Crayfish Dissection

I'm a little behind in posting about this, but on Thursday we dissected crayfish at Classical Conversations. The actual CC plan calls for only observing the outside of the crayfish, but our director, Kim, thought that was a waste of all those crayfish, so she decided we would dissect them. I offered to lead the dissection for the 3/4 graders (which I teach normally) plus the 5/6 graders, since I figured I could add more for them then their actual teacher, since she isn't a biology person. Kim asked if I could just lead the dissection for the whole co-op, which was just fine with me. Everyone was all together for it. I think it would have been easier if it had been broken up into the older kids and the younger kids, but it went really well. With all the moms there to help, things went really smoothly, even with the younger kids. Everyone (well, most everyone--there were a few pale faces!) thought it was really interesting!
I dug the old lab coat out of the closet in Faith's room, where it has hung since we moved here, untouched. I wasn't sure how "juicy" these crayfish would be, and I didn't want to get stuff all over my sleeves! I started out helping the kids go down the classification of a crayfish, since they have memorized those divisions (the old "King Phillip Came Over For Green Spinach" mnemonic). Then we talked about the outside parts.

Once we actually started dissectiong, I had to run around a lot to make sure people at every table could tell what I was talking about. There is nothing more frustrating than staring at your speciman and not having a clue what you are looking at because nothing looks like what other people are describing! A mom asked me how many crayfish I had dissected, and I told her I really don't know. I think we probably dissected one in high school (does that ring a bell, Amy?!), but I'm not sure. So maybe none. I reread the section in my Vertebrate Zoology book about crayfish and other decapods, and I read some crayfish dissection labs on the internet. The thing is, if you have dissected a lot of different things, you at least kind of know what to expect as far as what parts look like what, even if they don't exactly look like a drawing from a manual! We were able to find and identify all the major organs with no problems at all.

Here is a closeup of a crayfish's gills. My friend Lynnea, and Kim, the director, were both kind enough to take pictures and then email them to me. I had thought about taking my camera but (rightly) decided that I would be running around to busy to take pictures (and would have hands that were too dirty, LOL). So it was nice to have these pictures from friends.

I love this picture of Jonathan! What a little scientist, with his magnifying glass!

This is Nathan and Isaac McC, with Caleb McC leaning in on the left. The older kids really did a great job with everything, and they were especially enthusiastic about the whole thing. Nathan and Luke thought it was "awesome".

Science is supposed to take 30 minutes, and Kim had actually given me 45 minutes, but when I first looked up at the clock, I realized I had almost taken an hour! I apologized, but Kim said all the teachers had said they would rather have the kids stay here, because they were having such a good time and learning so much. Obviously I was having fun, letting time run away with me like that! And it was fun to do something that I really enjoy like that again, and remember that once I had a successful life that didn't revolve around kids, LOL.

The Longest Three Days

Let me just preface this post by saying that I am extremely tired, and even a bit grumpy. Hopefully I'll feel better about the value of these last 3 days after I and all the kids are more rested.

The Classical Conversations parent practicum is over. Whew! We really straggled out of there, LOL. Yesterday after lunch, Anna really, REALLY didn't want to go back to her class. I forced her into it though, because I had my training to go to in the afternoon, and I didn't see how I would be able to get anything out of it with her being so tired and crabby, and with me having absolutely nothing with which to amuse her. So she went, and she even fell asleep eventually, but then she had an accident, something that hasn't happened in months and months. I only had a spare pair of undies in her little bag, figuring at most, she'd dribble a little and just need a new pair, but certainly not a whole new outfit. The girls in charge put Anna in a dress-up apron that they tied and sort of wrapped around her, but it was tramatic for her. She said all last night and this morning that she did NOT want to go to her class again, so I packed her little backpack with books, crayons, and snacks, and she jsut stayed with me all day today. That worked much better, and she was good as gold the whole time, although she kept saying she was ready to go home. Me too, Anna. Me too.

When I dropped Jonathan off at his class this morning, his teacher surprised me by saying that he had been melting down in the afternoons. He had not mentioned a word about this to me, and in fact, when I asked him how things were going, he was always very enthusiastic about his class and all they were doing. I told the teacher that, and she was very relieved. She said she thought it was just fatigue, because he would be fine, then just lay his head down and start crying. They would take him out in the hall for a little while and settle him down, and then he would be fine again. There was no trigger or anything. Well, of course he was fatigued! Six hours a day of geography and drawing is really tiring for a 6 year old!

