1 Caterpillar, 2 Caterpillars....10 Caterpillars

I mentioned caterpillars earlier... well, here's a sample. We first found caterpillars on Saturday morning. Not thinking about it, we let the first three (all monarch caterpillars) get away. Then we let the next two (Hickory Tussock caterpillars) get away. It wasn't until after that when we remembered we had this great little butterfly garden. So we started collecting. We brought home, from our walk, three Hickory Tussock Caterpillars. The next day we found another 6 caterpillars - two were monarch and 4 were something else that we've still not been able to identify. That brought us up to 9. When Gabi went for fresh milkweed, she found another and promptly brought it in. It was of the group that we can't identify.


This first one is the one we can't identify. We have 5 of them. If anyone knows what they are, please share with us. I'm fairly certain that it's a type of moth caterpillar, since it's hair and that's typically a sign for moths.


This next one is the Hickory Tussock Caterpillar. It is a moth caterpillar, so if we keep it, we'll have it over the winter. They only reproduce once a year, and they live in their chrysalids over the winter to emerge sometime in late spring.


And, of course, there's the Monarch Caterpillar. This is a butterfly (for anyone who doesn't know or can't tell from the name). Which means that they reproduce twice a year, will go from larvae to chrysalids in two weeks, spend two weeks inside the chrysalids and then emerge. Much faster, and much more exciting for little kids.


As you can tell, these Monarch Caterpillars were already very large when we found them. So we predicted they'd morph into chrysalids within a couple of days. We weren't too far off. The first one began the journey yesterday about dinner time and completed the chrysalis about 24 hours later. The second one began tonight, just after dinner. We hope to watch the change more fully tomorrow - it's very exciting and the kids are planning not to be far from the butterfly garden all day so they can continually check and not miss anything! :)

Although I do have pictures of the first caterpillar in the J formation and then in the chrysalis, I'll wait until tomorrow to post, as we'll have more pictures from our "watching-non-stop" tomorrow... and that will be more fun!

Outdoor Adventures

We enjoy getting outside when we can. Physical Education (aka Gym) is something we have to make sure we do. Normally we enjoy kicking the soccer ball around and going for various different walks. We even dance to music. Kind of do whatever seems to interest us at the moment.

Well, we are also involved in Rec Sports, so, with soccer starting up next week, not only have we been kicking the ball around, but Gabi has decided she needs to run around our garden (we have a HUGE garden, folks). She runs around it 4 times, although she hopes to eventually run around it 6 times. I suppose I should measure it just to know how far she's running!



And where better to get our imaginations working! Reading outside is a favorite. Although most of the time the kids are playing while I'm reading to them, this particular time we had prepared a picnic and then finished with Beth and I taking turns reading to the others after we were done eating.


They also decided to build their very own volcano. I thought they did a very nice job!

Nature Rubs

We enjoyed several nature walks out in the back woods. It was beautiful and peaceful. Gabi really enjoyed drawing sketches of several plants bugs. But these pictures of when we collected some small twigs, leaves, pine needles and even a small pine cone (which we divided) and then did nature rubs.


First, take your nature pieces and select one or couple to arrange neatly under a piece of paper.


Then lay your crayon sideways and rub across the item. You'll see the image emerge on the front side. Jeremy had two leaves laid together.


We also learned that darker colors make the best rubs. Here Gabi used a pink crayon and it didn't show up quite so nicely.

Building

It's a building of "all" the blocks. I love having my children learn through play. They love to be creative, to build and to get their picture taken.

Prayer Rocks

Our first real art project was painting rocks. This is something I always enjoyed. The kids love it too... But this time we had a purpose. Each kid was painting their own prayer rock. I told them what they were for.... put on your pillow so you'll "knock" your head reminding you to say your prayers at night, then toss on the floor so you'll "stub" your toe in the morning and remember morning prayers. Well, they love their rocks... they tend to put them somewhere they can see them.. but not hurt themselves on them! :)


Peter was especially happy with this project since it was his first time using a paint brush. I have to admit, I've not been very good about "paint projects" since number three came along. It just got too messy with that many kids. I've had to "ease" back into it. Now I miss the finger paints!




