A Freaked Out Boy

(I'm back!  Now that school is out I have time to write again, but I apologize for writing first and foremost about my child... he's been on my mind and taking up all my time so I had to unload a few thoughts on paper before I dive into other aspects of our "interesting" life. :)

The other day I dropped Kaleb off at the library while I ran some errands in LaConner.  I think he’s read every book in the kid’s section more than once, but he still loves to hang out there. I was gone long enough that he got bored of the kid’s section and decided to expand his world by looking up books on quantum physics.  He just completed high school physics and was sad they didn’t address anything in the quantum physics arena nor did they answer one of his long time lingering questions like, “What is string theory?”  He sat and started reading the book slowly, not gobbling it up like he does fiction books.  By the time I picked him up, he looked a bit crazed.  I asked him what was wrong and he said, “I just read the FREAKIEST book in the world.  It gave me the creeps.”  I had to ask what book it was and why he would say such a thing, worried he’d picked up a terrible book at the library.

He then went on to tell me that last year when we were in Norway, he and his buddies Andre and Daniel made up a game to play outdoors.  They each had some kind of super power and Kaleb invented most of the rules around the game, including the “scientific principles” involved in how they could get their powers. 

He likes to call it “doodle science” because he just doodles with ideas in his head and then comes up with his own nonsensical theories to explain them.  When he explains them to the untrained ear, they sound scientifically plausible, but he knows better and just has fun messing with people. 

Well, it turns out, he wasn’t messing with them afterall.  What freaked him out in reading that physics book was that science has proven this one “doodle science” theory of his is actually true.  It scared Kaleb that the words in the book were nearly identical to the words he used last year in explaining the idea to his friends.  “How did I know that?” Kaleb kept asking me.  “It was just so freaky!”  He was genuinely concerned that this advanced scientific theory on time/space travel was already in his head and he knew he didn’t pick it up somewhere else – he thought if it himself.  It had to do with traveling faster than the speed of light and at some point it would cause a person to go backwards in time.  He thought it could be possible based on things he knew about science, so he incorporated the idea into his game.  When he  found it documented in this book it floored him.

There were other things in the book that also confirmed some ideas he had been doodling with and he’s afraid to finish reading it.  I told him the knowledge obviously came from God and He must have big plans for what He’s going to use him for, so he should embrace it and see what more he can do with it.  He’s not convinced.  But this is where I’m not worth much as a parent.  I have no idea what to do with him or his big ideas. 

There’s been two “inventions” he’s come up with so far that have now actually been “invented” by someone else.   Kaleb just gives me that “humph” kind of look that says “so why didn’t you help me get that one going…” like I was supposed to take him seriously when he told me about them.  But his ideas are so outlandish, it’s hard to even know how to respond.  His first idea he called a “reticulator” and it had to do with creating more energy out of a small stream of energy.  Some guy in Canada won a million dollars to get an entire power plant up and running on the exact idea Kaleb had when he was eight years old.  I even have him on video describing it, and it’s just like the system the guy used that I saw on television. 

The other idea he came up with a few years ago was an air vacuum travel system.  He said it would be much more efficient if people could travel in vacuum tubes and I hate to say I even made fun of him for that one – pointing out all the obvious flaws in the system.  But now the news is full of this idea and how much cheaper and quicker it would be for travel - and again - he looks at me like I’m the worst mother in the world for not taking him seriously.  Like, who do I call to say my kid has this hair brained idea he wants to develop….

He’s now done with the school year, but I find it fascinating that the books he’s checking out from the library are continuing his education.  I guess if all I do is create an environment that makes him love learning, then what else I do as a homeschool mom doesn’t really matter.  He’ll learn the things he wants to learn.  He also checked out books on animals of the world so he could do some research for a novel he plans to write next year for school.  He wants to incorporate some odd animal characters in his sci-fi plot – so he’s been scouring books on uncommon facts about obscure animals.  I love that.  He’s already plotting out various characters and planning on making it an entire book series, and he even said the words, “I want to be a writer when I grow up.”  What a turn of events this year.  I told him if he were a writer, it would be a good way to get all his “inventions” out there without the start-up capital required to build them.  He could just incorporate them into the books he writes and then he’d own the idea in case anyone else actually makes them come to life.

Kaleb’s friend Daniel is finally here visiting us from Norway.  He and his parents arrived three days ago and will be with us for three weeks.  While I get a break from Kaleb’s schooling and running him around everywhere, I’ll never get a break from Kaleb and his big ideas.  I guess that could be a good thing.