Animal Grossology

Science Club crew

Today we went to the Animal Grossology exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown  Raleigh.  with a few of the girls from Zoë's Science Club.  I know how to identify a venomous snake from a nonvenomous snake although that has nothing to do with the exhibit, but I'm hugely thankful for Vardell's identification lesson since our backyard seems to be a breeding ground for brown snakes.  I bought a great book, too: "A Guide to the Snakes of North Carolina, by Michal E. Dorcas.  I also bought his other book "The Frogs and Toads of North Carolina.  It's a field guide and contains a good CD narrated by Dorcas.  Vardell says he has both and highly recommends them.  We listened to it on the way home and loved hearing the different calls.  That poor bullfrog in distress!  It's the first one on the CD and it's a little alarming.    Turns out they make this screeching sound when they're being eaten by a water snake.  Dorcas says it to alert other predators who will then see the snake and want to eat it, causing the snake to drop the frog.


The exhibit was based on Sylvia Branzei's books called "Animal Grossology".  Really clever exhibit.  Lots of facts about flies, slugs, slime, smells and of course, poo.  I told Donna I loved the smell of skunk after she whiffed the hole where you smell it.   Then I sniffed it and almost felt ill. I like it from a distance.  The cockroach emits a maraschino cherry smell.  Pleasant surprise there.

How a cow burps. 

Zoë really enjoyed herself.  She wrote this summary:

"Today I went to a Grossology exhibit.  I went with Delaney, Cassidy and Amey.  When I went inside the exhibit I saw lots of games and kids!  My favorite game was....Animal Grossology!  It is a game that tests you on what you've learned from the other games.  Two things I've learned today are: Cats cough up furballs because of grooming themselves and dogs sniff each others' butts to find out who they are. "

Might have to make these one day. 

Happy New Year and we love you, Norman Rockwell.

We're off to a slow start at Finucane Elementary this week, but I think it's safe to say neither one of us really mind that much.   For Zoë, she's simply tired and having difficulty getting back to our routine after Christmas break.  She stayed up late and slept in almost everyday.  And I did the same.  Sleep is such a welcome, but often neglected friend so I relished the opportunity to catch up on some of it.

The break also gave me some time to reflect on our schedule and make some changes.  For starters,  I decided to cut back our time at the Learning Arbor Cooperative this semester and opted for Gym/Game day with the Cary Homeschoolers at Middlecreek Elementary.   There was a conflict, so one had to go.  Truth be told,  I'm still learning to balance our family life now that homeschooling is in the equation.   The coop requires the parents teach the classes.  Maybe next year, but definitely not ready to add more to the pot.

On that note, I signed Zoë up for a girl's Science Club.  Now THAT is way cool.  She went to her first meeting yesterday.  It's a two-hour class taught by a retired professor from UNC.   Just eight girls and they'll spend every Monday from now until May working together.  Zoë was once again, smiling ear to ear after the class.  That's when I know I did right.  I'm also happy because I get a  two hour window to catch up on my reading and writing.  I went to the Cameron Village Regional Library, about three miles away.   There's a coffee shop and Wifi.  Perfect.

I'm tired as I write this.  It was supposed to be about our field trip to the NC Museum of Art today.    The docent handed Zoë a piece of paper and asked her to draw a stick figure of the above painting.   I love that painting.  She told the kids that Norman Rockwell started drawing at a very early age.  He drew his hands.  If you can draw your hand really well, then you're on to something.  I'm going to try that out, but I'm thinking  it will still look like the ones I traced in school and turned into turkeys.  Zoë, on the other hand, nailed it.

Dinner....oops.   Hungry children await.