Goodbye to a Remarkable School Year!
Hello once again, Philomath community, and congratulations on the completion of our inaugural virtual school year!
This was our very first year operating as an independent learning community, and we couldn’t be prouder of our students’ achievements over the school year. It’s been incredibly gratifying to watch all of us come together from different parts of the country (and the world!) to create a truly one-of-a-kind learning environment for our class.
None of this would be possible without the commitment and hard work shown by our students, and none of their academic success would be possible without love and support by their families. From the bottom of our hearts: thank you. You make all this possible.
If you haven’t already reached out about continuing with our Virtual School program next year, the deadline for enrollment is Saturday, July 15th. If you have alternate school plans for this fall, please consider us for any tutoring needs, whether that’s dealing with difficult topics in core academic subjects or exploring new academic interests not covered in school. And once again, if you’re happy with the education your child has earned this year, please let friends and family know about us!
Sometime in the next week you should be receiving a packet in the mail with your child’s fourth-quarter progress report as well as a certificate of their completion for this school year. And once again, we’re thrilled to present the winner of our final monthly story contest at the end of this blog post. This month students were challenged to revise a story they submitted earlier in the year, and our community chose as its winners “Xavier Ontario Story” by 6th grader Andrew Butler and “Animal Buddies” by 4th grader Nico. Congratulations to the authors and to all the students who worked hard to make their writing as effective and impactful as possible!
We hope your family has a safe and restful summer break. Take some time to recharge, play with friends, and explore the world around you. And wherever your academic journey takes you, we hope you keep in your heart the passionate love of learning that will forever make you a philomath.
Your friends and teachers,
Sylvie Althoff and Erin Smith
Xavier Ontario Story
By Andrew Butler
After a long day of flying with Westjet, Xavier Ontario eagerly anticipated returning to his Vancouver apartment and settling into his own bed. The following day, Xavier headed to YVR airport, also known as Vancouver International, for his flight to Chicago and then onward to Tokyo Haneda airport.
While stepping onto the tarmac to inspect the aircraft before his flight to Chicago, Xavier caught sight of a ground crew member pilfering parts from the engine. The moment the ground crew person noticed Xavier, they hastily fled, prompting Xavier to chase after them. However, when Xavier turned the corner, the person mysteriously vanished. Concerned, Xavier immediately contacted Westjet to report the stolen parts.
Upon closer inspection, Xavier noticed a nametag that had been dropped by the fleeing individual. He picked it up and discovered it belonged to someone named Cora Ontario from Calgary, Alberta. Could this be his long-lost sister? Intrigued, Xavier wasted no time in calling Westjet to book the next available flight to Calgary. Making his way back into the terminal, he proceeded to the designated gate.
Upon arriving in Calgary, Xavier recalled that his family owned a vacation home in the area. Thinking it might be a good place to start, he decided to head there in the hope of finding his sister. As he reached the address, however, he was surprised to find an aircraft plant in its place. Xavier pressed the doorbell, and a woman dressed in a ground crew uniform answered. He asked if she was Cora Ontario, to which she replied with a curious tone, "Yes. Who's asking?"
Xavier introduced himself as Xavier Ontario, and Cora reacted with laughter, disbelieving his claim. Nevertheless, she ushered him inside the facility, saying, "Well, if you truly are my brother, you should know where I'm from." Xavier confidently responded, "Yes, I do. You're from Vancouver." Within the facility, two massive planes, a 747-8 and an A380, were being worked on.
Curiosity piqued, Xavier confronted Cora about the stolen parts. Cora adamantly denied any involvement, stating, "I didn't steal any parts." Xavier presented her with the dropped nametag as evidence, leaving Cora sighing in frustration. She confessed, "The parts were meant for the planes I'm working on. I can't afford to buy them from Boeing or Airbus, so I had no choice but to take them."
Perplexed, Xavier inquired about Cora's intentions with the planes. She admitted, "I honestly don't know," accompanied by a shrug of uncertainty. Frustrated and disheartened, Xavier turned to leave, making his way towards his car. However, Cora halted his departure, seizing him by the collar and restraining him by tying his hands. She forcibly dragged him back into the hangar and secured him to the landing gear of the 747. He tugs and tugs on the rope
To discover what happens next, stay tuned for the next installment of Xavier Ontario: The Pilot Spy!
Animal Buddies
By Nico
Deep underground in a land no human has ever seen, with strange weather, terrifying insects, and magical looking plants, there lived a group of friends. They were named The Animal Buddies. The oldest was Jake the Dog. Jake had scruffy brown and black fur. He was usually a pretty nice guy, but sometimes he could get jealous. That’s important to remember. Jake’s best friend was Eeyore, a sad stuffed donkey. Eeyore was not the happiest donkey and he certainly was not the life of the party- ANY party, but he WAS the perfect friend for Jake. Because Jake liked to cheer up Eeyore and Eeyore usually needed cheering up, they got along just swell.
