{"id":534,"date":"2018-01-15T22:19:25","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T22:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.muslimhomeeducators.com\/?p=534"},"modified":"2018-03-12T15:50:42","modified_gmt":"2018-03-12T15:50:42","slug":"been-there-done-that-a-cardboard-ceiling-fan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.muslimhomeeducators.com\/been-there-done-that-a-cardboard-ceiling-fan\/","title":{"rendered":"A Cardboard Ceiling Fan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a conversation I had last weekend with a sister, I brought up H’s cardboard endeavor jokingly, offering her a homemade cardboard furniture. Of course, she took it as a joke too. I started talking about cardboard engineering but she still had this incredulous look on her face, and I couldn’t help but realize that H was right. People won’t take this seriously, at least not those who are more used to a more refined way of life. I don’t mind having cardboard furniture.<\/p>\n

It made me think more about cardboard engineering though. I think it’s a great way to recycle, it’s more eco-friendly. When I googled this area, it seems that it’s not that popular in the US, but might be more popular in the Europe. Of course, right. The US is a bit behind in being green. Europe has always been way ahead in this, so it’s no surprise.<\/p>\n

I’ve been trying to look for science fair opportunities for H and his cardboard engineering but logistically it’s not that easy. But\u00a0 I did find a lot of resources online on ideas for cardboard engineering projects, so I told him to use them for his science this year. Right now, H is making his ceiling fan. He’s using the motor from our broken fan, and just this morning he managed to get the cord out of the fan by sawing off the enclosure.<\/p>\n

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He had N helping him and for almost the whole day they were immersed in this project.<\/p>\n

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It wasn’t that easy taking the cord out of the old fan frame.<\/p>\n

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But he finally got it out, and I was just relieved he was done using the saw.<\/p>\n

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The motor and cord ready to be reused.<\/p>\n

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He decided to use the motor of a bigger fan because this one was too small. Today, he finished it, and demonstrated his working cardboard ceiling fan. The motor overheated pretty quickly though, so he’s thinking of making a vent or hoping that when it’s hung from the ceiling, the wind from the fan would cool it down. But the fact that the fan actually works is exhilarating enough, even for me!<\/p>\n

I am noticing that in this project, he’s learning a lot of things, such as the problems he encounters. He made circles from the cardboard without using a compass, and later he had to make sure the radius is all the same throughout his circle. He was trying to find the center. So when he came to ask me how to use the compass and make sure it’s centered, I told him,<\/p>\n

“You have to make the circle using the compass to begin with.”<\/p>\n

“I know,” was his somber reply.<\/p>\n

Later on, he said, while pointing to the compass, “I need one of these, a big one though.”<\/p>\n

He even asked me how to make sure it’s 5 in radius and I showed him.<\/p>\n

This is how you learn through doing. It’s the other way around. You do, thus you learn, rather than you learn, then you do. It’s through mistakes and problems that one learns and this reminds me of Roger Schank’s<\/a> book Teaching Minds. It’s a great read! I would highly recommend it. He basically suggests a high school curriculum where you have the students actually ‘training’ in various areas. For example, first year of high school, they may be doing Health Science, and throughout that year, they will work\/train under a mentor as a ‘doctor’ for example, or a ‘health inspector’, or a ‘nurse’, and through this, they learn what needs to be learned, in context.<\/p>\n

I had thought of doing something like this for the kids too, but the difficult part about this is finding a real mentor who would be willing to take a teenager under his\/her wings for a certain amount of time. It’s akin to shadowing really, or apprenticeship.<\/p>\n

For H, because he’s naturally interested in electronics, building, etc, he takes to this willingly by himself. I don’t have to tell him to do it. For N, I’m thinking of something like this too but because she’s interested in creative writing, it may be easier to do this. We’ll see. At the back of my mind I’m also looking out for shadowing opportunities for S, but I think she can also get these through her volunteer activities. The soup kitchen is a good start for her, and then there is the animal shelter. For N, I may need to find writing\/publishing opportunities to make it more real and make it a real learning experience. I’m excited about this, and so I look forward to hopefully being able to spend more time on their homeschooling after my Al Huda is done inshaAllah. Though I’m thinking Allah may have other plans for me. Alhamdulillah. Whatever He decrees is best.<\/p>\n

This morning (this post is written over a course of a few days) he hung the fan from the ceiling with the help of his sisters. It worked!<\/p>\n