Anders's Homeschool Curriculum - Grade 4

 Anders's Education August 2020 - July 2021

 

Legal Grade: Fourth Grade

Actual Grades: 4^th-9th depending on subject

Age: 9.75-10.75

 

Notes

 

Getting work done this year was a struggle. Anders had to focus with a toddler running around and a pregnant mother (and then a mother with a newborn and a three-year-old). It was kind of awesome to see him accomplish this (when he could), but not exactly easy or pleasant. And it certainly wasn’t attainable every day. Which is to say: Anders could have done a lot more this year if he had the full attention of his mom. It's such a shame that by having more kids he is getting "held back" in a way.

 

Anders figured out that having been on a TV show gives him a high social status in certain groups. He generally doesn’t tell people, but when they find out, it can end up being a big deal. He enjoys this.

 

Anders had a good year socially. He began running a monthly Nerf capture the flag game at a local park. He learned a lot of great lessons about leading groups. He hung out with two other kids in our apartment building constantly. As a group they babysat Henrik and made money. Anders took as many classes as he could stuff into his schedule. He got into D&D toward the end of this year. Despite constantly socializing, I can’t say he has a deep connection with any of his friends. But he is 10. Are connections really that deep at 10?

 

Results 

 

I continue to hear from everyone Anders meets how smart he is. People have also been telling me that he is “special” or that he will “be something really special one day.” Not saying this is a good thing, just reporting it as it seems to be the most common thing I hear about Anders.

 

Anders scored in the 99^th percentile on the Star 360. On the State of CA standardized test he took last year, the CAASPP, and scored “exceeds expectations” in everything.

 

Anders continues to read all over the map. He loves easy books like the Rover Boys and the Hardy Boys (I buy the old ones from eBay, not the new ones). He also loves challenging books like Deerslayer and The Last of the Mohicans. If he finds a book too challenging, he will ask me to read it to him, but inevitably it will get too exciting, and he will stay up all night finishing it. 

 

When asked what he thinks about this curriculum, he says it makes him feel like he is getting the best education in the world. I love hearing that of course, but I also continue to question what we are doing. Certainly when he hangs out with other kids, his experience is that he knows more than they do in an school/academic sense. But that doesn’t change the fact that most of what kids learn in school is useless. This education is clearly turning out an intellectual. (Or would Anders have been an intellectual anyway? I went to public school and turned out as an intellectual….) 

I love what this very "Western" education has done for Anders's personality. I think this reading list -- our cultural heritage -- does a great job in creating the ideal man.

 

 

 

Schedule

 

Anders went to the farm for two weeks with his dad in January. Otherwise, he spent the entire year in Los Angeles.

 

In Los Angeles the school hours were 9-3 with a break for lunch from 11-12. There was a lot of chaos though – starting and stopping and mini-breaks.

 

While traveling Anders did his Kumon, and I read to him. We did not do other schoolwork while traveling.

 

Over the summer Anders did Kumon each day after camp. I also tried to read history to him every day. Otherwise, he did not do other schoolwork.

 

Summer camps this year were:

Improv at the Groundlings (1 week)

Toyota Center Hockey (3 weeks)

Summer Institute for the Gifted at UCLA (3 weeks) classes in math and urban design

Avant Garde Fencing (2 days)

Astra Nova (2 days)

School of Rock (1 week)

 

Key

Anything in red we highly recommend.

Anything in blue we recommend.

Anything in gray Anders or/and I do not recommend.

Anything in black we have no opinion (yet)

 

All work/books were completed unless otherwise noted.

