Friday, July 5, 2019

2019 Not Back to School Interview



Q: What is your favorite subject?
A: Mathematics... NO! Evolutionary biology, paleontology (I am really into the Ediacaran fauna right now), and history.


Q: What are you best at?
A: Making connections between things; generating hypotheses; imagination; procrastinating. (Same answer as last year.)


Q: I need to get better at __________.
A Not procrastinating and meeting deadlines, note taking, the Great Evil (math), handwriting, dealing with time pressure on tests.


Q: What's the best thing about being a homeschooler?
A: I can do whatever I want. Nah. I get to make my own schedule, and I get to choose what I want to learn.


Q: What's the worst thing?
A: No summer break.


Q: What kind of work do you want to do when you grow up?
A: I want to be a paleontologist and a professor. I would love to do vertebrate paleontology (yes, dinosaurs), but it probably makes more sense to do invertebrate...


Q: This year I want to learn about ________.
A: AP Bio, Entomology, review Geology, Paleontology (Permian/Triassic periods, paleoart, scientific reconstruction, preparator skills); anatomy; zoology; medieval history; anthropology; German; Latin; history of Eastern Europe; the ancient Near East; archaeology; paleoanthropology; and maybe forensics. Scientific illustration and cartography. Survival and camping skills; special effects and animation.


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


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

Q: Who is your best friend?
A: Koby. And Julian is a really good friend.

Q:I want to go on a field trip to __________.
A: National Museum of Natural History. Newseum. The Bruce Museum.

Q: I want to go on vacation to __________.
A. Washington DC. Philadelphia. Boston.

Q. The most fun or best thing I did last school year was:
A. Yale Splash, and visiting the Yale Peabody Museum and Yale Art Museum. Our trip to Philadelphia, especially talking to the preparator at the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University. And Wayfinders (Mom adds- playing with foam swords.)




Q. What is your favorite book that you read last school year?
A. It's either The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Stephen Brusatte or The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien.



Q. What is your favorite online class that you took last year?
A. I can't pick one. Really, I enjoyed them all. But top of the list? Marine Biology; Mesopotamian Cosmology; Statelessness: The Art of Not Being Governed; Bioinformatics; Feelin' Blue: Genetics and Heredity; Irish History; German; Latin; Dungeons & Dragons: Sleepy Hollow and Dungeons & Dragons for Teens; and I enjoyed Chemistry, too.

Q. Of all the field trips you took last year, which was the best?
A. Yale Peabody Museum (Dinosaurs and the Mesopotamia exhibit). The T. Rex exhibit at AMNH. World Between Empires and Arms & Armor at the Met.


Q. What are you looking forward to doing this year?
A. Classes with Wendy Raver and Crystal Ferreira. A trip to DC. AP Bio. Fencing.


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, Fort Hayes State University.

Looking forward to another year of learning together!