The Twilight Table
****If Rod Serling were to host our homeschool science lab. ****
Consider if you will...
Two women, wanting the most out of their children's education, searching for opportunities to expand horizons, to push the envelope, to do what most school's will not do.
Welcome to, The Twilight Table. Otherwise titled, Remind Me Again Why They Do This?
We find our characters exchanging E-mails...
Chris: Hey Erin, we had to move a shrub in our front yard and found a Mockingbird nest in it. There are three eggs in there, and I've left it out in the yard for a few days, but I think the mother has abandoned it. The kids and I are going to dissect the eggs to see what a developing Mockingbird looks like, do you guys wanna join us?
Erin: Oh sorry, we're going to be out of town this weekend. But have fun learning and let me know how it goes!
Four days later...
Erin: Chris, how'd the egg dissection go? Did everyone manage to keep their cookies? ;)
Chris: Oh, we haven't had a chance to do it yet. Do you guys still want to join us? What are you doing after Bible Study on Tuesday? You can pack a lunch and we'll dissect them then.
Erin: Sure, that sounds like a lot of fun!
Tuesday after Bible Study and lunch
Chris: Ok kids, c'mon in and we're going to see what's inside these eggs! Erin, would you grab the little bowl they're in? Its' right there on the counter top.
Erin: Oh, you took them out of the fridge already? I guess it's easier to dissect them when they're not cold.
Chris: Should I have kept them in the fridge? I didn't think about doing that.
Erin: Well, I imagine they're a little rancid by now. (As the three thumb-nail sized eggs wobble a bit in the bowl, a not-so-lovely scent wafts up.) Phew! Oh yeah, these guys are some bad dudes. Do you have something to take them apart with?
Chris: Nothing really. A pair of tweezers... oh wait, here's a handful of toothpicks, let's use these. I don't think the shells are very hard. Ok kids, gather round. Who wants to open up a Mockingbird egg and see what's inside?
Um, maybe I ought to put some paper down on the dining room table before we do this."
(Various responses ranging from jostling to get the best position, to running away squealing,"I'm NEVER going to watch you kill a baby bird!"
Yesterday's paper gets laid out, jostlers are settled and calm, squealers are fetched from the other room and forced to at least watch.)
Consider if you will...
Three eggs. Three willing dissectors armed with toothpicks. One two-year-old to hold at bay- she wants to squeeze the living daylights out of any and all rotten Mockingbird eggs. One slightly green conscientious objector. Two moms who have thought this through about as much as the 2 year old. But they have a camera!
- One egg not-so-gently placed on the newspaper by an excited 6 year old. It cracks. It wafts. They gag. One dissected egg. TWO slightly green people around the table. Check.
- One egg grabbed hastily by a 7 year old- it rolls, it drops on the cloth covered chair, it breaks, it oozes, they gag. The moms yelp, they run for paper towels, they try to salvage the cloth chair from rotten bird embryo. Two eggs dissected. FOUR green members on the lab team. Check. Check.
- One egg placed tenderly on the work table with maternal care. One 5 year old boy, toothpick at the ready, cracks it open. It oozes, it wafts, but they're all "used" to it now. They identify the beginnings of wings, legs, beak and eye. One mom snaps a few pictures. They all gaze and make an attempt to oooh and aaaah.
Two minutes later
They call it quits, wrap up the newspaper and dissection implements, congratulate themselves on sticking with the plan despite all odds, then go outside for some fresh air. Three dissected eggs. All team members still standing, all with cookies still residing resolutely in their bellies. Check. Check. And check.
Consider if you will...
This, my friends, is a succesful homeschool science lab.
paper lantern of the day Wednesday, August 30, 2006
5 Comments:
I'm impressed that the cookies remained in belly.
I kept scrolling down waiting for pictures. I know, I'm sick. And I wouldn't have handled it if I were there live. I would have been protesting with the objector.
yes, where are the pictures?? Situations like this make me glad I'm not as creative as you...I just don't know if I'd have had the guts (ha-ha) to dissect a rotten bird egg. After the first smell, no less. Glad you all survived!
Ahh, the rotton bird eggs. That is the rotton eggs of a bird, not the eggs of a rotton bird : )
It was fun - I wonder what interesting, disgusting things we can do in our science lab this year??
In terms of science and home ec project, when I was a teenager, I volunteered to have my mom help me make hard boiled eggs for a food festival for my cooking class. I said, Mom, I signed up to make deviled eggs. Can you help me?" Mom said, "sure, Scotty"
Mom had a good idea at the time of doing it a different way-starting from cold water. yet, getting those skins off 24 eggs was not Easy. It made a big stinking mess. So, seeing the view of real young children with toothpicks gave me some cheer. Yeah, rack em up. pool is cool. Just don't take apart eggs with pool cues though. Peace in Christ. good blog you have.
davis_scott_r@sbcglobal.net
and make that a devilish mess with the eggs. forgot the pun line. peace scott
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