Nicholas the Science Kid

Well, I think this past week was successful. Nicholas and I did plenty of activities and I think he had a lot of fun. It was Science Week, which means that we did a bunch of “experiments”. I wasn’t looking for him to understand deep and difficult concepts, but he did learn some new words for his ever-growing vocabulary.

On the first day we learned about water freezing and melting. We started by putting an ice cube in a cup of cold water and one in a cup of hot water to see what would happen. Nicholas did many test runs to watch the ice cubes melt. Apparently, he did it so much that the hot water became cold, which made him want to drink it. He actually drank out of both cups to compare and contrast (or because he was thirsty).









Then we decided to make new ice cubes. We put mini-M&Ms in each space to see if they would freeze inside the ice cube. Nicholas had great restraint at this point and didn’t eat any. However, when we took them out of the freezer later that day he did everything he could to chisel out the chocolate from the ice cube.



Don't worry! I told him to spit the ice cube out. That's when he decided to pick out the chocolate instead.


The second day we tried to figure out what would sink or float in water. We filled up the bathtub and brought in all kind of things, such as plastic Easter eggs, a penny, a ruler, and various toys. This picture is the only one I can post online. Nicholas decided to do this experiment in the buff.



The third experiment was color mixing. Nicholas learned what happened when he mixed the primary colors together in different combinations. This activity actually turned out quite well and I noticed him looking at it and talking about it later in the week. He made sure that he didn’t get his fingers too messy though.







Our last experiment was probably Nicholas’ favorite. We made our own ice cream in a plastic bag. Nicholas and Evan poured in the ingredients and both took their turns shaking the bag. They got to enjoy the fruits of their labor after dinner.







I don’t know if Nicholas will find this week quite as exciting as this past week, but he does enjoy school time. This past weekend we got together with some friends. Somehow the topic turned to homeschooling. We found that some couples were thinking about it and others had a heart for it already. It was nice to find people with a common desire. Some day in the future I will write about why I want to home school. I think there are a lot of false perceptions and beliefs about homeschooling and homeschooled children. It’s not for everyone, but I feel like it is best for our family.