Anders's Education August 2019 - July 2020
Legal Grade: Second Grade
Actual Grade: Third & the first half of Fourth
Age: 7.75-8.75
Notes
Anders continues to be ambitious, hardworking, and intellectually curious about everything. Though he is a total eight-year-old boy in almost every stereotypical way, there is something very future-oriented about him that is rarely seen in children.
Anders’s on-set acting coach (provided by the studio) said it well: She said, "Anders is like a full-grown man, a man in his prime. Sometimes he acts like an eight-year-old, but his energy, or who he really is, is a man.” I could not agree more.
This year Anders was admitted into the John Hopkins program for gifted and talented youngsters at the high honors level for mathematical reasoning and the regular honors level in verbal reasoning.
Schedule
At the farm we work from 10am-11:30, have lunch, read from 1230-130, and then Anders works until he is done. Sometimes he finishes at 2 and sometimes 3.
In Los Angeles we work right after breakfast, around 8am. We read from 930-11 while the baby naps. And then he finishes things up, usually by 1. The school day takes much longer in Los Angeles due to frequent Henrik breaks (at the farm Henrik is with a babysitter during school-time).
Key
Anything in red I highly recommend.
Anything in blue I recommend.
Anything in gray Anders or/and I do not recommend.
Anything in black I have not yet concluded what I think of it.
BUSINESS/LIFE SKILLS
Business
Was read The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Calson
Watched BizKids, seasons 1-3
TypeKids.Com, Lessons 1-16/30
Watched: The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson
Went on around 50 auditions
Filmed six episodes of a television show at Sony Studios (Indebted)
(Anders's best Indebted scenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NFY4JztNJY&t=122s)
Did private coaching sessions for auditions
Bought and sold investments
Went to Dad's office
Life Skills
Helped care for baby and toddler
Cooked, cleaned, did laundry
Was read The Darwin Awards II by Wendy Northcutt
Was read My Friend, Sleep by Teresa Paiva
Watched https://farmersfootprint.us/watch/
Watched YouTube: Standup by Michael McIntyre and Jim Gaffigan
Notes
Anders can do laundry entirely on his own now.
Once Anders got to level 10 in TypeKids, lessons began to take him up to forty minutes to complete. He needed more repetition than the program was offering, so I bought a second account, and he started over from the beginning. The second time through he made it to lesson 16 before it started to take him too long to complete lessons again (about forty minutes again, that seems to be his tolerance level). He went back to the other account where he was still at level 10. Starting from back there, lessons take him five to ten minutes.
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT & SELF DEFENSE
Myofunctional Therapy with Joy Moeller
KravMaga (Level 1)
Dance Classes at Dance for Kids Brentwood
Fencing at Avant Garde
Hockey at Toyota Center (level III then IV)
Horseback riding at Westside Riding Center
Tennis
Watched YouTube: How to Mew (Orthotropics)
Watched YouTube: Mewing for Beginngers
Watched YouTube: Tongue Posture Demystified
Watched YouTube: Tongue Posture Demystified (chewing) part 2
Notes
The Mewing videos were boring to Anders. Doing Myofuncitonal therapy every day three times a day is equally challenging. But Anders was grinding at night and even starting to mouth breathe at times, so we have prioritized this.
Anders has been training himself to sleep on his back. It has taken a few weeks, but he almost never sleeps on his stomach now.
Anders was not able to go very most of his extracurriculars this year as in the fall he was busy filming Indebted and, in the spring, everything was canceled because of this year’s flu / Democrat strategy for presidential election 2020 / big pharma mandatory vaccination scheme / deep state move for more totalitarian control aka Covid.
MATH
Kumon program, third grade level C, pages 150-200/200 (completed)
Kumon program, fourth grade level D, pages 1-200/200 (completed)
Kumon program, fifth grade level E, pages 1-20/200
Ray’s New Intellectual Arithmetic, Lesson 1-30/80
Primary Mathematics, Standards Edition, Levels 3A and 3B (completed)
Primary Mathematics, Standards Edition, Level 4A (completed)
Life of Fred: Farming by Stanley F. Schmidt
Life of Fred: Goldfish by Stanley F. Schmidt
Life of Fred: Honey by Stanley F. Schmidt
Mad Minute workbook, Levels B 1-6
Mad Minute workbook, Level C-4 and C-5
Was read Fractions in Disguise by Edwin Einhorn
Was read A Place for Zero by Angeline LoPresti
Was read Measuring Penny by Lauren Leedy
Was read Less Than Zero by Stuart J Murphy
Was read More of Less by Stuart J Murphy
Was read Cut Down to Size at High Noon by Scott Sundby
Was read Room for Ripley by Stuart J Murphy
Was read Multiplying Menance: The Revenge of Rumpelstiltskin by Pam Calvert
Was read Zero is Not Nothing by Mindel and Harry Sitomer
Read What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras by Julie Ellis
Watched YouTube: The Story of One BBC Documentary
Notes
I love our math program. It is the perfect mixture of things to create a really thorough math education.
That being said, geometry is one of those useless subjects that I cringe at Anders learning. I worry that Anders’s education is too intellectual and not practical enough.
