Everyday Educator - Bigger Than Bugs - Summer Book club
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:03.400 | - Welcome friends to this episode
00:00:05.880 | of the "Everyday Educator" podcast.
00:00:08.800 | I'm your host, Lisa Bailey,
00:00:10.600 | and I'm excited to spend some time with you today
00:00:13.680 | as we encourage one another, learn together,
00:00:17.000 | and ponder the delights and challenges
00:00:20.040 | that make homeschooling the adventure of a lifetime.
00:00:23.420 | Whether you're just considering
00:00:25.500 | this homeschooling possibility
00:00:27.600 | or deep into the daily delight of family learning,
00:00:31.640 | I believe you'll enjoy thinking along with us.
00:00:35.640 | But don't forget, although this online community is awesome,
00:00:40.640 | you'll find even closer support in a local CC community.
00:00:45.640 | So go to classicalconversations.com
00:00:50.600 | and find a community near you today.
00:00:55.640 | Well, listeners, welcome back to the second week
00:00:58.560 | of our Summer Book Club series.
00:01:01.280 | I hope that after last week's readings,
00:01:05.380 | that you enjoyed some read aloud time with your family
00:01:09.360 | and found a whole new world of conversation
00:01:14.360 | opening up to you after you listened
00:01:18.120 | to some of the stories from the Kings of Rome.
00:01:21.440 | Today, I'm gonna be reading to you
00:01:25.740 | some selections for another one
00:01:28.360 | of our Copper Lodge Library Cycle 1 selections,
00:01:33.240 | Exploring Insects with Uncle Paul.
00:01:37.320 | Now, I know that some of you
00:01:38.840 | might not really want to explore insects,
00:01:41.840 | but we're gonna see if we can't find something
00:01:45.580 | that's bigger than bugs about reading together as a family.
00:01:51.380 | Let's talk for just a second.
00:01:54.260 | Why read together in the summertime?
00:01:59.260 | I have to confess that to me,
00:02:02.220 | that's like saying, "Why breathe in the summertime?"
00:02:07.180 | Reading together is just something that my girls and I,
00:02:10.980 | and my girls and my husband and I just naturally did.
00:02:14.440 | I think because my husband and I were big readers,
00:02:18.920 | we just enjoyed reading with our girls
00:02:21.100 | from the time they were very little
00:02:23.740 | all the way up through their adulthood.
00:02:26.180 | We still, when our girls come home with their husbands,
00:02:29.500 | we still sometimes we'll sit around
00:02:31.540 | and read something together as a family.
00:02:35.180 | Why do we do that?
00:02:36.500 | Obviously not because they can't read for themselves.
00:02:41.500 | We read together as a family to build rapport.
00:02:46.020 | It is really a lot of fun when we read something together
00:02:50.180 | because we all get something different out of it.
00:02:52.560 | And some of us like the selection and some of us don't,
00:02:56.080 | and we can all share our reasons why and why not.
00:02:59.860 | So we build, we read together to build rapport.
00:03:04.180 | I remember reading with my children when they were young
00:03:08.320 | and even when they were older
00:03:10.320 | because it was really important to me
00:03:12.440 | to build their imagination muscles.
00:03:16.880 | When I was a little girl,
00:03:18.520 | I think that I lived in my head a lot.
00:03:23.040 | I loved to play outside with my friends
00:03:25.180 | and I loved to play doll house and I loved to play Barbies
00:03:28.420 | and I loved to make up stories with my friends
00:03:31.160 | and we would run around the yard,
00:03:32.720 | run around the neighborhood being detectives
00:03:35.520 | or pioneers or pirates.
00:03:39.120 | I wanted my girls to have a strong imagination
00:03:42.960 | and we discovered early on that reading together
00:03:47.960 | really built their imagination muscles.
00:03:52.120 | Sometimes they would want to stop
00:03:53.680 | in the middle of the story and say,
00:03:56.340 | but what would that look like?
00:03:57.760 | Or how could we do that?
00:03:59.560 | And many afternoons when I turned them out of the house
00:04:03.560 | to play after our school day was over,
00:04:06.880 | I could look out in the backyard and discover
00:04:09.560 | that they were playing whatever story
00:04:13.420 | we had read earlier in the day.
00:04:15.640 | And I knew then that it worked,
00:04:18.120 | that their imagination muscles were getting stronger.
00:04:22.420 | We read together as a family to go places together
00:04:27.420 | that maybe we couldn't go in real life.
00:04:31.160 | We explored lands across the world
00:04:36.160 | through the books and stories and articles
00:04:39.040 | that we read together.
00:04:41.240 | That's what I did when I was a little girl.
00:04:43.400 | I learned about Persia when I read stories of princesses
00:04:47.520 | and about canals when I read stories
00:04:50.280 | that were set in Venice.
00:04:51.560 | And I learned about different times and different customs.
