Explore every episode of the podcast Unschooling with Kai

This is our final episode in the Dust Series! We get down and dusty talking about the facts of the Dust Bowl and dust mites. Also, we've got a whole slew up updates, and a whole slew of questions that will one day become updates!

It's been a minute, but let us regale you in stories and facts about space dust and animals' use or dust baths. Also, we have a few updates to previous episodes. Be on the look out for the next episode soon! YAY!

We get down to the actual why behind house dust and answer the question "What is the purpose of vacuuming if you're just kicking up dust anyway?" Of course, we get into the physics of dust movement which brings up so many more questions and tangents. Enjoy!

Here is our exploration episode trying to nail down what we already know about DUST--one of our current mutual interests. What's cool is we walk away from this conversation with some great questions to lead us into the next episode! Feel free to respond with any comments, questions, or answers!! (unschoolingwithkai@gmail.com)

We round out our Crows series with this final episode getting into mating and nesting, fledglings and juveniles, group cohesion, migration, mobbing, and our lingering questions. Enjoy!

This is our third edition in the Crows series and we get into conversation about crows' diet, sounds they make, their intelligence, experiments with them and finally, some cool stats.

This is our second episode in the Crow series and we're reporting back what we've researched and learned about their scientific background, a little of their history, some parallels to humans, and a comparison to ravens. Enjoy!

It’s been a while but we’re back in action with an in-depth look at crows. We talk about our experiences seeing and feeding crows, Science Comics, and what we’ve learned so far about these smart corvids. Is there anything else you can add to our knowledge base or any question you want to find the answer to? Ask us at unschoolingwithkai@gmail.com :D

Jet shockwave photo: https://scienceinfo.net/capture-a-rare-image-of-a-shock-wave-when-the-plane-is-near-the-speed-of-sound.html

Listen in about some of the physics behind what makes the back of the bus bumpier. We talk about the wheelbase, the bounce amplification, and the suspension. Enjoy!

What’s the deal with those little black plastic tire valve caps? Do they actually hold air in the tires? Do you even need them? Find out in this episode of Unschooling With Kai!

After just having witnessed the recent solar eclipse, we started talking about speed and distance and this question popped up. Join us as we jump into some updates from previous episodes and then break down the distances of a light second, light hour, light day, and light year.

When should you use a brush versus a comb? Does it depend on your hair type? Listen in while we try to get this tangle of an episode all straightened out. 🤭

We talk about wax sealing and get a little into the history, the significance of certain wax colors, and the possibility of counterfeiting wax seals. Enjoy!

The short answer? No. And Yes. Tricky, huh? Guess you’ll have to listen to the episode to learn more about the ootheca, the mantid life cycle, and some unrelated updates on pathogens, antigens, and black holes!

We dive into an interesting discussion about the immune system’s role in collateral damage (AKA pain) to our body. We highly recommend you check out Philip Dettmer’s book called Immune or the Kurzgesagt channel to dig deeper into our body’s immune system.

We talk about horse and donkey offspring and what genetically stops them from reproducing!

How about that question? Is it a mouthful? Well the science behind it is not as complicated! Join us on another episode of Unschooling with Kai!

Are you an older person without knee pain? Or a young person with knee pain without a history of injury or other explanation? Let us know at unschoolingwithkai@gmail.com !!

Today we talk about Ebenezer Scrooge’s exclamation in Charles Dicken’s 1843 book A Christmas Carol. Enjoy!

We talk all things video game size from some of the largest Steam games to some of the smallest Nintendo games. We also explain kilobytes, megabytes, and gigabytes. Enjoy!

Welcome to Season Five of Unschooling with Kai! This is our first question we’re answering in this new format. Let us know what you think! Also, feel free to share any questions you want answered at unschoolingwithkai@gmail.com. Enjoy!

We talk about MWDs and the Gear they use, their History, Rehabilitation after service, and some Dog Tales. Also, we have a big announcement at the end!!

This episode we dive into the Military Working Dogs and figure out what they can do, what kind of dogs they are, which forces uses them, and what their specific training is. Stay tuned for part two!

In the this second Amtrak episode, we talk about: what it’s like to ride on an Amtrak train, specific train equipment, the future of Amtrak, and our own personal experience. Enjoy!

It’s been awhile but we’re back with a short but sweet episode on Amtrak. We talk about what it is, what routes they have, and some of the difficult history. Enjoy!

