Anders's Education August 2022 - July 2023
Legal Grade: Fifth Grade
Actual Grades: 5-10
Age: 10.75-11.75
Notes
Anders has completed his general education (with a few loose ends to finish next year). He has done enough classes and camps with other kids to recognize his areas of comparative strength and interest. From this point on his schooling he will specialize in these areas: business, writing, and law.
I agree with Anders that these are the areas he should pursue. Though I am sad we will close the door on a STEM future, Anders’s assessment that these are his areas of competitive advantage appear correct to me. In retrospect, it makes perfect sense. Anders’s parents are not STEM, why would he be?
Anders came home from camp the other day and said his teacher could not get the class’s attention, so he helped out: “Everyone be quiet!!!!” he said. Everyone was immediately silent. His teacher was appreciative. At the orientation for a camp I was at with him, he was the one kid who made jokes and asked questions. He gets endless compliments from teachers and camp counselors about his “enthusiasm.”
Anders enjoys Dude Perfect comedy videos on YouTube and many standup comedians, especially Michael McIntyre. Anders’s favorite books at the moment are mysteries and whatever we are reading for history.
Anders has decided to discontinue playing hockey as it is too competitive. He would have to play three or four days a week and he is not willing to do that as he finds wrestling and krav maga to be more useful. He does not plan to play hockey as an adult. When I asked if this was something I should strike from Henrik’s curriculum he said, “No. Hockey is very good for little boys. It toughens you up.” He does not think krav maga or wrestling offers the same “toughening” lessons as hockey.
Results
I continue to hear from everyone who meets Anders how smart he is.
Anders continues to find not playing video games at all easier than trying to play in moderation.
Anders has not asked for a smartphone yet. He has never asked for specific shoes or clothes or brand name anything in order to be cool. Kids at his summer camp noticed that he wears the same thing every day and teased him for it. It didn’t faze him. He was like, “My mom buys five of the same outfit. What? It’s comfortable.” He loves having his hair long like a lion’s mane.
Anders scored in the 99th percentile on the Star 360. His “grade level” was above the 12th grade level in reading and above the 9th grade level in math.
Schedule
At the farm Anders generally woke around seven and had breakfast. He worked on his writing from 9-10. Then he swam from 10-11. Then played baseball from 11-12. Then lunch. Then did math and logic until 2 or 3. History reading 3-4. He took plenty of breaks to play with Henrik or Soren and had an OutSchool class almost every day.
We were in Los Angeles in January and for the summer, otherwise Anders spent the entire year at the farm. For this reason, when we were in LA he did some reading and his Kumon but no other work. Over the summer Anders did Kumon each day after camp, read history books, and babysat.
Summer camps this year were:
Avant Garde Fencing (1 week) – is really good exercise, but is pointless as more than that unless you want to be competitive
Summer Institute for the Gifted at UCLA (3 weeks) classes in the stock market and python – Anders thought this camp was amazing until he did Education Unlimited. He learned quite a bit, but says Education Unlimited is much more academic and much more fun.
Stand-up comedy at Crow Theater (1 week) – They had the kids say their pronouns every day. At a camp for 7-12 year olds.
Education Unlimited at UCLA camp in mysteries and essay writing (1 week) – This is Anders’s favorite camp he has ever done because of the quality of the instruction, and the other students who seemed to actually want to be there, and the camp director who was incredible. Anders was in this class with all girls. He found this to be phenomenal. He says everyone was quiet and paid attention and behaved and so they were able to get a lot done academically.
Education Unlimited at UCLA camp in mock trials (1 week)
Tennis camp (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.
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT & SELF DEFENSE
Ran the mountain one mile trail at the farm daily
Swam a lot
Played a lot of tag
Played baseball daily at the farm.
Did Krav Maga the few months we were in LA.
Did wrestling the few months we were in LA.
