Day 114

9th May 2022

Mark Rober!

We were so excited to start our Mark Rober engineering course today!!

We first discovered Mark Rober last year. He was an engineer at NASA for 7 years & is now a YouTuber creating cool videos to engage kids in science.

The kids love his glitter bomb videos that catch thieves who steal packages from the front porch.

Porch Pirates! 😂

Watch Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4T_LlK1VE4

When we discovered Mark Rober’s engineering course we signed up right away.

I like that you create your own machine, rather than being given something to make and a set of instructions.

First you learn Mark’s creative process and then apply it to create your own inventions.

They started by brainstorming a topic, figuring out the problems in that topic, next they will build a prototype that solves the problem and then the final build.

In preparation for today we watched some videos of what other kids had built.

One kid built a snack dispenser. 😂

It’s a conveyor belt with 4 cannisters above it, the first one is loaded with crackers, the second cheese slices, the third salami & the last one more crackers.

As the conveyor belt moves along it makes him a snack and the kid waits at the end & eats them as they come off the line.

What a legend!! 😂😎

One kid has trouble getting spaghetti on his fork, so he created a fork where he holds the handle still and the head of the fork rotates and picks up the spaghetti. So cool!

We haven’t come up with our final idea yet. Liam and the kids started their brainstorming session & I’ll finish it off with them tomorrow.

Mila’s biggest gripe is that she can’t reach her lanterns without standing on her bed on tippy toes in order to reach the switch.

We talked about making them ‘clappers’, where she only had to clap twice and they would turn on by themselves, and when she clapped again, they would turn off.

She liked it a lot. 😂

Mila’s face when I told her about ‘the clapper’. 😂😂😂

Tomorrow, we finalise our ideas.

Yay!! So exciting!!

If you want to check out some of the other builds, you can see some of them here on his Twitter page.

https://twitter.com/MarkRober/status/1375225054749880323?s=20&t=yNqhv39npBibsvWskAJjVw

The Challenge: Home school for 1 year while not losing sanity or love for children and/or husband.
Contenders: Mila 8yrs, Lincoln 10 yrs, Me (Mum), Liam (Dad), Pepe (dog)
Home School Days: 200

This blog was inspired by the film Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep & Amy Adams.

Julie decides she will take her love of cooking to the next level by cooking every recipe in Julia Childs French cookbook, in one year! 500 & something fancy, technical recipes!! While working full time!

Julie writes a daily blog about her time in the kitchen for herself & other amateur cooks who may, or may not be, reading along. You gotta watch it (http://thehomeschoolyear.com/about/).  Or read it here. (http://thehomeschoolyear.com/book)

I loved that she wrote every day. I loved hearing about her small everyday frustrations, with the recipes & with life. It really inspired me to throw myself into something.

The timing was perfect as we have just decided to homeschool our children as a lifestyle choice and I thought…Cool! A daily blog will be perfect!

There must be other families out there wondering if there’s another way to live? Another way to do ‘family life’?

If you’re here, then hello & welcome aboard! Please feel free to sit back & watch it all unfold. Put the kettle on & check in with us each night to see what went down and how we all got over the line. I’m sure we’ll find our rhythm, right?

Are you a homeschool family? If you’re watching the wheels fall off this thing, I’m open to your emails or comments any time. I would love them! I am very friendly, & I could use the help.

Ok, come hell or high water….I’m in. A daily blog, for 12 months. I’ll be right, here.

Kindly, Lisa x

Can we be friends?!

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