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Flat Stanley Comes For a Stay With Us, In Plymouth, MA, from Oregon! | Homeschooling

March 19, 2012 By Laura 1 Comment

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Have you ever heard of Flat Stanley?  Or the Flat Stanley kid’s books his character is from?  Well I hadn’t.  Or I don’t recall, anyway.  Our oldest daughter does remember the books, but I have not been at all familiar with Flat Stanley, and neither had our fourth grade trio!  But we were about to get very familiar with him!  He was coming from Oregon, to stay at our house with our family, in Plymouth, MA, as an exchange student, of sorts.

001 This is the day Flat Stanley arrived, and I told the triplets all about their new and exciting project!  (Please excuse the bad cell phone pic in this one shot!) Flat Stanley was not only going to be fun, but he was going to be a wonderful homeschooling project, loaded with excellent lessons.

 

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This is our little friend Logan. Handsome guy, huh? He’s also so sweet, so smart, and the best big brother ever. He’s just all about love. His mother and I are  friends.  When she was looking for some hosts to send Logan’s Flat Stanley from his elementary school to where Flat Stanley could go and learn about a new area, and to take that info back to Logan’s first grade class, we were all over it!  What a great class project this would be for our younger ones! And what a great area for Flat Stanley to learn about! Plymouth, MA is a town filled with much American History!   We couldn’t wait to show Flat Stanley so many things, and see to it he enjoyed his trip. ; )

(Half the fun, was pretending Stanley was real.  And yet we learned even more about our area, right along with him.)

The following photos are just a few highlights of Flat Stanley’s trip here in Plymouth, Massachusetts:

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Flat Stanley in front of the replica of the Mayflower. (Also knows as the Mayflower II.)

 

003_flat-stanley-plymouth-rock At Plymouth Rock!  He was very excited to see this rock he had heard and read so much about, in person.

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Unfortunately, Flat Stanley came at a time that is a little off-season, in this tourist town. He really wanted to take a look around this gift shop we came upon, but this particular one was closed for the season. But that’s not a problem when you are Flat Stanley!  He slipped through the door crack. He was looking for souvenirs to take home to Logan, and his class!  But of course, there was no one to ring anything up for him.

 

005 Stanley read this whole sign, to learn more about our area, and the historical events that happened right here!  It was a lot of reading for a first grader, filled with important facts and dates.  But Stanley found it so interesting.

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One sunny day, we took Stanley down to the Cape Cod Canal.  It was windy and cold, but he really wanted to see the two bridges, the Sagamore and the Bourne.  The Canal walk/bike trail, runs about 7-8 miles, between the two bridges.  It was too cold to walk the length, but he did get to see both bridges!

 

007_flat-stanley-ash-wednesday Of course Flat Stanley attended Mass with us on Sundays.  He also received his ashes on Ash Wednesday. (Were you wondering what was on his forehead, until now? ; )

008_flat-stanley-superbowl-party He had a great time with us on Super Bowl Sunday!

He cheered on the Patriots with us, like a true New England fan!

 

009 Here, Stanley finds some great souvenirs to get for his friend Logan, his classmates, and also the teacher of his class.

He bought everything with his own spending money!

Stanley is so thoughtful.

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Since Stanley arrived with just a t-shirt on, the kids made him some paper-doll clothes: a warm jacket, and a New England Patriot’s jersey. (As seen wearing on Superbowl Sunday.)

The kids also wrote a really great report, all about Stanley’s stay with us, in Plymouth, MA. 

As their teacher, I was SO pleased with their report!

011 We had gathered together many great mementos to send back with him, to share with Logan and his classmates.  There was a nice educational Plymouth, MA guide book as a gift for Logan, and bookmarks for all of his classmates too!

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This was for the teacher and her classroom.   Do you see the contents list?  Check out what they look like….

013 How cool is that, for a classroom to have?

014-flat-stanley-visits-plymouth-ma These are all of the printed photos of Stanley’s trip, in this post.

015 The kid’s made a photo album to send as well, using the photos, card stock, sticky photo tabs, a whole puncher, and silver twist ties. They wrote notes under each photo in the album.

That way Logan’s class could see all Stanley got to see while he was here, and Stanley could have the album as memories from his trip, and his stay with us.

In the end, we realized there were many lessons for the kids, in hosting Flat Stanley.  Here are some of the academic and social skill areas that were involved:

  • American History / Social Studies
  • Geography
  • Map Skills
  • Gathering Resources & Information
  • Organizing Information
  • Writing a Report
  • Handwriting
  • Spelling & Vocabulary
  • Addressing Packages / Post Office
  • and of course…..Being a Proper Host!

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After a long good-bye with our new friend Stanley, we packed him and all of his belongings up in a box, and headed to the post office, to see him off!

It was a project we all enjoyed very much!  We hope Logan and his class, enjoy learning all about Plymouth, MA, from Stanley’s education here.

Have you ever heard of these Flat Stanley projects? Have you ever sent one to another state, or hosted one where you live? Share a link to your blog post if you have one, or just tell us a little about it!