Was able to attend one Cotillion
Saw osteopath twice
Notes:
Anders gave up learning how to do a cartwheel and flips. I am going to focus more on exercise this year. He needs to focus on strengthening his core and stretching?
We have sucked at the End Myopia Active Focus program… sigh. He said his eyesight improved a little with an osteopathic treatment.
He has developed a good-looking body otherwise. His canine to canine measures: 35mm
BUSINESS/LIFE SKILLS
Business / Economics
Read The Automatic Millionaire, A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich by David Bach – It too often seemed like he was advertising his services but otherwise good advice.
Read The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley – Liked the way the millionaires were portrayed – not partiers.
Read Young Hollywood Actors: How They Got Started, How They Keep Going: Stories and Advice from your Favorite Performers – Written in an annoying way jumping from actor to actor. Would have been better if organized by person rather than idea.
Read Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear – Helped Anders realize how bad he is at habits.
Did LinkedIn Learning’s Excel Essential Training Course – Too much explanation. Could have moved faster
Watched Undercover Billionaire, season 2
Watched Undercover Billionaire, Comeback City
Played Cashflow 101 - If you don't have this board game, get it! (Don't get the newer one. I have heard it is not as good.)
Read The Hyperinflation Devestation by Conor Boyack – Anders already knew a lot and felt like these books were intro level, not for someone who already knows a lot of this stuff
Read The Broken Window by Conor Boyack
Read The Play for Power by Conor Boyack
Read The Little Pink House by Conor Boyack
Did self-tape auditions
Was part of a voice over loop group for a movie
Went to Dad's office – Anders thinks he could learn more if he could listen in on phone calls, but his dad makes him leave the room for calls
Learned about net worth, updated net worth in financial binder, went to bank, paid taxes, filed for tax return, cashed checks, bought investments (didn’t do this this year)
Life Skills
Did Synthesis, a weekly online class where he learned about teamwork and chaos.
Practiced enunciation
Edx.org Online Class: MITx Becoming an Entrepreneur – This was a fantastic class. Video based and hilarious. Comprehension quizzes after the videos.
YouTube: Why Aragorn is the Epitome of Masculinity by Pilgrims Pass
Read The Darwin Awards V by Wendy Northcutt – Anders loves these books. I do too, even though there are some inappropriate parts, the benefits outweigh the cons.
Read The 6 Most Important Decisions You’ll Ever Make by Sean Covey – This book was good. Except for one fatal flaw: He talks about “oral sex” and “other forms of sex.” There is only one kind of sex. Everything else may be fun and may be done with sexual organs, but if it can’t make a baby, it is NOT sex. Precision in language please. Also don’t be gross.
Watched YouTube: What Should I Do When I See Pornography?
Read many news articles that I emailed to him. – He loves these. I send him things I think he would be interested in, like technology or science studies. I also always send car accidents that report on what time the accident happened.
Helped care for brothers.
Babysat (for money)
Kept track of T-Mobile Sync Up Kids Watch
Notes:
The highlight of the year (same as last year) was Anders babysitting Henrik, now four-years-old.
Another highlight is how proficient Anders has become in the kitchen. He does not hesitate to make himself pasta, eggs, quesadillas, rice, or grilled cheeses if he is hungry.
Anders continues to audition but only for parts he really likes. We put some research into things we may be doing wrong: use a tripod for the audition so mom’s voice is far away and quiet, have a non-wrinkly background. These are the only two things we have not been doing imperfectly. Our voice over setup is also far from the “ideal sound” they are looking for so we may invest some money into getting a better setup. But... is this just a lottery? Or is it just almost impossible to get cast as a white boy right now?
After years of research, I have decided that the best religious meme is that of the Mormons. We attended a Mormon church a dozen or so times while we were in LA.
