Airplanes & Flight Unit Study

In this house, we do airplanes in a BIG WAY!  So it seems fitting to share this extensive unit study for National Aviation Day (August 19th) with you, our friends.  Of course...every day is aviation day here.

My grandfather would have been 90 this year...on Father's Day.  We always held a big family cookout and then the 'boys' would go to the airport for the afternoon.  Being the oldest grandkid, I tagged along with them, because I really really loved flying!!

Not a day goes by that I don't remember my grandfather's voice.  He was the 'one,' the one special grandparent that you connect to more than any of the others.  I'm sure each of you has one, too.  If s/he is still alive, would you pick up the phone and have a conversation with them today?  For all of those who can no longer do so.

Since the Flying Ace, our resident pilot-in-training, has been wanting to visit the airport again, we popped into the airport I grew up in, while we were in the area.  A few faces are missing, and it was raining, but ......everything changes, right?

The oldest was most interested in all of the vintage aviation gear out in the sitting room of the airport.  When I was growing up, none of this was here....it was definitely a man cave back then!!

This airport happens to house the local medical emergency helicopter for a larger hospital in the area.  We were able to see how helicopter controls are different from airplanes.

One of my uncles works on airplanes as a job, and builds them for fun.  I guess you could say this whole 'flight thing' is in the blood!  Here, he is showing the boys a plane he just helped finish.

The boys got to see how these light airplanes are built, from start to finish.  They also learned how to use navigational charts to create a flight plan.  They had the privilege of working with one of the best flight instructors in the area as part of our older son's Boy Scout Aviation Badge.

Get the Charlotte Mason-inspired We Were There at the First Airplane Flight novel study here.

Aviation Unit

Read

• Big Book of Airplanes
• I Can Read : Wright Brothers
• The Glorious Flight & lapbook
• Legacy of Flight
• Flying Aces of WW1
• The Red Baron (graphic novel)

Watch

• The Aviators
• Fly Boys
• Living in the Age of Airplanes
• Planes: Fire & Rescue
• The Aviation Channel

Make / Do for Any Age

• Airplane Coloring Book (free download)
• Make Your Own Bi-plane
• Airplane Parts worksheet
• Magic School Bus Soaring into Flight Kit
• Take a Cessna Tour
• Virtual Tour : Inside a Cockpit
• Track Flights in Real Time
• Aviation For Kids site (lots to explore!)
• Fly the Wright Flyer

Make / Do for Older Kids

• Take a FREE flight with the Young Eagles
• Up, Up, and Away!
• The History & Physics of Flight
• Cradle of Aviation Educator Guide
• Learn how to fly a plane and operate at the airport (free download)

Vocabulary Words

flight	wind tunnel	air flow	air pressure	force	flight simulation
prototype	propulsion	aviation	aircraft	paper airplane	aerodynamics
balloon	spacecraft	airplane surfaces	test pilot	military aircraft	airplane
aircraft design	wind	glider	boomerang	kite	Bernoulli's Principle
wing	lift	parachute	air resistance	Air Traffic Control	thrust
Peregrine Falcon	pitch	roll	gravity	drag	Venturi Effect
blimp	airship	balloon	Concorde	seaplane	warbird
experimental aircraft	home built	cargo plane	hanger	airline	helicopter

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