Evolution of Today's Learning

Daughter asked to learn about China today. We got out a book about China and started reading. It is one of those that goes through the alphabet and talks about something related to China for every letter. Page one of the book took us to the globe to see China's location. Talk changed to Daughter saying " It must be summer in China because it is winter here". To the globe we go with a laser pointer. She sees the different spot sizes depending on where the laser pointer shines - northern hemisphere, equatorial region, or southern hemisphere. She decides that winter in Maryland happens at the same time as summer in Chile, but China has the same season as we do.

But what about Antarctica? Ever since Live Earth, we have had a fascination with Antarctica (did you see the super cool video of the band playing on the 7th continent - the research scientists that were wintering over made really cool music for Live Earth!). So what is winter like in Antarctica? And how do you get there? Luckily I know folks that have done the many leg trip to Antarctica so I can share that info! We talk about most folks going during the summer and how unique it is to winter over at the research stations there. Daughter says "What do you mean you can't leave during the winter?" Oh, well there was the Dr who needed her chemotherapy medicine air dropped to her so she could treat herself. Unfortunately the movie Ice Storm is not available at our library. And just last year there was someone who had to be flown out during winter because of a broken jaw (from a Christmas brawl?!). Wow, that medical evacuation cost over $200,000 Australian dollars!

Then we researched the airplane that did the evacuation using an ice strip - an Air Force C-130 Hercules. Tomorrow we are supposed to build a LEGO helicopter and see if we can get it into the playmobil cargo plane's aft hatch -- just like a C-130.

We went back to the China book and read A through M without stopping and then took a break to make a stir fry for dinner. In a wok not walk. She thought it was hilarious that those two words sounded the same and yet looked so different.

Pretty cool learning for a five year old on a saturday , eh?