 

 

BUSINESS/LIFE SKILLS

 

Business

Read The Art of War by Sun Tzu and took the 31-week OutSchool Class: Art of War taught by Keith

 

OutSchool Class: Manage Your Time Like a Professional - taught by Jo Reynolds 

 

OutSchool Class: 2 Day Business 101 - How to Start a Successful Business for Teens From Hobbies - Entrepreneur Money Making Summer Camp - taught by Jo Reynolds 

 

OutSchool Class: Military Theory 101 - taught by Keith 

 

OutSchool Class: Military Strategies and Tactics 101 – taught by Keith 

 

Watched Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order by Ray Dalio

Watched Undercover Billionaire

 

Did self-tape auditions 

 

Filmed a small role on a TV show

 

Learned about net worth, updated net worth in financial binder, went to bank, paid taxes, filed for tax return, cashed checks, bought investments

 

Went to Dad's office

 

Life Skills

 

Was read How to Make & Keep Friends: Tips for Kids to Overcome 50 Common Social Challenges – This book is fine, but I don’t think Anders learned anything from it. All of these things are common sense.

 

Watched YouTube: documentary 2017 : Spaces for the Soul. A documentary about the Architect, Mathematician…

 

Did Synthesis, a weekly online class where he learns about teamwork and chaos.

 

Read The Darwin Awards IV by Wendy Northcutt – Anders loves these books. I do too, even though there are some inappropriate parts, the benefits outweigh the cons. 

 

Read many news articles that I emailed to him – When I come across an article on social media in which young people die or almost die due to bad decisions they made, I send it to Anders. My goal is to inoculate him against many stupid and dangerous decisions he might make during his teen years. This may be unnecessary, and I am just reacting to my own childhood. Growing up in poverty, I was surrounded by kids making especially bad decisions. It’s possible that upper middle-class kids just don’t mess up in those ways. Drugs will still get some of them, it just won’t be an epidemic the way it was for my friends.

 

Was Read Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today's Young Kids by Kristen A Jenson – I liked this book and so did Anders, but only time will tell if it was effective or not. I find reality to always be the best teacher, and this book doesn’t include (to me) the single most important reason men should not watch porn: because 25% of them end up with broken penises (erectile dysfunction) by the time they are 25. I also have a sneaking suspicion that the species-ending decline in sperm count we are experiencing is related to too much ejaculating. I think this because I read it was common knowledge historically that men with harems would be infertile by 30…. Yes, I have shared these things with Anders as well. 

 

OutSchool Class: Why Video Games Like Minecraft Fortnite Roblox Are Addictive - Avoiding Video Gaming Addiction Symptoms by a Programmer - taught by Jo Reynolds 

 

OutSchool Class: Criminal Law Mock Trials: Class one - taught by Sean Foster Collins

 

OutSchool Class: Detective Club: Solve a Murder Mystery and Learn About Evidence and Criminal Law – 5 weeks - taught by Ms. Leandra 

 

OutSchool Class: Law School for Teens - Criminal Law - Ongoing Class - Mike Traywick

 

OutSchool Class: The Ford Pinto Case - When Corporate Negligence Leads to Death - taught by Ms. Leandra

 

Helped care for infant

 

Babysat toddler 

 

Was read 1-2-3 … The Toddler Years by Irene Van der Zande -- This book was super helpful in teaching Anders how to be with Henrik.

 

Notes:

 

The highlight of the year was Anders babysitting his three-year-old brother, Henrik. Anders is a great babysitter and made a ton of money babysitting. And I got an hour to take Soren for walk and get some exercise almost every day.

 

Anders continues to audition. He booked one job in the last year out of about a hundred auditions. That is standard for “working actors.” (According to two life-long working actors, both older than I am, with whom I spoke at a party, they book one to four things a year. Four is a very good year.) There is no ROI on that money-wise, so auditioning on those terms better be a hobby that makes you deeply happy. I am having a terrible time deciding whether to encourage Anders to quit and move on (learn when to quit!) or whether he should persevere (don’t give up!) 

 

 

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT & SELF DEFENSE

 

Played Hockey at Toyota Center for fall/winter season, defense position

Competed in Hockey tournament in San Diego

Earned his yellow belt in Krav Maga (Krav Maga’s belt system is brand new)

Took ballroom dancing lessons at By Your Side dance studio

Took a few swimming lessons to refine strokes and dives.

