University of Swaylock's

General Discussion
1

Ok this is a little odd I admit. But as a homeschooling parent I have the ability/opportunity to teach my kids through different mediums and techniques. What I am thinking of doing is having them design, shape, create artwork, and glass their own boards. My daughter, Ellizabeth (lilsurfergirl), is already in the process, but I am thinking of making it mandatory for my two sons as well. The reason I am bringing it here is for some input/ideas as to how I might set it up, and also possibly use the community of Swaylock’s to help “grade” them. Feel free to throw out any and all ideas.

Thanks very much.

-Gary

2

teach it to 'em when they can have an appreciation for the physics of a surfboard’s flow through water. planning out a board to have certain features that will yield a predetermined result could be a great way to teach them hydrodynamics (although, it could require lots of “RESEARCH” and “TESTING” … a/k/a SURFING!!!).

3

Your children would have to be interested in the subject to learn through this medium.

This echos in my head “Dad Dad, I want to play the Clarinet”, buy the instrument, books, lessons, petrol, travelling time etc etc.

The week after “Dad Dad, I want to do ballet instead”…

Not trying to put a dampener on your idea but something to consider…

Bloody good idea though but not for my 3 little cherubs…

good luck.

cheers

Hicksy

4

Mandatory…

force feed em sanding 101

right after practicing the piano and

before little league

then pop warner

intramural tetherball…

Shapespear,Amedaeus Moyer,

a report,1,ooo words on the effects of simmons ,on the fabric of today’scontemporary surf culture as compared with his acceptance of his post war contemporary critix

the affectation of ''drug culture" mores on sixties surfing attitudes

The death of chuck Dent contrasted with the life of Snodgrass

The drawbacks to living at the strand for a kid {gremlinism and you}/can you find a bottle cap to flip in the 21st century?..what a school ,a potential cornicopia of misinformation…

surfing according to State senator Fred Hemmings

… ambrose … volenteering to address the graduating class of 3oo for transportation and a handsome fee,or a new mat

5

There is nothing like working with your hands, but when something becomes “Mandatory” kids tend to rebel, and it could eventually lead to a hatred of something they once loved. Mandatory…that doesn’t sound fun. it should be a memorial experience, not a 10,000 word report on the “Physics of surfing”. although i do not know your kids, or their age and level of maturity, but shaping a board is an involved process and i would not force an 11 year old to shape a board, but i do wish i was given that opportunity as a child. as far as grading goes, grade them on what they have taken in from the experience, which can not be measured by numbers, or how well their boards turned out, it will be their first experience shaping and not all have craftsman skills.

Good Luck

If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Just make it better.

6

I hope they start right at the begining, fixing dings and foiling fins, earning their first dollar to pay for the materials. Smell the dust and fumes before committing.

They must understand the design to product experience. Most of all understand the design.

And if they don’t manage their money well, they don’t get to do the fun vacuum bag bit with the expensive epoxy.

Are you a strict home teacher? Strictly surfing that is!

Great idea, as long as they are learning the right lessons.

7

I don’t think I gave enough info.

  1. A mandatory subject is just a part of school. I had to go to wood/metal shop, but I never hated it. It was my favorite part of school. It’s a heck of a lot better than strictly math or social studies. By mandatory I mean I will require a set schedule and completion.

  2. Ellizabeth is 15, Nathan 16 1/2, and Jarret is 18. The boys work with me in my composites/metal shop.

  3. They are all very creative and good with their hands so I think they’ll be able to handle it.

  4. It’s either make a surfboard or book studies. What would you want to do?

  5. I am responsible to teach them a subject and I have found that the things I love are much more easily conveyed and have a certain infectious nature about them. Also It would be a lot easier for me to follow along with something like this than building a computer or a radio controlled airplane or something else I know nothing about.

  6. I’ve built alot of stuff but I’ve only shaped one board so any advice, including all of the above, is appreciated.

Thanks again, keep it comin’.

8

question…

do they all surf ?

if not, why would THEY be interested in making a surfboard ?

[ just a quick reality check, not a downer]

ben

9

You might even be able to slide in a little practical math by upsizing

some board dimensions using direct proportioning - just don’t let them

know that’s what it is… as in “6’ is to 7’6” as 19" is to X" kind of thing,

or perhaps learning to draw full sized templates from a scale drawing

without the

help of a computer.

10

okay, assuming the answer to my first question in my last post is yes …a tiny selection of possible subject choices : -

  1. surf etiquette 101… eg : where and how [ ? and why?] NOT to surf a 13’ board

  2. wetsuit making and repair ?

  3. wax making

  4. first aid and resuscitation

  5. shaping

  6. airbrushing

  7. pigmenting

  8. glassing

  9. resins and cure times / temps

  10. tinting

  11. sanding

  12. fin making

  13. box and plug installation

  14. what conditions for what boards

  15. board design theory / features

16.videoing surfing 102

  1. surf photography…land

  2. surf photography …water

  3. surf photography…aerial [for those with chopper licence friends]

  4. surfboard repairs

  5. basic surfing skills…paddling, sitting, duckdiving, reading the ocean , etc…

… and the list goes on …and on…

  ben
11

yea chipp…

  1. aprehension of god manifest

23 .death and resurection.

