Annie's Adventures: The Chemistry Calamity
By Christina Li
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About this ebook
Annie is a ten-year-old homeschool girl who decides to find the perfect project for the local Science Fair. After several false starts and even a few disasters, Annie and her sister, Merri, think they’ve finally figured out the perfect project. Will they complete it in time? What will the judges think? Read and see!
This book is a 'day in the life' of a homeschool family using the Unit Study approach. At the end, the author gives a book list (used in this Unit Study) as well as several hints and tips on teaching your own Unit Studies at home using items you probably already have or can get easily through your local library!
Christina Li
Christina Li is the author of the middle grade novels Clues to the Universe and Ruby Lost and Found, which won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Children's Literature, as well as the forthcoming teen novel True Love and Other Impossible Odds. At any given time she is probably daydreaming about characters and drinking too much jasmine green tea. She grew up in the Midwest and California but now calls New York home. Find her online at christinaliwrites.com.
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Annie's Adventures - Christina Li
Annie’s Adventures:
The Chemistry Calamity
Written by: Christina Li
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011 Christina Li
License Notes:
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank-you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Dedicated to:
My own amazing children, who inspire me every day,
my husband, who loves me and challenges me to be all that God has created me to be, Auntie Nana, Uncle Walter, and Cousin Charles for the awesome Chemistry Set for Christmas, and to my dear friend, Nancy Watrud, who has been encouraging me to publish this for years!
I finally did it!
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: What is a Science Fair?
Chapter 2: The Christmas Surprise
Chapter 3: The Unit Study
Chapter 4: An Awesome Science Fair Project
Chapter 5: What is a Hypothesis?
Chapter 6: The Chemistry Calamity
Chapter 7: It Just Got Worse
Chapter 8: Only One More Day
Chapter 9: The Science Fair
Chapter 10: What Are We Going to Do Next?
A Note for Parents and Students: You Can Create Your Own Unit Study!
About the Author
Chapter One: What Is a Science Fair?
Anticipation.
That’s what ten-year-old Annie felt when she opened her big brown eyes to a bright, cold, late December morning. Annie was the oldest of five children, three girls and two boys. Next to Annie was Merry, 7, then, Johnny, 5 and Nick, 3. Last was little Minnie, a bright-eyed, energetic two-year-old. Annie loved her brothers and sisters dearly, but she sometimes wished she didn’t have to pick up after the littler ones quite so often. At least Merry and Johnny helped.
Throwing off the covers, she bounded out of bed and pushed aside the curtains to look out her second story window upon the white world below. Minnesota winters were always cold, but this winter had outdone itself with below zero temperatures for the past month and a half. Perhaps that contributed to Annie’s feelings of being ‘holed up’. Oh, how she wanted an adventure. It had been her prayer for the last several weeks. Christmas itself was always exciting, but it wasn’t an adventure. Annie didn’t need something really dangerous, like solving a murder mystery (too scary!) or exotic (too expensive). She just wanted something special that only she could do.
Slowly, she turned away from her window and tiptoed past her still sleeping sisters to their closet. Pulling out her new favorite green sweater, her warm, green and red Christmas socks, and her long, black denim skirt (also a new favorite. Grandmas really are wonderful people!), Annie got dressed and went downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast.
The kitchen was separated from the family room by a lovely railing and a step. Annie liked to be able to put her feet up on the hearth in front of the fireplace while waiting for her toast to pop up. After buttering her toast and pouring her milk into her cereal, Annie sat at the table with her Bible and a new adventure book she had gotten for Christmas. She opened her Bible to the book of Deuteronomy. Last September, she had decided that she would try to read through the whole Bible. So far, she felt pretty good about her reading. She loved Deuteronomy. It talked about how great God is and how we should worship Him alone. Annie found Bible study very exciting.
A few minutes later, her Momma came in. Good morning, Annie.
Annie looked up and matched her Momma’s smile. Good morning.
Her mom was the best in the whole world. Though her clothes were simple, a long, denim skirt and thick, red, Christmas sweater, she was beautiful. She never wore a bit of make-up or jewelry, except her watch and her wedding ring. Her knee-length hair was coiled up on the lower back of her head, clipped in place with a large hair clip.
The thing Annie liked best about her mom was the fact that she liked to play with her and her brothers and sisters. Whether it was an educational game or just for fun, it was often Momma who asked, ‘Anybody want to play a game?’ She seemed to have a knack for finding really exciting ones where you learned something in spite of yourself. Word games were always interesting. Annie learned how to use the dictionary quickly and effortlessly just to prove that a word existed so she could win a game. Momma would just laugh and say ‘Congratulations!’
Not surprisingly though, Annie’s favorite games were the ones where they rescued the children or solved the mystery of The Secret Door or defeated the evil White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia Game.
This morning, Annie saw that her mother had in her hand the other thing the two shared in common, a love for reading. Annie grinned when she saw the fiction book her Momma had brought to read while eating breakfast. While both loved to read, Annie’s favorites were adventure, while her mother tended to like the classics best. ‘One of these days,’ her mother playfully would threaten, ‘you’re going to learn to like Jane Austen!’ For now, Annie thought she would stick with Royal Diaries or The Chronicles of Narnia series.
You’re awfully quiet this morning.
Her mother’s voice broke into her thoughts.
I was just thinking. I love all the games that we play and the books that I read, but what I really want is my very own adventure.
What sort of adventure?
Oh, anything will do. Just something exciting and interesting and just for me.
I might have just the thing for you.
Her Momma smiled mysteriously.
Annie popped up out of her chair, nearly upsetting it. What, Momma, what is it?
Laughing, Momma walked over to the kitchen desk where the phone was kept, bills were paid, and mail was generally deposited. I got this yesterday in the mail. I thought you might be interested.
Momma showed her a page from the Community Ed Courses. She had circled a small paragraph with a picture of a robot next to it.
Science Fair,
Annie read slowly. Her eyes widened as she read. This was perfect! Oh Momma. I’d love to do it. What shall we experiment on? Can I do a project that explodes? Like maybe show the judges that it’s a really, really bad idea to mix hot wax with water?
Um, no,
said Momma, grimacing. This brought back a memory Annie’s mother wished she could forget. Last year, for their Annual Family Christmas project, Daddy had come up with the idea of making candles to give away to all of their friends and relatives. While Momma and the three younger children made Christmas cookies and did all the wrapping, Daddy and the two older girls had spent many happy hours carefully