Have you ever wanted to spend time outside, but didn't know what to do? Or maybe you wanted to do an activity outdoors, but didn't know how to do it. Or maybe you were simply bored with your normal activities. I know, I've been there on more than one occasion.  So to help all of us come up with some creative ideas, I've decided to start a new series, Backyard Activities for Kids. I'll share activities you can do in your backyard or neighborhood that are affordable, educational, and will be fun for all ages!

Before I get into the series, I thought I should give you a bit of the back-story on why I decided to start writing this series. For my entire life, I've lived on a forty acre farm in southwest Tennessee. It's been home to me for almost sixteen years now, but it's quite possible we'll be moving soon. As our needs and desires change, we have to change our way of thinking and living as well. So, a large house on a farm isn't quite what we're aiming for anymore. But during the last decade and a half I've done a lot of things on this farm, and I want to share them with other people so they can enjoy them too. And most of these things aren't exclusive to homesteads, you can do most of this just as easily in a neighborhood or large city.

With forty acres we have a variety of landscapes and types of areas that we can (and do) use for our outdoor activities. Those include a pond that covers about an acre, a horse / cow pasture that is fenced in, thick woods with lots of hardwood trees, open fields, a garden area, a small stream and our front and back yards.  Here are a few pictures I've taken of these areas over the years.

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I'll be covering a lot of summer activities, but I'm also going to make sure to add plenty of educational things to do too. For most of us, the weather outside is getting warmer and warmer, and here it's great outside. So why not combine the two, learning and outdoor time? I attended a Montessori school before homeschooling and we had a formal outdoor classroom there. We haven't actually set one up at home, but we have always used our 40 acres as a classroom. A place to explore and enjoy. I'll be covering things we have done or plan to do this year. Topics will cover astronomy, biology, botany, practical life skills, you name it! Basically anything that you could do outside. And I'll even sneak in some math and language, because it can be done outside too!

In today's world, people are busier than ever with not much time left to enjoy the outdoors. So we have to be more focused on making the effort to slow down and get outside with our families. Outdoor activities seem to bring back some quiet and peaceful balance to our busy lives. Not to mention they are fun and create memories that will last a lifetime. You may actually find out you enjoy spending time outside more than you realized!

In one of my first posts I will discuss some of the outdoor daytime activities we normally do when we are camping. As an avid camper, I can tell you there are a ton of things you could do. From hiking to scavenger hunts, the possibilities are almost limitless. Add in some creative ways to document the camping trip and you have a homeschool unit study happening.

I hope you will follow along to see what backyard activities I will be sharing!

Everyone has ordered something online at one point or another.  When you first decided to go online to buy something, you most likely thought about things like from where you plan on buying it, how much you’re willing to pay for it, etc.  But in reality, those tasks are minute challenges compared to what goes on behind the scenes.  A ton of work, research, and testing goes into packaging that item up, and getting to your household safely within a few days.  Last year, I got to see how all these things are done at a summer boxing and packaging program at Christian Brothers University.

Packaging may sound like an odd career to some people, but here in Memphis, Tennessee, it’s a large and active industry. Memphis is a distribution hub for many of the neighboring areas, meaning things are constantly being shipped to and from the city.  When things are shipped, packaging is almost always involved somehow or another.  That’s part of the reason why CBU has its packaging program.  Nearby companies, FedEx for example, are constantly looking for more people who know how to test packages, run the machinery to construct the packages, and many other tasks like these.

Christian Brothers University began its packaging program in early 2001, and it’s been growing ever since.  Once the program was up and running for a while, CBU began hosting various summer programs for high school students.  The Packaging Summer Program was just one of these summer activities, but it was the first one I had attended at CBU.  And even so, I had a bit of an idea about what to expect.  A few months back, the staff in the Engineering and Packaging departments sneaked me in for a little tour of the labs in their building.  At that time I got to see all the labs, just not how they worked.  This time I got to see it all, and even use some of the machinery myself.

One of the first activities I got to do, aside from another tour, was run a few tests on the strength of a sample of cardboard.  Most of these tests had to do with the amount of force it took to bend and puncture the piece of cardboard.  After the tests, I jotted down the results so they could later be used in calculating the strength, and maximum carry weight, of a certain cardboard box. Next, I got to see how boxes were cut out.  In this case, they were using a simple, paper fold-up box.  After programming the design into the computer, it sent that data over to the actual cutting machine.  Here, you had to set the boundaries of the material that was being cut (so it wouldn’t cut off the material), give the machine a base reference point, which was also along the border of the material, and then press start.  The machine would cut out the design you gave it in the computer, and there you have it!  After punching out the design, it was easily folded into the right shape and size.