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Filed Under: Geography, History / Social Studies, Homeschooling Tagged With: Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, elementary-geography, elementary-history, Flat-Stanley, Flat-Stanley-Massachusetts, Flat-Stanley-OR, Flat-Stanley-Oregon, Flat-Stanley-Plymouth-MA, homeschooling, report, triplets

Our Road to Homeschooling – Our Story

February 22, 2012 By Laura 18 Comments

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We all have our story, I suppose.  Our own road, that led us to where we are, homeschooling.  I know we have ours.  And I would think nobody would really care to hear it, except for the fact that, people ask! -ALL OF THE TIME!  But I warn you….it’s really a story. Like, of the novel kind. In the way of lengthy. So, if you are interested to read about it, you may want to go all out, and make a hot beverage to go with it, or something. I’m not sure it’s all that entertaining, but it’s our story, nonetheless.

 

My First Thoughts of Homeschooling Our Children

I think the seed was planted in my heart real early on, to be a homeschooling Mama. As a child, myself.  I never really liked my own reality of being in school, at all. But I did love playing school, with my siblings and friends. I have many memories of pretending. One of us would be the teacher, and the rest of us would be the students.  I vividly remember some summer days, of sitting on a couple of front porch steps made of boards, with our bare legs and feet dangling underneath the porch, and using the one step higher as our desk. (Something I would never do today, knowing the spiders and other creepy crawlies that would be under there. Lol.). So yeah, playing school was a favorite activity of mine to play, even though I wasn’t a fan of real school.

 

Miss Beadle Made Me Do It

I’m pretty sure I also got some inspiration from Miss Beadle, from Little House on the Prairie! I most loved any scenes in the school house. To this day, I have such a love for old schoolhouses. Granted, Miss Beadle’s class was not truly homeschooling. But still, I fell in love with the simplicity of the one-room schoolhouse, with the bell, the old desks and chalkboard slates, the burning stove for heat, and the notion that kids of different ages, even siblings, could not only learn together in the same place, but could actually benefit in many ways, from that. It differed a lot, from my own experience of going to school. I also really felt some kind of connection with the style of raising children in those days on the Prairie, and how it seemed to build strong character in them, as was seen in the roles as they grew up over the years. Of course, it was just a show. But as I got older, I learned that it was a true representation of that era, and to this day, I am drawn to that way of life.

So those impressions probably took real root in my heart, even as young as I was.  But, I think the first real, formed thought I had on the matter, was in the moments that I held my first newborn baby, Alexis Grace, in my arms.  I had had an all natural, drug-free birth with a midwife, and I was so exhausted after laboring all through the night. But I vividly recall being in my hospital bed sometime later that day, holding my new baby girl in my arms, all wrapped in a blanket, and looking into her sweet little face with her little pink cotton hat, thinking: “I cannot even imagine ever sending you off to school every day.” I knew, she would grow up in the blink of an eye, and I already did not want to miss any of it. I think that was the day I figured I would never send her to school.

 

But Then I Did, for a Blink. 

When she became kindergarten age, there was no doubt by then that I simply wanted to homeschool her. No part of me wanted to send her to school for a 1/2 day, 5 days a week.  But in the same time frame, I found myself pregnant. (Hooray!!)  And I found myself thinking about the 1-on-1 time I had had with Alexis, in her first year, and I didn’t want to not be able to give that same valuable bonding time, to our new baby. Honestly, I find it kind of silly looking back now, but it’s what I was concerned with at the time, as much as I was conflicted because I didn’t want to miss having Alexis home, at the same time. In addition to that, I wasn’t sure I could school Alexis effectively, and care for a newborn with the same attention. (? – I know now, I could have, with one baby.) So, being on the fence with my decision, I did take her to be tested and registered her for kindergarten. Just in case, we decided to send her.


Well, the baby on the way, turned out to be three babies on the way!
 

That ‘kindergarten year’, turned out to be non-stop caring for, feeding, bathing, changing, rocking, soothing our 3 newborns!  That is, once we got them all home! They were born several weeks early, after my own 6 months of strict and complete bedrest, while I was pregnant with them. (Early complications that threatened them.)  But what I found in those bedridden months, while spending such time with Alexis on my bed, was that home schooling was for us, as much as I ever thought it was! Among our pillows and blankets on my bed, Alexis really learned to read, and write, and teaching her such things as critical thinking, was something I found I really loved to do. Watching her get it, and be excited, and grow in her knowledge, was just downright fun to me. And she seemed to be loving it, too.

It was also the time that I spent very pregnant on bed rest that I spent a lot of time praying, and bargaining with God, or so I thought.  It was a personal promise to Him, in that time, that later cemented my commitment to home school our kids as soon as possible. Of course, I would soon have my hands more than full, and be way short on sleep. So off to kindergarten Alexis went, exactly five days after her triplet siblings were born. I was seriously hurting, physically, but I was determined to be the one, that brought her to school, for her first day. Of course, another mother (just trying to be friendly and chatty), had to mention how I looked like I was ‘ready any day’, and asked me when I was due. Thanks, Lady! She was every shade of apologetic and astonished, when I had to tell her I already gave birth 5 days prior, to triplets. Honestly though, I couldn’t really blame her. That belly took it’s sweet time going down.

