Suspension Bridge

Today we worked on our last bridge project - a suspension bridge. We had already seen a documentary about the worlds longest suspension bridge and we had a quick look at a picture of a suspension bridge to remind ourselves what they are like. We made ours from Duplo, Cardboard and string but we discussed the types of materials used to build a real bridge.

First we constructed the towers and the suspension cables anchored to the ground.

I showed R how to use an awl to make holes in the card road section.

Dad threaded the strings through and knotted them underneath the roadway.

The roadway was tied onto the main suspension cable and tested with a car.

Now to test the bridge to destruction...

We used all the wooden blocks and weights that we had (2.47kg). The bridge still held!

So we tried adding some heavy boxes from the store cupboard (5.56kg) - it still held...

So we went to the garage and tried some house bricks that were lying around. Finally it broke with 2 house bricks.

As you can see it was only one cable that had become detached from the anchor point that caused the bridge to fail

Conclusion - suspension bridges are REALLY strong!

2012 Planning

I have spent the last week writing up my planning for 2012. We will be inspected this year as R turns "school age", so I want to have everything in place. Along with the obvious maths and English we will be focusing on ancient history and geography, biological science, artist study, computing, nature study, life skills, reading and narration.

Here's a sneak peek at some of the things I have in store for term one:

• Counting, number bonds, addition, subtraction, tables, properties of numbers, money and real life maths problems.
• Lots of reading, narration, handwriting, phonics, grammar, writing reports, stories and poems. 
• Living things, habitats, biomes, species and offspring, plant structure, growing plants, Australian animals and tree study.
• Picasso artist study, experimenting with art materials and techniques, painting, collage, clay work, landscape, felting, and simple perspective. 
• Archaeology, making and burying a time capsule, hieroglyphic writing, mummifying a chicken, making monsters, and story telling.
• Touch typing, mouse skills, word processing, digital photography and image manipulation. 
• Swimming and music lessons.
• Cooking.
• Gardening.
• Excursions.
• Home Education group hangouts and survival skills.

Check back often to see how it all turns out.

Picasso Paper Sculpture

Following our visit to the Picasso exhibition we made a paper sculpture similar to these sculptures made by Picasso.

We had collected a template sheet from the art gallery. We decided to paint it with watercolours so the black lines would still show through. L really got the hang of watercolours today and worked out how to get a nice strong colour.

Once the pieces were dry, we folded and assembled them how we liked into a sculpture. The pieces were secured with tape. Here's the finished piece.

Picasso

Today we joined lots of other home educators for the Picasso exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW. Of course we couldn't take any photos, grrrr. We saw around 150 sculpture and paintings from the artists own collection.  The children were really into it and responded with their own drawings as we browsed the exhibition. We will be working on a Picasso artist study for the next term.

Here are a few of our favourite pieces from the show:

We were surprised to discover that this piece is room sized

History Street - Bayko Brick House

Today R built these houses using a toy first manufactured in 1935; Bayko building sets. I have a set that belonged to my mother as a child which was made post 1960 and another set purchased from a car boot sale which dates somewhere between 1935-1959. Find out a bit more about the history of the toy here.

First we took a look at all the pieces and chose a simple model to construct.

Building the models involved lots of fine motor skills, measuring (to choose the base rods), and following plans. 

Here R is following the instructions and adding the metal rods to a base board to create the frame of the house. Next he slides bricks, windows and doors into position. 

We tried a trickier two storey model too. Here are the results:

Our history street now has several different buildings from a range of time periods.

History Street - Medieval Hall

We have spent a couple of days making a medieval hall with our own version of wooden beams, wattle and daub. It was a real family project with everyone getting hands-on.

First we researched how the houses were made and then constructed the "oak" frame from lolly sticks.

Next we constructed the woven "willow" wattle from straws and pipe cleaners. This was very fiddly and would have been easier if we had constructed the walls before they were joined together to make the house, however it's more authentic this way!

The beams were painted black to make them look more realistic. We then added our version of "mud, clay and straw" daub using tile grout.

Finally we glued on our roof  "tiles" which were made from squares of card cut out with a craft punch.

I think the children learnt a lot about the process of building the house even if the materials were not authentic, and it looks pretty good too.

Sculpture By The Sea

Today we went to Sculpture By The Sea at Bondi beach. There are hundreds of sculptures on display along the cliff top walk and inside the marquee in the park. Here is a small selection of our favourites.