The Wright Brothers

OK, well, I suppose I'm breaking my photo promise, because I didn't take any new ones yet. I'll console you later, if you are too upset, otherwise, we'll move on.

Today, we had such a fun learning journey! I am going to track it from start to finish for my own benefit, so feel free not to read if you get bored easily (how could anything about my kids bore you? I may be a little biased, but still...)

It all started with a ride to the gas station...we were running low, I had a gift card, and Chayce was tired. Perfect timing (if I leave the house when she's cranky, but it's not quite bedtime, she'll fall asleep early, and stay that way til the next morning). Anyhow, we filled up with gas, and Zachary asked me what happens when cars run out of gas [they stop moving]....For the next few lines, we'll color code this, blue is Zach, red is Mommy (me).

"Do planes use gas?"
"Yes"
"What happens if a plane runs out of gas in the air?"
"It comes down."
"Nicely?"
"That depends on how high in the air it was when it ran out."
"So, it could crash."
"Yes."
Silence....
"However, Zach, the chances are pretty good that if you are on a plane, they filled up the tank before leaving the airport."
"Oh, good. How do they do that? I don't think the planes would fit into our gas station."
"Nope, I'm sure they have special gas tanks."
"How do they get the gas from the tank into the plane?"
"I don't know, why don't you look it up in the 'A' encyclopedia when we get home?"
"What is an encyclopedia?"
"Remember that box of books you helped me carry? Those were the encyclopedia set."
"Oh. I didn't see one with an 'A' on it."
"Trust me, it was there."
"I'll look."
We got home, I put Chayce to bed, and then, knocking on the door...
"I found the 'A' one, how do I look up airplane?"
We went down to the couch and read the entire section on planes (there was one tiny photo with a caption about fuel, but we didn't care, there was plenty more to see). A discussion about the perseverance of the Wright brothers took place, and was ended by, "So, did the Wrong brothers just not work hard enough to get their planes off the ground?" The conversation then led to last names...Wright is to Orville as Tueller is to Zachary worked well for him. Then we went on to discuss the different types of planes, and this let to finding a bomber plane, which led to a discussion on WWII, which led to a discussion on when killing might be OK, even though it's a commandment not to. Which then led to a discussion on what really is a good guy, if good people have to do bad things sometimes, which was thankfully ended by the question: "Hey, if this is the 'A' encyclopedia, does that mean I can look up the different types of apples, too?" [sigh, whew] "Yes, why don't we do that right now?"

Frankly, I'm now convinced that I will not have to purchase much of a curriculum to teach my children, they do a pretty good job of leading the way. Of course, I will cover the basics of reading, writing, and mathematics, but after that, I think I'll let them explore. They seem to find more out than I ever could have presented.