Q: I have two daughters I homeschool, age 7 and 9.  One insists she wants to be a Marine Biologist (she loves ocean animals), and the other wants to be a Wildlife Vet (she loves bears and other wild animals).  We do study a bit about wildlife all over the earth.  Since I homeschool I wondered how I should best direct their early years of education to encourage these goals and prepare them for their college years.  Do you have any suggestions for such an early age?

A: Thank you for your question.  While I am not an expert on education by any means I believe inquiry based learning is the best when it comes to topics in science.  So I would challenge them to learn about the scientific method and study topics that relate to the health and safety of animals, the environment, and people.  I'd also encourage your girls to read as much as possible, both general books about animals and nature as well as scientific ones that cover such topics as zoology and botany.  There are of course many excellent educational nature videos as well.  So, yes, please do encourage your budding scientists.  If they choose to work in other fields in the future, you will have nurtured their love of nature and animals and that's good for all of us.