Excitement with Learning

(This post will be a little out of order because I am behind on posting right now, but I had to post this while it was fresh in my mind.)

We were camping last weekend (pictures to come in a future post) and we took the kids up to the lookout to watch the sunset for the first time. Nicholas was full of questions as we explained to him the sun was going to sink down and look like it was going into the water. His questions led to trying to explain that when the sun goes down here, it is coming up where someone else lives. Paul has always loved astronomy, so we thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to spark Nicholas' interest in the subject as well. This could lead to some real quality time in the future. So we told him we would look things up on the computer at home.

This morning, Nicholas asked if we could go to the library, which we did this afternoon. I prompted Nicholas to ask the librarian if they had any books about the sun and the planets. She pointed us in the right direction and I found a couple of books that appears to be something he could grasp. After leaving the library, he had to call Papa at work to tell him what he had found.

Tonight, before bed, Paul took Nicholas in the other room to read his book while I kept the girls in the other room. When they were finished Nicholas came up to the girls room and had to tell me the following:

1. The sun is very, very, far away. (Paul prompted him further and he told me 93 million miles)

2. The earth is smaller than the sun. (Upon Paul's prompting he recalled that 100 earths would fit into the sun).

3. There were two scientists. One discovered that the earth circles the sun and his name was Nicolaus, and the other invented the telescope which has two parts, legs and another part--he used his hands to demonstrate).

When I asked him why the sun looks so small, he informed me that it was because it is so far away.

I was so proud of his comprehension of what they had read. He is quite concerned that this book is not going to explain how and why the sun sets. Hopefully, future chapters will satisfy his curiousity and his interest in the subject will continue and this can lead to some special father/son moments in the future.