All right, I have to admit I was very tempted not to post this. You have to understand the pressure in the blogging world to be sure you are Pinterest-worthy. And this is far from Pinterest-proud. But for those home-educators who feel like you fall immensely short of Pinterest, take heart!
That’s right, folks. Our volcano was a solo cup on top of a water bottle. Not too impressive, and yet very impressive. In other words, this experiment is so much fun that it doesn’t need much embellishment. And here’s the reason why I post this: I almost skipped this experiment. Why? I didn’t have the clay and the specified supplies for volcano making.
Yes, I had vinegar and baking soda and food coloring. But all I had for the volcano itself was this ugly solo cup and an empty water bottle! Let me reiterate what I am learning—a pretty pinterest board is not my aim in life; teaching my kids IS!
So, I swallowed my pride and worked with what I had. We had a volcano, and it erupted impressively. The kids were duly amazed. But here’s lesson #2 that I learned during this process. I cannot set off a volcano, take a picture, and hold a squirming toddler at the same time. NOTE TO SELF: YOU ARE NOT SUPERWOMAN!
Yes, the volcano exploded but with no photographic evidence for the kid’s notebooks. So, we had to repeat our experiment (indoors the second time, because it was beginning to rain). As you can imagine, I had no complaints from the kids. And having learned from my first folly, I occupied my toddler in another room for this second attempt.
One last new item for this year is that I’m trying to incorporate more pictures into the kids’ notebooks of the year. My printer-ink budget may limit this to some degree, but they were so excited to have the pictures for their notebooks. And I was so thankful that I didn’t skip making the memory simply because it wasn’t up to Pinterest-standards.
