Oh dear...what has happened to the children?

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Okay...nevermind. It cracked me up. I was just going to post that, but I just can't.

See, I try really hard to be honest on my blog. Private, but as honest as I can with the information that I present. I really do NOT try to ONLY show my children happy...they usually are...but I never want a new homeschool mom to find my blog and feel that there is ANY perfection here. I spent the first 2 years of my homeschooling experience with the mistaken idea that there were moms who got EVERYTHING done EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. That there were moms out there who NEVER regretted a single curriculum or activity. I've since learned that there are not. No, not one!!

This book is one of those humbling things that happened in the life of this homeschooler...Please note the age range on the top right corner...



I bought this when Bean was ABOUT 5...sometime in her Kindergarten year...she turned 6 that year...so somewhere in there. And I was EXCITED about it. Oh, the things that we were going to do...She would learn stuff about the body that other kids her age wouldn't know. She would learn to cut and paste AND have something to show the grandparents. It would be fabulous.

Except it wasn't.

She COULDN'T cut well. Some of these things are pretty intricate...so I ended up cutting them out.

Still I pressed on.

She could paste. I mean, BOY HOWDY! Could she paste! She pasted EVERYTHING and then she pasted EVERYTHING to the table, her shirt, her hair. And we should probably not even discuss the taping. She could tape, too. Or at least she was VERY skilled at pulling the tape OUT of the container and again, sticking it to every part of her person. It reminded me of a monkey with a tape gun.

So I, WISELY, put away the 3rd-6th grade book until such time as I HAD a 3rd - 6th grader.

Fast forward to last Friday. I wanted to make these models. I have a 4th grader now...she CAN cut...she CAN paste...she still CAN use the tape like a monkey, but if she chooses to, she CAN tape with great decorum. Plus we are STUDYING the human body this year.

One of the cool things about the book is that you can build an entire body. You build the skeleton from pages like these...



and then you build the digestive system from pages like these, and the digestive system lays on top and inside of the skeleton...like on the front of the book...



And so on...there is the respiratory system, the heart, the urinary system and the muscles that can all be added.

So KNOWING that the stuff was intricate...and KNOWING that each skeleton was 16 pieces...and KNOWING that the youngest child who would WANT to be involved was 3...I made some preliminary preparations...I cut EVERYTHING out. I found a place on the wall where they could be displayed. I organized the sticky stuff so that the littlest people could just stick it to the wall.

And Friday afternoon, I set aside time to get it done, early enough that we wouldn't have the 2:00 pm crab attack that ruins all good activities... (I REALLY need my nap).

Even with all the prep, it was STILL one of the most soul-sucking activities I have performed in my homeschool. They all wanted to help...all the piles got mixed together...I hadn't marked right and left on ANY of the limbs in one pile...the kneecaps got dropped...the feet didn't QUITE fit, which caused much dismay to the 5 year old..."IT'S MINE" was heard more than once...seconded only by "YOU'RE GONNA TEAR IT".

(sigh)

Bean ended up having a good time with labeling once the other two were tucked safely away at quiet time...she labeled stuff we hadn't even TALKED about...Carpals/Metacarpals/Phalanges...we're doing those THIS week...but she scoured the book looking for things to label. So I guess I could say, BOY HOWDY! That girl can label.



There was a lot of drama, but you know what? On Saturday morning, the VERY first thing they asked about was when they got to build their skeletons again.

Mercy ME...We have to do this AGAIN.

See ya around...