Friday, April 4, 2014

Experimental Mommy

In school, science was never my strong suit. I'd like to blame this on the nuns. (Can I do that?)

Things picked up for me in science when I finally got away from the life sciences and got to explore chemistry and astronomy. (Let's add fire! Let's talk about other planets!) It was great timing, because by 10th grade I was really, really tired of talking about cells and phylums.
Background image by Shawn Campbell

So, that's how long it took for science to be fun for me: High school. I don't want my son to have to wait that long. To help with that, I'm looking for everyday science opportunities: natural discovery outside, discussions about weather, even cooking.

Along with this, I'm also planning to fail more. Because that's what science is all about: Experimenting. Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't. The important thing is that we are learning.

My new goal is to plan at least one science experiment with my son per weekend. Maybe we'll fail. Maybe we'll succeed. I bet we both learn something.

Science is sort of like parenting: It's about figuring out what works.

What did you learn today? Share with me in the comments.

2 comments:

  1. This is sort of scienc-ey. While out driving this morning, I pulled up behind a truck with a sticker for a snake removal business, and it was associated with some kind of weather site. It just got me thinking about how that is definitely a job most people would not want to do themselves, and that a connection between weather and snakes is public safety. It's kind of an interesting reminder that science is something that affects us everyday, its not something that ends in high school - we just need reminders once in a while to look for the "science-in-the-everyday". Haha... {Paula over at www.faithfulinthelittle.com}

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    1. Hi, Paula! (I am one of your faithful email followers). What a great aha mommy moment! It's hard to focus on our non-favorite subjects in school once we are out of the classroom, but I kind of like the challenge of it: How can I make science fun for both my son and me and point out the everyday science as well? Thanks for sharing!

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