.  There are four boys in the club, and I liked making new friends.  During club time I got to hold a corn snake, see a sliding turtle, and pet a bearded dragon.

We also went on a nature hike.  I like photography and I took this sweet picture with a sun flare.

Another topic we covered during science club was water pollution.

I started to learn coding this week using the website http://code.org.  My mom says I'm a natural mad genius at coding, and that I'm slightly obsessed.  She tells me that I can't talk to her about coding 24/7.

I've learned that coding is really about writing algorithms, or instructions.  You have to write every tiny detail because the computer can't think for itself.  Here are the links to the games I've created.  Please play them and let me know what you think.

http://learn.code.org/c/70974815
Bounce the red bird through the pipes without hitting the pipes or touching the ground.  Every clear pass earns one point.  Every time you hit a pipe you lose all your points.  If you touch the ground you die.  Click on your mouse to bounce the bird.

http://learn.code.org/c/70901816
Move the dog with the arrow keys and earn points by touching (biting) the squirrel.  Watch out for fireballs and the dragon.  If they touch you, you will die.

http://learn.code.org/c/70911990
Move the knight with the arrow keys to touch and eliminate the zombies.  The dragon shoots out fireballs, if they touch you, you die.

http://learn.code.org/c/70914195
Move the ninja with the arrow keys and kiss the princesses to earn points.  The dragons shoot out fireballs.  If you touch a dragon or a fireball, you die.

http://learn.code.org/c/70927240
Move the caveman with the arrow keys to eliminate the zombie.  Watch out for the dragon and dinosaurs, they will eliminate you.  However, only of of the dinosaurs has the power to kill you, but you never know which one.

My Mom and I bought a Georgia Bird Field Guide and started our hobby of ornithology (the study of birds).  We saw four birds in the wild this week, some of them we saw several times.  My mom taught me how to track my bird watching data using a spreadsheet, and how to use the spreadsheet to create charts and graphs.  The picture above is a pie chart that shows the birds I saw by frequency of sightings.  In addition to my spreadsheet, I am also keeping a personal field guide where I research and note each bird's habitat, size and shape, color pattern, behavior, and other interesting facts I find on Cornell's Lab of Ornithology (http://www.allaboutbirds.org/Page.aspx?pid=1189).  

Wow!  We had a busy week.  Thanks for stopping by.  Catch-ya next week.

Oliver and Mom