Home Schooling; Marine Education

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kmorin
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Home Schooling; Marine Education

#1

Post by kmorin »

This topic is not complete rant, but fair warning it may contain elements some could consider a rant?

I noticed a news article today that mentioned there were only 13,000 home schooled young people in the 1970's but there are more than 5,000,000 now. And that lead me to remark (here) about the idea that boat owners, builders, repair services providers and fishermen have a very large amount of information we can share with the home school community and the young people still in 'school'.

Some, not all by any stretch, of the home school programs allow for the parents to create topics or subjects of learning that aren't in the "gummint" school curriculum. This is where we come in as potential teachers for the home schooled young people. We, our metal boat community, hold a vast amount of information on many subjects that are completely valid to be taught - but can't be afforded in a gummint school setting.

For example we know about many 'marine science' topics. Boat handling, maintenance of metal boats, navigation, engines and electronics to some degree. Any one of these (and countless more) topics could be the basis of an entire semester of study by different age groups; that is- material presented has to be appropriately geared to the ages of the learner.

Let's take Boat Handling as a means to discuss this topic a bit? You'd have to introduce the ideas of rudders and sails- and that would lead to exploring history of the sail shapes, hull types, and rudders evolution from the "larboards" to the current plate on a pivot types. Notice this study of the rudder and ships would lead to some world history and the impact of trade, military forces and even the various imperial and colonial structures found in the past: all based on the influence by hull type and rudders! Further, you'd need to discuss forces like thrust, drag and form then you'd need to explore vectors and even begin to learn about water flow and to some degree, assuming an age of the learner- even start to deal in fluidics.

As a another approach, many schools lots of churches and plenty of Eagles, Elks, and community halls can be found to give an evening's use of a large open room where half dozen or more young people could be presented with a flat plywood 'boat' shaped vehicle that had casters underneath and actually begin to experience the needed steering and planning required to land into a berth, pick up a mooring or make turns in tight spaces all done on the gym floor with a real sized flat outline shape of a boat with casters underneath and a single motor drive. Take apart a child's electric 'jeep' and mount the drive to the bottom of a plywood hull outline in Plan View?

A set of rubber bottomed plywood 'cleats' or bollards can easily be put along a dock- and young people could begin to learn the basics of line handling and what spring lines are and how they might aid a boater? Knots, lines, hoisting and rigging, there are numerous aspects of boat handling that lead in all sorts of directions that you as a knowledgeable boater know and understand- and all of that could be formalized enough to contribute to a marine science part of home schooling program.

There are few limits to the number of topics that can be explored with a young person who's interested in boats. Your imagination is the only limit- that and an attitude of willingness to share your knowledge with others, especially those younger.

I'm currently involved with one family leading their teenager in learning to design and build welded aluminum boats. Perhaps you're not a builder? and that scope is more than you can offer- but there are subjects you could offer to help teach. We've started on three fronts all at one time. Drawing on the drafting board with traditional tools (CAD will come later) so the ideas of hand drawing and lots of practice doing it the old ways- also we're discussing skiff design specifically- and we're drawing those too. Step by step we've progressed from somewhat homely and less sophisticated lines by a complete beginner to seeing clean lines, fair shapes, an eye for proportion and are shortly to begin modeling the first in a series of hull models to scale. And last, we've begun to weld using stick rod and running padding beads on thick plate steel. I intend to move as time allows on to the next step in each area of learning until he's able to design and build his own boat. Don't know how long that will be but.... if he's willing to learn, I'm willing to teach.

I enjoy my few hours a week with the young man I'm teaching, and I think you would as well? So I'm suggesting that you explore what you might be able (and willing) to share in the way of your boating knowledge with younger people.

I do realize that some home school programs are controlled by the gummint schools, and those are likely not worth contributing to? But there are other much less controlled programs where you can find a niche- and with a little planning can make a worthwhile contribution to some young persons' education.

Cheers
Kevin Morin
Kenai, AK
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Re: Home Schooling; Marine Education

#2

Post by gandrfab »

You may have emotion tied up in your post, I find it hard to read it as a rant.
More of an encouragement than complaint.
kmorin
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Re: Home Schooling; Marine Education

#3

Post by kmorin »

G&R,
I did edit my post few times! Chaps always encourages me to be more even toned and less of a ranter! Thanks Chaps. Here's the rant!

