Scary Science

We are on Day 21 of our school year and things have been going pretty well.  The major issues have been time and scheduling with three students.  My two youngest love to get up early (before I am out of bed) and start while my oldest usually crawls out of bed at about 8am ... which is about an hour or more later than his siblings. 

Our schedule has been flexible and we usually do our together work at 9:30.  This gives them some time to get individual work done before 9:30 and then they go back to it after we work together.  So far so good! 

Today, while we were doing schoolwork, the kids noticed a large bug on the screen outside (thankfully) our window.  Of course we stopped what we were doing to catch the bug in a tupperware and investigate it with a magnifying glass.

Isn't this bug scary?  It was actually pretty big too.  Over an inch long!

So, I was pretty happy about out impromtu science lesson ... until ... we found the bug on the internet.  Here is an excerpt of what we read ... and no I did not add any commentary to this.  It is exactly the way that it was written...

COMMON NAME:  Wheel Bug   (Awesome ... so happy we found the bug!)

CHARACTERISTICS:  This insect is well-noted for its incredibly painful bite when disturbed or nonchalantly handled.  (Gulp)

A member of the Assassin Bug family, this insect attacks its prey (other insects) with vicious stabbing motions using the ‘fang’ at the front of its head.  This is the same fang that stabs humans who handle it or disturb it.  (What did we just do!!)

The Wheel Bug is best identified by the ridged, or spiny, wheel on its pronotum (back), which gives the insect its name.

So, we did have an interesting Science lesson today!  Maybe next time we will take the picture and look the bug up before trying to capture it.  Luckily no one was injured in the lesson!