Took many months of private gymnastics lessons 

Went sailing on a yacht 

 

Notes:

 

Anders is having a terrible time learning how to do a cartwheel and front and back handsprings. His gymnastic instructor says his core is too weak and his legs are too tight – he cannot bend over and touch his toes! Anders says he has just been gone from the farm for too long. Super curious to find out of that is true. 

 

Anders needs glasses! One year off the farm, one year of a close-up life in an apt and city, and that’s all it takes to need glasses?! We are doing the End Myopia Active Focus program to see if we can fix his eyesight.

 

 

MATH

 

Kumon program, sixth grade level F, pages 50-200/200

Kumon program, seventh grade level G, pages 1-150/200

 

Ray’s New Intellectual Arithmetic, Lesson 40-55/80

 

Primary Mathematics, Standards Edition, Level 5A

Primary Mathematics, Standards Edition, Level 5B 

 

Life of Fred: Mineshaft by Stanley F. Schmidt

Life of Fred: Fractions by Stanley F. Schmidt

Life of Fred: Decimals and Percents by Stanley F. Schmidt

 

Discrete Math with Summer Institute for the Gifted at UCLA

 

OutSchool Class: Area and Perimeter Legos Camp - taught by Liz Malone*

OutSchool Class: Math Games for Math Gurus - taught by Liz Malone

 

Notes:

 

Anders loves math. He still highly recommends Kumon.

 

Rays continues to blow me away. Anders too. The problems are so hard sometimes they make our brains melt—in a good way. Rays is parting ways with Kumon and Primary math at the moment. Whereas Kumon and Primary math are headed into algebra, Rays is doing harder and more complex arithmetic, which is actually more practical and useful than algebra for most people. Higher level Rays math is all about stocks, taxes, debts, and payments/trading. It’s fantastic.

 

*Anders loved this class but says it should have happened when he was younger.

 

 

LOGIC

 

Dr. DooRiddles, level B2 

Critical Thinking Detective, Book 2

Balance Benders, level 1

OLSAT Practice Test Grade 5 & Grade 4 Level E Origins Publications

Practice Test for the OLSAT Level E The Gifted Program Series

Practice Test for the CogAT Form 7 The Gifted Program Series

 

Notes:

 

Logic continues to be one of Anders’s favorite subjects. He also loves the standardized tests he takes every year for our charter school / homeschool program. They are fun challenges. 

 

 

GRAMMAR

 

Editor in Chief, Level 1 Grades 4-5

Sentence Diagramming, Level 1 Grades 5-12+

Sentence Diagramming, Level 2 Grades 7-12+ 

 

Notes:

 

Though we will keep doing these workbooks, Anders knows all the rules. Now the best thing for him to do is just write (and have his writing edited).

 

Though Anders knows the rules, he doesn’t tend to use them while writing yet. He would rather get his thoughts down onto paper and then go back and fix things. This is not an efficient way to write.

 

 

SPELLING & VOCABULARY

 

Sequential Spelling, level 3/Grade 5

Vocabulary from Classical Roots, Grade 5 by Lee Mountain 

Vocabulary from Classical Roots, Grade 6 by Lee Mountain

 

Read The Chaos by Gerard Nolst – English pronunciation poem. Mind-blowingly awesome.

 

Notes:

 

I am unimpressed by Anders’s spelling. He does fine on his spelling tests, but his spelling when he writes is dismal. My journals from this age show he is only slightly worse than I was. This is one area where he is not more advanced than schooled kids, or at least schooled-me.

 

I realized recently that one must master spelling as one masters arithmetic. If you don’t, writing is too laborious and unpleasant.

 

 

PENMANSHIP 

 

Zaner Bloser Handwriting 5^th grade

 

Notes:

 

Anders has said that handwriting is something he wants to focus on more. He is thinking about taking a class in calligraphy. He wants to be better at drawing and believes that that starts with penmanship. I read recently that Chinese students are drilled in proper penmanship from a young age (Kumon-style) and end up much better at drawing basic pictures.

