Homeschooling

Friday, 28 February 2020

Weekly Wrap Up 2/28/2020 -- College visits

We visited 2 colleges over the past several weeks.  First we went to the STEM night at the local community college for MarioFan.  He has expressed interest in computers and/or electrical engineering. 

There was a robotics team there, I have tried to find one that is local and allows homeschoolers but haven't had any luck.  I will keep looking though as MarioFan loves it

EMT's were there and this is a new to me CPR machine that is now used

Learning about how the Missouri River is cleaned for people to drink

Lots of slides in the biology department to look at

We spent alot of time with the engineering professor and seeing all their projects and getting some ideas for projects that MarioFan can work on at home.


Lots of science anatomy models



Something MarioFan is working on at home with his Biology textbook


Model of a virus

Lots of evolution items and skulls showing the progression of mankind

Lots of experiments to be done.  Looking at PH levels

Chromatography


MarioFan never gets tried of doing science experiments, even one we have done a million times at home:)

Lecture on Dinosaurs.

There was lots to do that evening and MarioFan got to see the Community college that Firedrake goes too.  We are hoping MarioFan can take classes there his senior year as well:)

Next we took a trip to Truman State University, where Firedrake was accepted for early admission for the 2020-2021 year! 

We met the school Mascot-- the Bull dog, also heard from the college president and there were several student panels that we sat in on.

Boys choir for entertainment

We went to several departments to ask questions and Firedrake sat in on two classes to observe what it would be like.  We also toured the dorms and had lunch in one of the many cafeteria's on campus. 

It was a full day and we were exhausted by the end of the day.  Firedrake is still pretty happy with her decision about attending.
It is great to see her enthusiasm for college although occasionally she admits she is nervous too.  All part of growing up.  I am a mess just thinking about her going off to college on her own, sniff sniff.


Friday, 14 February 2020

Weekly wrap Up 2/14/2020-- DaVinci exhibit and Raspberry Pi Jam

There was a special exhibit at the science center and since we studied DaVinci a couple of years ago we decided to go visit and see what it was about.  Everything in this exhibit are replica's from drawings from Da Vinci books of Codice

There were 7 books of Codices each book focus on a different area

Codice Atlanticus-- Primarily about Mathematics
Codice Manuscript of France-- the main feature of this codice is that it is written in Leonardo's unique style of which he is famous - writing backwards from left to right 
Madrid codice I and II -- information on mechanics and geometry
Codice from the flight of birds--study of flight
Codice of Windsor-- anatomy, landscapes, horses, animals, figures and profiles
Codice of Leicester-- astronomy, properties of water, rocks fossils and the light of the moon

 Da Vinci had many drawings and ideas for flight and how wings should be formed based on his study of birds and bats wings.

his idea for a glider


Ball bearings were first used during Roman times but with many of Leonard's ideas he improved on the concept.  His improvements uses balls, rollers and a lubricating oil to reduce friction.  It is based on his ideas on today's ball bearings that are found in engines, kitchen appliances and many other machines.

The crank using a small toothed wheel to prevent back ward motion.

He is credited with the invention of the rolling mill.  this mill was often used to create sheets of soft malleable metals such as lead gold and tin.

The fly wheel  became a fundamental part of Watt's steam engine

while experimenting with pulley Leonardo discovered it was possible to diminish the effort required to lift heavy loads using several pulleys.  Still used to this day

Chain crank -- which he devised to be more efficient for moving heavy loads

Archimedean screw -- Leonardo worked to improve this concept but eventually stopped feeling that his concepts were unachievable.  Today, screw just like Leonardo's are used for tasks such as reclaiming waterlogged land in the Netherlands.

an idea for life preserver -- which he envisioned as a leather bag filled with air

Diving suit and breathing equipment for underwater

his idea for a paddle boat

the kids and I built on of these during our unit on Da Vinci and moveable temporary bridge

Room of mirrors which allowed him to study the human form in poses.  Leonardo was the first to discover that the human eye actually captures light to allow vision

We had to try it :)

He also toyed with ideas for musical instruments-- this was the mechanical drum which was placed on a wheeled cart with the drum connected to a gear system that causes the side hammers to pound on the drum as the wheels of the cart turned.
He had several drawings and ideas for Revolving cranes.

Da Vinci was also known for his many ideas for war equipment

Armored tank


Fan type gun

Cannon
They also had a few replicas of his painting and talked about the Divine proportion or the golden mean or golden ratio


This was painting Da Vinci was commissioned to do and then he ran off and never finished it although he was paid for the work before hand


Over the weekend My husband too MarioFan to the Raspbery Pi Jam which was held in the city.  Since MarioFan is working on a 42 electronics and they are using this system we decided to check it out.



Learning how to solder--something we need to investigate further for his learning since he wants to go into electrical engineering

Sitting down and helping a little girl with snap circuits which is is a pro at.
He won the raffle at the event and got another Raspberry Pi and a camera, which is perfect since working with the camera is next on our curriculum so one less thing I need to buy:)