LOGIC
Mind Benders, Level 4, grades 3-6 (completed)
Mind Benders, Level 3, grades 3-6 (completed)
Mind Benders, Level 2 (completed)
Brain Quest, Grade 2 (completed)
Mr. Rhee's Brilliant Math Series: Cogat, grade 2
Gifted and Talented Cogat Text Prep, grade 2
SCAT Elementary Workbook by Aristotle Circle
Elementary SCAT Workbook 2019-2020 edition by Gate Teacher Resources
SCAT Full Length Practice Test Grades 2-3 Elementary – Test 1
2 Practice Tests for the OLSAT Grade 3 (4th Grade Entry) Level D
Was read Don't Get Fooled: How to Analyze Claims…
Notes
Anders did the Mind Benders Level 2 workbook two years ago as well. Back then he was not a good reader yet, so I read him the problems. This time he did the book entirely on his own. Level 3 he also did on his own. He did the first third of level 4 on his own, and then I helped him with the rest. He will repeat this workbook when he is in fifth grade (on his own, I assume).
Logic continues to be his favorite subject (most of the time) because it is war and battle. The weapons are words and ideas instead of swords and guns.
GRAMMAR
Well Trained Mind, Level 3 (completed)
Well Trained Mind, Core Instructor Text (grades 5-8), lessons 1-25/131
Red Workbook: A Complete Course for Young Writers, Aspiring Rhetoricians, and Anyone Else Who Needs to Understand How English Works (grades 5-8), lessons 1-25/131
Editor in Chief, Beginning 1 Grades 2-3 (completed)
Editor in Chief, Beginning 2 Grades 3-4 (half way)
Sentence Diagramming, Beginning, Grades 3-12 (completed)
Notes:
Anders continued to work on the poems he memorized last year: “I Love You Well,” "Be Glad Your Nose Is on Your Face," "I Walked a Mile with Pleasure," "Don't You Quit," and "Invictus.”
Because he has to do so much memorization work for acting, he only memorized two additional things this year: “Vitai Lampada” and Puck’s monologue from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “If We Shadows Have Offended.”
We skipped Well Trained Mind Level 4 as it looked like just a repeat of level 3, and we went straight to Well Trained Mind for grades 5-8, which I hate, but is still the best I have found.
SPELLING & VOCABULARY
Sequential Spelling, level 1/Grade 3 (completed)
Sequential Spelling, level 2/Grade 4 (lesson 90/180)
Word Roots Beginning from The Critical Thinking Company (completed)
3rd Grade Vocabulary Flash Cards by Sylvan (completed)
Vocabulary from Classical Roots, Grade 4 by Lee Mountain (completed)
Read The King who Rained by Fred Gwynne
Notes
The first year of Sequential Spelling was very hard for Anders. He got many words wrong. We did extra repetition, sometimes doing the same test or word ten times.
The second year has been easy – like reading, something “clicked.”
Anders does much better on spelling tests if I go over the list of words with him and point out the patterns that I notice. This directs his studying.
As a program, I LOVE Sequential Spelling.
I looked into quite a few vocabulary programs and am really not sure they are necessary if a child is reading old books. Anders may be better off studying Latin. Not sure yet. I do like the program we are using, but Anders has not learned any new words from it.
PENMANSHIP
Zaner Bloser Handwriting: 2ed Grade Manuscript (completed)
Zaner Bloser Handwriting: 2ed Grade Cursive (completed)
Zaner Bloser Handwriting: 3rd Grade Cursive (completed)
READING
Read McGuffey's Third Eclectic Reader 1920 edition
Read McGuffy’s Fourth Eclectic Reader 1920 edition (lesson 60/90)
Read The Enourmous Crocodile by Roald Dahl (atos 4.0)
Read The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl (atos 4.1)
Read The Twits by Roald Dahl (atos 4.4)
Read Fantastic Breasts and Where to Find Them
Read The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
Read: Woody, Hazel and Little Pip by Elsa Beskow
Read: Children of the Forest by Elsa Beskow
Read: The Flowers Festival by Elsa Beskow
Read The Phantom Toolbooth by Norton Juster
Read The Mysterious Tadpole by Steven Kellog
Read The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar by Ivan Krylov
Read Dragonslayers from Beowulf to St. George by Joseph McCullough – he loved this
Read Various Hardy Boy mysteries (1927 editions)
Was read The Problem with Pulcifer by Florence Parry Heide
Was read Sleeping Beauty by KY Craft
Was read Usborn Illustrated Grimm's Fairy Tales
Was read Usborn Illustrated Andersen's Fairy Tales
Was read Swedish Folk Tales by John Bauer
Was read The Darwin Awards II by Wendy Northcutt
Was read Quips & Quirks by Clyde Watson
Was read Snipp, Snapp, Snutt and The Reindeer by Maj Lindman
Was read The Littlest Viking by Alexandra Penfold
Was read Little Tomte's Christmas Wish by Inkeri Karvonen & Hannu Taina
Was read The Little Winter Book of Gnomes by Kirsten Sevig (fine)
Was read Per and the Dala Horse
Was read The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
Was read The Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter
Was read Castle by David Macaulay
Was read Cathedral by David Macaulay
Read and was read Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
Notes
I absolutely love the McGuffy readers for teaching values.
