Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Solar Oven



I've been excited about this idea of a solar oven since I found the instructions for one online. So, I made one today. Unfortunately, it was not sunny enough today to really get it going, but the temperature neared 140 degrees at times. It warmed the hot dogs I put in it, slightly.

I'd love to build a real one to take camping with us, to cook with on the beach or cook on in the summer when it's too hot to turn on the oven. I know I could use the slow cooker, but this is neat because it doesn't require any energy but sunshine. There's a very cool site about the benefit of solar ovens to energy poor countries.

Today, we played on a fun science site called Wonderville. Both kids found it entertaining for quite awhile. The 3d environment is really neat.

Aria read twenty-five pages of a chapter book on her own! I read to Casey who wanted to continue the book until chapter six. Awesome-ness on both counts. Aria hasn't read a book on her own since I can't remember when. I'm sure the aversion was because she was forced to read a whole lot of books in school that were of no interest to her and I think her comprehension of the material has improved, considerably. She came to me after she read and relayed all of what she had read in those twenty-five pages. Casey, in turn, told her about his story.

Aria wanted a worksheet to practice her math facts. She finished 50 problems in a relatively short time. I think I'm seeing a light bulb go on with those troubling things. I see her putting in the effort to commit them to memory, finally.

Casey played addition pinball online. He read me a few books on Starfall.com. Aria played a game practicing recognition of nouns and verbs. We finished up by about 1:00pm.

Connor played a pinball game and on Starfall.com, too. He watches everything we do. He recognizes a few words like go, stop, and play. He can type his own name and tries to write a little sometimes. He's learning a lot just by watching from the sidelines.

I productive day over all, I feel.

4 comments:

Solar Cooker at Cantinawest said...

Greetings,
Kudos for trying the home made solar cooker.
It is a little bit more challenging at this time of the year as opposed to the summer time but it can be done.
Yes, it does help when the weather cooperates.

I have cooked many different things with a solar cooker, both the homemade and the manufactured type, and they have both functioned very well.

Keep working with it and you will get the results you are looking for.
Nathan Parry
solarcooker-at-cantinawest.com

jbantau said...

You've got a really informative site. Thanks for sharing, Nathan.

Jill

Ruralmama said...

This is one project we haven't tackled yet. I'd love to try it out with the girls next summer though.

Thanks for the link--catinawest!

Sarah said...

We made on of those this past summer- tried s'mores and eggs in it. We will be trying again next year to perfect the design.
(http://allboyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2008/09/more-solar-oven-fun.html) Have fun!