Eric and I both love science. Johann has the same innate ability and curiosity and has picked up the bug of enthusiasm from us. It’s good that he is advanced in math and science, but it sometimes makes him a handful, just like we were. We are always searching for new material to keep his mind occupied. Or as I like to say: he needs a lot of brain food. Homeschooling gives us the flexibility we need to continually challenge him. I still can’t believe there is no science in the Connecticut public school curriculum until the 4th grade.
Even if we weren’t homeschooling Johann, we would still do all the science activities we do, because we have so much fun doing these experiments together. We got an ant farm this past summer and conducted some ant behavior experiments. We raised butterflies again. I’ve taken Johann on countless nature walks. We often collect treasures off the ground, but at the same time, we are always observing. Eric took Johann outside to track animals around the building and found the footprints of cats, a deer, a skunk and a few rabbits. We made a marble contraption that goes around the apartment and tested which marbles go faster through the tubing and why. Johann learned more physics from the pulley system we set up from the ceiling and the cable car kit we had on the railing.
During an evening walk by the river, we noticed something bioluminescing in the water. Johann wondered what was producing the light. We thought about what animals we know live in the water there and which ones were capable of bioluminescence. Johann guessed it might be the comb jellies (Mnemiopsis leidyi). So Eric and Johann collected comb jellies near the local marina, brought them home in a bucket and we conducted an experiment based on the hypothesis that these critters were the ones bioluminescing in the river at night. We guided Johann through the experiment and figured out how and why they were bioluminescing. While we walked back to the marina to release the comb jellies, we walked him through the scientific process and he even wrote a summary report of his findings. We had him draw pictures of everything we did. When we can we like to allow him to learn the answers on his own, rather than just give him the answers.
After Eric learns something in oceanography or biology that we can boil down for Johann, we find a way to turn it into a family outing or an experiment at home. Johann discovered Eric’s litmus paper and wondered what it was for. Eric explained what he was using it for at school. The obvious question was, “What is pH?” Eric defined pH as measuring how acidic or alkaline something was. “What is acidic? What is alkaline?” I suggested we relate it to liquids Johann knows well: orange juice and milk. So we tested those two liquids and compared them. Of course Johann was curious about other liquids. What would they do? Next thing I knew, we were testing every liquid in the refrigerator and the pantry to measure their pH. Another day we tested our rain water and compared it to tap water and filtered water. We talked about why our rain water was so acidic (pollution).
We all went to Ender’s Island with a seine and conducted our own population count of the fish there in the shallows. We had a wonderful day at the beach and learned even more about the animals that live along that protected area. Eric’s day long field trip collecting data on the tidal levels of the Sound became bathtime fun with a contraption Eric made out of PVC pipe, a cork and a skewer. We measured the change in the level of the bathwater using Eric’s homemade tool when Johann stood in the water, versus when he sat in the water. Then we took measurements with Eric in the water. Then with both of them in the water. Eric used that demonstration to explain what he had done on his field trip and why collecting that data was important and how the scientists use the information.
Johann and I made ice cube castles using salt to hold the cubes together and later watched which ice cubes melted faster: the one in the bowl with the salt, the one by itself, the one wrapped in aluminum foil or the one wrapped in plastic wrap so that we could study the effects of salt and insulators on ice. With the melting ice cubes experiment we graphed our results. We froze one bottle of colored water and kept one at room temperature to illustrate how water expands when it freezes. Eric and Johann weighed bottles of cold and frozen water and compared them to the weight of a bottle of room temperature water. Eric and Johann did some water density experiments during bathtime with bottles of water, salt water, soda and diet soda, observing which ones sank and why. Eric put baking soda into the bottom of a tall glass, added vinegar and then poured out the carbon dioxide to put out a candle flame. We put baking soda into a balloon and put it over a plastic bottle with vinegar in it. After we shook the baking soda into the bottle, the balloon filled with the carbon dioxide that was produced. Johann loved those last two experiments so much that we did them multiple times.
One day another issue of Zoobooks magazine about bears came. Johann wondered how fast other animals run in comparison to a bear. Eric went to Google and found all the stats on the animals Johann wanted to know about. Then they created a bar graph that Johann colored in so he could clearly see which animals are the fastest and by how much. Our upstairs neighbor, who studied science in college, told us about an experiment his dad did with him when he was little. We made a little boat out of half a cork, some toothpicks and a birthday candle. That was placed in a bowl full of water. We lit the candle and put a short glass over the boat slightly into the water. It was fascinating to watch the water rise inside the glass as the flame burned up the oxygen. When the candle went out we had created a vacuum. Johann loved the suction sound as we took the glass back out of the water. We did that experiment at least 6 times before he was satisfied.
Our upstairs neighbor came down to hang out with us one afternoon. We showed him some of the science experiments we had been doing and Johann’s wooden dominoes toy that we got as an extension of the marble contraption. He jumped right in and played with us for a couple of hours. He said he’s never seen a kid as turned on to science as Johann is and he loves coming over because we always have something science-related going on. Our home was dubbed “The House of Fun” by our friend that day. While we are homeschooling we want to continue to keep science accessible, fun and magical. I overheard someone complain that our society isn’t producing any more Einsteins or Monets anymore and why was that? How can we if our public education system crushes the kids who are advanced, curious and always questioning? Those are the ones who might have been the next Einstein or Monet. Johann has said many times he wants to become a scientist when he grows up. What his focus will be changes, but he always wants to be some kind of scientist. We intend to keep it that way. And how could we not? After all, this is the House of Fun!
