Sprite: [sigh] Mom, why does my room get messy so quickly?
Me: It’s entropy, sweetie.
Sprite: What?
Me: Entropy. [Handing Sprite our new Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia] Look it up.
Sprite reads the encyclopedia entry and looks at me with a smile.
Me: So, in your case, what is the system that is moving towards disorder?
Sprite: [with a groan] My room!
So there’s a teachable moment. That one short encounter involved vocabulary, science, and research skills. I knew we needed a science encyclopedia. We’ve had it only few days, and it’s come in handy several times already. I got it used at Better World Books, a good but slow option for getting books overseas. [By the way, there's a newer version than the one we bought, but I linked to the actual edition that we have.]
Hi and welcome! I'm Jimmie and this is my online collage of our Charlotte Mason homeschool. Taking just a little more time to document our learning shortens the learning curve for other busy homeschool moms.
Feel free to browse around my posts and freebies. My aim is to bless each reader with something useful. 
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Be warned: I remember, once learning about entropy as a kid, trying to convince my parents that I couldn’t clean my room unless they wanted me to violate the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Not that I didn’t want to clean the room, of course, but it was a lost cause.
.-= Brendan´s last blog ..More Great Firewall weirdness =-.
@Brendan — It is hopeless in the long run. It’s like washing dishes, doing laundry, grocery shopping, etc. It all must be done over and over again.
Very clever;) I’ll have to use that one some time.
heh heh
Poor kid doesn’t stand a chance against the encyclopedia and homeschool mom.:-)
.-= Wendy @ Sun-Kissed Scholars´s last blog ..Heart Homeschooling: the whys, hows, and daily living stuff =-.
Gotta love when science can be learned in the context of real life. Way to go! Glad to hear Better World worked out for you, but it is really slow in China.
.-= Paige´s last blog ..Weekly Report-Week 26 =-.
Oh you mean *I* am supposed to read those books too? I thought tossing them on the table while they eat their cereal would be enough. Drat.
Actually, that is true. I have many good resources but often don’t make the time to read, learn and apply!
Thanks for the reminder!
.-= Marsha´s last blog ..3 steps to bugging your brother =-.