 

That First Year

I wasn’t too bothered by Alexis going to school that year, for half days. For one, her school was literally within walking distance. But also because my own kindergarten year, were rather magical memories.  At that time in our lives, it gave Alexis a change of pace that was good for her, and Lord knows I would not have had much time to really teach her well. But over the following weeks, the babies grew and progressed and came home one by one, all in God’s time, and we were all finally home as a family, a week before Christmas. THAT, was the best Christmas, ever!!  Honestly, after all we had been through, I think that was when we learned to truly trust in God, and had learned to appreciate the little things. Journeys like that forever change people.  It sure did us.

homeschooling-3 (2002-Home All Together for Our First Christmas – Our Christmas Card)

So, in reading this, you’d probably think the next year, I began home schooling Alexis. Right? But no…..it took me a couple of years, to get my groove, caring for 3 babies. With the reality of official homeschooling being new territory for me, I wanted to do it right. Whatever right is, right? So, Alexis continued to go to school, through 1st and 2nd Grade! All the while we knew she would be home schooled as soon as I could.  I have to say though, that there were regular instances in her formal school years, where I knew formal schooling would not be for us. So at the end of 2nd Grade, I pulled her out of school for good.

 

And Our Homeschooling Journey as a Family Began

homeschooling-7 (2005 – Alexis in 3rd Grade / Triplets 3 years old) – Catching and studying Periwinkles!

Of course, I would have the other 3 to school as well, soon enough. The triplets have never been to school, and that was the plan from the beginning of their lives.  Honestly, I believe children begin being schooled by their parents, at birth! So it’s really a natural progression, to just keep going. But the ‘first day of school’ that Alexis technically began schooling at home for 3rd Grade, in 2005, the triplets were only 3 years old. It was an easy and relaxed first year.  Alexis did her written work and math easily, and we did a lot of out door excursions all together, learning about nature, and finding our homeschooling groove. Which came quite naturally.

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2005- Alexis with her bull frog, “Goliath”.

I began kind of formally schooling the trio the following year in 2006, although they had only just turned 4 and were too young for kindergarten, only because they kept asking to “have school work like Alexis does“.  So, I began table work with them that year. Meanwhile, they were picking a lot up and learning  right along with Alexis….

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2006-Science / Nature Trail Walk / Learning about mushrooms we found.

The following year in 2007, I was officially homeschooling all 4 of the kids:

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2007 – School Photo.  Alexis: 5th Grade /  JackMichael, Olivia & Shane: Kindergarten

Because they learned so much the year before, Kindergarten was kind of a joke to them.  I heard a lot of, “I already know how to do this, but it’s still fun!”. It was just a warm up year anyway, to start working at the table in a disciplined way, for an extended period of time.  But making learning pretty fun and exciting, in those early years, I came to believe was crucial. I found it really sets the pace for their attitude, about learning.  That theory of mine, could also be a whole other post, sometime.  But let’s keep this post on track.

Suffice it to say, after so many years of homeschooling now, all 4 of our kids still have a great attitude about school time, and love learning so much, that it is often self-propelled.   Now that they are older, it is not always FUN, per say. But they all still seem to have a great appreciation for the process of learning. Mind you, while we do throw some fun in our school year here and there in various ways, most often they do put several hours into several subjects a day. I’m not an easy teacher. It’s all getting done, and done well. Because I feel they need to know how to work hard as well, and to understand, that often times in life, there are tasks to be done, responsibilities to tend to, or lessons to be learned, that fun or less than enjoyable or not, still need to be accomplished. That’s life.  But to start out with a good experience with learning while they are young, and create that curiosity and thirst for knowledge in them, followed by more disciplined work ethic and a good outlook, really seems to have set a nice pace for our kids.  We think, hope, and pray, that it has become a part of them, for all they set out to do, or find themselves faced with, all throughout their lives.

homeschooling-6 So, that is our story, of how we came to be a homeschooling family. All of the reasons WHY we homeschool, could be another post all it’s own.  All I can tell you now, is that there isn’t a day we have regretted it. If ever we found ourselves back in time, with the choice once again of which road of education-style to choose, we would take this one less traveled by once again. We really do feel, for our family, it is making all of the difference.

 

homeschooling-2 (2015)

*2017 UPDATE:
Our oldest daughter is away in her second year of college. She is double-majoring in Communication and Theology.

NOTE: If you homeschool your children as well, share with us a bit about how you came to making the choice. If you have told your story and have a link, leave it for us below! If you are not homeschooling yet, but are considering it, why do you feel you are drawn to it?
Got a homeschooling topic or question you’d like to hear from us about? Let us know that too!
We’d love to hear from you, and connect with you all!



Filed Under: Faith, Faith/ Catholic, Homeschooling, Life In General, Parenting, The Big Picture Tagged With: Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, decision-to-homeschool, home-schooling-families, homeschooling, homeschooling-families, triplets, why-we-homeschool

Our Homeschooling Year 2011-2012, Kicks Off!

