Home Schoolers Rocketry Project

[Aerobee300]

I have 11 children at home ... 9 of them are being home schooled. I thought that rocketry would be a great "something" for them all to do ! So many things can be taught about real rockets and aerodynamics, etc.etc. Not to mention eye - hand co-ordination, following instructions, etc.

I started the first 2 teams off tonight building thier Exo-Skell kits with the assistance of 2 older brothers that are in high school.

I got a pic of them just getting started .... I'll post more as they and some of the younger kids progress ... all the way up to launch day !

Oops ... one of the team members didn't make this pic .... she be in future pics ... lol

 

[Vance in AK]

Sounds like a great project, & I'll bet it'll be alot of fun as well as a great learning experience.
But.... man I got to tell you, if your wife is doing most of the homeschooling I respect that woman(even with your help)!
9 kids in homeschool! I know how hectic two can be with all the other stuff that goes into a normal day.

 

[Aerobee300]

My wife surely deserves A-LOT of respect ... Yes ... she does the lions share of the home schooling with these kids. I help out when I can. I was really opposed to this whole venture (home-schooling) when we started 3 years ago ... but I've gotta hand it to her she is getting excellent results !!!

Hectic ... I can think of better words some days ... ah but this is a family forum ... lol:kill:

 

[eugenefl]

Sweet! Jason Toft (jetra2) and I did a homeschoolers rocket club last summer. We used the FlisKits Rhino bulkpack to start them off. The Exo-Skells make for "fun" rocketry simply because of the martian appearance and multiple part recovery. The Rhino worked well with our group simply because of the size of the rocket - large, yet as simple to build as an Alpha and recoverable on C's too!

Jason did a great job of arranging the class schedule and putting together the teaching materials. I did most of the instruction while Jason assisted with the building and the fly day. The rocket gods gave us great flying weather on fly day.

I even went as far as making a class certificate for each student. They were printed on heavy cardstock and made for a nice frameable piece.

Check out some pics from our gathering - <a href="https://www.rocketreviews.com/reviews/kits/flis_rhino.html">Rhino and Rocket Class</a>

 

[Neil]

LOL! And my mom complains about only ONE homeschooler! (me) jeez... 9 kids in homeschool.... you better make your wife one heck of a dinner every night!!!!!!!!


Ill find and post a wicked funny pic of how I type long papers on the computer. Give me a minute and I will dig it up. BTW, in adition to LEARNING about rockets in "school" I also do some teaching on rockets in a private school (by calling it a "private school" I can make myself sound almost important... Actually it is a 5-kid school run by a family friend, and I go up there once or twice a year and do a unit on rockets. Next up: Delties! I gotta get some 1/2 As..... FAST!). And I go on a lot of "field trips" (which includes the air and space museum in DC, CMASS launches, Pinetree Rocketry luanches, and, coming up this year, NARAM and LDRS. Next year, if we get really ambitious: BALLs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cant wait..... I cant wait to see my first "P" or above motors.... Cant say I will have too much to fly unless I really get crackin on my money-making.... Proabably just a few near-minimum diameter birds with big motors with interesting flames. Cant tell you which motors, I dont know if they will even still be in production!).

 

[Neil]

Oh, by the way, that silly picture on the wall is my first ever self-portrait. My mom thinks its cute. I did it in Kindergarten or something.

 

[Aerobee300]

Well it was a bit breezy today but the kids and I decided it was gonna be good enough to launch a couple of Dad's rockets .... lol ... none of them wanted to take a chance on thier Exoskells ! So out to the back yard we go .... first up was my little Mosquito "Lucky" ... perfect liftoff and flight path .... tracked it about halfway down and lost it in the clouds .... she's lost ... Oh well sacrafice to the Rocket gods ! Kids are gonna go back out and try to find it later this afternoon. Here's a pic with my 7 year old at the controls just before liftoff.

 

[Aerobee300]

Next up my Big Bertha ... sent her up twice .... nearly perfect launches both times .... first time rocket did everything perfect .... landing about 20 ft. from the launch pad ... picture is of second launch ... singed the parachute a bit on the second launch and she landed a bit hard but no damage to the rocket and the parachute will still be usable too ! Main thing .... kids learned launch proceedure, importance of keeping an eye on rocket and they had some FUN !!!

Pretty cool launch pic of the Bertha ... DONCHA THINK ?

 

[Neil]

Dats why you don' use those little Estes chutes... Dont put enough wadding in, theyre gonners, and usually the rocket goes with em. rip-stop Nylon. Well, thats a different story. I have gone with NO WADDING AT ALL in my Duece, and aside from a few black marks, the chute was in near-perfect condition for the first two flights! The third, well, it tangled up and crashed. But the chute survived! Thats how strong those things are, folks. Great pics! Sounds like SOMEONE has a nice backyard!

 

[Aerobee300]

COOL ... kids just came back in the house with "Lucky" lol ... about 200 yards downrange in the tall weeds ??? I don't know how but she'll live to fly another day !

 

[Neil]

Lucky "lucky"! (and you....)

 

[Aerobee300]

YUP ... I'm sure you're right about the parachutes .... I'll have to order a few from my friend John at Thrustline !!!

 

[Aerobee300]

Pic of "Lucky"

 

[PGerringer]

Holy Schnikies. 11 kids!?!?!?! I have 2 at home and they kick my butt every afternoon after work. 11 kids. My sweet aunt Edna. That is alot of kids, you do know that they know what causes that and have a cure for it? Don't ya? Please tell me not all of them are your kids. Anyway, nice to see them enjoying rocketry.

