John Deal sent the photos above and below of his grand children at work in his wood shop. He says of the experience:

Here are the photos I promised of Lauren (4 1/2) and Nathan (2 1/2) after their first day in Grandpa's shop. (Note: this was the FIRST time Lauren and Nathan had stayed the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa...) For Lauren I had cut out pieces she could glue together as a boat (which she did herself) and then choose the paint color and paint it (which she also did herself). For Nathan, I had cut out the car body, axles, and wheels; he sanded the car (with sandpaper over a small block of wood), glued the wheels on and then painted with his favorite color (with lots of help from Grandpa). I don't have to tell you the meaning of the looks on their faces...you've been there many times. You can't see mine right now, but it has a big smile, with just a bit of a tear of joy in the corner of my eyes...

What an incredible experience for all....

Today in the Clear Spring wood shop, the 5th and 6th grade students have been working on sliding book racks based on some I designed in a craftsman style. In order for these book racks to work, they have to be done with a great deal of precision. So, we have standard operations that each student must complete on the same tool set-up. But when those things have been completed, each student wants to be responsible for his or her own decisions on design. Walking that fine line between things working efficiently and the potentially disastrous decisions that unskilled workers could make on an assembly line concerning design would present some real challenges in American industry, but one of the problems with American industry has been the impersonal quality of it. Men and women are not designed to be cogs in a machine, so some may say, dispense with it. Forget about it. But men and women can be inspired to take part in things larger than themselves when they see what they do as essential to the welfare of the nation. We know the old saying about turning swords to plowshares... diverting destructive capacity toward the good. Think of the auto industry in the same light.