Homeschooling at its best

About a month ago, the boys and I were studying simple machines as part of their science for the week (that's wedges, inclined planes, pulleys, levers, etc. for all you non-engineering types). We had a nifty book from the library that explained how each works and gave simple experiments to prove their power. We were working our way through the experiments, and had come to the inclined plane. I was having flashbacks of my sophomore science fair project! I was explaining to the boys that screws are actually made of an inclined plane wrapped around a shaft of metal. And a jack is really just a big screw. A simple machine that can lift a car. This was not suggested in the book, but I figured, "Why not? Let's go lift the car!" The boys were about to nominate me for teacher of the year (I don't have much competition here) as we eagerly went outside to try out our simple machine.

Now I have to admit, I've never jacked up a car by myself. I've seen it done a couple times, and had even been thinking I should probably practice changing a tire in case the need ever arose alongside a highway somewhere. So I lifted the carpet in the trunk and proceeded to read the directions for jacking up a car, printed there over the spare tire. Step 1:block the tire opposite the corner you're going to jack up. "Ok, let's go get something from the shed to use as a block." We round the front corner of the car, and Ian says, "Mom, we have a flat tire!" Doesn't God have a funny sense of humor? Here I am, preparing to jack up a car just for fun, when I really needed to jack up the car.

So we got right to work, and, with the step by step directions propped up beside the tire, we got the spare tire on. Just in time for me to go in and shower and change for a date with my husband. Had I not gotten this hare-brained idea to jack up the car, I would not have been out there 45 minutes early, and would have found it at the last minute before needing to leave to meet Christian. The other miracle was that it had not gone flat the night before as I was driving home in the dark with the boys.

Our pastor always says to be careful about what you teach because teachers have to learn everything twice: once in head knowledge and the second time experientially. I guess I learned that lesson well! We laughed all through the experience at how timely our flat tire was!