Week 6

Language Arts: I did some vocabulary words. Came up with a list in my Writer’s Notebook for possible protagonists. My check out of the book Unbreakable ended but we did find the kindle so my mom bought the book so I can keep reading it. I reviewed when to use apostrophes. I did several lessons in my Workbook for Dyslexics.

Math: We didn’t have any special homework from Mr. Rosa, so we are just doing lessons in the Algebra 1 textbook this week. Lessons were on unit multipliers, absolute value, sets, and number lines.

Science: We learned about how wings make things fly. We learned that a drone can’t fly in a vacuum because it requires air, but a rocket doesn’t need air so it can fly in a vacuum (space). We flew our Star Wars drones which was really fun. In my co-op class we learned about the differences in the different groups and periods on the periodic table.

History: We listened to the next episode of the Podcast History of the World. This one was about the Neolithic Revolution and how agriculture changed things a lot for early humans. One interesting thing was that farmed food was not as nutritious as wild food, so people were shorter than the hunter/gatherer societies had been.

Makerspace (Tech):  We started working on our cement planter project. I am not sure if we will have a way to put a drainage hole in it but I guess we will see.

Programming (Elective): Worked on some of the missions at First Lego League. I also worked a little bit with tools on the workbench here at home. It was a pretty busy week so I didn’t have a lot of project time.

Other:  I am playing in a basketball tournament this weekend. One game on Friday and three on Saturday.

I'm #21

Week 5 Weekly Report

Week 5
Language Arts: I read more in Unbreakable but then I misplaced the Kindle I was reading on. Hopefully I will find it soon. I did writing exercises about the sounds of dinnertime and describing a painting of a mountain scene. I diagrammed sentences with adverbs and adjectives. I did a worksheet about identifying the different parts of speech in sentences, including noun/verb/adverb/article/preposition/noun/article. I started the Workbook for Dyslexia lessons. Hopefully it will help me build my spelling skills. I did TTRS.

Math: We did complicated fractions problems (addition/subtraction/multiplication and division all mixed into mega problems. We also did lessons 1-3 of Saxon Math Algebra. We also are memorizing the prefixes for the different scientific notation names, like giga, mega, pica, deci, centi, etc.

Science: We learned about the periodic table and the different groups of elements. We learned some about the different elements and are supposed to find some examples to take to class with us next week.

History: We listened to the Podcast History of our World episode 4 about the Stone Age. It talked about early Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH for short) and the things that have been found that they left behind, like sculptures and cave art. We looked up pictures of one of the oldest sculptures found, the Venus of Willendorf. My mom saw this one in a museum when she was in Austria. The archeologists don’t really know why these venus sculptures were carved, but a number of them have been found.

Makerspace (Tech):  We made silicone molds. The coloring we used got everywhere. It was fun to make, though. We are going to be making concrete planters.

Programming (Elective): I built a cool robot with the Lego Mindstorms set. It has tank tread sorts of things on the back for the wheels and regular wheels on the front. My friend and I decided we want to try and build a go-cart, so that will be fun to work on together.

Other: Basketball practice, also started working on specific skill drills with my dad. Guitar lessons.

Week 4

Language Arts: I went to the Dyslexia Center for an Assessment. We may do some tutoring there or we might just keep working on different things at home. My reading is at grade level but spelling is still really hard for me. This week I started reading Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand. I am liking it. I also did a writing exercise on words that convey sound. 

Math: This was the first week with our math tutor. We learned about the different kinds of numbers (real, whole, integer, natural, rational, irrational) and also reviewed some pre-algebra concepts. There are 3 other kids besides my sister and I meeting with the tutor. We meet at our house. 

Science: In chemistry we learned more about atomic structure and had to draw models of different atoms. I learned that isotopes have the same number of protons and electrons but different numbers of neutrons. 

History: We listened to the next episode of The Podcast History of Our World. It was about the early hominids that first used fire and also talked some about tools. One interesting thing was the part about how humans might have evolved to have lighter skin in order to get enough Vitamin D. 

Makerspace (Tech):  We worked on our notebooks for class. I am doing some paper weaving on my cover. 

Programming (Elective): I didn’t work on programming this week. At First Lego League we are still mostly focusing on building. At home my friend and I sanded a board really smoothly, stained it, and drilled holes in it to make a rope swing. We still aren’t sure where we will hang it up though. 

Other: I had basketball practice. At our youth activity this week we played broom hockey which was pretty fun. My twin brother and sister turned 6 on Tuesday and my cat Bandit turned 6 on Thursday. 

This is the podcast we listened to this week

Weekly Report, Weeks 1-3

Language Arts: I started my language arts coursebook. Reviewed some of the parts of speech. I finally finished the book The Martian. I liked it. I want to see the movie because I haven’t seen it. 


