Fungi 1

Colorful Fungi

Here's Da Hye's sentence: Besides mushrooms, there are many other types of fungi. Fungi are of very different shapes and sizes. I have two favourite fungi, first is Amanita muscaria or toadstool. I like it because eventhough it's poisonous, it's pretty. Second is Cookenia sulcipes. I like it because its name sounds like 'cookie'

Ancient China 9

Chinese Writing

Chinese writing started as picture symbols. Gradually the picture symbols became more abstract in form like the one we know today. Da Hye used the ice cream sticks to make a pretend bamboo scroll used for writing in Ancient China time. Look at the evolution of the Chinese characters representing bird, tree, horse, sund and moon.

Ancient China 8

Terracota Army

When the first Chinese Emperor, Shi Huangdi, died in 210 BC, he was burried with approximately 10.000 life sized clay soldiers and all that he needed to survive the afterlife. "That's a lot!" commented Da Hye. She was wondering who had made all of those soldiers, making one miniature soldier almost 'killed' her, let alone 10.000. Visit NatGeo to explore the online Terracota Army exhibit.

Ancient China 7

2 Dynasties Ceramics

Different ruler can also mean different ceramic in China. During Qing Dynasty, the ceramic was colorful. Red, yellow and green were popular colors. During Ming Dynasty, ceramic was mostly blue and white. The blue color came from mineral cobalt. (pic: inspired by ceramics in Pacific Asia Museum, California)

Ancient China 6

Colorful Tribes

China has been so diverse since the ancient time. Although The Han is still the majority in China, there are more than 50 other minority tribes across China. There are great differences among these tribes, costume is one of it. (pic: Poster created by Da Hye with the help from ThinkQuest)

Ancient China 5

8 Immortals

The eight immortals are group of legendary "xian" or fairies in Chinese mhythology. Each immortal has power that can give life and destroy evil. They also carry their special atributes like lotus flower, castanets, even a drum. Go to San Diego Museum of Art for more.

Ancient China 4

Moon Cake Festival

Moon cake festival or better known as lantern festival or mid autumn festival is an ancient practice, dating back over 3000 years to China's Zhou Dinasty. In this festival, people usually make/eat mooncakes. Having a Chinese grandmother, Da Hye got a package of home made mooncakes with a fortune writing in it during the last moon cake festival. But since grand pa is a real OSENG (a minority tribe in Banyuwangi, East java, Indonesia), he wrote the fortune writing in OSENG language instead of Chinese. Read a book about moon cake in New York Public Library here.

Ancient China 3

Confusius

Here's Da Hye's report on Confusius:
- He was born in 551 BC.
- He grew up poor.
- He travelled around China.

- He was thrown to jail once.

Favourite confusius's quotes:
- Everything has beauty but not everyone sees it.
- A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Ancient China 2

The Greatest Invention

According to the book "China", the Chinese have a long and rich history of learning and inventing. They were the first people to make and use paper, ink, writing, silk cloth, kites, porcelain and much more. The Five Great Inventions of China are: papermaking, printing, compass, gunpowder (firework) and traditional chinese medicine. (pic: playing with firework, visiting Chinese medicine shop to buy some herbs and chrysanthemum tea)

Ancient China 1

Chinese Zodiac

The Chinese Lunar Calendar names each of the 12 years after an animal. It is believed that the beginnings of the Chinese calendar can be traced back to the 14th century B.C.E. Legend even has it that the Emperor Huangdi invented the calendar in 2637 B.C.E. This ancient heritage still survives today. (pic: Da Hye's report on Chinese Zodiac)

Involvement 2

University of Illinois Extention Program

Gardening is a good habit. The plants give us beauty and fresh air. Da Hye joined the urban program from University of Illinois after successfully planted her first elephant ear in our backyard. Now, her garden is in the showcase.

Involvement 1

Naming Humpback Whale

The Greenpeace scientists have been putting satellite tag to several migrating humpback whales so that they can get vital data on the movements, habitat use and population structure of these unique whales. Guess what? Some of these whales are NAMELESS and greenpeace give a chance for anybody to name the whales that they will vote, It's for REAL. Da Hye's choice: KAZUKY.

Art and Craft 8

Playdoh

You just need flour, water, salt, oil and food coloring to boost your imagination.

Fish 3

Movie Director

It's just another great way to learn about fish and other sea creatures. First, learn about fish body, mouth, color pattern and their adaptation in SHEDD Aquarium. Second, cast the fish for a movie audition, create the script, choose the music and make the movie. Da Hye was thrilled to see her name on the movie screen "Directed by Choi Da Hye".

Free Time 6

Paper Doll

It's been Da Hye's free time passion for years to play paper doll. Here's her reason "I can create anything with paper dolls, even the most impossible thing like a flying horse with pink curly hair. I can create different scenario everyday. It's fun."

