My Favorite Unschooling Tip - Making the World Your Classroom

Theoretical physicist, Richard Feynman, is often quoted as saying,

"You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something."

Of course, the truth of the statement is a little more subtle than the quote implies, and in the 1970's interview below, he did admit that knowing the name of things can be handy if you actually want to talk to people.



I've said it before, I'm sure, and I'm sure, given the opportunity, I'll say it again - the best education you can give your children is to teach them to identify everything they see. 

Work alone, in front of your children, reading details of what you find, to them. 

Work together with your children, teaching them how to look-up and find specific details.

Let your children flounder in the sea of information, picking out the specific details they need to find their way.

Knowing the name of something is not the same as knowing about it.  But, to find the name of something - the correct name - you've got to know, observe, compare, sort through details, persevere, and stretch your bank of knowledge in many different subject areas at once.

Want to make the world your classroom?  Then, take a look around, and try to identify what you see in front of you.  It's not easy, and you won't always get it right - but you'll learn things you never expected to know (and you might even be able to talk to people about them).

Yard Rainbows - From Simple Summer Science to High School Physics (and beyond) in the Backyard

I was out watering the yard one evening, over the weekend, when I noticed what looked like a double rainbow in the sprinkler (color enhanced above, to make it show up better).  At least, at the time I thought it was a double rainbow (thus the photograph).  Now I'm not so sure, maybe it's a twin bow instead.  I can't quite tell if the colors are reversed in the fainter bow, and the colors have to be reversed for it to be an actual double rainbow.

Did you know that?  I sure didn't - until I stumbled onto Walter Lewin's For the Love of Physics, from the End of the Rainbow to the Edge of Time - A Journey Through the Wonders of Physics.  He includes an entire chapter on rainbows, filled with all kinds of interesting details about refraction, reflection, destructive and constructive wave interference, Snell's law, and how to spot all kinds of rainbows.

I think they're interesting facts, anyway (you can catch a lecture of his on the same subject and containing almost all the same information on YouTube, as well).



The children didn't care as much for the chapter, or the lecture.  They are of the opinion that too much math or science takes all the magic out of the phenomenon.

They were quite happy though, to take some of their new found knowledge (yes, I did make them sit through the whole thing :) outside to try making circular rainbows at noon - by spraying a mist of water up into the air, from a hose held at chest level, putting them in the center of the mist, at a vantage point to see pretty much the entire circle of color (which is very cool, by the way).

My camera is not waterproof (and was apparently set on a strange light setting) so I stayed out of the center of mist with it while D (age 13) took a look at the rainbow.  Later in the day though, I was able to catch the multiple bands of color G (age 17) created with the mist setting, in the evening sun.  Those are not double rainbows either, but supernumerary rainbows instead (at least I think they are).

As, to the double rainbow we were hoping to see, but were never quite sure of, we found an experiment...





...that helped us create our own, inside, with a clear mug of water, held at a 42° angle above the eye line to the beam of light (from a flashlight on the table behind us) refracting through the water in the cup and reflecting off the back side, to see the initial spot of rainbow, then adjusting the angle slightly, until we had two (with a few extra reflections)...

...a primary band - with the red on top, and a secondary - with red on bottom.

The video linked above gives a much clearer explanation of the experiment.  We tried it with a fish bowl too, but found lack of handle made it cumbersome to lift up and down in the light. 

At any rate, the lawn is now well watered, we had a lovely science lesson, ultimately found our double rainbow, and even the least science minded of us has a better appreciation for the complexities of rainbows (and physics) - wherever we might find them.

Have you taken a look to see what's in your yard today?

Summer Science - How to Turn An Afternoon in the Park into a Simple, No-Stress Science Lesson

Long time readers will know I love to sneak science lessons into our summer fun. Really it's not so much sneaking in, as it is taking advantage of the teachable moments that present themselves every time we step outside the door. We're outside more in the summer, so it's hard to miss all the science going on around us.

Take for instance this weekend. We jumped back onto the dinosaur trail with another homeschooler family (they're studying Montana history, and by coincidence most of the dinosaur museums not only highlight the prehistoric history of our state, but also have some regional pioneer-ish type history exhibits, as well).

Of course, dinosaur museums are full of scientific information and fodder for future lessons, but the real lesson came when we stopped by a local park, to let the "children" (most of whom are teens) blow off some steam before stuffing them back into the vans for the trip home.

The park wasn't much, but it did have a creek.

It wasn't long before one of our group was in the creek...

...only to discover they weren't alone.

We spent some time watching, and trying (unsuccessfully) to catch (most of us watching from the shore) the little fish in the creek (which at the time we were calling guppies, but on double checking at home, realized were minnows) by hand, and then loaded up and headed home.

On the way home, we (possibly more me, than anyone else) lamented that we hadn't caught any of the fish to take home as pets. Questions arose (from the skeptics in the back of van):

1. How would you even catch fish so small?
2. Would they survive in a fish tank?
3. Is it legal to harvest them?
4. How big would they grow?
5. What would you feed them?

