Microsoft Homeschool Classes

I went to a Microsoft store for a series of classes about coding.Both of which were about free 3d programming environments, with plenty of items and codes to help young/medium aged kids be able to learn the basics of coding. I'll leave the links at the end of the little thing about them, so you can garb them if you want.

Kodu: Kodu is a free program aged for pre-teens with cartoonish models and pictures. Don't underestimate the quality though! It's got a lot of variety, and kids can make anything come of it. It's got a large amount of settings, models, and programs, meaning that a kid without any experience in coding can learn how to use Kodu like *snap*!  Link: http://www.kodugamelab.com/.

Edit: Project Spark was eliminated in 2016, and is imposible to download from the Microsoft store.
(Project Spark: Project Spark is a free program aged for teens and young adults. With more models, advanced coding, and a RPG like feel, you can make a great RPG game, or just make some minigames. It requires a little more experience as it kinda just thrusts you out there, but once you get the hang of it, it's awesome! Link: http://welcome.projectspark.com/. )


And that's it. I'm not 'advertising' for Microsoft, but these programs aren't half bad. Try them out if you want.

Adventure Van, Out.

Sailing Camp: Sail Buffalo

Sail Buffalo is an awesome place with plenty of boats, classes, and summer time camps with free pizza at the end! (Got dat attention now, eh?) It's up to four weeks long, with each week being a separate class. It's blimey awesome, because you get to sail a two man ship (You can sail on either a Dinghy of a Sunfish) and man a sailing boat! Here, I'll give you a quick list from the site:

• Pizza Parties, Club Racing, Graduation Ceremonies and more!

• Sail in front of Buffalo’s Inner Harbor and we see Canadian waterfronts.

• Learn self-confidence, teamwork, camaraderie!

• Learn Rigging, Hoisting, Trimming, Steering, Tacking , and Jibing.

If you want to read more, (Or any :P)) just run over to https://sail-buffalo.com/!

((Edit: News Coverage!:  http://wivb.com/2016/08/03/sailing-growth-on-lake-erie/))

History 2

Charlemagne was the leader of the Franks,
He tried to conquer Italy.
 Quick hint: His name was Charles!

The Maya calendar was 100,000,000 years old!
And it wants us to party! 
Quick hint: YAYYYYYYYYYY

Did you know that some people
had statues guarding their tomb?

Also, England once had 47% of the population
In the urbans!

There is a area named "Fort Ancient!"

Linshin was a Chinese Emperor because he killed all his brothers and forced his dad to let him to be emperor in 626. But he was assassinated in the year 646. (:o They both have 6_6 in them!) He lived to be 32 years old.

Silla is Chinese for Kings gold.

Conquisto(a city) was sieged by the Russians.

AZTECS ARE CRAZY. period.  When they are not killing others they kill themselves.

Vikings are crazy, but still are better than Aztecs, Because they don't kill themselves.

The Franks are crazy, because in order to become king, they have to kill all their brothers.So what happens when they all die? If you ever saw the movie Stardust you might know.

China invented Printing. They made a book with it!

The richest piece in the world is the Alfred Jewel.

Vikings attack Christians in Ireland.

Shinto is china's oldest religion!

Asia invented cannons!

<>The<>Indies<>Had<>A<>Lot<>Of<>Diamonds<>.

If you had slaves and wanted beer, England is the place to go.

China also invented how to move the letters around.

Japan wrote a book about architecture.

I love the crusades! It was a really foolish time period about when people killed each other over religion. They were: the Christians: Half of which didn't survive the walk. VS. The Muslims: who were RIGHT NEXT TO THEIR CAPITAL!!! Note to all army's,Either get tough or get away from a capital of a country.The Christians lost, because 3/4 of the army DIDN'T not make it. The Jews, were living fine.

Genghis Khan was not a barbarian, as some may say. He was very civilized, actually. Here is one of the things he would do: If he was in peace, he would hang white horse tails of his tent. If he was at war, he would hangs black ones. He had lots of rules, so don't know why  people say he was none civilized. He was very civilized, he just had some rules that were "bad".

74th Annual W.N.Y. Science Congress

Hey, It's adventure van and I'm here with a blog about a Science 'Congress'. I put in a Bronze Medal winning report about the color dogs can see. It was awesome, with plenty of stands and people, and if your pet helped you with the experiment, you could bring it! (I didn't. Wah.) There are some shows, some food-trucks, and the awards ceremony is forwarded with a 10 minute talk. It's awesome. You don't have to enter, but just coming and checking out the reports are awesome. The report is down below.

How well do dogs see color?

The Stereotype:

Dogs CANNOT see red from green, but CAN see blue from yellow.

