COVID 19 - The Coronavirus: Home School "Projects"

Homeschooling is going ok here. No one has been driven totally insane!

I've worked hard to set a routine, but I like the idea of "projects."

To me, a project is anything that Shane gets interested in and/or uses some problem solving skills on.

It could be fairly innocuous.

For example, it's Shane's job to crush cans. We haven't been to the recycling center, so our bins are overflowing (much like Shane's energy level). I put a box near the cans with a few in it without Shane seeing me. Then I went to his room and gave him an ultimatum to take care of them before I got back from the barn.

I hoped that Shane would figure out to use the box, but I didn't tell him to. If he complained about how rough it was to carry everything out or ferry things back and forth I would've pointed out the box.

Thankfully, he figured it out....mostly. He filled the box, but then didn't do anything about the cans that didn't fit perfectly in it!

Math and Science got blended in when Shane started making paper airplanes.

Shane was having fun making them and I took some pictures to update my Schoology page.

Shane thought the he could make a bunch of paper airplanes and sell them at school for $0.05 each. His goal was to make $20 to buy a game on Steam he played at Patrick's.

That started a math lesson. 

"How many planes would you need to sell to make a dollar?"  20.

"At that rate, how many would you need to sell to make $20 for the game?" 400.

"Who would you be selling the planes to?" 3rd graders and after school kids.

"How many kids are in your class?" 34.

"How many kids are after school?" I don't know.

"Do you think there are more or less than your class?" More.

"A lot more or a little?" A little.

"So pick a number a little more than your class..." 36.

We added the numbers together (70) and then I pointed out there were fewer kids than airplanes that needed to be sold. We did a little more math and Shane realized he had to sell at least 4 planes to every kid in his class and others had to buy 5!

That didn't seem reasonable, so we started to look at what would happen if Shane increased the price. We even ended up graphing things.

I had to give him a reality check when he got to the point he was excited by how few planes he'd need to sell once they cost multiple dollars!

The whole discussion maybe took 20 minutes with graphing and wait times. 

The planes did lead to another little experiment. 

Shane wanted to pictures of him throwing airplanes. I turned it back on him and asked, "What do you think is the best way to get good pictures of you throwing them?"

Suddenly, we had an experiment! I took burst shots, super slow mo, and videos. We did three trials for each mode and checked afterward for what would make the best footage (screen captures or gifs).

We didn't finish the experiment, but it was fun enough and I got to talk briefly about good experiments focusing on one variable at a time.

The airplanes became participants in a Rube-Goldberg machine later in the week. 

If Shane gets creative and he's not on a computer, I just let it roll! That couch has been missing cushions for almost a week now (I probably should make Shane pick it up...).

Shane started to build a train track this week.

I planted a seed by asking, "Do you think it'd fit through the cat door?"

Shane's track laying went from fun in his room to a "project."

Yes, it does fit!

"Do you think you could make it all the way to the kitchen?"

"What about into the kitchen? Could you shorten the track anywhere else to go further?"

I've been trying to encourage/trick Shane into using Legos or K'nex and a ramp of some sort to build his own track to get the train all the way to the kitchen table. So far, he hasn't bit.

Loki hasn't bit either, but he does knock the train over with his feet and fluff!

Again, my whole goal is to keep Shane and his brain active. Trying new things and problem solving are key components to all learning! I am normally nominally involved. Shane gets excited and wants praise. I give some and ask a question or two and then try to fade off into my own work. I hope it helps him learn how to work (and entertain himself) independently.

When he's older, Shane would need more focus, but at this age I'm really not worried about any sort of curriculum other than keeping him from overdosing on electronics. 

Not that 'home-schooling' is computer free. Shane does use his computer. He'd be using it in his 3rd grade classroom anyway, and I need breaks! 

Shane normally does his math online, because A) he likes it and B) I like it. Shane even put some of his Christmas/Bday money into getting a membership so he could level up faster. 

I picked up Shane's laptop from his school on Friday 3/27. There have been multiple opportunities, but we opted to pass since we already had our electronics. With the decision to do virtual schooling in the county, I spent 10 minutes picking up Shane's materials. I left everything in my car over the weekend to rest and decontaminate. 

Shane's thrilled to have access to some Minecraft now. He can earn it for his down time. I like it way more than him asking to play stupid browser games on Poki.

I've tried to work the computer in to some projects. I showed Shane this video on how Pokemon was dubbed.

Then I tried to get him to dub over Pokemon himself. 

He declined and said, "It wouldn't feel right." He didn't want to tarnish Pokemon! Ha!

I tried to get Shane to dub over a cartoon, but the closet I could get him to do was dub over a few seconds of me talking.

A cartoon would have been way easier with the mouth flapping rather than trying to match real life movements. Shane didn't seem that into it. I tried showing Shane an NFL bad lip reading video to keep his interest, but the project only lasted for him to make me say something about poop.

In another attempt to make money, Shane thought he could sell his artwork. I told him that even with talent he'd need to practice to get to that level.

So, Shane drew a picture. I suggested we scan it so that he could edit it in Paint.