 

 

WRITING

 

Writing and Rhetoric, Book 3 (completed)

Writing and Rhetoric, Book 4 (completed)

 

Wrote stories, fixed errors.

 

Notes:

 

Anders continues to write stories from his own life instead of the stories assigned in the books. His little collection of stories is spectacular.

 

He also recently started an Instagram account that tells the story of his acting career. 

 

 

READING­­­­ 

 

Read McGuffy’s Sixth Eclectic Reader 1920 edition (completed) – I love the McGuffy readers so much! They teach morality, not just reading and vocab.

 

Read The Darwin Awards IV by Wendy Northcutt – Anders loves these books. I do too, even though there are some inappropriate parts, the benefits outweigh the cons. 

 

Read 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey – Anders loved this book but should have read it when he was younger.

 

Read Hilarious Jokes For 10 Year Old Kids: An Awesome LOL Joke Book For Kids Filled With Tons of Tongue Twisters, Rib Ticklers, Side Splitters and Knock Knocks by Hayden Fox – Anders loved this book.

 

Was read The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life by Ben Sherwood – This book was super fun, interesting, and useful.

 

Read Mountain Born by Elizabeth Yates – Anders loved this book.

 

Read A Place for Peter by Elizabeth Yates – Anders loved this book.

 

Read Lost on a Mountain in Maine by Donn Fendler – Anders enjoyed this book. I like that it is a true story.

 

Read How Things Work by David Macaulay – Anders loved this book.

 

Read How We Work by David Macaulay – Anders loved this book.

 

Read The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury – Anders liked this book.

 

Read Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury – Anders hated this book, but plans to try it again when he is older.

 

Read Five Children and It by E. Nesbit – Anders loved this book.

 

Read Ronia, the Robber's Daughter by Astrid Lindgren – Anders doesn’t like thieves, but otherwise enjoyed this book.

 

Read The Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren – Anders liked this book.

 

Read Pippi in the South Seas (Pippi Longstocking) by Astrid Lindgren – Anders loved this book, super fun.

 

Read Pippi Goes on Board (Pippi Longstocking) by Astrid Lindgren – Anders loved this book, super fun.

 

Read Who Was Roald Dahl? by True Kelley – Anders liked this book.

 

Read Billy and the Minpins by Roald Dahl – Anders thought this book was okay but weird.

 

Read Esio Trot by Roald Dahl – Anders loved this book.

 

Read The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl – Anders loved this book.

 

Read Star Man's Son by C C Archambeault – Anders thinks this book was basically Star Man Jones just with a kid instead of an adult. It wasn’t as good.

 

Read G.I. Dogs: Sergeant Stubby, Hero Pup of World War I (G.I. Dogs #2) by Calkhoven, Laurie – Anders loved this book.

 

Read Dungeons & Dragons Books

Curse of Strahd by Wizards RPG Team

D&D Monster Manual by Wizards RPG Team

Dungeons & Dragons Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage by Wizards RPG Team

Dungeons & Dragons Waterdeep: Dragon Heist Mage by Wizards RPG Team

Storm King's Thunder (Dungeons & Dragons) by Wizards RPG Team

The Dungeon Master’s Guide by Wizards RPG Team

The Game Master's Book of Random Encounters by Wizards RPG Team

The Player’s Handbook by Wizards RPG Team – Anders is a huge fan of D&D. I am not sure I am yet.

 

Read Rover Boys Books

The Rover Boys at School by Edward Stratemeyer

The Rover Boys in Business by Edward Stratemeyer

The Rover Boys in Camp by Edward Stratemeyer

The Rover Boys in the Air by Edward Stratemeyer

The Rover Boys in the Jungle by Edward Stratemeyer

The Rover Boys in the Mountains by Edward Stratemeyer

The Rover Boys in Southern Waters by Edward Stratemeyer

The Rover Boys on a Tour by Edward Stratemeyer

The Rover Boys on the Great Lakes by Edward Stratemeyer

The Rover Boys on the Ocean by Edward Stratemeyer

The Rover Boys on the Farm by Edward Stratemeyer

The Rover Boys on the Plains by Edward Stratemeyer

The Rover Boys out West by Edward Stratemeyer – Anders loves the Rover Boys books. I have not read them, so I have no opinion. I assume, since they were written in the early 1900’s, that they have better vocabulary and fewer social ills than books written more recently.

