Unschool Rules

In early 2011, our family took a trip to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia to see a special exhibit on the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci.

Very unfortunately for today’s post, photography wasn’t permitted in the exhibit, but even without pictures as a reminder, we’ve remained interested in the work of this artist, inventor, scientist and mathematician.

And that’s why, for what would have been his birthday on April 15, I’m sharing a few resources and thoughts today about da Vinci as part of the iHomeschool Network’s celebration of April birthdays.

Da-Vinci

All about Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was born April 15, 1452, in the small town of Vinci (hence the “da Vinci” part of his name).

Disclosure: This post has some affiliate links. I only link to things we legitimately use and recommend, so if you see such a link, it's because we really do believe in the book or item!

He was the illegitimate son of a wealthy notary, Messer Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci, and a peasant woman, Caterina. His name really means Leonardo, son of (Sir) Piero, of Vinci, so he doesn’t have what we’d call a traditional last name!

While he was fairly well-educated in many disciplines as a child, it was art that really caught Leonardo’s eye, and he apprenticed himself to artist Andrea di Cione, known as Verrocchio, when he was 14. He worked with Verrocchio for many years.

Now, we recognize da Vinci as a true Renaissance polymath – a man who could invent with an eye for mathematics and architectural detail, an artist, a philosopher. But during his life and the years after, he was primarily known for his art, most notably his paintings of The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. He was a much more prolific sketcher than painter, however, keeping dozens of notebooks of sketches; one of his most famous is The Vitruvian Man, which I love because it combines the ideals of art and math as it studies human proportion.

If you haven’t seen it before, one of my favorite da Vinci inventions is the mechanical lion. Legend has it that da vinci may have actually built a working version of this for the king of France that actually stopped and dropped several flowers!

In this YouTube video, you can see a reconstruction based on da Vinci’s sketches of this mechanical lion. I can’t imagine building such a thing using today’s technology, and here was a man who envisioned it hundreds and hundreds of years ago! We were able to see a different replica of this at the Franklin Institute exhibit, and it is the one thing I truly wish I had photos of!

Books and more to help you learn about Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo’s Anatomical Drawings from the Dover Art Library is a great, low-cost look at specifically the figure studies of da Vinci.
This Da Vinci Catapult Kit will help you build your own – you guessed it – working catapult. (A small one.) We have this kit and cannot wait to build it!
Journal of Inventions: Leonardo da Vinci is the book I most highly recommend. You’ll get to see all sorts of da Vinci’s creations in 3-D popup format. It’s not just for little kids – I love looking through it myself!
If you have younger kids, Who Was Leonardo da Vinci? is part of a beginners’ biography series we have loved.

A quick museum plug

sarah-building-da-vinci If you happen to be on the East Coast of the United States, I highly recommend a trip to the Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

So does Sarah; in fact, when I started working on this post, that was what she said I had to be sure to tell everyone to go and do!

The museum is designed more for slightly younger children than Ashar, but she still had a great time with some of the more advanced exhibits, like the “build an earthquake-resistant building” one you can see her working at here.

She also loved learning about the museum’s namesake, da Vinci, and his dream to build a 24-foot-tall horse sculpture. You wouldn’t think this would be an architectural feat, but it truly was.

Join the birthday party

If you’re interested, there are many more cool “April birthday” lessons from my fellow iHomeschool Network bloggers. Click the image below to check them out!

And thanks for stopping by to help me wish Leonardo da Vinci a happy birthday!

You can check out more posts in our Learning Party series here!

Almost since the beginning of our homeschooling journey in 2012, Ashar has been fascinated by space. We’ve investigated it through history, through astronomy, and possibly through the most detail in fiction. Specifically, Ashar has watched every episode of several Star Trek series on Netflix, watched all the movies, read dozens of Star Trek books, and otherwise immersed herself in the world of the Starship Enterprise!

That’s why, as part of the iHomeschool Network celebration of some noted figures born in March, I’ve chosen to take a look at three of the mainstays of Star Trek: The Original Series – William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk); Leonary Nimoy (Science Officer Mr. Spock); and James Doohan (Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott, aka “Scotty”).