The end of this series includes some discussion on the science of the sonic boom. We also get into the secret Bell X-1 flight in 1947 and the Thrust SSC ride 50 years later. Enjoy!

We’ve arrived at season 4 of Unschooling with Kai and decided to kick it off with Sonic Booms! Here we explain what they are, how they happen, and give some everyday and some not-so-everyday examples. Enjoy!

This is our last episode in the bee series and possibly the last in this season. We talk about queens and their brood, bee communication, Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), and bee swarms. Enjoy! … Cover photo provided by: Melanie Mason. Melanie is an unschooling mom of two living in West Chester Ohio. She is a musician by trade, and teaches violin & viola private lessons in addition to playing viola professionally in the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. Just within this past year, Melanie has become fascinated with macro photography and has been taking pictures with her Olympus camera since Christmas. Prior to that time, she was taking pictures with a macro lens on her iPhone 12, which she actually bought to share the joy of looking at insects with her kids! She, however, quickly realized her passion for the art of macro photography, and the rest is history! You can find her on Instagram under her account: melaniemason. Prints of her work can be purchased on her website: https://melaniemasonmacro.myshopify.com/

In this third installment, we talk about that various things that bees produce. Then we discuss the various facets of domestication and human intervention including migratory beekeeping and (gasp) killer bees! …Cover photo provided by: Melanie Mason. Melanie is an unschooling mom of two living in West Chester Ohio. She is a musician by trade, and teaches violin & viola private lessons in addition to playing viola professionally in the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. Just within this past year, Melanie has become fascinated with macro photography and has been taking pictures with her Olympus camera since Christmas. Prior to that time, she was taking pictures with a macro lens on her iPhone 12, which she actually bought to share the joy of looking at insects with her kids! She, however, quickly realized her passion for the art of macro photography, and the rest is history! You can find her on Instagram under her account: melaniemason. Prints of her work can be purchased on her website: https://melaniemasonmacro.myshopify.com/

In this episode we discuss the various jobs a bee cycles through in their lifetime and then get deep into foraging and pollination! Video of vibrating bumblebee: https://youtu.be/SZrTndD1H10 **** The cover art (for this episode and the rest in the bee series) was provided by Melanie Mason. Melanie is an unschooling mom of two living in West Chester Ohio. She is a musician by trade, and teaches violin & viola private lessons in addition to playing viola professionally in the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. Just within this past year, Melanie has become fascinated with macro photography and has been taking pictures with her Olympus camera since Christmas. Prior to that time, she was taking pictures with a macro lens on her iPhone 12, which she actually bought to share the joy of looking at insects with her kids! She, however, quickly realized her passion for the art of macro photography, and the rest is history! You can find her on Instagram under her account: melaniemason. Prints of her work can be purchased on her website: https://melaniemasonmacro.myshopify.com/

Wow it’s been a while since our last episode, but we’re back with Bees! We discuss some bee basics, and then talk about some of their history, and cover “wintering.” This is definitely just the first in a longer bee series. Videos: mesopredators - https://youtu.be/G4K2oBhewFA … drone eviction - https://youtu.be/3gQTtudYUiQ Link: Bee Swarm Simulator on Roblox - https://www.roblox.com/games/1537690962/Bee-Swarm-Simulator **** The cover art (for this episode and the rest in the bee series) was provided by Melanie Mason. Melanie is an unschooling mom of two living in West Chester Ohio. She is a musician by trade, and teaches violin & viola private lessons in addition to playing viola professionally in the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. Just within this past year, Melanie has become fascinated with macro photography and has been taking pictures with her Olympus camera since Christmas. Prior to that time, she was taking pictures with a macro lens on her iPhone 12, which she actually bought to share the joy of looking at insects with her kids! She, however, quickly realized her passion for the art of macro photography, and the rest is history! You can find her on Instagram under her account: melaniemason. Prints of her work can be purchased on her website: https://melaniemasonmacro.myshopify.com/

In this second part of the immune system, we cover Murder University (the thymus), Gut Microbiome, Coronavirus and Vaccines, and finally Bacteriophages. Enjoy! Also, check out the Kurzgesagt videos we reference throughout The Immune System Minicasts: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFs4vir_WsTyY31efyHdmtp9l7DpR0Wvi

