Science

My house is a disaster. Stuff everywhere. I'm not sure what happened. Some sort of explosion while I slept? My disaster comment really has nothing to do with my post. It's just that I'm looking at a random pile of paper, a bottle of cleaning spray (vinegar, of course), a sewing machine, and a to-do list 22.4 miles long--all right here with me while I'm typing. And, the stuff I'm looking at is just the tip of the iceberg in this house of mine. I'm too scared to even go in the kitchen. Anyway.....

Yesterday, we were reading about the human eyeball. I managed to make a rather interesting study boring because I was so tired that I was making the boys tired while we read and discussed. I sensed their waning interest and tried to liven things up by doing what I do worst....a hands-on science experiment.

You need to know, I used to try science experiments at home because that is what every good homeschool mom does. When the first few failed, I wasn't deterred. I mean, I was a biology major in college for several semesters. I know science. Just bad luck, right? But when I started failing 99% of the time, even when doing experiments from books like "Easy, No-Fail Science Experiments for Toddlers and Their Newborn Siblings", I got somewhat discouraged. To date, I think the only experiments that have been a success are the baking soda/vinegar volcano, the Mentos in a bottle of diet soda, and egg turning rubbery in vinegar. I do think the only reason the vinegar-based experiments worked is because of my expert skill in cleaning with vinegar. (Do keep in mind--I am staring at bottle of vinegar-based cleaning spray on my desk right this moment.)

So, naturally, I decided to do an experiment yesterday. We went into the front yard and followed the easy, no-fail directions modeled in the science book by small children. They didn't work. We spent half an hour creeping around the yard toward each other with one eye covered, trying to find our blind spot. We didn't find it. I believe what we did accomplish is perpetuating the perception that homeschool families are really strange. I am still trying to figure out why I chose to do this in the front yard.

I reached one of two scientific conclusions:
1) In our family, we don't have blind spots. (I prefer this conclusion, but it does mean that we don't have optic nerves at the back of our eyes if that's true....)

2) I am a genuine failure at do-it-yourself science experiments.

Speaking of science experiments, I did once splash acid in my eye in high school chemistry lab and became legend for actually using the lab eye wash safety device. It totally ruined my tall bangs and carefully hair-sprayed hair for the rest of the day, but I think it was really exciting for my chemistry teacher to shove my entire head down into the eye wash. Oh, and I do remember that my mascara wasn't waterproof that day.

To wrap up, I will share from Elijah's story journal for yesterday.

"The Three-Headed Guy with the Invisible Body"
(He drew a picture of three connected heads with no bodies and big green eyes.)

This guy is a giant. His eyes never get blind or blurry. He never blinked and his eyes never got dirty and he didn't have eyelashes. He had six green eyes.

Do you sense an eye-related theme in his writing? :)