Part of being a mother is the 3rd grade science fair. My first brilliant child wanted to have the science of bones. We included a femur bone from a cow, with a cross section, a HUGE trifold poster board and a report cover for the neatly typed presentation. My second brilliant child, who is a boy decided he wanted to do a project on solar energy. After many hours of trying to find the correct components to make said solar energy box, we went to Hobby Town. We purchased a "solar energy kit". He wanted to make his own poster, and mount the report to it. Here is where my "motherly" instinct comes in. It drove me nuts to have a poster whose margins were totally skiwampus. I took a deep cleansing breath and cringed when he mounted letters and report, they weren't straight. He loved it and so in turn, I LOVED IT! My third brilliant child, a girl, didn't want to do her project on bones or solar energy. She wanted to show how flowers grow (picture me with my not happy face). I knew we would have to start early and take care of said "flowers". Well, my most not shining moment as a mother came when, with 2 weeks before the science fair, my brilliant child gave me the puppy dog eyes and begged to get a start on it. We started with water beads, pebbles, fine sand, and then mud/sand from school. She was so excited to be caring for these little seeds (which were green bean seeds). I would check on them every other day. Out of 4 different "soils" only one seed sprouted. She learned that seeds will rot, and not sprout if you over water them. Today was the day, she took to 4 flower pots, and the poster to school. I haven't been able to talk to her yet, but I am sure it all turned out good. Now we have 3 years until the next science fair!
One one hand I cannot wait to get past this part of helping with projects, posters, experiments, and assignments. One the other hand, when the day comes that my children no longer need me for all of the things that means they have been raised. I was so excited to cut out the title, the flowers, leaves, and name out on my Cricut. I was excited to see how she arranged everything. She, like my 2nd did not glue the report on straight. She did however draw a cute sun on the poster board.