MATH
Kumon program, seventh grade level G, pages 150-/200
Kumon program, eighth grade level H, pages 1-150
Ray’s New Intellectual Arithmetic, Lesson 55-68/80
Primary Mathematics, Standards Edition, Level 6A
Primary Mathematics, Standards Edition, Level 6B
Life of Fred: Physics by Stanley F. Schmidt
Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra 1 with Biology by Stanley F. Schmidt
The First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid in which Coloured Diagrams and Symbols are Used instead of Letters for the Greater Ease of Learners
Watched Nova: The Great Math Mystery
Read Humble Pi: When Path Goes Wrong in the Real World by Matt Parker – Anders thought this book was hilarious.
Notes:
Not sure how much more math to do since Anders is not going to pursue something in STEM.
The Primary Math curriculum that we followed has 6 levels but by the end the kid is doing prealgebra—so basically it’s a K-8 program.
LOGIC
Math Analogies, Level 2 (Grades 4-5) by The Critical Thinking Company
Balance Benders, level 1(repeated)
Balance Benders, level 2
Balance Math & more, level 1
Balance Math & more, level 2
Did Sherlock Homes Jack the Ripper and West End Adventures mystery game
Notes:
These continue to be one of Anders’s favorite subjects.
GRAMMAR
The Language Mechanic, Grades 4-7
Editor in Chief, level 2 (grades 6-8)
Wrote three pages a week
Notes:
Anders knows all the rules, now he just needs to write and practice using them. In comparing his skills with my own saved work from when I was eleven years old, we seem to be at about the same place. So though homeschooling has given him an advantage in pretty much every other subject, it does not appear to have given him an advantage in this one. (So it seems for now anyway.)
SPELLING & VOCABULARY
Sitton Spelling Word List 1200 High-Frequency Writing Words
Notes:
Last year I learned that the reason kids need to learn to spell is the same reason they have to master basic arithmetic facts—it makes writing easier. If you have to think about how to spell words as you write, it makes writing too laborious, and the child will most likely hate writing. So, I have taken a different approach to spelling, one that I will do with Henrik from the beginning. If the goal is to be able to master basic spelling so you can write quickly without thinking, it follows that, yes, you need to study phonics, but the place to start is with the 1200 most common words. Get those down first and then move on to Sequential Spelling.
Anders notes that his spelling was worse than his peers at his writing summer camp (though all of his peers were older than he was and female so I am not sure how fair of a comparison it is).
I have started making the password to Anders’s computer words he has a hard time spelling. (Usually 2-4 at a time.) This is hilarious and it makes him learn how to spell these words really quickly.
PENMANSHIP
Printing Practice Handwriting Workbook for Boys
Notes:
Anders’s penmanship is decent, on par with other boys his age.
WRITING
Writing and Rhetoric, Book 5
Writing and Rhetoric, Book 6
Wrote stories, fixed errors.
Notes:
I have Anders do most of the compositions required in Writing and Rhetoric verbally. The point is to learn a certain structure and to prove arguments. I don’t see the need to write essays. As someone with a degree in English, I cannot express strongly enough what a joke I think English essays are. Now, that being said, I find myself to be a clear thinker and a coherent writer. Is that because of all those miserable, boring, idiotic English papers I wrote? I don’t know.
Either way, I don’t know if we will continue with Writing and Rhetoric. Anders needs to write more for sure, but I don’t know if a program is necessary.
READING
Reading Detective, level A1 grades 5-6
Read Hilarious Jokes For 11 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.
Read The Darwin Awards V by Wendy Northcutt – Anders loves these books. I do too, even though there are some inappropriate parts, the benefits outweigh the cons.
Read McGuffy’s Sixth Eclectic Reader 1857 edition – We finished the 1920’s series of McGuffy readers last year. This year we read the sixth reader for the 1857 edition. I didn’t care for it. Many of the stories lacked a point. I won’t repeat this one with Henrik and Soren.