October 6, 2011 By Laura 9 Comments

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Well, forgive me for the delay with any updates about our new homeschool year we’re in the midst of here!  Once we kicked it off at the beginning of September, we’ve been very occupied finding our groove, with our new schedules.  Things are quite different for us this year! With the kid’s respective ages and levels, life has opened up new and exciting opportunities, of experiences and learning, for all of them.  Not to mention new territories for us parents!  We have a high schooler now, for example, and with it comes all kinds of things.  But the younger ones are also following their passions and gifts, more so than ever.

Some of you may know this, but for those of you who do not, we are year round homeschoolers.  We keep a lighter (academic) schedule in the summer, and begin a whole new school year/grade levels, in September.  It’s always a very, very exciting time, as we love to plan out and begin a new school year!  We’re really blessed that our kids are enthusiastic students, who love school and learning.  This coming school year, was filled with more anticipation than ever, and it’s been as CrAzY and exciting of a ride, as we expected.

I always take the kids’ new school photos on the first day of school.  This year, it was almost a week later, but we got it done.  We have also ‘always’ taken their portraits in the school room, at the side of the cabinets.  But if you follow our blog, you may be aware that we drastically changed our school room set-up, and those cabinets are gone!  You can see the  old and new set up of our school room, as well as the style of school photos we were taking in all previous years, in this recent post.

So this year, I did all of the kids’ school photos outside.  These photos will be in the sidebar quite soon, so that new comers can see the kiddos who make up our homeschooling world.  In this post, we wanted to share with you a little about their (book) subjects they are studying this year, as well as some other little interesting tidbits of information.  In coming posts, we’ll be sharing a lot more, including activities/learning experiences outside of their academics, some deeper thoughts and observations I have had as a homeschooling parent, and lots of other fun and interesting homeschooling related posts. We hope you’ll join us for it all, with discussion and sharing of your own!

 

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This is our oldest daughter/student, Alexis Grace (14). Also known as {A} around the blog here.   She has been homeschooled (not necessarily at home…right? lol),  since 3rd grade, and just started 9th grade this year. We can’t believe we have a high schooler now!  That means I worked hard over the summer, researching, and piecing together a serious 4 year college prep plan for her. And maybe panicking, just a little. The girl scares me, and excites me, and makes us all proud, all at the same time!  She has huge aspirations, and her heart set on really great colleges.  We cannot let her down, and we believe in her, because she is so unique in her focus of her life at her age.   She is so faith-filled, determined, intelligent, tough, independent, and firm on the path she is laying out for herself.  What fascinates me, is it’s all a far cry from anything her father or I ever dreamed for ourselves, or were interested in.  But that’s why each one of us has our own calling, and why it’s important as homeschooling parents, to help shape our children’s character, and foster the calling they feel God has put in their heart, as the work He has meant for them to do, in their life.   It’s all about guiding and supporting them, to be the people they are meant to be.

Throughout this past summer, Alexis taught the 4th Grade Religious Education at our parish (2 weeks), and ran the games activity for the kids of Vacation Bible School (1 week.)  She also earned herself a Catholic High School scholarship, that has covered all of the expenses of her academic and extra-curricular school year. We’re proud of her, and grateful as well!

This school year, as a high school Freshman, Alexis’ courses are:  Language Arts (Alpha Omega /LifePac),  Algebra (Math-U-See), Biology (Apologia), History/Social Studies (Streams of Civilization-Volume 2 Cultures in Conflict Since the Reformation), Latin (Latina Christiana), Spanish (All Bilingual) , Art and Music (Piano – private lessons, and the Recorder – all kids at home.).

Alexis is also playing sports now, for our town’s public South High School! She is really involved there. That is a whole other exciting post. I could easily ramble, so I’ll save it, but suffice it to say it’s been really wonderful for her so far, and exciting for us.  It is extremely time-consuming on a daily weekday basis.  But I’d say we best get used to it and keep making it work.

In the light of sharing all of their subjects in this post, I feel it’s important to mention, that we live our personal faith, which is Roman Catholic. So it’s not a subject the kids study for school, but more something we are always teaching them, and they are always living and learning it as they grow. Just as we still are as adults, actually. That said, they do begin each day all together, with a Scripture, discussion, and prayer.  As a tool, we still really love Living Faith-Kids!!

 

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JackMichael (9), the first-born of the triplets.  Also known as {JM} around here.  He and the other 2 have the same academic subjects of course, being in the same grade level and age.   As I said, I’ll be posting more about what they love to do outside of their academic studies, and I’m excited to do so, because they are all so unique, with their interests and personalities. And yet, the differences from within their unique selves, meld together so well with each other.  It’s fascinating to me, to observe, frankly.  But anyway, for today, here are the subjects all 3 of them have this year:

Language Arts (Alpha Omega / LifePac),  Math (Delta / Math-U-See),  Science (Exploring Creation with Astronomy-Apologia), History/Social Studies (Christian Liberty Press / Our Nation Under God, and, History Stories for Children), Writing Strands, Spanish (All Bilingual), Latin (Prima Latina), Art and Music ( Recorder – all kids at home).