Socialization 8

Chatty Chatter

Chat..chat..chat....Yes it's chatting. Sometimes a great socialization can happen in the world wide web. Why not? (pic: chatting with a friend in Xiamen, China)

Socialization 7

Skater Gang

These is Da Hye's skater gang...older kids, younger kids...it doesn't matter because everyone twirls and rolls and...KABOOOM!

Free Time 5

Babysitted by the Actors

This is the time for MOM to take her most privileged ME TIME because actors like Elijah Woods and Camryn Manheim are busy babysitting and reading stories for our homeschooler. How cool is that?

Earth 5

Tsunami

Tsunamis are huge waves caused by earthquakes, volcanoes and iceberg. Tsunamis speed outward away from their source in all direction at extremely fast speed up to 320 km per hour. See the interactive tsunami from PBS here. By the time it reaches land, tsunami is tall enough to destroy almost anything in its past. (pic: comparing the before and after tsunami pictures in Aceh, Indonesia....what a massive destruction!)

Earth 4

Google Earth Quest: Mt. St. Helen

Mt. St. Helens is one of the most active volcanoes in North America. Its last eruption in 2004 was cataclysmic, creating a great crater in the mountain top. CNN's interactive tutorial explaines how the magma pressure turn into huge explosion. (pic: earth googling to locate and zoom Mt. St. Helens)

Earth 3

It's just a theory of course, some scientists think that millions of years ago there was only one huge continent called Pangea. This super continent then broke into 7 continents we know today: North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and Antarctica. (pic: Pangea model by Da Hye)

Earth 2

Plate Movement

Beneath the soil, rock and water on the surface of our planet, earth is constantly changing. The top layer of earth is made of a giant pice of rock called plate. Da Hye learnt about the movement type of these plates and why volcanoes often happen near the edges of this plate from American Museum of Natural History.

Earth 1

Just Like a Bursting Soda

A volcano occurs wherever magma from deep inside the earth comes out through a crack in the surface. The book said that sometimes in very powerful volcanoes, the magma cools before it gets into the surface, plugging up the crack. Hot gasses in the magma press against the plug and......BURST, into a big explosion, just like when we shake a sealed soda bottle, the soda burst once we open the cap.

Field Trip 3

Meet The Author

It was a privilege. Bapak Sumardiono, the Indonesian author of "homeschooling" book came to visit the book shop near our house for an 'open book' session. Here's his virtual house.

Plant 7

Spice Up Your Day

A great way to spice up a day is learning about spice. Spice is mainly used for flavoring. All spices come from plants that mosly grow in tropical countries. Da Hye researched 4 kinds of spices, their smells and from what part of plant they come from. Here's her finding: Oregano-leaf, cinnamon-tree bark, pepper-fruit, nutmeg-seed.

History 5

Roman Number

The ancient Roman had a different numeral system from the one we use today. It's great to combine history and math to learn and play game. Learn the basic of Roman number and use the converter at NOVA ROMA.

Chemistry 8

Hidden Mickey?

Yup! yup! the red and white balls in the picture above are not hidden mickeys. They are water molecules which have different formation when the water is in solid state, liquid state and gas state. Molucularium explains everything about it.

PE 3

Swimming Day

"Brrrrrrrr................I can swim!" (well, not really)

History 4

Family Recipe

Inspired by the book "Sweet Potato Challenge", Da Hye wanted to preserve the family sweet potato recipe too and made "Sweet Potato Snowball".

Chemistry 7

Molecule Playdoh

Atom is kind of the smallest part of an element. When we combine two or more atoms, we will get a molecule. The water we drink consists of molecules, the air we breathe also consists of molecule. Learn about the molecule a fun way with MOLECULARIUM and make the atom/molecule models using a plain dough.

Microorganism 4

Good Bacteria

Yes really. Not all bacteria are bad. If you think about it, with more than 100 trillion bacteria in your body, some of them are bound to be good. Good bacteria help break down food, stimulate the digestive process and keep bad bacteria in check. And they also produce vitamins such as B12. Impressive. One example of good bacteria is Lactobacillus casei Shirota that we can find in YAKULT drink. (pic: googling to find the microscopic image of the yakult bacteria, trying to cultivate tha bacteria in a fresh milk)

Socialization 6

Friends with Anyone 2

It's great to hang out and study together with much older friend. (pic: studying Mandarin and Korean with Sita, grade 11 homeschooler)

Socialization 5

Friends with Anyone 1

It's great to hang out and teach the younger friend..................(pic: with neighboring kid)

Household Management 5

Clean Up Time

Mommy always cleans child's room but now it's time for the child to clean mommy's room.

Digital Art 3

Scary Clown

The question is "What would a homeschooler do if he/she's bored?" Well.......This was what Da Hye once did when she got bored. She made over herself into a dreadful clown.