Our First Science Fair.

I had never participated in a Science Fair. The schools I went to never held one. Not in Brazil, not in the US. Last year, my children watched a Science Fair at one of our local co-ops and decided then, for sure, to participate this year. So they did.

DS7 said he wanted to do some explosions. Now how does one do explosions safely in a Science Fair? He had studied and learned about chemical reactions, atoms, molecules and other fun things. His project came together slowly. It really took form a couple of days before the Science Fair.

In the end, we decided to experiment with vinegar and baking soda and see how temperature influenced the reactions. We had a blast. Yes, me included. Sometimes, I feel I am having a second childhood homeschooling my kids. There are so many things I am experiencing for the first time. :)
 

You can see the video/ experiment we put together of his Scientific Experiment on my YouTube Channel. Don't miss it. It's really fun. You can hear the kids squealing in the background and getting excited as the explosions and reactions happen!

DD10 has been reading, listening and studying Creationism for years. This year with the help of a microscope, we dove into the study of cells. You can see HERE the list of resources we have been using. So Cells: God's Creation was nothing more than the natural choice for the Science Fair.

Not only DD10 explained her reasons to believe in a Creator using the evidences she collected through years of study, but she also provided a 3D model of a plant cell. She was so excited to make the Cell Cake. We researched the web intensely and finally found a marshmallow fondant worth of our time. It was so much fun to play with fondant. (Although I would not recommend it for every day eating. It's not healthy food, you know.)

You can see some of the videos we watched on fondant HERE. The Study of cells videos are compiled HERE. And the drawing DD10 used as her pattern to make the cell cake is HERE.

BEFORE the Science Fair

AFTER the Science Fair... the cake was gone!!!

DD5 told me at the last minute that she wanted to participate too. "I want to do a Science Project about bones." We had earlier this year traced our bodies and began cutting out white paper to represent our bones. So we all gathered and together, we finished "her" skeleton.

Her question was "Why do we have bones?" Her hypothesis: "Because without bones we would be a blob." We used FREE clipart images from Windows, the dinosaur bones pdf files to cut out bones for her poster board. You can see HERE where I got the idea for the initial project we did last year. Because DD5 can't read yet (one syllable short sound words only) we had to use pictures to represent what she wanted to say. It was a fun project too.

However....

As I drove to the co-op, 40 minutes away from my house, I kept worrying about my kids' reactions if they were not rewarded for their hard work. I worried about people not following the rules; picking favorites, etc. I kept reminding myself what I had told my children days and weeks prior :"We are doing this for ourselves and for the Lord. It really does not matter what other people think about it. This is for our own learning and pleasure. If we don't get rewarded like we thought we should, we know that we did our best and the Lord is pleased."

Did you catch the WE in all those statements?? Yes, I included myself. I don't know about you, but homeschooling for me is very much a group effort. This was very apparent during these Science Projects. In our house, all 3 projects were a 10-hand effort. All of us helped each other.

The little kids helped DD10 to roll the fondant and make ribosomes and chloroplasts. All of us helped DD5 to cut out white paper and paste the bones for her skeleton. DS7 helped DD5 memorize her bones' names and parts. All of us helped DS7 with his experiments: one was behind the camera, another pouring baking soda into a bottle, another cleaning, cutting and paste.

What project in life do we tackle on our own? We might be doing the cleaning on our own, but someone is cooking our supper so that we can eat when we are done.

The Lord showed me that when we do a job for Him, many times, we will be misunderstood and even judged wrongly. But there is only one person's opinion that really matters: His. When we are done with our work, most of us humble ones (smile), know to give glory to God, because we know without Him we are nothing. At the same time, I can see His proud smile rewarding me for finishing, not giving up, persevering to the end. 

I was proud of my kids. Proud that they wanted to participate in the Science Fair. Proud that they knew their projects, that they were involved and excited about concluding them. For me they were already the winners!

When I know who I serve, whom shall I fear? When I know who I am aiming to please, who cares who is against me? When I know how loved I am, who cares what others may say?

There is freedom in living a life not concerned with other people's opinions. I really enjoy homeschooling. There are so many lessons weaved into our daily grind.

My kids did well. I knew they would. :)

What lessons have you learned recently though your homeschooling? Do you need encouragement? Then check out my GIVE AWAY Now!!!

 I hope you enjoyed the Science Fair post. Be blessed today,

Tereza