Star Man’s Son by C. C. Archameault
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Williwaw! By Tom Bodett
Blackwater by Eve Bunting
The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Mockingbird by Suzanne Collins
Hans Brinker by I. Dimmitdown (Andes says this would have been red if he had read it when he was younger)
The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Moffats by Eleanor Estes (Andes says this would have been red if he had read it when he was younger)
The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster
The Vanderbeekers by Karina Yan Glaser
The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street
The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden
The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue
The Vanderbeekers Lost and Found
The Vanderbeekers Make a Wish
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald (this would be read for a girl he says)
The Christmas Stories of George MacDonald by George MacDonald
Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
You’re Doing Great by Tom Papa
Your Dad Stole My Rake by Tom Papa
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead – Undesirable propaganda in this otherwise fun book.
Two-Minute Mysteries by Donald J. Sobol
All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor (Anders says to read this younger with Henrik)
Lad: A Dog by Albert Payson Terhune – Anders loved this book. Says it made him cry.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien – I read these to Anders when he was younger, but now he read them for himself. He continues to believe they are some of the best books ever written.
Read The Happy Hollisters books by Jerry West
The Happy Hollisters
The Happy Hollisters on a River Trip
The Happy Hollisters at Sea Gull Beach
The Happy Hollisters and the Indian Treasure
The Happy Hollisters at Mystery Mountain
The Happy Hollisters at Snowflake Camp
The Happy Hollisters and the Trading Post Mystery
The Happy Hollisters at Circus Island
The Happy Hollisters and the Secret Fort
The Happy Hollisters at the Merry-Go-Round Mystery
The Happy Hollisters and Pony Hill Farm
The Happy Hollisters and the Old Clipper Ship
The Happy Hollisters at Lizard Cove
The Happy Hollisters and the Scarecrow Mystery
The Happy Hollisters and the Mystery of the Totem Faces
The Happy Hollisters and the Ice Carnival Mystery
The Happy Hollisters and the Mystery in Skyscraper City
The Happy Hollisters and the Mystery of the Little Mermaid
The Happy Hollisters and the Mystery at Missile Town
The Happy Hollisters and the Cowboy Mystery
The Happy Hollisters and the Haunted House Mystery
The Happy Hollisters and the Secret of the Lucky Coins
The Happy Hollisters and the Castle Rock Mystery
The Happy Hollisters and the Cuckoo Clock Mystery
The Happy Hollisters and the Swiss Echo Mystery
The Happy Hollisters and the Sea Turtle Mystery
The Happy Hollisters and the Punch and Judy Mystery
The Happy Hollisters and the Whistle Pig Mystery
The Happy Hollisters and the Ghost Horse Mystery
The Happy Hollisters and the Mystery of the Golden Witch
The Happy Hollisters and the Mystery of the Mexican Idol
The Happy Hollisters and the Monster Mystery
The Happy Hollisters and the Mystery of the Midnight Trolls - Anders loved these books. I like them because they are about good kids with siblings who treat each other well, something that is often lacking in other kids books. I bought Anders a membership to the book club so two of these books would arrive every few weeks. This was a lot of fun for Anders and spaced them out so he didn’t read the entire series in a week. However, Anders says Henrik should do these younger.
Way of the Warrior Kid: From Wimpy to Warrior the Navy SEAL Way by Jocko Willink (this book would be red if he had done it younger, like age 6 Anders says.)
Read Dungeons & Dragons Books
D&D Player’s Handbook
Xanathar’s Guide to Everything by Wizards RPG Team
Out of the Abyss by Wizards RPG Team
Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons by Wizards RPG Team
Anders also reread many books he has read in the past.
Notes:
Anders aced the pre-test in his the reading detective workbook, so I let him take the post-test. He aced that too. So he just picked a few exercises from the book that sounded interesting and did those. No need to learn something he already knows. No busy work.
I went through our entire library (this took a while) and wrote the ATOS reading level of each book on a sticky note on the cover. I then organized our library by reading level. This should help with the "Good book but I was too old for it" issue.
HISTORY (1776-1850)
*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.
