Yesterday was a big win for me as an unschooling father.

I've raised two daughters who are highly intelligent and taught themselves many things.

In fact, my almost 17 year old daughter is excelling in high school after having never been to school until 2021.

To be honest I'm not sure how I feel about her being good at school, but she's proud of herself and enjoys being one of the brightest in her class.

But my boys haven't shown a lot of drive and that's had me worried. Until yesterday.

My 14 year old son told me that he wants to start a business. He wants to be able to buy a car when he turns 16.

He wants to learn about investing so he can be financially secure by his 20s.

And he wants to take classes on public speaking.

I am so proud of him right now. He's starting to envision his own future and creating it for himself.

He asked me, "What's that book I heard you say everyone should read before they become an adult?"

By the way, it's How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

I read it for the first time when I was 48 and have been kicking myself ever since for not reading it sooner.

I will try to guide him, but I have to be gentle with my guidance.

He's a great kid but if I push too much he won't want to do it.

What I really want is to help him find a mentor who is around 20-22 years old and into the things he is, but also already an entrepreneur.

They're out there and as I've gotten older I realized how I wish I had someone who had encouraged me to find a mentor at an early age.

It's that time of the week! It's MAKER Monday! Every week, we'll share things about things we or others have made, interesting artistic creations, fun new knowledge, education in the maker community, and leave you with a weekly challenge!

Monday Maker Magic:

I love this one.

I came across this YouTube video of a woman who makes multi-plane animations.

In the video, she explains the rig she built to create her movies.

She gives all the details abot how she created it and why she made a lot of the decisions she did in her design.

it's a short and fascinating video. At least to me it is.

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Artistry in Action (Artist Spotlight):

My family loves Disney Animation. We have for some time now.

In fact, we recently saved enough Disney Movie Rewards points to be able to attend a tour of Disney Animation Studios!

We saved for YEARS for it and are so excited to go in a few months.

Building on the Maker spotlight from above, did you know that Walt Disney and his animators used a multi-plane camera for their early movies?

In this clip it is being used for the opening scene in Bambi, but it really is a fascinating creation.

The Wikipedia article gets into depth about how it was used.

Apparently the first one they used at Disney Animation Studios was created from parts from an old Chevrolet!

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Knowledge Nuggets:

I usually like to keep things in here technology related, but one of my passions is food and health.

That said, I often wonder what our ancestors ate prior to the introduction of processed foods.

I've been studying how the French and Italians eat all the foods that tend to make us fat in America and why that is.

From what I have concluded it has more to do with how they eat and how they prioritize food quality.

They eat a very small breakfast, typically a larger lunch that takes 2 hours, and a smaller dinner.

They don't snack at all, especially the French, other than maybe a little something around 4:00.

I did read about a town in Northern Italy where gelato is often enjoyed at that time, but their serving size is smaller than what we in America would call a kids size.

It made me wonder if our Colonial American ancestors ate similarly. Apparently not, but I found this article about the weird things they ate and I thought it was perfect for this weeks Knowledge Nugget.

Fair warning, there are some weird ones like oyster ice cream. But even that's not the weirdest.

Education Exchange:

This is too cool.

It's a YouTube short of a scientist.

He takes a penny and suspends it over acetone. Nothing happens.

But when he heats it up and then suspends it over the acetone, the penny stays hot!

It acts as a catalyst and will remain hot until the acetone eventually runs out!

Definitely looks like a fun experiment.

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Rise to the Challenge (Weekly Challenge):

Here is this weeks challenge. If you enjoyed the newsletter, share it with friends!

And if you didn't enjoy it, let me know what I can do to improve!

Consider the gauntelt thrown down!

Thank you Reader for joining us this week on our making journey! If you have anything to add or you want to share what you've been working on, please don't hesitate to respond!

Please share this with your friends and help us grow our maker community! If you haven't already, like our Facebook Page and join our Facebook group, Homeschool Makers and 3D Printing Enthusiasts!​

Now get out there and create something amazing!