One day, a meteor crashed into their backyard. Eeyore was pretty bummed, “hey Jake wouldn't it be cool if the meter was butter that means i could have a lifetime supply of butter,”said Eeyore. Jake, however, was totally excited- he had always wanted a pool he could turn the giant hole into a pool . But one thing was weird. Where did the meteor come from? Afterall, this was an underground forest. Did they even really have a sky?What Jake and Eeyore didn’t know was there were two people who DID know exactly where the meteor came from.
The first was a pretty mean dude. He was not the meanest dude, but not even friends would call him a nice guy. His name was Ratatouille. Ever since he was a little kid he made it his mission to destroy the underground kingdom because he was alway bullied by a girl named misty. Ratatouille was a snake. Kind of an extraordinary snake actually. He was a rattlesnake with a top hat. Sometimes he would eat his hat and his stomach would look exactly like he had eaten a hat. But then he would throw it up. And wear it again. I know, SO GROSS. But that’s a villain for you.
He had an assistant, too. His assistant was a skunk named Corduroy Jones. Ratatouille loved sneaking around and devising evil plans (or at least somewhat naughty), but his assistant was VERY DIFFERENT. Corduroy Jones LOVED sneaking around. He loved it SO MUCH that he would yell- which made him quite terrible at sneaking. Seriously, anytime he was trying to whisper, he just got too excited. And when he got scared, he used his defense method- which was actually quite useful. They had time to run away while the other person was covered in…
“STINK JUICE ATTACK!” was pretty much his favorite thing to scream at the top of his lungs. Ratatouille did not love that. But it was a pretty helpful defense method.
On that day- the day of the meteor- Ratatouille and Corduroy Jones had found a way to get to the surface. It was only possible, because it was Fall. Every Fall, the evil butterflies came out. SO. MANY. EVIL. BUTTERFLIES. Each butterfly was the size of a human hand. They were giant. Each butterfly was red mixed with a little bit of blue and green.
Now snakes and skunks can’t fly of course, that would be silly. But, evil butterflies can fly, AND they are stronger than regular butterflies. So they gathered up a whole bunch of the evil butterflies and tied them to strings.
whole bunch of the evil butterflies and tied them to strings. So they gathered up a whole bunch of the evil butterflies and tied them to strings. They held onto them and floated up to the sky. As they were floating up, the evil butterflies kept biting them because they tied strings to them. When they got up to the top Corduroy Jones said, “THAT WAS NOT WORTH IT.”
Ratatouille responded, “Oh yeah it was. Now let’s get to work.”
Chapter 2: The Creation Has Been Made
It was 1:00 when they started on the meteor maker. What is a meteor maker you may ask. There was lava on one side and water on the other side. There was a conveyor and it took the stone to a place so Corduroy Jones used his STINK JUICE ATTACK to melt the rock into a sphere. And then they catapulted it down below. How does a snake make a meteor maker? Good question. He just has his tail. He can grip onto the hammer and other tools with his extraordinary tail. It’s a little slower, but he had a lot of practice building machines. Corduroy Jones was playing around the machine. He was not at all any help- he was very loud though. As usual.
“WOOOOOOO!!!! I’M ON TOP OF THE WORLD!!!” screaming at the top of his lungs.
The whole thing was made of steel- so it was very strong. They actually had their own butterfly farm and had their butterflies bring it all up to them. The evil butterflies were helpful, but were STILL trying to eat them. That was less helpful. Once the machine was finished, it was time to test it out.
Chapter 3: Gimme the Butter
“Well that’s just great, why does a meter have to hit right here,” Eeyore groaned.
“Well don’t say it that way! Let’s go on an adventure!” Jake yelled.
“Okaaay….” Eeyore moaned.
And they set off on an adventure to find out where the meteor came from. First they went into a swamp. They were near a whole bunch of magical looking plants. They were metallic and THEY COULD SING. The swamp was pink and green.
Jake was so excited to be here, he loved going on adventures. “THIS IS THE COOLEST PLACE EVER!”
“Ok.” Eeyore didn’t have much to say. He didn’t love colors. He didn’t love music. He didn’t love adventures. He only loved butter. But he didn’t mind hanging out with Jake as well.
“Eeyore you gotta add more excitement to your ‘ok’,” Jake replied.
“O.K.” Eeyore tried really hard. “Are you happy now?”
Next they went into a butterfly kingdom. Butterflies were flying over their heads. Then Jake yelled at the top of his lungs “This is AWESOME! Don’t you love butterflies, Eeyore?”
“Butter? This is butter?? Yepi!!” as Eeyore was holding a butterfly. But what Eeyore and Jake did not know is there was a king butterfly watching and listening and the king butterfly swept down to grab Eeyore.
Chapter 4: That Is NOT Butter, Eeyore
“We’re NOT butter!” commanded an angry voice. It was the Butterfly King! “You're not hurting my butterflies like those guys,”said the butterfly king. “What guys,”said Jake, “this guy's came here with rope and they snatched my kids and took them to the mountain,”said the butterfly king Eeyore was not listening because he just really loved butter, so he bit down on the king’s wing. It was not butter. Then the king fell and Jake went and grabbed Eeyore as he was falling. They ran out of the town with butterflies chasing them. They got to the edge of the town and there was nowhere else to go.