Private history lessons on OutSchool with Keith
Was read The Historical Atlas of the Celtic World (pages 124-completion)
Was read Stories from English History, Volume III by Alfred J. Church (pages 50-completion)
Was read The Story of the World, Volume 3: Early Modern Times by Susan Wise Bower (pages 233-completion)
Was read Britannia: 100 Great Stories from British History (pages 194-completion)
Was read The Usborne History Britain (pages 234-294)
Was read The History of Scotland for Children by Fiona Macdonald (pages 116-128)
Was read DuPont: Behind the Iron Curtain by Gerard Colby (pages 1-32)
Was read selections from Food in History by Reay Tannahill (the chapters on the colonial era)
Was read History of Germany in the Nineteenth Century by Heinrich von Treitschke (pages 1-59)
1366: Read The White Company by Arthur Conan Doyle: Anders said this book was as good as Men of Iron, one of the best books he has ever read. He said the plot was very tight, there were lots of little details that tired together nicely at the end which made it a great pleasure to read. I read a few chapters to him and was blown away by the vocabulary. Highly recommended.
1700: Was read selections from The Cambridge World History of Slavery, Volume 3 AD1420-1804 edited by David Eltis and Stanley L. Engerman – Super interesting.
1763: George Washington’s World by Genevieve Foster—Too inaccurate and just not necessary with all the other things we read.
1770: The Whistle by Benjamin Franklin – Anders loved this.
1773: Watched Johnny Tremain – Old fashioned but pretty historically accurate and pretty good.
1774: Read Early Thunder by Jean Fritz—Anders thinks this book is worth reading, but it is average, nothing that amazing.
1776: Letters from an American Farmer and Sketches of Eighteenth-Century America by J. Hector St. John de Cr̬vecoeur Рphenomenal.
1776: Watched YouTube: "Von Steuben's Continentals: The First American Army" Rev War Soldier Documentary
1776: Watched YouTube: SCOTTISH AMERICAN HISTORY: John Paul Jones, Hero or Pirate?
1776: Was read and read The Spy by James Fenimore Cooper – Solid story. Great for getting a feel for the time. Not necessary though considering all the other things we read.
1776: Read The Revolution Remembered: Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence Edited by John C. Dann – We read the chapter called “The Indian Frontier.” It was important, but not very much fun to read. This book could have been so much better if the editor picked the most interesting stories rather than including so many.
1776: YouTube: Secret Societies – The Heirs of the Knights Templar
1776: YouTube: The Untold Story of the Freemasons in America
1776: OutSchool Class: George Washington and His Spies with Mr. Marshall
1776: OutSchool Private Tutor: The Revolutionary War with Keith – Anders has taken many of Keith’s classes on the history of war and enjoys them tremendously. Keith is a retired military strategist. He learned that the Crossing of the Delaware is a myth.
1779: Read Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham – Anders says this was super interesting but not the most well-written book ever.
1779: Was read The Journal of Edmund Rack: An Enlightenment Gentleman’s Observations of Georgian Bath – This was a fun little book. It gave us insight into the life of an aristocrat living in England during the Revolutionary War period.
1780: Read Who Was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by Yona Zeldis McDonough
1780: Read Poppy and Mozart: Storybook with 16 musical sounds by Magali Le Huche
1782: The Buffalo Knife by William O. Steele
1784: Shh! We’re writing the Constitution by Jean Fritz
1884: Read The Constitution of the United States of America
1884: Watched School House Rocks Election Collection – Anders says he is just not that musical so he didn't really care for this.
1785: Was read selections from A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812—This was a super interesting book for me to read, but there wasn’t all that much for me to share with Anders.
1785: Was read The Do’s and Don’ts of Yesteryear: A treasury of Early American Folk Wisdom by Eric Sloane—We loved this book. Much of the wisdom still holds true today.
