Dissecting on the Driveway - Pig Heart

I'm still trying to be awarded "Homeschool Mom of the Year." (Not really, private joke!)


So, to expand my children's understanding of the human body, I made a trip to the Wampler's Sausage Factory. I thought I would stop by and pick up a couple of pig hearts. Yep. Pig hearts.

At the factory, this was my conversation with the receptionist at the Sausage Plant:

Me: Excuse me, Ma'am. I thought I would stop by and see if you might have some pig hearts I could purchase for a class that I teach to homeschoolers. We're learning about the human body, and the kids would love to see a real heart.

Receptionist: (Now, remember I do live in Tennessee.) Well, I think they just shut down the "Kill Floor," but I'll see if I can get 'cha one.

Me: Oh, that would be great. (I think!!!!)

The receptionist then tracks down a kind gentleman to help me. He arrives in the office in his work attire. (I would describe it, but I'm afraid I'd lose most of my readers!) This sweet man says he will "find some hearts for me in the barrels."

This kind gentleman arrives back in the office with a clear plastic garbage bag full of some kind of meat and quite a bit of liquid...ummmm...blood. As he hands me the bag, he says, "I got 'cha two hearts. We had plenty. Now, these ain't been dead very long. They're still warm."

Warm pig hearts? Oh, oh, oh my gosh! Uhhh....Once the world stopped spinning, I was able to focus and walk back out to the van to head home.


Our vehicle was full of extra children, so Franklin had to hold the warm pig hearts on his lap for the 30 minute drive home. I think he secretly thought it was "neat."

Fast Forward...

I took one of the the hearts to my Human Body Class (next blog entry). I kept one at home because Mason is not in my class, and he really wanted to see it. We spent an afternoon on the driveway learning about this amazing organ!

Rhonda, Kaitlin, and Jake came over to assist with the science lesson. We examined the whole heart, talked about the parts and their functions.

The kids stuck their fingers into the pulmonary artery. Isn't it lovely?We realized that we were not able to view the ventricles or atriums, by only examining the outside of the heart. It was Robin to the rescue! Wha-ha-ha! I grabbed our electric knife and cut the heart in half. Yes, I did. Uh-huh! Oh, yeah! (Does this picture look like I am enjoying this? What has happened to me? Oh my goodness!)
Rhonda - who loves all of our driveway science lessons - helped the kids find the right and left atriums, and the right and left ventricles.
Here you go...now you can see for yourself.

The boys (and Rhonda and Kaitlin!) thought the pig's heart was "very cool!" They took it down to our neighbor's house. (And, I let them! What was I thinking?) I had to share this picture to show you our neighbor's face!?!
I'm quite sure there were some people reading this entry making the same faces!


I probably should have started this blog entry with a caution, "Viewer Discretion Advised."


Sorry if I grossed you out! However, if you know me, you know I would find some humor in that fact! Ha-ha!

Human Body Homeschool Class - The Heart

Here's a Homeschool Lesson for Amy, Betsy and anyone else who enjoys these tidbits. :-) This was the lesson about the Heart last week in Co-Op.



We have explored many systems of the body, and we are now studying the circulatory system. Today's focus was the HEART!





Kaelyn impressed everyone with her human body model that she had made at home and brought in for class. (The class earns a "treat" out of my Reward Box if they learn something about the body and share it with the class.) Kaelyn had worked very hard on this life-size model!

Today there were three activities for the kids. Each one was designed to help them understand the function and purpose of the heart.

First, the children had to pass cups of water from one bucket to another at the same rate as their heartbeats. For a child, this is about 90 times a minute! Needless to say, the children started fast, but ended s-l-o-w. It was an excellent way for them to realize how hard our heart works to keep our body going! Whew!

FYI, did you know your heart pumps your blood about 12,000 miles per day! That would be all the way across America four times - in one day! Amazing!

