or what I don’t care to know. (Shhh! Don’t tell my children. Even I, learning-lover that I am, have my limits, and chemistry is one of them. Or so I thought.)
Sometimes, I get someone else to teach. A violin teacher teachrs violin. A cello teacher teaches cello. Sometimes, I take a breath, jump in and learn what I don’t know along with the kids.
Other times, I get lucky. Very lucky.
Teaching my eldest child chemistry was one of those very lucky times. I just taught him to read. Then his curiosity and natural preferences led him to science books, absorbing facts like a sponge. He has loved chemistry, in particular, since he was 4 yo and still goes to bed with chemistry books as leisure reading. I can confidently say that the boy is engaged and knows far more than the average college graduate about chemistry.
One of the most exciting things about being a parent is watching the kids take off on their own, in ways that have little to do with me, seeing them develop interests and skills vastly different from my own.
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I was also feeling quite lucky that Sidney was my eldest. I had grand plans of him teaching his younger siblings chemistry, so I could schlepp out of it.
Teaching his younger siblings would cement his chemistry knowledge, I reasoned. I didn’t count on having fun myself and learning chemistry too. Life is funny like that, working out differently than our Plans.
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Since my younger children tend more toward the humanities than sciences, I asked Sidney to help me teach them now to ease their way into high school chemistry later. My Plan was to whet their appetites and create a chemistry-learning drive inside them such that I could stand aside and . . .well, basically do ANYTHING ELSE during their high school chemistry studies.
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But from reading over their notes of big brother’s teaching,
coloring and labeling Period Tables with them,
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looking at the huge Period Table of Elements taking over my wall, I am getting sucked into learning Chemistry too. Against my Plan.
It turns out that some things I thought would be dreadful, like teaching chemistry, are actually cool and exciting.
Our Wall of Elements
Prairie Sings 