 

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Olivia Faith (9), the second triplet born. {O}, which we tend to call her 1/2 the time, ourselves. The boys especially, refer to her as “O”, a lot. And you know what she calls them, when she’s talking to the both of them? “Boys”. It always cracks me up, because there is such a motherly air about the way she says it. So….our own little baby boom is “O and the Boys”, I guess. It has a cool little ring to it, now that I think about it. : )   Oh, speaking of their names, and {name initials in brackets}, I know we’ve been a little all over the place with it.  The thing is, using initials for any sake of privacy or protection, is pretty irrelevant by now, considering they’ve been on TV a few times now, (related to our Catholic faith) as well as the newspaper, for different things. All times with full names.  On the flip side, I have found myself continuing to use their initials in brackets sometimes, for the sake of brevity.  As you can see, my posts tend to be perhaps a little lengthy, so I need to use all the brevity tricks I can.  : )   The kids are all well aware, lots of people know who we are by name, but the reverse isn’t necessarily true. (Especially around our town, and the people we meet and run into in person.)


homeschooling-new-year-4
Shane Jacob (9), the last born of the trio.

(Reaching for ‘brevity’ now………..).  Shoot. I forgot what I was going to say. Ummmm. Oh yeah.  You see that beautiful little school desk in the background?  That is Michael’s, from when he was a little boy!!  What a treasure, huh?  That sweet and sentimental little antique is going to be another blog post coming up, that I am planning, as well. There’s some story to tell, and some specific things that are part of the desk, that you will not believe!!  Michael’s antique school desk, is not the only one we have to show you, either. So if you’re interested, be on the look out for that post too!

homeschooling-new-year-5 I am glad I thought of doing a quick ‘class picture’ of sorts, while we were at it.  I sure love my class!!

Honestly, I’ve struggled a little with this homeschooling section of the blog, right along. It’s a lifestyle to us for sure,  but one that is just so normal to us, I think…”What is there to blog about?”.  But I know there is LOTS.  Lately, my realization of that has really broadened, and in the process, I have realized why I am not as active in this section. Which is crazy, because I so passionately love homeschooling my kids, and living this life I do with my family, that it hardly makes sense.  But I see now where it comes from, and I think I’ll be sharing those thoughts very soon too.

So stay tuned!!  This homeschooling section should be picking up steam, real soon!   You should know, we love comments and hearing from all of you! But if you are a homeschooling blogger as well, we especially encourage comments with your blog-linked names, so that we can visit your stories and shared, comment, and connect with you all as well. Our hope and goal is that we are all an inspiration and encouragement for each other, in raising and educating our children, as homeschoolers or not. homeschooling happens to be the route we have happily taken, with a deep love and passion for it. So our posts will derive from that life we live, as a homeschooling family.  But proving a great education, however any of us do, is the more common thread.  So thanks so much for stopping by, and please DO again!  God bless you all!

Gosh, I promise I’ll work harder on that brevity thing, too.

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Filed Under: Foreign Language, History / Social Studies, Homeschooling, Math, Middle School Homeschooling, Reading / Writing, Science, The Big Picture Tagged With: Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, Catholic-homeschooling-family, Home Schooling, homeschooling, homeschooling-blog, Living-Faith-Kids, triplets

The Metamorphosis of Butterflies – Photos, Our Experiment & Study | Homeschooling

July 27, 2011 By Laura 2 Comments

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Hatching butterflies is probably a pretty standard experiment and  study for students, in both formal and home school educations alike.  It’s one that can be used as a Science participation lesson more than once in the course of ones education, because the benefits of the lesson are different for various ages.

For very young students, such as toddlers-K, it’s a really fun & exciting process to watch every day. At this age, they are full of both intelligent, and sometimes humorous, questions.  They are able to grasp the basic understanding of the stages.  Some little ones may rather non-nonchalantly accept the transformation from a caterpillar to a butterfly, simply as magic, in a way.

Older students comprehend the cycle and the information of the lesson at hand, on a bit of deeper level. Their more mature experiences of curiosity and intake of the study of nature and Creation, throughout their ages of years, has led them to a wiser perspective.  They are more fascinated than ever, by the works of God, and the magnitude of His power.  They may also more readily make observations, younger ones may not pick up on, such as happened in our family, that I’ll tell you about shortly, further into this post.

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Our study was of the butterfly species, the Painted Lady.  We purchased what we needed at a lovely nearby place called The Butterfly Garden Boutique, in Bourne, MA.  The owner was very friendly, helpful and informative, and supplied us with live caterpillars in a container with their food, and a small net pavilion. (Larger pavilions are available as well.).

metamorphosis-butterflies-study-homeschoolig-1 We had 5 live caterpillars, and it wasn’t a day or 2 after getting them home, did a couple begin to make their way to the top of the container. Inside the lid of the container provided, is a fabric like piece of material, for the caterpillars to attach themselves to for their transformation process.  We learned they do this, by dispensing a thread from a hole beneath their mouths.

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By the following day, the rest followed.

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Once each of the 5 were hanging, the transformation begins rapidly.  They first shed their skin, revealing a the green casing that is their chrysalis.