 

Read The Hardy Boys —I did not write these down before I left, but he read at least a dozen Hardy Boys (all from editions before the 1959 revisions.) He loves them.

 

Read Heinlein Juvenile Series

Between Planets by Robert Heinlein

Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert Heinlein

Farmer in the Sky by Robert Heinlein

Have Space Suit Will Travel by Robert Heinlein

Red Planet by Robert Heinlein

Rocket Ship Galileo by Robert Heinlein

Rolling Stones by Robert Heinlein

Space Cadet by Robert Heinlein

Star Beast by Robert Heinlein

Starman Jones by Robert Heinlein

Time for the Stars by Robert Heinlein

Tunnel in the Sky by Robert Heinlein – Anders loved all of these books. I have not read them, so I have no opinion. I assume, since they were written by Heinlein, that they have decent vocabulary, interesting ideas, and a freedom-loving morality.

 

Anders also reread many books he has read in the past, his favorites being The Swiss Family Robinson, the Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality series, all the Tuttle Twins series, the Nick and Tesla Series, and the Let’s Read and Find Out Science series.

 

Notes:

 

In Los Angeles Anders reads books faster than I can buy them. At the farm there is more of a balance of time spent reading and time spent in outdoor play.

 

 

HISTORY (1700-1776)

 

*We went all the way through the 1700’s and then we decided to add some books and went back, so the year will be 1700-1776 by the time we are done. Because we already read some books past that, some books on this list are still “to read.” I will update this list as we go through it. I am not including things we have already read past 1776 as they will be considered part of next year.

 

*Years are approximate. Most documentaries are from YouTube, but I also use Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and Netflix, among other things. I have put all documentaries in quotation marks. This is not quite proper grammar, but I don’t want to go back through them and check their length to see if it should be quotation marks or italics.

 

*Some books are from a previous era in history that we already studied, but that he was not a good enough reader yet to read on his own at that time. 

 

Was read Stories from English History, Volume III by Alfred J. Church (pages 50-)

Was read The Story of the World, Volume 3: Early Modern Times by Susan Wise Bower (pages 233-)

Was read The Usborne History Britain (pages 234-)

Was read Britannia: 100 Great Stories From British History (pages 194-)

Was read The History of Scotland for Children by Fiona Macdonald (pages 116-)

Was read DuPont: Behind the Iron Curtain by Gerard Colby (pages 1-)

Was read selections from Food in History by Reay Tannahill (the chapters on the colonial era)

 

350: Read Frontier Wolf by Rosemary Sutcliff—Anders liked this book a lot. He says it is just as good as all of Sutcliff’s other books, but is a little more gory and violent.

 

900: Read Black Fox of Lorne by Marguerite de Angeli—A fun historical fiction book that I did not prioritize reading to him (as it was at a child’s reading level, just above his at the time) that he was able to read. He loved it.

 

1218: Read Big John’s Secret by Eleanor M, Jewett—Fun historical fiction that he read on his own. He says this was a great book.

 

1700: Was read selections from The Cambridge World History of Slavery, Volume 3 AD1420-1804 edited by David Eltis and Stanley L. Engerman

 

1700: Read Poppy and Vivaldi: Storybook with 16 musical sounds by Magali Le Huche—For nonmusical people like me and Anders, this book is a fantastic addition to our study of the time period.

 

1700: Listened to Vivaldi frequently – Anders (and I) love Vivaldi

1700: Attended the Colonial Farm Life Adventure at Riley's Farm - this was fun and just educational enough.

 

1700: Read Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall—Great picture book for little kids, still enjoyable at ten.

 

1706: Was read Poor Richard’s Almanac by Benjamin Franklin—A lovely book of proverbs and wisdom. We read a page of these each day for a while until we were done. 

