When God plans the lessons
My daughter got an ant farm a while back and we finally got around to sending in for the ants. Why did we wait so long? I have no idea.
They arrived, we prepped their "farm" and poured them in. They are quite the center of attention now. Of course, we did have to ponder why they carry the name "ant farm." What are they growing? Or, are they herding cattle? They aren't raising ants, so "ant farm" isn't kind of the wrong name. (Like a children's museum -- is that where you go to look at children? -- Ah well, welcome to our family dinner table discussions).
Interestingly enough, we just decided last week to jump to the insect section of our science book while bugs could still be found outside. And, we subscribe to God's World News and they have an article about insects and reinforce everything we read in science. Love when God plans the lessons, because I could never have orchestrated this so well.
I forgot how good a real life object lesson can be. Nathan cannot stay away from the ants. I get a report every five minutes about what new thing the little guys are up to. Tomorrow we'll break back open the books and put some facts behind our observation. And, of course, I have a pile of books I just picked up from the library on insects, and a DVD too!
Comments
Hahaha, I had to laugh at this one. I didn't know my father made a habbit of eating dinner over at your house! This is how my father questions the world. It apperantly carried on a dominant gene because all my siblings and I inharited this sense of humor to. Or maybe it was conditioning...We could never say "Im going to go jump in the shower..." because my father would say "Thats a terrible idea, the shower is very slippery, please dont jump in it." Or if my mother came home and said "Oh, I bumped into Mrs. Mack at the grocery store today..." He would exclaim "My gosh! Is she okay? Did you knock her over, she such a fragile old lady...you really need to look where you are going..." Hehe...
But your post makes me long to have my own little kiddos to homeschool. The kids I was nannying for/living with LOVED their ant (ahem) habitat. The baby now wants to raise bees and his mom is considering letting him do it. He will be 6 in Dec. Anyways...its magical to watch children learn and I particularly delight in showing little ones the beauty of Gods created world. Theres a Creation Science museum in the midwest and I already have a homeschool field trip planned there for when that season of my life arrives.
Eeep, I wrote a book. I used to read your site but havent in a while bue to my crazy life (got married, etc.) Last I knew you were five in tow...Congrats!