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Once we had 5 chrysalises attached to the material, we carefully took off the lid of the container, and pinned the material to the inside of our pavilion near the bottom, as instructed.

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Here is a closer look.  It was evident which chrysalises attached first, and which were more recently formed.  It was absolutely fascinating to learn, that the inside of the chrysalises in this pupa stage, the caterpillar is turning into a complete liquid form, before forming into a butterfly.  In this photo, you can see the the patterns of butterflies, through the somewhat transparent casing.

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As a reference of sizes, this is our small tent-like pavilion, and you obviously can see the chrysalises pinned to the back bottom.  The door is only unzipped and open for the sake of this photo.  Throughout the entire study, the pavilion resided here on the shelving table-top, between our school room and kitchen.  The kids were allowed to look anytime, but not touch the tent, as to not disturb the chrysalises.  Of course, I carefully did open the door now and then, to take photos.

Some mornings later, there was all kinds of excitement in the house…..

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Michael got up (very) early for his morning church job, and discovered a butterfly had emerged sometime during the night!  He woke the little ones up to show them, and soon they were running through the house to spread the word.  To {A} and Mama. Darn! We missed it.

Right above the butterfly, you can see the empty casing the butterfly emerged from.

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Those who observe butterfly hatching for the first time, may be surprised to learn that the hatching process is somewhat of a messy business! The red staining you see, almost appears to be blood, but it is actually just the leftover liquid excreted from the formation of the butterfly, through the pupa stage. In other words, waste.

Just as mentioned before, it is even more noticeable now, which butterflies are likely to hatch next. Can you guess?  It would be the darkest one.

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Our first hatched butterfly of the 5.

As unfortunate luck would have it, we unbelievably missed the actual emerging of every butterfly from it’s casing!  Seriously. The 2nd one came out while we were not aware, because we were busy doing a math lesson.  2 others emerged while we were sleeping, once again. And the 5th was while we were not home.  So you know what this means! We need to do this again!

At the beginning of this post, I was talking about the benefits and differences of children doing a butterfly metamorphosis study.  Our oldest, {A}, hatched butterflies twice, consecutively, when she was very little, and an only child. This time, being much older and wiser teenager, was a whole different experience for her, such as the following occurrence:

It was fairly late at night, and the little ones were in bed, when I was in the kitchen and peeked in at the butterflies, and spontaneously exclaimed, “Oh my!”.  {A}, who was in the kitchen too,  looked in and, without surprise or question, said “Oh yeah, they’ve been doing that like, every night.”  Then gave me some wide eyes and a giggle. Butterflies waste no time, to get mating, once they are emerged!  They only live 2-3 weeks, so they have little time to get pro-creatin’! ; )  Over the course of our study, there was many observations she had had, as the oldest, and more in-depth facts she was aware of. So it’s a continual learning process as the kids grow, and still the fascination of the whole cycle, never wears off. Not even for me!

We decided that the evening of {A}’s 14th birthday, was the perfect time to release our butterflies.  We had had a wonderful family day together, and the time had come, and seemed right.

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Our gardens seemed to be the perfect place to let them go, as well.  We hoped perhaps they would stick around the garden beds for at least a few days, and do some pollination work for us!  But first, the kids took a few more minutes to just watch their Painted Ladies, and say goodbye.

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Then they opened the door, to set them free.
One flew out right away!

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The others needed some encouragement.

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metamorphosis-butterflies-study-homeschoolig-16 Finally, out flew another.  {A} was reaching in to lift one that was determined not to move…


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….while out flew 2 more.

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This one seemed quite as hesitant to leave us, just as we have been to let them go.

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metamorphosis-butterflies-study-homeschoolig-20 Soon, it fluttered off the kid’s hands, to a nearby garden flower.

We really enjoyed this study, and plan to return to The Butterfly Boutique again very soon, to spend some time in their Butterfly House, which is a screen house guests can enter, full of plants, flowers, a water fountain, and you guessed it…..lots of live butterflies! There’s also a Gift Shop, with beautiful butterfly-related jewelry, home decor, and more. And the Hungry Caterpillar Snack Bar! The boutique as a whole is a small but charming and fun place, for kids and adults alike. If you live nearby, or find yourself visiting Cape Cod, The Butterfly Boutique is very near both the Sagamore and Bourne Bridges. Visit their web site to get more information, and their exact location, which is so easy to get to.

As you probably know, butterfly kids can be ordered online as well, such as from here. There is also numerous resources to assist you and your children with educational information and activities.  I have gathered just a couple of links for you today.  For your younger ones, this web site has simple and minimal basic information about the life-cyle of the butterfly.  Here is a print-out as well, to just review, or use as a guide with what to expect, as you are hatching your own butterflies.  For your older children (middle school +),  this link offers more in-depth information about the life of butterflies.

It’s important to remember, that children who have fun learning, will enjoy it and seek to learn more.  Case in point, our children have continued to use the butterfly pavilion, with self-launched studies all on their own.  Following the release of our butterflies, the kids found a HUGE furry, nasty-looking cocoon in our woods, and were excited to see what would emerge! (I was rather scared.  I thought maybe a bear….or one of those seemingly evil hummingbird-moth-things.)  I will share photos of what came of THAT pupa, on our Facebook Page, very soon! So be sure you are following us! At this very moment as I type, that pavilion now holds 11 moths, and 1 large grasshopper, as the kids study them.

