A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

child-led learning

The Lad’s Research: The CN Tower

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The construction of the CN Tower (Canadian national tower)  was finished in 1975 and held the world record for tallest freestanding structure until 2010, But it is still the tallest freestanding tower in the western hemisphere, The tallest tower and 6th tallest freestanding structure world wide, It is 1,815.3 feet tall and over 2,000,000 people visit it each year, It  is one of the modern wonders of the world. It has a sky pod where visitors can stand on a glass sheet that is 348  meters above the ground, The 2.5 inch thick glass can hold the equivalent weight of 36 moose, From the skypod you can see 100 miles  on a clear day. The CN tower is almost completely vertical it is off by 1.1 inches.

It is able the withstand a earthquake of of 8.5 of the richter scale and winds of 270 miles per hour, Though they don’t get many earthquakes there. There is a restaurant in the CN tower that rotates, It takes 72 minuets to rotate completely. The last piece of the tower has put in place on April 2 1975, They used a helicopter with a crane to put it on, In the process the helicopter got caught on the tower with only 30 minuets of fuel left, Workers were able to free it and it safely landed with 17 minutes of fuel left in its tank.

You can learn more by going here. 

End of the lad’s report.   I added this video.   

STEM: The Making of a Sword

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What does cardboard, duct tape, a dowel and a ball of yarn have to do with each other?

It’s a weapon for an 11 year old boy that’s what it is.   My son has been making or using swords for a very long time.   As he gets older they are getting more elaborate with better details.  He has a weapons book that is frequently a source of inspiration.

Take one dowel, add some cardboard and wrap it with yarn.  Judicious use of duct tape is must.

Make sure you craft your cardboard carefully so you can make a good hilt.  Protecting one’s hand while swinging a sword is vitally important.   A good grip equally so.

Take time to form your foam to make your sword blade.  Think enough to provide cushioning, thing enough to not look horrible. 

Safety is very important…no accidental injuries needed.

After applying the foam to either side of the dowel there was a space in either side that just didn’t look right.  Here is where some thin foam came into play.

And of course, no sword is complete without the knight to go with it eh?

He used to have boots and leg protectors but they just proved a pain to deal with so he discarded them.  His shield can take quite a beating. His gauntlets provide a good range of motion and give him more protection then you’d think.  

The sword, unless swung with determined force, doesn’t hurt when it hits, but is long enough that we need to be mindful of lamps, candles and overhead lights.  🙂  I’m looking forward to the spring when I can use my scimitar the lad is going to make me, against the lad’s sword.  🙂

The Lad is getting practical experience in how difficult it would be for students of the knightly arts to control what their sword was doing.    He’s built a sheath for it (needs a bit of fine tuning so no pictures allowed).

I love how my lad will spend hours creating, changing, adding, and learning about the armour and weapons of old.   Doing STEM and not even realizing it.   AND it works and works well.  He’s due for a refit of his chest-plate etc and he’s gone through a growth spurt and is finding it just a tad bit tight now….  

So tell me… would you want to face this young warrior in battle?? 

If my son has peaked your interest, some books that might appeal.  Affiliate links used to help my family without cost to you.
 

Lab Report: Icebergs Melt At Different Rates in Salt and Fresh Water

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My son is learning to make a lab report, so I’m transcribing his report for him as I’m proud of the effort he put into this.  This came up as part of studies on Canada.

Hypothesis: Icebergs will melt faster in freshwater than in salt water.

Procedure: Get two bowls.   Make one bowl saltwater like the ocean 3.5% salt needed.   Have the other bowl be fresh water.  Let the bowls sit so they are same temperature.   Freeze two cups of water in two identical cups.   Take them out of the cups when they are completely frozen.  Use cold water to get them out of the cups.   Weigh them.   Put them in their bowls.  Then weigh them 30 minutes later, Then 15 minutes later.

 I noticed at 30 minutes that the fresh water one had melted the
most.   At 15 minutes I did it again and noticed the same thing.  

Observations: take the icebergs out of the water and weigh them.  They will be slippery and cold plus you don’t want the heat of your hands changing the results so wear gloves.   Put them back in the water as soon as you weigh them.

Conclusion: Because the fresh water one melted the most I proved my idea correct.  Fresh water will melt icebergs faster than the saltwater probably because of the salt in the water.

Other questions raised:

I noticed that both Filli and Killi were left with their heads frozen in the ice and wondered why their heads thawed out last.

Exploring the World Starting with Canada.

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Week Four of the Virtual Curriculum Fair which is hosted by Susan.  This week is all about exploring the world, history, geography, and science.

This year we are making a focus of using Canada to study
geography, art and history.

We have a spine that we are using for the history portion, and around it we are doing art, watching videos, reading books, and learning geographic terms for the various sites we see along the way.   Science in learning about animals, rocks, minerals etc (like the beaver we’ll be studying this coming Tuesday).

I still have a goal of traveling across Canada with him, going east one year and then west the next. But until we can do that… we’ll visit our fine country through books, video and study.

How about you?   What do you want to see with your children?

To that end I have found some excellent resources for broadening our study on Canada.

Mrs. Nelson’s Study on Canada.   Make a tour guide and vacation your way through Canada.  🙂

About Education will walk you through how to do a unit study on Canada.

ABC Teach has a variety of free and pay worksheets for learning about Canada.

The Eric Institute of Education Services is a government site that is searchable for documents related to a wide variety of information.  I found a ton of documents on First Nations people.

EdHelper.com has small unit studies on six of the Canadian Provinces.

I am looking forward to showing him the beauty of Canada’s National Parks.

Link to Learning helps grade six students understand more about Canada’s Trading Partners.

If you haven’t discovered it yet, the Canadian Geographic Resource Centre is a really great resource.

I’ll be using these Interesting Courses from SchoolhouseTeachers as well.

You might find some help here about understanding the Canadian Electoral System.

If you come to visit you might see some of the amazing animals that call Canada home.

And if you want to see more of Ontario, Check out the field trips we have gone on.  HERE and HERE.   It’s good to learn about Canada in a variety of ways you know?  🙂

Let’s keep the history, science and geography alive with our children eh?  

Please visit my fellow homeschool bloggers who are talking about Exploring Our World this week:

Note: all links will be LIVE by Monday 1/23 at noon EST.
Notebooking Our Way through History by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
Studying the Where and How by Michele@Family, Faith and Fridays
The History of Our Mysterious Struggle With History by Laura @ Four Little Penguins
Social Science, Science and Exploring our World – Our Path by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
Learning History Through Fiction by Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset

History in Our Homeschool by Amanda H @ Hopkins Homeschool
Exploring Our World Through History And Science by Laura @ Day by Day in Our World

Bringing History to Life! by Yvie @ Gypsy Road
History, Living Books and the Imagination by Sarah @ Delivering Grace
Exploring our world comes in many different forms. by Kim @ Good Sweet Love
Bible, History and Geography by Lizzy @ Peaches At Home
Beyond the Books – Social Studies and Science by Shecki @ Greatly Blessed
Exploring the World with Living Books by Brittney @ Mom’s Heart
High School History & Science without Textbooks by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
Exploring the World Starting with Canada by Annette @ A Net in Time
Visit The World Through Video by Lori H @ At Home: where life happens
Nature Study is Our Favorite Way to Do Science by HillaryM @ Walking Fruitfully
What A Wonderful World by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
The Time we got Lost in the Woods by Dana Hanley @ Roscommon Acres