Separating Molecules into Atoms

This experiment uses electricity and baking soda to separate water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Once separated the oxygen rebonds with the copper and the water to create a new molecule, commonly refered to as Patina.

Schimpff's Confectionery Field Trip

Photo Essay by: Asia Lorraine Hamilton



This factory was established in April 11,1891. They are still making candy the exact same way that they did back in the day.

First, the candy is boiled to the hard ball stage, in a copper kettle.
Then the candy is poured onto a cooling table. A cooling table is a table that has pipes under it, in which very cold water flows, to cool the candy.
The candy master pulls the candy away from the edges after two minutes have passed.
Next, the candy master begins to fold the candy to mix in the flavors. In this case the flavor was butter-rum.
As the candy cools it gets harder.
Candy must be pulled, adding air, to make it the right texture.
Large batches, in this case twenty-five pounds, are put in a warming machine and cut into smaller sections.
These smaller sections are now placed on a brass cutting wheel.
After over 5,000 fishies are dispatched from the cutter and given a few minutes to dry, they are then lightly dropped on the table.
This breaks them into individual "Christmas" fish. These specific candy fish are call "Christmas" fish because they are only sold during winter months and because the fish is a Christian symbol.

Late afternoon of the first day back!

Everyone, except Asia, decided to do a Viking inspired art piece.

Shepherd's Pie (Asia and Sue)

After browning the meat (half lamb-half hamburger) .....
Add it to the vegetables and rue mix, add the beef stock....
Put that mix in the bottom of a cassrole dish. Then make the mashed potato-parsnip mix.
Put the potatoes and parsnips on top of the meat and veggie mix. Bake until golden on top, about 30 minutes at 350 F.
It should have a nice crunch on top when you serve it.

1 lb beef / lamb
5 oz chopped onion
3 tablespoons butter or oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 3/4 cup stock
1 teaspoon flour or cornstarch
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
thyme, salt, pepper, curry, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger
2 lb potatoes and parsnips
1 cup milk (about)
3 oz butter
1 tablespoon grated dry cheddar(optional)
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan(optional)

Cook onion in the fat until soft. Add the meat and garlic, stirring well; then raise the heat so that the meat browns. Pour off any surplus fat.

Add some of the liquid and bubble gently for 5 minutes. Sprinkle on flour or cornstarch, stir again and add the remaining liquid.

Let it bubble to a rich sauce, adding the various flavorings to taste.

Meanwhile peel, scrub, and boil the potatoes and parsnips.

Mash (leaving lots of chunks) with the milk and butter, seasoning to taste. Put the meat into a shallow dish.

Spread the mashed potato on top. Scatter the cheese over(if desired), and brown under the broiler at a moderate heat, or at the top of a hot oven.

Tastes of Italy

Asia made lasagna and garlic cheese bread.

INGREDIENTS

• 16 ounces uncooked noodles
• 1 (26 ounce) can spaghetti sauce
• 1 pound hamburger
  
• 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
• 8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
3. Blend tomato sauce and hamburger together. Spoon a little of the sauce mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Place a layer of cooked noodles over the sauce, and sprinkle a portion of the mozzarella, the cheddar and the parmesan over the noodles. Repeat layering of sauce, noodles and cheese; finish with a cheese layer.
4. Bake in preheated oven 30 to 45 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and golden.

Sue made lentils.

INGREDIENTS

2	tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1	carrot, finely chopped
2	celery ribs, finely chopped
1	white onion, finely chopped
1	leek, finely chopped
12	ounces brown lentils, soaked overnight
1	rosemary sprig
1	sprig fresh sage
2	fresh bay leaves
1 1/2	pints vegetable stock
2	teaspoons red wine vinegar
6	tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
	salt & freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Warm the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the chopped vegetables, cover and cook gently for about 5 minutes until translucent.
2. Drain the lentils and add to the vegetables. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring.
3. Tie the herbs together with string to make a bouquet garni. Add to the pan along with the vegetable stock.
4. Bring the soup to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer over a medium heat for 1 hour, until the lentils are very soft, skimming away any impurities which rise to the top.
5. Discard the bouquet garni and set aside 4 spoonfuls of lentils as garnish.
6. Purée the soup in a food processor or blender, then push through a fine sieve. Pour it back into the pan, add the vinegar and season to taste. Bring back to the boil.
7. In a separate pan, gently warm the reserved lentils. Stir in the parsley, then spoon the mixture into the centre of individual soup plates.
8. Pour the soup round the edge and drizzle with olive oil.

