Today's Science Experiment

Being a geeky homeschool mom, I'm always looking for new and fun things to do that don't require a text book.  Today we went outside for our science lesson and observed a spider that now lives in our front yard garden.  He is a big beautiful, bright yellow spider that has built a really big web.  Seth desperately wanted to be his friend, and decided that if he could catch a fly and feed it to him, they would be best buds forever.  I suggested that he toss one of the dead June bugs that are collecting on our front porch (and not in our house, thanks to our exterminator) into the web.  This made him gleefully happy.  As soon as the bug hit the web, the spider pounced.  We got to see it extrude a wide strand of silk and skillfully wrap its prey and save it for later.  I'm not a spider lover, (Just ask "the bigger than my hand spider" that decided to take up residence on my swing a few weeks ago.  We pulled out the hose and power blasted that sucker.  It still gives me the heeby jeebies just thinking about it.) but this spider is different.  It is pretty and colorful, and its Seth's newest best friend.  I actually don't mind it hanging around.