Though I have Anders read to me things at the fourth grade level, he tested at grade level 7.4 on his Star 360 standardized test in May.
I stopped keeping track of Anders’s free reading books as he reads too much for me to continue to do so. The books he reads are books that have been noted already. We have not been to the library or the bookstore -- he goes shopping on our bookshelves, pulls out a dozen books, and lays around reading for hours.
Because he has not been introduced to all the high-fructose-corn-syrup books out there for boys his age, Anders is very happy rereading books I have read to him before, like Beowulf, A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream, and The Swiss Family Robinson, his current favorite. This keeps him historically in line with where we are and introduces him to great literature.
WRITING
Writing with Ease Workbook, Level 3, a selection (completed)
Writing and Rhetoric, Book 1, Third Grade: Fable (completed)
Notes:
I love the Writing and Rhetoric program, as does Anders, but I don’t think the program provides enough emphasis on the basics, hence my use of selections from Writing with Ease as well. With Henrik I will start the Writing with Ease program in first grade.
I follow the classical writing curriculum, which has been used for over two thousand years, and does not emphasize creative writing the way modern education does, which tends to work okay for girls but tends to make boys miserable. I don’t like progressive curriculums for either boys or girls. Much better for children to read good writing first, to imitate good writing first.
Education does not have to be exciting every minute for children to understand and appreciate what they are leaning. Children become bored in school when they don’t see the point of what they are doing, not when they are asked to do work that is repetitive, but of which they see the point.
HISTORY (1066-1492)
Was read Story of the World, Volume 2 (page 129-403/403)
Was read selections from Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson
Was read Stories from English History, vol 1 by Alfred J Church (completed)
Was read Stories from English History, vol II by Alfred J Church (completed)
Was read The Usborne History Britain (pages 135-201)
Was read Britannia: 100 Great Stories From British History (pages 71-135)
Was read The History of Scotland for Children by Fiona Macdonald (pages 43-87)
Was read selections from Medieval Scandinavia: From Conversion to Reformation by Birgit and Peter Sawyer
Was read selections from The History of the Renaissance World by Susan Wise Bower
Was read selections from Scandinavia: A History by Ewan Butler
Was read selections from A Concise History of the Netherlands by James Kennedy
Was read selections from A History of Germany in the Middle Ages by Ernest Henderson
Was read selections from Food in History by Reay Tannahill (the chapters on food in ancient and medieval times)
Was read The Saga of Eric Brighteyes by H. Rider Haggard
Was read Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges
Was read A Farm Through Time by Angela Wilkes
Was read The Medieval Feast by Aliki
Was read The Stories of Hans Anderssen by Robert Mathias
Was read Hans Christian Anderson’s Fairy Tales by Usborne
Was read Grimm’s Fairy Tales by Usborne
Was read An Illustrated Treasury of Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales by Theresa Breslin
Was read Sleeping Beauty by KY Craft
Was read Cinderella by Olga Zakharova – not the original story, great pictures
Watched Making History - Medieval Mining
Watched Medieval Iron Production in Holland - smelting ore
Watched: Nova: Secrets of the Shining Knight
Watched YouTube: Life in The Middle Ages The Monk
Watched History Channel: Going Medieval
Watched YouTube: St.George and the dragon
973: Watched YouTube: "The Germans - Otto and the empire DW Documentary"
842-1242: Watched YouTube "The Byzantine Varangian Guard (Documentary)"
842-1242: Watched YouTube "1000 - Vikings of the East Igor & The Kievan Rus"
1022: Watched YouTube "Varangian Guards during the reign of Basil II (999-1022 AD)"
1000: Watched YouTube "From Pagan Nomads to Christian Knights King Stephen & The Birth of Hungary"
1030: Watched YouTube "The Battle of Stiklestad 1030 AD"
1035: Watched YouTube "Ten Minute English and British History #07 - The Late Anglo-Saxons and King Cnut"
1066: Watched YouTube "How the Normans changed the history of Europe - Mark Robinson"
1066: Watched YouTube "Norman History and Knights"
1066: Watched YouTube "Viking Harald Hardrada (Byzantine Varangian Guard)"
1066: Watched YouTube "Road to 1066 The Rise and Fall of the North Sea Empire"
1066: Was read William the Conqueror by Thomas Costain
1066: Perused Hastings 1066: The Fall of Saxon England by Osprey
1066: Perused Viking Warrior versus Anglo-Saxon Warrior by Gareth Williams
1066: Watched 1066 A Year to Conquer England 1/3 (Non Politically Correct version)
1066: Watched 1066 A Year to Conquer England 2/3 (Non Politically Correct version)
1066: Watched 1066 A Year to Conquer England 3/3 (Non Politically Correct version)
1099: Was read The Crusaders: A Story of the War for the Holy Sepulchre by Alfred J Church - fine but a little confusing and not all that well written
1099: Watched YouTube "Episode 1 Holy Land Crusades BBC Documentary"
1100: Was read The Crusaders: A Story of the War for the Holy Sepulchre by Alfred J. Church
1107: The Norwegian Crusade: Explained
1119: Watched YouTube: "The Knights Templar! The most comprehensive documentary of the Knights Templar!"
