Cells alive!

The title of this post actually comes from one of my favorite sites on the Web, both for teaching and just for geeking out. While we're geeking, I also love this site. I suggest clicking on the cholera and Listeria videos if you really want to freak yourself out. Watch the cholera toxin cause cells to pump themselves dry! Watch that Listeria divide before your very eyes and overwhelm the cell!

Microbes, at a distance, are cool. Close up? Well, thank God for vaccines.

And, with the exception of viruses, microbes are cells, and that takes me to the real point of this post. How's that for a segue?

You may recall from a previous installment that we resolved the TH/homeschool dilemma thanks to the greatness of his school: He gets to spend some time each week pursuing an interest of his choosing, immersing himself in it, collecting the numerical facts about it that he loves so much, looking at pictures and videos, and reading about it.

We've been discussing his initial choice of subject. And for once, it's not acorns or sharks, his usual monomanias (or is that bimania?). At first, it was "science." I mentioned that this topic might be rather broad and suggested that perhaps he narrow it down. We expected that he might pick something marine or foresty or large. But instead, he decided yesterday that he'd study cells.

He's gone down this road before. His favorite kind of cell is a macrophage, still. The choice he made yesterday got him so excited that he dug out his science fair poster from first grade and set it up in the garage. Showed it off to both of his slightly bemused younger brothers and chattered happily about it to me. Looking back, I'd say the child did a really good job on that poster, considering he (a) couldn't read at the time, (b) has continued difficulty with project management, and (c) had no real idea of what we were actually doing. But it's all his own work. Yes, autistic people can enter science fairs, too.

So, we enter the world of cells. I love 'em myself, so I'm looking forward to this. And as someone whose eyes simply glaze over when someone starts talking botany (I love plants! I just don't...love botany), I'm immensely relieved he didn't select acorns. Although sharks would've been pretty cool.