Monday, March 16, 2009

Curious George W.Carver

"A weed is a flower growing in the wrong spot." This is what George Washington Carver believed and it was the title of the biography we read about him today. What an amazing man. He overcame a seemingly hopeless situation.
Born a sickly baby to slave parents, he grew up to be an insatiably curious boy. He had a passion for plants and learned to nurture and care for them so that he earned the name, "Plant Doctor." At the age of TEN he set off on his own to make his way in the world. Earning his keep by doing odd jobs, he taught himself many skills. Finally at age 30 he earned enough to go to college but was turned away many times because of his skin color. How unfair! Still, he never gave up and was finally accepted.
His goal was always to use his talents and knowledge to help people. As a Dr. at Tuskegee Institute he discovered 100 uses for the sweet potato and 300 for the peanut! He was able to convince the southern farmers to grow these instead of cotton as they were much easier to grow and better for the soil. At age 80 he was still working tirelessly to improve the world.
Wow. With such a great example we were able to have a great discussion.
After our discussion we all wrote what inspired us most about his life and how we could learn from it.
Kate wrote, "I can be like George Washington Carver by not hiding my talents."
She also liked how he asked many questions and if no one could answer them he would work them out until he found the answer. Here are some of her questions:
How do they make markers? How do they make crayons? What is dirt made of? What is water made of? How are barbies made?
Looks like we'll be doing some fun internet searches.
We enjoyed some peanut butter sandwiches in honor of Dr. Carver today. He also inspired us to plant some flowers. Kate had a seed packet she bought the other day so she opened it and the seeds are soaking, and will ready to be plant tomorrow.

2 comments:

Heather said...

Love it, I haven't read that book. I will put it on the list...the never ending list! You are such a great inspirational home school mom!

ali cross said...

Hi LC! I found your blog through Dave & Des's website and I love it!

I'm with k12 too, my boys are both in grade 3.

Beautiful blog!