Lessons I Learned From My Goldfish

Fish School at Amazon.com
Children can learn a lot from pets; in fact we all can if we stop and think about it. Most of the lessons seem simple, but perhaps they are actually profound.

The very first pet I ever part-owned was a goldfish, won at a carnival, and proudly carried home in a plastic bag. I was very, very excited about having a pet. After we got home Goldie was temporarily housed in a bucket until we could get to a pet store to secure an appropriate glass globe bowl for him. Once safely installed in his bowl, Goldie was overfed and under-cared-for to a dramatic extent. It's a testament to the toughness of goldfish that he lived for what seems to me like a long time (most likely several months), rather than a mere matter of hours. So what exactly can I thank Goldie, and the string of pet goldfish who followed, for?

1. There's stuff around us that we can't see. Somehow Goldie's bowl if left uncleaned would start to grow green algae. It was a great mystery to me how algae could appear apparently from nowhere. My parents' explanation that algae could come out of thin air seemed like magic, yet it taught me that there are great mysteries all around us and we can't always believe our eyes.
   
2. It takes energy to maintain a steady state. Goldie's bowl did not stay clean without effort on the part of my parents. I'm ashamed to say that when I was a child the way we cleaned out a goldfish bowl was as follows: on a weekly basis goldfish and water were tipped into our dishwashing bowl; the bowl was cleaned out with a cloth or sponge; fresh tapwater was put into Goldie's bowl; Goldie was caught in a jar or mug and emptied back into his nice, clean bowl. You'd have thought he'd be happy at that point.
   
3. Living things need clean water that is not polluted with chemicals. Abrupt change leads to shock. Since we'd paid no attention to getting rid of the chlorine in tap water or to getting the water up to room temperature Goldie was rather shocked on return to his bowl.
4. Alcohol makes you go kind of crazy. If Goldie's shock on return to his bowl looked like it was too much for him, the usual remedy was to add a few drops of brandy to his water. I kid you not! At that point he would zoom around his bowl at hyperspeed and either recover, or deteriorate quickly and be destined for flushing down the toilet.
5. We feel better if we take deliberate action, no matter if it is inappropriate and futile, rather than watching something go wrong while we fail to act. I'm sure that the brandy did not help Goldie one bit, but I hated to stand and watch him wobble around the bowl in his "nice, fresh, water" and felt that I should be doing something to help. Pleading with my parents caused them to bring out the brandy. At that point I felt I'd done my best to help him (or subsequent goldfish) whatever the outcome.

Apparently I could even have learned about operant conditioning by training Goldie. As it is, today while thinking about the Earth and our finite resources I was reminded of Goldie and his life in the goldfish bowl. I'm satisfied that goldfish toys would have been an unimportant distraction from the important things in life.

Thank you Goldie for some very important lessons and I'm sorry that I did not take better care of you :-(

My Family and Other Animals

My Family and Other Animals
I've never met a more eccentric homeschooling family than Gerald Durrell's. Many homeschool families have one or two pets, a few have lots of animals, but I dare say I'll never meet a family with as many animals as Gerald Durrell ended up with. Unless of course you know better. Go on, I dare you to let me know all about your menagerie. Or what about the special pets you had growing up?

As a teen I dreamed of the freedom Gerald Durrell had as he ran wild on the island of Corfu, filled his home with nature, and shocked his family with great frequency. I felt dejected with him when he was given a stuffy tutor, rejoiced with him when he escaped, and most of all laughed with him at all his family's antics. I rescued baby birds from our cat and raised them (with mixed success). I took my dog everywhere with me, except for school, where of course she was not allowed. At one time or another I've kept every category of pet that appears in my poll list, apart from large animals.

I wanted my kids to grow up with pets. When Game Boy was 3 years old we brought two rescue cats into our lives. Being the disorganized person that I am, I can't find a photo of Big Cat to share. Let's say he looks like Dewey over there on the left, except he's tabby, not orange. Big Cat and Princess Kitty are still with us 9 years later. We've had our ups and downs with them. I thought maybe two cats would be enough to satisfy us, but I was wrong. Current pet list: Big Cat, Princess Kitty, Goldie, Sweetie Girl and Huffy Girl, The Hissers, and 4 minnows rescued from being live bait.

What animals do you share your home with? One cat, two dogs, a flock of birds, a hamster, a tarantula, caterpillars and spiders? I want to hear. Have you blogged about the animals that share your life? What part do your animals play in your homeschooling? What lessons have you learned from them? I'd like to link to you. Leave me the keyword/s to search your blog and find what you've written and complete my poll if you're so inclined. Will dogs or cats win? Or are homeschoolers into exotics or furries?

Readers who shared about their pets:

• springtreeroad who homeschools with cats and rabbits (wild) - link 1, link 2, link 3.
• jugglingpaynes has cats and includes cats on her fun homeschool comic strip - read about her cats.
  
• Who We Are......... shares her homeschool family life with cats Precious and Smudge, Toasty the budgie, and 2 fish. Her hubby does not like cats.
• Wendy has 5 cats inside and one outside. At her blog she shares the story of Pepper's first litter.
• Deborah has a dog and a guinea pig.
• Scrappymom and Family! has a lonely zebra finch named Spot!
• Randi has a dog, a cat and a teen daughter who sounds like Artist Girl - she can't wait to get her own house and fill it with animals!
  

Handyman Hubby is just growing into liking our cats after 9 years! He really feels bad for them when they get sick, which has happened more than I'd care for. And I thought moggy cats would be healthier!