Google 20%Project

For my Google 20% project, I'm going to be researching my family history. Here is the Animoto video  I'm going to look into my recent family history, as recent as great grandparents, and also look back to my ancestors from as far back as the 17th century. 
For this project, it's going to be difficult to get information. So, I'm going to need family records directly from my grandparents. They have many books and documents containing information, so I've asked them to send them to me and they agreed. Most of my research will come from those documents.
A roadblock for me is how hard it is to get the information I need. I'm going to have only a few sources since there's not much to find on the Internet.
The only people I can talk to are my older family members. There isn't really any professional historians that could help without paying them. 

Is Chris Langan successful?

After seeing Chris Langan on 1 vs. 100 and reading about him in The Outliers, I can say that he is successful. 
Success in my own words is when someone is happy with their lives, not nessecarily rich or famous. As long as a person is content with what they have and don't want much more, to me it is considered success. 
To me, my meaning of success applies to Chris Langan. He has a simple life with his wife, farm, and easy job, and that's enough to be successful. Even though he's not getting into jobs that he can use his high IQ in, it's okay because there are plenty of other people out there that can do those jobs; no one needs to depend on Chris. 
So, in my opinion, Chris Langan is a successful man. 

The Kindergarten Debate

There is a debate over whether kids should start kindergarten at the normal time or wait a year so they will be emotionally ready. Sometimes, being held back has its advantages; it insures a child is ready to learn. However, in the article Delay Kindergarten at your Child's Peril, the authors state that starting kindergarten late can be "less motivated and perform less well". They said that late starters can even have a lower IQ! 
In Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers, Malcolm says that late starters have an advantage, being older therefore more developed. He relates this to sports, such as hockey. If you are one of the oldest in hockey, you are more developed, appearing bigger(better) than younger players. 
In my opinion, I think a parent should put their child into kindergarten when they think the child is ready. If the child is 5 years old but still haven't really developed mentally enough, the parent could hold them back another year. If a child is 4 and has shown extreme ability, a parent could send them in at that young age. So, I don't really agree with "accumulative advantage" because it's no advantage if a child's at the same mental capability as others; age doesn't really count in school in my opinion.

 This is kind of unrelated, but here's my personal experience:
I started kindergarten at 4, and I think it was actually a little better. I did feel out of place though, since I was always the smallest. Now, being the oldest in my grade, I feel out of place sometimes, too. It is difficult with an August/September birthday, so I think that is a place where parents struggle the most.
Also, I noticed in schools in central U.S and England, the cutoff date is generally August(the oldest kids are in August, a few young kids are in here too). However, on the east coast, the youngest kids are in October and even November, way younger than other places. Maybe it's an east coast thing?

Ups and Downs of Being Gifted

Being gifted has its ups and downs. Even though being gifted is a very good thing, students like this do have problems, too. Also, there are many myths and truths about gifted children. In this post, I'll explain these factors, but also add in some of my personal experiences.
Ups

• Gifted students are looked at a higher level and praised more
• Gifted students normally do better in school with grades
• Since gifted students have something they enjoy (a hobby), it can be easier for them to decide what they are doing in life with their career 

Being gifted can have it's downsides, too.

Downs

• Sometimes gifted students are bullied and considered "nerds"
• School is sometimes too easy, causing grades to go down from boredom
• Some students have asynchronous development , where they might be smart, but are different physically and emotionally, which is difficult

So, there are definitely many things that gifted children go through, both good and bad. However, sometimes people don't understand these things, and this is something that leads to problems. 

Myths & Truths

• myth: gifted students don't need help, they're fine on their own.
• truth: even though gifted students might be smart, it doesn't mean they won't ever need help. Would you send a star athlete to train for the Olympics without a coach? Not everyone is perfect, so not everyone will understand something the first time, no matter what level of skill they are at.

• myth: gifted students are a role-model for everyone else in the classroom
• truth: most of the time, that is the opposite. Many low-achieving students actually look at smarter students as "nerds" and try not to achieve as much as them. 