Second, the children made their own stethoscope. The first stethoscope was invented in 1816 by a French Physician. The first model was basically a cylinder of rolled up paper! Therefore, the children stepped back into history and made their own out of a paper towel tube! The outside of the stethoscope was covered with amazing facts about our heart!





FYI, did you know your heart beats about 100,000 times per day or 35,000,000 times in one year! AMAZING!

Third, the best way to learn about the heart - touch one - feel one - hold one - play with one! (Yes, I have lost my mind!) I brought in a pig's heart for the children to explore. The children got to put their finger into the pulmonary artery, explore the right and left atriums, examine the aorta, etc... (Actually, only the boys were brave enough to touch it, but the girls all squealed and made faces!! Eeeww!! Gross!!)

FYI, did you know your the pulmonary artery is your largest artery. It is almost the diameter of a garden hose! (Wow!) Capillaries, on the other hand, are so small it would take 10 of them to equal the thickness of a human hair! (How about that?!) Finally, if you connected your system of blood vessels - arteries, veins, and capillaries - they would measure over 60,000 miles! That is enough to stretch around the world 2 1/2 times! (And some people believe we evolved from dust! Huh?! That is AMAZING!)

The last thing you need to know about the heart - yes, your lesson is almost over - is that there are over 60 verses in the Bible that say something about our heart! God's Word says our hearts should be clean, pure, true, joyful, upright, whole an tender. God's Word even says sometimes we are to have a broken and contrite heart! Finally, we are to LOVE GOD with all of our heart!

Now you know about our AMAZING heart!!

The Home of John Sevier

On Friday, November 30th, we enjoyed a day of Tennessee history at the home of John Sevier. It was a wonderful field trip that allowed us to step back in time.

The boys learned about the "tomahawk throw."










They learned about making wool from beginning to end!



The John Sevier Guides separated the boys from the girls. The boys had to learn how to do "a man's work" while the ladies learned about "women's work." The boys insisted that I go with the ladies. They wanted to be alone, so I trusted them to listen and learn!

Rhonda, Kaitlin and I went inside. Guess what the women got to do? We learned to sew a "pocket." It is a large piece of fabric sewn together to hang over an apron. I couldn't believe I was sewing! I don't even sew on buttons at home! Rhonda kept saying she would rather be out chopping firewood. So would I! As we were pricking our fingers with the needles while trying to sew, a Guide stood over our shoulder and said, "To make it authentic, you need to have 21 stitches for every inch!" (Oh, you have got to be kidding!) Now, I can truly appreciate how hard it was to live in this time period!

For this part of the tour, the boys definitely got the better jobs!




They go to learn how to build a good campfire, how to start a fire with char-cloth, and the boys even go to uses a hatchet! Braden included! I think he was the only four-year-old to do it! He was so proud!
















After the boys did the "man's work," and I attempted the "woman's work" we all enjoyed our lunch. It was beef stew that had been cooked over the fire. Perhaps based on the way it looked, it should have been called "gruel," but it actually tasted pretty good! FYI, a 14 year old homeschooled boy made our lunch.















It was great to spend a day in the early 1800's. The simplicity was enticing, but I would have a hard time always doing a "woman's work!"

All Before 11:30 am

This has been a productive day. I thought it might be good for me to have a record of one "good day" homeschooling! Here is a list of what I have done since getting up this morning:

1 - Had my quiet time (yes, really)
2 - Showered
3 - Dressed down to tied tennis shoes (the fly lady would be proud)
4 - Instructed Weston and Franklin to complete their handwriting (before breakfast)
5 - Made a HOT breakfast for the boys - biscuits, sausage, and gravy! (I don't do this often, but this morning I recreated one of my fond memories of childhood - when my Mom made us a HOT breakfast.)
6 - Walked Braden to preschool - let the boys ride their bikes
7 - Had a short phone conversation with two friends
8 - Taught Spelling (25 Words)
9 - Reviewed the Books of the Old Testament (we are memorizing them and learning to spell them correctly) Today's lesson - Genesis through Jeremiah
10 - Taught English (Shurley lesson 12.3 - prepositional phrases, capitalization rules, writing improved sentences with synonym and antonym changes, and graded their three English exercises)
11 - Taught Math (Saxon lesson 54 - time am & pm, time to the nearest 5 minute interval, daily word problem, reviewed perimeter and volume, and different skip-counting patterns)
12 - Graded Math pages and had the boys take their timed tests!
13 - Made our bed
14 - Checked my e-mail
15 - BLOGGED about my day

All before 11:30 am! I feel so productive!

