This week was  my second week of homeschooling, and I wrote another essay comparing homeschool and day-school. I hope you guys enjoy reading my second comparative essay!



Day-school V.S. Homeschool


Most children go to day-school, but many are homeschooled. There are many similarities between day-school and homeschooling, but there are also many differences when it comes to socialization, curriculum and schedule. 

At a day-school students socialize more. Children are usually in a class with 20+ other students. So they can participate in group projects and discuss things they learned in class with their friends. There are also numerous after-school programs, dances, and clubs where students can socialize with each other. 

A day-school's curriculum is much more strict. Students don't have very much say in what they learn, and how fast. They have to work at the speed of the class, whether that speed is too fast, or too slow. School starts at 8 am and ends at 3 pm, 5 days a week. Saturday and Sunday are free. Then there is summer break, winter break, spring break, and a few short breaks in between. There are also 3-10 field trips a year. 

Teachers that work at a day-school are professionally trained. They go to school for many years to become a teacher and they get paid. Students also get a lot less 1 on 1 time with the teacher because there are 20+ other students in the class.

Homeschooled children don't get to socialize very often. They don't have any classmates  other than siblings, (if they have any). So group projects aren't really an option. They can only talk to their teacher (parent) about what they learned in class. There are also never enough students to have after school clubs, sports teams and dances. 

Homeschooling curriculum is much more flexible than day-school curriculum.The student gets much more freedom with what they learn. They can also work at their own pace, without having to wait for other students to finish, or without having to speed through their work to keep up.  School also usually starts at 10 am and ends at 1 pm, 5 days a week. Weekends are free, but there aren't as many vacations during the year. To make up for that, there are lots of field-trips. (Especially if you are traveling the world).

Parents are usually the teachers at a homeschool. Therefore homeschool teachers never studied to become a professional teacher, and they aren't paid. Students also get a lot of 1 on 1 time with their teachers, so they can often learn things a lot quicker and in more detail.

As you can see there are many similarities between day-school and homeschooling, but there are also many differences when it comes to socialization, curriculum and schedule. 

I personally like going to day-school much more than homeschooling. This is mostly because I am a very social girl, and I like talking with my friends in class and during break. I also love group projects and field trips, and trust me, field trips aren't as fun with your brothers...

I hope you enjoyed my essay! Would rather be homeschooled, or go to a day school? Comment bellow! 

Fijne Reis!
Liv the Explorer

Last week,  I came back  from Denmark and started  homeschooling. We kicked off by writing a comparative essay. In  my essay, I compared Denmark and California/USA.  Many of the subjects I talk about in my essay are things I experienced myself in  Denmark. I thought it would be interesting to put my (short) essay as this weeks blog. This way it covers both my first week  of homeschooling and my trip to Denmark.

Comparing Denmark and California
by Liv

While there are many similarities between Denmark and California, there are also noticeable differences in lifestyle, history, government and community.

First of all, Danes have a very laid back lifestyle. They work less hours a day: many people go to work at 8 am and end work at 4 pm. Shops are usually only open from 9/10 am, to 5:30/6 pm. Danes are also reported to be the 3rd happiest country in the world by the United Nations Happiness Report, which I think is related to there laid back lifestyle. Californian’s, on the other hand, are always rushing. Many people work from 8 am to 9 pm, or later, and many grocery stores are open 24/7. The USA is ranked 15th on the United Nations Happiness Report.

Second of all, both Denmark and California have a very rich history. Vikings came to Denmark in the 9th century, and now Denmark is known as a Viking country. Denmark also has a famous recently shut down prison, called Statsfængsel prison, just outside of the small town of Horsens. Californian’s, on the other hand, were              gold miners. People from all over the world came to California in the late 1840’s up to the early 1870’s to become gold miners. California also has a famous recently shut down prison, called Alcatraz, of the coast off San Francisco.

Lastly, Denmark and California both have very different governments and communities. Denmark is a Constitutional Monarchy. They have a prime minister, 

Lars Løkke Rasmussen, and a queen, Margrethe II of Denmark. Denmark doesn’t have a very diverse community. 89% of Danish population are descendants of Danish Vikings. Meaning they are white and there ancestors have all lived in Denmark. The USA on the other hand, has a Federal Republic government. (Both countries have a democracy, Denmark also has a hereditary monarchy.) The USA’s current president is Barack Obama. He is the first African American president in the USA’s history. This leads me on to my next point, California has a very diverse population because so many people from different countries came in the Gold Rush to mine for gold. Immigrants still come from Mexico and all over the world. Only 40% of the state of the state of California are white.

As you can see, Denmark and California are very similar, but they have notable differences in lifestyle, history, government and community.


I hope you enjoyed reading my essay. It is my first one this school year so it's not perfect.