  1. baptism in daily life

25 . seminary in the shorebreak

  1. trancendental trajectories within the inshore surfline

27.exploratory voyages into the microcosm

28.alternatives to commercial corruption of inspired activities

…and the light is passed onto someone who peerhaps can percieve the light…is it blinking?

…ambrose …pick a topic

12

Excellent Idea. I had metal shop I made a spoon I never used. Although I enjoyed clowning about and melting things I never used it again.

Your idea has so many possibilities.

  1.  You can get them to do research into the market.  Average cost of a board and sale price etc. 

  2.  Get them to design a board. 

  3.  Get them to draw up a budget and a time scale and plan for production based on the board design all the bussines tools we use out in the real world. 

  4.  Grade there use of tools. 

  5.  …… And the list goes on.

Get a few Swaylicians in the area to grad their work.

These are all useful skills that I had to learn in the work place after school and college

Good luck keep us posted

13

option two …the course : " Media run university " …

  1. how to make yourself into a pretty enough boy [or girl] to pick up sponsors

  2. how to lose your soul to the ‘surf’ indutry

  3. (a) how to hook up your own personal cameraman / videographers (b)…how to act like a prick works here…

  4. what ‘tuuunes’ to listen to… so you are “hip”, ‘bra/bro’ …check the surfer discussion website regularly for [mis]guidance

  5. how to bleach your hair , tan your skin , spray /graffiti your boards

  6. how to ‘soul surf’ your way around the world…and get paid for it

  7. surfspeak dude 103

  8. drive the most ‘in’ car …today [on your sponsors’ $ ]

  9. how to score free boards every day when you break your wafer over your head because you only won $30,000usa for coming second [see 24(b)]

…THIS list would be longer than my first one (… and more important to some too [?!!] )

ben

14
Quote:

Excellent Idea. I had metal shop I made a spoon I never used. Although I enjoyed clowning about and melting things I never used it again.

now, if that had been FIBREGLASS shop instead, and you’d made a carbon fibre spoon [standup board], you might still be using it to this day…

Good to learn things we’ll actually USE , eh ?!!

[For me, 90 % of that happened AFTER I left school…thank god for english skills though ! I use THEM daily!]

   ben
15

Don’t like it. Too resrtrictive. Lay out the theme of the unit. Fluid dynamics and physics if that is what you think is important. Decide on the key ideas and knowledge to be learned. Let them decide how to aquire the knowledge and what they will build. Could be a surfboard, boat, submarine, ocean going weather buoy, weather station, fish/cetacean hydrodynamics,etc. Mike

16

sorry Mike, I should have specified…as with Ambroses preceeder, my option 2 post was also [attempted] humour…just to lighten it some. [first post was serious, though]

17

Hi Chip,

I was not responding to your post. I was responding to Aqua’s original idea. Later, Mike

18

Yes, they all surf. But are still in the “beggining” stage.

I like the idea of a budget, but then I don’t want to Limit the creativity.

Ben in your jesting you actually gave me an idea. They might be able to get material companys to sponsor thier

projects and donate materials.

At this point I am thinking of dividing it up into stages:

a. design

b. shaping

c. artwork (unless they want to do tinted/swirled resin)

d. glassing

e. testing. To include trying eachothers boards and comparing.

Not that there is anything wrong with just picking a board, but the problem I am really stuck on is giving a purpose to which board they pick. All the other stages are somewhat absolute in nature. The board is either shaped or not. But the design phase is quite arbitrary. I wouldn’t want to squelch any creativity, after all Ben, one of them might be the next Greenough, but I also don’t want them to try and build something that is unridable and will just end up in their closet or worse yet in the dumpster. I guess I could have them do a proposal of the design with the reasons they chose it. The concept would not only include the shape of the board but it’s intended construction technique. i.e. bagged lam or hand lam, poly or epoxy, artwork concepts etc. Each of the above stages would be given a time limit (2-3 weeks),

Their grade would not be affected so much by quality as by sticking to the concept and timeline. The idea is to use the whole process to teach them a few valuable life skills/lessons, i.e. finishing what you start, staying within a budget, dealing with deadlines, making proposals, to name a few. I dam not really into the A,B,C,D,F grading scale. We have always done it like this; If there is a wrong answer, say in thier math, we just go over it again until they get it all correct. That is why I thought of including all you Swaylockians. They could propose the concept here. You all may not like what they propose, in which case I don’t give a… er I mean, That part would not necessarily be open for discussion. Although we would still be open to an “glaring fault” if some one happened to point it out.

19

Is your goal in homeschooling to guide them into well-rounded adulthood? To get them into college? To let them take over the family business? Some or all of the above?

Would you have them make surfboards for them or for you? (not the end receipient, but who desires the proces)

I’d say give them some more wide-open instructions and let them work out the details. Like give them a budget and say they have to build a piece of recreational equipment that they can acutally use. You never know, your little girl might build herself a hangglider.

20

well that settles it …two to three weeks = a model or an extensive ding repair…ok next idea in line ,move along,…good afteernoon and how may the think tanque help you …ambrose… mek peroxide[toxic catalyst best used outdoors]

{connundrum]… ?