Insects

E has been learning Life Science. She learned about insects, and got to raise some butterflies. 

Day 1, when we got our larvae

Day 6

Day 8

Day 11

One of the caterpillars took an extra two days to climb to the top of the cup and form it's chrysalis. The day after he did so, we moved them to the butterfly cage.

Day 19

Day 27

Day 28

The same late caterpillar was late again to emerge from his chrysalis.

This whole process took MUCH longer (about twice the time) than the science text AND the pamphlet that came with the kit said it should have.

We put sugar water in the bottom as instructed, we waited about one day after the last butterfly emerged, then wanted to release them. When we went to get the cage (we had to move it downstairs because the cat kept getting to it), all but TWO of the butterfly were DEAD.

It didn't seem to bother the kids so much. But it bothered ME. I don't know if we just got some larvae that were duds, but they took so long to go through the process and then lasted only a few days.

Day 30

It was still a fun and exciting thing however. Everyone in the family took interest in the caterpillars and how much bigger they'd gotten each day, and if they seemed to be starting to form their chrysalis, and when they were going to emerge. It was actually quite exciting to watch them come out and dry their wings. I'd love to do this again.

The anti-social introvert homeschool mom: What I wish I could say to other people

Yep, that's me. I don't care for socializing, getting together with a bunch of other women and hanging out and "chatting". It honestly near repulses me. I love family gatherings and going out one on one, or even with two other women MAYBE. But activities where there is forced socialization that I didn't ask to participate in, but feel obligated to, just downright causes me anxiety. My life seems to be all about raising my kids right. That, and making God and my husband happy, are just about all I think about. I don't care that I don't get to have free time during the day by not sending my kids to school. I don't care that I'm tied down to my kids. This is where I shine. If I can dedicate my life to one thing, I'd have it be raising good, responsible, intelligent, independent, hard working, CHRIST-CENTERED individuals to contribute to the world. It doesn't bother me to be sheltered up and confined to my home and family. I like that zone, it's comfortable and safe to me. That's my happy place.

Now, because this is the case I do have to venture out of my comfort zone for the sake of the kids and get them involved in other things so my tendency to be a recluse doesn't mess them up.

When you belong to the LDS Church (and perhaps it's true in other churches/cultures as well), there is A LOT of "forced socialization". There is a lot of pressure to be friends and be kind and know what's going on in people's lives and be there to support, uplift, and encourage. I don't mind this Christ-like aspect of it. I just have to basically be something other than ME to do it. I have to force myself to be "social". I try, I really try, and I think I do okay. I'm just not great at making friends at church period. I've accepted that and I'm okay with it. (Though sometimes I am bothered when it seems people don't know a lick about me and make judgements based on ignorance - so there's something I need to just realize happens as a result of my behavior, and then learn to not care. I'm working on it.)

When I am in a social "moment" with church people, or neighborhood people, it is almost always the case that the subject of school comes up. Women talk about their kids' education, and their kids' teachers, and how they help out at the school, etc. etc. I understand that is just a big part of these people's lives; their kids. Mine too! 😊 But I don't talk about my kids education with these people since not many people ask. Surely there are other things going on in their lives to talk about, right? This has been plaguing me for awhile. Why do they ALWAYS talk about school around me? They know I home school. They can see that I don't have anything to say on the subject and am just sitting there, a third wheel, just listening. It's fine for me to listen, I'm a good listener. However, I do like to have opportunities to participate in the discussion every once in a while.

Honestly, I'm just an awkward person socially. I like to talk about politics and I have strong opinions. I'm not rude or forceful about them (unless you're an ultra sensitive person) and often there is jest or humor behind my comments. So in these superficial moments, I simply do very little talking. I'm just not interested in things most people are interested in, which is another reason I am certain I love just being with my family, because they're like me!

Recently I started thinking that these people save certain discussion points (about school) to talk about when I'm around. It just seems like that is the case because most of the time I will be with this group of people who are good friends and talk often without me around and I think, "Haven't you all talked about this together already?" I really think people feel like they have to justify their choices to me so they talk up their child's education. Honestly, it just makes me not want to be social even more so.

