Pat Cald...

<<She says she wants to be a monkey scientist some day like Jane Goodall.
She really believes her animals are very smart and tells me how she has
trained them. The most recent thing was training her cat to flush the toilet
since he likes seeing the water swirl. Today he fell in the bath tub with
her because he was playing with the stream of water. Now I'm getting off
track.
>>

>There are books and videos about animal behavior, though, that you could
>kinda be looking for. And any movies with trained animals (Homeward Bound,
>Dr. Doolitle) would probably be of interest to her. Fly Away Home is fun
>even for people who aren't fascinated by animal behavior.
>
>Sandra

Sandra, I really think you hit on something big here. They have lots of books on animal intellegence and animal behavior in the library that I think Virginia will love. One of the books is called "Experiments with Animal Behavior" and it is written for kids. I can't wait to get it for her.

She recently spent hours observing her cat and writing her observations in a journal.

Thanks everyone!

Pat



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[email protected]

In a message dated 2/6/02 6:51:58 PM, homeschoolmd@... writes:

<< They have lots of books on animal intellegence and animal behavior in the
library that I think Virginia will love. One of the books is called
"Experiments with Animal Behavior" and it is written for kids. I can't wait
to get it for her. >>

Maybe take her with you, show her where it is, and let her decide.

Bringing a book like that home could backfire. If you press the scientific
explanations on her, you might take out the mystery and joy of her own
discoveries.

I think more "evidence" before explanation might be better. Depends on her
personality, but if she's discovering a puzzle to figure out, don't bring an
answer key.

Some of those books can be depressing, too, if they're too much about lab
animals. The mothering studies from the 60's with the baby monkeys made big
changes in doctors' advice and treatment of babies in hospitals and
orphanages, but they're not going to cheer up any animal-loving children, so
be careful what you bring home.

Koko's Kitten (a book for kids) is great from the point of view of someone
interested in language development and communicating by sign language, but it
involves mourning a dead kitten, so might not be good for her either.



Sandra

Pat Cald...

From: SandraDodd@...
>Maybe take her with you, show her where it is, and let her decide.

Virginia was not as excited as I thought she would be about the animal behavior books. I told her about the books I was looking for and she hung around that section with me for a few minutes but then went on to find different books. I'll go through the stuff I found and see if there is anything with neat pictures and show them to her. Otherwise I'll let it go for now.

>Bringing a book like that home could backfire. If you press the scientific
>explanations on her, you might take out the mystery and joy of her own
>discoveries.

I hear you.

>Koko's Kitten (a book for kids) is great from the point of view of someone
>interested in language development and communicating by sign language, but it
>involves mourning a dead kitten, so might not be good for her either.

Koko's Kitten was a big hit with her. She is also very much into sign language so it hit on more than one interest. She handled the sad part pretty well but doesn't always.

Thanks

Pat


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