education - Hands On Books

NEW! BUILDER BOARDS, 3rd Edition

Contains a new chapter on taking the “World’s Largest Set” out to community events.

My First Woodworking Class with Young Children

It was the most meaningful, fun, and interesting woodworking I’d ever done.

Sailing Through High School, a nauticaul alternative

“What do we want, a kid who is actively engaged in learning something new everyday or a bored, disaffected teenager, who is reluctantly putting in his time at school?”

Kids: Take It Apart

This is an electricity board made from parts taken from a VCR and a tape deck. It is powered by and electric train transformer. It got a lot of kids interested in electricity.

Go Carts Verses the Science Olympiad or Third Grade Engineering

When I was in the third grade, my sister and I and a couple neighborhood kids designed “go carts”.

The Electricity Board

Electricity is a slippery subject. Its hard to wrap your mind around something you can’t see.

A Dollhouse from a Recycled Drawer

My wife got the idea to build a doll house for our grandkids and got a big drawer from the restore.

Builder Boards……24 Years Later

Recently a teacher friend completed a set with her class of sixth graders and told me an amusing story about teaching practical math. She divided the class into groups, gave each group a board and the plans, and told them to draw the position of the notches on the board. Of course, each group had the notches in a different position so….. they had to figure out which plan was right.

Pictures of the “World’s Largest Set” of Builder Boards at the Park.

Builder Boards goes to the park: More pictures: A good time was had by all.

Solar Energy with Kids

Solar cooked hot dogs really do taste better

Woodshop for Kids: Table of Contents

Below is the Table of contents from Woodshop for Kids

A Rube Goldberg Machine from a Treadle sewing Machine

when it quit working I’d say, “can you figure out what’s wrong?”

Four Speeds in Reverse

To save money, and as an antidote to book work, my college buddy Joe and I used to work on our VW’s together. VW Repair for the Complete Idiot was our bible and if it failed us Joe, who didn’t like big business capitalists, would consult VW of America and do the opposite of what they recommended.