• myth: that student can't be gifted; they're getting poor grades
• truth: not every gifted student is academically gifted. Many children excel best at things such as art and music, and not so much math and english. So, not every gifted student will get good grades. Also, some gifted students will do poorly in school because they are bored of the easy work given to them.

So, gifted students do have advantages, but they do have struggles too. I have struggled with teachers expecting a lot out of me just because I'm in the G&T class. Even though I do maintain high grades, I do still struggle with many topics in school. Sometimes I wonder if I just get lucky on some of my tests. Overall, it has been fine for me. I get stressed very easily, and having a little easier school work helps me out a bit! 

Being gifted is a great advantage most of the time, but it also has its downsides too.

First Blog Post

Hi! My name's Emma and I'm a freshman! Things I like include playing guitar, singing, playing volleyball, eating, hanging out with friends, sleeping, reading, swimming, traveling, and shopping!
I don't like doing homework, waking up early, elevators, sharks, clowns, and anything that has to do with math/mechanics..
The highlight of my summer has got to be..the whole thing! I had so much fun visiting my grandparents and other family, and I also had fun hanging out with friends. If I had to choose my favorite part of the summer though, it's got to be learning how to drive !
The Rogate unit I'm looking forward to this year is debates. I normally wouldn't pick this, but it sounds very interesting and it will probably help with my decision making skills. 
:)

Kickstarter

The website Kickstarter is a website where people can share their product ideas and others can pledge money to fund their manufacturing. After the product is fully funded, people can get things in return, depending on how much they spent. This site is a great example of crowdsourcing, and benefits the buyers and the sellers. There are many good ideas here, but I have found a few that stand out. If I had $500 to spend on Kickstarter, I would spend it on these items.


The first one is HAND stylus. This product is a stylus that you can use on your iPad, iPhone, or any touch screen device. This would be great for me since sometimes my touch screen devices can be difficult to handle. Many people I know struggle with typing and drawing on their phones and iPads, so this product would be good for them because of the control and precision. I also like how they have many varieties of colors and is small and easy to use. Overall, I think this is a good idea and I would pledge $180 for it. 
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hand/hand-stylus?ref=live


The second product I would fund is quik-keyz. Quik-keyz are iPhone covers that have small bumps where the keyboard is. This product is helpful to type, since touch screens are hard to type on. A lot of people I know say they don't like typing on touch screens because it is hard to tell where certain letters are, so this would really help with using the keyboard. If I were to fund this idea, I would pay $80, to get three; one for me and the other two would go to my friends who have the problem with typing. 
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1934392683/qwik-keyztm-keyboard-touchguide-for-the-iphone?ref=card


The next product is Remee. Remee is a mask that allows you to lucid dream. A lucid dream is a dream that you can basically control. The mask can detect when you are in the REM stage of sleep(when you are dreaming) and sends off light to make yourself aware you are sleeping. This causes lucid dreaming. I think this is an amazing idea that would be really fun to try out! I would pay them $220 because it comes with one normal dream mask and one customized mask. The custom mask has settings you can change, like how long it takes before it starts giving off light.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bitbangerlabs/remee-the-rem-enhancing-lucid-dreaming-mask?ref=live


The final thing I would fund is Scanbox. This is a simple invention, but seems to work effectively. The Scanbox allows an iPhone to be a scanner, by taking a photo of whatever is needed. The only difference is that it makes to perfect dimensions every time, so it looks just like it was scanned. It is portable, easy, and I think it would be very useful. I would pay $15 for this.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/limemouse/scanbox-turn-your-smartphone-into-a-portable-scann?ref=popular

Crowd sourcing

An example of crowd sourcing is the site DesignCrowd. This graphic design company is also part of another site called BrandCrowd. DesignCrowd has custom designs for people to buy and BrandCrowd includes ready-made logos. It is similar to 99Designs, and many people compare the two sites since both of them include people giving out ideas and designers sending the actual design back.

This first link explains BrandStack, which is what BrandCrowd was until the company was bought by DesignCrowd:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandstack


This second link is a blog that explains more about what crowdsourcing is and how it relates to DesignCrowd.
http://designcrowdreviews.blogspot.com/