Math: I have been reviewing a few things, like fractions, before starting with my math tutor. Also just practiced math facts. 

Science: We went to the Natural History Museum of Utah. It was interesting. They had an exhibit about the mechanics and physics behind different animal adaptations. There was a cool thing where you could try flapping with two different wing shapes to see how they behaved differently. The short, broader wing got you moving quickly but took a lot of effort to stay going. The longer, more thin wing was slower to get going but stayed going with less effort. I am doing a chemistry class for co-op and we learned about matter. We also calculated density. 

History: We listened to the first two episodes of The Podcast History of our World. The first one was about creation stories and also the Big Bang. The second one was about the evolution of early humans and mentioned how human ancestors might have come down from the trees because of global warming at that time, which made the forests more sparse. I also have a co-op history class called We Didn't Start the Fire and we talked about communism, socialism, and Doris Day. 

Makerspace (Tech):  We made name badges at Makerspace with little lights on them. We also just did the introduction stuff because it was the first week.


Programming (Elective): At First Lego League we made the different missions. I also built a color sorter. I am helping TA a Lego Robotics class at our homeschool co-op. We cleaned out the workbench area in the garage so I can work on projects there. My first project is made out of PVC pipe and tee shirts--it is a cat bed/hideaway. Some of my projects will have programming involved, too, I’m just not sure what they will be yet. 

Other: We went on a field trip to the Young Living Lavender Farm and got a tour of the distillery. It was really smelly and kind of gave me a headache. It was cool to see how they get the oils out of the plants and bark though. 

At the Natural History Museum

At the NHMU

At the Young Living Farm

At the Young Living Farm

Out for ice cream after our field trip

My cat hideaway/bed. My cat Bandit approves!

Week 35 5/18/2018 Weekly Report

Language Arts - I finished adding the dress ups for my Goldilocks story. I watched the 
final lesson on Disc 2 of IEW Student Writing Intensive B. I did a keyword outline of the 
story of the salt peddler and the donkey. I read some more in The Martian.

 Math - I started chapter 7 which is percents. I learned how to find what percent of a number 
another number is, and how to calculate a certain percent of a number. 

Makerspace - We prepared for the Maker showcase and worked on cleaning up the 
Makerspace. Monday night we had the showcase. 

 Art - I started to do a pencil picture. I’m drawing storm clouds.

Science - In Uzinggo I learned about lunar and solar eclipses. A lunar eclipse is when the 
earth’s shadow blocks out the moon, and a solar eclipse is when the moon blocks out the 
sun. A lunar eclipse happens at night and a solar eclipse happens during the day. A solar 
eclipse can only be seen from a certain part of the world along a fairly narrow path, whereas 
a lunar eclipse can be seen by half the world at a time. Our mold terrariums are really gross
and moldy. We are keeping them for one more week and then will throw them away, as it will
have been a month. We also watched science videos a couple of times at lunch this week. 

 Other - I have my last game for Bantam basketball league for March league play. 

My Makerspace Showcase stuff

One of our science lunch playlists

Mine & my brother's mold terrariums -- mine are the two on the right

Week 34 5/11/2018 Weekly Report

Language Arts - I worked some more on my Goldilocks story and added the dress-ups. I read some more of The Martian. I did TTRS.

Math - Finished the second review of Chapter 6. Also did Hands On Equations 3.

Makerspace - I worked on my project. It requires a lot of precision which is hard since I am not that good with the tools.

Art - I finished my rose and brought it home.

Science - I did some lessons on space science. I learned about how there are a lot of different telescopes to observe different things, like ray telescopes, radio telescopes, and x-ray telescopes. I learned about the different kinds and what they are used for.

Week 33 5/4/2018 Weekly Report

Language Arts - This week I used the Story Structure Outline to do an outline of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and then I used that to write up my own version of the story. We spent some time editing it and will finish it next week. I also had a spelling lesson. I finally got back to reading The Martian as I haven’t had much time to read it the past couple weeks. Did my TTRS lessons.

Math - More with rates and proportions and graphing them and calculating unit rate. I started the review of Chapter 6. Also did some Hands On Equations 3.

Makerspace - My stuff came to work on my final project. I also went to the open lab day to get some more time to work on it.

Art - Still working on my rose. So many petals to do.

Science - We checked our mold terrariums. My one in the fridge is not moldy at all. The ones out of the fridge are starting to mold--especially the orange slice.

Other - My best friend’s birthday was this week so I got to go to his party. I also had a one on one practice with my basketball coach. That was really helpful and I played really good in the game on Saturday. We ended up losing by 3 but I felt good about how I played.

