Area students get ready for a new year

By ANDREA JOHNSON, Staff Writer ajohnson@ndweb.com

Eight-year-old Ben Talley and his 9 1/2 year-old brother Sam have a yen to learn all about rocks, so they collected a few boxes of them outside their house.

Though school won't technically start until Aug. 31 for the home-schooled kids and their siblings, they're already trying to figure out what type of rocks they've collected.
"I think this one is slate ... or petrified wood," said son Ben, 8, as he pulled out a dark, chunky rock and held it up for his mother's inspection.

"I think that might be too light for petrified wood," said his mother, Dawn.

"I read a book about them," explained Sam.

Dawn Talley plans to help her boys start a rock collection and get a rock polisher for them while their interest in the subject is white hot.