We have been having a great time with science in school lately.  We did an overview of the human body using this book:

The Body (Teacher Created Resources) by Patti Carratello

I traced each of the kids bodies on butcher paper on hung them on the wall.  Then this book provides life-size black-and-white sheets of the organs and body parts pictured above for the kids to color, cut out, then paste or attach to the body using brads.  Specific instructions were provided as to what colors to use and exactly where to place and paste so that parts can be lifted to see organs underneath.  While they colored and cut, I would read the basic explanations of what each part did.

The kids loved doing this and looked forward to it every day (well, every day that we got to it in this season of the plague hovering over our home).  And what great parental practice for explaining the, ahem, reproductive organs.  If you have subscribed to my private family blog, you can see a detailed picture there.  I keep my kids’ off of the public internet for privacy purposes.

Another science topic we have embarked upon is plants and seeds and birds and bees.  In the very literal sense.  We have studied how pollen travels from flower to flower to make seeds, and how seeds sprout to make seedlings and grow to plants.  With that in mind we used supplies provided with Sonlight’s science kit (well, these are supplies I could’ve easily procured around here), we grew some bean plants!

First we put some kidney beans in a jar with wet paper towels and watched them sprout.  Amazingly cool, by the way, how plants grow with just water and sunlight like that.  What a miraculous God we have!  We left those to grow for about a week (um, or more, because of someone-who-shall-rename-nameless’s laziness) and then today we planted them in little peat pots!  The result:

Now, consider that I traditionally have a “black thumb” so this will be a serious challenge to keep these alive in the name of homeschool education.  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…

We are also reading Usborne books about Caterpillars and Butterflies (my favorite!).  Our plan is to turn the flower bed in front of the window where we have our homeschool room into a little butterfly garden.  (Read:  the husband’s department.)  *big grin*  Chris has already researched and designed the project, we just need the time to put it in.  I can’t wait to look out and see beautiful flowers and fluttering butterflies!

We had a great morning this morning in homeschool…because of the little things.

We finally ventured out of the house after yet another round of the flu for G and Daddy.  It is an absolutely beautiful morning this morning.  After walking around the neighborhood with Huntley, we played in the front yard and drive-way.  G suddenly runs up to me while I was talking with a neighbor and he was holding a dandelion in his hand, with the seeds partially blown away…

“Look Mommy!  Just like we talked about yesterday!”

In school yesterday we had continued our discussion of seeds and flowers and (literally) birds and bees and how pollen moves from plant to plant to form seeds and how animals and the wind (and other things) help move seeds to new places for plants to grow.  One of the pictures was of the wind blowing dandelion seeds about.  It was truly a joy to see G discover this for himself in our front yard this morning.  I demonstrated blowing seeds for him and let him try, then we took it inside and compared it to the picture in the book and then looked at the parts of the plant we had been studying, too, and of course followed that up with more seed blowing.

It’s just fun blowing those seeds around – such a child-like wonder even if you are an adult!

G also picked a weed-flower plant from our front yard ran in and put it in a glass of water.  After we settled back inside, he grabbed the book and said, “Here Mommy, let’s find it in the book.  We need to discover it!”  Again, heart a-flutter, I went to work, completely unsure of how in the world I would identify this weed!  Of course, it wasn’t in our little Usborne book “How Flowers Grow” so we turned to Google, or as G says “Goooooooooooooooooooooogle”  Ha!

Eureka!  Amazingly, I found it.  Wanna see?  Of course you do.  Because I’m impressed I found it myself.  And it was pure joy seeing his eyes light up at finding it, too.

It is an Asiatic false Hawksbeard.  I personally think it sounds like a pirate flower with a name like that.  Here is a picture:

Asiatic False Hawksbeard

We LOVE homeschooling.  I wouldn’t trade anything in the world for these precious moments of learning with my children, seeing his eyes light up at his excitement of discovering these new things, seeing him enjoy science and math, and learning to read.  I’m already picking our curriculum for next year.  :D