Learning (and having some serious fun) with MythBusters

If you haven’t figured it out by now, our “learning lifestyle” (and really, our overall lifestyle) is based around a variety of specific, passionate interests.

In the past year or so, Ashar has been fascinated by, to name a few things,Β robots, the Titanic, the Phantom of the Opera, cowboys and Indians, space travel, ancient history and mythology, alchemy, Minecraft and James Bond.

Her personality is such that she pursues these interests passionately. She doesn’t play a little bit of Minecraft or read a few things about mythology. She wants to spend ALL her time on it. And as I’ve said before, the best part about homeschooling for us has been working with these interests rather than fighting against them.

Such is the case with Ashar’s latest passion.

MythBusters.

We’ve picked up a free trial of Netflix streaming, and one thing I added to our queue, thinking Ashar might be interested in it (and I knew I certainly would be) was MythBusters.

I actually can’t believe how much Ashar has gotten into this show. She’s watched more than two dozen episodes in the past two weeks, and shows no signs of slowing down. (And I just told her tonight that the new season started this week; you’d have thought she won the lottery!)

Not only is Ashar having a great time watching Adam and Jamie, the show’s stars, blow stuff up – and come on, that’s a huge draw for me, too – she has learned an amazing amount. I think her physics knowledge now surpasses mine, though that’s not hard to do!

So far, she’s found out:

  • … about the famous Diet Coke and Mentos explosions, and the chemistry behind how they actually work.
  • … that spy cars that spill oil slicks or tacks behind them probably wouldn’t reallyΒ stop their pursuers.
  • … that you can swim in syrup almost as fast as you can in water (and why!)
  • … how an escape from Alcatraz (made famous in a Clint Eastwood movie) could feasibly have happened.
  • … about 8,000 ways to escape – or not escape – from prisons in general, a piece of knowledge I actually hope will NEVER come in handy!
  • … how driving tired and driving while tipsy are similar – and how dangerous both are.
  • … that you might be able to escape a car flipped over underwater.
  • … that yawning really is contagious!
  • … and a whole bunch more.

I love it that we’re not afraid of “too much TV” in our house. We’d never have had this much fun or discovered this much (and that includes me, as I’m often watching with Sarah!) if we were working in opposition to her passion.

She’s not a TV junkie by any means, but I love that we can have marathons of the things she’s into!

What have you been watching – and learning from – lately?

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13 thoughts on “Learning (and having some serious fun) with MythBusters

  1. Katie loves Myth Busters and has watched them all multiple times. I am surprised how much it comes up in conversation as she tells us some of the facts she has learned.

    • Phyllis, this isn’t the first time I’ve thought that Katie sounds like an older version of Sarah! I think it’s neat how much alike they are. The funniest part is that we were watching Captain America last night because Sarah’s also on a bit of a superheroes kick, and at one point he is hanging on the roof of the car, and Sarah goes, “WE SAW THAT ON MYTHBUSTERS!” I cracked up!

  2. That is how we are right now with the Amazing Race. We wait until Greg gets home and every night we end our day with an episode. Love when you can watch TV AND learn “amazing” things!

    • Isn’t it great, Jessica? I keep thinking we should watch The Amazing Race but haven’t sat down and gotten into it yet. Will definitely keep that one in mind!

  3. I just finished reading your section of the iBlog book about using stock photo and images for your blog. It has been very enlightening to say the least. I certainly have some work to do in this area. Thank you a bunch for being a part of this great resource.

    Stephanie

  4. hey Joan, we love to learn with the tv too. last month we watch the REvolution a documentary from Netflix. It was really good… tomorrow we start “the men who built america”. the kids love pawn’s star, duck dinasty, 19 kids, youtube videos on gardening, chickens… we watch a lot of tv together and learn a ton. πŸ™‚

  5. That’s Firecracker’s new thing too!! (Well, at least when we can get Owlet to let us watch something other than Dora!) We just watched a paper cross-bow episode this afternoon, and I was like, “Dude! We could make that! It’s just paper-mache! Let’s try it out.” Firecracker, being very literal-minded, told me, “Mom, they said not to try this at home.” I reminded him that after watching one of the Ninja episodes that he spent half a day getting the consistency of oobleck right to make his toy soldiers “walk on water.” LOL

    • Hahaha, that sounds like Sarah. Chris was trying to get her to agree to do a Diet Coke and Mentos experiment and she was like, “But they said not to!” I was trying to explain they meant not the explosives part… πŸ™‚

  6. Wow, now I want to watch Mythbusters again! We picked up a cheap set of the DVDs a while back, I must dig them out!
    I just re-found your blog via the iBlogging book – I’m very happy I did, and I love your chapter in the book – thank you!
    Lucinda

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