You Can Order Live Amoebas!

November 26th, 2013

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You can order live amoebas! You ask, “Why on earth would I want to order live amoebas?” Well, if you are studying biology and you are not impressed by the dead amoeba specimen in the slide set, you will want to order a live amoeba so that you can actually see it move! You know, with its pseudopods squishing along.

Of course, I was reluctant when my son began begging me for live amoebas. After all, I grew up in a third-world country where I suffered from amoebas all the time. Let me tell you, they are everywhere: in the water, in the strawberries, in the ice cubes… Don’t drink the water from third-world countries. Just don’t.

But the sweet begging of my son and the fact that he had aced his biology exams at age 11 caused me to re-examine my reluctance. After talking it over with my husband, we decided to order them. My son screamed, “Yes!!” as if he had scored a goal.

We ordered our live amoebas from this company. I was disappointed by 2 things:

  1. It looks like they only cost $7, but they force you to do at least 2-day shipping (or the amoebas will die), so it’s more like $30. I would rather they had said, “This will cost you a total of $30, plus any medicine you will need to get rid of the sickness in your house.” (I’m just kidding about the sickness. None of us got sick.) But the amoebas cost $30. I still think they were worth ordering.
  2. When the flask arrived in the mail, my son jumped up and down like it was Christmas. At first we could not find ANY amoebas. They say there are enough amoebas for a classroom full of 30 kids, so I was expecting the amoebas to be easy to find. My son’s right eyeball was going blurry as he asked me to please look until my right eye went blurry. Then I called my husband to come home from work and look, and of course, my husband found one. Because he is my knight in shining armor, and he always saves the day in our homeschool.

live-amoebasMy son squealed with delight when we actually captured the moving amoeba with his microscopic camcorder he got for Christmas last year. He was excited to see the live amoebas moving around with their pseudopods, sloshing along. We filmed the amoebas with a micro-camera, and we will be uploading the video to the huge biology section of the Unit Study Treasure Vault. (You should join the Vault if you are studying biology, because there are lots of fun videos and printables of every topic covered in a typical high school biology textbook.)

Thankfully none of us got sick, and we disposed of the amoebas in a sealed container in the trash. Since amoebas need oxygen to survive, they pretty much die within a few days.

I must say that the live amoebas looked “gorgeous,” according to my son. They looked like they were full of Christmas lights, since they had lots of vacuoles for getting rid of excess water. The nucleus kept moving around, and the amoeba squished itself forward, right in front of our eyes. Amazing!

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Amoeba Cake

November 25th, 2013

amoeba-cake

Amoeba cake?! You’ve got to be kidding me! That doesn’t sound very appetizing… But my son wants to be a microbiologist, so guess what kind of cake I made him for his birthday this year? You guessed it: Amoeba cake.

Before I explain how to decorate the cake, look at the cool invitation we made for his amoeba birthday party:

amoeba-invitation

How to Decorate an Amoeba Cake:

  1. Bake a rectangle cake. Make it whatever flavor you want.
  2. Cut a piece of cardboard larger than the cake and cover it with foil, taping down the edges underneath.
  3. Sprinkle flour on a cutting board. Grab the rectangle cake while it is still hot and up-end it onto the cutting board. With a knife, cut the rectangle into an amoeba shape.
  4. Pick up the cake and place it on the foiled cardboard. Put it in the refrigerator for an hour or two.
  5. Stir some blue food coloring into the white vanilla icing. Ice the cake.
  6. Grab some candy to represent the organelles, and decorate the Amoeba cake. We used a peppermint patty for the nucleus, round mints for the contractile vacuoles which pump water out of the cell, and M&M’s for the food vacuoles.
  7. We outlined the cake with chocolate frosting. You can do this cheaply by putting the frosting into a Ziplock bag, and snipping off the corner. Then squeeze the frosting out like toothpaste.

amoeba-boxYour Amoeba cake is now complete and ready to eat! Enjoy!

As a side note, my daughter made an amoeba box out of construction paper and tape, with an amoeba colored on the outside of the box. She created some bookmarks for her brother’s birthday and put them inside the box. Isn’t the box cute?