 

1714: Read Gorgeous Georgians by Terry Deary – This is part of the Horrible Histories series. Anders loved this book. 

 

1716: Was read White Gold: The extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa’s One Million European Slavesby Giles Milton—This book was far more interesting than I thought it would be. It was made even more interesting by reading the narrative of a black slave (Olaudah Equiano) soon after. Both boys were kidnapped at age 10. Both got their freedom, Olaudah by buying it, Thomas by escaping. Thomas went home, back to the UK. Olaudah never attempted to go back to Africa and married a British woman. Thomas made no attempt to convince the Arabs they should not own slaves. Olaudah dedicated his life to working for abolition. 

 

1717: Read Who Was Blackbeard? by James Buckley Jr. – Anders liked this book.

 

1719: Read The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe – Anders loved this book.

 

1726: Read Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift —Anders loved this book. 

 

Watched Gulliver’s Travels – Anders thought this movie was weird.

 

1729: Was read A Modest Proposal For preventing the Children of Poor People From being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and For making them Beneficial to the Publick by Jonathan Swift – Anders thought this was funnier than I did.

 

1740: The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper—I thought this book was terribly boring and slow moving. Anders thought it was epic. I liked the vocabulary and I think it’s historically important, so I put up with it. This book is full of propaganda. It’s the first book I have come across that I would call manipulative in that regard. (The main propaganda is that white people should behave like civilized/honorable white people and not act like the uncivilized/dishonest Native Americans, but should allow the Native Americans to behave in these ways while not judging them.) This is the first book in which I noticed the idealization of women being obedient and keeping in their place as well. These books were published 1820-1840, so I am curious to see if these are ideas of the 1800’s or if were already present in the 1700’s. I will try to figure that out as we read other things. 

 

1745: Read Catherine the Great: Empress of Russia (A wicked History) by Zu Vincent—Anders enjoyed this book.

 

1745: Read Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson—An interesting book. Anders says the plot was a little all over the place, but it was still a fun book.

 

1745: Read Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson – Anders says the plot was a little random, but this book was still good.

 

1748: Was read The Diaries of George Washington, Volume 1 1748-65—Diaries are so interesting. I love getting the play-by-play. I love getting a feel for how long it took to do something. I also love reality. Even great heroes did nothing for fourteen days sometimes but travel from A to B. That being said, this was pretty dull.

 

1750: Read Who was Daniel Boone? by Sydelle Kramer – Anders thought this was okay.

 

1750: Read Poppy and Mozart: Storybook with 16 musical sounds by Magali Le Huche 

 

1750: To read Who Was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? By Yona Zeldis McDonough

1755: Was read Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – Fine. Well-written. But more the story of an emotion than the story of anything useful.

 

1756: Read The Matchlock Gun by Walter D. Edmonds – Anders says this was a cute little story. He found it informative.

 

1757: Was read and read The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper — This book has less propaganda than the first book, but it was just as slow moving. Again, Anders liked it, and I found it boring. Neither of us appreciated the death of Uncas at the end. I am not a huge fan of Cooper at all.

 

1758: Read The Pathfinder by James Fenimore Cooper — Cooper’s character, Hawkeye, is the prototype for the cowboy. Anders is crazy about him. Propaganda in this book included book learning being lame and wilderness learning being good.

 

1758: Was read The Way to Wealth by Benjamin Franklin – A tiny little book of proverbs from Poor Richards Almanac. Can’t say this was super worth reading, but I did like having the proverbs organized so they were about wealth. More coherent than Poor Richard. 

 

1759: To read The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia by Samuel Johnson

 

1760: The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano—This book is interesting, but its veracity is suspect. I am not convinced it was written by Olaudah, it seems more like abolitionist propaganda in some ways. (Its accuracy has been questioned since it was first published.) Perhaps one of the most interesting things about this book is how well Olaudah was treated most of the time. He traveled all over the Americas and Europe and most of the time was treated well and made friends everywhere. This was surprising to me since I thought white people were all extremely racist at this time in history. 

