School on Sila

We are living on Sila but we still have to go to school. This means we have to do math class. A normal math class involves getting out math text books and working on regular, every day math.

Right now, I am doing multiplication and division of decimals and rounding decimals. Porter is working on percentages and ratios. And at the end of math class, we do math minutes, which are small, fun math things. For example, we have learned about vectors and latitude/longitude. But sometimes, we do math that relates to where we are and what we are doing. And the best part is that it just happens naturally.

This is an efficiency graph for an engine. When the engine is running most efficiently, it is using little fuel but still moving at a good speed. We wanted to know how little fuel we could use but still go fast enough so we measured boat speed and RPMs (revolutions per minute). For most engines, the graph is a curve. Can you see a slight curve in this graph? The curve is not normal. This is more like a straight line. The belly of the curve is normally the most efficient spot. This graph does not have a belly. At least I got to do math with Daddy (he is our math teacher). Plus, we did it in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. This is special to me because it is math that came out of necessity and it is fun school.

During history class, my mom, Porter and I went on a school trip. We went to a museum to learn about Lord Horatio Nelson. He is a British hero from when they had colonies in the Caribbean. We were in a place named after him- Nelson's Dockyard, on the island of Antigua- which is where the museum is. At the museum, my assignment was to find some history of the island or Horatio Nelson and then relate it to where we are and what we are doing now.

I found the most interesting part to be looking at one of the ships that Nelson commanded and comparing it to Sila. First of all, Sila is a comfortable, nice place I consider home. Nelson's ship, the HMS Victory, was not comfortable. The crew did not have nice chairs and cushions or their own reading device like we do. I don’t think they read much either. Also it was very hot on the HMS Victory. People got heat stroke down below where it was even hotter and stuffier than it was on deck. Sila is not too hot. In fact, it is usually cooler down below that it is on deck.

Here on Sila we have really good food. We have nice variations every day. We can eat until our bellies are full. On the HMS Victory, they had the same old food and not always enough to fill their bellies. The HMS Victory crew had bread that was hard and barely edible. Weevils got into the bread and made it crumbly. Our bread is soft and nice. Also we have big tanks full of sweet fresh water. We can drink lots. On the HMS Victory, they stored water in gourds that often collected bugs, dirt, and grime. So it tasted very foul and bitter. The crew had limited water and they had to collect it on shore from streams and wells.

The people on Nelson's ship had messes. A mess is a group of four who eat and sleep together. One person from each mess decides the food for the week. They had to work well together. If they kept asking to change the people in their mess, it was a bad sign. It meant that the crew members were arguing, fighting, and not getting along. On Sila, there is no mess. We can't really change the group of four so it is a good thing we get along so well. My mom says that my cabin is a mess, but that doesn’t really count.

The smell was nasty on Nelson's ship. It stank because they skimmed off the fat from the stew and put it in the rigging. This was so the rigging would not seize. Our boat smells great. Sila is a modern boat and we don’t need to use fat to grease the rigging. Imagine having to smell rotten meat all the time. Also the HMS Victory was crowded with guns and lots of people: 826 people, and 104 guns on a boat that was 226 feet long. Sila is 47 feet long and only four of us live on it. All in all, I am glad that I am on Sila because it sounds like it would be miserable on Horatio Nelson's ship.

This is me posing as Admiral Lord Nelson

In addition to math and history, Porter and I do other subjects too. We do grammar, which is pulling out our text books and working through the exercises. My mom is a grammar queen (I highly suggest you don’t sign up to have her as an English teacher because she will correct every incorrect usage of the language). For Spanish class, we do Rosetta Stone on a computer. We are learning to listen, speak, write, and read Spanish. We also take a writing class with Mama, and we are learning how to write better, more interesting narratives and poetry. Daddy will be teaching us science later.

This is a history class happening while we are motoring

I like school on Sila a lot better than school in class at a desk with other kids because I get to work at my own pace. Unlike when I was in Leadville, on Sila I take tests that are not too easy or too hard. Also, I am not trapped with other kids and I can think straight. – Jack Rabbit