1119: Watched YouTube: "History Documentary 2016 Legendary Mysteries Of The Knight Templar New Documentaries 2016"
1150: Watched YouTube: "Episode 2 Clash of Titans Crusades BBC Documentary"
1170: Was read Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci by Joseph D'Agnese
1190: Watched YouTube "Teutonic Knights - Origins and Founding"
1195: Watched YouTube: "The Battle of Alarcos 1195 - The Fight Between Christianity and Islam Intensifies WOTW EP 8P2"
1200: Islam: The Untold Story (Tom Holland)
1200: YouTube: Weapons without metal: Far from Primitive!
1200: YouTube: History of Norway #2 – The Christian Kingdom of the Danes
1200: Watched YouTube: "Episode 3 Victory and Defeat Crusades BBC Documen.."
1200: Watched Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail
1200: Watched YouTube: "Medieval Art History Overview from Phil Hansen"
1205: Was read The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
1205: Watched YouTube: "History's Mysteries - The True Story of Robin Hood (History Channel Documentary)"
1215: Was read The Magna Charta by James Daugherty
1215: Watched YouTube: "The Magna Carta (1215)"
1215: Watched YouTube: "The Story of Magna Carta"
1215: Watched YouTube: "Magna Carta What Happened Next 6 Minute History"
1220: Watched YouTube: "Genghis Khan - Rise of Mongol Empire - BBC Documentary - by roothmens"
1227: Watched YouTube: The Rise and Fall of Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire
1230: Watched YouTube: "The Mongol Empire Kublai Khan History Channel"
1230: Watched YouTube: "Mongols Season 1 Full - from Genghis to Kublai"
1230: Watched YouTube: "Secret History of Genghis Khan - Documentary 2019"
1250: Watched YouTube: "Why were the Mongols so successful"
1250: Read and was read Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
1252: Was read Cathedral by David Macaulay
1263: Watched YouTube: "The Battle of Largs 1263 AD"
1264: Watched YouTube: "2nd Baron Wars.The Battle of Lewes 1264 AD. Part 1"
1264: Watched YouTube: "1264-2nd Baron Wars.The Battle of Lewes 1264 AD - Part 2"
1265: Watched YouTube: "The battle of Evesham, metal detecting uk"
1265: Watched YouTube: "Battle of Evesham - August 4, 1265 (Second Barons' War)"
1265: Watched YouTube: “The Barttle of Evesham 1265 AD”
1266: Was read A Boy Named Giotto by Paolo Guarnieri
1270: Watched YouTube: "Episode 3 Victory and Defeat Crusades BBC Documentary"
1270: Watched YouTube: Holy Fury – Haakon Magnusson #31
1273: Was read Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle - meh
1278: Watched YouTube: "Battle on the Marchfeld (1278AD) - Medieval Kingdoms Total War 1212AD Mod Gameplay"
1284: Was read The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning
1290: Was read selections from Expulsion: England’s Jewish Solution
1298: Was read The Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter
1300: Was read The Faraway North: Scandinavian Folk Ballads by Ian Cumpstey
1300: Was read Castle by David Macaulay
1307: Was read The Legend of William Tell by Terry Small
1300: Watched Medieval Lives Series: The Damsel, The Knight, The King, The Minstrel, The Monk, The Outlaw, The Philosopher
1300: Watched YouTube: What Life Was Like in Medieval Castles – Important to point out that the beer medieval people drank was usually just fermented, like kombucha, not very alcoholic at all. False to claim that they were drunk all the time. Also important to point out that the royals or rich people were often working when they were socializing. Feasts weren’t just for fun. They weren’t then and they aren’t now.
1300: YouTube: Early 1300’s music. King Edward II era music.
1300: Perused Forces of the Hanseatic League: 13th to 15th Century
1350: Was read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo translated by Tolkein
1386: Watched YouTube "Everything you need to know to read “The Canterbury Tales” - Iseult Gillespie"
1386: Was read Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales retold by Marcia Williams
1386: Watched YouTube: “Henry V Documentary - Biography of the life of King Henry V of England”
1390: Watched YouTube: “Jan van Eyck, the Story of His Most Stunning Painting”
1398-1485: Watched Amazon: The Hallow Crown, seasons 1 and 2 – These Shakespeare plays were unfortunately abridged but otherwise they were awesome
1400: YouTube: Homemade Gunpowder, For Science! How to Make Gunpowder – DIY Gunpowder Experiment!