 

1760: Was read White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain’s White Slaves in America by Don Jordan – This book is not well written and is extremely repetitive. But it is important. The white indentured servants were interchangeable with slaves from Africa until after the revolutionary war. They rebelled and escaped together. Also, Britain rid itself of its “worst” DNA for 200 years. Super interesting.

 

1760: Watched YouTube: William Pitt the Elder: Defender of the American Colonies

 

1763: To read The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell

 

1765: To read The Diaries of George Washington: 1766-1770 (Vol. 2)

 

1770: To read Letters from an American Farmer and Sketches of Eighteenth-Century America by J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur

 

1770:  The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Rudolf Wyss from The Windermere Series—This is one of Anders’s favorite books. He has read it at least a dozen times. I think it is a sweet book, like Anne of Green Gables for boys, but it’s clearly written by someone who has never been to the tropics and is trying to sell the tropics to other Europeans who have never been there, which is to say, it’s extremely inaccurate and misleading. But that’s interesting. It is interesting that this book was written. It is interesting what Europeans thought the tropics would be like, the assumptions they made.

 

1771: To read Iroquois Handbook: history, Manners, and Customs of the Indian Nations who Once Inhabited Pennsylvania and the Neighboring States by the Rev. John Heckewelder

 

1771: To read The Diaries of George Washington: 1771-1775, 1780-1781 (Vol. 3)

 

1773: Watched Johnny Tremain

 

1774: Read Early Thunder by Jean Fritz—Anders thinks this book is worth reading, but it is average, nothing that amazing.

 

Notes

 

History continues to be one of Anders’s favorite subjects. I continue to be blown away by how much history I was not taught in school.

 

This year the main surprise was again how much fighting there was with the Native Americans during the 1700’s, the horror of the scalpings (you don’t die right away when they scalp you,) and the frustration of the Europeans in learning the ways of Native American “trickery” / different cultural norms. 

 

Other interesting things I learned this year involved the slave trade. I learned that in Africa the general rule was that when two tribes fought, the losing tribe would have the men beheaded and the women and children turned into slaves. The majority of slaves sent to the Americas were men who would otherwise have been beheaded.

 

The other main source of slaves who were sent to America were people who had committed crimes. Just as the UK sent their undesirable DNA to America for 150 years, Africa did the same. If a crime was minor, the person might be sentenced to slavery but be allowed to stay in Africa. If the crime was worthy of beheading, the criminal was sold into slavery and sent to the Americas.

 

Some slaves were obtained by kidnapping, but almost all of the kidnappings were people who had been pawned. In Africa, if you could not pay your debts, you could pawn one of your relatives into slavery. Similar to pawning today, most of the time the person never returned to buy back the thing he pawned. So many of these pawned people ended up being sold as slaves. This was legally considered kidnapping.

 

Other interesting things I learned about slavery is that the North African (later the Muslim) slave trade has been big business since as long as history has been recorded. In Arabic the word for black person is the same as the word for slave. They have a different word for European slaves. European slaves were considered more valuable than black slaves and were given “high status” slave jobs compared to the black slaves who were largely agricultural workers. 

 

The Iroquois took so many European women as slaves it radically changed their DNA and culture to the point that they couldn’t be considered actually Native Americans anymore but rather a hybrid tribe.

 

A huge surprise was Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography—a smart and resourceful enslaved African could save his wages for less than ten years and buy his freedom?! It was also shocking how nice his owners were, repeatedly bending over backward for him, not to mention befriending him and trying to help him in his life. I guess I thought everyone who owned slaves was a horrible, violent, sociopath…. Not the case at all. Like at all. The sociopaths were actually the exception, not the rule. Slavery could not have existed for so many thousands of years as an institution if slaves were treated that poorly. They would have rebelled. Not saying slavery was a good thing or anything (obviously) just surprised at how one-sided and dramatic the story I was told was.

