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Athena's Advanced Academy

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News

December 13, 2020 2 Comments

Cat Island

by Dr. Kirsten & Flora, Athena’s Student 

We have so many amazing projects and presentations being shared in our classes! Sometimes students want to share with those outside Athena’s virtual walls.

Flora, one of Athena’s students, would like to share her project with you!

This presentation is about the cat island, Aoshima. It is mainly focused on the cats of Aoshima island. Aoshima island has over 100 cats! Even though there are a lot of cats, there aren’t a lot of humans living on the island. When a source from a few years ago was written, there were only 9 residents left on the island. One of the residents was even about to leave. The cats entirely depend on the residents for food.

Click on the video to find out more! 🙂

Feel free to leave comments of encouragement below!

Filed Under: Athena's News Tagged With: Athena's News Fall 2020, Student Submission

November 22, 2020 Leave a Comment

Sydney Snippets

by Dr. Kirsten & Evelyn, Athena’s Student 

We have so many amazing projects and presentations being shared in our classes!

Sometimes students want to share with those outside Athena’s virtual walls.

Athena’s student, Evelyn, created this presentation and included a short quiz to go with it!

Have fun looking through Evelyn’s presentation and then try your hand at the quiz she created!

  • Sydney Snippets by Evelyn
  • Quick Quiz by Evelyn

Feel free to leave comments of encouragement below!

Filed Under: Athena's News Tagged With: Athena's News Fall 2020, Student Submission

September 20, 2020 3 Comments

Journey Toward Community

by Dr. Kirsten L. Stein, Athena’s Founder

In the newest edition of GHF Dialogue, Dr. Kirsten recently wrote about building community. In her submission, you will find more about the history of Athena’s and how we have grown into the community we are today.

Excerpt:

“As Athena’s has grown, our students have grown with us. It is so rewarding to watch friendships blossom as students connect in the social forums and through classes. Being able to learn and connect with like-minded peers who share a love of learning and have similar interests is an invaluable experience.”

Read more at https://ghfdialogue.org/journey-toward-community/

Remember, you are welcome at Athena’s!

Filed Under: Athena's News Tagged With: Athena's News, Athena's News Fall 2020, Dr. Kirsten Stein, Dr. Kirsten's Corner

August 30, 2020 2 Comments

Welcome, Step-Net!

On behalf of Athena’s, I am excited to welcome Step-Net to our online learning community! Athena’s Advanced Academy has established a co-operation with Step-Net, the Italian Gifted Association that supports the development and needs of high potential children in Italy. This September, gifted Italian students will take their first online courses at Athena’s. It is my honor to teach these first two courses that are offered for middle and high school Italian students entitled “The Inventor in You!”

Athena’s Advanced Academy and Step-Net were brought together by a shared philosophy. Both believe that all individuals have the right to be supported to better express their high learning potential and to contribute to the improvement of society. Based upon this common vision, I look forward to a collaboration of offering future online opportunities for gifted children in Italy and to our learning from one another.

~ Dr. Monita

Filed Under: Athena's News Tagged With: Athena's News, Athena's News Fall 2020, Dr. Monita Leavitt

May 3, 2020 2 Comments

My Periodic Table of Post-It Notes

by Spence Edelstein, Athena’s Student 

I love the Periodic Table! It has been an interest of mine since I was five years old. Now, I am taking a class on the Periodic Table and creating one of my own. This exciting idea came from class, when Dr. Kirsten told us to make one throughout the course. I was surprised because it was a big project, but I knew that it would be really cool when I was done.

I used a lot of materials to make my Periodic Table, including four 22”x 28” black poster boards, eleven different colors of sticky notes (or Post-It notes), Scotch (invisible) tape, a regular Sharpie marker, a thin Sharpie, and a pencil.

First, I set the poster boards on the floor, horizontally. Then, I lined up the edges and taped them together. Next, I put the sticky notes on with each color representing an element group, so they lined up to look like the Periodic Table. Each square represented an element.

I used my regular Sharpie to write the name of the element (bottom center of the sticky note) and to write the element’s symbol (top center of the sticky note). I also used my thin Sharpie to write the element number (top right corner of the sticky note). Finally, with my pencil, I drew something that contains the element or a way that the element is used (middle of the sticky note).

