The Science Fair Project

A few months ago Kaylea jumped into the car after school and was bubbling with excitement. She says, "Guess what Mom? I signed up to do a Science Fair Project. We don't have to do one, but I really want to because I love Science. And we get extra credit for it!"

Well, I was immediately taken back to 8th grade when I had to do a Science Fair Project and my Mom did the whole thing for me. You see, I was not exactly a star student in Science and had no interest in doing any kind of project that would be on display for the entire school to view. So I picked a topic that had something to do with hair follicles, or something like that (I'm sure Mom could tell you in more detail the subject) and my Mom "helped" me. Actually, she did the whole thing. She wrote the report (but I typed it, I think), she supplied the pictures, and she even did my board. I remember it was real pretty and I was very proud of it (her).

Though I had never been a real Science whiz, I was kind of excited about Kaylea's project. I thought it would be a lot of fun and a good opportunity for Kaylea and me to work together. When we got home, I read the material that was sent home from school and had to chuckle. It clearly said that the project is to be completed by the child or it will be disqualified. First of all, she is nine; she has no idea what a Science Fair project is let alone what type of topic to choose. Second, I wouldn't be doing it for her I will just be helping her with it. Well, that afternoon I began Googling "science fair projects for children." After I had compiled a list of about ten to fifteen different projects I let her choose which one she wanted to do. Well, she chose to find out which brand of soap would dissolve the quickest in water.

The Science Fair is next month so we are going to begin today. I have already formulated our plan of attack on the experiment. We are going to start with four bars of soap (different brands but equal weight). Each day we are going to let the bars soak in a container of water for 20 minutes and then weigh them. She will be recording the weights each day for two weeks. In the end she will make a chart to show how much each bar dissolved each day. Sounds easy enough and she should be able to do this without too much help from me (ya think?)

I was telling Auntie M about the project and all of my ideas for decorating the board. "I was thinking she could get a blue board and cover it with bubble stickers and put a rubber ducky on the table and......." Then Auntie abruptly stopped me and said, "Jen, don't be one of THOSE moms. Make sure it is Kaylea's project and not yours. It needs to be her work, no matter how bad it may look."

Well, this got me thinking. Maybe I am trying to finally do my Science Fair Project from 8th grade. Just like my Mom was trying to finally do the project she never completed. Wow, what a revelation. OK, the cycle will stop with me! I will let Kaylea do her project her way! I will only offer assistance when asked or needed! I will make Kaylea be responsible for this assignment!

But, I just have a few questions. Do you think it would be over the top if Kaylea had a strobe light on her table? Or how about a boom box playing Splish Splash? Or how about if she wore her robe and shower cap to the Science Fair? OOPs, there I go again, sorry!

No, really, I will let her do it herself ;)