As I've spent the last year taking science courses at our state university in preparation for nursing school, I've been rather indifferent about incorporating the humanities into our homeschool (probably not the best position, by the way, but the science was starting to crowd out any appreciation for the necessity of fine art, music, and other "pleasantries"). Thankfully I realized this, of course, and was able to find my inner academic decathlete. I think I also may have felt guilty about approaching homeschooling without much of a plan, so I had started compiling material and decided to start with a unit about animals. Yep, "Amazing Animals." Because that was the name of the first unit in a textbook I plan to use with Wolfgang.
But the problem is that animals are just not that interesting to either of us. I had to talk myself into the topic (the anthology itself has many charming and interesting stories about animals working alongside humans, etc.) and couldn't find any true engagement with it until I started considering the spiritual possibilities. That was certainly fun, and at least up my alley. My main concern was simply having a place to start. I discussed a fear with Alex today: "What if it's cutting teeth every day? What if we just can't find that sweet spot?" Meaning, what if Wolfgang and I drive ourselves crazy and can't stand being with each other once we start homeschooling?
This is highly unlikely. We have a great time together and I feel we can hang out in a mutually enlightening, enjoyable kind of way. But still. We have taken the leap and now it's time to get started. Auuughh! What if! What if!
So I decided to try to pump up this animal topic tonight. And he looked at me with this look. Like, huh? He was obviously less than thrilled with the topic. So I~~get this~~asked him what he wanted to learn about.
Shocking, I know.
And this was the list he came up with:
- The human body
- The brain
- Dissections
- Lungs
- The senses
- Reptiles
- The 50 states and other countries
- The digestive system
Well, this is stuff I'm into too, wouldn't you know. And I ran to the library when I had a moment and brought home about 20 books on the subject of anatomy for kids. The best one is called "Make It Work~~The Human Body" and is a book of projects to help kids create models of each of the body systems. We delved right into studying the model of the heart on the page and discussing the flow of blood through each of the chambers and to and from the pulmonary system. We also discussed the structure of the eye and talked about doing a dissection. This leads me to the quote of the day:
"Yay! I get to use a pupil! Oh. Wait. That's not right. A scalpel! I get to use a scalpel!"
:)
The kids were very interested in the dissections I did for my class. By far, the most intriguing and inspiring one for me was of a cow's eye (but none of the kids were awake for that one). WOW! Anatomy and physiology remain two of my favorite subjects and never fail to bolster my faith in a Creator. The eye dissection was one of those things that sounded fairly unexciting and turned into a huge experience for me. I think I expected it to be fragile and delicate, from years of hearing parenting mantras such as "Careful! You'll poke your eye out!" or "It's always fun until someone loses an eye."
That cow's eye was the sturdiest structure possible. It broke my scalpel! The entire rear hemisphere of the structure was thickly layered in fat and muscle, and the ball itself took a long time to cut through. I thought to myself that poking anything through the eye would be next to impossible. Then, when I finally did get into it, I found the most delicate, paper-thin lens and shimmery colors like gasoline in a puddle.
My confidence has been bolstered by Wolfgang's enthusiasm and our immediate dive into the subject matter over the dinner table. I think we'll make our way through that entire book of projects and learn as much as we can. He can get his writing practice while labeling diagrams and writing details of stories using each of his five senses. He can multiply the numbers of the bones in the hands and feet.
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