Honey, are you reading this???

HGA Co-Op Last Day of Fall Semester

Since this is our first year homeschooling in Knoxville, we wanted to try a Co-op our first semester to see if we liked it. We have been attending Higher Ground Academy on Tuesdays. We have really enjoyed all of the activities and classes. The boys have all made some new friends and enjoy the break in our week.

The boys each take four classes. This semester was strictly enrichment because I wanted us to establish our home academics before introducing them in Co-op classes. Next semester, the classes will have more academics, but for this semester, FUN was the feel of the classes.

Mason's Co-Op classes: Staff Making, Chess, Legos, US States. He enjoyed them all. In the staff making class, he learned to use a wood-burner. He actually made his own staff. He burned a Bible verse down the wood, and learned the meaning of Staffs. It was really a neat class!

Franklin's Co-Op Classes: US States, Watercolors, Legos and Chess. He has enjoyed them all, but his artistic giftedness was evident in his Watercolor class. Some of his paintings are amazing! Beautiful!
Braden's Co-Op Classes: Phonics, Gym, Worship Warriors, and Math Play. His favorite is Gym. Would you have guessed?

Weston's Co-Op Classes: Arts and Crafts, Chess, Legos and Victory in Vocabulary. I think he would vote for Arts and Crafts, Legos and Chess as his favorite. He has enjoyed them all. He even enjoyed the Vocabulary Class, but it wasn't as fun.

In the Lego class this year the boys have learned some engineering concepts. They have built Worldwide monuments and bridges. They have built a "ball shooter" and a "candy dispenser." The candy dispenser really dispensed candy when you put in a quarter. All of the boys loved the Lego class!

It's been a great Co-Op. We are looking forward to next semester!

Science Experiment Station Central - Polar Ice Caps

We're learning about the planets and the polar ice caps on Mars. Today we did a VERY COOL Science experiment with dry ice.

We learned about... the make-up of dry ice (it is frozen carbon dioxide), the polar ice caps on Mars are made of dry ice, the sublimation process (frozen carbon dioxide passes from solid to gas without the liquid phase), the weight of carbon dioxide (it's heavier than our air and pushes oxygen molecules away - the gas coming off the ice will put out a lit candle), metal is the best conductor of temperature (when compared with plastic & wood), and only handle dry ice with gloves on! (Braden burned his hand!)

We learned so much today! Do I hear any votes for Homeschool Mom of the Year?? Ha-ha!!

Home School History Field Trip - Williamsburg, VA

In the Public Stocks - What are we thinking??
Our trip started with a flat tire. The camper had a flat tire just an hour out of Knoxville. Too far to turn back!


The Governor's House




Running into the Kari and Taylor from HP was such a TREAT!

The boys would have been great in the militia!

Kaitlin as Pocahontas

Firing a Matchlock Gun
Jake is all smiles
Franklin is playing an Indian Game
Weston is fascinated by the craft of making a wooden sheath for your sword

Very cool that Mason's name is at Jamestown
Kaitlin with Sarah, a home schooling friend we met at the campground
Mason is trying a game of the colonists
Oh yeah, attractive!
Rhonda and I were all giggles! We laughed whenever the kids wanted to take a picture!
This trip was so much fun! We did too many things to list them all! And, I took too many pictures to post them all.

It was such a joy to see the kids understand history as it came to life before them. I think they have an understanding of early America that can only come through a trip like this.

Thanks Rhonda for letting us tag along in the camper. It was a blast to travel with you!