“Dogs' eyes, like those of most other mammals, contain just two kinds of cones. These enable their brains to distinguish blue from yellow, but not red from green.” – Live Science, How Do Dogs See The World, by Natalie Wolchover, on http://www.livescience.com/34029-dog-color-vision.html

“Colors dogs can’t distinguish
Actually the color spectrum made up of wavelengths of light is the same to all of us. Only the perception of those colors can be quite different. As dogs only have two different color receptors in their eyes they have problems to distinguish certain colors:

• Red — Orange — Green
• Greenish Blue — Gray
• Different shades of Purple

The list is not completed and there are a lot of different shades which can’t be differentiated if you are colorblind. And the conclusion is dogs can see colors but are at the same time colorblind.” – Colblindor, Can Dogs See Colors, Unknown, on http://www.color-blindness.com/2007/02/27/can-dogs-see-colors/

HOWEVER!

I have been working, with extensive research, to find out whether or not this Stereotype is true. And, I believe I have enough research to say this:

! THIS STERYOTYPE IS WRONG !

Why is it? How can you prove it?

Simple. You go and figure it out your self.

THE REPORT

The materials:

What do you use to dispel a widely believed myth? A dog and 5 poker chips!

The Experiment:

How It Was Done:

The Dog was given a poker chip, told the color, and given a treat. This was repeated multiple times, until when we said the color, he’d look at us like “Treat? Where? Where?” We did this 5 times, with the following colors:

·         Black: While it was once believed dogs see in black and white, it was disproved a while ago. I was using this color to see A: If he told the difference in-between Black/White and if he had problems with Black/Blue choices.

·         White: I’ve used this color for the Black/White  comparison.

·         Red: It is now believed that dogs can see only Yellow and Blue, but not Red.    However, I did not have a Yellow chip, so I was forced to just use Blue and Green against Red. I used this color to disprove the myth that dogs can’t tell the difference.

·         Blue: I’ve used this color to shove it against Red.

·         Green: I’ve used this color to add a little diversity to the experiment.

Then, the second part happened: I paired up the colors against each other, put a treat behind each one, and said the name of a color. He then would nudge/stare-at/attempt-to-eat the one that he thought was the right color. The results are on the chart on the opposite side.

The results were staggering.

 

Crispin.

Crispin is about a young boy, about thirteen years old, when his mother died and he gets declared a wolfs head and has to run away, almost being killed, and finds Bear, a traveling juggler who decides to take Crispin, who was only called Asta's Son, under his wing, and the two start of onto Great Wexly.

The first one!

 Crispin: the Cross of Lead
Written by AVI.
Asta's son was all the name Crispin ever had.  But, since he was only a peasant in the 1800s, the lack of name is expected. But, after the lord returned from fighting, and his mother dies, he hears the city's master and a man talking, but being noticed, the master grabs his axe and throws it, barely missing his head. After being declared a wolf's head for breaking to the Master's Mansion, he goes to the saint and asks for help. But, instead of finding the saints promises, he finds a ambush, and a dead saint. Just before leaving with his lead cross, he hears talk about him murdering the saint.
Running from his town, he runs into Bear,but not a bear, who becomes his master, and then they go to
Great Wexly. They go to on to get money, bread, and news about Crispin. When they go to the great town of Great Wexly, they go to Bear's hiding place, until Bear gets captured. Crispin swears that he will save Bear, and sneaks into the dungeon. There he meets his town's master, who Crispin "convinces" him to let him and Bear go. Until they get too the gates, they go just fine, but when there only a few feet away from it, the town master turns around, and his soldiers circle them. Bear pulls out his hidden dagger, and the two get into a fight. At the end, Bear picks up The Master, and throws him right at the swords, killing him. The book ends with Crispin getting told that he is a free man by Bear.

Crispin at the Edge of the World
Written by AVI
Crispin begins to realize that Bear isn't as strong as he used to. Seeing a tavern, they run into a off duty solider, and Bear gets shot in shoulder with an arrow. Making a fire and hunting rabbits, Crispin sees a girl running in the trees, who he chases after, but the girl climbs a tree and Crispin gives up, going back to Bear. Soon, a old hag named Agna comes and decides to treat Bear. Crispin sees the girl again, whose name was Troth, and makes friends with her after a while.
But, when Agna gets killed for not being christian, and Troth almost does, Crispin gets there in time to save Troth, who was crying for Agna, and takes her away, with the angry mob right on there heels, they only have time to take three things, Crispin's Lead Cross, Bear's Jugglers Hat, and Troth's Sapling. They decide to go to the nearest port town of England, but it goes under attack while they are going there, and Bear has to help build the Inn in order to afford food and stay. But when soldiers come looking for them, they have to go on a boat, but Bear gets captured, and the last thing that happens is that Crispin is crying after news that Bear got executed for murder.

I haven't read the third book yet, so I'll edit this soon.