High Flying Homeschool

Her Daddy's Mohawk

Our mechanic was in the Army long before we met.  That's where he had his first hands on training with aircraft.  He was a crew chief for the Grumman OV-1 Mohawk.  If your not familiar with this slightly awkward looking plane, it was used for photo observation and electronic reconnaissance.  Created to meet requirements of the Army Equipment Development Guide of 1954, it was the first turboprop plane to be used by the US Army.  They took their first flight in April of 1959 and continued to fly missions until 1996.  They were used in Vietnam and during Operation Desert Storm as well as peace time missions around the world.  Currently they are being flown by Argentine Army Aviation.  At a recent airshow we were able to see this one.  After checking the numbers, we found out it was one our mechanic had worked on while in the service.

 

{Mohawk's have a very recogniseable silloette}

 

{It's great to have an expert give you the tour} 

 

 

{Talking about hydraulics}  

 

 

{Checking out the de-icer system on the wing}

  

 {A peak in the cockpit.  The man beside them was a Mohawk test pilot.}

 

{Two of my mechanic's favorite things}

 

They spent about an hour covering every inch of that airplane.  Between the pilot we met and our mechanic, every possible question my future pilot had was answered.  The best part was seeing our baby got hands on time with part of her daddy's history.  She had seen the pictures and heard the stories,  but I think being able to walk around it and touch each part as it was explained  created memories that will stick forever.

 

 

Favorite Pictures - The Beginning

 

 

 

No one else will ever know the strength of my love for you.

After all, you're the only one who knows what my heart

sounds like from the inside.

Favorite Pictures - Under the Sea

 

 

The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.

 - Jacques Costeau

Living Through Your Child...in a good way

Flying is not my dream. (I wanted to be a marine biologist)

It is however, my baby's dream

I should have known.  I should have ben prepared. 

Thinking back I should have realized her kicking wildly in my belly every time the jump plane engines started up was a sign.  (I had crazy skydiver friends back then)  At around age one she was spotting every aircraft in a hundrd mile radius.  We completely skipped the Jay Jay the Jet Plane faze.  By four she could quote every scene in Top Gun.  We go to at least four airshows a year and try to fly as often as possible. 

These are not by dreams, but I am responsible for them.  I must encourage her passion and help expand her knowledge.  What this means for me is a lot of research and a lot of time.  It's work to see someone else's dreams and coming up with new ways of making them a reality. 

{Find people learning about the same thing.  These are students from Embry Riddle who designed and built this glider.  They put her in the cockpit (that had a "please do not touch" sign on it) and spent almost an hour explaining what they had done and offering encouragement to pursue an aviation career.}

 

{Find people who are doing it for a living.  This blackhawk pilot (and the entire crew) pretty much adopted her for the 2 days that we spent at our local airshow.  Hours were spent climbing all over that helicopter.  My future pilot was quized on her knowledge and taught tons of new stuff.  She was able to see one possible future in aviation and to ask as many questions as she could think of.}

 

{Find someone famous for it.  This is Patty Wagstaff (3 time US National Aerobatic Champion).  After watching her perform, my baby was able to meet her.  After hearing my future pilot's dream, she told her to work hard and be sure to check in with her and let her know how it's going when we come to the airshow next year.  It's one thing to encourage your child, it's a whole different thing for them to hear it from someone they admire.}

 

These are just a few of the things I try to include in our life.  On a daily basis, I make math questions about airplanes and let her do writing assignments on the pioneers of aviation.  There are movies and books about all kinds of aircraft in our house and we get several monthly aviation magazines.  This isn't about forcing her to do this.  I just offer as many ways to learn and experiences as possible.

This may not be my dream, but it is my job to foster it.  I will continue to live through her until her dream of a career is a reality (or she decides to become a marine biologist).

Favorite Songs

A year and a half ago I took my mechanic to the airport for his first trip overseas to work. On the way home my future pilot and I stopped at Target for some Starbucks and a little shopping to distract us from the thought of being without our spider killer and trash taker outer for a month and a half.  I think I may have bought some new flip flops or some earrings.  My future pilot picked out a cd, The Band Perry.  This cd became the constant soundtrack to all of our activities over the next six weeks. 

