Hank Osborne November 10, 2014

Internships with US Navy Labs – High School and College

There are two programs aimed at providing paid internships to high school and college students with the Department of Navy (D0N) through the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The first program targets high school students and is called the Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP). The second targets both undergraduate and graduate college students and is called Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program (NREIP). These programs are great opportunities for students to experience the types of environments and work they can expect to participate in once they graduate from college. I work for SPAWAR Atlantic for my day job and have an opportunity to interact with these interns during the Summer. This is an outstanding opportunity if your child is interested in Science, Math, Engineering, and Technology (STEM).

Here are the basic facts:

What: Paid Internships with the US Navy

Who: High School Students (age requirements…see notes below under SEAP) and College Students

When: Summer 2015 (Application deadline 12/19/2014)

Where: SPAWAR Atlantic, Charleston, SC *

*Additional locations in the following states: AZ, CO, CA, CT, DC, FL, HI, IN, MD, MS, NJ, PA, RI, TX, VA

It is my understanding that the programs try to announce the internship recipients by mid-February each year. The application is fairly comprehensive so I recommend your child get started ASAP if they are interested. Some of the information that will be required during the application process:

Contact Information Citizenship & Demographics Program Information Education
Awards & Honors
Career Goals
Academic Interests
Research Experience Technical Skills Employment
References
Publicity Information

Student will also have to provide a copy of transcripts.

There’s more information about these programs and more on the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) web site.

High School Students

This program offers over 350 students internships for an 8 week period during the summer at one of 25 locations around the country. High school students who have completed at least Grade 9. A graduating senior is eligible to apply. Students must be 16 years of age for most laboratories. Some laboratories may take students as young as 15. The SEAP Participating Labs page for SPAWAW says that SPAWAR requires students to be at least 17 years of age, but I am told that this can be waived for some positions. I would recommend that interested students who will 16 by the Summer go ahead and apply. Please visit the SEAP web site to get details and apply for the program. The deadline to apply for Summer 2015 internships is December 19th, 2014.

College Students

NREIP provides competitive research internships to approximately 275 college students (200 undergraduate students and 75 graduate students) each year. Participating students spend ten weeks during the summer conducting research at approximately 29 DoN laboratories. Please visit the NREIP web site to get details and apply for the program. The deadline to apply for Summer 2015 internships is December 19th, 2014.

Sherry Osborne April 30, 2012

Notebooking Lessons Learned

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At the Teach Them Diligently Homeschool Convention I attended a session led by Jeannie Fulbright. This episode of our podcast will feature some of the things I learned from this session.

1st Grade Notebooking Page — Timeline example completed at the end of 1st grade. Riley summarized what he learned about Martin Luther after reading a couple of quality books.

Podcast Episode 15 Show Notes

I briefly mentioned Notebooking in a Methods of Homeschooling blog post with a promise to go into more detail. I went to this session and for the first time received a good understanding of what “notebooking” is and the curriculum that uses this method.
Jeannie Fulbright uses “a methodology of education that employs a child’s comprehension, critical thinking, and creativity to produce a permanent work of artistic and academic value.” This method is based on a Charlotte Mason approach (see previous blog post) which can be linked back to how many great thinkers of the past kept a learning notebook (IE Leonardo & G. Washington).
Highschool lab manuals are basically Notebooking.
You can use Notebooking with ANY curriculum.
It uses “narration” which is telling back in your own words what you have learned.
Is a great way to retain what is learned. You would read a book then the child draws a picture and writes what they learned or a summary. The child has to mull over the material. They forget what is read/learned if they don’t do anything with the information other than taking a quiz.
It becomes a record of learning for the year.
The child “owns” the book AND the knowledge that is in the book he/she created.
Include in the Notebook: maps, mini books/lapbooks, photos of trips or projects, field trip reports, copywork, timelines, summaries, newspaper articles, brochures, and charts/diagrams.
Notebooking does take more time than a test or quiz.
Don’t go overboard by doing one everyday.

Lets look at typical assessments for a minute.

Notebooking replaces “artificial assessment” with authentic learning. Typical assessments don’t increase learning potential and they do not engage the child.

In the lower grades, typical assessments do not develop critical thinking.
no contemplation and it doesn’t engage the whole mind.
makes the purpose of learning about the test
uses mostly short term memory

Other Links mentioned in this episode:

Lapbooks Podcast Episode

Notebooking Pages – Free Sample Page Downloads

Apologia Science

Subscribe to the Home School Support Network:

Other examples of Riley’s Notebooks:

3rd Grade Notebook Page — This is a 3rd grade example of a summary of what a "Relief Sculpture" is. It was completed in our study if Assyria.

Copy Work Example — Copy work example included in a history notebook. Riley completed this in 3rd grade. Copy work focuses on handwriting and correct sentence formation/grammar.

Historical Notebooking Timeline Example — Historical Timeline Example of what would be included in a notebook.

Notebooking Map Example — Map of ancient civilizations and the Bible. Include maps in your notebooks.

Sherry Osborne April 24, 2012

Homemade Toothpaste

I recently had the book The Toothpaste Millionaire by Jean Merrill recommended to me to read to my boys. A quick search at our local library turned up the book and excitement was on my 9 year old’s face as he read the title (I’m guessing the attention getter was the word “millionaire” NOT the word “toothpaste”!).

We read the book, breaking it up into smaller chunks over several days. The book is about a boy and his friend and their quest to make- and then sell- affordable toothpaste. It was refreshing to find a book with an interesting plot and no objectionable character or language. My son and I recommend this book! Note: There is an updated version of this book (of at least the cover but I don’t know about the content). We read the older version.

I did a quick Google search for “homemade toothpaste recipe” and quickly discovered we already HAD all the ingredients to make our own toothpaste. You can’t get any cheaper than that!! We did this as the culminating activity to our reading and have been using it now for weeks. I actually prefer the homemade stuff as it feels like my teeth are cleaner!

I used Tammy’s Recipes website and found the step by step pictures easy to follow. It took literally just minutes! I haven’t let my four year old use this toothpaste because he just hasn’t mastered the whole “don’t swallow” thing but my nine year old loves it. As for safety, I asked the boys’ dentist to see if the baking soda is harmful and I received an okay from that standpoint. His concern was the lack of fluoride, which neither I nor the boys, have used for about two years now without any problems.

Another concern I’ve heard is about the essential oils being “food grade”. The opinions over this go back and forth so I’ll let you decide on that. I will say that you can find food grade oils online, and maybe even at your local health food store. They are more expensive than non-food grade but many are still pretty reasonably priced.

So if you are looking for a quick summer read and activity, keep this one in mind. As a bonus, you get some “natural toothpaste” too! Happy reading!