Dissecting a Cow Heart - $11.08

Today is our first heart dissection and we are getting a pig heart from the butcher tomorrow as well! The turkey neck ($4.04 package from the regular grocery store) dissection went well. We slow cooked it until the meat fell off (Smoked Turkey Lentil Soup), and then removed all of the meat. Natalie and Becca were able to see how the vertebrae interlocked, and they could take them together and put them back in order. They saw how the spaces between the bones allowed the neck to bend and move. And they even found some remaining spinal cord and could see how it fit in the hole in each bone.

We've also had whole fish (head and guts removed but otherwise intact) for dinner this week (Whole Roasted Fish with Herbs) and the girls each got two fish. We had bass and crappie which my husband caught. They spent about two hours having dinner that night because they were carefully lifting the meat off the skeleton. As Leah said, removing the skeleton beautifully is top priority... the meat comes second. It was a very interesting meal, and a lot of fun!

Leah went fishing with Adam yesterday morning as a school assignment but they didn't have any luck. She still did a beautiful job on the fish page in her MLB. Today is Turtle; tomorrow Snake.

My plan for her Man and Animal I block goes like this:

Week 1

Man as a Threefold Being

Twelve Phyla

HEAD animals (form):

Jellyfish

Snail

Octopus

Pagoo

Week 2

TRUNK animals (form):

Earthworm

Honeybee
THE ADVENTURES OF MAYA THE BEE : complete with original Illustration (Illustrated)by Waldemar Bonsels (the link is to the Kindle edition but we have a first edition from 1922)

chapters 10 & 11 from The Burgess Book of Nature Lore

Fish

Turtle

Snake

Minn of the Mississippi

Week 3

Seal

Human Hand

Human Foot

Animal Metaphors / Similes

Back to the Human Physiology lessons. Since the hearts came after we completed the circulatory system but were about to start the respiratory system, and they are connected anyway, today's theme is about Interdependence of the Human Body Systems. Natalie is also interviewing a friend whose husband has diabetes, and has monitored his blood sugar and his meals and given him his shots for many many years, and she will be asking questions about insulin and diabetes. Our plan for the endocrine system illustration is to focus on Insulin, Adrenaline, and Oxytocin (because she wonders how my milk lets down). Yet, everything is related, and Insulin ties in well to our next system, Digestive. Things arrive late, like the hearts or The Book of Think: Or How to Solve a Problem Twice Your Size -- which I meant to go with the Nervous System -- and yet it is OK because everything is related. The Human Body is a lovely topic to teach!

Next up, Natalie will be doing World Geography with a Political Twist, and Leah is doing the Saints and Heroes.