Everyone Homeschools Blog - Science

Don't You Want to Be a HAM?

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 22:08:00 -0400

No, I'm not talking about dressing up like a cooked pig. And I'm not talking about being the life of a party, as in hamming it up. I'm talking about Amateur Radio, of course! HAM is another name for Amateur Radio operators and my husband has been a HAM since he was 11. Yup, you read that right. He has been encouraging me for years, even while we dated, to become a HAM too. Amateur Radio is a form of communication that has been around for over 100 years. In order to use the radio bands dedicated to Amateur Radio you must take a test, pass it, and get a license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Amateur Radio is a hobby that can be used to help people in times of crisis and emergency, such as Hurricane Katrina. In fact, a local HAM where we live helped save some stranded people from Hurricane Katrina. She did this while in her home in the north AND while being blind. During Sept. 11 when all the cellphones became inoperable, HAMS were able to provide communications. Amateur Radio can also be used to pass messages, teach about the science of electronics, help in the community, prepare for emergencies, and for plain old talking. Off and on for 10 years, I struggled with some of the aspects of electronics and, while I thought Amateur Radio was interesting, I figured in case of an emergency I had my husband to bail us out. BUTwhen my husband decided to teach a HAM radio class, I realized this whole HAM thing was going to come to a head! We decided that our daughter, at age 8, might be a little too young for his class and that he would teach her one-on-one. Soon, we heard of a fellow homeschooler in our group who got his Amateur Radio license when he was just 6! Yes, you read THAT correctly. I thought my husband was brilliant at age 11 but now I was staring at a 6 year-old each week that had his license. There is nothing like a 4' reality check to make you realize that if a 6 year-old could get his license then either this whole licensing by the FCC could not possibly be that hard or I really was seriously electronically challenged. And so my daughter and I became HAM radio students together. What an experience! My husband would teach something and I would harken back to my school days and insist that I needed to know and understand every single part of what he was explaining immediately, even if the explanation was in the coming paragraphs. Meanwhile, my daughter would patiently watch as I tried to get the concepts. After awhile my excessive questions become irritating to her because she wanted to move forward and not keep repeating the same things for my benefit. Our local HAM radio club teaches a Technician class (a type of FCC Amateur Radio license which was our goal) and we decided it might be best for us to take this three-week class. So, we went and in between classes we studied. We made flash cards and my daughter and I would quiz each other. For three weeks, I learned more about amps, ohms, currents, voltage, antennae, etc. than I ever cared to know in my life. I made my husband swear that if we got our license we would HAVE to use it and not just for emergencies. I figured if we used it for different HAM events, contests or public service activities then we wouldn't lose what we learned. Soon, the test day arrived. We came with our pencils and other required documents and took our test. Needless to say, we both passed our test and got our license. I'm KB1NQN and our daughter is KB1NQO, simply because of the order they graded our tests. Within a couple days of our daughter getting her license she marched in the Memorial Day Parade with her Brownie troop. She took her HAM radio and checked in with us several times along the parade route. She enjoyed her independence and I enjoyed being able to check in on her all while relaxing along the parade route. While this was a great opportunity to learn about electronics, it was a good learning experience for all of us. We worked together as a family to learn about a hobby that we could all participate in while becoming prepared should an emergency occur. Since we got our licenses we have participated in many different activities. I would encourage you to get your HAM license. To learn more about Amateur Radio and clubs near you visit the American Amateur Radio Relay League at http:www.arrl.org/. Who knows when you might be in the middle of an emergency and you could be the one that makes a lifesaving contact?

Garlic: All Colors, Sizes and Uses

Sat, 07 Oct 2006 13:16:00 -0400

Garlic shots, garlic marinated beef on a stick, garlic bread knots, garlic chocolate chip chocolate cookies, garlic mushrooms, garlic jelly, garlic oils, garlic dips, garlic chocolate candy bars, garlic burgers, garlic ice cream, garlic popcorn and the delectable garlic dipped in chocolate fondue. So, did you figure out what they all have in common? Well, yes you are correct, they are all food items, one of my favorite things to experiment with, but that is not what I am referring to. Have you figured it out? If you said, GARLIC then you would be on to something. Recently, we attended the annual Hudson Valley Garlic Festival in Saugerties, NY and we tried everything just mentioned! We first heard about this festival from some family that lives in the area. So, we decided that we had to investigate this festival dedicated to garlic. Now, I am sure if you are unfamiliar with this website/blog you may be asking yourself what does a garlic festival have to do with homeschooling? Well, besides the experimenting with many different items made with garlic we learned that there are many different types of garlic. Seriously, until you have tried the white German, red German, red Italian, and French garlic, among others, you have not experimented or explored garlic. Science could easily be incorporated in this learning opportunity and we did include some science in this opportunity. Of course, one could learn about the economic impact of such an event on a community. By exploring and researching the event, one could learn how the money is used in the community, how the event came about, who contributes to the event and so on. Then there is the fact that while experimenting with all the food one could learn how to be daring by having a positive attitude and approaching the whole experience as an adventure. While at the garlic festival we had a couple other opportunities to experiment with other foods, venison and alligator gumbo. While our daughter is generally daring with a positive attitude, the venison and alligator somewhat taxed her patience with experimenting. Although, I must say, she did enjoy telling all her friends how she had eaten alligator the next day and seeing their face! While all of those are great things one could learn from going to a garlic festival, the thing we all took away from the event was just how creative and daring the individuals were who developed some of the garlic uses. After all, can you imagine being the one to come up with the idea to stick garlic in a perfectly good chocolate bar? I mean honestly, what did the friends of this person say? What would your spouse say if you said you came up with a new dessert, garlic cloves dipped in chocolate fondue? Could you keep a straight face if your friend said they had just made some garlic ice cream to add to their pie? Yet someone came up with each of those ideas. Even if the recipes were passed on from generation to generation, there was someone who was willing to experiment, possibly be laughed at or ridiculed, make mistakes and then try again. Those are amazing lessons and after all isn't that what learning is all about? While we have all heard of many people who were willing to fail and try again, the garlic festival offers a unique perspective on this lesson. So, the next time you are afraid to shake things up, try something different, or make a mistake reconsider and remember the garlic festival. To learn more about the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival visit: http://www.hvgf.org/

