One of the requirements of our homeschooling cooperative is that everyone contributes by either teaching or co-teaching a class. This semester I signed up to teach a science class on a topic of my choosing. As an environmentalist and nature lover, my first thought was it should be something that involves going outside. I decided to use the pond behind the building as my inspiration and teaching tool and led a 2 hour class on water conservation and pond life. The kids loved it and so did I! We learned about water pollution and filtration and the ecosystem of a pond. After the classroom portion, we went outside with nets, scopes, and magnifiers and explored to our hearts delight- thanks to my wonderful forest preserve district for lending us some fun equipment. The kids were amazed at all they were able to find, including some awesome snail shells. What a blast!