Mold Terrarium 

Close up of the moldy orange

Week 32 4/27/2018 Weekly Report

Language Arts - I finished my retelling of the Lion and the Shepherd story and I typed up some and my mom typed up some. I had a spelling lesson. I had the last week of co-op and in my Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens class we played a review game. 

Math - I worked on rates and proportions, including graphing them and different ways to solve. I also did some Hands On Equations 3.

Makerspace - My project supplies hadn’t arrived so I couldn’t really do anything. I just kind of hung out. 

Art - Still working on my garden rose. I worked on more petals. There are like 30 petals so it takes a while to get them all done.  

Science - Biology - in my class this week we learned about stimulus and response.We did an activity where the teacher had a bunch of foods in a bag and would pull one out and observed what our responses were. For example, she would pull out some candy and some people got really excited. She pulled out broccoli and some people liked it but some people didn’t it.  
Mystery science - we learned about the importance of decomposes and made a mold terrarium inside of. Plastic bag. We can observe it over a couple of weeks and see what the mold grows on and how fast.

Other - I had a basketball game on Saturday. We didn’t win but my coach was pleased that I was playing more aggressively. We also got to go see Avengers: Infinity War on Friday. My mom is a big Marvel fan so we were all pretty excited about it. I also got to go on a campout with the 11 year old scouts. They invited the older boys and one of my best friends is in that group so it was fun to go on a campout with him.

Week 31 4/20/2018 Weekly Report

Language Arts - I am still reading The Martian. I did the next lesson in IEW Student Writing Intensive B. It was about stories and the different parts of a story. We used the story of the Shepherd and the Lion for our example. I finished the first paragraph retelling of it and will do the second and third paragraphs next week. I also did TTRS and had a spelling lesson.

Math - I finished the Chapter 5 review in Math Mammoth. I did some Hands On Equations 3. I started the next chapter in in Math Mammoth, and am now in 7B. It is on rates and ratios.

Makerspace - I came up with my capstone project idea and ordered the materials. I am going to make some lasercut wooden framed sunglasses.

Art - At art class I am still working on my rose. I painted the petals this week.

Science - In Mystery Science class we learned about what plants “eat” and did an experiment with balloons to show that air actually has weight. It was important to blow up the balloons and THEN deflate the ones on one side, because when you blow up a balloon you are adding a bit of moisture from the saliva in your mouth and blowing up the ones before you deflate them helps balance that out in all the balloons. We learned that General Sherman, the largest sequoia tree, “eats” about 4 lbs of air a day. It’s pretty amazing that plants take the carbon from the air and turn it into STUFF.

In my biology class we learned about homeostasis. We did some experiments with our own bodies and balancing on one foot. Some people had a hard time doing it but I was pretty good at it and never fell over. We also measured how quickly our hearts would go back to resting rate after exercising. It took me 5 seconds, which was the fastest time.

In Uzinggo I learned about the life cycle of stars. They start out as a nebula and then that nebula compacts into the start of a star and it keeps growing and growing and eventually turns into either a Red Giant or a White Dwarf. Red Giants eventually explode and can turn into a black hole.

Other - I had basketball practice and I have a game on Saturday.

Air has weight experiment

Week 30 4/13/2018 Weekly Report

Language Arts - This week I read more of The Martian. I also had a spelling lesson, did TTRS, and had a discussion with my mom about the differences and similarities between the book Ready Player One and the movie adaptation. Most of the story details were different because all of the challenges (gates & keys) were very different in the movie than in the book, but the main characters and the main events of the book were the same.

Math - I finished up Chapter 5 in Math Mammoth 7A and am working on the chapter review. It was more on slope and lines. I also did some Hands On Equations 3.

Makerspace - We are supposed to figure out what we are doing for our final project but I didn’t have any ideas at class so i didn’t have much to work on. I think I am going to do something with charging  a battery either manually or solar or something though.

Art - I worked more on my rose garden painting. Probably have another week or two before I finish it, though.

Science - In my Mystery Science class we learned about food chains and how you can ask the questions “What does it eat?” and “What eats it?” whenever you see an organism in an area and that can help you discover more about the area and the organism. We played a food chain card game. In my biology class we learned about life cycles.

Other - I had a scout campout Friday/Saturday. I did the rifleman merit badge so I got to shoot a .22 rifle. It was fun, but harder than I thought to aim and get good shots off. I also had basketball practice twice this week and a game Saturday night. It was a close game and we were ahead the first half but ended up losing by two points. Also this week we went on a field trip to the California Pizza Kitchen which was fun and the pizzas we got to make were good.

Pizza chef at the California Pizza Kitchen 

Field Trip to California Pizza Kitchen

Tour of the kitchen at California Pizza Kitchen