1786: Was read selections from Highland Shepherd: James MacGregor, Father of the Scottish Enlightenment in Nova Scotia
1786: Watched Pioneer Quest
1789: Read The Journal of Madame Royale: An Intimate Account of the French Revolution Taken from the Journal of Marie Antoinette’s Daughter by Elizabeth Powers - Anders enjoyed this book and learned a lot about the French Revolution by reading it.
1789: Read Louis XVI and the French Revolution – By the time Anders read this he already knew everything in it.
1789: Skipped A Tale of Two Cities
1776: OutSchool Private Tutor: The French Revolution with Keith - They went through history and stopped just before the Civil War, so they also did the Opium Wars and the War of 1812
1790: Where We Lived: Discovering the Places we Once Called Home: The American Home from 1775 to 1840 by Jack Larkin—fine picture book on American homes from this time period. It was okay.
1790: Was read selections from The Reshaping of Everyday Life: 1790-1840 by Jack Larkin – This book was fine. Very little new information.
1791: Read Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry
1792: Read The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy – “One of the best books ever,” says Anders.
1793: Was read The Pioneers by James Fenimore Cooper: This book was so bad we made it more than halfway and then gave up. It turns out it was Cooper’s first book.
1800: Read Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers: Ludwig Van Beethoven
1800: Read The Secret Socities Handbook by Michael Bradley
1800: Moral Tales by Maria Edgeworth – Taught good things.
1804: Read The Prarie by James Fenimore Cooper
1804: Read Of Courage Undaunted: Across the Continent with Lewis and Clark by James Daugherty
1805: Read Diary of an Early American Boy by Eric Sloane
1807: Read Jedediah Smith and the Mountain Men of the American West by John Logan Allen – Anders learned interesting things.
1810: Read A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett by David Crockett – Anders already knew about him.
1810: Read The Mill by David Macaulay
1810: Read Crossing on Time: Steam Engines, Fast Ships, and a Journey to the New World by David Macaulay
1812: 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.
1812: Winfield Scot: The Quest for Military Glory by Timothy D. Johnson – Anders enjoyed this book and said he learned a lot.
1812: Memoirs of General Winfield Scott by Winfield Scott – Anders enjoyed this book and says it should be part of the curriculum. He just didn’t enjoy it as much as the biography.
1815: Read Saints: The Standard of Truth: 1815-1846 - Mormon history by the Mormons.
1818: Read Into the Ice: The Story of Arctic Exploration by Lynn Curlee
1819: Read Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving adapted by Thomas Locker
1819: Was read Ivanhoe by Walter Scott - Anders loved this book.
1821: Read Charles Babbage and the Engines of Perfection by Bruce Collier and James MacLachlan
1832: Read Thirty One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains by Captain William F. Drannan
1836: Shipwrecked! By Rhoda Blumberg
1840: We Lived in a Little Cabin in the Yard edited by Belinda Hurmence – Didn’t learn anything new.
1848: The Cracker Barrel by Eric Sloane
1850: The Thinking Tree Study of Art and History’s Picturing the Past: 75 Notable Paintings 1700-1930
1853: Van Gogh’s Van Goghs: Masterpieces from the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam by Richard Kendall
Notes
When I initially started doing history, I thought of it as the story of our ancestors. Now I think it is the study of the ideal man. Or at least the way I have done it, that is what it has turned out to be. It is the curriculum for creating that consciousness of the ideal western man in boys. I love it. I deeply love the western man. (This has happened without any of the cheesy, over-idealizing / lying done in some history curriculums.)
I have made a conscious decision to skip both Dickens and Twain. I don’t like the values they teach.
I continue to be surprised at what vicious adversaries the Native Americans were. I was surprised to find out that it was Native Europeans and Native Americans joining together to fight other Native Americans—usually quite violent and oppressive ones. I was surprised that when the violent Creek tribe was exterminated… the women and children weren’t. Sparing women and children is not a universal human practice, it is a practice of the Western man. (The Creek tribe, for example, had no problem killing women and children.)
