One of the beauties of homeschooling is how life circumstances can lead into so many learning opportunities. When we discovered that I was pregnant back in January, I looked over my ‘plan’ for the rest of the year and decided to make some tweaks. I thought this would be the perfect time to learn about the beauty of birth, pregnancy and human development. It was fun to put together some ideas to explain and help my children delight in this process of a baby growing and developing inside of me.
I organized my ideas by month gestation and we set to work exploring this miracle of life. Here is a sampling of what we did…
We also talked about the formation and importance of the umbilical cord. What kid isn’t interested in his belly button??? Now they all know why they have one…
We decided to make umbilical cord replica’s. This was another highlight. You should have seen the look on the mans face at Lowe’s when he asked why I was purchasing clear tubing in the plumbing department!!! With tubing cut to the average umbilical cord length (~20 inches) and then three pipe cleaners to represent the two arteries and one vein. I originally intended to lube them up in some petroleum jelly to make it more realistic, but am glad that I didn’t due to the mess factor… They enjoyed showing them off to our midwife and telling her all about umbilical cords…
Here are some of our favorite books on the subject:
How Did God Make Me? ~ This is my absolute favorite. It is written in story format. I read it when I was pregnant with Treyton and now to all three boys with Greta. It includes beautiful photographs of unborn babies at various stages of development and is very tasteful and age appropriate for the preschool/kindergarten crowd.
The Amazing Beginning of You ~ This book is geared for older elementary kids and frankly a little ‘too informative’ for my tastes. I simply taped two of the beginning pages together so that my little reader wouldn’t find his way there. I loved how it really broke down each month of pregnancy and gave some great and understandable explanations of fetal development.
LIFE ~ This coffee table style book is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!!! It is on my ‘must buy’ one of these days list. Lennart Nillson’s pictures are just breathtaking and we enjoyed pouring over the pictures again and again.
The Story of Me ~ This was another good book. It is geared towards the preschool/kindergarten crowd. I appreciated the short section on appropriate and inappropriate touch and establishing modesty as that is something that I hadn’t discussed much with my boys.
All in all, they have been very patient during this process. I think I’m far more antsy than they have been. They seem to think that my swollen belly is just the new normal…
Thankfully, there is light at the end of the tunnel. And I’m gazing longingly at it…
I think these are awesome ideas! My 4 year old loved her fingerprint project we did at Classical Conversations. Might have to bust out some paint and give some fingerprint art a go 🙂
Great idea on the umbilical cord!!
Hope your last few days of your pregnancy go well!
— visiting from the hop! —
I agree! Heather, you have such great ideas! So excited for you!
You look fabulous Heather! I *love* both the first shot of this post and the last…so precious are these days! Enjoy!!!!
Many blessings,
Camille
You are a creative genius! Besides your boys’ hands on knowledge of babies being formed, they are gaining a respect for God as well as you and their baby sister! This is worthy of a book, or at least several tutorials that also incorporate the other wisdom and methods you’ve shared that prepare children to welcome a sibling with joy rather than jealousy!
Heather, you are adorable! And what a special way to teach the boys about the life inside of you. I can’t wait to meet your little one, even if only through photos 🙂
Fantastic!!! I love it!!! And very happy for you that the end is in sight.
ahhhh, thanks. I’ve actually taken meticulous notes on every thing we did (or wanted to do) and someday I want to package it together for others to use when expecting a sibling. someday…