Tonight after the boys had gone to bed I was working on a project for Bennett's baptism when suddenly Owen and Jake came running upstairs, almost in tears. Actually, Owen really was crying. "Mom, we're really scared," he said, "Bennett has been telling us all about black holes and he says they're real!"
It was so funny and random, but when I saw how upset they were, I thought to myself, "Self, do you really want to tell him that they are real? Why not lie and say nah, that's just a story?" But instead, I told them that they do exist, but I don't know much about them. After the boys' initial shock and dismay at the horrible thought, we hopped on the computer and spent the next half hour doing research on the internet about black holes. We looked up the meaning of solar system and galaxy, read about distances from earth to various planets, and learned that our little earth is so far away from any possibility of being sucked into a black hole that they could go to sleep peacefully. No worries about being swallowed whole.
Phew!
We also read up on a list of people who have walked on the moon, gravity, the atmosphere, which planets have water on them, whether it snows on Mars (it does, FYI, but the flakes have not been known to reach the ground. Bennett shared this info with us, and NASA confirmed it.), and who "Houston" is. (Bennett thought it must be a person) We read about and looked at photos of the Apollo 13 mission, and even watched the movie clip for the movie based on the story.
Sidenote: Holy cow, Tom Hanks was young when that movie came out!
We read up on a range of other topics as well. It was so fun, and the boys went back down to bed peacefully and happily. It was a fun little research session. They love "doing research." Usually it's about animals, but tonight was deep space.
Owen absolutely loves learning about outer space. His ceiling is covered with planets and stars, a solar system mobile we made, and his alarm clock projects various images from space on the ceiling. He is fascinated by it all.
Also tonight, we were listening to S.O.S. by The Police. I had been telling the kids the names of all the bands while we listened to Pandora. When I told them who sang the song, Jake was sooooo excited. "Dese are da powice-men? Singing dis song?" Ha ha ha! Funny to envision cops rocking out like Sting.
Sidenote: Sting still looks amazing.
6 comments:
oh man. i love this post. on so many levels. love the insta-research sesh. we've done some similarly formatted spontaneous studies, and it's great. love jake's "intewesting." etc. etc. love it all.
p.s. in my most humble and respectful opinion, sting is too old to be considering his looks. i'm just sayin. :)
And this my dear friend, is why you are SUPERMOM and will forever be my hero. I would have just brushed the question off and gone about my duties. I'm gonna start wearing a badge that say's "I wanna be like Brooke". Luv ya.
If your passing out the badges Jami, I want one too! Super mom indeed! Still waiting for the cape to appear! Your kids are the best! THE BEST! I love all the funny things they say!
boys rule.
This is why you can be a mom of 5. This is how it would have played out at my house if they came downstairs after bedtime. (in a very loud voice) "GIT BACK IN BED NOW!" (yes i did mean to put an I in git.) "but mom, we're scared." "Read a book to yourself & fall asleep, NOW! & tell Olivia to stop telling you scary stories." Seriously, that what I would have said & nothing would have been lernt.
Seriously, when this sort of thing happens, usually I say, "Tomorrow I'll show you on the internet." As we all know, tomorrow never comes. From now on, I will send her down to your house to learn.
I love google...nuff said!
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