Mad Science

Let’s face it.  School is not all fun and games, especially if you are a nine year old boy.  Copying spelling words, drilling math facts, and practicing penmanship are just a few of the tasks that Ty despises.  I try my best to change things up to make even the most menial tasks a bit more interesting for him.

My most adventurous deviation from the teacher’s manual this year has definitely been the infamous Grasshopper Dissection. (Insert evil scientist laugh here.)

The second chapter in our science book this year was all about insects.

Insect characteristics, insect body parts, insect social habits, blah, blah, blah.  Both Ty and I were good and tired of bugs by the time we made it through the chapter.

Of course there were adequate charts and illustrations in the textbook pointing out all the insect body parts, but I figured Ty was more likely to retain this information if he could see it up close and in real life.  So I had the “brilliant” idea to order some gi-normous grasshoppers and a dissection kit.  And when I say “gi-normous,” I ain’t kidding!

I admit, I didn’t attempt to do this lesson on my own.  I waited until the Tool Man could be there to take charge assist. (Yeah, that’s it.  Assist.)  Actually, the smell alone was enough to keep this pregnant woman at a safe distance.  Thank heavens for the zoon lens on my camera!

While mom may have been a bit hesitant, Lucy was very eager to get her hands on some grasshoppers.  She enjoyed this project every bit as much as Ty did.

Ty was a little nervous at first, but he soon warmed up to grasshoppers.

I found a great dissection guide online, and we went down the list locating and examining the different parts of the grasshoppers.

Hope these next few pics don’t gross y’all out!

After we had talked about everything we were studying, the monkeys were dying to cut the grasshoppers open and take a look around.

The look on Ty’s face gives you a pretty good idea about what he thought…

Whew!  Glad that’s over!

I will say that grasshoppers weren’t the only things I ordered for Ty to dissect, but it’s still a couple of weeks before we’ll get to that.

The suspense is killing you, isn’t it?

Lindsey

P.S.  Still no baby.  Looking for her to arrive this week!