Keeping Brains Engaged - Part 1

Well, what a week we've had. 4 days of continuous learning online and so far, so good. Sure, there have been some hiccups along the way, but for the most part our humanities lessons have been able to continue as normal. 'Normal' in this case means we continue to open our lessons with a focus on writing (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) and reading (Tuesdays and Thursdays). We then managed to spend some time working on our economics projects which are due Tuesday after the break.

It's very significant we now have our scheduled week off school. For some, that means a well-deserved rest. However, we are also aware that for others it could mean a week of little meaningful brain engagement. This is new territory for us all - to continue growing even as we are confined to our home's walls. Therefore, in this series of posts, I'll share some ways you can keep your minds occupied both online and offline.

Make a Rube Goldstein Machine

Not sure what such a machine is? Check out the video to see one in action.

My 10-year-old didn't have the same materials as the video. This is what he created using books from our shelves, a set of dominoes, a paper cup and some other odds and ends. (It actually began on top of a bunk bed, but my camera lens wasn't wide enough to capture it all.)

As you can see, you can make these automated machines from anything around the house. Dig into the recycling pile and use whatever you can.

When you build your machine, think of the ISKL design cycle.

Expect to have more than 1 design and expect to fail up. By 'failing up', I mean you learn from your mistakes and use them to do even better next time.

Have fun giving this a try. If you decide to make one, do take pictures or a video so we can share it on our blogs.

Stay safe everyone!