Growing the Resource Center

I have been reading a blog lately called How to Change the World, A Practical blog for impractical people, by Guy Kawasaki. He just posted this summary he wrote about the book by Lois Kelly. I used his examples as a writing exercise because so far word of mouth is the only advertising we have used for our business. I am looking into others, but this was a great exercise for me.

“Lois Kelly is the author of Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing. This is her explanation of the top nine types of stories that people like to talk about. If you’re pitching your company to investors, customers, partners, journalists, vendors, or employees and you don’t use at least one of these types of stories, you probably have a problem.”

Aspirations and beliefs. We believe all young people are capable of reaching their goals. We aspirer to create an environment that encourages dreams and passions to grow. We believe that all people are part of a global community. We aspire to teach students and parents ways to enrich and care for that community, small daily choices have long term global impacts.

David vs. Goliath. In the story of David and Goliath, the young Hebrew David took on the Philistine giant Goliath and beat him. Homeschooling continues to take on Traditional Schooling, it continues to prove itself. An education based on the principles set forth in Thomas Jefferson Education continues to successfully challenge the educational conveyor belt mindset that even many home schoolers have fallen into.

Avalanche about to roll. Many students today are not equipped with an education that will see them into the new century. The material they are being taught is out of date often before the textbook is even printed. If a student isn't given the skills they need to solve problems, do research, think logically, be creative, and lead others they will be left behind.

Contrary to popular belief, mentoring is a more successful way to educate than teaching. Mentoring involves many years of dedicated work on the part of the mentor and the student. The mentor's job is to inspire, the student's job is to educate themselves.

Counterintuitive, giving students more control of their studies may seem counterintuitive. In reality a student who is interested in their studies, studies much more. A student who is given control over what they study chooses to study subjects that are relevant to their lives and interests. When given a choice between two or three classics they feel their opinions matter. They find the motivation within themselves to learn. It is that skill, the ability to learn, that will see them through life.

Challenging widely-held assumptions that say “children are buckets to be filled”, here we say “children are tiny sparks of flame waiting to be fanned”. Children are learning all the time. Are you teaching them that they are capable and in control of their destinies, or are you teaching them that they need others to validate them and lead them to the 'right' answers?

Anxieties. Are your children learning how to learn? Are they self-motivated? Do they help around the house just because they feel needed and necessary? Do they show respect to other people? Do they show kindness to those in need? These are the things we think are much more important than reading scores and math scores. Reading and math are important, but being a self-reliant, self motivated, and kind person is more important.

Personalities and personal stories. I was one of those kids who was smarter than everyone else in class, but got the worst grades. I failed more often than I succeeded. I would start every year with “this year will be different” attitude. It never was, by Thanksgiving I was failing again. Usually it was because I didn't see things the same way the teachers did. I also refused to do busy work, why do 100 of the exact same thing when I understood it after 5 times. I scored A's on all my tests, was there for most classes, passed all my quizzes, I tutored the other students, but because I didn't turn in homework I usually received averages lower than 65%. A few of my teachers fudged the scores and gave me D's just so I could pass. I wouldn't play the system. Then after avoiding it, I finally got talked into going to college by my husband and I blossomed! Teachers didn't give busy work because they left it up to us how to learn the material. They respected my different way of seeing the world, they respected an opinion that challenged theirs and they made me feel smart for the first time in my life. I was allowed to choose what I want to study! And unlike most people who continue to change majors, I kept adding majors. When I finished I ended up with degrees in Geography with concentrations in Earth Science, Ecology, and Cartography, in Fine Arts with concentrations in Photography and Design, in Humanities with concentrations in Literature, Theater and Speech.

Over the last 25 years I have been an educator of some kind. For the last 13 years I have been successfully helping home schoolers and their parents chart a new course, try a 'new' way to learn that is based on the 'oldest' ways. This Resource Center was started because I believe every child deserves the chance to be all they were created to be.