1400: Was read Men of Iron by Howard Pyle
1400: YouTube: Sarah Brightman - - Scarborough Fair
1400: YouTube: English Renaissance Music – Shakespeare’s Time
1400: YouTube: Tudor and Renaissance Music
1400: Perused Faces on Places: About Gargoyles and Other Stone Creatures – Like most kids, Anders did not really like Gothic architecture
1400: Britain’s Bloody Crown: The Mad King Ep 1 of 4 (War of the Roses)
1400: The Great Age of Exploration 1400 – 1550 Documentary
1403: Read Shrewsbury 1403: Struggle for a Fragile Crown by Dickon Whitewood – another of those battle books that Anders really loves
1415: Watched YouTube: “Agincourt: The Bloodiest Battle (Famous Medieval Battle Documentary) | Timeline”
1440: Watched YouTube: “The Machine That Made Us (Gutenberg Printing Press Documentary) | Timeline”
1450: Was read The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson
1450: Watched YouTube: The Spice of Life – Pepper: The Master Spice – BBC production narrated by Edward Woodward
1452: Watched YouTube: “History Documentary BBC ❖ Leonardo DaVinci, behind a Genius”
1455: Watched YouTube: “Britain’s Bloody Crown: The Kingmaker Must Die Ep 2 of 4 (War of the Roses Documentary)”
1455: Watched YouTube: “Britain’s Bloody Crown: Ep 2 of 4 (War of the Roses Documentary)
1455: Watched YouTube: “Britain’s Bloody Crown: The Princes Must Die Ep 3 of 4 (War of the Roses Documentary)
1455: Watched YouTube: “Britain’s Bloody Crown: A Mother’s Love Ep 4 of 4 (War of the Roses Documentary)
1450’s: Britain’s Bloodiest Dynasty: Betrayal – Part 1 of 4 (The Real Game of Thrones)
1460: Was read Fine Print: A Story about Johann Gutenberg
1485: Was read selections from Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory
1485: Watched YouTube: Battle of Bosworth 1485 – War of the Roses Documentary
1485: Watched YouTube: Battle Stack: The Battle of Bosworth (York vs Lancaster – War of the Roses)
1492: Was read The World of Columbus and Sons by Genevieve Forester
Notes
I had a stack of thirteen or so history books in our homeschool pile and read them to Anders in chronological order. I kept a post-it note on top of each book saying what year we were in, and I kept the books stacked accordingly. For example, if in three books we had made it to the years 1215, 1190, 1175, we would read the book in which we were in 1175 until we were passed 1215, and then it would move to the bottom of the pile, and I would read the next book on the top of the pile -- the book with a post-it saying “1190.” In this way Anders heard many famous stories from history several times and in different ways and from different perspectives. It was daunting though, as we were in the middle of thirteen books at a time, and I wondered if we would ever make it through them.
I read many books on the side to provide more detail. Any book that is listed as “selections from” means that I read the full book and then read any parts to Anders that I thought he would find interesting.
We are just hitting the conquistadores now, and I find it interesting that the popular history narrative (Native Europeans are bad, the conquering of America was the Greatest Tragedy Ever, slavery was this random evil inflicted on innocent Africans by evil Native Europeans) doesn’t work at all if history is taught in order. For someone learning classical history: all peoples all over the world have been conquering other peoples since the beginning of recorded history and slavery has been around in every civilization known to man. Neither of these things is shocking or even that sad after thousands of years of it.
What is shocking is that a specific people decided to stop doing those things. Those people – Native Europeans -- also forced the rest of the world to stop doing those things as well (to the best of their ability). This should be celebrated and the people who did this should be celebrated. If history is taught in order, this realization is unavoidable.
I imagine that learning classical history would also help African Americans and Native Americans to feel less like victims since the Native Europeans themselves were similarly conquered and enslaved all throughout history. The story of Cortez and the Native Americans is almost identical to the Story of Charlemagne and the Saxons – the Christian playbook did not change much in a thousand years -- except that Cortez was far nicer and less murderous to the Native Americans than Charlemagne was to the Saxons.
If Anders were a schooled kid, in third grade he would have learned about American Indian tribes of his local region, about the explorers and settlers of America (from a “Europeans are bad” perspective) and about how the US government is structured. He would also have done map work. In fourth grade he would have learned more general geography and would have studied the history of California, from the Native Americans to the Spanish missions to the Gold Rush and World War II.
I am SO GLAD he is learning classical history! And me too! I had no idea how much history I didn’t know.
SCIENCE/ENGINEERING/TECHNOLOGY
Daily Science Workbook, Grade 3 (completed)
Daily Science Workbook, Grade 4 (completed)
Human Biology / Health and Medicine / Genetics
Was read The Omnivore's Dilemma Young Readers Edition by Michael Pollan
Was read selections from Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser
Was read selections from Why Raise Ugly Kids
Watched YouTube: BBC The Human Body Secrets Of Your Life Revealed Series 1 2of3
Watched YouTube: Vaxxed - From Cover Up to Catastrophie
Watched YouTube: Life in the womb (9 months in 4 minutes)
Watched YouTube: Science for Kids - The Acid Inside My Stomach Learn About Digestion
Watched YouTube: The Truth About Sugar - New Documentary 2015
Watched YouTube: What Sugar Does to Your Brain & Body
Watched YouTube TedEd: At what moment are you dead? – Randall Hayes
YouTube: MindField: Seasons 1, 2 and 3
Technology / Engineering / Space
Was read Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction is Hijacking Out Kids--And How to Break the Trance
Watched YouTube: Norway’s $47BN Coastal Highway
Crazy Contraptions: 16 Lego Projects – this was a big hit. Anders did all of them in two days.