From there I went on to the packing station.  There I was given an egg, and had to find a way to safely pack it into the little five-by-three cardboard box, using as much packing material as possible in the right way.  The point of this was in the hope that my egg would be able to survive all the rigorous tests it would be put through later that day.

After everyone else finished their mini-boxes, we were divided into three groups of five.  My group was group #1.  This is where the test we performed earlier came in handy.  Based on the boxes’ dimensions, and on the measurements taken earlier, we were able to figure out just how many pounds this box could hold in a perfect environment.  The reason why I say “in a perfect environment”, is because some small factors, such as humidity and temperature, will also affect how much weight the box can hold.  These are constantly changing, so we couldn’t account for them.  Team one had almost finished calculating our boxes maximum strength, when we had to stop short for a lunch break.

At lunch, several guests from various packaging companies around Memphis came and spoke about their packaging careers.  They talked about how they came to enjoy their jobs, what they did, and what types of packaging they worked with.  I believe there were three main categories that they all worked in.  Boxing, bottling, and plastic packaging.  Boxing, of course, was about the logistics of packaging items inside of cardboard boxes, like FedEx.  Bottling was all about plastic and glass bottles, what’s the most efficient way to make them, and why they’re sued so often.  The latter was all about plastic packaging, like wrappers or Ziploc bags.  Believe it or not, all of these things fell under the broad category of packaging.  It’s not just about boxing up items and shipping them to your front door.

After lunch, we moved onto the final and possibly most enjoyable part of the day; the tests.  Since team one had already finished calculating the box’s strength, we had a little extra time to prepare for the brutal and violent testing stage.  Our goal was to fit all of the eggs that we had packaged up earlier into this one box, pack it with enough of the right material to absorb most of the shock, and still be able to close the box.  We managed  to fit all the eggs in, but we went a little overkill on the packing paper, and could barely shut the top of the box.  All this was in the hopes that our tiny eggs would be able to survive all the tests, which were to come soon.

We then moved down the hall, into the first testing area.  The first test was rather simple, the drop test.   In this test, the box was dropped from a miniature forklift on various sides and corners.  I’m pretty sure almost everyone’s eggs survived this test, but we might have lost a few here.  The next test was the vibration test.  In this test, the boxes were set on a vibrating platform, and shaken at various frequencies. This was to simulate the vibration from either a truck, plane, or boat.

Next, the boxes were put between two large metal plates, and slowly crushed vertically.  No, it didn’t completely crush the thing flat, but it sure did leave a dent in it.  All this time it was telling us how much pressure the box was under.  This is where the earlier calculations came in.  If these numbers matched our earlier results, it means we passed with flying colors.  If not, it means that team most likely made a mistake.  As it turns out, there was a twenty pound difference from the number the machine gave us, the one we calculated.  For the record, that was pretty good.  No, our calculations didn’t come out perfect (most likely due to the environmental differences mentioned earlier), but twenty pounds is an acceptable margin for error.

The final, and quite possibly the most destructive test, was the smash test.  In this test, the box was placed on a tract, with a large wooden slab behind it.  The tract was slowly lifted on one end, eventually causing the cart the box was sitting on to go rolling down the tracks, and hit a wooden barrier.  At the same time, the slab behind the box would slam into the back of the box, most likely crushing any eggs inside.  Each team went through this process, and then did a few tests just for the fun of it.  Finally, after going through all these tests, we went back to the front of the building, and opened the boxes.

As it turns out, not all of our teams egg’s survived, but my egg made it through all the tests unscathed.  One of the three teams actually had all of their eggs survive. Our team definitely didn’t win, but I’m pretty sure we all enjoyed it.

Here are some pictures of the event!  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.704396969610044.1073741862.135651976484549&type=1

Flying. Some of us have done it on big planes, others on small planes. Then some of us haven’t flown at all. That was me, until a few weeks ago, when I got to go on my first flight. At first, I was worried I would be nervous, or get sick on the flight (I used to suffer from motion sickness), but once I got up in the air, I had a blast!

Before I continue, I would like to say that this flight was only made possible via the Civil Air Patrol, and the senior staff of the TN-194 unit. A few months back, my brother and I joined CAP, and since then we’ve written a few other posts about the experiences we’ve enjoyed since then. This flight was possibly one of my favorite experiences so far. If you want to learn more, check out www.capmembers.com.  For information on joining, go to www.gocivilairpatrol.com.

When we first stepped foot onto the flight line, I knew I would enjoy this flight. I had always imagined I would like to fly, but had never had the chance nor the occasion to. Actually, we had to search for a bit to find the plane, at the back half of the airport. When we got there, our pilot, who goes by Andy, was finishing up the pre-flight check. While he was finishing that, I took the liberty of checking out the outside of the plane. At first glance, the plane looked quite heavy, but in reality it was very light. Even leaning on it could have sent it rolling down a hill.

