This is William Kamkwamba, who lives in Mastala Village, in Malawi. Like many poor families in Africa, William's family has no electricity.
Forced to drop out of school due to a lack of money, William decided to educate himself for the next five years. Consuming mass quanitities of books from a nearby library, he came across one book in particular -- "Using Energy," a primary school textbook about how energy is made. Inside the book there were plans for a windmill.
At the age of 15, using discarded materials, a few inexpensive purchased parts, and the information from the book, William built his very own windmill to generate electricity for his home. The windmill now powers lights for 3 rooms, a light over our porch outside, two radios, the neighbors mobile phones, and charges a battery for use when the wind is low. He has created another windmill for his school, and plans to create one that will pump water from a well to irrigate his garden.
A quote from the organization which provided the books:
“Libraries are a scarce commodity in the country
but we should try to expose pupils to as many books as possible.
If a child clings to prescribed textbooks only, that means he will
only read eight books on a subject throughout his primary school."
If you're interested in experimenting with wind-generated power yourself, try this: The Pringles Wind Turbine (a.k.a. Power Leech or Pleech). Perfect for urban experiments, the creator writes "The Pleech is designed to take wind or other air currents (such as from A/C ducts, dryer vents, etc.) and convert that energy into electrical energy using magnets and copper coils."
Look interesting? Would you like to try it out? Download Working
Model 2D. It might not be the same program, but it sure looks
similar. You can't save your drawings, and
there are annoying "This is a demo" messages
which pop up now and then, but otherwise
it looks fully functional. Be warned -- if
your kids fall in love with this and want
to save their work, the full version is $3000.
HOWEVER, they do have an educational version for $345
that works on only one computer at a time
(you have to plug a usb dongle into your
computer for it to run). I don't know their
policy on home schooling rates, but you can
call them after reading this.
Personally, I'd stick with the free demo
for as long as possible. ;)
Of course, this doesn't give you the cool drawing board
they have in the video. But for those of you
with kids who want to draw on the computer,
you might want to invest in a WACOM drawing
tablet. Go to Ebay and search for
"wacom". I use a 4"x5" drawing space-sized
one to draw these comics (my larger tablets
keep breaking from overuse). It was $99 when
I bought it, but it looks like there might
be some for $50 - $70 (make sure it comes with
a pen). You know, I may record my drawing process
someday if any budding cartoonists are interested.
Of course, if you like the drawing tablet but aren't too keen on the engineering program, you can always draw pictures with it. For a free photoshop alternative, try GIMP (it stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program). This program will let you edit photos, make illustrations, or anything just as good as those expensive graphics programs. If you don't have the WACOM tablet, you can always use a mouse, too.
Whew. Well, if any of you are trying to find a program on the web that's free or low cost, let me know! Chances are I can track one down and figure out how it works, then post it on here. And I'm always available for mentoring/tutoring, too -- via phone or chatroom or IM or something, unless you're in the Northeast Ohio area where I can show up in person!
A few weeks ago I posted to some
groups that I was looking for kids to do voices
for an animated cartoon. I think my initial ideas
may have been a little too ambitious, so I'm going
to try to start a little smaller.
Have you seen the new CBS show "Creature Comforts"? Originally it was a series of claymations made in the UK by Aardman animations (the Wallace and Grommit and Chicken Run folks). Well, they've made a new series using American voices.
Basically, it works like this: The creators record real people talking about a topic. No scripts, just different groups sharing their honest opinions. Then the artists take those voices and add animated clay animals speaking the words.
I'd like to try something like that -- not with claymation, but as a Flash cartoon on the web. If this works out, then I'll start trying out the bigger ideas I was tossing around before (unschoolers in space, an animated ZOOM remake, and so on).
So here's my thought for the first episode: Games. If your kids (of any age) are interested, have them send me a sound file where they talk about their favorite game -- be it a board game, sport, card game, video game, whatever! They can talk about WHY it's their favorite game, or they can describe what it's about or explain to others briefly how to play it. Hopefully this will provide some good results and be a fun experience for the kids who are part of it, as well as entertaining to those watching.
If you need recording software, try Audacity. From
their site: "Audacity
is free, open source software for recording and
editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux,
and other operating
systems."
Schools have poo-pooed the idea of Public Displays of Affection. But now, a school in Vienna, Virginia has outlawed not only hugs and hand-holding, but even high-fives, handshakes and ANY physical content. Apparently, subjective thinking and judgement calls have no place in an educational facility. Isn't this how Demolition Man started?
If your kids are interested in learning the basics of video game programming, of if you're looking for a free alternative to Flash for creating simple games or cartoons, check this out: Scratch by MIT. Rather than typing code, users can drag blocks of code and attach them like puzzle pieces to form programs. They can also upload their games to the Scratch website to share with others online. While it may not be terribly advanced, it makes a wonderful introductory tool. Using this will give kids a good understanding of how programming works before moving on to writing their own commands in another engine.
Hey! If you've been here before, you can see we've updated the website. Many thanks to my wife Lauren for her hard work -- it certainly saved time to let me work on my artwork rather than fussing with everything on the site myself.
Speaking of my wife, some folks have asked to hear more about me personally. I'll write up a quick summary here -- I'll be updating the "ABOUT" page soon.
My name is Jason Holm. My wife Lauren and I are unscholing our two sons -- Zac (2.5 years) and Sean (8 months). I recently quit my job at a curriculum development company and we moved to Ohio where Lauren will be attending nursing school, while I attempt to make a living doing freelance art, workshops and tutoring -- though it looks like I may be looking for other work soon.
As a secular unschooler, I'm probably among the minority of the homeschooling crowd, so my comics might not appeal to everyone. But I hope that now and then, something you find here strikes a chord with you! Aves Volant - Piscis Natat - Homines Discimus
Out of Africa
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Talk About Games
Be Well, Citizen
New Site and All About Me