Farvel!
Liv the Explorer 

The last two weeks, I was on vacation with my Oma and Opa, my uncle, my aunt, and my three cousins. We traveled in the north of the Netherlands. The first place we stayed in was a resort, with a big swimming pool, restaurants, a bowling alley, an indoor playground, and trampolines. It also had a woodworking room, and a sewing room. We were at this resort for 2 1/2  days so there's not much to tell about it, though it did rain a lot . Anyway, the second place we stayed in was ALOT more interesting. We stayed at a little boating village, with canals  running through people's back yards. Oma enrolled us in sailing class. The first day it was too windy to sail but the second day we got started. It's a lot harder to sail than it looks,  and I nearly tipped over several times. It wouldn't matter though because I was soaked to the bone anyway due to the rain. First we learned how to rigg up the boat, which means put the sail, the sword, and the rudder in the boat,  and how to take everything out again.  All we did that first day  was sail our boats in a figure eight.  It was very thrilling, skimming across the water when I caught the wind, I did bump into other boats a little too often though...  We did the same the second day, but that night we went with the sailing instructors and and the rest of the students to a  survival course set over the water. It was a difficult ropes course and naturally I was sure I wouldn't fall in the water. I was wearing my 'nice' shoes and my rain jacket. Obviously I fell in about halfway through, while swinging on the Tarazan rope.  The water was warm so I swam around a bit.  I was more careful towards the end and only fell in one more time. Though I did jump in once or twice.  It is actually quite thrilling to do an obstacle course over the water. You never know who will fall in, and when.  At the end I was too impatient to wait for the boat to take us back to the main land, so I swam across the small canal with my cousins and brother. The next day it was SO windy at sailing class that Milo's boat tipped over and he ended up in the water.  He was soaked, but ok. After that we left the boats and sat inside to study theory instead. Well everyone but Milo studied, he played an army game with his fingers on the table. 

The next place we stayed in was on a Dutch vacation island called Terschelling. It has beautiful beaches, and one of the favorite things I did, was flying my kite. I had a simple diamond shaped, rainbow striped kite. But the string was really long, and it was fun to try and keep it in the air. I would attempt at doing gymnastics while still holding the kite in my hand. I haven't had a chance to fly it since we left but I can't wait to try.
We all rented bikes on the island,  because no one drives a car, everyone bikes. We biked to the beach every day, to fly our kites and play in the sand. On one trip back from dowtown Terschelling,  we had a big adventure. I wasn't actually biking back from dowtown, I was sitting on the back of my dads bike, and my mom and Oma, and Opa were walking behind us while  Yanai and Milo biked next to us. Milo was in a mood for some reason, and he was biking straight into my dads bike so that the wheels touched . Yanai was trying to protect us by doing the same to Milo. Eventually Milo  fell of his bike, but he was fine. He just had to readjust the bumper on his bike. So we turned into the hotel and I jumped of the back of the bike. 5 minutes later Oma, Opa and Mamma arrived. But Milo wasn't with them. I was starting to get a bit worried.
"Where's Milo?" Aba asked.
"I thought he was with you," Mamma replied.
Oh oh...
We all realized by then that Milo must have biked past the hotel or accidently biked the  wrong. We all set out looking. I was stationed in front of the hotel with Opa.  We were both worried sick, and barely said a word to each other.  Suddenly a police car drove up to the hotel, I wasn't sure weather I was worried or relieved. Milo wasn't in the car but he was standing with a police man near the beach.  Milo came back 10 minutes later safe and sound. More than safe and sound, he was exilihrated because the police had let him ride without a seatbelt. He even got to sit on a motor cycle.  The next day the police brought us all hats with Police Kids written on them.  It was  definitely an adventure, and we made sure Milo rode in front of my dad the rest of the week. 

I had a lovely vacation with my family and there were so many more adventures, both good and bad, that I didn't right about. 

Dag,
Liv the Explorer

P.S. This blog is a week late. This week I traveled in Denmark. The two weeks before that was touring the Netherlands. 

I spent this past week in England with some family friends and we had many adventures, ranging from catching butterflies to our car being on fire(ish)!    We spent the first two days in London.  I had been really looking forward to going to Harry Potter land because I am a huge Harry Potter fan. But sadly, we couldn't get tickets. My mom made it up to me  by researching different alley ways that inspired Diagon Alley, the wizard shopping center. The alleys didn't actually have shops in them, but each of them still had a magic aura. In my favorite of all the alleys, the windows were round! Later in the day, we went to platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station. Seeing all of this Harry Potter stuff inspired a new business plan. 
Harry Potter    Sleep-away Camp!  Even though its only been a week since I first had the idea, its almost completely  planned. 

Another thing I really enjoyed in London was the Shards building. It is an amazing building. I love modern architecture, I find it FAR more interesting than older architecture. I went to the shards building with my mom, my dad and two of my friends. It was too expensive to go up in the building so we just went up and down the escalator, again, and again, and again. The Shards building inspired a story idea, and the Shards building is a main part in it. Read the first paragraph below the read more line. 

