This morning I was booting the computer for Geoff to do his phonics at Starfall but we took a detour to  this frog dissection page. We clicked through the process of mounting the frog, making incisions and locating the internal organs. Cool - the kids really thought that was great. And silly me thought that was the end of that. We did a little phonics, a little math, had lunch and were off to co-op.

When we get home Cade the seven year old BOY comes in and gets my cake icing knife.

Mom: Umm where are you going with that?

Cade: My friend and I found a frog and we are going to dissect it.

Mom: Not with my knife!

Cade: Well it is the only one I can find - what should I use.

Mom: (thinking - should I stop this - naw - where is that scalpel? - was the frog dead or did he help it along?)

Cade: Well - can we dissect it (he noticed the questioning look on moms face!)

Mom: Yes, but we need pins and something to cut it.

So I proceed to get the science kit tweezers and some kid scissors, pins and a cardboard box.

Cade, Geoff and their buddy mounted and cut the frog (he remembered where from the webpage) and were able to locate the liver, stomach, intestine, and heart. Too bad I didn't think to take a picture - it was adorable - well as adorable as frog dissection can be! Three little guys surrounding the frog on my porch and the air filled with exclamations of "Cooollll" "This is awesome" "Eww look at his guts" "No not guts, thats his liver!"

Unfortunately they did admit to killing the frog - but they did tell the truth! Which for us is a victory - being honest when you know you did wrong! And I did talk with them about what their life would look like if they killed another specimen!

Boys are interesting!