The Little things

My youngest son loves bats. In fact, if you ask him, and even if you don't, he will tell you that he is part bat.  I am not sure where this fascination came from but I can understand it. Unlike some who are terrified of the creatures they call 'flying rodents', I have had an affection for the creatures ever since I was in fifth grade.

That year we were living in Massachusetts, in the small town of Sharon. It was really the best year of my public school life. Because of my family's late arrival to the place, I was placed in a separate portable where two teachers, Mr. Chick and Mrs. Borenstein, team taught. I was terribly shy, awkward with being the 'new' kid, and when no teacher called my name for their class, I wanted to curl up and die. It was then that I was rescued by one of the loveliest souls I have ever been honored to know. Hilary Karas, the girl with the brilliant smile and bouncing black curls, saw me. She called out 'Mr. Chick, nobody called on her. Can she come with us?' Bless the girl. We became good friends that year... And Mr. Chick, of Chick's Rule for foursquare, and Mrs. Borenstein, with the one white streak in her otherwise midnight hair, were wonderful teachers. Mr. Chick, who taught Social Studies amongst other things, had us march through Mrs. Borenstein's class while reciting the Preamble to the Constitution. Grin. I have a load of tales to tell about that man and I do remember that the whole class was DEEPLY disappointed to discovered that these two teachers couldn't be married -- they worked so very well together and made their classes full of joy.

And that was the year, to return to my discussion of bats, that they arranged for a lady from the Audubon society to come in and share with us. She came once a month and we all waited breathlessly to see who she would bring... She always brought someone. (Once she brought a skunk, descented, but OH! Did we laugh when Mrs. Borenstein, all unsuspecting, pulled open the drawer that the skunk had been investigating!!) And one time she brought a little brown bat...

She let each of us, those of us who wanted to do, hold the small creature. It was so tiny, so fragile, so delicately made -- and so terrified. I remember feeling a kinship with it because I knew very well how terrifying the world could seem when you are little and not in control. And I was fascinated at how delicately it had been shaped. It was not some accidental, gross creation, thrown together from left over bits. Every part of the bat served a very specific purpose and its wings... Have you ever considered the construction of a wing? The difference between a bird's wing and a bat's? They are strikingly different. I realized, holding that small creature, how very amazing the world, and its creatures, really is.

But what, you may ask, brought these reflections on? A news article in the Times: "The Economic Cost of Losing Bats".  The boys and I have been reading the Percy Jackson series and in it Grover, the Satyr, finds the Lord of the Wild, Pan, as he is dying. Pan leaves Grover with a heavy burden, to spread the word to EVERYONE that saving the planet is each person's responsibility. 'The damage is too great, the burden to heavy for just one god.' Pan tells Grover and his friends. And here again, as with the stories of the Bees dying off and the Frogs disappearing, we see an indication of just how fragile our world is. We really do need to take responsibility -- or the world that our children inherit... It scares me to think of what will/won't be left.

So today, in honor of the little creatures who contribute so much to our world and our survival, I think we will start a series of units focusing on these little ones. We will start, I think, with the bats. There are many resources. Homeschool Share has a bat lapbook/unit study and one on Nocturnal Animals, both for free. If you are feeling flush, Hands Of A Child has a Bats Lapbook (12.00$)that you can purchase with an optional Kit pack (also 12.00) if you don't want to have to fuss with photocopying pages out of the Lapbook project pack.

Then there are the unit studies: One is called 'The Wonderful World of Bats

For frogs I have found: Just Mommies Frog Study

In the end, I think the poet, William Blake said it best when he wrote his poem, Auguries of Innocence

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.

Perhaps with our study of the 'little things' we will be able to hold onto that innocent appreciation of 

the wonders of this world for just a little bit longer.