Heart dissections on Valentine’s
How appropriate to dissect sheep hearts on Valentine’s day. The older boys participated in a homeschool workshop at one of our local museums. The topic of discussion was on the heart anatomy, its function in the body, and other parts of the circulatory system.
This morning before we left for the museum the kids watched a few Brainpop videos on the circulatory system, and on the drive over I discussed the heart in more detail. I enjoyed learning anatomy in med school, so this field trip was a real treat for me. I even put on a pair of gloves and goggles to help teach on the parts. I was a bit concerned that our second son might not want to participate in the dissection. He was not at all excited about the thought of playing with a real heart while we were going over the details. To my surprise, though, he really enjoyed the dissection and participated in the event in its entirety. Sometimes, you just never know. That’s one reason I’m a big fan of exposing them to many fields of study. Who knows what might spark their interests.
We spent the day at the museum, so we did not cover anything academically at home upon return. Tonight was full of cards and chocolates and stuffed animals and flowers. I guess we all succumb to these retail holidays. Last night hubby and I celebrated Valentine’s day. Gotta make time for each other…
We will keep pressing on with academics over the next few days even though many of our surrounding schools have a four day weekend. I don’t really see the point of that. If anything, I’ll have the kids recite the names of the presidents:)
The Fourth Child
Maybe you can relate to this..
Our fourth child seems to be the comic relief in our family, likely due in part to his birth order. He tends to be a little more laid back, also. When you have 3 other children in front of him, your energy is spread out, and you learn not to react to the little things going on. It’s more like you just throw food onto the high chair table and hope it works out that he teaches himself how to eat because you’re being consumed by everybody else.
Today, he gave me a good laugh while we were driving to preschool (all of our kids have attended outside preschool programs). Today was show-and-tell with the letter “T” so we were discussing all of the items that he could have taken for his presentation. He said with a serious tone, “Well, we can’t bring a girl’s private parts”. I paused for a moment as I processed what he had just said and then tried to figure out what he might be referring to. My first thought was “tit” referring to a woman’s chest, but I couldn’t believe he’d know that word yet. So, I went on to ask him what he was referring to. He said, “You know, toody”. I tried hard not to laugh. You see, in our household the word “toody” has sometimes taken the place of the word “vagina”. I don’t particularly like replacing anatomical words with obscure words like “toody” but for some reason this one has stuck with my kids. Now why he would have thought to say that he couldn’t take a “toody” to preschool.. I have no idea.
The conversation made me think about how different my children are from one another. Then, it made me wonder how in the world I’m going to teach all of them at one time as they get older! Will I just throw the books at the fourth kid and hope it works out for him? No, I can honestly say I don’t think I’ll do that because I’m a bit neurotic with academics and desire that they love to learn. That being said, I don’t know how I’ll do all of the little things to make it all come together. The big picture will be accomplished through His grace, so I’m going to give it my best shot. Big fan of homeschooling, BIG FAN.
P.S.-The above picture occurred after we’d just finished reading about the Olmec and Aztec Indians. My children thought it would be fun to paint their bodies like the Indians had done. You can imagine how my face looked after I saw what they had created, and I’m only showing you just a little bit of the art. Help me.
There’s no time for a mani/pedi
Sometimes I do wish I had a little more time to myself. I remember those pre-kid days where spending time at the beach meant how much sun I could soak up and what books I wanted to read.
Long gone are those days! I’m thrilled when my hair gets washed!
I saw my toenails today and became a little nauseous at the sight. Wow, do they need some work. There may be an overgrowth of fungus going on, not really sure. Glad it’s not spring weather yet! Maybe I’ll try to paint them around 2 a.m.
Ivy League Homeschooling 