Fun

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Home School Software, Anyone?

2010-2011 was the first year that we were required by PA law to report our schooling activities to the Altoona Area School district.  (simply because our oldest turned 8)

Naturally, the topic of Log and portfolio came up needing solved.

Having been home educated as a child, I recall the massive effort it took to remain organized enough to be able to assemble a really good portfolio at the end of the year.  Also, the log book needed to be throughly kept to provide record of education activities.

Here is a brief list of items that need improved:

  1. Portfolios typically are assembled at the end of the year, which requires a lot of effort.
  2. There is only one copy of a portfolio.
  3. They are a bit kludgy, having a mix of all sorts of media (photos, papers, art, etc…)
  4. They are not searchable
  5. They are not sortable
  6. They are not printable
  7. They are not email-able
  8. They are not backup-able
  9. They typically show only the “best” work, by virtue of what they are (depends on the assembler)
  10. They are separate from the log of the actual activities
  11. Etc…

Well, after a lot of here and there, I decided we needed a database.  So my wife and I designed a database that would handle a number of aspects:

  1. Multiple Students
  2. Subjects as required by law
  3. Projects that are a part of schooling
  4. Activities and Events
  5. Dates
  6. Summaries
  7. Descriptions
  8. Scanned documents
  9. Photographs
  10. PDF files

The ultimate goal is to be able to send off for a printed book with the above content, and turn that into the school district.

I thought that a web interface would be appropriate.  So here is where I am at after a couple days of tinkering around…

 

 

 

 

 

 

If anyone expresses interest in seeing more of this, post a comment.

Thanks!

 

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Panoramic Image of Woods and 3 Driveways

Using the Motorola Droid X, I took about 10 photographs at 5MP, freehand.  Then I used Hugin, the open source image stitching software.

I had never stitched images together, but I must say this tool is impressive.  The images were all various shades, angles, and since taken freehand, not straight.

However, see the result below…

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Simondale Excavating from Warriors Mark, PA

Simondale Excavating is doing an excellent job of leveling some ground on a hillside.  If you need any excavation work in the Altoona/Tyrone/Huntingdon/State College area (or nearby), do not hesitate to call Jim or Matt at (814) 632-8590.

Upon meeting Jim Simondale and Matt Simondale, I was very impressed by their knowledge, demeanor, and interest in my project.  I met with them 3 times on site prior to starting this project, and every detail has been covered as discussed.

This may seem like a small thing, but I appreciated that all of their equipment (trucks, excavators, bull dozers, etc…) were newer models, very well maintained, clean (as is reasonable), and had their logo painted neatly across.  All signs of being professional.

[As I understand it, they are also do quite a number of septic systems and sand mounds.]

Update: June 2011: Matt and Jim and their crew came out again and did another whole round of grading, moving, and excavating.  They built and/or surfaced over 1/4 mile of slate covered roads, dug a pond, corrected some frost damage to earthen banks, and made everything really nice.  I thought the price estimate was very fair, and they came in dead on, despite doing a number of extras.  Here is an updated photo:

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Outstanding view from the top of the hill.

See how nice the grading of the bank is?  All done with the large excavator pictured above.

And Mr. Ezra, standing on top of the hill…

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A four wheeled wooden vehicle

Too many days in a row, I had not had enough “hands on” work to do.  So I decided to build a little toy that Zechariah would like.  Four wooden wheels, some bolts and washers, and a block of wood for the body, and we made a cool little car (or skateboard).

In the middle of it, this little girl showed up all by herself in the workshop wanting to help.  So she put all the washers on.

Anna placing washers on the wheel.

 

Eli, of course, was there as well turning the wrench.  We used 5/16″ bolts with a smooth shaft for the first 1″ or so as an axle.  We just turned them right into the wood, drilling the hole in the wheels a bit bigger, and the hole in the body a bit smaller for a snug fit.

Eli turning the wrench.

 

Here are the scraps left over after bandsawing.  I did a quick job of cutting them, so they were not exactly round.

After cutting the wheels

 

I used a drill press and a rasp to round out and smooth the wheels down.

Rounding the wheels

Finally, here is Zechariah quite fond of his new toy.  Another confirmation that we don’t need super-slick toys — kids love stuff that is simple.

Finished product with a happy owner.

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Trees, Trees, and No Trees

Loggers hard at work, clearing enough ground to build a road and level part of the mountain.

This photo is epic, considering the perspective of two youngsters overlooking that much mountain and trees and streams and huge equipment that looks like toys.

(Epic, adj, “Surpassing the usual or ordinary, particularly in scope or size”)

A view up the hill from the bottom.

And lastly, a view north where the road is planned to come in.

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Felling a tall hardwood tree with Lofty Heights Logging, LLC.

UPDATE: Lofty Heights Logging LLC. Now has a website!

www.loftyheightslogging.com

Lofty Heights Logging hard at work clearing some ground for us.  In this 1 minute video, you can see a tree go down.  In person, the whipping sound made by the twigs was impressive, and the crash when it impacted the ground sounded almost like an explosion. If you are anywhere near the Altoona, PA area and need any timbering, logging, or tree cutting, I highly recommend you call Earnest Ebersole at (814) 201-0331.

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Detailed Assembly of Rubber Band Gun M6-002 to M6-005

A few photographs of our assembly of M6-002 to M6-005…

It all started by laying out all of the pieces for each assembly.  Quite a few when you add them all up.  Pictured below are the parts for 4 assemblies.  Receiver, Pins, Actuator, Hammer, Trigger, Washers, Springs, Bolts, and Nuts, along with some tape to hold the loose pins in (temporarily).

Refer to https://blog.gahooa.com/2010/09/23/rubber-band-gun-6-four-pieces-explained/ for more information on each piece.

Here is the receiver.  Note, the two small holes beside each other.  This is to allow for an adjustment to spring tension if needed.

These springs are tough little guys.  ~ 9 pounds per inch, with a max travel of just over 1/2 ” (if I recall correctly).  They also cost $1.29 each in quantities of 100+.

In order to use them, I needed to snip the closed loop open on one end.

Following this, the springs were hooked onto the actuators.

Using dowel pins, we placed the actuators and springs into the receiver…

… separated by red, hard fiber washers.  These washers have a very tight thickness tolerance, which is needed in this application.

Once the actuator was in place and the springs fully connected, we inserted the hammers.

The hammers had more room for spring stretch, so we opted for a cheaper, longer stretch spring (about $0.50 each in small qty).

The most interesting, and hardest to machine piece in the assembly is the trigger.  Due to an error in machining, the trigger hole was drilled to just 0.250 inches, instead of the 0.1875 the drawing called for.  I purchased a 0.2503″ reamer (accurate to +/- 0.0001″ (yes, a ten thousandth of an inch).  This made the trigger fit perfectly on the dowel pins (but only after blowing the dust out!).

Another view of the trigger.  Notice the step in the aluminum… This is what causes one hammer to release before the other.

I chose stainless steel screws to hold the mechanism into the wooden stock, although other methods could be employed.  Plus, I just like close up photographs, so I included this one.

Here are the four assemblies finished.  The tape is placed over any loose pins to keep them from falling out.  The wooden stock will retain them firmly, similar to the design of a Ruger 10/22.

A close up shot of the receiver.

And the excellent helpers…

Now we just need to make several more stocks!