00:04:55.440 | And so when we read together as a family,
00:04:59.420 | we had that travel experience together.
00:05:04.080 | One of the reasons, one of the best reasons
00:05:06.720 | for reading together in the summer
00:05:09.560 | is that it gives us a reason to slow down and rest.
00:05:14.560 | There's so much that our kids want to do in the summertime.
00:05:19.120 | My kids always wanted to go to the pool
00:05:21.480 | or they wanted to go play with a friend
00:05:23.200 | or they wanted to go play in the creek
00:05:24.880 | or they wanted to go play tennis
00:05:26.660 | or they wanted to go to the movie
00:05:28.760 | or they wanted to go to the hobby store
00:05:30.600 | or get some craft, go, go, go, do, do, do.
00:05:34.920 | Sometimes it's really good for us to rest, rest, rest.
00:05:39.560 | And reading is a good way to get your children
00:05:44.040 | to take a break and to sit down together
00:05:47.080 | in the shade of a tree or in your air conditioned home
00:05:51.160 | or snuggled up under a blanket on a rainy day.
00:05:54.600 | It just gives you a reason to slow down together.
00:06:00.120 | Reading together in the summer is really important.
00:06:04.400 | You can introduce new ideas when you and your children
00:06:09.400 | have a little extra time for those ideas to marinate.
00:06:14.760 | I mean, think about marinate, I know it's a cooking word,
00:06:17.800 | but what's the point of marinating a piece of meat?
00:06:21.960 | Well, you soften the piece of meat.
00:06:25.080 | You can tell what kind of cuts of meat I'm used to buying.
00:06:28.000 | Okay, so marinating will soften
00:06:30.800 | and tenderize that piece of meat.
00:06:33.900 | Marinating can add notes of different flavors
00:06:39.920 | to that piece of meat.
00:06:41.760 | Ideas need to marinate.
00:06:44.440 | Sometimes they need to soften up a little bit
00:06:48.080 | so that we can chew on them a little more readily.
00:06:52.620 | Sometimes we just kind of need them in the back of our mind
00:06:56.840 | so that our subconscious works on them a little bit,
00:07:00.240 | or we think about them a little bit at a time
00:07:03.400 | until we come to the realization
00:07:06.680 | of what we really think or feel about that idea.
00:07:10.640 | Sometimes we do that together
00:07:14.360 | so that we can get an idea from one another
00:07:18.000 | of different flavors that might influence
00:07:21.600 | how easily we can assimilate that idea into our thinking.
00:07:27.560 | One good reason to read aloud with your children this summer
00:07:32.560 | is to give some structure to your freedom.
00:07:38.640 | You know, at the beginning of the summer,
00:07:41.140 | we are all, all about being free.
00:07:44.000 | We don't have a schedule.
00:07:45.640 | Maybe at your house, you have one or two things
00:07:47.720 | you still do together or still do at a certain time,
00:07:52.040 | but by and large, for most of us,
00:07:54.360 | the summer is free from a schedule.
00:07:56.680 | But you know what I always discovered
00:07:59.140 | when my kids were young and there was no schedule
00:08:02.200 | for a protracted amount of time?
00:08:05.380 | Boredom set in really quickly.
00:08:09.300 | Bored kids sometimes became contentious kids.
00:08:16.280 | Sometimes they became overwhelmed.
00:08:21.240 | Sometimes they became overstimulated
00:08:23.980 | because their desire was to do, do, do and go, go, go,
00:08:28.920 | and that's not sustainable over the long haul.
00:08:31.880 | So reading aloud together as a family
00:08:34.080 | will give some structure to our freedom
00:08:36.960 | and bored kids and bored or overwhelmed
00:08:41.000 | or overstimulated parents need that too.
00:08:45.000 | Here's what I would say to you about reading as a family.
00:08:48.300 | If you've never tried it before, try it.
00:08:52.000 | You might just like it.
00:08:55.600 | My suggestion for you this week,
00:08:57.980 | I think I said already is to check out
00:09:01.420 | our Copper Lodge Library book,
00:09:05.640 | "Exploring Insects with Uncle Paul."
00:09:09.600 | Now this is the cycle one resource and you know,
00:09:13.500 | in the fall, we will, all of us everywhere,
00:09:17.220 | be entering into cycle one
00:09:19.540 | and this would be a great read aloud,
00:09:23.020 | a morning read aloud, maybe a before nap time
00:09:27.660 | or rest time read aloud that would go along
00:09:30.860 | with a lot of the cycle one memory work
00:09:34.040 | that you'll encounter this year.
00:09:36.320 | Why?
00:09:38.020 | Now, those of you out there who are saying,
00:09:39.820 | "Thank you very much, I do not like bugs.
00:09:42.080 | "I don't want insects.
00:09:43.440 | "I don't think my children are going to enjoy any of that."
00:09:47.600 | Uncle Paul is not necessarily a story.
