I found this post from Homemade Homeschoolers about finding a learning opportunity in the form of a dead mouse.
Yup, she's a homeschooling mom.
I think our first educational dead thing was a chipmunk that we watched rot and then scavenged the remains for the skull. I boiled it and set it in the sun to bleach but a breeze knocked it to the deck and it shattered.
Our next one was a baby snowshoe hare our cat had killed and brought to the house. I had plans that involved again, getting at the skull but the plans were never fullfilled and after two years of sitting in my freezer the little bunny finally went to the compost.
Now we're treated with dead rodents and birds on a regular basis. The cat has become the, Death: A Natural Process instructor and you usually have to watch your step on the front lawn. Until we put the dog out of course who just adores all the snacks the cat provides.
I'm betting this is pretty common; a dead snake or decomposing squirrel causing a big grin of happiness to blossom on the face of a homeschooling mom. Anyone have their own stories?
3 comments:
Funny! I'm not one for handling dead things, but DH does that stuff with the kids, and yes, they love it. I think the one they liked the best was when we got our moose and he showed them all the inside and then they dissected the head and the brain. Yuck, says I! :)
I suppose it's safe to admit here that when we returned from our seven-month sabbatical in the West Indies, I brought the baby goat skull back with me. The kids couldn't imagine leaving it, and now it lives in our "museum" which used to be my china cabinet.
But honestly you don't want to know about the scope a farm affords a hs'ing family. Yikes just about covers it...
We've done snakes. Won't disect ~ yuk, yuk, yuk, ~ but decompose yes or watch the kookaburras bang them about to *kill* them even if they're already dead. And funnel webs. I've done funnel webs ~ mostly because I had a mate who was more than a tad quirky & liked to use them as decoration in clear door knobs. He got a kick out of watching people freak out when they went to open his doors. Strange man.
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