Santa Claus Box

Today we went to northern Scarboro to give gifts to underprivileged children for Christmas. The Toronto Star has a Christmas Fundraiser where companies and people donate gifts such as book, board games and toy. They also donate clothing like sweaters, mittens and scarfs. Then they send it in a box so that the scouts can deliver them to the children.

The Toronto Sun Santa Claus Fund was founded in 1906 by Joseph E. Atkinson who knew poverty first-hand when his father passed after a tragic accident and his mother had to raise 8 children all alone.
As an adult living as a prosperous publisher for the Daily Sun, Atkinson felt obliged to help relive the agony facing many of Toronto's poor at the start of the 1890s depression.

In Joseph's report he found 198 families (472 people) living in one-room dwellings. In visits to 4,696 house, health inspectors found 45 tuberculosis families, 390 houses were absolutely unfit for life, 1,348 homes without drains where waste and slop were thrown into yards, wall soaking wet and overflowing outdoor 'privies'.

The inspectors also found unlit, airless rooms and one where a family of 11 would crowd into 3 dank rooms  with 3 dogs and chicken

When Joseph was a child, he went to a frozen pond and watched children skate, when an woman came over and asked him why he wasn't skating and the told his sad story. So the woman went and bought him a pair of skates and he will never forget the warmth of getting a gift from a stranger. So when became the founder of the Toronto Star in 1892 he made a promise to himself to help the children in poverty like he was.

It was a great experience and I am so grateful that my dad has a good job and can support our family from Singapore.

The end.

Winter Sports

Yesterday, we went to Play it Again Sports to get some winter gear. Because I'm growing there's no point in buying brand new equipment only to not be able fit in them the next year. So when we where at Play it Again Sports i got a secondhand K2 snowboard and Burton boots and I also got a pair of skates.

After Christmas we plan to go to Quebec with Papa, Mama and DeMille to snowboard and ski, I think at Mont-Tremblant, and also there is a ski hill near my uncle's farm called Dagmar Ski Resort. It will get used quite a bit.

For skating, there is a skating rink at Sherboure Commons which is ten minutes from our condo. We also can go to Ted Reeves Arena because they have a public hour. We could go to my Nonno's house because there is a homemade ice rink at the park nearby.

I can't wait for it to start snowing heavily.

The End

Remembrance Day

Yesterday, it was Remembrance Day. Remembrance Day is a day where we remember those who have died in the wars. At scouts, we had one of the scout leader's brother, who is a soldier and he shared what Remembrance Day meant to him. He also talked about his time in Afghanistan and how to pack a bag efficiently. We also sang 'In Flanders Fields' and gave a moment of silence.

It was very nice to have a soldier come over for Remembrance Day. Here are some pictures.

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Nonno

Today I am going to write about my 3 fun experience with Nonno.

1.  The Birthday Surprise for Papa.

For Papa's 40th, Nonno setup a birthday surprise for Papa when we went to Bangkok. He got all of the cousins and friends to come to our hotel room and Nonno got an ice cream, merengue, whipped cream and strawberries.

2.  Watching Movies With Nonno.

Whenever we watch a movie with Nonno, he falls asleep and then wake up half way through and asks us to explain what happened which I find very funny. But he loves watching movies so we take to the Cineplex.

3. Going to K&B Sushi

A few weeks ago, we went with Nonno to this sushi restaurant that had terrible service and the most confusing ordering system. So, what they have is an iPad instead of a menu and the once you have pick your food, we had to call a waiter so that they enter a password so that we can order the food and then half an hour later, our food would arrive.



Now I will do an acrostic poem about Nonno.

               very Nice 
             super Organized
     constantly Napping after lunch
terrible at his Navigational skills
              very Outgoing at times


I am also going to write about 3 things grateful for about Nonno.

3. I am grateful that we can spend time with Nonno.

2. I am grateful that he can cook delicious meals.

1. I am grateful for traveling with Nonno before he couldn't travel anymore.


The End

Canon T6

Next week I will be in San Francisco and they have some cool landmarks and I want to take pictures but the problem is that my iPad is bulky, not convenient to use and it has low storage space. So I found a fairly cheap entry level DSLR camera called the Rebel T6. It comes with a detachable lens and is on sale so that's good. It has a 18 megapixel image sensor to take a better resolution picture.

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Hallowe'en

Last night, it was Hallowe'en. I was a UN Peacekeeper and my brother was a magician. We went to my friend Alex's house and he was dressed up as David Bowie. We went up Silverbirch then up Willow and then we went back down Willow and Silverbirch.


It was a quick night but we got a lot of candy!!!!

Then End

Ikea (DeMille Style)

5 hours ago, we went to ikea. It was really fun.
Then we went home and the pets were so cute.
We had to walk the dog in the rain. I was mad and wet.
My shoes were soaked and then we went to the pet store.
We looked at atomatic kitty litters.
And the we left and went home to take a bath.
We ate DeMilles stew and it was good.
Now I am typing this blog and then I will do my ukulele.

the end

Sully

Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger, III is an American retired airline captain who also works as an aviation safety consultant. He was hailed as a national hero in the United States when he successfully executed an emergency water landing of US Airway Flight 1549 in the Hudson River off Manhattan, New York City, on January 15, 2009 after the aircraft was disabled by striking a flock of Canadian Geese during its initial climb out of LaGuardia Airport . All of the 155 passengers and crew aboard the aircraft survived.


Yesterday, my mom and I saw the movie Sully. It was about what happened after the water landing. Tom Hanks played Captain Sully and Aaron Eckhart played First Officer Jeffery Skiles. 

