OK I’ve been meaning to write this little story but we’ve been so busy lately and still battleling colds and allergies and sleepless nights. C’est La Vie!

Recently Natalie completed the first series of lessons in her science module which cover earth science topics such as weather maps, thunderstorms and water cycle. I sat down with her to do the one about the water cycle. It is refreshing to see that even I can learn a thing or two. I mean most of this stuff we know but when you hear it put into words for a child her age it just seems so simple and easy to understand. At the end of the lessons I showed her how we (adults) know the daily temperature and what the weather will be on a given day by going on the weather channel and online at weather.com. and things really clicked for her when I explained the different colors they use to represent rain or snow, etc. Later that day when her dad came home she wanted to show him what she learned so she told him to put on the Weather Channel so she could tell him what the weather would be tonight and tomorrow. He was pretty impressed at how much she retained. We don’t get excited about watching the weather channel but it was exciting to see her trying to read the weather on the map on TV.

We had some rain since that lesson took place and Natalie sat by the window and explained to me that the water will “evaporate into the air and then it will rain again when the clouds get all filled up.” Yes, we all sing praises to T4L and it is well deserved. As parents we try to take advantage of every opportunity to teach our kids lessons that are best learned hands on, but honestly, it can be difficult sometimes. However, when they have an incentive to ask and we (parents) have a little feedback to help us answer questions at their level it is a lot easier to reinforce what they learn and we learn right along with them.

Everyone once in a while Natalie will say “see mom, even you learn on time4learning.” She’s right.