Lament the Passing of the Trilobites

This is one of Mikro's favorite You Tube videos:

2018 Not Back to School Interview

Q: What is your favorite subject?
A: Biology and evolutionary biology (and speculative evolution), paleontology (I am really into the Burgess Shale right now), and history.

Q: What are you best at?
A: Making connections between things; generating hypotheses; imagination; procrastinating.

Q: I need to get better at __________.
A Handwriting, note taking, typing faster, time management.

Q: What's the best thing about being a homeschooler?
A: I choose what I want to learn. I don't have to get up early and I can work in the evenings.

Q: What's the worst thing?
A: Math. And there's no getting away from my teachers... just kidding. They do try to make sure things are interesting to me.

Q: What kind of work do you want to do when you grow up?
A: I'll give you 3 guesses... I want to be a professor and a paleontologist at a famous museum or university, preferably the American Museum of Natural History.

Q: This year I want to learn about ________.
A: Paleontology (Burgess Shale, therapsids, early dinosauromorphs, the Permian and Triassic Periods); anatomy; zoology; the history of Germany, Poland, Ireland, France, and Spain. The 1930s and 40s. Fractals. Scientific illustration and cartography. Survival and camping skills; special effects and animation.

Q: I want to do more _________.
A: Biology, counterfactual history, hanging out with my friends. Field trips. The Great Courses, Outschool and Coursera and Ed-X.

Q: I want to do less _________.
A: Math.

Q: Who is your best friend?
A: Koby.

Q:I want to go on a field trip to __________.
A: A dinosaur dig. Yale Peabody Museum. The Bruce Museum.

Q: I want to go on vacation to __________.
A. Philadelphia and Boston. Montana. Wyoming. New Mexico.

Q. The most fun or best thing I did last school year was:
A. Competed in the National History Bee and went to Nationals in Washington DC (High School JV) and Atlanta (8th Grade.)

Q. What is your favorite book that you read last school year?
A. It's either The Dinosaur Heresies or Endless Forms Most Beautiful.

Q. What is your favorite online class that you took last year?
A. The Great Courses Intro to Paleontology.

Q. Of all the field trips you took last year, which was the best?
A. The National Air and Space Museum, both on the Mall and at the Udvar Hazy Center.

Q. What are you looking forward to doing this year?
A. Marine biology and other science classes on Outschool.

Q. What do you think about starting high school?
A. It's the same except there's more stuff to do.

Q. What are some colleges you might want to apply to?
A. Yale, Cornell, University of Alberta, University of Montana, Richard Gilder (AMNH, mom), Columbia, SUNY Stonybrook, Hunter College Macauley Honors, NYU, Columbia, University of Chicago.

Looking forward to another year of learning together!

The Champ

Mikro is the 8th Grade Regional Champion for the National History Bee in the New York South region, and qualified for Nationals. Way to go, kiddo!

Happy Birthday, Mikro!

We celebrated a few days early, but he will be 15 any day now! He is as tall as I am and has a foghorn voice like his Dad. I am amazed at what an incredible young man my sweet little boy is turning into!

Happy Spring!

It's 80 degrees today, going down to 40 tonight. Happy Spring, I think...

Happy Spring!