If there was a subject at school that made me anxious, it was science. Maybe that’s because in my tenth grade, I couldn't understand my physics teacher's instructions, causing me to accidentally set fire to the classroom. So, when my husband and I decided to home-school our daughters, we made a deal: he would teach science, while I would handle everything else. But that’s not how things have been going these past few weeks, since my husband has been too busy to teach the girls.

Recently, while out on my morning hike before starting lessons, I noticed that the sky was a beautiful blue, and the air was filled with the sweet smell of flowers. That s why I decided that the day’s lessons would be taught outside, although I remembered that my daughters hadn't had any science classes from my husband for a while.

I returned to the house to get the girls ready. We headed up into the forest, settling ourselves by a pond that rarely has any visitors. My daughter Saoirse started to pick up pond weeds and catch frogs, while my other daughter Ula looked at me, waiting to be instructed. I handed her a drawing board and colored pencils. "We wait, "I told her, " and see if something comes along. In the meantime, just draw what's around you.”

We worked for more than an hour, hardly speaking. A bird flew across the water, and then settled in a front of a fallen tree. I quickly told Ula, worried that she’d not seen the creature. But she had, and she started drawing it. An hour later, she’d not finished her picture and I stared down at it. She drew the bird on her paper with amazing accuracy. But there was one other interesting fact about this drawing: she also drew me, sitting beside her.

I realized, as I stared at this child's drawing of us watching a bird, how I'd lived for 40 years, gathered 10 years of higher education, and never understood the foundation of science before this moment. The foundation of science is a sense of wonder; it isn't about accurately reciting words from a textbook. It is first and foremost about stepping outside our busy lives and amazing at the world around us.

Though I have twin sisters who are a year younger than I am, I still wanted one more guy in the house when I was 5 or 6. In 2002, my mom and dad went back to the adoption agency (收养机构) in Korea where they got my sisters and me. They came home with George.

He seemed fine at first. But six months later, when he was around l, my mom and dad told us George wouldn’t grow up like us. They said George has autism (自闭症) and that he’d have more challenges. One day my parents brought home some sign-language videos. They said we were all going to learn signing together. That was when I knew George might never talk.

Living with George can be a roller coaster ride. He wants to play all the time, which makes him lovable. But he can be aggressive (有攻击性的). If he doesn’t get what he wants, he throws a fit. When George acts like this at home, I take him to the couch or the floor and lie with him until he cools off. That’s my role. I often have to hold him down when he loses control of himself. I’m the only one in myhome who isstrong enough to handle George physically at this point, which is difficult.

I thought having a brother would mean I’d have someone on my side all the time. I thought that if I had a fight with my sisters, I’d have him at my back. It didn’t end up that way. But the people in your life are there for a reason. Having George in the family has made us all closer. He’s not only a connection point, but a responsibility that we all share. It has taught us to compromise (妥协).

I came to the United States ten years ago. I would always say that I was trying to study, but there were always things like work and my kids that would not allow me to start.

Now I realized that those were only excuses. What stopped me was that I was afraid to start studying again. I always believed I would learn by myself.

One day, however, my son told me that he was sad because his friends would come over and I didn’t understand them because I didn’t speak English. He was also sad because I could never help him with his homework. That same day, I told myself, “Rocio, you have to start believing in yourself and you will see you can make it.”

The next day, I went downtown to look for a big banner (横幅) in front of the school which said that they offered classes for adults. I came in to see if I could join, but the classes were closed already. That night I took the kids to the movies, and on the way back, I told them we would take a new route. I ended up getting lost. That’s the way I found Chaffey College. The following Monday, I went to ask for information. They told me that summer school was starting that week.

That’s how I started studying English last summer. It is difficult, but I have had great rewards. My daughter had written a story for school. It was about the female they most admired and why. She wrote that I was the person she most admired because I had started going to college. I will never forget this.