 

Also, I was surprised to learn that the cause of the Revolutionary War wasn’t freedom so much as it was the French and Indian War. The cause was money. The cause is always money.

 

Also, I am not sure slavery would have ended without the industrial revolution.

 

 

SCIENCE

 

Skill Sharpeners Science, Grade 6 

Map Reading Skills: Latitude, Longitude, and Time, Grades 5-8 

We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Unknown Universe by Jorge Cham – Anders loved this book.

Popular Mechanics for Kids, complete first season

 

Physics /Technology / Engineering / Space

NASA's Return to Venus: Insights into the DAVINCI and VERITAS Missions and What these Missions Can Tell Us About the Origin and Fate of Habitable Worlds webinar with Professor Martha Gilmore of Wesleyan University

Attended a Sword Making camp with SwordCastingGuy.com 

Watched endless YouTube videos about technology involving robots, flying cars, and weapons. (again)

Synthesis Speaker Series: Janet Ivey, President of Explore Mars

Synthesis Speaker Series: Chris Sembroski, SpaceX’s Inspiration 4 commercial astronaut 

 

Geology / Gemology / Geography

Reread all of his geology and gemology books.

Read/examined Earth Materials: Introduction to Mineralogy and Petrology by Cornelis Klein

Went to Yellowstone

Went to Death Valley

Went to the Salt Lake and the Salt Flats.

 

Chemistry

Did Chem C3000 Science Kit by Thames & Kosmos Chemistry with local college student.

Read/examined: Chemistry: A Molecular Approach 

 

Biology / Medicine / Genetics

The Way We Work by David Macaulay—Anders loved this book and thinks Macaulay is a master of explaining things. I think documentaries are better for these than books but still support learning in both ways.

Went to the Aquarium of the Pacific three times.

 

Notes

 

Instead of the section on GPS in the map reading workbook, Anders watched a documentary about GPS. 

 

Anders’s special interests in weapons, defense technology, and geology have not changed. 

 

 

PSYCHOLOGY / RELIGION / PHILOSOPHY / EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY / LAW

 

Wait But Why blog by Tim Urban, chapters 1-3 – The first three chapters of this blog are a great intro to evolutionary biology.

Attended church a dozen or so times.

 

FINE ART

 

Anders did a few days of art camp at Renaissance Fine Art where he remains in the watercolor level. 

 

Notes

 

Anders wants to learn how to draw better than he does, so he continues to go to this class, but he does not sit around and practice very much in his free time.

 

 

SPANISH

 

Anders spent two weeks in Nicaragua practicing Spanish all day every day. 

Anders worked weekly with a Spanish tutor in speaking and reading in Spanish.

 

 

Favorite Music

House of Memories by Rachel Gardner

Sabaton – The Red Baron by Hardigun

Monster by Imagine Dragons

Monster by Starset

The Resistance

Believer

We Are Soldiers

Born for This

Utopia

Loves many songs by Alan Walker

Still a big Sarah Brightman fan

 

Aps

Instagram – Anders recently started doing an Instagram account (for his acting, not for fun, but he still enjoys it)

Message – Anders’s favorite thing to do on my phone is still read my text messages.

 

Fiction Movies and Other Drugs

Anders did 3 VR Dreamscape experiences offered at the Century City Mall.

Anders watched a few episodes of random television shows this year based around auditions. He also watched Blast from the Past, Idiocracy, and the Princess Bride (movies our family watches annually on specific days). He also got to see The Matrix which he loved. We went to the theater to watch Top Gun Maverick which he only kind-of enjoyed.

 

Notes

 

Anders went to Legoland for his birthday.

 

He was a musketeer for Halloween.  

 

Anders took a class on video game addiction and learned some awesome things. Based on what he learned, he outlawed the following for our family: TikTok, the YouTube channel CocoMelon, Minecraft—and pretty much all other computer games. Instead of computer games, he recommends playing Dungeons and Dragons with real, live people. This will satiate any video game desires and cannot be addictive the way video games are (since it’s too slow).

 

Anders loves Michael McIntyre stand-up comedy.