I learned that one treaty was broken with a tribe of Native Americans to keep them away from the British. It was feared that if they stayed on their land, they would be too easy to get to by the British, so they were moved to a different area. Another treaty was broken in order to massively reduce the size of a Native American settlement because the Native Europeans could not figure out how to get the Native Americans to settle down and farm. They thought if they gave them less land, they would be forced into farming. I have no way of knowing if these were justifications for taking their land or if they were genuinely trying to help, but I find it interesting that Western Man is so interested in doing right by those he has conquered (or at least telling a story in which he is).
SCIENCE
*Anders watched hundreds of educational videos and documentaries on YouTube that I did not record.
Physics /Technology / Engineering / Space
Popular Mechanics for Kids, complete first season
Popular Mechanics for Kids, complete second season
Popular Mechanics for Kids, complete thirdseason
What If by Randall Munroe
The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson
Birth of Basic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYPNjSoDrqw
Took AI at Astra Nova School
Took Python at Astra Nova School – compared to Python in-person at SIG this was terrible.
Took Python at Summer Institute for the Gifted
Took Time Travel at Astra Nova School
Read Life of Fred: Elementary Physics by Stanley F. Schmidt
Geology / Gemology / Geography
Took Earth as the Example Geology at Astra Nova School – windy.com best website ever.
Chemistry
(nothing)
Biology / Medicine / Genetics
The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life by Ben Sherwood – Anders loved this book and thought it had good ideas but it was just a little scary and traumatizing to read. (I agree!)
The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson
Empire of Ants by Susanne Foitzik & Olaf Fritsche
Was read Nourishing Traditions: the first 120 pages: we stopped reading this after 120 pages since he said he already knew everything in this.
YouTube: Vitamin A: Sources, Functions, and Deficiencies – Dr. Berg
Notes
Anders finished all general education in science last year, so this is stuff he chose to study on his own. Though he enjoys the subject, by taking classes at Astra Nova and SIG he has learned that “there are kids who are way more interested in these things” than he is. He has concluded that he could not be competitive at these things since he isn’t as interested.
PSYCHOLOGY / RELIGION / PHILOSOPHY / EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY / LAW
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
FINE ART
A few ballroom classes, otherwise fine art is not Anders’s focus.
SPANISH
Anders spent almost the entire year in Nicaragua. His Spanish is excellent though he cannot read or write in it (but what is the point in that unless you are going academic route?)
Favorite Music
Never Back Down by Two Steps from Hell
Astronomica by Vicetone
The Storm by The Fat Rat
Whoopty
Legends Never Die
Zombie by Bad Wolves
Utopia by Alanis Morissette
RISE by League of Legends
House of Memories by Rachel Gardner
Sabaton by The Red Baron by Hardigun
Monster by Imagine Dragons
Monster by Starset
The Resistance by Skillet
Believer by Imagine Dragons
We Are Soldiers by Otherwise
Born for This by The Score
Still a big Sarah Brightman fan
Anders pays close attention to the words of the songs he chooses to bring into his life / be hypnotized by. If you are looking for some agro masculine songs with mostly good messages, I recommend these.
Games / Websites
Arrows - little, nonaddictive game
Copter – the game he coded
Tank Creator – a little, nonaddictive game
Diep is a bad idea. It looks like a fun little game, but it’s not innocent. It’s addictive because it’s fast paced and you play with strangers online. Anders learned about Diep from a kid at camp and played it for a while before blocking the website.
At camp Anders is teased for not playing "desktop games." Kids tell him he is not normal. I have told him they are right. Being a drug addict to get through the school years is normal. Being an alcoholic to get through the rest of your life is normal too. Being vaccine damaged is normal too. Doesn't mean it's ideal. Doesn't mean it is what we have to choose.
Favorite Fiction Movies
D&D: Honor Among Thieves
Mission Impossible
Zorro
Notes
Anders went to Great Wolf Lodge for his birthday. Still loves this place
