According to statistics, homeschooling in the United States has increased 74% in the last eight years.
Why? We do not believe that it is because of a lack of faith in our public school systems as much as it is a growing desire to see MORE education and more focus on real issues that will eventually effect the home.
We have toured this country for many years teaching and presenting in thousands of schools and have addressed not only hundreds of thousands of school students but their very concerned parents. Disaster preparedness is always an issue that raises more questions than it provides answers. How do I teach it to my children without frightening them? How do I deal with the tough issues after a disaster? Do I allow my kids to see the news of current disasters? How do I involve them in our planning?
We have found that the world of disaster preparedness is a wide world of educational opportunity filled with science, history, social science, mathematics and literature. It is through this new blog that we intend to provide those tips, stories and insights that we have shared as we toured. Stay tuned here for programs, guides and curriculum additions as well.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

It's SMORE heat than I can take!


Okay, we have been spending a lot of time camping outdoors on this tour and I gotta say one thing...IT IS TOO HOT TO MAKE S'MORES!
I refuse to light a campfire in 100 degree weather, and so I looked for a way to teach kids, beat the heat (or at least take advantage of it), and enjoy a S'more before October.

Well, in today's homeschool lesson, we can learn that Solar Energy is the energy given off by the sun. When light energy is absorbed by something, it becomes HEAT energy. Remember that DARK objects absorb more light energy than lighter objects. This is a good way to open a discussion on how we should dress when outdoors to prevent heat exhaustion or heat stroke. (I just posted a new blog at my KRVN site on heat stroke- see www.chasing4life.org).

Ready to do this?

Okay, go get the following ingredients:
  1. 4 graham crackers
  2. 16 mini marshmallows
  3. 2 plain milk chocolate candy bars
  4. 8-by-11-inch glass baking pan
  5. a clear glass lid for the baking pan
  6. 1 thermometer
This is an outdoor experiment and you need to have a place in direct sunlight (no shade) and where animals won’t come by to eat the ingredients or disturb the pan! Use your thermometer to see what temperature it is outside. You need to do this experiment when it is at least 85° F. this should NOT be a problem!

Now, let's learn and then eat...

  1. Put four graham crackers side by side in the bottom of the glass baking pan.
  2. Place a chocolate bar on top of two of the graham crackers.
  3. Put 8 mini-marshmallows on top of the other two graham crackers.
  4. Cover the baking pan with the clear glass lid.
  5. Put the pan out in an area where it will get full sunlight—no shade!
  6. Let the pan just sit there until the chocolate bars and marshmallows melt.
  7. To make a S’More, put one chocolate and one marshmallow graham cracker together to make a sandwich.
While you are eating your campfire-free S'mores, CLICK HERE and check out another cool solar experiment I found!
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