Spiders and Eggsacks and Frogs, Oh My!

We had a terrarium of pillbugs. Then they died and it sat empty on the counter for a few days when Kansas Dad thought, "Let's catch a spider." So he did. Second Daughter cried at first, weeping for the bugs it would have to eat. The next day, she decided she loved it and it was her spider because Daddy caught it on her birthday.

So we had a rabid wolf spider, soon in a habitat furnished with dessicated carcasses of crickets and grasshoppers.

Despite her initial hesitation, she wept for a day when we discovered he had died a few weeks later. First Son promised to catch her another, and did! He found this one outside. The kids were certain it was getting bigger and sure enough, she appeared one morning with a large egg sack.

 Mom was not nearly as excited as the children. We watched her carry it around for a few weeks before Kansas Dad caught a replacement, so we let Mama Spider loose in the yard with her egg sack before anything hatched out of it. (Now you have solid proof I am not the perfect homeschooling mom because I did not allow my children to observe hundreds of wolf spiders hatching on my kitchen counter.)

We have since switched to a new spider. Apparently, we are going to just keep rotating through all the spiders that invade our house. I told the kids they should start a guidebook of Range spiders with drawings and notes but so far none have taken on the project. With winter approaching, we may need a spider break due to lack of a food source. (I am not purchasing food for a spider we would have squished a few months ago.)

Just because it's cute, here's a picture of a tiny frog Kansas Dad found outside over the summer. The pictures you find on the computer months later...

Query VIII

I know it counted as science when First Son and I watched a spider spin a web just outside our kitchen window last night after dinner.

I know it counts as science when Second Daughter drops things over and over again.

But does it count as science when First Son says "Watch what happens when I crush this Rice Krispie with the back of my spoon! Let's try that again!"?

And what about when Someone drops a bowl of Rice Krispies and one flies up into the air and gets "caught" in a spider web?

On the bright side, as I was sweeping up the remnants of said bowl, I saw a hummingbird right outside the window.

Now, after oversleeping because Second Daughter screamed uncontrollably for two hours last night, and the extra clean-up time in the kitchen, we're about to start school. Only an hour and fifteen minutes late.