I was ranting against the gummint schools that no longer teach trades, or seem interested in teaching about commercial fishing, boating, marine science in general and concentrate more on social conditioning. However, I edited that rant out a few versions into my post. All I really left was my disparaging label of 'gummint' schools.

I think an encouragement is probably more worth while that my frustration with the continued collection of taxes to spend on 'schools' which then work as social conditioning, which many MANY parents don't support, instead of helping young people to explore life and perhaps prepare to earn a living? Maybe even explore what they'd like to do for a living?

So, I'm glad my original post could be read as an encouragement, but the basis of my rant label is my frustration that the gummint schools have become centers for indoctrination instead of 'education'. I think they should focus more on the trades and skills that might allow young people to choose a wider scope of career- not just taking some social worker job to feed tax money to those who refuse (or don't know how) to work!

Rant off.

Cheers,
Kevin Morin
Kenai, AK
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Re: Home Schooling; Marine Education

#4

Post by welder »

Well done Kevin, GREAT post, and yes we need our tech classes back in school.
I'm tired of seeing kids [ working age] that can't even read a tape or know how to use basic hand tools. It is really sad that all a gummit school does today is teach kids how to pass a test or manage their time.
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Re: Home Schooling; Marine Education

#5

Post by gandrfab »

And firearm safety, and the freedom we were given if we can keep it, and family values it takes a mother and a father to raise, and. . . . .
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Re: Home Schooling; Marine Education

#6

Post by welder »

gandrfab wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 5:52 am And firearm safety, and the freedom we were given if we can keep it, and family values it takes a mother and a father to raise, and. . . . .
Now we're talking.
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Re: Home Schooling; Marine Education

#7

Post by Craigb »

Working with your hands isn't cool, its some simple task that could be cross trained between multiple people easily. tig welding in five easy steps.....
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Re: Home Schooling; Marine Education

#8

Post by gandrfab »

Craigb wrote: Sat Sep 04, 2021 11:16 pm Working with your hands isn't cool, its some simple task that could be cross trained between multiple people easily. tig welding in five easy steps.....
"Working with your hands isn't cool"
Hands make and repair some of the coolest stuff.
All desk snobs, posh kardashian's and walton's should warship the hands that built everything they have.
kmorin
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Re: Home Schooling; Marine Education

#9

Post by kmorin »

G&R, I thought CraigB was being sarcastic about the way many people view the trades? And I agree that lots of people think working with your hands isn't 'cool'. But we all know that the average plumber or welder makes a better living than a huge number of in-debt college graduates!

When growing up in rural Alaska, even the phd's worked with their hands- if only at hobbies- not for their living. Might be generational too, maybe the 50's & 60's was a time when working within the trades wasn't looked on as 2nd class work? There is sure a wide spread misconception that a college "degree" was/is/remains a ticket to the best income and comfortable future.

I was mainly encouraging others who might have the time to spare to share some or another aspect of boating with those families who've (already) decided to home school. Once their children are out of the gummint school setting, they have at least a fighting chance to become good people, but as has been inferred above in just a few short lines; if the young are left in the hands of the NEA et al.... they don't have much opportunity to really explore life's possibilities or, unfortunately, to learn real values of life.

If you find a young person who's 'boat crazy', and you have time, well you have an open door to help that young person to explore lots and lots of avenues that they wouldn't experience if they were left to fend for themselves in the gummint skoool. Even if you can't see clear to help for long, or in depth? Just a couple weeks to help with 'marine science' might be the catalyst to more than we'd be able to predict?

cheers,
Kevin Morin
Kenai, AK
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Re: Home Schooling; Marine Education

#10

Post by Craigb »

It was sarcasm. Sorry, that just doesn't come across in a forum post.
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Re: Home Schooling; Marine Education

#11

Post by gandrfab »

All's good, I get froggy when people trash the trades.
Enjoy my supposed to be humorous offering.



engineer fight.PNG
engineer fight.PNG (549.04 KiB) Viewed 7254 times




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NwEFVUb-u0&t=222s
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