But then they found something that the butterflies were afraid of. It was the second meteor! It came down and crashed into the Butterfly Kingdom and all the butterflies flew away to escape. So Jake and Eeyore had a chance to escape too.
“Wooo that was a close one,” Jake said.
Then Eeyore said, “awwww but I want the butter.”
Then Eeyore and Jake walked into the desert. It was miles and miles they couldn't see a thing but the sand was so soft and smooth they were walking for what felt like days but they only were walking for 5 min. “Hey jake when were older do you want to have kids”,said eeyore “yea i would a little pup and i would name him max same question eeyore do want to get married and would you like to have a kid”said jake “i would want to marry butter
and have little butter children,”said eeyore
“good luck with that,”said jake
“Wow look at that Jake, what is that,”said eeyore. In front of them was a huge pear cactus.
“It looks like a flower of some sort.” They admired the cactus, which were all types of different colors. Suddenly, the cactus reached out its spikes and hit Jake on the thigh!
“Aaaaa that flower just tried to eat me what are we going to do eeyore we won't be able to go on a adventure,”said jake
“no jake i will figure this out don't worry I will call bill n the doctor guy,”said eeyore
Out of the speaker of Eeyore’s phone came a little song: ‘bill n the doctor guy will rescue and won't let you die hey bill n the doctor guy that did not fall off a cliff and die🎶’
“Such a fun holdmusic right jake,” said eeyore
“Eeyore!!,”yelled jake
“Im calling,” said eeyore
“Eeyore hello,”said bill n the doctor guy
“hi bill my friend got hurt and we need you bill n the doctor guy,”said eeyore
“where are you in a desert,”said bill n the doctor guy
“How do you know we are in the desert,”said eeyore
“Just a guess,”said bill n the doctor guy
“well we don't know where we are exactly,” said eeyore
“WHAT!”yelled bill n the doctor guy “I will have to get my helicopter to find you and your friend so I can help. John get the helicopter bye eeyore,”said bill
50 min later
A loud noise was coming from the sky. It was a helicopter. They found Eeyore and Jake the helicopter began to land then bill n the doctor guy came out of the helicopter. “Hey guys I new I would find you now let me take a look hmmm ok aaa I see I just need to banged it up and you good to go,”said bill
“You mean he could of still walk,”said eeyore
“Yes”said bill
“We have been in the heat for a hour and you are telling me we could have just left,”said eeyore and jake
“Yes,”said bill
“Come on jake let's go to the mountain,”eeyore said agrly
They walk and walk for hours
And then they ran into something.
Well. What? You may ask, well it is a dinosaur named Bobby Coolneck. He is a brontosaurus, he is super nice, blue with a little green, and he wears a tuxedo and top hat. But he does want something if he helps you:
BUTTER.
Eeyore then said, “my man, here is some butter.”
Jake said, “Can you get me up to the top of the mountain?”
“These are butterflies but good enough. hop on my neck and climb up to the top of my head and jump.”
“Ok thank you Bobby Cool Neck.”
Then Jake and Eeyore climbed and climbed, they got on his head and jumped.
And they landed on a point of a mountain. They then fell, Jake screamed “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Eeyore a a a a a a a a a a” but they were on something and they just thought that they were falling and then they saw the meteor maker.
Chapter 5: The Big Battle
“UHHH… WHO ARE YOU?” yelled Corduroy Jones.
“Uhhhhh… why are you yelling?” asked Jake, still confused.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN I’M YELLING? I’M NOT YELLING,” yelled Corduroy Jones. “RATATOUILLE! RATATOUILLE! WE HAVE INTRUDERS!” he actually meant to yell that part.
“Wait, what? What’s going on?” Jake was still confused. Eeyore was just crying in the corner, because he gave all of his butter away to the dinosaur. Poor Eeyore, he loves his butter.
Ratatouille came running.”Why are you calling me, Corduroy Jones?” Ratatouille yelled. “How did these guys get up here?!” Ratatouille yelled really loud. “Well don’t just stand there, ATTACK!” Ratatouille screamed. ”Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa,” he yelled, but he didn't move. Jake attacked, he defeated the skunk.
“Eeyore the snake has butter,” Jake said.
“Butter BUtter BUTTER, he has butter! YYYYYYY!” Eeyore took down the snake. “Hey there is no butter,” Eeyore went back into the corner and sobbed.
“Hey buddy, I know how to fix your problem,” Jake said sweetly. “Hey you snake and skunk, we promise we will not call the cops on you if you make my little friend butter for the rest of your lives,” Jake said.
“Fine, we will make some butter for him if you don't call the cops on us. Deal,” agreed Ratatouille.
Chapter 6: The Happy Ending
Eeyore loved his butter, but Jake didn’t. He was still happy for Eeyore, though- as Eeyore was swimming in a pool of melted butter. He was a little bit jealous that Eeyore got to have everything he wanted for the rest of his life. Butter.
Jake and Eeyore and Ratatouille and Corduroy Jones did not ever become friends. They are sworn enemies, but there is a secret that Corduroy Jones is keeping.
He LOVES making butter.
