by Debi Polen
When Dissection Is Not an Option
I admit that there were some things that I was just not able to teach when I was my son’s homeschooling supervisor. Just because I was in charge of my son’s home education didn’t mean that I was a jack of all trades when it came to doing science. This included the somewhat icky—at least to me—anatomy lessons in biology.
Sure, we could look at illustrations of anatomy all day, but nothing beats the impact of touching or seeing it up-close and personal. For such anatomy lessons, you could dissect a cow’s eye, or a fetal pig, or a frog, but these were not human systems and even the prospect of doing these dissections left me queasy. Needless to say, watching the dissection of medical school cadavers or visiting the morgue were not—and never would be—on our list of field trips, either!
So what was a squeamish homeschooler to do when it came to learning anatomy? Build models!
We had the chance to buy several models by Skilcraft and Lindberg in a clearance sale. Since we didn’t put together all of them in our school, we have placed them here on our website to offer them to you. They are untouched and still in their original shrink wrap. Some of them are life-size, while others are scale models. They require some skill to put together, so they are probably best for older students. For the paints, brushes, and cements needed to complete the projects, we have established affiliations with other online stores that specialize in them (detailed on each product’s page).
At the time of this writing, we have several models that cover from DNA to cells to human organs. And if you’re looking for books that are meant to be used by young students, we have some of those, too.
Mini-Catalog of Model Kits and Anatomy Products
Below is our current offering of models and anatomy products. This same mini-catalog is also available through our Anatomy Subject Page (accessible through the “Search by Subject” navigation menu bar option above). As always, if you have similar items that you wish listed in our catalog, please consider consigning with us.