Wisdom from the Web

We've been reading Charlotte's Web as our read-aloud and we all love it! I have enjoyed reliving the story that I loved as a girl. (I remember fondly the boxed set I had of Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and the Trumpet of the Swans).

I love using great works of literature as the basis for our studies and here is a wondeful example of why. In this book, we have learned many new vocabulary words, but what has been especially exciting has been our study on spiders that has stemmed from the information in the book about spiders. As we get to know Charlotte more, we learn about her fascinating body and abilities. Last week, we studied about spiders legs and drew on our notebooks the 7 parts of a spider's leg.

This week, we have been studying their webs and their ability to spin and trap. We found a cool demonstration on the internet about building a web, watched it and studied it. Then we learned about spider facts, types, and body structure and also the differences between insects and spiders. Then we went looking for them outside in the world around us. We found a GIANT spider web strung from one tree to the next in the back field. We also learned that there are tarantulas here, a fact that I was EXTREMELY happy to be oblivious to before Wednesday!

It has been a wonderful week of science study and today we concluded with a Moody science video that focused on the trap door spider as well as a water spider that creates a bubble around its body that allows it to breathe while it moves about looking for its prey.

Ethan's conclusion to the study of spiders is that no one can argue the existence of the Creator when you look at all the spider can do. I'd have to agree with him.

Today I wanted to share a section from chapter 14. Fern's mom has become worried about her because she spends so much time at the farm "talking" with the animals and so she goes to see the family doctor, Dr. Dorian. He assures Mrs. Arable that Fern is in fact fine. Mrs. Arable questions him about the writing in the spider web. The doctor responds his wonder and amazement more at the spider itself than the writing in the web. Here is the following exchange between the two:

Mrs. A: "What's so miraculous about a spider's web? I don't see why you say a web is a miracle- it's just a web."
Dr. D: "Ever try to spin one?"
Mrs A: "No, but I can crochet a doily and knit a sock."
Dr. : "Sure, but somebody taught you, didn't they?"
Mrs A: "My mother taught me."
Dr. D: "Well, who taught the spider? A young spider knows how to spin a web without any instructions from anybody. Don't you regard that as a miracle?"
Mrs. A: "I suppose so. I never looked at it that way before. Still, I don't understand how those word got into the web. I don't understand it, and I don't like what I can't understand."
Dr. D: "None of us do, I'm a doctor. Doctors are supposed to understand everything. But I don't understand everything, and I don't intend to let it worry me."