The Creative Process

Before

After

  Today my mom was teaching me composition skills to use in writing. She said that writers and artists use sort of the same creative process, so we talked about how artists and writers develop ideas in their work. I had to be an artist and do an art project to show how you move from an idea to a finished project. Using Model Magic, first I tried making the Eiffel Tower which sadly collapsed. My second attempt was to try and make a car, but the wheels were too big and therefore I squashed it. Finally (third time is always the charm)I made Mount Rushmore. My mom then told me to stop and take five minutes to add something. I added trees made out of pipe cleaners. Next she told me to stop and take two minutes to remove something. I removed the words "Mt. Rushmore" I put on the bottom of my mountain. Then she gave me two more minutes to change something. I added more trees and dug out a cave in the back of the mountain. I added a title to my work: Wyatt's Mount Rushmore! I learned how ideas can change as you work and how important it is to stop and rethink as you go along.

The Kind Conquistador : A Social Studies Report

   Cabeza de Vaca was born in Spain around 1490. Little of his early life is known except that at one point he joined the Spanish military. He later was asked by Panfilo de Narvaez to go on an expedition to the Americas. He gladly agreed to come, thinking that he would find gold and other riches, but what he found was better than gold.

   The expedition left Spain in 1527 and landed in Florida in 1528. The expedition went downhill when Narvaez told his troops to split into land and sea groups. De Vaca was in the land group and Panfilo de Narvaez was in the sea group. Suddenly a hurricane came out of nowhere and wiped out all the sea units, and Narvaez was never seen again. De Vaca’s crew ended up on Galveston Island, Texas.

  Cabeza de Vaca’s unit was starting to die from disease and hunger. They were so hungry that they even started to eat their precious horses. In a few days there were only a few people left out of the hundreds that joined the expedition. At one point, there were only ten or so people left, Cabeza one of them, and they sat down on a beach and wept. Some Indians arrived and sat down and wept with them. Cabeza wondered why they were crying for them when the Indians weren’t in misery. Then he saw that they were compassionate and they were crying because they didn’t like to see other humans in despair.

   De Vaca lived with the Indians in East Texas, first as a captive then later regarded as an expert healer. During this time he transformed himself from thinking and living like a conquistador and became almost like an Indian. He thought that he was the only Spaniard still alive from the expedition. Then news arrived that there were three other survivors from the expedition. De Vaca was overjoyed. Soon he met the two Spaniards and an enslaved African named Estevan. They wanted to find a way back to Mexico. 

    They followed the Comanche Trail for a short time. Then they got an Indian guide that led them along the shell trade route in the American Southwest. Soon they found the Pacific Ocean. The group walked along the edge of the Pacific Ocean like it was a trail. Finally the group headed inland and found Spanish slave hunters who, to Cabeza’s horror, captured their friendly Indian guide and enslaved him and Estevan, both of whom de Vaca liked. The slave hunters took de Vaca and the two other Spaniards to a local Spanish city where da Vaca’s adventure ended in 1536. When he returned to Spain, he asked the crown for fair treatment for the Indians.

   Cabeza’s adventure was different from other conquistadors’ because he didn’t go around destroying civilizations, killing hundreds or thousands of native people. He became kind and caring. He had found riches, and they were friendship and the discovery of who he really was as a human being.

The Sleepy Squirrel

Today it was about 95 degrees. It was so hot that animals started to get very, very sluggish. Lots of squirrels come to our yard to get some of the bread we throw out onto the lawn, however some come just to relax, as you can see in this video. He is on the top rung of the ladder that we use to climb the tree. He's hard to make out, but his foot is hanging off the ladder.

Wyatt's Rube Goldberg Machine: Wyatt's Switch-O-Matic

Today I decided to make a video of my Rube Goldberg machine that I did for science class. Here are the instructions to the machine:

Put marble into Tunnel of Death. Marble lands on Roley-Poly Ramp: inclined plane, then marble lands in catapult: lever and fulcrum, that makes ball that rolls down ramp that knocks over topple towers. These hit the 7-Up truck: wheel and axle, which runs into tripping dominoes that land on killer mouse trap that pulls string, connected to pulley that pulls light switch turning on light.

