A persons eyes and smile is my favorite features because so much can be told by a persons eyes and smile. It is no wonder that when we speak to a person we look into their eyes. It is almost as if we are seeing right through a persons soul. Did you know that studies have been done to prove that eye contact could make a person fall in love with you?
You can tell if a person is sad, excited, bored, happy, or interested in your conversation by looking into a persons eyes.
Have you ever had someone talk to you while looking elsewhere? I had a dear friend growing up who would look at my forehead when she was talking to me and gosh did she make me feel self-conscious about my forehead. I’d look in the mirror after we talked trying to see what she was looking at because something had to be wrong with my forehead. I mean why would you look at it if it wasn’t so? I learned early on that it is rude to look at a persons mouth or nose because the person you are speaking with will all of a sudden think that they have something there and they will feel self-conscious for the remainder of your conversation.
Starting our Eye Unit
So many of you already know that we start our unit studies with a session of drawing, watching videos, and reading about our new topic. This helps us get excited about the topic.
We learned that light enters through the cornea. Then it passes through the iris and pupil to the lens. The lens focuses the light on the retina at the back of our eye. Then the retina sends nerve signals to the brain.
Making a Plastic Eye
Have you heard of instamorph? It is moldable plastic which you can purchase online. All you need is to place it in hot water and then mold it while it is still warm. We bought google eyes and cut them so that we only had the paper part. We glued them onto the plastic ball. Then we placed clear nail polish over it. We then glued red and blue string which resembled the central retinal artery and vein.
Dissecting the Cows Eye
When we got the cows eye we were a little nervous about dissecting it. First of all it was a little intimating and we thought that once we dissected it our stomachs would turn and we would feel sick. However, we experienced something else when we dissected the eye. We were so surprised at how wonderful God had created eyes. It was a really neat experience for my children and I and it helped us to really appreciate eyes. Wow are eyes wonderful. The lens was very hard but when the cow was alive it was flexible. The lens magnifies objects.
We received our eye from Home Science Tools
My turban is from Pin Up Curl
Embroidery
This embroidery skill is new in our house. This is Elizabeth’s third embroidery. She simply draws and then stiches it. I’m actually going to take lessons from her next week. I feel that kids should do what they are interested in so I don’t push them. I’ve learned that is how they become extremely talented in certain areas. This has been her new hobby and I’ll embrace it for however long it takes. I sure hope it lasts long because she is so talented
Learning about Pupil
To do this experiment all you need is a piece of cardboard, paper towel roll, and a mirror. Assemble it as shown below. Look in the mirror at your eyes. The pupil is the black circle in your eye. If the light is really bright the pupil will get really small. If it is dark, the pupil will get bigger. Place one hand over the paper towel roll and look at your eye in the mirror. You’ll notice your pupil getting large.
Learning about the Retina
I really love kids making their own play dough and then recreating images they find in text books. I think the more they recreate or copy something the longer they remember the information.
The retina is made up of special cells called rods and cones. Cones help you see color and bright light. Rods let you see black and white and help you see well when it is dim.
Eye Contact
In this experiment I had my two older and my two younger kids look in each others eyes for 5 minutes straight without looking away. There was lots of giggling. If your ever feeling down, try this.
When people are shy or feel uncomfortable they look away and avoid eye contact.
The eye sees all, but the mind shows us what we want to see.” – Shakespeare
Isn’t that the truth? When you like a person you tend to see only the good in them but when you dislike a person you might have a hard time naming one good quality that person has. So in a way we choose what we want to see or think of that person. Imagine if we named the great qualities of that person? With time we actually would start to like that individual. Try it. I dare you. Did you know that growing up the individuals that I actually wasn’t fond of I would actually really like after time. What changed? My perspective about them changed and every time I saw some positive quality about them it was easier for me to see more and more.
Thank you for reading our blog post. We share a new post every Thursday at 8pm.
One Pot Living
Yikes! That cow’s eye scared me! Lol! I am always intrigued by homeschooling. Thanks for the informative post!
Cecilia C. Cannon
what a great theme and lesson. You truly covered all the aspects even dissection, ugh. looked so real. congrats on this thorough and fun lesson for your kids.
Theresa
What a neat homeschooling unit! I love the idea of using eyes in various subjects.
Jane Davidson
Wow! These are awesome lessons for kids on the eye! Very interactive and you can see (little pun there!) how much they are learning.
Jessica Joachim
It looks like this was a really great lesson! The kids seemed to really enjoy it too, I will have to take some suggestions from this for my little one.
Aish Das-Padihari
Whoa! I was startled seeing those cow’s eye. But definitely a great educative experience for the kids.
Jeanine
This is very neat and cool to do for kids! Yes the cows eye is a bit intimidating. Great lesson to teach about the importance of our eyes.
Nancy Johnson Horn
What a great way to teach kids! It looks like they really learned a lot about eyes. I am not sure I’d be able to dissect anything anymore (I’m more squeamish as an adult), but I bet my kids would have loved that.
Cassie
This looks like such a fun way to learn more about eyes! Your kids probably know a lot more than I do about them!!
Shannon
Oh my goodness, this is so cool! What a great unit. I bet your kids will really remember this!
Terri
Cool lesson about the eye! I like the stitchery. I loved stitchery when I was in school. Our art teacher did it annually. I don’t think I ever stitched an eye, though!
Rhian
Wow that cows eye was an odd sight. Sounds like you did a lot of learning when it comes to sight, I bet the kids loved it x
Courteney Noonan
I love the embroidery with the eye! My little sister would love to make something like this – she adores sewing!
Akim
Last time was brain. And now, eyes! Great ways to teach your kids. I love your blog posts.
Amber Nelson
Wow! That would be interesting. I just don’t think I would be a good one to teach it to my kids.
Krystle Cook
I really love all the different ways that you have incorporated here. I never would have thought of having the stitching in there.
reesann723
What a great hands on lesson for the kids! I have always wanted to go embroidery!
Heather
What an interesting unit! This is so much better than the limited information shared in the science unit at school.