It’s that time again, isn’t it? Time to start waking up at a reasonable hour. Time to start going to bed at a reasonable hour. Time to start keeping track of schedules and hours and lesson plans. *sigh* For being the homeschool mom who said she wouldn’t take a summer vacation, I sure enjoyed summer vacation.
But you know what? I’m SO glad school is starting again!! Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the freedom and slowness of the summer months but really, I am so done with doing nothing. Summer is just not a great time for us to not be doing school. It’s so boring! It’s too hot outside to do anything and it’s too mind-numbing inside to be stuck in here with a tv and video game system. The only saving grace all summer was Bible study and Chess club! Next year we are definitely schooling through summer. I think we’ll just take all of December off instead. At least we can enjoy the outdoors and do lots of fun Christmasy stuff!
Anyhoo, I’m done ranting about my hatred for hot weather and the boringness that is television. On to the fun stuff – butterflies!!! 
We eased into learning with this fun activity last week. If you are a Sonlight homeschooler you’ll find this activity perfect for Science A: Biology, Botany, and Physics. (that’s Core K for you older Sonlighters)
Thanks to Groupon, I picked up some caterpillars and a butterfly house for free a few weeks back from Insect Lore. While we waited for the tiny creatures to arrive, we psyched ourselves up with a really great butterfly film called In the Company of Wild Butterflies. The kids were very excited to get their caterpillars in the mail. Aren’t they cute? The little guys arrived in a heavily protected clear cup which they would live in until they formed their cocoons.
It was just a few days later when they all climbed their way to the lid of the container formed those cocoons. It’s interesting to watch them. At this stage, the cocoons will shake when they sense a predator nearby. With four kids and a screaming baby… yeah, we got to witness the shaking cocoons on more than one occasion.
Fast forward a week later and voila! Beautiful butterflies!
All five of the dear little things hatched from their cocoons and flitted away. We kept them for just a few days. While we had them ‘in captivity’ we fed them slices of an orange. Once the zipper was unzipped and the lid flipped, the beauties didn’t waste any time getting out into the great big world. They flitted happily away in the blink of an eye.
Afterwards, we inspected the leftovers of their cocoons.
All the kids enjoyed this activity. I suspect we’ll be doing it again. Here are some other ideas you can add to your butterfly lessons.
- butterfly lapbook
- play Elefun!
- color a butterfly picture
- identify butterflies in your neighborhood
- read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, of course!
I’ve seen other hatchery-type activities out there such as tadpoles. I’m wondering if this would go as well as the butterly project did.
Have you hatched any other critters in your homeschool? How did it go? Can you recommend any other critters?
Leave a comment telling me about your homeschool live animal adventures!
-Sara O’