I debated about whether to share this with your or not, as it might gross some of you out.  But I’ll just warn those of you who are squeamish not to read any more, and if you decide to read anyway, well – it’s your choice.

Yesterday our cat caught a mouse, a large mouse.  Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t eat them (because they’re perfect complete packages of feline nutrition), so he deposited in the side yard.  My kids saw him put it there, and asked me if they could dissect it. 

I can’t say that I enthusiastically agreed to this idea.  Frankly, it was slightly outside of my comfort zone, but I didn’t say no.  I try to say yes as much as I can, especially to potential learning opportunities.  Remembering the memorable and educational dissection I did in high school, I kind of half nodded while slightly gagging.  They didn’t need more than that before they raced back outside excitedly.

Three of the kids dissected the mouse.  (Don’t ask me what they used, I didn’t watch and didn’t ask.)  They showed the rest of us what they learned.  It was very, very fascinating.  They found five mouse embryos inside – each about the size of a large pea.  By looking closely, you could see clearly the shape of the mouse it would be, though they weren’t fully developed. 

They took a picture with the digital camera to bring it in to show me – and with the camera, we were able to zoom in on the picture already taken and see minute details.  They didn’t have a book, but based on their knowledge of human anatomy, they identified the placenta, and looked at the other organs.  They were able to identify the heart, and probably could have figured out which were the intestines, etc, if they had more time.

You never know when an educational opportunity will present itself.  Hands on learning!

Avivah