00:09:51.800 | So it's not like the echoes, fairy tales,
00:09:54.480 | fables and poems.
00:09:56.280 | The Uncle Paul book is, it's a group of children
00:10:00.600 | who interact with their Uncle Paul,
00:10:03.800 | but it's about real things, the real world,
00:10:07.780 | things that you and your children could go out
00:10:10.400 | and find in God's beautiful world as well.
00:10:14.220 | So why Uncle Paul, Exploring Insects with Uncle Paul?
00:10:19.120 | Because it teaches us to marvel at the world
00:10:22.960 | and God's creation is so worthy of wonder.
00:10:27.960 | This book will really reacquaint you
00:10:32.320 | with how marvelous the world is
00:10:35.120 | and how many pieces there are
00:10:37.320 | that you don't consider very often.
00:10:40.180 | Why read Uncle Paul, Insects?
00:10:43.500 | You might meet creatures in the pages of this book
00:10:48.500 | that you otherwise wouldn't.
00:10:50.680 | Maybe some of these insects don't live near you,
00:10:54.520 | or maybe you've never taken the trouble
00:10:59.180 | to look under things and find some of these insects.
00:11:04.180 | Another good reason to pick up Exploring Insects
00:11:10.480 | is that your children who love made-up stories
00:11:15.480 | and travel stories and fairy tales
00:11:18.640 | actually like to hear about real things too.
00:11:23.240 | You will be able to collect
00:11:30.080 | specimens from the real world
00:11:35.340 | because you'll know what creatures are out there
00:11:38.520 | that you could look for.
00:11:40.100 | If you pick up the Uncle Paul series,
00:11:43.280 | you will also be able to start
00:11:45.320 | your real world book collection,
00:11:48.120 | collecting books about the natural world
00:11:50.880 | as well as literature books.
00:11:53.160 | And listen, reading these stories
00:11:56.040 | will absolutely encourage you and your children
00:11:59.840 | to go outside and look at the world in a new way.
00:12:04.480 | I have two selections from Exploring Insects
00:12:08.980 | with Uncle Paul that I would love to read with you today.
00:12:13.760 | So call your kids or pause the podcast at this spot
00:12:18.760 | and then ask your kids to come and listen with you
00:12:23.780 | if you'd like to.
00:12:24.620 | You could even use this as a read-aloud for them.
00:12:28.040 | I am going to read two selections,
00:12:30.880 | one chapter entitled "Spiders,"
00:12:36.400 | and then the next story,
00:12:39.060 | which is called "The Apira's Bridge."
00:12:42.580 | The Apira's Bridge, okay?
00:12:46.460 | So here we go.
00:12:47.480 | And then after I read,
00:12:48.660 | I'm gonna give you a couple of tips,
00:12:52.740 | a few pointers for encouraging conversation and activity
00:12:57.740 | after you read, okay?
00:13:01.580 | Here goes.
00:13:04.940 | Exploring Insects with Uncle Paul, "Spiders."
00:13:09.940 | One morning, Mother Ambrosine was chopping herbs
00:13:15.780 | and cooked apples for a brood of little chickens
00:13:18.900 | hatched not long before.
00:13:21.580 | A large gray spider,
00:13:24.760 | letting itself slide the length of its thread,
00:13:29.340 | descended from the ceiling to the good woman's shoulders.
00:13:34.420 | At sight of the creature with long, velvety legs,
00:13:39.380 | Mother Ambrosine could not suppress a cry of fear
00:13:43.540 | and shaking her shoulder made the insect fall
00:13:47.500 | and crushed it under her foot.
00:13:50.520 | "Spider in the morning stands for morning,"
00:13:55.340 | she said to herself.
00:13:57.460 | At this instant, Uncle Paul and Claire entered.
00:14:02.940 | "No, sir, it is not right," said Mother Ambrosine,
00:14:07.940 | "that we poor mortals should have so much useless trouble.
00:14:12.780 | 12 little chickens are hatched out for us bright as gold.
00:14:17.420 | And just as I am preparing them something to eat,
00:14:21.340 | a villainous spider falls on my shoulder."
00:14:25.700 | And Mother Ambrosine pointed with her finger
00:14:29.060 | at the crushed insect with its legs still trembling.
00:14:34.060 | "I do not see that those little chickens
00:14:37.700 | have anything to fear from the spider," remarked Uncle Paul.
00:14:42.700 | "Oh, nothing, sir, the horrid creature is dead.
00:14:47.420 | But you know the proverb, spider in the morning, mourning.
00:14:52.420 | Spider at night, delight.
00:14:56.380 | Everybody knows that a spider seen in the morning
00:14:59.380 | is a sign of bad luck.
00:15:02.060 | Our little chickens are in danger.
00:15:04.460 | The cats will claw them.
00:15:06.020 | You'll see, sir, you'll see."
