My Son's STEM Class

[Mike J]

The STEAM class thread made me think about what my son is doing tomorrow. A year and a half or so ago I posted about taking him to the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins, GA. Shortly after we went there my wife realized they offer STEM classes. He is home schooled which allows him some freedom to pursue whatever he is interested in and he loves planes so she signed him up. Last week they did a workshop on model rockets. Assembling them & launching them. Below is the description of what they will be doing this week. I thought some of you might approve.

 

[Jeepnik]

I'll give the young man one thing to consider. It was advice given to me over 50 years ago while attending a USAF course on just that situation. It's in my sig line, but here it is. "Go low, go slow, and preferably in the dark". It was given by the old sarge running our class. He was probably around 24, but in ways as old as Methuselah.

 

[Mike J]

I'll give the young man one thing to consider. It was advice given to me over 50 years ago while attending a USAF course on just that situation. It's in my sig line, but here it is. "Go low, go slow, and preferably in the dark". It was given by the old sarge running our class. He was probably around 24, but in ways as old as Methuselah.

I read your post to him. He said, Thank You!

 

[blume357]

Once again I think back at my education and regret not being able to learn real world useful things.... I went to a small private school that only taught the very basics.... I did take typing, shorthand, business math and home economics in high shchool. Well the teacher was hot. They would not even let me take chemistry ..... the previous year's science teacher knew I was stealing Nitric Acid from his lab......

Sounds like a really cool class. I wonder how the students will do when they learn how to gather protein to survive.

 

[Kevin]

How great! That sounds like a really fun thing to do.

What grade is he? I vaguely remember the post about the airplane museum. It’s pretty awesome to have that much time with him.

 

[Mike J]

How great! That sounds like a really fun thing to do.

What grade is he? I vaguely remember the post about the airplane museum. It’s pretty awesome to have that much time with him.

He is in 7th grade (12 years old). It seemed like a cool class but they did not have anyone actively looking for them. They were told to make it a point not to be seen by the museum visitors. I believe the kids still had fun though. There were a few other boys that he has taken classes with before there so he had friends there.
On a humorous note, he said that he laid on the ground & rolled under a plane wing because he wanted to use the shadow to conceal himself. Then he looked up and saw three active wasp nests. Next he rolled back out from underneath the wing.
He is after his mom to sign him up for the next class. I believe it involves flight simulators.

 

[Jeepnik]

I read your post to him. He said, Thank You!

You know what the project skill set sounds like to me? Growing up in the 50's & 60's. Most of the skills you need we learned camping, fishing and hunting. Of course we didn't have sat phones or GPS. We had to make do with map & compass and signal mirrors.

 

[Mike J]

You know what the project skill set sounds like to me? Growing up in the 50's & 60's. Most of the skills you need we learned camping, fishing and hunting. Of course we didn't have sat phones or GPS. We had to make do with map & compass and signal mirrors.

When I was growing up in the 70's we didn't really get to go hunting or camping. Dad did take me fishing. I learned to read a map from our yearly road trip from Forest Park, GA to Andrews TX to see relatives.
A lot of stuff he just now seems to be learning I learned at a younger age hanging out with the neighborhood kids. The time we spent playing, fighting, slipping off the patch of woods that was in between subdivisions, running from people that were looking for us (not going to explain all of why that happened-suffice it to say sometimes it was our fault, sometimes older kids/people were just mean).
I do regret he is not in a situation where he has neighborhood friends.