We boarded the plane right as he was finishing the pre-flight. As he powered up the various systems in the cockpit, he explained to me what each one did (I got to sit upfront first). Finally, he powered up the engine, and the propeller roared to life. Soon we were moving down the runway, about to takeoff. Contrary to what you may believe, while the plane is on the ground, it isn’t controlled via a steering wheel. In reality, there are pedals in the bottom of the cockpit, one to go left, and one to go right. For brakes, simply push down on the upper part of the pedals. At the end of the runway, there was one final check. This is when you check the windows, make sure all instruments have power, and run over a few safety measures, such as the fire extinguisher’s location.

Then, we were off. I watched out the window as we picked up more and more speed, until suddenly, I felt a lurch, and the ground began to sink away. Like everyone says, the takeoffs are always the most uncomfortable, but once we were up in the sky it felt similar to driving down the road.  Soon after, I took out my camera and began getting good pictures. About fifteen minutes went by, and I was still snapping away at my camera, when Andy said something I couldn’t quite understand. When you’re inside a small plane, you have to use a headset to communicate with the other people in the plane. Somehow, I managed to get the one headset that wasn’t working correctly. I could hear to some degree, but I couldn’t talk back to anyone. So throughout the flight, I had to yell to be heard over the engine. Once again, he asked, but this time I understood him. My heart skipped a beat at what I heard!

He repeated, “Do you wanna fly?” To be honest, I hadn’t planned on flying at all throughout this flight. I expected there to be too many legal issues. So needless to say, I was quite surprised. When I first put my hands on the controls, I kinda did a stiff-arm thing, and kept the plane as level as possible without turning.  But shortly after that, I got over my nervousness and began to execute turns, altitude changes, and other maneuvers. Now keep in mind, this was my first time flying. Period. I had no idea of the turn capabilities of this plane, much less any other plane. So I did really small, and rapid turns, in short increments. I did the same when ascending, and descending. I flew for a good thirty minutes, before my brother in the back of the plane spoke out.

Apparently my brief, shaky turns were making him sick, so we had to return to the airport. Luckily, he did not have any stomach problems during landing. Once we were back on the ground, I asked him what happened. He said that he had begun feeling numb, sweaty, and his vision was graying around the edges (obvious signs of passing out). And thus, my flight experience was cut short. But even so, Gage was willing to go back up if I wasn’t the pilot.  So this time, I was the one in the back, and he was upfront. It is weird being in the backseat, much different from that of a car. It is more disorienting than being upfront. But even then, he still was motion sick. So we had to go back once again, and this time he didn’t feel like going back up.

So it was just me and Andy, and we had a great time. Right before we took off again, he told me we were going to do a few advanced moves. By that, he meant pulling a few Gs, and even going to try “0 Gs”. The first maneuver was a rapid form of takeoff, usually performed on all-grass runways, where you have a much smaller runway. Basically, you takeoff at a much steeper angle, and a higher speed. I could actually feel the G force increase as Andy did this, and I was pushed back into my seat.  And I loved the feeling, it’s weird and fun at the same time. But after we were in the air, we did even more maneuvers like the previous one.

My personal favorite was hard banks to the right and left. The G force is clearly felt, and it becomes somewhat difficult to move your limbs. On the other hand, my least favorite part was the “0 Gs” flight. Now to understand what 0 Gs is, one must first know about Gs. In our everyday lives, we live at 1 G, which is the gravitational force of Earth. As you’re reading this, 1 G is being exerted on your body. However, at the edge of our solar system, there is very little gravity. (What little gravity comes from the sun, and other passing celestial bodies), meaning you would be at near 0 Gs. So 0 Gs is, in fact, what it would feel like if there was no gravity on Earth. This is achieved by briefly cutting off, or nearly off, the engine and letting the plane cruise on it’s own. This is a little terrifying at first, since it feels like your falling. Just as your brain begins to register this, the pilot will turn the engine back on, and you’re back to normal flying. Although you might feel a little lightheaded afterwards.

For the last part of my flight, I got to see how fast a plane can really go. By car, a trip from the airport to one of the nearest cities could take up to thirty minutes by car, and yet it took half that time by plane. Now I understand why everyone travels by plane! After the flight, I later learned that the maneuvers the pilot had done were all the ones I needed. We managed to fit all of them into a two hour flight, when in reality these are usually performed over five hours. Now I can’t wait for the next one. I am “hooked” on the flight experience.  Luckily, in a few weeks, I’ll be going on a C17 cargo plane. I can’t wait, and I plan on writing a post on that flight too!