Beans, beans and more beans

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 13:00:00 -0400

Kids love beans. Uncooked that is! Younger children love playing with them because of the sounds they make, their color and the way they feel. This is a great way for developing gross motor skills, manipulation and creativity. When our daughter was younger she was thrilled whenever I would give her a pot of uncooked beans, a spoon, plastic measuring cup, and a couple bowls or pots. She would spend a good half hour just scooping and pouring them between the pots. They have been included in her pretend restaurant. For less than a few dollars, beans are a great tool in learning, especially when they are purchased in bulk. They can of course be used for creativity as in imagining the child is cooking but take a moment and think of other uses for this protein? For younger children they can scoop beans from one pot to a bowl and develop their gross motor skills. As they get older and use a spoon they can develop their hand-eye coordination. If they are given a decent size funnel they can even practice using both of their hands to scoop and hold a funnel. Pictures can be created used different beans and colors for a collage. The beans can be used as an impetus for hearing the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. As the children get older they can be used as a math manipulative for counting, sorting, and doing math. Beans can easily be measured by weight. And different colored beans can be used to create a graph. Different beans can be incorporated into a lesson on different forms of protein. They can be used for home economics by the children when they learn how to cook beans, incorporate them in different recipes and so on. They could even create a bean cookbook with their own recipes, which would then incorporate writing, math and creativity. For older children, beans can be used as an aid in teaching about different food lifestyles such as vegetarians. They can also be used to learn about different cultures that utilize beans in their diet such as Mexico. There is, of course, the science experiment with growing beans and identifying their parts. Children can learn about the process of picking beans and the countries where different beans grow as part of social studies. As with the lowly cardboard box, don't discount the creative and learning opportunities that are presented by such a simple food, the bean. If you have other ideas of how beans can be incorporated into learning please comment below.

Dog Science

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 23:00:00 -0400

Officially, they are Rocky Balboa from the movie Rocky, Julius Ceaser as in the Roman Emperor and Teddy Roosevelt as in our 26th U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. Unofficially, it's Rocky, Julius and Teddy and they are our dogs the subjects of a most interesting scientific experiment perpetrated by our daughter this summer. Rocky is a Black Lab/Sheltie mix. I know we've heard it all before. "A Sheltie and Lab mix? Isn't there a size difference there?" Yes, it would appear so. Julius thinks he is the king of the house. Think the Taco Bell Chihuahua meets the most finicky cat you have ever met. He loves to sun himself outside or in a sunroom. Then there is Teddy. What can you say about Teddy. He is a Pomeranian who is far too cute and very, very, very rambunctious. (He just recently turned one and is always bouncing.) The running joke is that Rocky is smart and wise, while Julius. Geez, what can you say about Julius. His is finicky and well, he isn't the brightest bulb in the bunch but he is affectionate and very protective. Teddy on the other hand has simple goals; live life to the fullest, play until he is exhausted, investigate everything and pick on Rocky and Julius just for fun. One day recently, our daughter kept trying to corral one dog at a time into the sunroom. She would shut the door talk with them for about 5 minutes, open the door, release the dog and go in search of the next one. Shortly thereafter she proudly showed me a chart that she had created. Apparently, in what some might call "boredom" she decided to test their intelligence and speed. She covered each dog with a blanket and offered a treat outside to see who would get out the fastest. (Julius lost that one miserably since he loves blankets and heat.) She also put a treat under the blanket to see which one would get it out first. She put a treat under a bowl to see which one would figure out how to get to the treat first and then did one other test. She measured their time in seconds, recorded the results, totaled their times and declared that Teddy was the fastest and smartest of the three of them. Rocky came in second and well, no surprise, Julius came in last. Her results confirmed what we all had long suspected. She enjoyed showing her Dad the chart over dinner and explaining each of the results and how she had to coax Julius out. This dog science which was instigated by her was creative, a good opportunity to practice math, formulate a hypothesis, test it, and present her results. She got to work with the dogs and learn that each dog had different abilities and interests, even when food was involved. It was fun to see her develop her own experiment based on her curiosity while she learned about the different breeds of dogs and how they respond. Sometimes "boredom" allows the mind to wander and figure out the answer to, "I wonder what would happen if.?" Thank goodness she had the time to experiment and explore. Some of the most amazing discoveries in the world have happened when someone not only asked questions but had the time to figure out the answers!