 Quite elaborate isn't it? Hope you like the video I made.

The Aztec, Incas and Mayans

In social studies I am learning about the Aztec, Incas and Mayans. The Aztecs lived where present day Mexico City is located. They made sacrifices to nature gods. The most important nature god was the sun god. They made daily sacrifices to him. The reason they did that was to make sure the sun kept making its way around the world. They believed that if they stopped the sun would stop moving. Later a conquistador named Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztecs, killing almost every last one.

The Maya lived on the Yucatan Peninsula, in present day Mexico. They built huge temples to the gods. Mayan priests were supposed to be able to communicate with the gods. Therefore the people of the Maya did the what the priests said the gods wanted them to do. The priests told them this from the top of a pyramid (like the one pictured). They were kind of like kings, but they weren't. The Mayans had kings too and they were the leaders.

The Inca lived the on the tops of the Andes mountains. There they built great cities up in the clouds. They built terraces for farming and for making sure that their cities didn't wash away when there was a huge downpour. They grew potatoes, corn, maize and many other foods in the terraces. They had kings as well. The conquistador that captured them was named Francisco Pizarro. Like Cortes destroyed the Aztecs, Pizarro tried to kill all of the Incas.

The War of the Worlds

In my genre studies I was reading the adaptation of H.G. Wells's science fiction novel The War of the Worlds. It's about a man who survived an attack by the Martians and how he lives through the disaster. In the adaptation they say people are being wiped out, but they don't go into the details. I read some parts of the original - it was really cool! The original is a truly a fascinating tale, but the adaptation...not as much. For example, the main character in the original had to gnaw on the bones of dead animals for food. In the adaptation they said he got food from houses. They probably didn't include the part about the dead animals in the adaptation because they didn't want to scare little children. I loved the gruesome details!!! If you read this story I say read the original!

Rube Goldberg

In science class I'm learning about Rube Goldberg and his crazy machines. He would create complex machines to do simple tasks. One of my homework assignments is to make a Rube Goldberg machine and I have to choose what task it will perform. I don't want it to wipe my mouth or anything like that. I want mine to turn off my garage light. This lesson is teaching me to use empirical knowledge and the experimental method.  To see a really cool example of a Rube Goldberg machine, check out this video on YouTube. We won't do anything like this!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RouXygRcRC4 

The Scientist

Yesterday my mom asked me what a scientist looked like. This is supposed to be a research scientist and his lab. This looks like a science lab you see in movies. Some of this looks like a real research scientist's lab. The purpose of this exercise is to see what you think a scientist looks like. The reason I drew this is because I have seen scientists like this in movies. In real science labs they don't usually have things blowing up or things like the Shakealater 3000. They might have computers; in fact they have to have computers! They don't have to be nerdy white men. They could be African-American, Hispanic, a lady, or whomever! Heck, I'm a scientist!

PhotoShop Rocks!

PhotoShop is crazy! You can do all sorts of things like make that picture on the left. I took a class at a place called the Math Science Innovation Center (M.S.I.C.) during this summer. There are many things you can do on PhotoShop. Oh, if you're wondering what Split Second is it's one of my video games. It's car racing but you blow things up to wreck opponents. You can even blow up a bus!

Cursive! Cursive! Cursive!

I'll admit, I'm bad at handwriting! Well just print anyway. My mom is teaching me cursive. I am pretty...um...awesome at it! It's a lot faster than print. It looks cooler too. I like that my mom is teaching me cursive. REALLY!

The Worst and Best Things About Homeschooling

There are some ups and downs about homeschooling. The good things about homeschooling are you don't have to worry about forgetting to pack lunch, having horrible cafeteria food, but you can look  forward to seeing your mom all day. To me there is only one downside, not seeing your friends. That I really miss, but I can invite them over some days after school!

First Day of Homeschool

Today I did my first day of homeschooling. My mom said it would be really, really hard. It was pretty easy, but for a first day there was a lot of work. I really had to think. There was no "What's your name? How was your summer?" None of that stuff. No fun and games! Well... maybe a little.