Science
Science is all around us. What we look at, what we eat, what we wear, when we walk outside the door to play, science is there.
We have always taken this approach to science. We cannot just get science from a book. We can do experiments that are in a book, but
the true curiosity of our children have not been spurred on by a book.
One time we took a hike through the Laurel mountains that are to the east of Pittsburgh, Pa. We discovered salamanders rocks in the moist
undergrowth. We discovered moss and lichens on rocks. We discovered the different layers of rocks as well as root systems of different trees
that had grown out of large rocks with no soil holding them in.
We've grown our own garden for 4 years since we moved to our current house. We've discovered about beneficial plants
in our garden like planting basil next to our tomato plants will attract insects that like to eat tomato plants. To some people this is not something new,
but to the children, it was not common knowledge. They awed at how the insects ate all our basil, but didn't touch our beautiful tomato
plants. This happened to be the same year that our Brandy Wine tomato plants grew to over 6' tall! It was awesome to see! In contrast to that year,
was the summer of 2003 when we had so much rain that our tomato crop died. The only thing that survived was our cucumbers, zucchini and our hot peppers.
We also researched those plants that thrived and found that most of them needed a lot of water to produce large amounts of fruit. Another thing we observed was
that in 2003 we rotated our plants in our garden. We put our tomatoes at the bottom of the slope where our garden is thinking they would be fine. Our theory
is that since they were at the bottom of the slope, they were not just subject to the little bit of erosion and extra rain, but deluged with water because of the slope.
All of what we do in the kitchen is a chemical reaction. Adding heat to eggs creates an edible chemical reaction. Making play dough is a chemical reaction that takes the playdough
from a thick soup like consistency to the squishy play dough consistency when adding heat. When we take put vinegar in a cup and add baking soda in it, there is lots of bubbles! There is a
host of other chemical reactions that take place in our kitchens. It's up to us to tap in to all that science to unlock it for our children to experience.
We've lovingly renamed our kitchen "The Laboratory".
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