Encouraging Nature Study

I have children who are, in many ways, nothing like me. For one thing, they like snakes.

The ringleader of the snake-loving contingent is thirteen-year-old Anna Marie who has made many requests to bring a snake home over the years. All such requests have fallen on suitably deaf ears. Until the last request, that is. 

In a moment of weakness, I said yes. I know, I know. Weak.

There are rules, mind you: the snake must reside in the unfinished basement, the snake must inhabit an enclosed aquarium, and the snake may never, EVER be carried upstairs.

So, now, I share my home and property with one devoted husband, six sometimes-but-not-normally-devoted children, a cat with a hair loss problem, who-knows-how-many chickens (daily tally changing due to butchering season), and A SLITHERING REPTILE! 

Lord help me. 

I'm trying to do my part to encourage nature study in our homeschool. Trying. 

Suffice it to say that if Gwin the Snake (named after a character in "Inkheart") decides to escape, our nature study is OVER. 

Harsh? Perhaps.

But I do take some satisfaction in the startled responses from moms who learn that I am actually allowing (for the moment at least) a live snake to take up residence in our basement. Indeed, I surprise even myself.

Like I say, I'm trying.