Brain Hemisphere Hat

We had some fun creating a brain hemisphere hat utilizing Ellen Mchenry's free download on her site Ellen Mchenry's Basement Workshop. It's so cool and will be so helpful for Zoey to learn what the different parts of the brain are used and responsible for. I printed the downloads on to regular printer paper and then covered the paper with plastic before we continued cutting and adhering it all together.

I'm not sure that she'll be wearing this hat out and about but it's fun to wear around the house here where she is guaranteed that she won't get strange looks. Or, at least, no more stranger looks than usual. :)

We are loving using Guest Hollow's anatomy study this year and really taking advantage of as much as is provided in the way of planning in the curriculum schedule. It's pretty much the only curriculum that I haven't tweaked so far!

Sheep Brain Dissection | If You're Squeamish You May Want to Look Away!

Today area public schools still are off of school but Zoey wanted to get back to it (pretty sure it had to do with knowing that our sheep brain dissection was scheduled in!) so here we are, charging ahead and starting in on school again! I'm excited too because we're changing up our schedule a bit to hopefully make our learning be more meaningful utilizing more of a block schedule. We'll see how it goes. The great thing about homeschooling is we can quickly and easily switch things up as we need to.

Today is a science day so she started the morning doing her math and grammar and got right in to her required reading for science. The readings from her multiple books are all focused on the brain now since that's what we're learning about. She LOVED everything she was reading this morning and had to share all the fascinating tidbits with me as well as do all the little tests/experiments on herself and me as well!

(Trick Your Brain Exercise | Reveals how your brain sometimes tricks you into taking shortcuts.)

I have to agree, lots of truly interesting information is being shared. She found it very interesting that there is part of the brain called Arbor Vitae since that is a name of one of our neighboring communities we had to be sure to find out it's meaning! This is what we found:

The arbor vitae serves a crucial function in the brain. The name comes from Latin and literally translates to "tree of life." The name accurately describes the appearance of the white matter that serves to bring sensory and motor information to the cerebellum.

The books that we are reading currently are:

How to Be a Genius, Your Brain and How to Train It 
The Electrifying Nervous System 
Blood, Bones and Body Bits
Blood and Guts

and we are watching the special PBS DVD program The Secret Life of the Brain and Brain Games episodes.

Overall our first ever dissection was a great experience! I was worrying about the possible smell and it really wasn't that bad. Zoey had been so excited to do this that I was worried the actual process might be a let down but she loved it and can't wait to dissect a cow eye next. Love my science girl!!