What wonderful timing, just as we are reading the Ga'Hoole series, that Carbon's science workshop series should include a workshop on Owls and he got to dissect a pellet. It was "just like in the pelletorium!" Carbon got very lucky with the pellet he was given, and it contained the remains of two small birds and a small mouse, with 2 intact (ish) skulls. He sorted it down to the level where he found catepillar larva as well, possibly what the birds or mouse had eaten - the stomach contents of the meal!
These workshops are offered through the local Children's Museum (the same place the girl goes to preschool) and are intended for homeschoolers. They do one series of four in the fall and another in the spring. I'm pulling him out of school early on Fridays so he can attend, because they are super fun and cool! Mostly, this is fine with Carbon's school, although this time we didn't quite follow proper procedure so I did get a very mild request from the attendance clerk that "next time" Carbon make a formal proposal to school meeting and get his excused absence approved by a vote of the meeting.
We have one more (unapproved!) absence next week for a workshop on chemistry and color. I'm feeling a bit like an educational rebel, not fitting in any boxes and taking a very unconventional "I want it all for my kids" approach. It's very much like Grace Llewellyn's book Guerrilla Learning: How to Give Your Kids a Real Education With or Without School. Love that book.
Oh, I will have to get my hands on a copy of that book!
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