We went on a neat field trip with our homeschool group a couple of weeks ago. I haven't talked much about our homeschool group - but I love it!!! It's a small group of families that use the Five in a Row curriculum. We plan field trips around the books used in our curriculum. We go on a field trip every other week and have Mom's meetings once per month. I am very thankful to have this sweet group of friends with whom to share the journey of homeschooling.
Back to the field trip. We hosted Dan Breeding who presented a Creatures of Creation program for our group. (Click on the title to visit his website.) The program was awesome! He talked about animals and how they were specifically created to live and do what they do by a Creator. He also showed us the animals that he talked about. We were up close too!
The first animal we saw was a porcupine. This animal fluffs out his quills when he feels threatened to try to scare away the threat. He will back into the enemy if needed - but does not shoot his quills. I thought it was fascinating to watch him eat a banana - peeling the skin off with his teeth and then eating the sweet fruit.
The next animal was an owl. This was the tie-in for our family as we have been reading Owl Moon this week. He talked about the size of the owl's eyes relative to it's head size (would be like our eyes being the size of a softball). He showed us how the owl could rotate his head and explained why their flight is so quiet (fringed tips of the feathers) - and then had the owl flap it's wings so we could hear for ourselves.
The third animal was a gibbon - sooo cute. The moms were all impressed to watch him change his diaper with just one hand while perched on his knee. LOL The gibbon is able to hang from it's hands for up to 30 minutes. He also talked about training varieties of monkeys in film projects over the years.
The last animal was an alligator - 7 feet long. We were sitting close to the table edge and I kept hoping none of the animals would hop down. He talked about how alligators have a special valve in the backs of their throats that stays closed when they swim through water so that they won't drown. When they want to eat, they lift the mouth into the air so the valve opens to let in the food. He let anyone that wanted to have a photo with the alligator.
All through the morning Dan talked about God and the awesome design He had for animals - and most especially for us because we are created in His image. It was fun, exciting and interactive. He does travel if anyone wants to talk with him about doing a program in their area.
He told us about a movie he had worked on and our family rented it and really enjoyed it. It is called Most Vertical Primate about a monkey that learns how to snowboard. Dan even had a small role in the movie and it was fun to see him in it! We are planning to rent some of the other movies in this series too.
Will update more later on the rest of the family. We are all well and there is much to share from therapies and such. At the moment though I have a wiggly girl on my lap and I need to get off of the computer.
Love,
Leslie
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