I am still working on my Periodic Table. For the last elements, I had to draw portraits of the scientists who discovered the elements because the elements were too new to have any uses, or they only last for a few seconds. (For example, gold lasts for a long time, but Oganesson lasts for two seconds.) It is hard work but it’s very satisfying. So far, I think it’s looking great!

Filed Under: Athena's News Tagged With: Athena's News, Athena's News Spring 2020, Student Submission

April 19, 2020 2 Comments

The Urban Tumbleweed

by Katie Felidaeneko, Athena’s Student

Plastic bags are very commonplace, but not just in stores. Outside in nature, these “urban tumbleweed” snag on tree branches, float through the ocean, blow across the ground, wash up on many beaches, and cause many problems. But what problems do they cause, besides being an eyesore? Are paper bags better? How can I help? All these questions, and more, are going to be answered in this essay.

Due to their light weight, plastic bags in landfills don’t always stay there. They frequently blow away in the wind, and into the rest of the world.

Runoff water collects and carries discarded plastic bags into storm drains. There, if they’re not washed out into rivers or oceans, they may clump with other trash to create a blockage. This often causes flooded roads, which can damage cars, buildings, and other property and collects pollutants and spreads them everywhere. It can also starve local wetlands, causing many plants and animals to die.

Especially when plastic bags are brightly colored, carry residue from food, or are animated by the movement of the water, animals frequently eat the plastic bags. Because plastic doesn’t break down very well in animal’s stomachs, the plastic bags can cause a deadly intestinal blockage or make them feel full while they starve or die from malnutrition. Animals can also be poisoned by chemicals used to create the bags or that the plastic absorbed on its way through the environment.

Plastic bags cause gargantuan problems for ocean animals. For instance, they can get entangled in them. Whales sometimes wash up on beaches after eating plastic bags. Sea turtles often mistake plastic bags for jellyfish. Another problem that might be even worse than the turtles killed directly from eating plastic bags is that when turtles eat them instead of food, their glucose levels drop, and they have less energy for migration and reproduction. Female sea turtles can’t lay as many eggs, and fewer hatchlings are born.

An estimated one million birds, 100,000 sea turtles, and countless other sea creatures die each year from ingesting plastic. In Midway Atoll, the home of the largest albatross colony on earth, thousands of albatross are found dead from eating plastic. Many animals already have many other pressures, whether they’re habitat destruction, poaching, climate change, the pet trade, or something else. Plastic adds yet another

Only a small percentage of plastic bags get recycled. Though some people try to reuse them, most get used only a single time. Many are thrown away, and many get into the environment.

In 2009, California stores had to provide plastic bag dropoff bins to collect bags for recycling Only 3% were collected. And even though recycling helps, plastic can only be recycled a finite number of times before it loses its tensile strength. Though we should still bring them back to the store for recycling, first we should get as much use out of them as possible.

While plastic bags are often used for only a short period of time, they can take hundreds of years to break down in a landfill (if they don’t just become microplastic.) I myself go to a 4-H gardening spin club. There, we put a plastic bag in a clear container with some compostable things – egg shells, a strip of newspaper, a banana peel. Everything else has almost or completely biodegraded. The plastic bag hasn’t changed a bit.

Here’s a bit of statistics for you. The average American goes through 6 plastic shopping bags a week. With a population of about 300 million, about 1.8 billion plastic bags are used and often discarded each week!

At this point you’re probably thinking, “Okay, then, I’ll go with the paper bags at the store, then,” or something like that. But paper bags are not a good alternative. They take more energy to produce, for instance. About 10 million paper bags are used each year, which means 14 million trees – one of the best climate change fighters in the world – are chopped down. From a more economic standpoint, paper bags cost more to produce than plastic bags. While more are recycled, still only about 50% are. Also, paper can take almost as long as plastic to break down. While paper is so much faster under ideal circumstances (as a passionate composter, I can testify to this), a landfill is far from ideal condition. Landfills lack air, light, and oxygen. Almost nothing decomposes.

However, there is a good option – a reusable cloth shopping bag. You can reuse them for years. They have a much smaller carbon footprint than plastic or paper bags that you use once. If they get dirty, you just need to wash them. (Be sure to wash them regularly to prevent food contamination.) They’re sturdier than plastic or paper bags, able to carry more weight. Often being bigger, they can carry more. If you’re crafty like I am, you can make a bunch, too!

