Day 11 / 103 - 15 Feet !!

Dorothy Sayers ends her Lost Tools of Learning speech with this quote, "For the sole true end of education is simply this: to teach men how to learn for themselves..."

Last week, while we were visiting my parents in Michigan, my children were watching a television show on sharks.  The next thing I know they had the measuring tape stretched across our cottage.

"What's up?" I asked.

My son explained, "A fifteen-foot shark broke into a steel cage.  We wanted to see how big a 15 foot shark was, so we got out the tape measure to figure it out."

I love this post for two reasons:
1.  My children took the initiative to learn on their own.
2.  My nine-year-old daughter packs a tape measure when she goes on vacation.

Day 10 / 103 - First Day of Classical Conversations

Today we began our Classical Conversations school year.  What's exciting to us is that we're part of a new community right here in Beckley.  Last year we were commuting an hour to the closest CC campus.  We're thrilled to now be hosted by a church that's right down the road.  This marks our third community in four years, but honestly not much changes between campuses.  Communities exist to complement our home education and connect us with like-minded families.  We are surrounded with others who equip both parents and students with the classical tools of learning.

My children, again, are participating in both the Foundations and Essentials programs, but I have taken on a new role.  I'm tutoring our Essentials class (the afternoon Language Arts and Math session) where I will be helping upper elementary students master the essentials of English grammar, writing, and mathematical skills.  I'm super excited !!

Day 9 / 103 - American Girl Gymnastics

I do think one of the best things that has come from my daughter's interest in the American Girl dolls is her desire and ability to create additional items for her collection of dolls.  Recently, she constructed an entire gymnastics studio.

 

Several weeks ago she saw a picture of an uneven bars set for 18" dolls.  She decided she wanted to make her own.  She found directions somewhere on the internet.  She made a shopping list where she wrote down the exact measurements of PVC pipe needed.  She had her father take her to Lowe's to purchase the supplies.  She assembled the bars and spray painted them blue (her favorite color).  After constructing the bars, she decided she needed a few extras to go along with her gym.  She made a balance beam (out of a piece of wood covered with duct tape), a vault (out of craft foam and duct tape), and several practice mats.

Aside from one parent driving her to Lowe's to purchase the supplies, the rest of this project was done completely independently.  I can't wait to see what she'll be able to create once she can drive and has her own paycheck.

Day 8 / 103 - 3rd Dan

There is a popular saying in the martial arts world that states:  A Black Belt is just a White Belt that never quit (or never gave up). 

On Saturday, our son tested for his Third Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo.  To achieve this rank, and be eligible for his test, he needed to be practicing martial arts consistently for a minimum of six years.  He needed to demonstrate to the judges that he was ready for this rank by his skills in traditional Taekwondo forms, Olympic style sparring techniques, and board breaking.  His test was rigorous, but by the end of his exam he displayed his competency and understanding with Taekwondo concepts and the ability to use them.  His new rank does not indicate that he is an expert in the sport or mark the end of his training.  It does, however, begin his journey to advanced learning.  This excites and encourages him.

For fun, I pulled up a picture of one of his first ever belt tests!

Day 7 / 103 - Silver Lake and Sand Dunes

The kids and I had one last hiatus before most of our activities restart.  We just returned from Silver Lake, Michigan, where we spent a week with my parents enjoying lakeside fun and beauty.

Day 6 / 103 - Automotive Technology 101

The children assisted my husband in some auto repairs last week.  Here's a summary:

We worked on changing the motor mount. On some cars this can be major surgery, but thankfully on ours it was a much simpler job. We removed the front wheel and put the car up on jackstands, and then used the jack to take the weight of the engine so we could disconnect the old mount. We talked about the safety of having a car weighted on stands rather than letting the jack bear the weight - I have seen a jack fail, and it is frightening. Then we disconnected the press-fitted splash guards around the wheel well to gain access to the mounting bolts, and removed the bolts. After that, the mount pulled right out.

 

We reset the new mount and installed the new bolts, after coating the threads with a compound to keep them from rusting. The kids looked up the bolt torque specifications in the repair manual, set the torque wrench to the proper setting, and tighened the new bolts. They double checked the torque, and the new mount was in place.

 

We reset the splash guards, lowered the jack supporting the engine, reinstalled the wheel, finger tightened the wheel lugs, jacked the car up off the stand, and lowered the car to the ground. The kids then looked up the torque specifications for the wheel lugs and tightened accordingly. I showed them how to use a cross-hatch pattern to tighen wheel lugs in order to seat the wheel evenly.

 

Some things we learned about:

- reading a repair manual

- thread conditioning

- torque (rotational force)

- how to set a torque wrench

- proper tool usage

- jack safety

- how to remove press fittings

- cross-tightening when changing a tire

Day 5 / 103 - Let's Draw!

Early last week my children came across this channel on youTube.  There, they located countless instructional art videos uploaded by an elementary art teacher.  They spent the majority of that day, and the days that followed, drawing.  What is superb about her approach is that she uses basic shape descriptions to draw objects (draw a circle here, draw an angled line here, etc).  It is very similar to a Fine Arts drawing component that we utilize at Classical Conversations.  Since we are gearing up to start class in a few short weeks, it was a great way for them to being revisiting the component to see what they remembered.