Questions, questions and more questions...

My children are always full of questions, as I'm know all children are.  Why? What? Where? How? Why? Why? Why?  Questions are brilliant.  But what makes them better?  Answers of course.

There is only one problem.  I often get frustrated when they ask me questions and I have no way of sourcing out an answer quickly then often forget what they've asked when I get home.  I have found a solution: I've got in the habit of writing them down as soon as one of my gorgeous girls asks me a question I haven't got the answer to straight away.  Since last night we have this list:

• What is the Tudor Rose all about?
• Who invented money?
• Who named dinosaurs, dinosaurs?

I am not such an omniscient person and Google is all good and well but only when at hand.  At least writing their questions down is giving me the chance to try and give them some answers.  It is amazing what having a child teaches you, if you only listen to their questions and help them find the answers instead of ignoring the ones you don't understand.

Some are might be revolting, others quite intriguing but all, I believe, are good and important for them to know.

I have now discovered, and so have my children, that:

• The Tudor rose represented the fusion of the Lancastrian and Yorkist nobles; the fusion of the red rose of Lancaster and the White rose of York.  It marked the end of the Engish civil war, The War of the Roses.  Anyway if you want to learn more click here.  Fascinating stuff, I love history!
• Early uses of money began with bartering around 100,000 years ago.  But one of the first forms of currency is The shekel.  It was was originally both a unit of currency and a unit of weight and originated from Mesopotamia around 3000 BC.  Many cultures in Asia and Africa used shell money which was usually the rare cowry shell.  You can read more about this here.
• A man named Richard Owen, was the first to use the word dinosaur.  He used it to identify the fossils of extinct reptiles. It traces its origins to the Greek words deinos, meaning "terrible" or "fearfully great," and sauros, meaning "lizard."

See how amazing it is being taught by your children? It takes a little research but fascinating stuff!  I love home educating my girls as nearly all the answers to their questions are found and often goes on and on until we have whole projects and beautifully filled scrapbooks.  What do you do with your children's questions?