When I found out they would be performing just two hours away from our house at the Strawberry Festival I knew we had to go.

 

{This is her excited face}

 

 

 

{The band is made up of a sister and 2 brothers}

 

We had an amazing evening, and needless to say that cd has resumed heavy rotation.

How Did We Miss the Strawberries?

After looking forward to our trip to the Strawberry Festival for a month (and keeping it a secret from my future pilot <- a miracle! I can't keep a surprise secret EVER!), I some how made it through the entire day only consuming half a strawberry!  It came on a toothpick in the mechanics drink.  We did however have fresh squeezed lemonade, pina-coladas, gyros, prehistoric sized turkey legs, and a fried chicken tenderloin on a stick that had to have come from poultry the size of an ostrich.  Now that the important stuff has been covered we can move on to the pictures.

 

{My Dr. Doolittle had to tour all of the animal tents.  Her latest career plan is to obtain a vetrinarian license after her pilot's license & treat people's animals in locations that can only be flown into.}

 

{It took some negotiation, but she finally let me take her picture if I promised not to make her wear the crown}

 

{My sweet and wonderful Aunt Diane let us stay at her house and joined us at the festival.  She and my future pilot had a little retail therapy.}

 

{Her cautious driving style isn't so great for bumper cars.  She never wants to hit anything!}

 

{This ride was like a tilt-a-whirl on steroids.  We rode it three times in a row.  I thought I was going to die.}

 

{Our pterodactyl leg and and ostrich-sized tenderloin}

 

After animals, shopping, rides, and food, I had one more surprise up my sleeve.....

March Madness

March is a wonderfully busy month for our family. It seems like every activity we have been looking forward to is packed into these 31 days. Add in three family birthdays (my Dad , my sister & my step-son), an uncooperative computer and preparing for company at the end of the month all means I'm incrediby behind in my posts! 

So far this month we've been to:

•  the Grant Seafood Festival
• the Strawberry festival
• The Band Perry concert
• the TICO Airshow. 

Over the next two weeks:

• my future pilot will be performing at the Brevard County Fair
• we'll be going to the New Smyrna Airshow
• we're going to try out indoor sky-diving
• my wonderful brother and sister-in-law are coming in from Missouri
• we're all taking a mini vacation at our favorite resort on the beach 

(I plan to sleep all of April)

 One of my favorite memories of the past few weeks was my future pilot trying to convince the mechanic that a soda, some donuts, a snowcone and some cotton candy did not constitute too much sugar and that they needed more cotton candy.  Here's what I saw from across the picnic bench:

 

{I really think more cotton candy is a great idea}

 

{My persuasive speech will sway you to my side...}

 

{No, well how about my pouty face...}

 

Pouty faces don't work in our house, so there was no more sugar for the day.  We did eat real food at the 46th annual Grant Seafood Festival.  In addition to the yummy sweets we had fried shrimp, scallops, crab cakes, lobster bisque and conc fritters.  I look forward to the festival and an excuse to stuff myself with tons of seafood.  The calories don't really count due to all the standing in line to get food, walking to the next food booth and wandering through all the craft tents.

 

 

 

Happy Weekend

{With rain and clouds on the schedule for tomorrow, we're headed for some outside fun today.  Grant Seafood Festival - Here we come!!!}

A Fabulous World Below the World

After our impromptu movie night earlier this week, we decided to have another tonight.  Netflix did not have Tora, Tora, Tora! (the mechanic's suggestion) so we went with Journey to the Center of the Earth, the original 1959 version.  It's another that I had never seen, but generally all my favorite movies are 1980 and before.  Our future pilot has seen the two recent ones and was surprised to learn there was another.  (Just wait until she finds out Jules Verne wrote the story in 1864!) 

