Science Class...Animals!

We have finally begun to add science into our homeschool time. Not a lot of science, but we decided to try making an Animal Notebook to learn a little about animals and how they are classified. So we put in some dividers and pictures and now have an outline for what we will study for the next 5 months! We are starting with vertibrates...and have our five main types of animals that fall in this category...amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish, and mammals.

Purchasing small animals in China is not only easy, it is really, really, really cheap. So we decided to purchase an animal for each type that we study!

First, amphibians. I actually intended to buy a frog the other day, but couldn't find one at the pet-market (an outdoor market about 15 minutes walk from our home). I was told by someone there to check at the supermarket if I wanted one. So that is on my list for this week! My plan is to rescue it from imminent death (being eaten), keep it at home for a week in a tank so Wendy can study it, and then release it into the 'wild' of our neighborhood garden where it will probably be eaten by a cat or something.

With all three girls in tow at the pet market last week, however, we couldn't come home empty handed! So we went ahead and picked up our reptile pets...two little turtles. Wendy selected this lovely pink-lidded tank and a few decorations for the inside. Total cost for tank, turtles, and food... 35rmb...which is about $5.00. Very reasonable, I would say! Hopefully they will live until the reptile unit begins in two weeks!

The Baker's joined us for this outing and Will picked up a few fish for his first pet!