Last spring we happened upon thousands of tadpoles in a local lake. We scooped up several and studied the life cycle of frogs. Out of the hundred or so we collected, we managed to get exactly one tadpole all the way through the froglet stage and released as an actual frog. True, "Taddy" may have been released with an uncommon dependence on Cheerios. But she must be a hearty soul to have survived our care, where her brothers and sisters could not, and we feel sure she is croaking out her song this spring.

My son heard the frogs begin this year and announced he wanted to dissect a frog. We ordered frogs, goggles, gloves, and dissection kits from Carolina Biological Supply (www2.carolina.com) and requested the generous help of Pops, the kids dear grandfather. Thank God for grandfathers! This homeschooling mom was happy to "model enthusiasm" about dissection all the while holding nothing sharper than a camera.

So today, well equipped, they dissected. And it was a huge success. The kids chose not to cut their frogs up. But we were fascinated to watch Pops. And we learned words like tendon, fascia, pericardium, and formalin. We watched as Pops pulled on the frogs arm tendon and moved the frog's fingers. We pushed our own arm tendons and moved our own fingers. We saw the heart and liver and lungs. We compared our frog's tongue to pictures of frogs reaching for bugs in the air. It was as serious and fascinating as science should be.