Sometimes I wonder why I get myself into certain things. The girls wanted to participate in the school's science fair and submit a project (only after I encouraged them). We...no I...did research for a few days trying to find ideas. After finding the one on a theory known as the "Bouba-Kiki Effect", the girls chose it (just because they liked saying those words). I had them help make the flashcards with the shapes on them, and they "interviewed" a few volunteers from the school, neighborhood, city center, and library. Mom and Dad interviewed the rest. Darin talked to volunteers at work. Thanks to the power of e-mail, we got quite a few responses. Then, after the girls went to bed, I stayed up until 3 a.m. typing up the content of the project (Purpose, Questions, Hypothesis, Background Info, Procedure, etc.) The girls participated a little by giving me their hypotheses, but everything else was written by...moi. Then, the next night, after the girls went to bed, I typed up the rest of the content (data tables, samples used for the test, conclusion, application, materials, resources), printed them, cropped them, matted them, and mounted everything on the project display board with Darin's help. Finally, at 3 a.m. Darin and I went to bed. Brooklyn turned in the project the next morning so it could be judged. Brooklyn said in her prayers that night, "And please bless that Makenna and I will get a prize for our science project because we worked so hard on it..." I guffawed some sort of sound and had to turn my head because Brooklyn looked up. "You mean...because Mom worked so hard on it..." Anyway, to make a long story short...we went to the school today to pick up the project. The girls did each get a certificate of participation and bag of goodies, but no blue ribbon. They weren't disappointed at all, but my bubble burst a bit. Little did I know, only 5th and 6th grade projects were eligible for judging. I did know that those projects were the only ones eligible to move onto the district level for further jurying, but I didn't realized that that also applied to the judging. I thought they would at least give some placement ribbons to the younger grades. So, I didn't win! (ha, ha, ha) Oh well, now I know for future projects (if we even choose to do them...they're not required) that we need to simplify, involve the girls more, and start earlier on them so that I'm not up until 3:00 in the morning. But, at least it wasn't all for naught. The girls are enjoying their goody bags and I am enjoying my new plethora of knowledge about "Boubas" and "Kikis". (Try googling the "Bouba-Kiki Effect".)
You did such a good job!
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