Spaceflight Academy - Gold Coast

Recently we were lucky enough to be invited along to the brand new Space Flight Academy which is about to open to the public here on the Gold Coast

If you have children that aspire to be an astronaut, a pilot or to work in the field of space flight in any way then you really need to get them down to the Space Flight Academy.

Upstairs you will find the lecture room, which would hold up to 40 people seated. Here you will be given an introductory run down on the simulators that are housed below on the ground level.

Space Flight Academy is recommended for children 11 and over. And rightly so, this is not kids party stuff, this is a serious space flight learning experience.

Here the kids are being trained on how to use the fighter jet controls.

Behind the lecture space is a second smaller class room area, where the academy has plans to hold high school level science classes, in topics such as aerodynamics and rocketry.

Our group was split in two, with one half heading straight into the fighter jet simulators.

This experience was much harder and way more involved than the kids every imagined. They all really enjoyed themselves, although it is something that you want to be coming back for again and again so you can perfect your skills.

The other half of the group were preparing to send some of their crew members into space. So some of them entered and worked in Mission Control, which is completely decked out like an actual control room and works in a similar fashion to one. Those working in the control room watch the space flight and converse with the astronauts during the flight.

The simulator in which the cadets use to train and head into to space with.

Their first briefing, of all the goings on inside the simulator. As you can see they are fully equipped with uniforms, and helmets which gives them radio access to Mission Control.

All smiles after his first successful space launch!

Around the room is other space themed paraphernalia with some of them being available for visitors to sit inside and take a closer look around.

I really would not like to be traveling through space in this little thing. Those are some very brave people!

Overall this was a fabulous experience and we were extremely chuffed to be one of the very first groups to go through the centre. Well done to the Space Flight Academy for making this happen. It will be such an asset to the Gold Coast area.

Happy Homeschooling,
Kylie

Ngutana Lui - Aborignal Culture Centre

This post has been sitting in my drafts for some time now, so I figured I should get around to actually sharing it with you all.

Earlier in the year we took a large group of home schooled children to spend a day immersed in Aboriginal Culture at the educational centre - Ngutana Lui.

During that same week we were studying the Aboriginal Culture with our micro school group at home, so it was perfect timing!

Everyone got to try their hand at boomerang throwing, some of them were really very good at it too.

They had fun with ochre face paint, traditional story telling, song and dance. This was such fun and was so nice to see each and every one of them having a great time!

Of course no day spent learning about Aboriginal Culture is complete without a spot of dot painting.

Throughout the day the kids were broken into 4 groups of approximately 20 children in each. They rotated through the various workshops. A couple I didn't get the opportunity to photograph, were a bush tucker walk, where they learn and understand all about the various native foods and a hands on interactive lesson on clothing, fibres and animals.

At the end of the day everyone came together to hear the majestical sounds of the didgeridoo.

If you live in south east Queensland, I highly recommend arranging a group visit to Ngutana Lui. This was our second visit and it won't be our last. Considering it only costs a few dollars per child, it is one of the most well organised and well run educational days that we have ever attended.

Visit the Ngutana Lui website here.

Happy Homeschooling,
Kylie

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Workshops Rail Museum - Build It

Yesterday we took a trip to the Ipswich Rail Museum, it's roughly 45 minutes from home, but is a great place to visit, especially if you have train loving kids in your house.

The children participated in a Crane Construction Workshop for a part of the visit.

They learnt about cranes, their function and the various types of cranes, via a series of slides and a presentation.

Then they proceeded to construct their own crane and work/play with its' various functions. Discussing what they were taught during the presentation.

Whilst the Bulid It Exhibition is on there are several activity stations placed around the museum all revolving around construction of some kind or another.

I don't think we got the opportunity to see even half of the hands on activities they had available.

Never the less, everyone had a fabulous time. During the week you are virturally the only ones there so definitely a great place to go for a day out.

Over the back of the museum they have a children's play area, with roads, a train track, bikes and trikes, large builidng blocks and trucks and trains to play in.

However, I warn you, it may be bery difficult to get your children to leave, I'm just sayin!

This post is linked to the Field Trip Blog Hop

Brisbane Model Train Show

We took the kids into the city yesterday to go see the annual Brisbane Model Train Show, little C is quite smitten with trains at the moment so I knew he would love this. Much to my surprise and delight everyone loved it!

All 3 boys from the biggest to the littliest had a blast and even us girls were quite intrigued with all of the grand models. The photo's really don't do them justice.

Of course within about 10 minutes the boys were 'bitten by the bug' and were off checking out trains to purchase for themselves, however once we realised how expensive this hobby actually is (1 train is roughly $500, no tracks nothing, just the train) we thought twice and just decided to enjoy our time admiring all of the hard work done by others.


Some of them had even thought to put in a few interactive tings for the children (mostly it was no touching) but this one used a foot pedal to stop Thomas at the station, trickier than it looked. There was a smaller table with a few trains for the kids to 'control' themselves.



It was very difficult to get good shots of the kids AND the trains, the barriers were too far away. I got a couple of cute video's but Blogger is not being kind so they aren't here. C just couldn't believe his eyes, everywhere he looked, trains and more trains!

This train is a scale model of Barron Gorge, part of the Kuranda rail line in Cairns, it was kinda neat seeing a miniature model of something we have travelled on ourselves.

By far the all time favourite area of the display was the Lego. It was also probably the largest single display. I can't remember the last time I saw B so excited, he didn't know which way to turn or where to look or where to go stand for the best viewpoint. They had everything you could imagine in Lego, trains, cars buildings, mountains, castles, fair grounds, it was a pretty spectacular display.

As you know B is a serious Lego fanatic so we have alot of what he saw on the display. He has now asked for a train (or two) which we have talked about before anyway. I'm much happier investing in Lego train sets as we can set them up on tables with all of the Lego pieces, rather than starting a whole new collection of something else. It's along wait for his birthday or Christmas though!

This was a fun morning, I'm very happy we made the effort to go.