You know you're a homeschooler when... at 2 a.m. you get up to let the dog out, and you notice a slug has slimed its way inside, and yet your first thought is not Exterminator! Help! but Cool! I'll just pop this little feller in the handy-dandy bug jar the kids pre-packed at bedtime.
Yes, pre-packed. We were millipede-hunting yesterday and V-Man was quite distraught that we had to let his new pet go home at night, so he stuffed celery leaves and lettuce in the bug jar in anticipation of finding his millipede in the morning.
Well, morning came a little early. Lucky for me (and for the slug), we had been studying slugs just this week. Our activities included slug-hunting by watering down a gravel pile and placing a tarp there overnight to lure the creatures in, turning over every rock and flowerpot in our yard to find slugs and snails, studying them up close and doing nature notebook drawings, and capping the study off by making a Slug Book. MM wrote three pages (each page had info about slugs, like SLUGS NEED WATER or SLUGS ARE MOLLUSKS) and drew a couple more of slugs and snails. I thought my 2 a.m. find would be quite the highlight the next morning when the kids woke up, but it was not to be. Although I put him in a secure bug jar, somehow or another he wriggled (slimed) his way out and is now on the loose in my kitchen. He'd better watch out -- no pre-packed bug jars tonight!
What we're reading:
Snails and Slugs (Nature Close-Up), by Elaine PascoeSlugs in Love, by Susan Pearson
Some Smug Slug, by Pamela Duncan Edwards
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