IYD&D

2006 International Year of Deserts & Desertification

More info from Education Network of Australia on Deserts

A flickr group for IYDD

Optical illusions links

Websites with lots of optical illusions and their explanations.

http://www.planetperplex.com/en/optical_illusions.html

http://www.grand-illusions.com/opticalillusions/

http://www.grand-illusions.com/opticalillusions/index02.shtml

Present list addition

Spotless

by Shannon Lush and Jen Fleming
Paperback Book
http://shop.abc.net.au/browse/product.asp?productid=162165
<http://shop.abc.net.au/help/shop_availability.shtm>
AU$19.95

Science Lists and Sites for Teens

Science by Email and the Double Helix science club on CSIRO's site.
Bad Astronomy

The Why Files

How Stuff Works: which also has sections on
science and on computer stuff.

ScienceWA Network has some interesting info and
links to the Scitech online community.

Then there are the BBC, ABC and channel4 science related websites:
ABC Science have a good look around as there are links for many things on this front page for ABCScience
Channel 4 Science including some good online learning stuff
Channel 4 Science for Kids with areas for specific age groups:
BBC Schools oriented Science UK-centric but only some of it.
BBC Science & Discovery has a newsletter and message board:
BBC History Newsletter with a scientific aspect
BBC Learning Science

Medieval Exhibition at Museum of London

The press pack is worth downloading and the learning link is also full
of great stuff. Medieval Pages

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.

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?

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

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."

Polio story in pictures....

A downloadable pdf of a graphic novel about polio in 14 pages
the rest of the site is worth a look for older students and adults.

I have a 21st Century son

On the weekend S (7.75yrs) and his Dad were playing an outside version of Runescape (http://www.runscape.com/) whilst hanging out the washing when S declared that his character was wielding "a crystal crossbow with wireless internet access point that enables the user to download magic.... "
That's my 21stC son:-)

New Australian Dinosaur Site

Australian Dinosaur Story

Looks useful for a variety of ages.
Requires Flash for best results.

Love K

Strange Blue Flower

051011blueflower05
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

I found this flower growing by the path around the corner from our house. I've never seen anything like it before.

It was found growing in sand opposite a wetland in Perth, WA, Australia. The flower is about 1.5cm across and grows on a single long (~20cm) stem with hairy serated lancet leaves which are about 2.5cm long.

Thanks Michael's workmates and Urtica, I now know what this flower's latin name is.
Wahlenbergia capensis or Cape Bluebell
Which means this is an African invader and I can pick them with impunity;-)

051011blueflower04
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

a collage machine

collage machine
try the auto function - it comes up with some cool images

I've got into collage recently as a result of a flickr group called Collage Kids.

As a result the boys are asking to do crafty things, yay! I need to tidy the big table off so that it can be used just for this sort of thing instead of a dumping zone for all and sundry. It's great when living life and following your own interests leads to natural learning in the kids too.

Once I get to take pics of these things I'll post them here via flickr.

050816 terrarium

050816terrarium
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

capsicum is big leaves and parsley is startinf to have second leaves

I think there is a lack of either water or appropriate balance of gases, or even light, as these are growing much more slowly and weedy than seedings of same plants in our garden.

050806 terrarium

050806terrarium
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

We had a little accident yesterday afternoon, the bottle was knocked off its windowsill when I closed the curtains. Apart from a couple of seedlings getting uprooted all seems fine today.

050803-terrarium

050803terrarium
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

Parsley & capsicum seedlings - looks like all the albizia has died:-(

The worms have been busy as the rubble rocks in the base are now covered in dirt and no longer visible. There was even a worm cast, but no.2 son thumped the bottle down on the floor and it collapsed so it is no longer obvious in this image.

Photo of the Day

050801natbrown
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

This year there are some really weird coloured Nasturtiums in our garden - this one looked almost brown - not orange but definitely gingerish!

The blue of the bucket I used as a backdrop has made it more orange than it appeared.

Deep Sea Arctic Life

Some cool pictures of recently discovered sealife from the Canada Basin
under the north pole.

This is part of the Census of Marinelife project.

What does this have to do with home ed? Well, what doesn't when home ed is about learning from life!