Watched YouTube The geometric dance of Earth & Venus over an 8-year period
Physics
Watched TedEd: Turbulence: one of the great unsolved mysteries of physics - Tomás Chor
Watched TedEd: What is entropy? - Jeff Phillips
Watched TedEd: Newton's 3 Laws, with a bicycle - Joshua Manley
Watched TedEd: The physics of surfing - Nick Pizzo
Watched TedEd: What is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle? - Chad Orzel
Watched TedEd: What’s the smallest thing in the universe? - Jonathan Butterworth
Watched TedEd: Questions No One Knows the Answers to (Full Version)
Watched TedEd: What's invisible? More than you think - John Lloyd
Watched TedEd: Light waves, visible and invisible - Lucianne Walkowicz
Watched YouTube: Nuclear Energy Explained by Kurzgesagt
Watched YouTube: Uranium and the origins of Nuclear Power by Kathy Reed
Watched YouTube: History Documentary BBC – How it Works Nuclear Reactor from Jelke Kint
Watched YouTube: How to build a nuclear power plant from ScienceDuude
Watched YouTube: Fusion Power Explained from Kurzgesagt
Watched YouTube: The Economics of Nuclear Energy from Real Engineering
Geology
Was read Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Watched YouTube: Gemstone Geology Documentary
Watched YouTube: BBC Earth Power of the Planet 1of5 Volcano
Watched YouTube: BBC Earth Power of the Planet 2of5 Atmosphere
Watched YouTube: BBC Earth Power of the Planet 3of5 Ice
Watched YouTube: BBC Earth Power of the Planet 4of5 Oceans
Watched YouTube: How to Grade and Value Pearls The 5 Ss
Watched YouTube: 5 Strange Phenomena Science Can’t Explain
Watched YouTube: Endless videos on mining, gold, gems, and diamonds
Watched YouTube: Top 10 Archaeological Mysteries Science STILL Can't Explain!
Watched Yukon Gold, various episodes
Watched TedEd: Where Does Gold Come From?
Watched YouTube: Making History - Medieval Mining
Watched YouTube: Medieval Iron Production in Holland - smelting ore
Watched YouTube: How I Became a Goldsmith (and how you can too!)
Watched YouTube: Goldsmithing and diamond setting with Kevork Gurunian
Watched YouTube: Ancient Jewelry Techniques by Azza Fahmy
Watched YouTube: Goldsmith vs Silversmith: What’s the Difference by Lorna Romanenghi
Watched YouTube: Georg Jensen silversmith Jesper Nordo reveals his secrets
Watched YouTube: Learn Silversmithing: Basic Tools. Supplies to get started. Silversmithing for beginngers by Stardust Mine Jewelry
Watched YouTube: Watched Ruby and Revolver by Goal Zero
Watched YouTube: How to make a ring from start to finish by Stardust Mine Jewelry
Watched YouTube: Making your own silver jewelry by Andrew Berry
Biology
Watched YouTube: BBC Planet Earth 2 Documentary HD 1080p Wild Russia Siberia
Watched YouTube: National Geographic Super Spider Documentary
Watched YouTube: National Geographic Wild Birds of Prey (Raptors, Hawks, Falcons)
Watched YouTube: Eagle Documentary National Geographic Full Queen of the Skies
Watched YouTube: National Geographic Documentary-Amazing Animal Homes, how animals live, Nature Documentary 2016
Watched YouTube: Nature of the cuckoo duck - David Attenborough - BBC wildlife
Watched YouTube: Sky Hunters, The World of the Dragonfly - The Secrets of Nature
Watched YouTube: How Dogs (Eventually) Became Our Best Friends
Watched YouTube: Documentary BBC Dolphins, The Ultimate Guide
Notes
Fast Food Nation ended up repeating too much information that Anders already learned in Omnivore’s Dilemma. With Henrik I will read Omnivore’s and skip Fast Food.
FINE ART
Drawing with Pastels Level at Renaissance Fine Art
Piano & Voice at Cornerstone Music Academy
SPANISH
Due to the birth of his brother, Anders spent only one month in Nicaragua practicing Spanish all day every day
Private tutoring / conversation practice
Coquito Clasico, Lectura Inicial
Coquito de Oro, Integrado
Nacho Avansado
Coquito Fabulas de Esopo
Favorite Music
Amish Paradise by Weird Al
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life by Monty Python
Everything by Sarah Brightman
Everything by Antti Martikainen
Everything by Tartalo
Most Used Aps
Drops (he is teaching himself Norwegian)
Chess Tiger Pro
Stop Motion
I was so excited today to go to your blog and see new posts! I’m fascinated by (and envious of) Anders’s education—what an amazing mind you are helping him to build. I imagine it is very exciting and rewarding (and a lot of work) to teach him like this.
ReplyDeleteAbout his acting career—have you found that Anders struggles with being less ‘mainstream’ than his co-workers (in his communication-style/NVC, in what he eats, in not actually watching a lot of television). How do you and he deal with this? Have you found that he picks up less-than desirable habits or phrases or values from being around his co-workers? How have you dealt with that?
I would love to hear even more about your schedule (I find time diaries fascinating) --how you balance meal prep/cleaning/chores, teaching Anders, caring for Henrik, your own self-care, having time with your husband, etc.. What are the challenging parts and where have you found success?
Hahaha—I loved “Amish Paradise” when I was Anders’s age as well.
