An afternoon at Science World

We showed up for one of the Home Learner sessions put on by Science World. It was something about plants but the kids didn't get much out of it other than to build some paper air planes (which was *not* what the organizers were asking them to do). That's not quite true. Austin does like to grow plants so he was happy to come home with his packet of dirt and seeds. They are now "planted" in a couple of our nice tall drinking glasses ... I think that we need to find a better home for them.

While there we stopped to watch one of the science demonstrations. Austin was impressed by the exploding balloon of Hydrogen. I think he said something like, "Cool! The air actually burned!" He then got a chance to go on stage and add the oxygen to the fire that was cooking in some kind of pot (the presenter wasn't really clear what she was burning but it was a good demonstration of the need for the 3 ingredients of fire; fuel, heat and oxygen). The final demonstration was "shooting air" using air guns which were finally filled with smoke from a smoke machine. Austin really liked the slow motion rings that were shot over the crowd.

We hadn't eaten much lunch due to our hectic schedule so we caved in and ate at the White Spot (yuck). Austin had some interesting observations and questions. First he was frustrated with their fixed menu (you can't order it if it's not in their computer). Then he had some very out of the box ideas about how he'd run a restaurant if given the chance (something about letting anyone who knows how to cook to choose how they want their food which then led to a discussion about a reality TV show idea that would be called, "so you think you can cook"). He also didn't like the service and wanted to know if the owners of businesses always made more money than their employees. Then he observed that the purpose of businesses was to sell things to people at a price that is higher than what they paid for it (or paid for the parts & work to build something). He then asked how insurance companies made money (they don't resell anything and they don't build anything). Business was certainly the theme of those conversations.

Scuba Diving at Whytecliff Park - Day 2

Wet and cold. That's the main theme for today's diving.

Austin spent about 1.5 hours diving today and managed to complete all but one of the skills needed to get his open water certification. He was limited by the thick gloves, the wetsuit hood and the cold water. He should do OK closer to summer when the water is warmer.

There were 3 seals keeping an eye on them ... or hoping that they'd surface with one of the many large crabs they saw on the bottom! Oh, and Austin found a discarded snorkel on the bottom.

Austin was quite cold by the time he got out of his wetsuit but a few cups of hot chocolate and several layers of clothing took care of that.

Scuba Diving at Whytecliff Park

Today, Austin did his first two of four PADI Junior Openwater dives at Whytecliff Park with his amazing instructor, Chelsea Cameron, from The Diving Locker. Chelsea works so well with Austin and genuinely enjoys his nature and sense of humour.

It took over an hour to get suited up in the wetsuit, neoprene boots and gloves, attach his buoyancy compensation vest/device (BCD), regulator and gauge to the air tank, don his 20-pound weight belt, mask and snorkel, and waddle (Austin's description) over logs to the frigid water, fins in hand. Chelsea was so patient through the process, helping Austin with his weight belt where he collapsed in a heap of drama (wink, wink) with still a few metres remaining to the shore. Even the tank and gear themselves are quite heavy, particularly for a boy of 10 to carry. I called the weight belt Austin's "ticket to adventure," because without it, he'd just skim the water's surface.

In the days and weeks leading up to today's dives, Austin has been really enthusiastic and eager to go. He noticed a slight leak in the hose connector to his BCD and was fairly concerned that he may run out of air on his dive. Chelsea assured him that it was a very small leak, and he needn't worry about running out of air. Nonetheless, he felt compelled to repeatedly check his gauge (3000 psi), insisting the needle must have moved a millimetre while they were finishing suiting up.

Chelsea said Austin did really well. We're lucky it wasn't raining. It was quite cold, and Austin was certainly ready to dry off and warm up after spending about 75 minutes in the water (they didn't get out between dives - just floated at the surface). Austin enjoyed the underwater scene so much that Chelsea said he didn't want to end the second dive.

The skill Austin needs to master tomorrow, to qualify for his certificate, is mask removal and clearing while kneeling on the ocean floor. Today, he panicked during the mask-clearing exercise, when he accidentally breathed in some ocean water through his nose. He ripped his regulator out of his mouth, and surfaced in a hurry. This is quite a dangerous panic response, but very typical of new divers of all ages. Chelsea suggested filling up the bathroom sink with ice cold water, wearing the mask and snorkel, breathing through the snorkel while removing and replacing his mask. Austin practiced this several times, using his strategy of holding his nose once he removed the mask. Skye and I have tried to encourage Austin not to hold his nose, because it simply won't be practical when he's demonstrating the skill tomorrow, with 3mm-thick neoprene gloves on his hands!

In the first dive, they went as deep as 24 feet for about 20 minutes. I'm not sure how deep they went for the second dive, but Austin explained that a subsequent dive would generally be more shallow than the previous dive on the same day.

Austin marvelled at the huge crabs, lumpy seastars, jellyfish and anemones he saw during the dive. He said we don't need our crab trap anymore - he can catch them himself!! I think we can give him the job of cleaning the hull of our boat (wink, wink).

Gordon Korman

Austin and I went to see Gordon Korman at the West Point Grey United Church on October 21. Gordon did a short talk before staying to sign autographs for fans. He lives in New York and was in Vancouver for the Writers Festival.