The learning never ends, at Our House Of Joyful Noise. Thanks for visiting with us for this post, and please feel welcome to share your own experiences, studies and observations, with butterflies, or any other insects!




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Filed Under: Elementary Homeschooling, Elementary Homeschooling SCIENCE, Homeschooling, Middle School Homeschooling, Middle School Homeschooling SCIENCE, Nature Study, Science Tagged With: butterflies, butterfly-hatching, cape-cod-places-to-visit, cape-cod-things-to-do, chrysalid, chrysalis, great-homeschooling-experiments, great-homeschooling-nature-studies, hatching-butterflies, homeschooling, learning, life-cycle-of-a-butterfly, metamorphosis-of-butterflies, Painted-Lady-butterflies, Science, The-Butterfly-Boutique

Now (Book) Reporting |Elementary Homeschooling

July 7, 2011 By Laura 7 Comments

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It’s always nice to have friends, who care about your kids in a sincere way, almost as much as you do.  Don’t you think? I have had a friend in particular like that, for 13 years now or so.   About half-way into our friendship, I began homeschooling our oldest, and at the time, only child. Eventually, we added 3 more students to our school, 😉 and are now transitioning into our 7th year of homeschooling . As of this post, the triplets are 9 years old and ~ 4th grade level.

My friend had 3 kids of her own, all close to my daughter’s age, adding a 4th along the way. She has also happened to be a teacher.  But somehow, all along, those two facts or common interests, have never really come together between us.  Until this year.  Oh, I may have, at times, happened to say something to her about our schooling, as a friend would in sharing what is happening in their life in girlfriend chit-chat. She in turn, has talked about her teaching, as a friend would in catching up as well.

Mind you, we are good friends, and see each other frequently enough. Our families get together here and there.  So it’s always apparent we care about each other & each others’ kids.  But I was especially impressed when on one day she came over this past winter, she brought something for my kids.

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A big bag full of books, for them to borrow!  She knew how much they loved to read, and perhaps I had mentioned to her how difficult it always is, to keep up with keeping new material around for them to read as well.  They devour them, tending to read every book 2-3 times, because they’ve read them all. And we can only hit the library so much, you know? With 4 kids who aren’t easy to remove from the library once we’re in, I think twice some days!  Oh the guilt. So, I was thrilled with this surprise delivery!  So were the kids, gathering around.

But wait….she had more….

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She then told them that she brought each of them their own journal, and she wanted them to write book reviews in it.  She kept the suggested format simple, and their excitement grew.  Because she’s not only a very qualified & passionate teacher who loves kids, but a mother too, she knew just the manner in which to communicate with them. Her presentation was exciting, and so they were inspired. I was smiling inside, a great big grin!

The very simple and casual format she suggested they use to write, following each book they read, was as follows:

  • Book Title
  • Author
  • Whether they liked the book or not, and why.
  • What their favorite part was, or what part they really did not like, and why.

She told them she really loved so many of these books herself, and she couldn’t wait to read all about what they thought of them.

And they were off! They couldn’t wait to get to work.

Now honestly, my kids need no encouragement to read, as you may have gathered by now. Writing, they actually don’t mind doing too much either. But I like them to write as much as possible.  Not for the sake of penmanship, but for the sake of formulating thoughts, organizing them, and putting them down on paper in a meaningful way. As a homeschooling educator, I strongly feel that developing strong writing skills is critical.  So needless to say….but I’ll say it anyway….This ‘surprise activity’ was one I thought was FABULOUS!

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On the other hand, some of the kids’ penmanship can always use more practice too! In the course of our school days, they have days where they print super-neat, and days when they don’t.  That depends on one thing: effort!  Sometimes, they are excited to express what they want to say, or are just in a hurry for whatever reason, so they just whip it out at lightening speed! So it comes out messy.  Some of them need to practice s l o w i n g  d o w n, and being a little more mindful of each letter (or number) they are forming. Other times, they are not focused enough on the use of space between the lines: being sure capitals go to the top, and lower case are around half the size of the upper case.  They need to practice adjusting their letter sizes, to the kind of paper they are writing on.

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But for their book reviewing, in these journals, the qualities of their penmanship, was not a factor that mattered to me to press at all. I mostly wanted them to focus on their thoughts about the story they read, and what they had to say about it. Keeping it a fun and leisure activity, was the approach our friend gave them, and I wanted to maintain that.  I had them for all of their schooling, to address the rest. And I sure do. 😉  Also, correct use of punctuation, spelling, indenting, paragraphs, proper grammar.  < I’m a freak about these things, Yo. >  😉 

I was amused to find a book in the pile,that brought back some fond memories for me …..

Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson.