Created after the success of Around the World in Eighty Days and 2000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth was a box office hit.  It was nominated for Academy Awards in Best Art Direction, Best Set Decoration, Best Sound and Best Special Effects. 

Use this entertaining movie to slip in a little education:

• Jules Verne - Verne was a French author born in 1828.  He wrote about many items long before they were ever invented: airplanes, helicopters, automobiles, submarines, computers and television to name a few.  (National Geographic shows 8 of his literary inventions that came true here)  His work inspired other authors as well as adventurers.  Ray Bradbury (a science fiction writer) is quoted as saying "...we are all, in one way or another, the children of Jules Verne."  William Beebe (the first biologist to observe deep sea life in it's natural environment) wrote of using a diving helmet to explore the Galapagos: "such magic had hitherto existed for me only in Jules Verne."  Before his polar flight, Admiral Byrd said "Jules Verne guides me."

 

•  Geology - My future pilot has loved rocks since before she could pronounce geology.  I have quite the collection I recovered from the washer after doing her laundry.  Kids Geo is part of the Kids Know It learning network.  They offer a free online geology text book.  Play their rock identification game pretend to be Sir Oliver's student.

 

• Reykjavik - The Icelandic capital. We know a little about it's airport thanks to a pilot friend.  Learn the correct pronunciation here and then do a little research about "The Land of Fire and Ice."  (check out this stuff)

 

• Morse Code (best not learned from Gertrude!) - Invented by Samuel Morse to be used to send messages thru the telegraph (tele-far away or distant + graph-to write or draw = I love Greek and Latin roots!).  Discover some Morse Code history, learn the alphabet, and translate your message.

 

• Carlsbad Caverns National Park - "Carlsbad Caverns National Park served as the background for portions of the motion picture. Twentieth Century-Fox expresses its appreciation for the cooperation extended by the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior." Pretty good PR for the Parks Service.  All of the filming in the caverns took place at night so it did not disturb public tours during the day.  Study the local ecology and biology with free curriculum materials and learn about the history of this national park.  You'll be pleased to know that if you visit you will enter and exit the caves by elevator instead of a giant asbestos bowl.

Trapped outside the boundaries of time and space...

I usually create/schedule all the lesson plans and educational experiences, but sometimes the mechanic surprises me (like how my new vacuum cleaner can lead to a discussion about turbine engines).  After a long hot bath with my kindle I found my future pilot watching a movie instead of headed for bed.  My mechanic informed me that this was an educational movie and I needed to watch too.  After the movie intro and accompanying pop quiz on aircraft make and models I settled in to see what I could learn from The Final Countdown.  One hundred three minutes and a little google later, here's what I've got:

• Nets can be used to catch an airplane on the deck of an aircraft carrier during adverse conditions (i.e. sailing into a giant electric blue swirly thing)
• The Navy had a liberal policy on facial hair during the '80s.
• Someone was intelligent enough to invent a "helmet dispenser." Not sure if this is an actual device, but it looked nifty in the movie.
•  The photo said to have just been taken by the recon plane was an actual photo taken by the Japanese during their attack on Pearl Harbor.
• The board game the sailors are playing is Squad Leader.  You can still find it on ebay and it's been turned into a computer game.
• "Uncommon valor was a common virtue." Statement after the battle of Iwo Jima by Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (whom the aircraft carrier is named after)
• The black and white attack footage was reused from Tora, Tora, Tora!

It's not one that I had heard of before and overall it was a good movie. Lots of flight scenes and a variety of aircraft (great views of in flight refueling).  If watched with an aircraft enthusiast or two there is definitely educational potential.  We talked about nuclear powered ships, aircraft carrier launches and landings, and the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Seeing Japanese Zeros (actually AT-6 Texans) interact with F-14s showed the drastic leap technology made from the 1940s to the 1980s.  The theory of time travel and the evolution of special effects could also be good topic spin-offs from this film.  I just have to remember learning opportunities are everywhere, even in slightly corny sci-fi movies watched past bed time.

 




***A little foul language and some fake blood give it a PG rating.