Gordon told the audience about how he got started as a writer. It's a great story about a 12-year-old boy who was the grade 7 class Scholastic monitor. He wrote a story as a Language Arts project that year, his mother typed it up into a manuscript and he mailed it to the address on the Scholastic order forms.

Two years later, This Can't be Happening at MacDonald Hall was published. Now, Gordon Korman has written more than 60 books. Austin purchased Swindle and its sequel, the newly-published Zoobreak.

When Austin met Gordon Korman, he told the author that he liked the ending of "Schooled." It was a happy ending. Austin is hoping that it will turn out to be a movie someday. Gordon Korman explained that movie rights have been sold for several of his books, including "Schooled." That's an interesting phenomenon itself. I guess many movie rights have been sold on books in print, but most of these will never see the big screen.

Upon hearing of Austin's chance to meet this author, Austin's Nana sent him this note:
"Dear Austin. You have just been in the presence of a very determined young man, Gordon Korman. I took a class to see him in Ladner when he was promoting his first book. He was just a teenager then and so delightful. Do you know he was given a homework assignment to write a short story and came back to school with a chapter story!! -- and the story goes on from there with a publisher seeing his potential. I think it is so special when you can work at what you love best. Most writers start with a "regular" job and write on the side until they can make enough money with just their stories. Love Nana"

360 degrees

Austin, Aaron and I went for a walk to the park the other morning (Sunday Oct 25). On the way we did a bit of review of circles. We started out by talking about the snowboarding tricks, 360 and 180. Austin right away new that they meant a full and half circle. He then computed 1/4 and 1/8 of a circle as 90 and 45 degrees. We then went on to discuss how this applied to the large sphere we live on, the planet Earth.

If Earth is to be measured as a circle, where does "zero" start? Austin suggested the poles. While that's a sensible place to start, and you can start anywhere you want, the two places most people start from is the equator for the circles that run around the middle (latitude) and a funny place called Greenwich in England for the circles that run through the poles (longitude). We then discussed some of the differences between them e.g. there are 360 degrees of longitude but only 90 degrees of latitude so you need to specify North or South when talking about latitude.

We briefly touched on minutes, the unit of measure smaller than a degree and the fact that 60 minutes make up a degree.

Entiendé? Spanish verb conjugation

Spanish lesson this morning. On the way to Wondertree, we listened to the first track of a Pimsleur Spanish cd (Skye and I had used this when we were learning Spanish 10 years ago). Austin was learning entiendo and entiende/entiende? The cd introduced us to hablo castillano, and Austin substituted yo hablo espanol. He is grasping verb conjugation quite easily, and complained that Spanish is so similar to French, that he might get confused.

Gloria sent Austin home with a few verbs to conjugate himself. He likes to see the exceptions (ie. mover to yo muevo) in which the root (ie. "respir" of "respirar") has to first be converted before the verb can be conjugated.

Austin tried to use his new vocabulary in a short conversation with Gloria this morning. She is observing that Austin wants more than she has planned for the classes, and she is finding ways to accommodate him in the context of what she is teaching. It's wonderful to witness the creativity in this exercise.

Gloria is teaching new vocabulary words in the house (la casa), and using props. The attached picture shows Austin's drawing of the house. They would place the corresponding props into the rooms of Austin's house drawing, as they built their vocabulary.

Playdate

Austin and I went to Joe's house to meet him for the first time, play together and have lunch. Joe is Austin's age, and has similar interests. We were welcomed with open arms by Joe, his mother and sister. Joe's room reminds me so much of Austin's bedroom - Lego everywhere!! Austin and Joe built some Lego together and hit it off immediately. Austin left feeling really buoyed up and convinced he has gained a new friend. Joe invited Austin to his birthday party on October 30 - Austin is thrilled!

It's so nice to see Austin having success in a peer relationship. This experience seems to have affected Austin's general demeanor. He is pleasant and responds to criticism favourably. He bounces back quickly from disappointment.

Joe loaned us the book, There's an Owl in the Shower, by Jean Craighead George. We haven't read it yet, because we are in the middle of The Thieves of Ostia. Austin is learning about what it would have been like to live in the time of Ancient Rome. The main character lives in a house that is built into the city wall.

Lego Transformer

Austin created a Transformer with Lego. In vehicle-mode, it is a fighter jet. In robot-mode, the cockpit has to be removed. The cockpit can operate independently of the vehicle or the robot.

In vehicle-mode, the robot's arms and legs are part of the wings. The flat surface of the wings becomes the robot's torso and shoulders. for the legs and arms, Austin needed to choose parts that swivel. The arm & leg parts came primarily from Lego Knights. The rest of the pieces are "random."

Learning Plan

Austin Alyn Cove

Learning Plan

October 5, 2009

Biographical Sketch:

Austin is a 10-year-old boy who is half-Lego, half-man. He is highly sensitive and loves to create. His most creative pursuits are with LEGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He also loves to play music, draw, and build structures.

Austin likes dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. He likes to play with friends.

