Choclo Wants You to Know

That he made this himself, and he's a genius.

So, now you know!

Rockets!

 We've finally finished our laws of motion rockets and built "real" model rockets to launch at NASA Goddard!

Here they are on the launch pad from left to right: Choclo's, Mxyl's, Klenda's, Oob's, Zorg's, and Leena's.

We had used a bulk kit of 12 Astra IIIs, and, yes, we made all of them (although some were for other kids in the class).  Our family did seven of them because Choclo made one for the Emperor as a birthday present.

 I chose this kit because it had a pre-molded fin assembly - much easier than working with balsa wood, exact-o knives, and small children!

It was quite easy to build, and the fins were beautifully straight.  In fact, the rockets really came out beautifully, except....

The pre-molded launch lugs were too small for the rails.  In the top picture, you can see that each rocket is strung on to a metal rod or "rail."  This is important because the rails guide the rocket straight up .  Every model rocket has a "launch lug" which is the part of the rocket that rail goes through. 

What you are actually seeing in this picture is the pros (the one in the hat is the launch officer and our first cousin, once removed) trying to get the launch lugs to stretch out enough so that the rockets will move smoothly on the rails.

After all the building, it is incredibly frustrating to have the rocket not work correctly because of a problem  that came from the factory!

They actually worked our rockets enough that they were able to launch, but, of the other kids in the class, only one was able to launch.

Still, it's an ill wind that blows no good.  The friction on the rails reduced the altitude of the rockets, but then, since they didn't go as far, we had a much better recovery rate.  We retrieved 6 of the 7, and we usually only get half of them back....

We plan to enlarge the holes on the launch lugs and try again next month!

Spark Labs

  This week we went to Spark Labs at the Museum of American History.

If you live in the area, I highly and quickly recommend it! 

Highly because it is an amazingly fun science and invention lab, quickly because it is closing on October 6th.  They are redoing that section of the museum, and they won't reopen for three years...

Here we have Choclo and Leena working with snap circuits.

 Here are Oob and Klenda constructing/inventing an answer to some kind of farming problem.

 Here is Zorg making a musical marble run.  He's figured out how to propel the marble up vertical spaces.

 Here is Mxyl, creating a new kind of car from lego parts.

Some of the kids spent 1 1/2 hours here.  After an hour, however, I took the younger Zoomlians through the Transportation exhibit. 

I wasn't planning on doing this museum until later, but I really wanted to catch the Spark Lab exhibit, and I'm super glad we did!

Naturally, on the way out, we had to pose with this fellow...

Happy Birthday, Emperor!

 Happy Really Big Birthday!

The Emperor had pear upside down cake, a bunch of new (old) comic books, concert tickets, a new CD, and a day off for his birthday!

And if that wasn't enough, he also went bowling!!!

It turns out that bowling with a large family works out to be fairly cheap entertainment.  Aside from the cost of the shoes, a single game with seven people (some of whom wander about) takes at least two hours.

In case you're wondering, the Emperor won... by a lot!

Happy birthday, sweetheart!

Sharing from Zoom

Oob (indignantly): Choclo won't share!

Me (wisely): Were you GRABBING and TAKING his stuff?

Oob (surprised I had to ask): YES!  I tried to MAKE him share.

And if that is not edifying enough, and it's not, try this delightful non sequiter:


I found it in a round a bout way from my new favorite internet time vacuum: The Kid Should See This.  If you haven't seen it, you should!

But He's Feeling Muuuch Better Now

I continue to be amazed at how quickly sprains heal in kids.

Mxyl sprained his wrist Monday evening, wore a splint Tuesday and Wednesday, an Ace bandage Thursday and a wrist brace today.

Me: How does it feel?

Mxyl: Pretty good.  Glad I didn't get the hook.

This means he will be going camping tonight with Zorg.  This will be Zorg's first camping trip as a Boy Scout, so, naturally, it's raining.  A lot.

Have fun boys!!!