Yes, Jeremy is wearing a pink jacket... it was ruined years ago, so it's been in the "paint smock" pile. He's just the right size for it... the girls can't use it any more! He didn't seem to mind.. he was too happy to be in the middle of the mess!

First Week Overview

Okay, I know I said I'd be keeping people appraised of how things are going here. Well, sorry it's taken this long, but I figure it's time to give you the basic run down of the first week. Looking back, I'm glad. It went well. We are still feeling like this is a good thing. The kids are behaving as though they are best friends again (oh, that was one things I really didn't like last year). I'm finding more and more encouragement from one child to another.

I do have some pictures, and I'll get to those a little later... I'm sneaking a few minutes while the Gabi is finishing "scripture study" - she helped make breakfast while the other three enjoyed a scripture movie this morning.

Gabi agreed that a strict schedule (such as she'd created) was not working. She learned that she loves the flexibility to say "not yet" or "I want to work on this now because..." I am grateful for this because a house of little kids demands flexibility. She's a happier child since she started giving herself a little room.

She started in on learning about sea creatures, although that was put on hold as of Saturday when we discovered some caterpillars. We now have 9 caterpillars (we'll show pictures and talk about them later).

She spent a lot of time learning to read a recipe and also seeing how the different measuring cups and spoons add up to each other.

We spent several days walking in the woods out back.. there's a nice little trail. One day we gathered things to make nature rubs, another time she took out a pad of paper and made sketched of the things she saw. Every time we all stopped to enjoy some wild blueberries.

She's also working on her penmanship. She takes one of her chapter books and copies a paragraph. This is simply to make her handwriting more uniform and neat.

Like I said, I'll elaborate more with pictures later.

In terms of the other kids, I've decided that I don't need to work every day with the other kids, but rather just include them when they want. Jeremy is learning to read, and very enthusiastic about it. He typically likes to work on it every day. And Beth likes to follow along with Gabi in many ways, taking a day or two off to just do whatever she wants. All of which are okay. Gabi is the only one truly of school age right now, and this gives me more time to get the routine figured out with the one before added the others.

Ready, Set, Learn

After a long and thoughtful process, our family has decided to home school. Although I recognize this option is not available to everyone, nor is it right for everyone, we have prayed about it and know this is right for us for now.

It was not easy getting started. Gabi went to kindergarten in public school last year. She enjoyed herself in terms of the fun and friends. But she was also frustrated when things didn't go as quickly as she'd like, or she'd find herself working alone because she was ahead of her peers. We are in a very small school district, where the school size seems to be continuing to decline, at least for now, and so the two schools nearest us are in the process of what appears to be a "phase" out. And the resources available for a child like Gabi are not sufficient.

Knowing that, above all else, family unity is important. And knowing that family unity involves time together interacting... not just eating and sleeping... We've decided home schooling is the best option for us.

Even with all that, we let Gabi decide. Knowing we'd be home schooling her siblings, and knowing that we'd like to have her here with us as well. But also knowing that she needed to be accepting of that or it would not work. She flip-flopped a lot all summer long. And finally, when it came right down to it, she chose to home school.

In setting things up, we took into consideration key elements taught in the gospel that learning is a life long experience, that we should gain whatever knowledge we can in this life - both spiritual and secular, and that spiritual knowledge should always come first. Thus we are embarking upon an adventure to teach our children HOW to learn, and pointing them in the right direction. We are taking every opportunity that life brings to us to teach our children in a real world, hands on way. Most importantly, we are praying for the Lord's guidance as we teach and instruct and prepare our children.

And so, there you have it - in a nut shell. And here we are....

Ready, Set, Learn