More Woodworking with Kids links

Since we (as in… the world) is going to be in an ongoing struggle between globalization and re-localization for the foreseeable future, along with it’s impact on the education of our kids and ourselves, here are a few more links on the topic of woodworking with kids that I started back here. Nothing compares to the thrill my kids get of doing real things with their bodies — skiing, cooking, gardening, sawing logs, etc. (Except Minecraft. And Wild Kratts. And… well, you see the issue.)

So here we go.

– Kindergrarten Shop Class – NYTimes.com

Mar 30, 2011 – Teaching children construction is gaining momentum across the country as a way to develop imagination and confidence

– If you’re in the Boston area, Wood is Good occasionally offers classes for kids.

– And The Eliot School, Boston MA offers endless courses for kids including “Very Beginning Woodworking – age 4-6”

– In NC, go to “summer camp” with a 5-day workshop from Roy Underhill. Here’s an example

MORE FROM 2014

– Shop Class integral part of this private school for boys
http://www.npr.org/2014/07/27/335804557/lessons-in-manhood-a-boys-school-turns-work-into-wonders?ft=1&f=1003

– A great 10 minute video about…
The Blue Ox Mill and Community High School, Eureka CA
A custom mill and woodworking classes for kids and veterans
Eric Hollenbeck

Loseit / fitbit / keas.com ideas

Today after reading about a local teenager who drove recklessly and killed himself and 3 others in the car got me thinking about tracking. Some use cases/scenarios:

1. In a car – I don’t care about location generally (unless there is an emergency) but it would be nice to get alerts if speeds or excessive acceleration or ??? happened. I have a few years to think about this. Kid A is 7. I think the problem is that the teenage brain makes misjudgements about risk. There are programs at PBS.org about this. Including one about how it sometimes (in different situations from this car scenario) leads to suicide out of nowhere. Anyway, back to the car…. Having an alarm going off in the car (the alarm being a more rational judgement of the risk in a situation — like a backup monitor beeping in a minivan — I would think could help. Or what?)

I think one could get this to work via a $20 bluetooth dongle plugged into the OBD-II port in any car (connected to an android phone/tablet or ipod touch). Soliport OBD-II dongle “Bluetooth ELM 327 Diagnostics USB Cable”

2. At my desk – It would be nice if an egg-timer rang every (hour?) if I hadn’t gotten up from my desk recently. I keep reading about DVT from airplaines. Deep venous thrombosis/Deep vein thrombosis http://www.cdc.gov/features/thrombosis/ says 60-100k USAians die each year from it?!?!

3. Kids – One idea Kid A might think is neat is to wear a pedometer. I would give one to him and one to me and compare their steps for a week. There is a fancy one call fitbit which also has an altimeter so it could record if he went up and down stairs. And view activity by time. Hmmm, interesting I guess, but not sure what the purpose would be really.
FITBIT I guess for the person who chooses to use it (key word: chooses), it can be like keas.com or the loseit app — a motivational tool.

OK entrepreneurs, go to it.