00:15:08.500 | Tears of emotion came to Mother Ambrosine's eyes.
00:15:12.920 | "Put the little chickens in a safe place.
00:15:15.420 | Watch the cats and I'll answer for the rest.
00:15:19.180 | The proverb of the spider is only a foolish prejudice,"
00:15:24.680 | said Uncle Paul.
00:15:26.600 | Mother Ambrosine did not utter another word.
00:15:29.920 | She knew that Maitre Paul found a reason for everything
00:15:34.920 | and on occasion was capable
00:15:38.080 | of pronouncing a eulogy on the spider.
00:15:41.960 | Claire, who saw this eulogy coming, ventured a question.
00:15:46.960 | "I know in your eyes, all animals,
00:15:50.880 | however hideous they may be,
00:15:52.720 | have excellent excuses to plead.
00:15:55.960 | All merit consideration,
00:15:57.440 | all play a part ordained by providence,
00:16:00.720 | all are interesting to observe and to study.
00:16:04.680 | You are the advocate of the good God's creatures.
00:16:07.280 | You would plead for the toad,
00:16:10.360 | but permit your niece to see
00:16:12.680 | they're only an impulse of your kind heart
00:16:16.400 | and not the real truth.
00:16:18.600 | What could you say in praise of the spider?
00:16:22.280 | Horrid beast, which is poisonous
00:16:25.200 | and disfigures the ceiling with its webs.
00:16:29.060 | What could I say?
00:16:31.440 | Much, my dear child, much.
00:16:34.600 | In the meantime, feed your little chickens
00:16:37.760 | and beware of cats
00:16:39.160 | if you want to prove the spider proverb false."
00:16:43.040 | In the evening, Mother Ambrosine,
00:16:46.700 | her round spectacles on her nose was knitting stockings.
00:16:51.500 | On her knees, the cat slipped
00:16:54.200 | and mingled its purring with the tick-tack of the needles.
00:16:58.400 | The children were waiting for the story of the spider.
00:17:02.560 | Their uncle began,
00:17:04.220 | "Which of you three can tell me
00:17:07.680 | what spiders do with their webs,
00:17:11.120 | those fine webs stretched in the corners of the granary
00:17:15.500 | or between two shrubs in the garden?"
00:17:19.400 | Emile spoke first.
00:17:21.680 | "It is their nest, uncle, their house, their hiding place."
00:17:26.680 | "Hiding place," exclaimed Jules.
00:17:29.220 | "Yes, I think it is more than that.
00:17:32.860 | One day I heard between the lilac bushes
00:17:36.800 | a little shrill noise.
00:17:39.360 | (Emile squeals)
00:17:41.500 | A blue fly was entangled in a cobweb and trying to escape.
00:17:46.560 | It was the fly that was making that noise
00:17:50.120 | with its fluttering.
00:17:51.880 | A spider ran from the bottom of the silken funnel,
00:17:55.760 | seized the fly and carried it off to its hold,
00:18:00.240 | doubtless to eat it.
00:18:02.100 | Since then, I have thought spiders' webs were hunting nets."
00:18:07.100 | "That is even so," said his uncle.
00:18:12.840 | "All spiders live on live prey.
00:18:17.720 | They make continual war on flies, gnats, other insects.
00:18:22.720 | If you fear mosquitoes, those insufferable little insects
00:18:28.200 | that sting us at night till they bring the blood,
00:18:31.200 | you must bless the spider,
00:18:33.960 | for it does its best to rid us of them.
00:18:37.640 | To catch game, a net is necessary.
00:18:41.780 | Now, the net to catch flies in their flight
00:18:45.600 | is a cloth woven with silk,
00:18:49.240 | which the spider itself produces.
00:18:52.980 | In the body of the insect,
00:18:56.560 | the silky matter is, as with caterpillars,
00:19:01.160 | a sticky liquid resembling glue or gum.
00:19:06.160 | As soon as it comes in contact with the air,
00:19:10.380 | this matter congeals, it hardens,
00:19:13.360 | and becomes a thread on which water has no effect.
00:19:18.360 | When the spider wants to spin,
00:19:22.740 | the silk liquid flows from four nipples,
00:19:26.400 | called spinnerets, placed at the end of the stomach.
00:19:31.160 | These nipples are pierced at their extremity
00:19:33.800 | by a number of holes, like a sprinkler of a watering pot.
00:19:39.040 | The number of these holes for all the nipples
00:19:42.040 | is roughly reckoned as 1,000.
00:19:46.340 | Each one lets its tiny little jet of liquid flow,
00:19:51.340 | which hardens and becomes thread.
00:19:54.600 | And from 1,000 threads stuck together into one,
00:19:59.360 | results the final thread employed by the spider.
00:20:03.720 | To designate something very fine,
00:20:07.400 | there is no better term of comparison
00:20:10.560 | than the spider's thread.
