Periodic Pyrotechnics

"Did you know that fifth graders are tested on the Periodic Table?" I asked my son. Though he is home-schooled, he still takes the state's standardized tests each year, mostly to make the charter school that supports our home-schooling efforts look better.

"How am I supposed to know the periodic table?" he asked feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

"Study it," I said. So he did. That's the beauty of homeschooling. No classroom, no rows of desks. Just enjoyment of learning. His studies started online and eventually led him to his favorite place on Earth, the library.

One Saturday afternoon I drove him to his home-away-from-home where he was greeted by name and handed his stack of books without even asking for them. With his favorite physical location being the actual library, his favorite cyber location must be the library website where he reserves books ahead of time so he can pick them up several times a week.

On this particular trip, he filled his basket with about 30 books with names like "He" and "O" and, his favorite,  "Uuo." "Did you get one book for each element?" I asked looking over his pile.

"No." he responded. His face already buried in a book, though he was still standing at the counter.

"So how did you decide which ones to get?"

"I just kept picking books about different elements them until my card was full."

"Makes sense," I said more to myself than to him since he was reading. "Don't you think we should check out those books?"

The librarian, sitting behind the counter glanced up, hands on the keyboard, and said, "What's your card number, Zach?"

With his face still in the book, Zach began reciting the 15-digit number. "00327426...." Frantically typing, the librarian recorded all the digits and started scanning bar codes to assign the books to him.

Some people might wonder if he actually absorbs what he reads if he's getting all those technical books at once. Well, I have evidence that he absorbs everything.

A few days ago while we were in the car, Zach piped up with one of his seemingly random questions. "If I held a flame up to a fart, would it burn?" he asked with genuine curiosity evident in his voice.

"Actually, yes," I replied. "What made you ask that?"

Now here's the part where I know he understands what he reads. Most kids these days would say something like, "This kid at school told me because his big brother did it." Others might say, "I saw it on YouTube." Not my son.

"Well," he began. "In a book I read about hydrogen it said that farts were made out of hydrogen sulfide. Since hydrogen is really flammable, I figured farts must burn."

"That makes perfect sense, but don't try it," I warned rather sternly. "You really don't want to get burned that way."

Then we switched to the sulfide part and talked about why they stink. You gotta love homeschooling!

What kind of random bits of information do your kids like to discuss? Let me know in the comments below.