My memories involving this book, make me smile.  When I was a kid, I started a new school, in 6th grade.  I had only gone to one other school, in my whole entire life. 😆  It was scary to start at a whole new school, with all new kids.  But I got a teacher that I not only loved, but my whole class loved.  Mrs. Curry made everything o.k.  She was petite, and pretty, with dark eyes and long black hair, and she had such a soft-spoken voice, with an accent….that was really fun(ny) to listen to.

And we got to listen to her a lot!  Because every afternoon, for a little while, she took off her shoes, climbed up on an empty student desktop and sat on it, facing us, with her bare feet on the chair, and she read to us.  I loved watching her read, and listening to her voice. Soon, however, we learned Mrs. Curry was going to have a baby.  We watched her belly grow, her walk turn into a cute waddle over the weeks, and how she started sliding up on to the desk with her big belly and arched back, rather than the way she so used to so casually just hop up there before.  She read us many books throughout that year.  But the only one I really remembered, was Bridge to Terabithia. I think the story line drew me in enough at one point, to make me forget about focusing so much on how nice Mrs. Curry was, that I was actually, truly listening.  Studying the book cover that faces us, as we listened, was another part of story time, for me.  I was an illustrator in the making, so the cover was almost everything.  If the cover was lousy, I’d probably never find out if the rest was good, because I wouldn’t bother reading it.  I don’t remember now, exactly what this book cover (of Bridge to Terabithia, that year in school) looked like, but I recall quite enough to know that it was different than this illustrated cover above, from the kid’s bag. The one from 6th grade had a brilliant yellow/orange/red color fade, and I believe a silhouette of kids on a bridge.

Or something similar.

Turns out, my own daughter (the girl triplet) loved this book best too….

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So strange to to think of it, too long.  As I do.

A full circle of sorts,  from my own grade school life, to my own childrens’, and this book.

My daughter’s book review reminded me of more of the story, than I originally remembered.  I think it effected her in a deep and sad way, as it probably did for me.  Maybe that’s why it is the book I remembered most?  Possibly. Disturbing things do tend to stick with me.  But tragedies are a part of life, and it’s likely best to start grasping that reality through books first, in our young lives, before we are faced with such difficult circumstances in real life.

Come to think of it, I think that was the last book Mrs. Curry read to us.  And perhaps it did prepare me for an imminent tragedy in my own life.  Well…through the perspective of a 6th grader, anyway. But not enough for me.

Mrs. Curry announced she was leaving.  To be at home with her baby on the way that summer.

I was devastated.  Sr. Cathy, who replaced her, was just o.k., on a really good day.  She was a far cry, from Mrs. Curry.

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Our oldest (14) got her own bag of books, being of an age that was suitable for more mature content.  She is a true, true book lover.  A collector already, I would say. In fact, maybe I should be sure she returns these books she took on loan from our friend, come to think of it. ; )

Along with her books, came this from our friend too……

This is a scan of just the front page. In reality, it is 9 pages, stapled together, full of writing prompts.

Wow.  No excuse for ‘Writer’s Block’ this time, huh?

(Gosh….maybe I should grab it, for my blogging! ; )  )

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As I said, with schooling, all 4 kids write a lot, anyway. It’s required in my school here.  Their reports for me are actually much longer than these brief book reviews they do.

But the point of these was to encourage both reading & writing, and keep it in the light of a leisure and enjoyable activity, that is always available to us throughout our lives.

To update you as to how they did with all of this : 

When the kids quickly made their way through the first bag of books, my friend picked it up, and brought another to replace the first. : )  As a multi-grade-level teacher over the years, she has en enormous collection of books, off the shelves of her various classrooms.  The younger kids read probably 95%, if not every book, she has brought, and they have written reviews for….far fewer than that.   They started off gung-ho with the writing part!  But it lost some fizzle along the way, as they jumped straight from one book to the next, to the 8th, to the 14th, in a matter of a week or 2, before I thought to casually ask if they were continuing journaling for each.  “No, not for all of them.  But some!!” And that’s ok, because again, there is plenty of writing not only in school, but willingly on their own for other things as well, such as personal journaling, poems, notes, copying (they do this for fun? lol…), recipes, and more. They have all read 100’s of books, besides this bag, as well, since February. They just blow through them.

So the book-reviewing in their journals is stop & go, giving random reviews in their journals along the way. But the book reading is non-stop, in their day-to-day life.  They play hard outdoors, and everywhere we go.  But they have always used reading as their way of resting.  I love that!

Oh the places they have been, and the places they will go, through the pages of a book.

I’m really so happy to have such a good friend, who deeply understands the joy of teaching and encouraging children in their learning process, and watching the rewards of their development in them, along the way.  It’s one more mutual appreciation, we can share now.

So I’ve shared all of this with you, for your consideration in getting your own little scholars a journal for some book reviewing, suggest the simple format above, or your own ideas, and see what they do with it.  You may just find you have new & entertaining reading for your own enjoyment!:  their reviews!

Happy Schooling!


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Filed Under: Elementary Homeschooling, Elementary Homeschooling READING, Homeschooling, Reading / Writing, The Big Picture Tagged With: Bridge to Terabithia, elementary-book-reporting, elementary-homeschooling, encouraging reading and writing with kids, homeschooling, kids-book-reports

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