00:20:12.640 | It's so delicate, in fact, it can only just be seen.
00:20:17.640 | Our silk threads, those of the finest textures,
00:20:22.600 | are cables in comparison, cables of two, three, four strands,
00:20:27.600 | while this one, in its unequaled tenuity, contains 1,000.
00:20:36.180 | How many spider's threads are required
00:20:39.640 | to make a strand of the thickness of a hair?
00:20:43.280 | Not far from 10.
00:20:45.160 | And how many elementary threads,
00:20:48.240 | such as issue from the separate holes of the spinneret?
00:20:52.660 | 10,000.
00:20:55.980 | To what degree of tenuity,
00:20:58.580 | then, the silk matter can be reduced
00:21:01.940 | that stretches out in threads of which it takes 10,000
00:21:06.140 | to equal the size of one hair.
00:21:09.560 | What marvels, my children,
00:21:12.080 | and only to catch a fly
00:21:15.900 | that is to serve for the spider's dinner.
00:21:20.240 | Now, also from exploring insects with Uncle Paul,
00:21:27.440 | the Epirus Bridge.
00:21:29.780 | Here, Uncle Paul caught Claire looking at him thoughtfully.
00:21:36.740 | It was evident that some change was taking place
00:21:41.020 | in her mind.
00:21:42.000 | The spider was no longer a repulsive creature,
00:21:47.000 | unworthy of our regard.
00:21:50.420 | Uncle Paul continued,
00:21:53.020 | "With its legs armed with sharp-toothed little claws
00:21:57.940 | "like combs, the spider draws the thread
00:22:01.980 | "from its spinnerets as it has need.
00:22:06.100 | "If it wishes to descend, like the one this morning
00:22:10.180 | "that came down from the ceiling
00:22:11.780 | "onto Mother Ambrosine's shoulder,
00:22:14.620 | "it glues the end of the thread to the point of departure
00:22:19.380 | "and lets itself fall perpendicularly.
00:22:24.380 | "The thread is drawn from the spinnerets
00:22:27.320 | "by the weight of the spider,
00:22:29.140 | "and the latter, softly suspended,
00:22:32.020 | "descends to any depth it wishes,
00:22:35.220 | "and as slowly as it pleases.
00:22:38.360 | "In order to ascend again,
00:22:40.960 | "it climbs up the thread by folding it gradually
00:22:44.660 | "into a skein between its legs.
00:22:48.340 | "For a second descent,
00:22:50.060 | "the spider has only to let its skein of silk unwind,
00:22:54.240 | "little by little.
00:22:57.440 | "To weave its web,
00:22:59.560 | "each kind of spider has its own method of procedure,
00:23:04.560 | "according to the kind of game it's going to hunt,
00:23:08.820 | "the places it frequents,
00:23:10.720 | "and according to its particular inclinations,
00:23:15.000 | "tastes, and instincts.
00:23:17.840 | "I will merely tell you a few words about the apira,
00:23:23.100 | "large spiders magnificently speckled with yellow,
00:23:27.940 | "black, and silvery white.
00:23:31.380 | "They are hunters of big game,
00:23:34.140 | "of green or blue damsel flies
00:23:37.040 | "that frequent the water courses,
00:23:40.040 | "of butterflies and large flies.
00:23:43.920 | "They stretch their web vertically between two trees,
00:23:48.920 | "and even from one bank of a stream to the other.
00:23:52.920 | "Let us examine this last case.
00:23:55.860 | "An apira has found a good place for hunting.
00:24:00.860 | "The dragonflies, or blue and green damsel flies,
00:24:05.240 | "come and go from one tuft of reeds to another,
00:24:08.680 | "sometimes going up, sometimes down the stream.
00:24:13.220 | "Along its course are butterflies also,
00:24:16.120 | "and horseflies, or large flies that suck blood from cattle.
00:24:20.780 | "The sight is a good one.
00:24:23.500 | "Now then, to work.
00:24:25.660 | "The apira climbs to the top of a willow
00:24:28.780 | "at the water's edge.
00:24:31.020 | "There, it matures its plan, an audacious one,
00:24:36.020 | "the execution of which seems, psh, impossible.
00:24:41.040 | "A suspension bridge, a cable,
00:24:44.540 | "which serves as support for the future web,
00:24:47.700 | "must be stretched from one bank to the other.
00:24:52.700 | "And observe, children,
00:24:54.640 | "that the spider cannot cross the stream by swimming.
00:24:59.180 | "It would perish by drowning
00:25:00.740 | "if it ventured into the water.
00:25:02.800 | "It must stretch its cable, its bridge,
00:25:07.060 | "from the top of its branch without changing place.
00:25:12.060 | "Never has an engineer found himself in such difficulties.
00:25:16.760 | "What will the little creature do?
00:25:18.960 | "Put your heads together, children.
00:25:20.600 | "I'm waiting for your ideas."
