Let’s Celebrate : Kites

 

One question I get often from those thinking of homeschooling is “How do you react to family, friends, or those you know who don’t support your decision to homeschool?” Now, that’s a great question. I love the bible because it has all the answers we need. In Proverbs 26: 4 we find that Solomon is advising his children, especially his son, to “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.”

There are those who don’t know much about homeschooling. They don’t know people who homeschool. They base their opinion on the bad or good that they have heard or read on the news or social media so when these type of people try to argue about homeschooling with you it is foolish for you to talk to them. Instead, give them a list of great books that they can read. Most likely he or she doesn’t care about reading those books because some people just like to argue and they think they know it all. Sometimes these people really do want to hear your point of view or why you have decided to homeschool even though they don’t like it and by all means share with them why you want to homeschool but don’t waste your time on those fools who have no desire to understand you. If it is family member then tell them politely that you love them, you think this is the best option for your family, and you no longer want to talk to them about homeschooling. My family did not support us at first. However, with time they have accepted it and have seen the benefits of homeschooling.

You see we all act foolish sometimes. I know I have and I pray God will help me not to act foolish. We can get carried away with our opinions and neglect to listen to what others have to say. We think we know it all but we don’t. A wise man/woman listens to the opinion’s of others and spends less time talking but more time listening. We can be book smart but not life smart and that is such a pity. Let’s ask more questions, listen carefully, speak less, and respect the opinions of others. Let’s not honor the behavior of those who are foolish because it backfires. Proverbs 26: 8 says, “As he shall bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honour to a fool.”

Ok, Now that I got that out I can now talk about Kites. 🙂

We flew our first kites in Oregon during the Kite Festival on Long Beach. If you have never flown a kite you should try it because you have been missing out. Each time we travel we take kites with us just incase there will be wind. We usually take them with us to the beach since a beach is a safe place to fly them.

 

Art

Did you know that you can order kite kits? These kites are plain white and your children can paint on them and design them the way that they would like to.

You can choose your very own kite kits from Kites in the Sky. These kites are easy to assemble and so fun to decorate.

Our viviva color sheets are from Viviva Colors. The amazing thing about them is that they are mess free and pack perfectly in your pocket so you can paint on the go.

 

 

Parts of a Kite

 

There are three main parts to a kite. A kite has a body. This can come in all shapes and sizes. The material used for the body is usually light and can be made out of paper, fabric, plastic, or wood. A kite also has a bridle which is known as a harness. The kite also needs a control line known as a tether. Both the bridle and the control line help us to control the kite. We hold the control line which is held by the bridle.

 

 

Kite Safety & Science

 

Kite safety is very important. We actually did not realize this until we started studying about kites. Maybe this is common sense to some. We actually have power lines near our home and we flew our homemade kites near our house before we learned about kite safety. We now know that we can never fly kites near our home. I’m sure some of you are saying duh but it did not cross our minds.

You never want to fly your kite near power lines, homes, trees, or any obstacles in your way. Kites can damage windows. If a kite touches the lines you can be killed by electricity.

 

In order to fly a kite you need wind so we learned that as long as the sun shines there will be wind. The earth is made up of both land and water and when the sun shines the land is heated faster than the water. Warm air is lighter so it rises. The colder air is denser so it falls. During the day the colder air is over the land but at night the opposite happens because the air over water is warmer and it rises and as a result is replaced by colder air from the land.

Since the earth is spinning so does the wind and that is why we have wind coming from all direction.

 

 

The experiment below is so fun. Have you ever wondered how an boiled and peeled egg can squeeze through a bottle? Did you know that after it has squeezed through the bottle you can take it out of the bottle as well without breaking the egg? It is pretty amazing and will sure delight anyone trying this experiment.

All you need is a glass milk bottle, hard and peeled boil eggs, some small strips of paper, and matches.

The first thing you want to do is lubricate the bottle by rubbing some water around the mouth of the bottle.

Light the strip of paper using your matches and place the strip of paper in the jar. Then place the egg covering the mouth of the bottle. Since the opening of the glass milk jar is small it is advised that an adult does this part. Once you place the paper in the jar you have to act quickly and place the egg on top.

You will see the bottle wiggle. Then the pressure will go out of the bottle and the egg will be forced inside the bottle.

To get the egg out of the bottle you first want to remove the burnt piece of paper. Then place your mouth over the mouth of the bottle and blow air into the bottle. After some blows you will have the egg right in your mouth.

Warning…there will be lots of laughter while doing this experiment. Also your kids will want to do it over and over again. Well, at least mine did.

When placing a paper inside the jar there is less air inside and more air outside and as a result the air outside wants to get in so it pushes the egg in.

The reason we did this experiment while learning about kites is because there are four forces of flight that affect kites and they are lift, weight, drag, and thrust. Lift is all about the difference of air pressure. The speed of the air above the kite is greater than the speed below the kite so the pressure above is less than the pressure below and because of this the kite is then able to be pushed into the air and lift.

 

 

 

 

Math

 

For math we learned how to find the area and the perimeter of a kite. A kite is a four sided polygon.

The perimeter of a kite is p= 2(a+b). a and b represents the sides of the kite. You have to remember to use order of operation when solving this. First add the a and b and then multiple it by two.

The area of a kite is a=d1d2/2. So the area is half the product of the diagonals.

 

 

 

We also learned how to calculate the wind speed. This is important to know when thinking of flying a kite. We want to fly a kite often but we can’t because there is not enough wind. If your thinking of flying a kite the best time to do so is when wind is between 5 to 15 miles per hour.

An anemometer is used to measure the speed of wind. You can make your own anemometer and all you need is small plastic cups, straws, a pencil, a tack, and some tape. You need to color one of the cups a different color. This cup will be the reference point.

To do the math you have to know different conversions. The ones needed are…

12 inches = 1 foot

revolutions (this will the number you counted using an anemometer and fan) = 1 minute

60 min = 1 hour

1mile = 5, 280 feet

You also need to know the circumference of the cup. C =d(Pi). Pi= 3.14 by using a ruler you can measure the d(diameter).

You need to get your answer to be in miles per hour.

 

 

 

Jeopardy

 

We love playing jeopardy at the end of our unit studies. It always consists of 4 topics that we covered and each category has five questions. If my children get a question right they get a point. The easiest questions are worth one point but the hardest is worth five points.

” If the purpose for learning is to score well on a test, we’ve lost sight of the real reason for learning.” – Jeannie Fulbright. We started playing jeopardy at the end of our unit studies and we love it so much. It’s a great way to go over everything we learned over the week in a comfortable and fun environment. I love that I’m able to school all 4 of my kids at the same time.

This post shows you that if you have children of different ages you can still homeschool all of them and they can learn all together.

 

 

 

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