Tuesday, February 1, 2011

My favorite book this week....

  For the past few weeks we have been studying matter. I have to admit here, I didn't like it. I couldn't find any good living books on matter. The whole subject just put me to sleep. All I could find were a bunch of experiments and explanations... BORING! The kids LOVED the experiments but I dreaded setting them up. 
     I was ready to leave matter behind. I went to the library to find a book on geology. Maybe something  to open a doorway between non-living and living things, then we could move on to plants and animals, but while I was looking in the Science section I found this book. Ben Franklin's Big Shock
     It is so much fun to read. There are five short chapters. It is all about how Ben discovered electricity! I was not sure how my 1st grader was going to respond to it After all, we had been doing experiments which, to him, were fun. Well, apparently reading about Ben Franklin conducting experiments is just as fun. 
     I told you that we are using a timer to put an end to dawdling. Which is working great still. It is only day 2  though. ;-)  Skittles finished all of his assignments 5 minutes early and today they were all NEAT and CORRECT too!!!! 
     He was playing cars on the balcony after finishing his grammar worksheet when buzzer BUZZED. He opened up his binder and said,"What's for science?" I reminded him it was the book he began reading yesterday, "The one you liked so much you read halfway into the second chapter." He ran for the book basket and pulled it out. 
     When he was done reading he came over to me and explained what conductivity was... VOLUNTARILY... EXCITEDLY!!! It was as if he had made the discovery himself... and he had. I have always said that I homeschool because I like being there when that little light bulb goes off and they GET IT!!! That statement is most appropriate this week! 


P.S. I still need a book on geology... any suggestions???

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