00:25:23.820 | Hmm.
00:25:25.860 | "Build a bridge from one side to the other
00:25:29.120 | "without crossing the water or moving away from its place?
00:25:33.480 | "If a spider can do that, it's cleverer than I am."
00:25:38.480 | Thus spoke Jules.
00:25:40.660 | "Then I too," chimed in his brother.
00:25:44.340 | "If I did not already know," said Claire,
00:25:47.880 | "since you've just told us
00:25:49.920 | "that the spider does accomplish it,
00:25:52.860 | "I should say that its bridge is impossible."
00:25:56.700 | Mother Ambrosine said nothing,
00:25:58.920 | but by the slackening of the tic-tac of her needles,
00:26:02.000 | everyone could see that she was much interested
00:26:05.560 | in the spider's bridge.
00:26:07.440 | "Animals often have more intelligence than we,"
00:26:11.680 | continued Uncle Paul.
00:26:13.360 | "The apira will prove it to us.
00:26:16.240 | "With its hind legs, it draws a thread from its spinneret.
00:26:21.240 | "The thread lengthens and lengthens.
00:26:25.160 | "It floats from the top of the branch.
00:26:28.460 | "The spider draws out more and more.
00:26:32.200 | "Finally, it stops.
00:26:34.200 | "Is the thread long enough?
00:26:36.220 | "Is it too short?
00:26:38.640 | "That is what must be looked after.
00:26:42.360 | "If it's too long,
00:26:44.260 | "it would be wasting the precious, silky liquid.
00:26:49.120 | "If too short, it would not fulfill the given conditions.
00:26:54.060 | "A glance is thrown at the distance to be crossed,
00:26:57.920 | "an exact glance, you may be sure.
00:27:01.120 | "The thread is found too short.
00:27:04.100 | "The spider lengthens it by drawing out a little more.
00:27:08.900 | "Now all goes well.
00:27:11.000 | "The thread has the wished-for length and the work is done.
00:27:15.160 | "The apira waits at the top of its branch.
00:27:20.220 | "The rest will be accomplished without help.
00:27:23.740 | "From time to time, it bears with its long legs
00:27:27.280 | "on the thread to see if it resists.
00:27:30.280 | "Ah, it resists.
00:27:32.560 | "The bridge is fixed.
00:27:35.680 | "The spider crosses the stream on its suspension bridge.
00:27:40.980 | "What's happened then?
00:27:43.280 | "This.
00:27:44.120 | "The thread floated from the top of the willow.
00:27:48.620 | "A breath of air blew the free end of the thread
00:27:52.180 | "into the branches on the opposite bank.
00:27:56.760 | "This end got tangled there.
00:27:59.560 | "Behold the mystery.
00:28:01.920 | "The apira has only to draw the thread to itself
00:28:07.420 | "to stretch it properly and make a suspension bridge of it.
00:28:12.420 | "Oh, how simple," cried Jules.
00:28:15.260 | And yet not one of us would have thought of it.
00:28:18.740 | Yes, my friend, it is very simple,
00:28:20.780 | but at the same time, very ingenious.
00:28:25.780 | It is thus with all work.
00:28:28.300 | Simplicity in the means employed is a sign of excellence.
00:28:34.100 | To simplify is to have knowledge.
00:28:37.460 | To complicate is to be ignorant.
00:28:41.220 | The apira in its kind of construction is science perfected.
00:28:46.220 | "Where does it get that science, Uncle?" asked Claire.
00:28:52.220 | Animals have not reason.
00:28:55.500 | Who then teaches the apira to build its suspension bridges?
00:28:59.900 | No one, my dear child.
00:29:01.980 | It's born with this knowledge.
00:29:04.100 | It has it by instinct.
00:29:06.540 | The infallible inspiration of the father of all things
00:29:11.140 | who creates in the least of his creatures
00:29:14.280 | for their preservation ways of acting
00:29:17.480 | before which our reason is often confounded.
00:29:21.460 | When the apira from the top of the willow
00:29:24.860 | gets ready to spin its web,
00:29:27.100 | what inspires it without the audacious project of the bridge?
00:29:31.940 | What gives it patience to wait for the floating end
00:29:35.900 | of the thread to entwine in the branches of the other bank?
00:29:39.660 | What assures it of the success of a labor
00:29:42.560 | that is performing perhaps for the first time
00:29:45.860 | and is never seen done?
00:29:48.180 | It is the universal reason that watches over creation
00:29:54.740 | and takes among men the thrice holy name of Providence.
00:29:59.740 | Uncle Paul had won his case in the eyes of all,
00:30:05.820 | even of Mother Ambrosine.
00:30:08.860 | Spiders were no longer frightful creatures.
00:30:13.860 | Now, I hope you enjoyed the two stories
00:30:20.440 | that I read you today.
