The elder Free-Ride offspring has been spending enough time with Snowflake Free-Ride to have become something of a “rabbit whisperer”. Snowflake herself seems preternaturally aware of when the elder sprog is in range, not to mention very assertive that the in-range sprog must have an audience with Her Royal Fuzziness. So, it’s working out well […]
Today, the younger Free-Ride offspring’s account of another workshop from Kids Day @ SLAC 2010. Dr. Free-Ride: What did you do for the levers part of the day? Younger offspring: Levers and pulleys? Well, they put us into three groups, after we went to another part — it was in the same building, but we […]
Outside of a rabbit, a book is a sprog’s best friend. Inside of a rabbit, it’s too dark to read.* The elder Free-Ride offspring has been spending the majority of free moments with Snowflake Free-Ride, a New Zealand White rabbit. Today, the elder Free-Ride offspring presented me with a sketch of Snowflake, labeled with her […]
At least, the Free-Ride offspring’s elementary school thinks it has money in the budget for a science fair this Spring. Sure, I know that grown-up science is frequently constrained by a rapidly changing funding landscape, but I’m not sure that including this element of scientific activity is what will catch a kid’s imagination. Anyway, I […]
It’s been a bit of a week here, partly owing to the crush of the Free-Ride offspring’s new school year. (I suppose, since it started in the middle of last week, it’s better described as a newish school year.) The sprogs (and their parents) have been sufficiently busy that we haven’t yet had an extended […]
The younger Free-Ride offspring continues recapping Kids Day @ SLAC 2010 with a report on another workshop: Dr. Free-Ride: Tell me about the magnets at Kids Day. Younger offspring: Well, the magnets … first we got to make our own magnets, and we had a piece of steel or something — a bar of steel. […]
The younger Free-Ride offspring reports on one of the workshops at Kids Day @ SLAC 2010: Dr. Free-Ride: Tell me the story with Mr. Marshmallow Man. Younger offspring: Mr. Marshmallow Man got put into a vacuum chamber, and it was also kind of like a time machine, ’cause when they put him in, he was, […]
Longtime friend of the Free-Rides LO has been instrumental in hooking the Free-Ride offspring up with Kids Day @ SLAC. Finally the year has come when the younger Free-Ride offspring meets the age requirements to join the elder Free-Ride offspring. As is our practice, we prepared by reviewing the safety information: Dr. Free-Ride: So, we’re […]
Dr. Free-Ride is pinned down in committee meetings for a while. There will be a conversation with the Free-Ride offspring posted later today. In the meantime, here are whiteboard traces of a science-y conversation the sprogs had recently with Dr. Free-Ride’s better half. Yeah, I find the “sand” thing worrisome, too.
Even though we’ve had many conversations with the sprogs on the general topic of evolution, the influence of pop culture (and especially cartoons) seems sometimes to muddle their grasp on the details. Last night, we revisited the subject. Dr. Free-Ride: You wanted to talk about evolution. Younger offspring: Mmm-hmm. Dr. Free-Ride: What about evolution did […]