I’ll be starting homeschool with my 3.5 year old daughter next week, and I ordered a bunch of the workbooks and books you recommend. I’m excited to see how it goes.
Anders's education is all the things you say--exciting, rewarding, and a LOT of work. And fascinating for me too because I'm curious to see where it goes. I don't even know if I support learning all this stuff. If it weren't for the college racket, I would say most people don't need beyond a fourth grade education, and they would be better off working.
ReplyDeleteImagine if every kid got to work from 8-18 instead of be in school, but instead of how it was in the past (they gave their wages to their parents) 90% of their wages were put into an account that they got at 18. Let's say the kids worked below minimum wage and for no more than 20 hours a week. They make only $10-$20,000 a year. After 10 years, every 18 year old starts of his or her life with $100,000-200,000. They can buy a house or a college degree or start a business.... Childhood is the time to work and save since your living expenses are covered.... So I am often conflicted about his schooling.
Anders doesn't really struggle socially. He's super outgoing and friendly and generally connects well with people. He might not be able to talk about the latest movie, but he can talk about books he is reading or places he has traveled. As far as I know they loved him on the set.
On set the children were kept in their dressing rooms or the school room. He had surprising little unscripted interaction with the adults on set. Craft services was amazing. The head woman actually ate a pretty Weston A Price diet herself as she had cured some incurable disease through diet. She was supposed to be on drugs for the rest of her life to manage something like Chrons disease and instead she had healed herself. Anyway, she bent over backward to make sure there was always food for Anders to eat. Everyone else on set was just super happy that Anders didn't eat sugar and run around and break things. I got a lot of compliments on that. Anders had impeccable self-control around the food. If there was a particularly tasty junk food being offered he would take one and save it until after work. He takes his work very seriously, and he knows that part of that is eating right so that you can do your best. He will eat well before auditions too, to make sure he has the right energy and looks his best!
Every camp he goes to he definitely catches some horrible behavior from the other kids. One year it was ear-piercing screams for no reason. Another year it was pranking people's drinks. Most of the time it's a sudden interest in a particular video game, movie, or ap. Often it is a word that was used to make fun of someone.
If I have the time I will do a post on our schedule. LOL self care?!
That's so exciting you are starting homeschooling! I am so excited for you! I hope you let me know how it goes.
Hi Roslyn, love reading your blog and especially your son's progress.Can you suggest some curriculum to follow and books to read for a 12 year old.. I remember reading somwhere that you read Atlas Shrugged at that age. My son is definitely not ready for that.( I wish I could have learnt from someone like you when he was little). I want him to get into serious books than just reading thrillers. Thanks
ReplyDeleteHi Kav,
DeleteI love recommending curriculums, but I would need to know way more about your son--his interests, prospects, talents, work experiences, cultural background, etc. Ideal curriculums are highly individualized.
I read Atlas Shrugged when I was 18--I wish I had read it younger though. I think fourteen would have been ideal. Since my son will hit the 1900's at around age 12 in his study of history, he will likely read it at that age or a little later depending on how far his abstract thinking has come and his interest in psychology and society.
As far as thrillers go, does your son like Heinlein? I think Kira Piekoff's thriller's are good too. Has he read JRR Tolkein? Tolkein's books are some of the only fiction books I actually like.
I am not sure what you mean by "serious books," but I would say that in order for your son to be interested in serious books, he has to be serious about his life and his goals. Does he know what he wants to do? If not he should start shadowing and interning now to figure it out. Once he has a goal to accomplish, he will hopefully take an interest in achieving that goal. And the achievement of most goals involves reading serious books on the subject. *I hope that by "serious books" you don't mean works of fiction. I don't consider any fiction to be "serious."
Trashy books are not very different from trashy television. Reading someone's words, entering their mind and world, listening to them--it's hanging out with them. We become the average of the five people with whom we spend the most time. If my son were wanting to spend time with trashy people, I would want to know why.
Most children are prevented from achieving meaningful goals so they tend to waste their time in frivolous pursuits. But the cure doesn't involve advice and lecturing, it involves a complete restructuring of the child's time, so that he can pursue worthy goals. But I have no idea if I am making assumptions about your case that are correct or not!
If you want to talk further about this, please consider a phone consultation as my time to respond to these types of questions is extremely limited.
All the best,
Roslyn
Thanks Roslyn. I have always been impressed by you and today you have given me a new direction. I would love to talk to you one day. How do I go about the phone consultation.
DeleteThanks
Ah, thanks :)
DeleteTo schedule a phone consult email me at RoslynRoss@gmail.com.
"Anders was not able to go very most of his extracurriculars this year as in the fall he was busy filming Indebted and, in the spring, everything was canceled because of this year’s flu / Democrat strategy for presidential election 2020 / big pharma mandatory vaccination scheme / deep state move for more totalitarian control aka Covid."
ReplyDeleteGosh, how much you inspire me. I have not received your level of education, nor will I imaginably ever come close. Your words, though, inspire me to challenge myself in every intellectual way possible! I look forward to homeschooling merely for the fact that I will be giving myself the education that I always dreamed of as an elementary student as well! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for inspiring me with your work!