For hundreds of fun biology activities and videos, join the Unit Study Treasure Vault.

 

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Why Support a Missionary?

November 22nd, 2013

why-support-a-missionaryWhy should you support a missionary? Why should you suffer financially to make a monthly commit- ment to a specific missionary family, to support them over the years?

First of all, Jesus commands all of us to “go and make disciples of all the nations.” (Matthew 28:19) If you financially support a missionary, you are enabling that missionary to preach the gospel to the unsaved in foreign lands, and that evangelism is attributed to you and counted as what you are doing for the Lord. There are many people who want to preach the gospel to the nations but don’t have the financial backing to do so because we as Americans love to live in luxury and in self-indulgence. (James 5:5)

Secondly, what we do with our finances reflects what we value. Let’s get our finances in order so that we can give more to the work of the Lord, to work that matters for eternity. If God were to look at your checkbook (or credit card bill), He would instantly see where your heart is. But of course God knows where your heart is already.

Thirdly, do you realize that you have a direct impact for Christ through the lives of those missionaries, and that you are rewarded for eternity for giving to them? Paul says that you participate in the gospel when you do that. (II Corinthians 9:13) Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy. (Matthew 6:20)

But the most important reason to support a missionary is for prayer. Yes, prayer. You heard that right. When you personally suffer financially to support a missionary every month, you have a personal stake in what happens in that missionary’s life. When my life is directly connected to a missionary, I’m more likely to pray. I don’t want my family to suffer financially if that missionary is not accomplishing anything for the Lord. If I fail to pray for that missionary family, they will be much less effective. When I pray fervently, God promises to answer. (James 5:16)

When missionaries go overseas and do not have prayer cover, this is worse than not having enough food to eat. Pastors and missionaries are attacked more spiritually because when they fall, many people fall. Please pray for your missionaries daily. If you don’t, who will? And the lukewarm prayers of the people whose lives aren’t as invested in the outcome aren’t as effective as the prayers of those who financially hurt each month to put food on the table for a missionary to be able to serve the Lord full time. For this reason my husband and I feel strongly about supporting missionaries, and we will continue to support missionaries each month. My heart is interwoven with their ministries.

I found a list of missionaries who translate the Bible into foreign languages of people groups who don’t have the Bible in their language. Here is the list: Wycliffe Bible Translators. Having grown up as a missionary kid, I can personally attest to the trustworthiness of this mission. What is more important than saving lost souls while delivering the Bible in their language for the first time, so that they can grow spiritually?

To keep up with news about missions and missionary kids: Missionary Kid Facebook Page

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Posted in Growing Up as a Missionary Kid | 14 Comments »

Make Your Own Clock

November 20th, 2013

make-your-own-clock

I never knew that you could make your own clock, until my sister sent the different parts for my kids to put together. Yes, you can make a clock to fit your home decor. This is a perfect idea for a Christmas or birthday gift, because you can take into account the hobbies and color scheme of the one who will receive the gift.

To make your own clock, you will need the following supplies, which you can easily get at most craft supply stores:

  • wood base (whatever shape you want)
  • stain or paint
  • varnish
  • quartz clock movement kit
  • extra clock hands, if you want bigger ones
  • mosaic glass gems (or numbers 1-12)
  • drill with a thick bit
  • hot glue gun

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First you will want to stain the wood base or paint it. Let it dry overnight, and then put a coat of varnish over the top. Let that dry a couple of days.

Drill a hole through the middle of the base. I used a ruler to find the exact center of the base. Look at how big the clock movement kit is, to see how big your drill bit should be. Insert the clock movement box to the back of the clock, inserting the hands before doing so. The kit should come with visual instructions on how to do it. It’s really self-explanatory. Make sure to insert a battery after the clock is finished.

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You will want to add embellishments like gems or numbers around the edges. You can also add small, flat decorations like 3-D stickers or doll accessories. For example, if you are giving the clock to a hunter, you can hot glue a small rifle to the clock. If you are giving the clock to a teacher, you can place a large 3-D apple sticker on it. We decided to leave ours simple. It matches our newly refurbished bathroom!

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