And of course Faith and Grace were so tired because neither of them were having long enough naps either. I had a hard time concentrating on my tutor training in the afternoons because I knew they were all melting down, ready to go home. It was very stressful! And getting through the evenings were just as bad! Now Grace has a huge canker sore on the side of her tongue, which I know is caused by stress and lack of sleep.

The thing about it is that the morning sessions were absolutely unneccessary. Learning about the classical model is great, and I'm all for more people educating their children that way, since I feel it is a good, rigorous method, but nothing that was said could not also be found by reading a book or checking a few internet sites. In fact, if the speaker would have just handed out a copy of her notes to everyone, we would have saved 9 hours of our lives. Which would have kept all of us, especially our kids, a whole lot fresher for the afternoon, which was where the essential tutor training took place. I wish they would do the tutor training in the morning, while the intro stuff was going on, and then people who wanted to ditch the afternoon and put their kids down for naps could do that. The tutor training was very useful and helpful.

I find it amusing that a group of homeschooling moms thought it was neccessary to require other homeschooling moms to come to a 3 day long seminar that is 7 hours long each day, where they could put their little kids in what is essentially day care, and their slightly older kids in what is essentially school. I wonder if those in charge even noticed how the hallways were filled with moms trying to soothe toddlers this whole afternoon? Did they wonder why? And if those moms were actually getting anything out of the afternoon? The kicker is that if you tutor, you have to go to these practicums every. single. year. And it doesn't sound like they change the morning intro stuff either from year to year. Argh! It's a good thing I'm already sold on the Classical Conversations idea, because if I was totally brand new to the concept and just going to the practicum, I think I would bail!

7th Grade Plans

Nathan is graduating from our co-op tonight, and we've been thinking about what is going to happen next year. For language arts, we are doing a small co-op with Christine, her oldest, and 2 other boys. They are going to focus on writing, a weakness of ours, and also literary analysis. I'm really excited about this co-op. I think it will really be exactly what Nathan needs.

I had always planned that Nathan would go on to the jr. high/high school co-op that is associated with our elementary co-op. In fact, Bob and I went to the meeting for that group last Tuesday, and we weren't considering anything else. This co-op has 4 classes that 7th graders could take--prealgebra, general science, composition I, and geography. Nathan would only have taken geography and science, since we're doing something else for English, and he is already doing prealgebra. The catch is that I have to do something in this co-op--teach a class or lab, be there the whole day for 6 sessions to monitor a study hall, or something like that. Now the only problem with that is what to do with the other 6 while I am there, especially the 3 little girls. I was really not sure about it at all. I was considering doing the biology lab, since that would be right up my alley, and because it would be a shorter period than all day, but I still would have to find someone to watch everyone.

Then Christine called Wednesday night. She had gone to an open house for Classical Conversations that is starting up really close to us. I knew about it, but I hadn't even considered it because I knew it was expensive. Well, Christine made me really interested. The K-6 program focuses on memory work and projects in math, grammar, Latin, history, science, art, and music. We have not done much with music or art, and the experiments and projects they do for science would be good as well. But here's the big thing--all the kids can go, and they have a nursery. It is expensive, but if I were to be a teacher, then that would pay for 2-3 of the kids to go, depending on how many kids were in my class. They provide what you need to cover each week, so that would be less prep work than running a lab, where I would be coming up with what I wanted to cover and do. Even though Nathan is not technically a 6th grader, it really wouldn't matter--he would still be doing new stuff, and we would still be doing the language co-op, and our regular math program at home (at CC, they just really focus on solidifying math facts, formulas, etc., not actual teaching of math). Then next year, Christine and I would focus on starting the jr. high program of CC, which has a lot of writing, and also the science that Nathan would need. The only drawback I can see is that Nathan would be a year behind on science going into high school, but possibly he could take one class (physics or something) at the community college later on to catch up. So right now, this is what I am thinking we will do. It's a big change of plans, and not anything I was even remotely considering before Wednesday. I'm praying that if this is the right path for us, then I will have a real peace about it, and the Lord will show us clearly.