Nature Study: Pill Bugs

Nothing like a small crustacean crawling across your playroom floor to bring about a great homeschool lesson! While J5 was playing the other day, he found a bug making its way - I'm guessing to some place dryer than where he came from. The amount of rain we've had this spring is staggering. Our ever-inquisitive boy decided to catch him. I offered up a box and from there it snowballed.

E12 helps J5 to secure some grass and rocks for the pill bug's habitat.

R10 offers a flower- always concerned with the artsy environment!

The finished habitat- note the rock with water on it so he can sip and the "rotting vegetation" in the corner.

Once the kids had placed the pill bug in its new home, I told them they need to find out what he eats and what sorts of thing pill bugs like. Everyone had a turn and did you know that Pill Bugs eat rotting vegetation? Out the door they went and in came some leaf matter.

Great resource for nature study in general is the One Small Square series- in here we found information about pill bugs on the "Litter Bugs" page. These books have super illustrations and J5 loves to spend time looking at all the different levels in his own backyard.

E12 learned that pill bugs are only true rollie pollies if they curl into a ball. Otherwise, I guess they are posers! But I couldn't tell you what kind. This one rolled up, but he was tiny. Must have been fairly new in the world. It's a shame he found his way to the desert known as our carpeting. Pill bugs are the only crustaceans that live outside of water as adults. We learned all kinds of things about our friend and of course we did a nature journal page. Should have gotten a picture. We used a page from NotebookingPages.com. I'll come back and add that I think. It's late and I haven't posted since Thursday so it's time!

What a great lesson today and all because I said yes to a bug pet for the day. Our little bug was a bit too manhandled or else he succumbed to the ill-effects of desert travel. Either way he only lasted the day. However, today he found a larger one and freshened up the habitat.

Stay tuned for a fine journal entry and more information on pill bugs!

Pill Bug Notebook Page

As promised, a glimpse of the notebook page the kids did on pill bugs. This one is R10's page. I was going to use a page that Barb at Handbook of Nature Study had suggested, but I was having trouble with the download that day. All is well now, but when a notebook page isn't available, I just go with it.

This one hasn't been spell checked!

We have been inundated with dr's appointments this month between regular dental appointments, my check ups, ENT appts, and some bouts with pink eye- which are still going on! So, our relaxed pace at home has not been normal these last few weeks.

Some things we have been doing include finishing up our school year and planning our garden. This year we are participating in the heritage garden club through 4H and our theme this year is sunflowers. We've also designed a small herb garden which we're pretty excited about. We decided to just do these two plantings and we are hoping for some success! I will share with you our sunflower garden plans in a bit. We haven't done any planting because Memorial Day is just about upon us and believe it or not, it's not safe to plant before Memorial Day where we are. I know many of you are well into your gardening, but the growing season is short and it's just about time.

Speaking of notebook pages, I thought I'd share here that Debra at NotebookingPages.Com is having her birthday sale for just another few days. I'm not an affiliate, but I do have a membership which I just renewed with this great sale and let's just say, I won't have to worry about a source for notebooking pages for a long, long time!

I am hoping to take the kids out walking at the nearby plantations to have a look at some blooming plants tomorrow- before a dentist appt. Probably a great opportunity to take along some watercolor pencils for some sketching. Have you done any spring nature study this season?

An Open Letter to New Homeschoolers {or The Top 7 of 10 Pieces of Advice for New Homeschoolers}

Welcome to the Ten Weeks of Top Ten Lists sponsored by Many Little Blessings and the iHomeschoolNetwork.com. Bunches of bloggers will be sharing their Top Ten lists on various topics over the next ten weeks. 

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This Week's topic is Top 10 Pieces of Advice to New Homeschoolers. I think I have this covered in less than ten and I'd like to share them with you in a reprint of a Heart of the Matter post I did at the start of this past school year. Enjoy!

An Open Letter to New Homeschoolers:

I want to share some tips I’ve learned along the way so that hopefully you can learn from them too.

1)      Remember slow and steady wins this race- your kids don’t have to know everything today or even this year so refrain from turning on the fire hose of information. A corollary to this is don’t worry about keeping up with what public and private schools are doing- it’s a recipe for discontentment at best and disaster at the worst.

2)      Start simple and establish a routine- a framework is great and allows you to get back on track if you derail (sick fussy babies are super derailers), but don’t be a slave to your routine.  Your homeschool will begin to lack joy.

3)      Let go of traditional school conventions- some of them may be fine and work well for you, but so often I see parents trying to replicate the experience they know and understand well. We all come to the homeschooling table with a similar background in education. It’s ok to let those fall away and find the niche that you and your children will fill. For more on this topic you might want to read Leaving Behind Conventions.

4)      Be Consistent- whatever routine and program of study you choose, do it consistently. While we can leave behind the traditional school model, we still have the responsibility to educate our children.

5)      Choose wisely your outside activities. Say no whenever possible! You’d be surprised at the discipline it takes to be home to school! Trust me when I tell you that your homeschool will be far richer the more you are home. When you are out too much, you settle into the mentality that when you are home you need to hit the basics. Instead, be home and be consistent so there is plenty of time for exploring together. See Keeping the Home in Homeschool for more on this topic.

6)      Say yes! When your child comes to you with a pill bug and says, “Can we keep it?” Say yes and see what happens! Don’t be afraid to step away from what you had planned to see what comes of the rabbit trail your child would like to investigate. There is a lot of power in those learning experiences if we aren’t afraid to say yes and enjoy the process.

Relax! And enjoy the privilege of homeschooling your children. You know what is best for your kids and you have the unique opportunity to meet them where they are and delight in it (You might like another article on Growing Your Children’s Passion in Your Homeschool). Be confident!