Bedtime Chemistry

Ga'hoole Girl expressed interest in learning some chemistry a few months ago.  Since she and I are both nightowls, we have taken to doing about 30 minutes of chemistry right before bed.  She's quite intimidated by the subject, so she thinks she's doing elementary school level work.  Actually, I'm teaching her pretty much what is taught in a high school chemistry course.  Shhhh!  Don't tell her - I don't want to scare her!

We're using some Usborne books and other books from the library.  I explain things and show her pictures while she takes notes (in multicolored gel pen, of course) and draws pictures.  We started with atoms and the periodic table.  So far, she's drawn hydrogen, helium, lithium, oxygen, and fluorine.  Tonight, we talked about covalent and ionic bonding.  She calls the covalent bonding "sharing" and the ionic bonding "steal and stick".  Making up her own names for the processes shows me that she has internalized the concepts.

I really think this is one of the most fun things I've done in homeschooling.  Ga'hoole Girl really wants to learn this stuff.  I already understand it, so it's pretty easy to teach.  If we keep this up long enough, she'll have high school chemistry (minus the lab) out of the way.  And, we're enjoying each other's company.  Does it get any better than this?