I understand that it can be hard to remember to bring reusable bags to the store, so here are some tips. You can keep some reusable bags in your car, or put, “Bring reusable bags” at the top of your shopping list. Putting them in other obvious places, like by the door, can help too.

If you had, say, 2 bags and brought them to the store once, that’s 2 less plastic bags. If you bring them 2 times, that’s four less. Three times? That’s six less!

I read that an average american goes to the store 1.6 times each week. I’m going to round that to 2. There are 52 weeks in a year. That means that an average American goes to the store 104 times each year. If that person brought just 2 reusable shopping bags to the store every time that year, that’s 208 less shopping bags!

True, nobody’s going to remember to bring their reusable shopping bags to the store every time. But even one less plastic bag helps.

If everyone who read this tried to pick up a bag when they saw it and recycle it (dropping bags at a drop-off center or store is best so they don’t get entangled with other recycling) and bring one reusable bag to the store, it would help a lot. It’s unrealistic to hope that one day there won’t be any plastic bags littering the earth. But every time you help there’s another flicker of hope that maybe one day, only one or two plastic bags will be fluttering in the wind.

Sources:

  • greenerideal.com/news/environment/0613-how-do-plastic-bags-affect-our-environment
  • reusethisbag.com/articles/plastic-shopping-bags-environmental-impact/
  • dnr.wi.gov/topic/recycling/bags.html
  • motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environmental-policy/plastic-bag-problem-ze0z13022war
  • reusethisbag.com/articles/do-reusable-bags-really-help-the-environment/
  • reusiethisbag.com/articles/5-reasons-to-go-reusable
  • reusethisbag.com/articles/the-truth-about-paper-bags

Filed Under: Athena's News Tagged With: Hot Off The Press, Student Submission

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Wandering Webinars

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Athena’s News

Cat Island

December 13, 2020

Sydney Snippets

November 22, 2020

Journey Toward Community

September 20, 2020

From parents and students…

What I especially liked about the course was how the teacher presented the information in the webinars. It was all very easy to understand. I also liked the activities and the friends.
Student N.E.
It’s clear to me that [my daughter’s] experience at Athena’s is only one of two unqualifiedly successful educational experiences she has had. I wish I could just leave her in your hands all the time.
Parent Amanda S.
She has loved her experiences with you at Athena’s. They have been the perfect transition from the classroom…She has felt that the Athena’s environment is the best of both worlds; she can still learn with experts and true peers in a classroom, but doesn’t have to spend so many hours of her day to get that experience. She is free to move at her own pace and to pursue other passions and activities with the many hours that have been freed up by being able to learn at home and with Athena’s.… Read more
Parent Kristi H.
Athena’s was an amazing find for us…He did other online classes, but his weekly hour at Athena’s was his favorite. He really loved his teacher and enjoyed the interaction with other kids in the virtual classroom, which is missing from many online classes. But most importantly, he was engaged intellectually. I highly recommend Athena’s Advanced Academy for highly gifted homeschoolers who want to interact in “class” with gifted students like themselves.
Parent Chris O.
It was by-chance that we found Athena’s in our first fledgling month of homeschooling — and we thank our lucky stars! Now in our second year, Athena’s has become the backbone of our curriculum. Not only are the academic classes interesting, challenging and thought-provoking, the community we’ve found is so warm and welcoming. In fact, my 8-year old has decided to forgo a couple of in-person classes because he can’t stand the thought of missing Athena’s!
Parent Deborah W.
It was smart and fun! Every week there was great homework, and extra that was cool too! I will definitely be sign up for more classes!
Student Z.A.
The instructors were very positive and cheerful and encouraging in all ways to the students. I found it easier to relax when my child was in the classroom because I felt the instructors were more understanding and accepting of the particular qualities linked to giftedness…[like] dyslexia, dysgraphia, etc.
Parent K.B.
Thanks for running Athena’s– you guys are my refuge as I homeschool my 2 PGs!
Parent Amy C.
I am an unexpected homeschooling mom and your classes were [her] first online classes. At first I was very wary that they (really anything online) would be a reasonable solution for her, but they ended up being an overwhelming success.  Athena’s made me realize I can do this whole homeschooling thing…at least for now 🙂
Parent Roz W.
I would like to thank you for helping us in raising our daughter through these years.
Parent Alison C.

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