00:30:21.900 | I want you to know there are more stories
00:30:25.020 | about spiders and spiders' webs
00:30:28.180 | and even what spiders might do with their webs
00:30:31.380 | inside the pages of "Exploring Insects with Uncle Paul."
00:30:36.300 | I think that you might be fascinated.
00:30:39.760 | Mom and dad, remember that there are lots of ways
00:30:44.440 | to start great conversations and great explorations
00:30:49.240 | with the reading that you do with your children.
00:30:51.740 | One thing you might have noticed as you heard the story,
00:30:56.740 | there are some words in the story
00:31:00.260 | that your very young children might not be familiar with,
00:31:04.020 | and even your older children
00:31:06.060 | might have trouble reading on their own.
00:31:09.980 | But the glorious thing about reading aloud
00:31:13.400 | is that you, as the parent, can use your voice
00:31:17.740 | to give explanation for these words.
00:31:20.540 | And so in the context of the story,
00:31:24.060 | your children are able to figure out
00:31:26.560 | what unfamiliar words mean.
00:31:30.180 | The cool thing is that this increases
00:31:33.460 | our children's listening level
00:31:36.660 | while their reading level may not quite catch up yet.
00:31:40.340 | It's another great reason to read aloud with your children.
00:31:44.020 | One of the things that you could do with your children
00:31:46.340 | is to go back and ask them,
00:31:49.500 | do you know what these words mean?
00:31:52.340 | You might want to talk about prejudice or the word merit.
00:31:57.340 | Some of your little children
00:32:02.300 | might not know the word designate, okay?
00:32:06.820 | Looking back through these,
00:32:08.740 | you might want to find a picture of a spider
00:32:12.540 | and locate its spinneret.
00:32:16.380 | Maybe you'll have to explain what a skein is,
00:32:21.380 | a skein like we have of yarn.
00:32:24.420 | There are all kinds of things that you can do
00:32:28.520 | to expand the vocabulary of your family by reading aloud.
00:32:33.520 | There are also questions that you can ask your listeners,
00:32:37.220 | questions like those that we practiced last week
00:32:40.340 | using the five core habits of naming, attending,
00:32:45.180 | memorizing, expressing, and storytelling.
00:32:49.360 | The simplest thing to do is to ask your children,
00:32:53.260 | what creature is this story about?
00:32:56.540 | Who are the people in the story?
00:32:59.260 | How are they related?
00:33:01.540 | You might even ask them,
00:33:03.620 | what do you think the spiders in the story looked like?
00:33:08.540 | Some of the descriptions are given for us.
00:33:11.980 | So you can name the creature and name the people,
00:33:16.360 | but naming is also about exploring categories.
00:33:21.360 | That's one of the cool things
00:33:22.940 | about our foundation's memory work.
00:33:25.040 | We don't just give our children things to memorize,
00:33:28.180 | we put them into categories
00:33:30.900 | so that our children are building structures
00:33:34.180 | for their mind palaces.
00:33:36.660 | Structures of categories that allow them
00:33:40.540 | to put things into the categories
00:33:42.980 | and add to from time to time,
00:33:46.060 | always having a spot to place new information.
00:33:50.420 | So you could explore some of these categories.
00:33:53.380 | Are spiders insects?
00:33:55.960 | What else is an insect?
00:33:59.060 | What is it that makes them insects?
00:34:01.980 | What are the characteristics that designate
00:34:06.580 | an insect?
00:34:08.380 | You could go outside and find some spiders.
00:34:11.740 | If your children are ready to move
00:34:13.580 | after they've spent some time listening,
00:34:15.720 | go outside and find some spiders.
00:34:18.500 | You could even talk about how you feel about this task.
00:34:22.340 | How do you feel about spiders?
00:34:24.700 | Do you feel like Mother Ambrosine felt
00:34:27.620 | or do you feel like Uncle Paul felt about spiders?
00:34:32.580 | Mother Ambrosine in this first story,
00:34:36.420 | muttered a proverb about spiders.
00:34:40.100 | What is a proverb?
00:34:41.820 | Maybe you would want to explore proverbs
00:34:45.060 | with your children.
00:34:46.140 | What is a proverb?
00:34:47.760 | Are they really true?
00:34:50.040 | What are some of the other proverbs
00:34:52.220 | that you and your family may have heard before?
00:34:56.160 | After you hear these stories,
00:34:58.780 | your children might really be curious
00:35:01.340 | about how spiders construct their webs.
00:35:05.900 | And are all spider webs the same?
00:35:09.300 | It seems like Uncle Paul was saying
00:35:11.820 | that spiders make their webs different ways
00:35:15.300 | to suit different purposes,
00:35:17.340 | different neighborhoods, if you will,
00:35:20.660 | or different prey that they might be trying to catch.
00:35:25.400 | Why can't we make a spider web?
00:35:30.380 | You could explore that.