How-to stories and advice. An example of how our teaching methods differ would be how we take a simple recipe or food item and use it to teach culture, art, geography, history, science, math, life skills, cooking, health, ecology and even global responsibility. With a bag of oranges and group of middle schoolers, we would look at a map and see where oranges grow, we would notice they grow around the equator, we would introduce the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. This would lead us to a discussion about how the sun travels and why we have seasons. We would also talk about tropical zones and how we can help protect them. Then we would talk about recipes that use oranges, what kinds of people first used oranges. Why did sailors need oranges on long trips? How did oranges spread all over the world? What properties does an orange have? When is a mild acid needed in a recipe? What is special about an orange that it keeps other fruits from turning brown? How many varieties of oranges are there? How many have we tasted? How could a late frost, strong storms, hurricanes, gas prices, or fires change the price of our orange? How many stops does the orange make before it ends up in our kitchen? Then before we cut it up, how would we find the surface area of an orange? Can we draw a map of the world on it then cut it to make a flat map from the globe? What does it mean to quarter an orange? After we cut it, what decorative ways can we put it on the plate? What other foods would you serve with it? What is a quarter of something? How many quarters in 3 oranges? All of this learning and much more from a 'simple' orange.

Glitz and glam. We are not very glamorous. We have no glitz either. However, we are standing on the shoulders of lots of famous educators: George Wythe, Maria Montessori, John Holt, John Gotto, Grace Llewellyn, Charlotte Mason, Charles L. Shedd, and even Socrates himself. It is on these and other giants of education we base our very successful methods.

Seasonal/event-related. We are not seasonally related. Education is something that happens 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It is not something that can be put in a box and checked off. Education is a way of life, it is based on habits instilled early and modeled by parents and mentors.

Physics of the swing

Physics of Golf

By: Lord Gabe

To the newbie, hitting the golf ball is all about power and having a really fancy club. But that is only half right, you need a good swing and what I mean by that is you need to know the physics of the swing. There is a certain swing that every golfer should master, each with their quirks, but overall the same.

When you go for a swing, you bring back the club past you head. Your elbows should be level with your chin. Your shoulders should be at a 60-degree angle. And your waist should be turned at a 45-degree angle. You should go not far and swing forward as if you were a top. Your club should hit the ball hard enough to give a good thwack. Then you should bring the club up and follow through with your swing.

Let’s talk about the ball and how the club effects it. First, there is a reason for those dimples in the ball, if it did not seem obvious. The dimples grab the air. When you swing your driver a 100-mph and smack the ball, the ball will be going 83 mph with a good amount of backspin. Thus you can say that the ball is climbing through the air. Also depending on how the ball is hit the ball will spin, giving it a hook or a slice

Each club has it's own physics. An iron is “ranked” 9 to 2, and that means the higher the rank the steeper the hit will be, thus making the ball go more vertical than horizontal. With the driver of course you want a steeper horizontal line than a iron. But that's not all there is to it. The driver has grooves that will help the ball spin, which helps the golfer to control the direction of the ball better.

Golf

And It's Physics

By; Brandon H

Tiger Woods is the best example of how the golf swing should be done. At the back of his swing he is able to reach far because of his flexibility, extending his range of motion while keeping his torso directly over his right leg. As he commits to his 400-degree swing he builds up velocity on his club head by turning his torso quickly and pressing his right foot forward. He exerts little energy by maintaining his position over the ball. Woods slices the ball by using his hips, shoulders, and wrists to concentrate his force. In doing so he creates a very high initial ball speed. Within the first 2 feet of the tee the ball is traveling at 180 mph, which is 20 mph faster than the average tour pro. Then he allows the club head's momentum to extend far around his back, completing a smooth 400-degree club head rotation.

Putting a spin on the ball also effects your game. If you want to put a left spin on the ball than you need to shift your feet to the right. This will cause the club to hit the ball later in your swing. Therefore, the club will hit the far side of the ball first. This will put an inward spin on the ball making it veer left. If you want to put a right spin on the ball you must shift your feet to the left. This will cause the club to hit the close side of the ball first. This will put an outward spin on the ball making it veer right.

Before reaching the physics on golf swinging I thought that it was all about hitting the ball hard. Now I understand that it is about form. Having your feet straight, twisting your waist, swinging your hips, and following through with your swing. Also hitting the ball in the middle and not-on-the-far-side nor the close-side. This study will help me perfect my swing.