I've been super excited to write this blog post. I have been amazed by what the kids have done.
My oldest was wanting to learn about the brain and brain surgeries, but in her research she went down a rabbit hole and really took on the topic of Alzheimer's. She dove in. I walked into her room and saw many cards with research and her own thoughts.
When going to lunch with her dad, we became engulfed in discussion about Alzheimer's. You can tell this was a big interest to her partly because her great grandmother died from it and she is worried about other family members having it. She became interested in all the clinical trials and frustrated that there wasn't a cure for this disease.
One of the next few days, she asked to see her bank account balance. I wondered why. She then started to tell me about how she was trying to talk to a neurologist. So she put a $5 deposit down from her card hoping to get some questions answered. However, then she got an email saying it was going to be $48, so she asked them for a refund. My husband and I couldn't help but laugh at this. What kid do you know that is willing to spend their own money to talk to a neurologist?? I wish I knew of one she could talk to. I might add, she did get a refund. I'm glad she knows how to do this life skill.
We have only given them one requirement on child led learning. We've told them we need to know they have learned things, especially when they are learning them independently. So we've told them to give us a "Show What You Know" project. This can be in whatever form they want. They can write a paper, make a video, a powerpoint presentation, etc. Although, my husband and I didn't know how how much we would actually see them learning when putting on this requirement. My daughter was watching documentaries like, "How Can Alzheimer's be Stopped" and the evidence of learning was all around in discussion. We even did a punnett square as she was so interested in how this is a genetic disease. However, I think they enjoyed making a material list and getting whatever they needed. So we'll probably keep doing it. I was quite impressed with my daughter's display board. She even listed sources. Side note: She knows the topic is missing the "Z" in Alzheimer's. She thought she had it glued until it was already together. She spelled "Alzheimer's" correctly everywhere else though. Which I will say, Alzheimer's isn't an easy word to spell. It's supposed to be "i" before "e" in the phonetic rule, correct? Well, not in Alzheimer's. We joked about that.
This isn't actually ALL my oldest daughter did this week. She wanted to buy a science kit from the store and we did a couple of experiments (one in which we learned about inertia) and she wanted to make bath bombs (which were chemistry lessons on their own). We watched "The Toys that Made Us". We watched the Barbie episode, and it was fascinating to see how Barbie evolved through the feminine movement in history all the way from the 50's until now. It stirred up a lot of discussion on how the typical mom in the 50's was more worried about her girl being groomed because getting a man was her meal ticket. Then we watched as Barbie started having careers.
Slime Science
My youngest was working on slime and the science of slime.
I mentioned in a previous post that we got a lot of resources from this Slime Science Kit. She created kinetic slime, magnetic slime, and glow in the dark slime. She learned that boron is in three main elements: contact solution, liquid starch, and borax powder. She learned how glue is a polymer. She had to experiment with some of the slimes she made. She didn't go off of any measurements. So she would have to add more contact solution at times or she even brought in a dash of baking soda to thicken the slime up. In her research, she became knowledgeable about the viscosity of slime. I taught her how to write a lab report on how the viscosity of slime might change each day as the slime got older. She also learned about how slime was a non-newtonian fluid. We used this source for a lot of that. She read about why you should take precaution with using borax. There was a news story about a girl getting her hands burned, although this rarely happens. With each slime, she became informed about elements that made the slime special (glow in the dark, magnetic, kinetic). We even pulled up the periodic table of elements.
She learned about the iron fillings in the iron oxide powder that made this magnetic. Beware: Iron oxide powder makes a mess!
Aluminum was just ONE of the elements that were used in her glow in the dark slime, so she studied about the element itself.
Kinetic slime holds its shape. It was kind of funny that my oldest daughter was doing her inertia science experiment on this at the same time and learning about kinetic energy.
She is a performer for sure. So for her presentation, she went all out. She made a keynote presentation and speech. She set up the whole room to present to us. I wasn't allowed to video though. :)
Of course, she didn't just do this in the first week. She continued her bullet journaling, scrapbooking, and video making. She even learned how to clone herself in the videos! I must say, her knowledge in video is much more than I know. One day she may surpass her father.
You can see her Ashlyn Patience YouTube channel here. Although, this video where she cloned herself isn't going to be released until Saturday.
I must also add, this week my oldest daughter has told us more than once on how lucky she is to have us as parents. I know this isn't her attitude every day and some days that attitude will change. We definitely have had our moments. However, the biggest change we have seen in this whole process is that she isn't stressed and overwhelmed. I am not stressed and overwhelmed with high school requirements. I know this can work. My kids want to be kids and create and play. There is still learning in that. Our mindset has changed to living life is learning. They aren't just doing it during school hours. My job has gone from teacher to being a guide for them. They are doing a great job at being their own teacher. I am keeping a log of everything they learn. I'm categorizing it into subjects for transcript purposes just so we can meet those requirements for if they go to college. The biggest change I am seeing is how we are loving life together so much more.
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