And just like that, a science lesson was born.  A few minutes at home with Google, led us from the question of :

"What are the small fish in Montana streams?" (minnows)

to

"Types of minnows in Montana" (the Montana field guide lists 22)

 Kingdom - Animals - Animalia Phylum - Vertebrates - Craniata Class - Fish - Actinopterygii Order - Minnows / Suckers - Cypriniformes Family - Minnows - Cyprinidae

to

"How do you catch minnows?" (after a quick check with the department of Fish and Wildlife to check the regulations - there is always a legal side to fieldwork).



to

"Is there a way to observe an identify minnows without traumatizing or harming them?" (the ethical dilemma of field work - Mary Low's Creek Stopmin' & Gettin' into Nature suggests making an "underwater viewer" by removing both ends from a can, and securing plastic wrap tightly across one end with a rubber band).

And (since we were already searching books anyway) to:

...which we could download for free through Amazon Prime.  It's a very simple book, but does contain a lot of facts about the tiny fish.

Now, all of this "research" was done over the course of about an hour, after we got home.  The lesson was shallow, and introductory at best, but we picked up a couple of follow-up projects to do, and we're armed with that much more information to build on for our next park visit.

So, how do you turn an afternoon in the park into a simple, no-stress science lesson? 

• Go outside.
•  Look around.
•  Be aware of what's catching your child's eye.
• Share experiences from your past (we used to catch crawdads in our creek when I was girl).
• Encourage questions.
• Seek and share the answers - using the Internet and library for free, and quick resources.
• Don't be afraid of making mistakes, or admitting you might be or were wrong (the little fish were not guppies, after all).
• Remember if you're going to touch or remove anything, to check the local regulations.

Fall Science - Leafy Insulation

The children had a fantastic time raking up a small pile of leaves...

...for playing...

...and jumping...

...and burying each other in.

While they were taking their respective turns in the leaves, they noticed it was very warm inside the pile.  So, never one to miss an opportunity for science, I ran in and grabbed a couple of thermometers for them to experiment with.

First, they left one thermometer on top of the pile of leaves, and buried the other in the leaves.

After about fifteen minutes, they checked both thermometers.  The temperature outside was about 69°F.  Inside the pile it was only 60°F.

The children thought that was because when they were inside the leaves, the leaves were holding in their body heat, but on their own, the leaves were not generating heat.  To test this, A (age 14) offered to let the younger sibs bury her again, but this time with one of the thermometers placed on top of her...

...with the other, again, on top of the leaf pile.

This time around, she didn't think it was as warm inside the pile - until we removed the leaves, and the cooler, outside air, hit her.  According to the thermometer, she had been wrapped in a toasty 80°F blanket of leaves...

...while the air outside remained a nice, but slightly chilly 69.

It turns out leaves work very nicely as insulation for keeping heat in, or out - depending on what you're going for.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Backyard, Beetles, and a Book - Summer Science

A new yard to explore...

...and a new ladybug to identify (we're thinking Anatis lecontei - a Rocky Mountain native).  What could be better than that?

Maybe a great backyard science book, chock-full of interesting facts, colorful illustrations, hands-on projects, and suggestions for exploring even the tiniest of yards?  Thanks to Donald Silver's One Small Square series...

...we have that, too.  I almost passed the thin little picture book up, thinking it might be too young for my children (ages 9 and up).  I'm so glad I didn't, because it's just perfect for us, and so full of information - we'll be paging through it all summer, I'm sure. 

Baby Killdeer and the Day We Learned Richard Feynman was Wrong.

You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you’re finished, you’ll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird… So let’s look at the bird and see what it’s doing – that’s what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.        — Richard Feynman

Except for the cookie spelling game yesterday, we pretty much dropped everything else, to spend the day watching...

...a family of Killdeer in the vacant lot behind our house.  The two adults are old friends of ours.  We've seen them often in the yard this spring, and figured they had a nest nearby - though we hadn't found it.

The four little fuzzballs trailing behind them though, were new to us.

We spent most of the day observing them through binoculars, from in the house, or across the yard.  They're so fuzzy!!!

Occasionally I'd sneak out across the lot, still muddy from last week's rain, trying to snap a close-up or two of the chicks.  It proved next to impossible.  They scatter quickly...

...and hide...

...while their parents put on quite a diversionary show, flopping around on the ground - showing off reddish back feathers, and making a ridiculously loud ruckus, all designed to lure predators away from the chicks, and give them time to hide, or be led to safety by the other parent (Mr. Wizard has a nice little video clip all about it).

If that doesn't work, they get louder (like the shrieking eels of Florin) and start swooping and darting through the air in an extremely menacing manner. I didn't get any pictures of that, but rest assured the children had quite a good show to watch out our window.

When I came in we looked up Killdeer facts from the BioKids, and All About Birds sites (two of our favorites).  They not only have nice, sharp, close-up pictures, but a wealth of fun facts about the birds.  And, as we read, it occurred to me that Dr. Feynman, a fine physicist I'm sure, must not have been a birder, or a linguist.

If he had been, he would have known you don't have to know "the name of a bird in all the languages of the world", because biologist have assigned each bird a Latin name - a name you can know a bird by no matter what country you are from.  And, when it comes to many birds, as with the Killdeer, or Charadrius vociferus, knowing the name - you'll know quite a bit about the bird.



I still love that quote, though.