UPDATE:  The campsite is currently flooded, so the boys can't come.  "A shame," Mxyl says.  "I still insist on packing up some swim trunks and going swimming."

Udvar Hazy

 This week we went to the Udvar Hazy Air and Space Annex!

We only visit once every few years because it's a bit of a haul for us (and they have a pesky $15 parking fee).  But it's SO cool!

This was a great visit for us because we've started the 60s and are knee deep in the Space Race, the Cold War and the Vietnam War.

Indeed we did see plenty of space stuff (OK, the Enterprise is from the 80s, but it was named after the ship in the 60s TV series!), and we saw plenty of Soviet MiGs, and American Hueys.

 The big excitement, however, was the WWII planes - a wide selection of Zeros, Messerschmidts, Hurricanes, and so forth (plus great American planes).

The most interesting, of course, was the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb. 

On this level (there are three levels you can see planes from), you could look right in the cockpit and it looked like the crew had just left.

To give you an idea of how large the Annex is, the Enola Gay, a B-27 "Flying Super Fortress," takes up less than half it's width.

Here's a shot Mxyl took from the upper level.

The other big draw is their SR 71 Blackbird, an amazing machine in any age.  We finally found out why it has a skunk painted on it!

This is the view when you first enter the museum.  If you look closely, you can see the Enterprise in the back ground.

A Litte Too Much Pirateness

Shortly before dinner yesterday, Mxyl went for a bike ride, gave it the old heave ho, and ended up spraining his wrist.  It being International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and all, he decided just to amputate it and go for a hook!

But the emergency room personnel were very busy, so they just splinted it, made us wait an extra 3 1/2 hours (they are contractually obligated to make the visit last four hours), and sent us home.

On the plus side, it was his left wrist, leaving him free to create a new header in photoshop and redesign the blog! (Encouraging comments welcome!)

Pirate Update

 We had a preposterously piratical day!

Me hearties dressed for the part.  Instead of newspaper hats, I took 2 pieces of black construction paper and cut them into the pirate hat shape (rectangle with a bump) and then stapled the ends together.  It's actually open at the top, like a crown, but I thought they looked better than the newspaper hats.  The skull and crossbones were cut freehand from white paper and glue sticked on.

The pistols we just had lying around (I think from a costume party before we had kids...).

The kids did piratical paper packets (everything from alphabetizing pirate words to treasure themed mazes) adjusted to their ages. We went heavy on fmap skills

Then they made their own pirate flags (after looking up the meaning of the symbols and colors).  We also did the pirate web adventure, determined our pirate names, and listened to sea shanties.

Then it was on to the main event!

This time around, I didn't do a clue by clue hunt, but  instead did a treasure map.

They started on top of the mountain (upstairs), trekked through an alligator infested swamp (the boys bathroom), and you see them here making their way through a thick forest.



Then they went into a spooky cave with only a single torch to light their way...

The treasure was in the innermost cavern, marked with an X!

Gold, silver, chocolate, and jewels for everyone!!!

At the moment, we are finishing up by watching Pirates of Penzance.

I'll leave you with a sea shanty.  As you may know, there are different kinds of shanties depending on the kind of work they were sung to.  Different jobs used different rhythms.  This is a capstan shanty, used to keep everyone together while turning the capstan (the large horizontal wheel which raises the anchor) :

Avast, Matey!

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day!

This year, I planned ahead (meaning, thought about it the day before) and so have a great list of resources for you!

This was my favorite site: Talk Like a Pirate Wiki, put together by New Zealand teachers.  Don't miss their pirate vocabulary list! Kiwis, I salute you!

This is a great math pirate adventure.

This is a fun piratey web adventure with lots of extra fun information.

And here are tons of fun lesson plans and teaching ideas - don't miss the one submitted by a home school captain (halfway down).

We will also be making our own pirate flags, going on a treasure hunt, and maybe doing a bit of orienteering or compass navigation. Oh, I suppose, we'll make pirate newspaper hats, too.

And we may yet squeeze in a viewing of Pirates of Penzance!