I have really been enjoying homeschooling the last two weeks. The Sonlight material we are using is great (and very simple) and I love all of the hands-on, creative learning. The routine and schedule has been good for us (though this week we have gotten off the routine a bit and I can see how that's not as good for us or for enjoying school).
One of the best things we did last week was study ladybugs. Our ladybug larvae arrived in the mail after waiting for them for weeks. Eli, well, he was so excited that he promptly grabbed the ladybug land dome (where Lily and I had put the larvae while Eli was napping) and dropped it- spreading the ladybug larvae and food all over the floor. We managed to recover all of the larvae, but not the food. That prompted us to try a number of things (hunting bugs, honey, soaked raisins) to find anyway to feed our little pets. Nothing seemed to work and we were quite worried they wouldn't make it. But.. they were quite active for a number of days (which was fun to watch) and now they seemed to have curled up preparing to go into the pupa stage! Somehow they must have gotten enough food...guess we'll find out shortly!
At the same time Joe took the kids into the woods and found some full grown ladybugs (BIG ones). So one day during school we compared and contrasted the ladybug larvae to the adult ladybugs. The kids loved it (including a friend of Lily's who is doing school with us two days a week)!
And then later in the evening we released the adult ladybugs and the kids LOVED gently holding the ladybugs and letting them crawl around their hands and up their arms! These are the school moments that I am loving!
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