I imagined Shane learning how to use Paint and edit computer artwork. Instead, he discovered 3D Paint let him click a button to add an animation and music. There was no real skill or thinking involved as he watched the animations over and over and over....

I still have hope for getting Shane to edit a picture at some point, though.

Now, keep in mind this post may seem like we're doing amazing things, but Shane's on his 3rd week of "home-school." We've had some fun blips, but it's not all the time every time. Several things I hoped would keep Shane busy for hours produced less than 10 minutes of though (or even 10 minutes of keeping him busy!). 

I've seen a lot of cool activities online that require planning, but I've "shot from the hip." There has been no planning. If Shane seemed interested in something I let it roll until it stopped rolling. He needs to learn how to focus on something to completion, so I probably should bring up some of these 'projects' again at some point. 

I plan on running my "home school" through spring break, but things should change a little bit afterward. The county is going to a "virtual school" model. They'll be coming up with some things to keep Shane busy and I'll be more active online with my own students.

What's in a Weekend?

Shane has been on a paper airplane kick.

Carrie helped him experiment some with weighting.

Here was a 1 in a 1,000,000 shot!

I took Shane to TKD Saturday morning to try out his new uniform.

Little kids are flexible!

Shane and I ran off to his first soccer game right after TKD. He changed in the car. It was on the opposite side of town almost half an hour away and we barely made it!

The team looked good....minus clumping.

Positional play is a work in progress.

The kids played way better than I expected. Hayden, the boy who kept asking defenders to pass him the ball when he's goalie, was diving and blocking shots like a pro.

Iker booted in something like 5 goals on his own.

Quint had two or three. Harrison kicked the ball from midfield and scored on a fluke! I wish I had a picture of everyone's faces when it happened.

The kids played actual soccer!

I didn't have to yell directions for anyone to stop picking grass, pull up their pants, or any of that! They were into it! Shane did a great job playing up to his team's ability!

We won the game by a landslide. I was amazed at the difference between U10 and U8!

Thrilled, too! I didn't think we were going to be any sort of power team based on how practices went. I hope the victory is motivating!

The game is played with 7 kids on the field now: 4 on offense, 2 on defense, and 1 goalie. The kids on the sidelines are subbed in and out with the goal everyone plays at least half the game. There are two halves of 25 minutes each.

Random quirk: Coach Meyer says, "Good idea!" a lot. It's his way of encouraging what kids are doing even when it doesn't work out.

Everyone's been unable to practice for three weeks, so I don't know how much that factors in to the other team's performance. We've been scrimmaging at practice instead of doing skill drills to make sure the kids at least had an idea of what to do in a game. I guess it worked.

Good game to all the kids.

And a huge thanks to whoever brought the snack!

Shane and I were already out and about, so we took care of a lot of errands afterward.

I had to take some light bulbs back to Lowe's.

We hit up Costco for lunch and groceries afterward.

We were out for almost five hours before we got back to paper airplane land!

It was a busy Saturday......and then a quiet Saturday night and Sunday. I don't think we really did too much other than TV and video games! I'm backdating and didn't take pictures of anything to remind me of anything else. I hadn't planned on going out Sunday night, due to my game night with the boys (but it got cancelled). 

Nano Day @ UVA

No, it's not in there.

Those are fun to climb on, but they're not it either.

Here we go!

Welcome to Nanoday, Shane!

The UVA Engineering Department put on an open house with games and demonstrations.

Naturally, Shane and I went.

Sleepy and hungover engineering students entertained my kid and tried to teach him various things (Ok, the only sleepy and hungover student was this guy. He woke up when we came to his table, but, to be fair, Shane and I were the only people who had wandered up to the second floor. He could have been bored!).

Shane built a seed carrier to drop down a floor.

A student on the ground timed the fall and put Shane's carrier into a bucket elevator.

I don't expect that Shane understood what a nanotube was, but he enjoyed the balloons!

Another big hit was the Macro-Micro-Nano twister.

Macro was purple. Micro was green. Nano was orange.

Shane got all twisted up!

Then he played memory.

The next big hit was molten tin. The demonstrators poured it on a wheel so that it came out thin and malleable. Then they let Shane dip the metal back into melted tin to see it disappear (with me holding his elbows to prevent disaster).

Automated nano-assembly went right over Shane's head, but Legos! Some had magnets!

By the time we went through the exhibits that caught our eye, the giant nano-balloon-tube was completed.

I couldn't help but notice: Shane's almost always in pictures with female students. There were plenty of male students with demos, but he never seemed to pick any of those tables (save the molten metal safety hazard).

After a couple hours, we were both ready for home. I finally talked Shane into trying the oobleck outside.

The first couple of times we walked by, Shane refused. It was cold, so I didn't push the envelope.

However, with the sun up I didn't want Shane to miss out. There was some initial hesitation, but a courageous 10 year old girl sold him on an oobleck bath.

We left happy, barefooted, and wet pantsed.

Final science experiment of the day: Can pine needles pop balloons?

Conclusion: Yes. Yes, they can.