This month, instead of going into great detail on all three of these gentlemen, I’m going to share a few fun facts about their lives, and then direct you to some amazing resources for homeschooling with Star Trek that do a much more thorough job than I could possibly do!

All about William Shatner, aka James T. Kirk

Disclosure: This post has some affiliate links. I only link to things we legitimately use and recommend, so if you see such a link, it's because we really do believe in the book or item!

William Shatner, who was born March 22, 1931, celebrates his 83rd birthday this year.

Shatner is actually Canadian – born in Montreal, Quebec.

He’s been acting since the 1950s – and all of the Star Trek actors filmed their episodes from 1966 to 1969, more than 20 years before I was watching it on reruns and more than 40 years (!!) before Ashar dug into Star Trek on Netflix!

You can read more about Shatner on Wikipedia, on his website and on his IMDB page.

All about Leonard Nimoy, aka Mr. Spock

Nimoy also turns 83 this year; he was born March 26, 1931, in Boston. Like Shatner, he acted in some theater and mid-level movie roles before being cast as the half-Vulcan, half-human science officer Spock. (Interestingly, he and Shatner first worked together in 1964 on an episode of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.!)

After Star Trek, he continued to act in a variety of roles, and both starred in many of the Star Trek movies, and directed one of the most popular ones, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

Unknown to me until Ashar took an interest in him, Nimoy also directed Three Men and a Baby! His varied career also includes the release of several records, his skill as a private pilot, his original training as a photographer, and two autobiographies, I Am Not Spock and I Am Spock.

One of the things I love most is hearing that he and Shatner really are lifelong friends, especially since their TV and movie friendship is one of the most awesome things I’ve ever seen.

You can read more about Nimoy on Wikipedia, at his photography website and on IMDB.

All about James Doohan, aka Montgomery Scott

Doohan is the member of this trio who has, unfortunately, passed away. He was born March 3, 1920, and died July 20, 2005, a couple of years before Ashar started watching him portray the always-competent engineer Montgomery Scott. (Interestingly, Doohan’s middle name was Montgomery, and he chose the name Montgomery Scott for his character after his grandfather.)

Like Shatner, Doohan was born in Canada, and in fact served in the Royal Canadian Artillery during World War II, and was shot six times storming Juno Beach on D-Day. (Unfortunately, he was shot by a fellow Canadian!) He survived, but his right middle finger was amputated, which he concealed all during his acting career.

Though his noted “Scottish” accent as Scotty is perhaps one of the most famous of all time, Doohan actually had a talent for many accents and went over them with creator Gene Roddenberry to find the right one for the part.

Interestingly, for a long time, Doohan did not get along well with Shatner in real life, even being quoted as saying “I like Captain Kirk, but I can’t say that I’m very fond of Bill.” Before his death, though, the two did appear together on more amiable terms.

You can read more about Doohan on Wikipedia and on his IMDB page.

And, of course, you can hear some of his most famous lines here!

Star Trek learning

Now this is what it’s all about, for our family. We love to learn through books and movies, and we don’t really differentiate between “educational” movies and books and “noneducational” ones.

Some movies, though, really spark a lot of discussion even when they don’t purport to be traditionally educational, and Star Trek series is a great example of this. Some of the things it led us to talk about include:

On Milk and Cookies: Amy’s Homeschooling with Star Trek guide offers printables, vocabulary lessons, links to the real science behind the series and more. She also offers detailed guides like Teaching European History with Star Trek, Teaching Ancient History with Star Trek, Teaching 19th Century History with Star Trek and Teaching 20th Century History with Star Trek
On Layered Soul: Stacey wrote about Leonard Nimoy as part of last year’s birthday celebration in a fascinating take combining art and science, Poetry, Photography, and Leonard Nimoy.

Join the birthday party

If you’re interested, there are many more cool “March birthday” lessons from my fellow iHomeschool Network bloggers. Click the image below to check them out!

And thanks for stopping by to help me wish William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and James Doohan a happy birthday in thanks for all the fun they (and Star Trek) bring our family!

You can check out more posts in our Learning Party series here!