Later in the week, we all went to a castle in Newark. This was every bodies favorite of  the entire trip. It was a sunny day and the extensive fields next to the castle attracted many butterflies. So for the first hour or two  we spent catching butterflies with our rented butterfly  nets.  I caught quite a few, I even caught a  light blue butterfly. After a while of running in the  fields. I went with my mom and Noa, the youngest and only girl of the other family, inside of the castle while the rest of the group went on a scavenger hunt. The castle was pretty small, but all the rooms still had most of the original  items in them, and you could touch almost everything. We learned about the history of the castle by completing a worksheet. My favorite two rooms where the red bedroom, AKA the dress up room, and the library. In the dress up room, Noa dressed up like a princess and I dressed up like a prince and we waltzed around the room. The library had alot of used second hand books, and a coloring section. I bought two books. The first one is called the Illustrated Mum. I read that one in a day, so we left it  in England. The second one is called The Key. And funny enough, the main characters name is Liv!  After we finished touring the castle, we all went to eat a delicious English roast at a traditional English pub.

I had an amazing time in England and I hope to go back soon. So many other exciting things happened, too many things  to write about. England is full of stories waiting to be written. If you need a good story idea, spend one hour in England and you'll have it.  

Good Day!
Liv the Explorer

P.S. You may be wondering why I didn't write about our car being on fire. But you'll learn about that next week.
P.P.S. To read my Shards story press the read more button.
 

After a harrowing 24 hours in two planes and a minivan, my family and I finally arrived at my Oma and Opa’s* home in the Netherlands. Our first stop of our year long journey. It was a long and tiring week, so I’ll just tell you about my three favorite days of the week.


On Tuesday, I went with Aba (my dad) and Yanai (my brother) to Madame Tussaud in Amsterdam, while the rest of the family walked around.  Madame Tussaud was amazing. Even though the wax people on display weren’t really mad of wax, but some kind of plastic, it was still fun to pose with the statues that had uncanny resemblance to the real people. My favorite statue to pose by was Marilyn Monroe. I got to wear a dress that looked exactly like hers, and a short blond curly wig. And when I stood on the podium next to her, a wind blue from the floor and the dress blew upwards, just like the dress on the statue was. I also liked posing next to Messi, and George Clooney. The only letdown was the statue of Barack Obama, because it looked nothing like him! I loved Madame Tussaud and I hope to have a statue made of me someday, but then again who doesn’t.

The next day, I went to a prehistoric village in Eindhoven with my Safta**, and my uncle aunt and two cousins from Israel. There were many interesting activities. All the houses looked like the houses would in the prehistoric periods. At first we went to the blacksmith station. There was a man there that demonstrated how to make different tools that people used back in that time. It was very enticing to watch and we watched for half an hour. Then we tried out some old fashioned outdoor games. My favorite was walking on stilts. It made me feel so tall! Next, we all went to learn how to make fire from scratch. You have to take a piece of flint-stone with a sharp edge, and a flat piece of iron and rub them together to get sparks. Then you have to catch the sparks on a piece of fabric and wrap it in bark so the bark will catch fire. Then you throw the bundle of flames onto some sticks in a fire. Of course, I was the first to succeed. In fact I succeeded before the leader had a chance to finish preparing the fire pit! After that, I went with my dad to a station were you can make thinks out of natural clay, and the rest of the group went to sword-fighting, and archery. On the way to the clay station, we past the stinky pig pen and an icky hole in the ground full of wet clay. After I made an amulet out of clay, my dad and I went canoeing. The canoe was filled with water and his butt was wet for the rest of the day! I had a very educational and fun day at the prehistoric village. 


On Saturday it was Milo’s 7th birthday! It was a pool party at my Oma and Opa’s house, and my family from the uncle, aunt and three cousins from the Netherlands were there. As well as some family friends we will be traveling to England with next week. We kicked of the party in the pool. I had a fun time swimming with my cousins and friends. After a while, my Oma told us all to get out of the pool and sit on the grass. She opened the garden gate, and a clown walked in. He looked like any other clown with his huge shoes and red nose, and he was rolling a big metal suitcase. The clown showed us a bunch of funny magic tricks and in the end he made us all balloons. After the clown left we went to eat cake, and when we were all finished we started a treasure hunt. The prize was a version of my brothers favorite stuffed animal. I had a great day, and I’m sure my brother did too.

This week was the first time that ALL my direct family had been together, in one place at the same time. Having all my family together was a bit difficult because one side speaks Dutch and the other side speaks Hebrew. I think it was a good start to the trip because I will be spending a lot of time with them on the trip, so this week I really got used to being with them almost everyday for the whole day. I do wish we would have saved all the sightseeing for the next week and just rested this week, but I still had fun even if I was dead tired most of the time. This first week of the trip was definitely a good introduction to the coming year and I am excited to visit England next week and hopefully acquire a British accent!

Dag!

Liv the Explorer

P.S. Visit my moms blog at: dominiquelevin.tumblr.com

*Oma means Grandma and Opa means Grandpa in Dutch

**Safta is grandma in Hebrew