Alabama Homeschool Connection

Now this was a fascinating  field trip! What exactly is SWIRLL?  It  is UAH's Severe Weather Institute – Radar and Lightening Laboratories. The day we went there was hurricane churning  in the gulf.  The SWIRLL interns showed us how hurricanes work and showed us how the tracks were done.  The kids got to see a weather balloon and learn how they work, plus why they are important.  Then we got to go up onto the roof to see the antennae and gauges.  

Our guide took us out innto the garage to check out the storm chasing equipment.  I think the kids were most impressed by the fact one of the trucks had a microwave oven. 

Ever wonder how the daily news broadcast happens?  CHARGe got an up close and personal look.  We got to see the control center where everything comes together..  We learned all about how the news is produced and how the program is transmitted into our homes. It was neat  to get to see the set used by the news anchors.  Did you know the weatherman's map is actually a green screen?  

There be graves on that there hill!.  Rumor has it this site is haunted.   Crooked Creek Civil War Museum  grounds is home to a civil war cemetery.  The graves were hastily dug and unfortunately unmarked, but have been identified by their soil.  Strange things happen there at night and the owner believes more than one spirit resides on the property, but this trip was not about ghosts. It was all about history. 

Located on the site where Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest and Union Colonel Abel Streight fought the battle of Hog Mountain, there was a lot to see and do.  We got to hold  real confederate and union gear including a rifle, uniform hats, and knives.  If you keep an eye out you can still find bullets in the dirt along the hiking trail.  

Yes, CHARGE went to jail.  We got to go into the cells and see how the prisoners are housed.  Sherrif Gentry himself led our tour and talked to the kids.  We got to see the jail kitchen a  how their food was prepared.   No one wanted to taste prison loaf - a concoction given to rowdy prisoners who throw their food.  Mainstream prisoners are fed well  and according to some of them, they gain weight in jail. 

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Several prisoners gave the kids good advice about staying out of trouble and why they don;t want to end up behind bars.  

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After our time behind bars we were taken into the dispatch center for a behind the scenes look at what it takes to roll the units to calls for help.  It was an informative and entertaining trip.   

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 Atlatl anyone?  We got to throw one and test our skills just like the Indians who built the mounds.  the kids learned all about the Indian culture of the area and had fun doing it.  We made necklaces out of seeds and got to taste different food the Indians may have eaten.   

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This picture is of our time in the main museum, but we walked all over the mounds.  Listened to our guide tell us stories by the lake and even saw a huge snake skin.  

We learned about the rich history of cotton as and its importance  to  small rural communities during the cotton era as well as today.  WE were shown  the process of ginning (removing the seed from the cotton fiber)and how a bale of cotton is made.  The kids even got to hold the cotton seeds and have a little cotton to take home. 

Why did e go to the grocery store?  To get a behind the scenes look at how food gets from farm to table.  The Publix staff was amazing.  They gave us nice little grab bags, cookies, and a look at how the whole store operates.  We talked to the Deli and Bakery crew, the produce man, and the meat dept.  Seeing how meat gets packaged in house was the highlight of the trip - or maybe it was the cookies.  Either wa we had a ball.  

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YUM!  Here we took a look at how panera makes their wonderful bread!  The kids all got to make their own loaf, and even got their own chef hats and aprons.   Did we mention they fed us lunch!   

Summer fun and games! (ok technically we did it in September , but it was stil 100 degrees outside - literally).  We did relay races, played water tag, had a picnic and an all around good time.  The cullman Tribue even showed up and did an article on us!

Click here to read it!

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This was all about apples.  The crew at the orchard took us out to see the trees and hear a story about Johnny Appleseed.  We made apple faces out of small crab apples.  When they dry they  look like little dried shriveled up heads.  Kids loved it. 

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Bees were also one of the topics of the day.  Humans can't survive without them. 

Collaborative learning is fun.  We got messy by making paint from ground up rock and berries then went inside to create our art.  It was an art history, botany and geology workshop rolled into one.

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