science lab

I don't understand science. I'm just not good at it. Science labs were a recurring nightmare for me in school. When professors handed out the lab assignments I would stare at the directions and have no earthly idea what they meant or what in the world they expected me to do. My coping strategy was to pick the smartest lab partner possible and let them do all the work. I was always more than happy to sit and write down the answers while they did all the science stuff. I had a lab instructor take extreme pity on me one semester and begged me just to give him a one sentence summary of what the lab was supposed to prove. He was not asking me to do the lab, solve any equations, or even write anything down. He just wanted me to tell him in words what we had just spent the last three hours doing. I stared at him blankly. I quite honestly had no concept of what had gone on. I just cannot wrap my brain around the whole science lab process.

I have this thing with my kids where we discuss the best and worst parts of our day. I'd like to think it encourages an open dialogue where we are all comfortable to share our feelings and the ups and downs of daily life. This week DD was proud to tell me the highlight of her entire week - Science Lab. She was so excited to create a hypothesis, run an experiment, and draw a conclusion. She even wrote up a lab report.

Freaking science lab. My heart was bursting with pride. But I certainly hope she isn't going to need any help with her homework.