Learning with the Mother

THE HUMAN BODY

Sometimes during the classes, Mother would bring up some other topic and move away from the usual recitation, dictation or storytelling. What is worth noting is that She always came prepared for the change of subject. On one such occasion She took up the Human body. She had all the points jotted down on a paper which She left with me after the class. She explained to the children all about the human body and how and why one needs to take care of it.

1) The Human Body

The chief of the body is the head which has the brain and which is connected to the body by the nerves.

Up going nerves that lead the sensations to the brain (sensitive nerves).

Descending nerves that carry the orders to the muscles (motor nerves).

The brain receives the sensations and answers by the orders.

A sample facsimile of ’The Human body’ In Mother’s handwriting in French

2) Circulatory System

The heart, the arteries, the veins.

The heart is divided in two parts.

The left side sends the blood in the whole body.

The right side sends the blood in the lungs.

The blood moves away from the heart in the arteries and comes back to the heart in the veins.

The fresh blood is red, the used blood is bluish.

3) Respiratory System

Lungs : purification of the blood by the rejection of carbonic acid and infusion of oxygen.

4) Digestive System

1. Mouth — teeth for chewing.
2. Esophagus takes the food to the stomach.
3. Stomach starts the digestion.
4. Intestines : Small Intestine
5. Large intestine
6. Liver pours the bile in the small intestine. The digestion gets completed in the big intestine.

Muscles

Organs producing all the movements of the body.

Skeleton

The framework of the body composed of many bones.