ah... homework... homework... homework


homework and the missing bead

as much as we all may hate homework
there is some sort of correlation between homework and success
so... we prioritize homework

homework can be as much of a hassle for the parents as for the children
especially on weekends

this weekend after my older son's soccer game was rained out we stopped by a friend of his house
to my son's pleasure his friend was home and excited to be taking a visitor on this monsoon style rainy Saturday afternoon

without getting out of the car Dean ran and knocked on the door then ran back under a loaned umbrella to tell me that he was invited to stay
so I drove home leaving him at his friend's house

afternoon blended into evening and it was rapidly approaching bedtime so I drove across town to pick up my son
as we were gathering at the front door my older son Dean expressed to me in great panic that he lost his "bead" that he needed for his science project
there was something about it being in his pocket and it falling out
I told him to relax... we could check the pants and then check the laundry

Dean was not put at ease
I offered to replace the bead... saying he could use a turquoise skull bead I bought in New Mexico
my joke of alchemy and other such magic did not amuse him
none of my words put him at ease

as we migrated to the door I heard a shout from the kitchen... "MOM! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE GREEN CUP THAT WAS ON THE COUNTER?"
as it turns out... that cup was put in the dish washer... which means that Rory had also lost his bead

both boys were without their beads
both boys were visibly upset

we returned home and I did not spend much time looking for the bead
I listened as my wife Lisa tried to pacify our son who was overly anxious about his lost bead
Lisa's efforts were similar to mine... confident that either the bead would be found or it could be replaced
we all agreed that the mystery of the missing bead would not and could not be resolved before bed time

the next morning arrived and so did the anxiety of the missing bead
in the actions of the morning there was the never ending effort to clean up "mount wash more"
I looked for the pants... I did not see the pants
loads of laundry came out the the dryer... I scanned the dryer with a blind drag of the hand and a spin of the interior... nothing... no bead
loads came out of the washer and a similar blind hand through the washer brought different results
when the interior of the washer was spun there was the sound of something small and plastic bouncing around
I located it... it was in fact a bead... I took what I found upstairs and asked Dean if this was in fact his bead

we had our bead
the lost bead was found

we were back on track
Dean had his bead and could return to his science homework project
with iPad in hand I had Dean search for "bead science projects"
a long list of projects came up about UV Sensitive beads
I glanced at a photo... it looked like the UV sensitive bead, so I placed the bead in a spot where strong light was entering the room

sure enough... in less than a minute our cream colored almost translucent bead had turned blue

then what would Dean do as his experiment
well... all sorts of ideas surfaced... most experiment ideas more complex and time intensive than need be
when I mentioned the microwave... Dean said that was his first thought
so... we went for the microwave

we rapidly went through the steps of Scientific Method...

Hypothesis? Ask Dean... 
Procedure- easy enough putting the bead in the microwave and heating it up for several 1 minute increments
watching for change in color

result... Nothing
conclusion... neither heat nor the waves of the microwave effect the color of the bead

bead found
project done
thus freeing up the rest of the day for play!