Blue Sky School

This debate, and politics as a whole, are serious business. But, seeing as I’m not a very serious person, I feel like it’s only fair that we get to make light of it. Now, I know that the title say that they were talking about Canada, and they sort of were, but it was really just a bunch of children that were piloting mechs shaped like business people arguing about who was the best. I’m not saying that normally, they’re not great, but the fact that Scheer and Trudeau couldn’t get over the fact that OH NO THEY WERE BOTH THERE kind of speaks for itself. I feel so sorry for the poor moderators. The day after the debate took place, we had a big discussion about it, and how each party leader carried themselves- specifically about what made each party special. Like I said before, politics are very serious, but after watching the debate recap, it was really hard to believe that those are the people in charge. It was funny, but filled me with an existential dread, and everytime...

Before we went to the Climate Strike, we had a workshop on what exactly protesting was, and I gotta say, a lot of our expectations were way off the mark. When I think of protesting, my first thought is marchin’ for a cause, and it’s only after a few seconds do I consider the more tame types. Those were the things that Deagan explained. One particular example that stuck with me one that wasn’t violent, but it was jarring.  In 1963, around the Saigon area of Vietnam, a monk set himself on fire in a busy intersection to protest discriminatory Buddhist laws. He showed restraint while doing so, not moving when he could help it. Jaden’s reaction when I asked about it was, word for word, “Ummmm, it’s kind of terrifying, but it was interesting at the same time.” I have to say, I’m much more comfortable with the protesting that we did at the climate march.

Responsibilities by Mikey At Red Pine Camp, we each contributed at meal times. Some learners set tables and some cleaned the dishes. At RPC, washing the dishes is called slopping. The “sloppers” wear rain boots and aprons because you can get wet. The staff really appreciated our help in the kitchen.  Red Pine Waterfront by Julia Something that is always a highlight  when we go to Red Pine Camp is the amazing waterfront and beautiful Golden Lake. In the beginning we were all worried that it was going to be rainy and the water was going to be cold. Boy, were we wrong! When we got there the weather was sunny and a crisp 19 degrees. The first afternoon we were there we had independent choice time, practically everyone wanted to go swimming, boating or just hang out by the water.  We made our way down to the waterfront and immediately jumped into the water! It was very refreshing and crisp (in other words really really cold). After a few jumps in and out, the...

She tested in the 99th percentile. At parent-teacher conferences, her teachers spoke about her brilliance. Her report cards were As and Bs. The reality though was that she was coasting. She spent her days drawing and daydreaming. She came home each day with naught a memory of what the day had held. Her teachers were honest about the fact that she didn't complete classroom work and tests. She had both an IPRC and IEP, but resources just weren't available, and truthfully, no one really knew what to do with this kid. She was smart, yet the structure of the traditional school system just didn't work for her. It wasn't that she couldn't do the classwork; it was that it didn't make sense to make her do it. She had mastered it already. It wasn't that she couldn't do the tests; it was that she found them boring. I dragged her to the information session for Blue Sky School. She was sullen and uncooperative. As if school could be interesting. As i...

People often misunderstand me when I say how I work. They think that because I say I work well quietly, I mean completely isolated. That, however, couldn't be farther from the truth. I’m an ambivert, so I fall somewhere in the middle of the introvert/extrovert spectrum. At the beginning of this exploration (A seven week period each focusing on a different topic) on cognition, we were instructed to take the 16 Personalities Test and write a conclusion about whether we thought the results were true or not. I got Campaigner- ENFP-T. After doing some research on my result, I found out that Campaigners have extroverted thought and intuition, but introverted feeling and sensing. This puts me in the middle of the spectrum. I often say that I work best quietly, but that does not mean in a quiet environment. I actually like working in busier places, places where I get lost in the noise and crowd. My ideal learning and working environment is also heavily impacted when I’m far away fro...

You may have read Grace’s post, the one about our science project. This is sort of the second instillation- the Part 2, if you will. At the beginning of the year, Shauna caught word of ORSF, the Ottawa Regional Science Fair. No one was really eager to participate in the fair except for Grace, who, after the presentation, asked me if I wanted to help. I had no idea why she wanted me, of all people to help, but I said yes anyways. Neither of us had any idea what we were going to do, but we had some ideas. Both of us are quite passionate about global warming, so we brainstormed some things and settled on the amount of methane that is emitted by livestock: specifically, cows. While researching, we discovered that onions, garlic, and a special type of seaweed called asparagopsis taxiformis could reduce the methane produced by cows. We decided that asparagopsis taxiformis was our best option, because after eating it, the taste of the cows’ milk wasn't affected, which we coul...

I've always tried to dismiss the obvious, I've always tried to convince myself that the planet is not heating up, and most importantly, ignored the effect it might cause on us, humans. When I was given the freedom to choose whatever project I wanted here at Blue Sky School, at first I had no idea! But then, the oblivious glasses that were concealing my eyes seemed to fly off as I looked out the windows every day to see that there were extremely weird weather patterns. I was getting really curious and decided to do some research on why this was. I figured out this was all due to a villain in our society: climate change, and climate change was all due to us. Maybe we’re the villains in our society! All of a sudden it hit me, the earth was heating up and as humans, we needed to clean up the mess that we made. I started brainstorming ideas that I could do and it all came down to inspiring others to take action with me. All heroes need to have an army, especially to...