Kicking and screaming on my way to becoming a scientist...

Science is really not my thing, really. However, as a homeschooling mom, I know I need to embrace all subjects and hopefully make them my thing so I won't pass on preconceived notions to my kids about what is cool and fun to learn about and what is not. Fortunately, I have a wonderful friend who loves Science and she invited me to join her science co-op 4 years ago. In the past 4 years I've learned to appreciate and find excitement in learning Biology, Earth Science, Physics, Chemistry,and Astronomy. (Okay, maybe Chemistry still isn't exciting to me.)

Recently we started a new unit...Botany. Botany? Hmmm....what is that again? That doesn't sound fun. When I told my daughter we were going to start Botany, she said in a skeptical and non-thrilled voice, "So, we're going to learn about plants?" Yep. She sounded as excited as I felt. I don't garden, I don't even plant flowers. To make matters worse, I agreed to help teach this year so not only do I have to listen to someone else teach about this "boring" topic, I have to learn it well enough to teach it myself.

I put-off planning my first lesson until the night before I had to teach (very typical). I had been reading stuff for days but I couldn't figure out how to make this topic exciting for a bunch of 6 to 8-year-olds! In the end, I had the kids perform a little play about photosynthesis and it was actually kind-of fun. Today was Science class again, it was not my turn to teach (I love those days) and the teacher gave a lesson on flowers (I learned a lot of things I didn't know before and it was actually super interesting). After the lesson we dissected flowers and labeled the parts. I had thought about doing that but it sounded too hard and yes, boring. Guess what? I totally loved it! (Much more pleasant than dissecting a frog). I couldn't wait to come home and disect more flowers!  I've been reading this book on Botany (written for elementary students--right at my level) and I haven't wanted to put it down. Can you believe that? I'm actually excited to make nature books and get field guides and do this topic right. I'm actually excited to teach Botany! Wow! I would have never thought I would feel this way.

I love homeschooling because I get to learn so much along with my kids.  It is so much fun!  Do we really need to know the parts of a flower? No. Is it fun and interesting to know? Yes.  I hoped homeschooling would help my kids love learning; I don't know if it has worked for them but it has sure worked for me! :)

I've created a blog!

Wow, this is a big step for me. My friends have been blogging for quite sometime now and I always thought I didn't have time for it and who really wants to read about my family anyway? But, Cherilyn told me she uses it as a journal and prints it out at the end of the year ....well that's pretty cool! Maybe I should give that a try!  So, that's my plan. I did get stumped trying to come up with a title (it's the little things that hang me up). These were the ideas we spun around.  What would you have picked?

• LaFrothing at the Mouth (Jason came up with this one and REALLY wanted me to use it.  He said it gives  allusions to craziness--which would fit us--or foaming at the mouth--which could relate to words constantly flowing from my mouth. Hmmm...thanks dear...I think I'll go with a different title).
• LaFroth Times
• LaFroth Tribune
• Chronicles of LaFrothia (We're reading Narnia books so this was the first thing that jumped to my mind but Kayla thought it was a bit too quirky)
• Lucky LaFroths (Jason said this was bound to bring us bad luck)
• Lazy LaFroths (Probably the most accurate but do we really want to broadcast that?)
• LaFroth Land
• Land of LaFroths