Geeks out of the Box

This is a blog about Simon, a young mathematician and programmer, and his little sister Neva. We write this blog together, share their projects and thoughts on their journey towards self-dicovery. They’re growing up in a supportive non-coercive learning environment. We deeply believe in interest-based, self-paced education and have had to move countries to make this possible as a family. Visit Simon’s website at https://simontiger.com/ We are a family from Amsterdam who moved to Antwerp because homeschooling is illegal in The Netherlands. This blog started as https://antwerpenhomeschooling.wordpress.com in March 2016. Over the years, most of our entries have gravitated towards exploring together with Simon as he has developed an insatiable passion for programming, math and science. His sister Neva is treading on his heals. We changed or name to Geeks of the Box in May 2021.

By Geeks out of the Box October 21, 2018

Inertial Reference Frames

Simon is greatly impressed by the fact that if the Charge-Parity-Time (CPT) Symmetry doesn’t hold, the whole special relativity theory would have to be reconsidered. Does general relativity rely on … Continue reading Inertial Reference Frames

By Geeks out of the Box October 19, 2018October 19, 2018

Map of the piano chords

During his piano lessons, Simon has been working on a diagram that would map all the possible chords on the piano. I gave him a huge roll of paper to … Continue reading Map of the piano chords

By Geeks out of the Box October 19, 2018

Simon explaining Interstellar

Simon didn’t want to watch Interstellar (he generally dislikes fiction and often finds it too scary as well), but somehow he did get sucked into the story after his sister … Continue reading Simon explaining Interstellar

By Geeks out of the Box October 19, 2018January 29, 2019

The Senses: Simulating Taste and Smell

You need 24 bits (3 bytes) to simulate color. That’s 24 ones and zeros. How many bits are necessary to simulate taste? Or smell? Correction: You would need 584 bits … Continue reading The Senses: Simulating Taste and Smell

By Geeks out of the Box October 19, 2018

The Senses: What color is the dress?

A couple of years ago this dress went viral on the internet as some people argued it was blue and black and others saw white and golden. To this day … Continue reading The Senses: What color is the dress?

By Geeks out of the Box October 16, 2018October 18, 2018

Serious questions

“Mom, photons violate E = mc² and gluons violate E = mc²!” – Simon shouts, but what about the w and z bosons? He writes down the masses of the w … Continue reading Serious questions

By Geeks out of the Box October 16, 2018November 1, 2018

Physics Experiments: Slime for Science

We had such a genuinely rewarding homeschooling experience yesterday when we took up Physics Girl’s challenge to recreate the Weissenberg effect – a phenomenon that occurs when a spinning rod … Continue reading Physics Experiments: Slime for Science

By Geeks out of the Box October 14, 2018October 15, 2018

Physics Experiments: Simon builds a Periscope

How does a periscope work? How does light travel through a periscope? How can you make a periscope yourself? Simon answers these questions in the video: Also tried to trace … Continue reading Physics Experiments: Simon builds a Periscope

By Geeks out of the Box October 14, 2018November 1, 2018

Chemistry Experiments: Colors (surface active agents and pH indicator)

Our new MEL Chemistry box arrived, containing tons of color fun! We have already tried two experiments. In the Color changing milk experiment, the soap touches the milk creating a very thin … Continue reading Chemistry Experiments: Colors (surface active agents and pH indicator)

By Geeks out of the Box October 14, 2018October 15, 2018

Author: Geeks out of the Box