One of the great things about being home schooled is creating your own learning experiences as a family. Birmingham was originally known and even started as a mining city. People were drawn here because of the massive amounts of raw resources (specifically Red Ore). Well, when those mines were abandoned, eventually those sites became parks, forests, and even preserves. One such place is Ruffner Mountain (which happens to be incredibly close to our house). So on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we were able to take a family trip to that mountain. It contains the remnants of a quarry and a below ground mine -and you can even see old machinery they used. We were able to visit both sites, as well as have a 5 mile hike as a family in the Appalachians. We then came home and researched the process of making steel from the ore, and how that had affected (and essentially built) the city of Birmingham. We found it fascinating. And we can log it as a field trip!
Hiking to the Quarry
On top of the Quarry
In the Quarry
Breedlove male exploration
A view of the crusher (what they put the raw rock in to crush it before sending it off to be melted down)
This is an open cave to the below ground mine. I wish we'd brought a head lamp!
Look at that tree in the rock!
Then we printed off pictures and did an oral report for our home school group. What a fun way to spend a day with Dad!
1 comment:
What a neat experience. Good job on making learning fun ;)
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