Monday
This morning, I started a new topic in maths, Approximations. I physics, I revised the Forces & Motion unit of my IGCSE syllabus by doing a ton of questions from different books. This unit covers things like gravity, acceleration, speed and velocity and how they all work. Though I do find forces interesting, I think my favourite topic in the curriculum would have to be Astrophysics!
In the afternoon, I translated a few more English passages into Latin. The goal is to start the next book of Latin To GCSE next week! Then I had a swimming lesson with my friends, in which we focused on front crawl and did some diving and straddle jumps (trying to jump in and keep your head above the water).
In the evening, I had a Zoom maths lesson with Damian. Like last week, he sorted us into breakout rooms, or small teams where we could complete the puzzle together. There were supposed to be 5 people in each room, but our group only had 3, so we had to really race against time to complete all the maths problems!
Tuesday
This morning in physics, I went a bit further ahead in the Waves unit and started learning about the Doppler effect, refraction and reflection. In Maths, I completed the topic on Approximations, mostly just by doing the harder questions because the others were things like, “Round 6 to the nearest 10,” so I moved onto, “Given that x = 3.2 to 1 d.p. and y = 8.34 to 2 d.p., find the interval that contains the actual value of 2x + y and leave your answer as an inequality.” 😬
In the afternoon, I started reading Euripides’ Hippolytus. It tells the myth of a young Greek man called Hippolytus whose stepmother Phaedra, as a result of the goddess Aphrodite’s meddling, falls in love with Hippolytus. Phaedra feels deeply horrified by her sudden love for her stepson, and kills herself. There are many more tragic plot twists which eventually lead to the death of Hippolytus, the inevitable despairing of his father Theseus (who was husband to Phaedra), and another Ancient Greek kingdom left in woe and misery at the hands of the gods. Classic Euripides!
Wednesday
Today was a Wednesday, which for me means no maths or physics! Instead, I spent the morning finishing off Hippolytus and starting my analysis of it. I watched a Massolit course with Dr James Morwood, who happens to have translated Euripides’ The Trojan Women, which is next on my curriculum to read!
In the evening, Rangers was moved from an in-person to an online lesson because so many people were self-isolating, but I actually forgot about it so I didn’t go! Instead, I watched The Bake-Off and The X-Files and made a delicious mug crumble!
Thursday
This morning, I did some physics but not much because Tilly decided to stay at home from college, so we did some humanities subjects together. We watched the next episode of Wild China and I’ve almost finished my analysis of Hippolytus. I also read a little more of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I want to read James Morwood’s The Trojan Women next, before completely finishing with Ancient Greek tragedies and moving onto Herodotus.
In the evening, I spent a lot of time listening to Dear Hank & John, a hilarious podcast with Hank and John Green, two authors/scientists (Hank also started the wonderful and educational YouTube channel Crash Course). They answer questions sent in by their listeners and provide dubious and occasionally funny advice, as they put it. At the end of every episode, Hank gives the week’s news on Mars, while John updates us all on the progress and accomplishments of his favourite football team, AFC Wimbledon.
Friday
This morning, I watched some YouTube videos on Waves, the unit in Physics I’m currently working on. I also did my piano practice and ate a lot of cheesecake! I made a vanilla one last night (from a Lorraine Pascale cookbook) and it’s so absolutely scrumptious. I only did my music practice, some Latin (sooo nearly onto the next book now!) and I finished my analysis of Hippolytus and began reading The Trojan Women.
Weekend
This weekend, I listened to an awful lot of Dear Hank & John and started drawing the activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali (I wanted to draw someone with darker skin to challenge my shading skills). On Saturday afternoon, I went to my friend Dominique’s house for a last-minute playdate. It was really fun, especially because I haven’t seen my friends properly in such a long time!! We went on two long walks in the beautiful summer weather, and I made a birthday card in preparation for her sister Lucia’s eighteenth birthday in June. We also took some cool but very cringey photos, taking advantage of the lovely sunny weather!