I have always been intimidated by learning.. But every day is a new chance!
So... What do you have to say about secret societies? The contribution that they have to one's capabilities, etc.?
Thank you, forever.
Hi Dev,
DeleteI am glad you enjoy my work. Thank you for saying so :)
Educating Anders has been such an incredible re-education for me! I had no idea how much I didn't know about history--it has really blown me away.
Secret societies: I don't know much about them. We studied them a little when we studied the crusades. We will study more about them when they reach their heyday in the 1800's, but otherwise I can't say I know very much. They seem to me like any other human group--only as good as its members, and its current members at that. If you do end up joining one, please tell me about it!
All the best,
Roslyn
Love this! In future posts would you be willing to talk a little more about your strategy for choosing these curricula? As in, why you chose to use the materials you did and what you look for?
ReplyDeleteThat is such an important question, Ketzia. I wrote a post about this in answer to your question!
DeleteAwesome! Thank you for elaborating on it!
DeleteAs far as I know the ideal sleeping position is usually on the side.
ReplyDeleteSee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8UoAASCUsQ&ab_channel=WhatI%27veLearned for more info.
Greetings from Germany,
Flaviu
Hi Flaviu,
ReplyDeleteThank you! This video does make a strong argument for side-sleeping, but mostly if you snore or if you have sleep apnea. It doesn't make a strong argument for side sleeping if you don't snore or have sleep apnea. It also doesn't present the other side -- the negatives of side sleeping, like making your nose crooked (which will lead to snoring and sleep apnea) and causing misalignment of your hips and body which will lead to back pain. It doesn't refute any of the strong arguments in favor of back sleeping at all.
It still may be right! I don't know. I am not a sleep scientist myself. All I can do is judge as intelligently as possible whose information I want to trust. I can trust this Guy on YouTube. Or I can trust the doctors I have seen and met with personally. One was a myofunctional therapist who cured Anders of a terrible tooth-grinding problem. Training Anders to sleep on his back was strongly recommended as part of her program. The other doctor was a physical therapist / specialist in posture training that cured me of back/hip pain I had suffered from for a decade. She also is an strong advocate of back sleeping.
So, as you can see, despite what appears as good and genuine information, I still must trust my personal experiences and those experts whose advice has served me in my life rather than the Guy on YouTube with his fabulous presentation.
All the best,
Roslyn
Thank you for your answer, your points are very interesting. I have never heard of sleeping positions causing deviated septum or any misalignments in the body. However, I could not find any papers where that has been shown. It also sounds counterintuitive because during a night, side sleepers switch a lot between left and right positions so the resulting force on any part of the body should be smaller than if you sleep only on the back. I will dig more into this because it is a topic that interests me a lot.
DeleteI have read about the myofunctional therapy you are doing with your son and that you know about Dr. Mew. That impressed me a lot because only a very very VERY small percentage of people know about the importance of proper tongue (body) posture.
I always ask myself a question that served me well as a bs detector regarding human health: “Does it make evolutionary sense?”
Greetings from Germany,
Flaviu
That's great that this is a subject you are interested in! Please keep me posted on what you find. I have not researched it all that much.
DeleteWhat I was told was not to only allow back-sleeping, but rather to never allow stomach sleeping. Side sleeping is considered okay, just not as ideal as back sleeping. So switching from back to side to side is fine. There is a book that Joy had me buy called Why Raise Ugly Kids? about backslapping. I think there are studies that have been done on how side sleeping affects wrinkles on your face, but like I said, I have not researched this all that much.
It doesn't make evolutionary sense that Anders should have to re-learn how to position his tongue or that I should have to re-learn how to sit, stand, and walk. It's insane to think that we somehow do such basic things wrong. That being said, myofunctional therapy fixed Anders's grinding and following the Kentro body balance program cured me of back pain ... so for now I stand behind them!
Anyway, let me know what you find!
All the best,
Roslyn
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ReplyDeleteUnder what jurisdiction does your homeschooling apply? All of the laws are so complicated! We are trying to pick a location to live partly based on homeschooling flexibility. Are you legally under California homeschool law?
ReplyDeleteYes, I am legally under CA homeschool law. I am with a charter called Blue Ridge Academy that takes care of all the legal stuff. Your experience with a charter school will depend entirely on the teacher assigned to you, so maybe just keep asking to switch teachers until you find one that (mostly) leaves you alone?
DeleteI would not live in CA if I were not forced to for my husband's job. Once Anders hits middle school he will be required to take a non-reality based sex-ed class. We may end up moving at that time.
Goodness this is SO INSPIRING, Roslyn!! Anders is getting such an incredible education! Wow! And goodness, I’m being WAY easy on my boys!!!! Thank you so much for taking the time and writing this all out! It’s so so helpful! And we’re doing myofunctional therapy for one of my boys as well! He wasn’t breast fed long due to tongue tie (I had no idea back then!) he finally got it released last year! Still grinding teeth though - but so happy therapy helped Anders stop grinding! Yay! I’m hoping for that outcome as well :) have a wonderful day!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Vicky! Please keep me posted on whether myofunctional cures your son's grinding--super curious to know if it works for him too and how long it took.
DeleteAll the best,
Roslyn