 

[Aerobee300]

You're right Neil .... I havn't been here long enough to know who makes and sells what !!! I'd be happy to try a couple of your 'chutes ! email me with some more info on pricing , etc.

PGerringer, I have 17 children all told ! Only the 4 oldest are biological the rest are "choosen" ... as in adopted !

I have 13 grandchildren too ... with 14 on the way !

 

[PGerringer]

17? uuuuuuuuuuu, plop. -As Phil passes out-

Do you mean #14 grandchild is on the way or 14 more grandchildren? Man I bet there is an interesting story why you have 17 Astrobee Jrs running around. That is very admirable sir. One day I shall have to buy you a beer and you tell me all about it. I bet Christmas (or your favorite December holiday) is quite a hoot around your house.

 

[Neil]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

your house must be interesting! 17 kids.... What do you do when the Flu comes? Better hope they dont all need to throw up at once, Im guessing!

I once thought my cousins had a big family... 7 kids, all homeschoolers. You make them look wimpy! You must know a thing or two about entertainment, money making, and parenting skills!

 

[Neil]

What on earth???? I put "<salesman mode on" and "<salesman mode off>" on either end of the "ill email you the pricing ETC" bit.... And it didnt show up!

/scratches head.....

Now THAT is just strange.... It didnt show that either.... This is strange.

MODERATORS! HELP!


OK. I replaced the "<" and ">" symbols with "()"s. That seems to have fixed it. That was odd...

 

[Aerobee300]

#14 grandchild on the way ... not 14 more LMAO !!!

I currently have 11 children in the house ... the 6 oldest kids have grown and are living on their own .... I have a 20 year old son currently serving with the US Army as a MP in Bagdad !

My wife and I started by fostering children with no real intention to adopt.... most of our foster kids came as sibling groups. Once these groups became adoptable it came to our attention that placing the kids together would be difficult if not impossible ... so to keep the groups together ... well WE adopted them !

My wife and I see this as our ministry .... our calling if you will. While not always easy we feel as though we have been truly blessed !

Oh ... and when the flu comes to our house .... OMG what a mess that can be !

BUT Christmas (and other holidays) are always quite fun !!!

And PGerringer one day I would be pleased to drink a beer with Ya and tell you more !!!!

 

[Aerobee300]

Well, my homeschoolers had a launch today ..... out of 6 Exoskells .... only one worked perfect with no damage. Kids were thrilled !!!! Of coarse the 2 kid launch team with the perfect launch have bragging rights and they're using them ... lol

The kids will be required to write a review of launch day .... should get some interesting comments

In retrospect .... I think the Exoskell rockets were a poor choice ... good thing I got 'em really cheap !

Plus we nearly totally destroyed a Mongoose ... or should I say yard dart !!!

And we flew a Snapshot .... Snapshot flight was OK as it suffered only a broken shock cord .... kids caught the rocket body and the camera driffted safely home on it's parachute.

I'll post some pics later today.

 

[Neil]

I had a launch today too... Ill post some pics in the thread in the LPR forum.

 

[Aerobee300]

oops ... here are the pics I forgot to post ... lol

Home-schoolers say HI

 

[Aerobee300]

My high schooler and grandson helping out with launch duty

 

[Aerobee300]

another Exoskell on it's way up !

 

[Aerobee300]

First and last flight of my Mongoose !

 

[Aerobee300]

Kids got to launch some Venus Probes today. The 3 stockers, 18mm engines, all flew very well on C6-3's with perfect flight paths and recovery deployment. I was impressed. My kids all did a good job building 'em ! My hot rod VP on the other hand didn't do quite as well .... oh well ... part of the program !!! She's repairable I think !

All in all the kids had a great day. They all now know how to prep thier own rockets and launch 'em using safe and proper proceedures.

Besides the 4 Venus Probes flown today we also launched :

Estes Snapshot 3 times on C6-5's ...perfect

Estes Mosquito 1 time ... lost it .... may find it though ... couldn't have gone far !

Thrustline Aerobee 300 clone twice on B4-4's

Estes Corkscrew 3 times on B4-4's and once on a C6-5 ... awesome flights !!! ( Thanks again Jim .... Dustin and Tricia won the Corkscrew with perfect flights and excelent written reviews of thier Exoskells. Dustin built the corkscrew by himself though as Tricia has no real interest .... you can lead a horse to water .... )

Might have pics later today or tommorrow.

 

[Neil]

You must have some stock of motors hidden underground.... How many do you HAVE!?

It seems every launch report you give, you launch 12-20 BP motors... you must go thru em pretty quickly!

 

[Aerobee300]

Well, with 11 kids at home plus my own rocketry habit .... yes I go thru A LOT of engines !!!! Expensive but just too much fun !

 

[Neil]

I would imagine... I wonder how many dollars worth of motors you have used in your lifetime... As of last year (before I started in MPR and HPR), I had spent over $2,000 on rockets and motors. My parents paid for about half that (after-school rocket programs ETC), but still... $1000 is a lot... And that is all BEFORE my leap into MPR/HPR! I bet I/my dad have spent over $1000 or more since he began his L1 project!

 

[Ryan S.]

ah the joys of rocketry, I drop at least 2 grand a summer, and of the other 4 grand I make, it is saved and then I spend another thousand of that in the winter. hehe.