In this episode, we tackle our love for Kurzgesagt and their accessible explanations of the complicated immune system. We cover the innate and adaptive systems and what all of their cells and proteins do to protect our bodies! Check out the Kurzgesagt videos on the immune system in their Medicine & Biology Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFs4vir_WsTyY31efyHdmtp9l7DpR0Wvi

We talk about Kai’s favorite ants: the Weaver Ants and get into some specifics of Nests and Queens, Battle and Defenses, and Food and Drink. Enjoy! Also, here is the must-see video on how ants stick to surfaces: https://youtu.be/hd5upt3IrWM

We talk about Kai’s second favorite (and currently Dan’s favorite) type of ants: the Marauder Ants. We discuss their species as well as their extreme Polymorphism, Trails & Food, and Raids & Fighting. Enjoy!

We talk about Kai’s 3rd favorite kind of ant—the Army Ant! We specifically describe their bivouacs, raids, and their queens/reproduction. Enjoy!!

We talk about how ants communicate, about queens and reproduction, and about polymorphism (Kai’s favorite!). Hope you enjoy this episode!

For this episode and next well cover some general (yet still quite interesting) facts that pertain to the majority of ant species. In this episode we cover What Are Ants, Body Parts, and some Special Ants and their interesting abilities/sizes.

Wow, dive even deeper into black holes and talk about gravity, spacetime, and then Hawking Radiation and other quantum weirdness. Phew! Check out the following videos as recommended in this episode: Kurzgesagt Dinosaurs https://youtu.be/xaQJbozY_Is … VSauce Brachistochrome https://youtu.be/skvnj67YGmw … Kurzgesagt Information Paradox https://youtu.be/yWO-cvGETRQ

We dive deeper into black holes and discuss Andromeda’s central black hole, how light works, the picture of M87’s central black hole, as well as the biggest and smallest black holes. Stay tuned for the the third and final episode in this series!

We get our feet wet in this first installment of Black Holes discussing the first observed black hole, the formation of black holes, and the black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Check out our inspiration here: https://youtu.be/0FH9cgRhQ-k

We continue to discuss sauropods and in this episode we hit on their diet, why they got so big, their reproduction and young, as well as detailing a handful of the record-holders. See these Kurzgesagt videos for help understanding the size of life: https://youtu.be/f7KSfjv4Oq0 and https://youtu.be/MUWUHf-rzks

We intro sauropods—the biggest land animals to have ever lived. We talk about their classification, their general physical characteristics, and then place them in the larger picture of the Mesozoic era. For clarity, we recommend you look up the “archosaur clade” in an online image search!

We kick off Season 3 with ninja! What are they and what do they do? Are they still around? How were they trained? What weapons did they use? And were did they come from? We answer all of these questions and also give a quick summary of unschooling as well as our process for learning about each topic.

We compare and contrast the three largest US military cargo airplanes including the C-5 Galaxy, the C-17 Globemaster III, and the C-130 Hercules. Then we geek-out over the C-5, it’s sheer size, and all of the interesting facts we know about it. Check out our recommended videos on aerial refueling (https://youtu.be/r-s9ajt4aE8), kneeling (https://youtu.be/EqZUVtKzjtc), and backing up (https://youtu.be/PkCYCtIz33o). Finally, here is Kai posing in front of our C-17 Globemaster III chalk drawing (https://readingrecipe.blogspot.com/p/podcast-resources.html).

We briefly jump between dholes, jackals, dingoes, and African wild dogs giving fun facts on each one. One of these dogs even pees upside down! Here’s the video we mention of jackals masking their own scent: https://youtu.be/AhEdKY4ujjg

Coyotes: not quite the hopeless cartoon character nor the disease-ridden dog we’ve imagined. In fact, they’re rather well-adapted to the ever-changing environment.

We cover some of the cool facts and trivia concerning Grey Foxes, Arctic Foxes, Fennec Foxes, and Bat-eared Foxes. The “Kurzgesagt” video Kai mentioned is here: https://youtu.be/MUWUHf-rzks

We give a general discussion of foxes and their behavior and then specifically dive into Red Foxes. We’ll continue with other fox species next episode. Also, check out two videos we recommend from Save A Fox to see some “gekkering.” - (on Facebook) https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2127936207336098&id=376054892842542 and (on YouTube) https://youtu.be/3Pu12roK7Rc

We continue to explore wolves in this episode. We talk about: characteristics / abilities, the pack / hunting, and the den and pups. Enjoy!