"Science is not really my thing"

So says A.
But we had one of those wonderful, flowing, 'home education at its most effective' afternoons last week.

It started off with a request from A to solve one of the crimes in this book:

which involved looking at corrosive liquids and what they can do to aluminium drinks cans. This led on to her asking what the hell pH levels were all about. I explained the best I could, but she still looked a bit puzzled, so I dug out this book:

which had a perfect little section on pH levels, including an experiment involving a red cabbage where you make your own pH indicator. I have bought a red cabbage and that is on our to do list for this week.

What made me smile most of all was the fact that she kept going back to the chemistry book all that evening. Sat in front of the TV at about 9.30 that night she started asking me about the periodic table. That was the point I thought to myself 'why did I not pay more attention in chemistry class?'. (The answer to that is we had a very creepy chemistry teacher so I gave the subject up at the earliest opportunity, ie age 13, but thats a whole other story). But anyway, we talked and read a bit about the periodic table, and both learnt a bit more.
She still says science is 'not her thing', but at least she's open to being interested in parts of it. I hated science at school because it was 'boring'. It actually was very boring because of the way it was taught, and I shut off from that subject completely.
Fast forward a few years and guess where I was working? In a medical science lab. I loved this environment, it suited me perfectly, but because I'd switched off from science at school I had to enter at the most junior level and never really made a career of it. I know I could have done if I'd put the work in, but it all seemed too hard and other parts of 'grown-up' life got in the way too much. I cant help feeling that if I'd had the right teacher, teaching in a more interesting way I would have realised how much I enjoy science much earlier on and it would have been a viable option for me.

On to something that definitely is A's 'thing' - art. This is her latest drawing:

We are off to an art session with the home ed group tomorrow, really looking forward to that. Haven't been to a group meet for quite a while, a bit nerve-wracking for me with my crap social skills, but A will love it, which is the main point of course.

Busy week all round this one - various appointments, back to drama and piano, and A is finally getting to start Guides. She's a little apprehensive but I'm hoping it will work out well for her.

The stressful situation I'm in just now is ongoing, cant say much more, but I am doing something positive about the way I'm coping with it all.