00:35:31.680 | You could even get some string
00:35:34.020 | and encourage your children to try to build a web
00:35:38.140 | that looks like a web you could find outside.
00:35:41.100 | You could, if you and your children are interested,
00:35:46.340 | look at the anatomy of a spider.
00:35:48.500 | What are the parts of a spider
00:35:52.020 | that allow it to build a web?
00:35:55.180 | Could you draw a spider after you do some of your research?
00:35:59.540 | Uncle Paul makes a big deal
00:36:01.100 | that a pirate makes a suspension bridge.
00:36:05.940 | Now, there are all kinds of bridges.
00:36:08.020 | Maybe you and your children would like to explore
00:36:10.620 | the different kinds of bridges that exist
00:36:14.300 | and how they are constructed.
00:36:16.940 | What do spiders and bridges
00:36:18.800 | really have to do with one another?
00:36:20.940 | Have you ever built a bridge?
00:36:22.940 | Maybe your children have done a science activity
00:36:27.500 | building a suspension bridge before,
00:36:29.940 | or maybe they would like to do it with you
00:36:33.220 | after you read this story.
00:36:35.020 | Do you think you could use the spider's plan to build one?
00:36:40.020 | Hmm, maybe you want to explore
00:36:43.780 | what other kinds of spiders there are.
00:36:46.980 | Where do spiders live near you?
00:36:50.740 | What kinds of spiders live near you?
00:36:53.660 | And what kinds of spiders live far away
00:36:56.780 | that you would never see unless you looked one up in a book?
00:37:01.780 | What are some useful things that spiders do
00:37:07.680 | or that spiders produce?
00:37:09.540 | Uncle Paul gave us some ideas
00:37:12.180 | about how spiders might be seen as helpful to us.
00:37:16.860 | Here's another idea.
00:37:19.860 | If you were going to write a story about a spider family,
00:37:25.900 | what would their names be?
00:37:28.580 | If you were going to write a story about a spider family,
00:37:31.580 | what would their names be?
00:37:32.820 | What are some spidery names?
00:37:36.060 | Maybe you want to be a little more philosophical.
00:37:40.260 | Why do you think God made spiders?
00:37:44.640 | What purpose do they serve in God's wide world?
00:37:52.200 | Maybe reading about these spiders
00:37:56.120 | has made you eager to look for other spider resources.
00:38:00.080 | If you go to the library or go to the bookstore
00:38:03.000 | or maybe even browse the books you already have,
00:38:05.480 | I bet you'll find a lot about spiders.
00:38:08.120 | Here are some other spider books.
00:38:10.200 | There's the fiction books,
00:38:11.760 | "The Beloved Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White,
00:38:15.840 | Eric Carle's "The Very Busy Spider"
00:38:18.760 | is especially appropriate for your littlest listeners.
00:38:22.640 | "Anansi the Spider, a Tale from the Ashanti"
00:38:26.840 | by Gerald McDermott is a great,
00:38:28.960 | beautifully illustrated tale from another land.
00:38:32.920 | And there are lots of nonfiction books.
00:38:35.520 | From the picture-driven fun facts
00:38:39.760 | to National Geographic books for kids of all ages.
00:38:43.640 | There are all kinds of ways for you to explore spiders
00:38:49.520 | that maybe you've never given much thought to before.
00:38:54.040 | You'll listen to the story
00:38:56.160 | on "Exploring Insects" from Uncle Paul.
00:38:59.960 | So I hope that you enjoyed this session
00:39:05.040 | of the Summer Reading Club,
00:39:06.480 | where we looked at the Copper Lodge Library book,
00:39:09.880 | "Exploring Insects" with Uncle Paul.
00:39:13.000 | I'd encourage you to take a look
00:39:14.600 | at the other Copper Lodge Library tales that we have.
00:39:18.720 | We have lots of titles.
00:39:20.640 | One of our newest is "The Secret Garden."
00:39:23.920 | If your kids are excited about observing nature
00:39:28.000 | and going outside to look for a spider
00:39:30.560 | or planting some seeds,
00:39:32.400 | or maybe taking over a section of your backyard,
00:39:37.400 | "The Secret Garden" might really pique their interest.
00:39:42.480 | This is a beautiful tale of children
00:39:47.200 | who become the gardeners
00:39:49.960 | of a long-neglected and secret garden.
00:39:54.920 | And the Copper Lodge Library edition
00:39:57.840 | is a great way for you guys
00:39:59.760 | to begin building a library of beautiful books
00:40:04.200 | that can serve your family with delight for years.
00:40:07.440 | So take a look at the Copper Lodge Library,
00:40:10.360 | especially "The Secret Garden."
00:40:12.360 | And I will look forward to reading together
00:40:15.640 | with you again next week.
00:40:18.120 | Bye-bye.
00:40:19.120 | (gentle music)
00:40:21.720 | you
00:40:23.780 | you