Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Budget Home Ed - free maps and geophysical dowloads

Geophysical Maps - Australia

Maps from the most simple outline of Australia to detailed geology and geophysical maps of all or part of Australia.

There is so much of use on the web for home educators, but the trick is
finding it.

Monday, November 21, 2005

New Dr Who Monster?

I thought this photo could inspire some interesting new monster for a Dr
Who episode. What would an intelligent being look like that was decended
from an antelope?


Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Driest place on earth and geology from a power pole

It was very hot today (33degC) and on the way to the shops S (7.5yrs) declared he was so hot his brain felt like it was frying and that was it this hot in the desert atm? To which I replied that it was probably hotter. He then wanted to know where was the driest place on Earth? I
suggested it might be Antarctica as it doesn't 'rain' there that being the definition of a desert and technically Antarctica is a cold dessert, but that maybe it was also somewhere like Death Valley in USA. We decided to check this out on the internet when we got home. We now know that it is the Attacama Dessert on the Western coast of South America.

One of the power poles up the road was replaced today and the old pole was lying on the verge when we went shopping... on its base was a lovely record of the soil types from surface down to about 2.5m. This was mostly white sand. On the way home I asked S where we usually see white sand, to which he replied the beach. I then told him how this area was once part of a beach, in fact all of the Perth coastal plain has been beach at some point. Then we got talking about when this happened, before or after the dinosaurs and why (changes n sea levels).

I made the comment that there are places up North in WA that have rocks not just millions of years old but billions of years old on the surface and we discussed how this could be (Australia's crustal plate not having been recycled by going under another plate for that long and building up and wearing down of rock/soil) and how old the earth was in relation to
the solar system and the big bang.

Just a sample of the learning that takes place whilst we are out doing the shopping....

K

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

More Comics Links

Copper
A boy and his dog
Monthly one page adventures

24 Hour Comic Challenge

next 24hr Comic Challenge is on October 7th 2006.
" What is 24 Hour Comics Day?
It's an international celebration of comics creation. Cartoonists all
over take the challenge of trying to create a 24 page comic story in 24
straight hours. Many gather at special events in comic book shops,
schools, and other locations."