Sister Loves Science and Spelling

Sister just adores science and spelling in the second grade. Today she brought home meal worms. When she first told me about them last week I feared they might be coming home. Now, I have them in my house. Taunting me. Bugs don't belong in my home.

I used to be a tomboyish kid. I loved dirt, rocks, and sticks. I played for hours climbing trees and splashing through the crick that bordered our property. Somehow, since getting bigger, and more capable of killing bugs, I've acquired a fear of bugs. For the most part I just dislike them. Some, like spiders create heart palpitations and the immediate need to flee. While living in Arizona I came across a cockroach the size of a small rat. I had nightmares for months that they were under my bed and I was in my twenties at the time.

So, you'd think I could handle these ugly little worms. The thing is, they turn into beetles. Beetles are a lot like roaches. Why in the name of all things sweet and lovely would a teacher encourage children to raise these creatures? What happened to raising caterpillars and letting them fly away after they come out of their cocoons? Why do we have to breed and tend beetles? Ugh.

Today Sister said that we have to let them out of their little container to "exercise" each day.I said, "What?" She told me (without kidding), "They have to stretch their little legs Mommy." Seriously? Do they even have legs?

Her class also has a tarantula. Sister's second grade teacher better not think that thing is coming home with each student. This is where I draw the line.

On a more pleasant, but embarrassing note, my second grade daughter has surpassed me in spelling. While most of her class are spelling words like: bake, cake, sale, made, etc. She and another girl had this as her spelling list (mind you they had a short week so she only had three days to learn them...and she did it without a problem):

alphabet
although
alligator
abbreviate
actually
abdomen
academy
astronaut
aquarium
coastline
coachmen
civilization
characteristics
characterize
chemical
dictionary
element
fatal
spelling
wrapper

I actually had to check a few of them in the dictionary to make sure she was spelling them correctly. Yes, I majored in English, but I lived by the dictionary, thesaurus (for when my spelling was so off that I couldn't find it in the dictionary), and the spell check.