Well hello, hello!!!
My computer issues are not altogether fixed, but improved enough to afford me some time here, and that's so nice, y'all! I've been missing this little space o'mine!
I've got lots to share with you, but I'm going to resist the urge to dump it all on you at once. Instead, I'll hop from foot to foot and try to tell you just one thing at a time over the next few days, okay?
I will start by saying that over the last week or so, watching my guys engrossed in a handful of projects (more to come on that), I've been so proud of their budding wisdom. They take nearly nothing on faith, and want to put all their gathered ideas and beliefs to the test. They are not people who will be told what to think. These boys have a stack of mottos people, and even though they're Texans, not Missourians, one of their most deeply held creeds is, "show me!"
Take this one morning, a few days back…
I came into the kitchen to find my oldest boy holding a measuring cup by it's handle. He was lowering it into a bowl full of water, and then drawing it out again… lowering, raising, lowering, raising. He said, "watch this mom, when I put the cup in, the water goes up, and when I take it out, the water goes down again. Why do you think it does that?"
"Why do YOU think it does that?" I said, and then wrestled my mouth shut before it spouted words like "displacement" and "mass and volume." Those words would come, but not until he had his own theories. I let him spend some time raising and lowering, and thinking on his own. Figuring things out is so much more fun than the big mama spoiler, ruining it by revealing all the answers before you get the chance to discover them for yourself.
After a while I said, "Hey, I once heard this story, about this bird, a crow I think it was, who was thirsty. He came upon a pitcher half full of water, but he couldn't reach the water, and he couldn't turn it over. What do you think he did?"
He figured it out pretty quickly, but needed to SEE if it worked.
It was really funny, because with every marble, all three boys squealed in delight and smiled their mischievous smiles up at me. They thought they were pulling one over on me. They could not believe they were getting away with a messy water experiment right on the kitchen floor, with nary a call to "take it outside!" They felt sure that there was going to be a massive overflow, and were highly disappointed when the water rose to the top just as there was no more room for marbles. Barely a trickle leaked over.
"Well you see," I told them, "you have to get up pretty early to fool a smart cookie like a crow or a mama."
"Yeah," my oldest replied, "you'll go for just about anything if we ask you early enough in the morning!"
Touche.
I'm going to borrow a refrain from dear Mr. Rogers now and sing, "I'll be back, when the day is new, and I'll have more ideas for you. You'll have things you'll want to talk about. I. Will. Too!"
{ 22 comments }
Awesome!!!! You are doing such a great job, mama!
We have missed you too.
Awesome! Love that you fooled them.
Glad to have you back. I’ve missed my daily doses. (And a little dash of Mr. Rogers always does my heart good!)
Your three little men are great. I dream I will end up wih three little boys like yours.
My sister has 4 , so I have hopes.
Can’t wait for more stories.
you are truly incredible. truly. and your kitchen floor is so CLEAN!!!
still love that little fuzzy head. my two got shorn the other night and i think it actually makes cal look younger somehow, but tate older and in just a couple weeks he will be 4. SIGH. they would LOVE a messy water experiment… but that darn baby is such a menace 
maybe in the tub???
Brilliant. It must be so hard to keep from answering the question right away. My little guy isn’t 3 yet and doesn’t ask many. But I really hope I can work on my knee jerk reaction to teach him and let him figure these kinds of things out for himself when he does.
I imagine it’s a mama skill that takes considerable work and some time to develop.
I think I love your lessons as much as your boys do! Thanks for sharing!
wonderful post!
Excellent! We did that one with pennies, one with cotton balls. Good stuff.
I sure love your blog, thanks for sharing with us!
Ya’ll might be from Texas but you’re doing Missouri proud, Stefani.
What a great time.
They are so adorable
What do you bet they will ALL remember displacement much better now that they’ve actually DISPLACED IT.
Miss you.
I swear I haven’t disappeared and I KNOW I owe you an email – and perhaps a drive up to Austin to make up for lost time.
i would really, really love to come to your home school!
Hey Stef I just gave you an award, come on over to my blog and claim it. =0)
I want you as my mom!!MY answer to why would have been? um. STuff! Then internet! Let’s look it up!
which is like teaching right? teaching to research?
I have missed you. I am so glad that you are back!
I’m sooo glad you are back online, I’ve been missing my daily dose of Blue Yonder! We are still gunning for the perfect loaf of bread. Today was our third loaf and we still haven’t gotten it right. That’s okay, DD decided to use it as our science experiment, only problem? we are only allowed to change one variable at a time. One of these days we will get it right!
So have your boys heard Jim Weiss tell the story of Archimedes and the Golden Crown? It’s on his “Galileo and the Stargazers” CD. Very a propos for the goings-on at your house.
Not sure what’s the best way to respond to your response to my comment
… so … I am gobsmacked that you haven’t “met” Jim Weiss yet! RUN to the Greathall Productions website and stock up! Your boys might like one of my kids’ favorites: The Robinhood/Three Musketeers combo.
(no, I don’t get a commission; just a grateful mom who’s passed peaceful hours in the car thanks to Mr. Weiss …)
Great post, I must remind myself of this post when I try to jump in when my daughter asks a question and I could give her all the answers – I must hold back and let her learn and experiment herself
How wonderful – that’s one of my favorite songs too!
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