All I Really Need to Know I Learned From Paper Airplanes

Thursday January 22, 2009

We started out the day under assault. After feeling like they were finally under control, the roaches are back in the kitchen. So our usual leisurely morning was supplanting with moving the stove, laying down more poison (which I HATE using, but really I HATE the bugs way more), and more caulking of various cracks and crevices that got missed last time. Luckily for me Hypersteve did most of that while I slept. I’ve been exhausted lately. The new homeschooling schedule is making me tired; I keep wanting to nap in the afternoons. I guess I just did not anticipate how much energy it takes to engage a 6 year old all day long. I’m sure I’ll adjust after a few weeks, but really it just makes me think that I need to do a lot more exercise to get my energy levels back up.

No one wanted breakfast at home after this morning's visitors so we headed to the diner. We have a greasy spoon right around the corner. It’s not great, but it’s fine for eggs and grilled cheese sandwiches; except last time we went there we found that they had increased their prices dramatically. Used to be you could get 2 eggs, coffee, toast, home fries, and a mini OJ for $2.75. For that price, I could put up with the greasy spoon-ness of it, but not when they’re charging $4.75. Goodbye George’s! So we hopped into the car and went to a place further away, but where the food is good, cheap, and the wait staff knows us. We had a great time, especially since we haven’t had a lot of all together family time lately. I’ve been trying to be better about what I eat so I got poached eggs with whole-wheat toast and grits, instead of the usual over easy and home fries. I’m sure I cut a huge amount of fat from my meal by making those choices.

Then it was back home and back to school. Rocket Boy really wanted to make paper airplanes, so I found us an appropriate website. We talked about flight and a little bit about engineering, then we talked about what might influence how far a plane flies and I had him come up with some variables. Then I had him write up a science experiment, complete with experimental goals. We made the airplanes then tested their distance down our long hall. We charted the results, creating a point value for each flight. We did 6 test flights in total. I had Rocket Boy add up the values and determine which plane flew the furthest. It took most of the day, but we did math, science, reading, and writing: all under the auspices of paper airplanes. Homeschool is so much more fun than regular school.