In the movie, Captain Sully and Jeffery Skiles had recurring nightmares about crashing into the city and there was some controversy about wether or not Captain Sully had made the right decision in landing into the Hudson River or if he could have made it to LaGuardia Airport. The NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) investigated the incident and ran multiple simulations with the exact conditions and said that it was possible to land safely at a nearby airport but do to shock and the fact that type of incident never happened before states that Captain Sullenberg made the right decision. 


Captain Sully was hailed as a hero and will be remembered as the greatest water landing in aviation history. 



The end.

Captain Fantasic

Yesterday, my mom and I watched a movie called Captain Fantastic. Here are some questions my mom asked me:

1. Q) How would you rate the movie, Captain Fantastic and why? (ie. how many stars)

A) I would rate it 3/5. It was a nice story, cinematography was good. But I think it's a movie more for older people.

2. Q) Discuss one pro and one con of home schooling as seen in the film.

A) The pro is that they learnt the truth about the world and the con is that the characters did not have exposure to the real world.

3. Q) Who was your favourite character in the film and why?

A) I liked Ben the most because the actor who played Ben was very good and Ben had good intentions but everyone else thought that he was weird and crazy.

4. Q) Who is Noam Chomsky and why don't the children celebrate Christmas?

A) Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes described as "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analitic philosophy , and ideologically, he aligns with anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism. And the children believe that traditional celebrations are a bunch of fake characters who didn't help shape the world.

5. Q) Food: how and what does the family eat? How do they feel about food and why? How is it different from your experience with food? 

A) They only ate organic homegrown and free ranged food and hated the idea of animals mass produced.

6. Q) Describe one illegal activity in the film and why the law was broken.

A) One time, Ben pretended that he was having a heart attack while the children stole a bunch of food for their trip. They called it Operation Free Food.

7. Q) Do you ever feel like you have to explain your home school experience to family or friends like in the film during the dinner scene? What in particular do you feel people might not understand about your home school life?

A) Yes. I feel like a lot of friends and family think that me not going to a school is giving me a lack of socializing and I don't have many friends. I think that people don't understand that a regular school day can be compacted into 3 to 4 hours and I can get work done much faster.

8. Q) Describe an uncomfortable scene in the  movie and how it made you feel...for example, killing the deer, Bodevan's first kiss experience, the shopping scene, the grandfather shooting an arrow at Ben, the mother being driven in Steve, etc.

A) I didn't find any of the scene disturbing.

9. Q) Who sang the original song "Sweet Child of Mine"? What does the song mean? When and how was it used in the film and which version do you prefer?

A) Sweet Child of Mine is a song by Guns 'N' Roses and started during a jam session when as a joke Slash started playing, in his words, "a stupid little riff" which he'd used as an excercise, and making wierd faces at drummer Steve Alder. Izzy Straldin then came in with some chords and Duff McKagan improvised a bass line. Axl was amazed and started singing from a love letter to Erin. In 1988, with the release of Appetitte for Destruction, Sweet Child reached #1 on the billboard top 40, even passing Welcome to the Jungle. Slash originally didn't like the song, but after playing it live he began to enjoy it more. His riff is always listed as one of the greatest ever by music critics.

10. Q) Would you like to make changes to your home school experience? If so, what changes would you make? What would you leave the same?

A) I would not change my schooling experience, I love how I learn.



The End

Camp Couchiching

Last week, I was at Camp Couchiching for two weeks. I was my 3rd year going there and was my second last year as a camper.  I met many of my old friends including: Liam, Nick, Evan, Ian, Chris and Christopher and my old counselor Dan. And made new friends: Edward(Liam's friend), Jason and Seth and there were two new counselors, Sam(from England) and Graham. For my Interest Sessions I did Beach Body, Archery and Advanced Sailing.

Beach Body was fun because it was mostly just me as the rest of the campers were on Out Trip and I got to play Ping Pong or cloud-watch. The counselors for Beach Body were Aaron and Sarah. AAron was usually gone, so it was mostly just me and Sarah. I also did a 5km run in 20 minutes and I first there and back to the green buoy which is about a 5km swim. So I feel like I did a good job.

Archery with Dan was fun because he was so lazy and tired all the time. Where some archery teachers say " Approach the line; Nock your arrows;Draw; Fire at will", Dan would say "Ok next group; Do the thingie; Shoot!" Approaching the line included nocking your arrows. And Dan had a Mystery Box that had Christmas ornaments, tin cans and ballons that you could shoot and we did volleys, where everyone fires at the same time. It was very fun.

Advanced Sailing was fun but sometimes challenging as I was trying to get my CANsail 2 certificate I learnt how to read my ticklers, how to start and stop and how to dry capsize. Some days, it was windy enough to go out on the Topaz Vibe and went out on the trapeze. It was so fun and I was first to try their brand new harness. We also wen out on the Hobie Cat Getaway, which is a catamaran, and went out of  the bay. One time, we got a windsurf board and towed it behind the Getaway and I did surfing on the board.

Halfway through the week, our cabin went on Out Trip, but that will be in another post.

On Monday the 8th, we went on Senior Day Out, where you go out of the camp and do something fun. Last year, all we did was go to the beach and swim. It was ok but you can do that at camp. But this year we got to do ... BUBBLE SOCCER!!!!! It was so fun, you go in this plastic inflatable ball but your legs and your head stick out. And then you can do front flips and roll around and crash into people. I loved it. Sometimes, someone got stuck upside-down so I helped them get back up.

Camp was so fun and I can't wait to come back next year.


Here are some photos