Questions

As a homeschooler/unschooler, I've always encouraged the boys to ask
questions. Asking questions leads to understanding. Questioning things can also bring needed changes. I've always told them, there is no bad question, but some do seem better than others. For example, yesterday these goodies were asked;

"Mom, how many colors are there?" My answer- "Infinite, I think. When you think about the many different shades you can make. Of course there are colors we can't see as well." I bought watercolor paint so we can practice mixing colors and on our
list goes the book about how our eyes see light waves.

"Mom, how much is a hundred googles?" My answer- "A lot. Actually, if you really want to know, a google is a 1 with one hundred zeros behind it. Now put two zeros behind that."

"Mom,what are the Killing Fields?" My thought- why did I leave the history channel on!! My answer- "Well, the Killing Fields were a genocide, a dark time when thousands of people were killed."

Of course often I'll answer questions with another question. I also like to keep
index cards around so we can write down the questions we don't have answers for right away.

"Mom, why does the top of Wisconsin actually belong to Michigan?" This index card question will remind me to pick up a book on Wisconsin or Michigan history.