Austin has three brothers: Iain (15), Aidan (7) and Aaron (1.5). He lives with his Mum, Dad, Aidan, Aaron and Gemma (our nanny) in North Vancouver, BC. Iain lives with his Mum in Coquitlam, BC.

Austin’s most successful learning experiences have been in the subjects of animal biology, dinosaurs, mythology, music, language, playing with friends, sailing, swimming and SCUBA diving. Austin learned to read at the age of 4 by building up his vocabulary of sight words.

Austin is really skilled at building Lego, playing music, interacting with friends, SCUBA diving, sailing, learning new things, and retaining information. He has excellent recall and learns new languages with ease. He effectively presents analogies and metaphors using his expanding vocabulary.

Goals:

· To be a very good Lego guy

· To have good friends

· To learn how to create Lego products

· To learn to speak Spanish fluently with Spanish-speaking people

Challenges:

· Writing

· Math

· Peer relationships

Learning Focus:

LEGO !!!!!!!!!!!

Spanish

Music

Cooking

SCUBA diving

The Caribbean

LEGO !!!!!!!!!!!

Schedule / Time Line:

Weekly: Monday to Friday, 3-5 hours per day

Monthly: Review progress

Over the year: Re-assess

Expectations for Learning Consultant:

Review and feedback on weekly O4Ls and Learning Plan

Recommendations for skills development, strategies, etc. Suggestions for applicable tools and resources.

Resources:

Family

Friends

Learning Consultants

Mentors

Lego

Travel

Books

Art supplies

Software/Games

DVDs

CDs

Academie Duello

Board games

Field trips

Internet

Software: Zoo Tycoon, Age of Empires, Spore

Assessment and Evaluation:

· Ongoing parent, mentor and Learning Consultant observations (conversations and feedback)

· Self-assessment (modifying and choosing activities, articulating understanding, reflecting on understanding, planning, setting goals)

· Work samples (projects, experiments, art, Lego, music recording, book reviews, etc.)

· Affective indicators (enjoyment, interest, curiosity, participation, confusion)

· Conversations and discussions (listening, questions and answers, debates, sharing, theories, hypotheses, etc.)

· Written/online/oral tests (unit tests, quizzes, chapter reviews, etc.)

1. SelfDesign Praxis Planning (Learning to Learn, Systemic Thinking)

· Learning Plan Creation and Updates

· Learning Curve concepts

· Conversation

· Theories and Hypotheses

2. Wellness (Health, Physical Activity, Sports, Exercise)

· Daily Physical Activity

· Obstacle Course

· Playing with friends

· Basketball

· Swimming

· Swordplay

· Tag, Dino, Grounders, Dino Makeup, Made-up Tag, Lego Tag, Freeze Tag, Sneaky Statues

· Cooking healthy food

· Drumming

· SCUBA diving

3. Languaging Communication (Writing/Reading-Media)

· Reading books

· Journal writing

· Conversations

· Review educational material (eg. SCUBA diving)

· Watch DVDs

· Browse the Internet

· Read the newspaper

· Write Book Reviews

4. Humanities (Social Studies, sociology, anthropology, psychology, history, geography)

· Mythology

· History (Academie Duello)

· Dragons

· Dinosaurs

5. 2^nd Language (Cultural Connections including learning 2^nd language)

· French

· Spanish

· Baby Sign Language

· Teaching Aaron how to speak “human”

· The Culture of the Caribbean

6.Logic (Math, Analytical Thinking)

· Algebra

· Artillery Trajectory

· Zoo Tycoon, Spore, Age of Empires

· The Periodic Table of the Elements

· Times Tables

· Settlers, Seafarers, Cities & Knights, and other Board Games

· Plain Old Math

7. Living Skills (Tools for Living, Applied Skills, Information Technology, Financial Management, Career)

· Cooking

· Engine Disassembly and Reassembly

· French & Spanish

· Spore, Zoo Tycoon

· Good relationships with other people

· Be an awesome brother!

· Saving money for Lego and the Caribbean

· Playing “Hotel”

· Field trip to Dad’s office

8.Science (Ecology, Naturalistic Understanding)

· Science World Homelearners Program

· Travel to the Caribbean, learn how to conserve water, learn about nature

· The Periodic Table of the Elements

· Paleontology

· Science experiments

· Animals

9. Creativity (Artistic and Creative Activity)

· LEGO!

· Art Attack

· Music composition

· Cooking

· Building

· Storytelling

· Imaginative play with friends and family

· Movie making

An invitation to swim

This morning, Austin was invited to go swimming at Karen Magnussen Wave Pool with the Wondertree group. Owen and Julie (two of Austin's favourite grownups) are supervising a field trip today. Since our car is in for servicing today, we didn't think it would be possible for him to join them, but Marielle offered to pick him up, and I've arranged for Elaine to collect him from the pool at 2:30. I could tell that Austin felt really good to be included, particularly in an activity that he loves! I can't wait to hear how he liked it.
Skye and I will be taking Aidan and Austin to see A Shine of Rainbows tonight at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Looks like a great film. The main actor is Aidan Quinn. The director, Vic Sarin, sounds like a really interesting guy. He's from Vancouver.