Here is what I wish I could say to these people (which I can't, because it isn't out in the open that they feel they have to defend their choices to me):

I believe that most parents do their best for their children based on their life experiences and based on what THEY know, their knowledge and what the spirit tells them to do. Most parents do their best, they do what works for them and their family. My husband and I just know and understand things differently, we have different strongly held beliefs. Every person on earth may come to read something new, and then they will inevitably decide for themselves if it's something that they want to believe. This goes along with learning all new things and experiencing new things. We all take in life's lessons in one way or another. My husband and I choose to believe the facts presented to us to mean that the public schools practice harmful ways to educate children, and that children can become better educated under the freedom of a home school environment. Period. That's what WE believe. We take what we believe, along with the knowledge that God our Father entrusted us to raise our children right in His sight, and we home school our children. How other people choose to raise and educate their children based on their firmly held beliefs and understandings of life and things, is none of our concern. And quite frankly, unless you're teaching them to infringe on our personal rights, I don't really care what you do. I know you're a good person and love your kids and you're not just sitting idly by. For that I admire you and am glad that there are people like you raising children in this world. Every parent should be actively engaging in teaching their children what THEY believe to be right and wrong. If you're doing that, then I give you a 10. You don't need to convince me you're doing the right thing, I assume most parents are doing the right thing for THEM, as I know my husband and I are doing the right thing for US.

Somehow I have to figure out a way to change subjects naturally in a social situation, so I can get off this tangent people get on when they're around me. But I'd have to master the art of socializing, perhaps find a way to change this title they seem to label me with, as "the one who homeschools". The question is: Do I care to go to that effort? I guess we'll find out.

Getting back in motion

I love taking the kids to the library near our house. The older ones love to look at books and the younger ones don't care about them in the same way yet. This library has a great set-up for little ones with simple toys to keep them occupied when they're sick of listening to me read to them.

The past month or two we've been passing around bug after bug in our house. Two weeks ago we just didn't even do any school for a whole week because it took us that long to recover and get things back in order. The winter has been quite gloomy and depressing and we've all been in slow-motion, it seems like. I've noticed some school work has been slacking. We're in that middle-of-the-year slump. It's time to kick things back in gear. We've been getting some sunshine the last few days, too, so that's a nice little burst of energy that can kick us in the rear.

W learned about plant reproduction so we dissected a lilly and a lima bean. I have to say that W was quite funny about this. I thought it was really cool. He kept acting like it was too gross to touch all the parts of the flower.

The lilly I bought from a local flower shop had a couple of buds coming off of it. We kept them in a vase of water. One of them opened up, as I like to say, "with a vengence". Seriously, this lilly looked angry, it opened up so wide I thought it was gonna fold backward.

We kept it and it survived for about two weeks and then the other bud tried to open but the whole plant just started to look wilted and brown even as it was trying to thrive, so I threw it out.

All in all I'd say it was $7.25 well spent.

We took 3 weeks off for Christmas and New Years and this week we are back to work. Starting fresh feels good. It was nice to take a long break.

Our Little Ones

It is a challenge for a homeschool family to educate the children while the younger ones need constant attention.

Our 4 year old (since September) L, is doing preschool work and is doing very well. This is how she draws a picture of me:

This is how she writes the word "eight". I just think it's too cute how she writes her g's, and her e's are circles with a straight line in the middle. I love how she really dots those i's and they looks like little lollipops. 

L can spell many words, like the names of the people in her family. She is especially good at spelling Mommy, Daddy, and her own name. She writes them so well, I am so impressed! I can tell she will catch onto reading very soon, perhaps within the year, before she turns 5.

When we do our studies, J just crawls around and plays. He is quite curious as babies should be. But we've had to lock a lot of supplies away that once were out in the open. He is eager to grab anything interesting. This makes it a bit of a challenge for our day to go along smoothly.

The older kids love this baby though, they love to see him learn and explore and are eager to help him. Our oldest, W, set J up on the piano bench and let him pound on the keys. J LOVED it. He has a very serious look on his face in this picture, but he is enjoying himself. He is just a very serious baby.

We set up a Christmas tree in our school room. I hope to be able to make some fun ornaments with the kids when we take a long break for Christmas and New Years. 

Merry Christmas to all!

Education in Politics

First of all, the weather here has been very mild. One of our science lessons requested we sit outside, I'm glad we were able to do that. I'd like to see some moisture but it doesn't look like that's coming anytime soon. Meanwhile, we still get to play outside without being too cold. 

We went to a political rally in Salt Lake at the State Capitol last Monday. I couldn't avoid taking the kids so it turned into a homeschool field trip. :) The State of Utah's citizens are having a political quandary over the presidential election. For some reason they find it so very difficult to cast a vote against Hillary and for Trump and find that a candidate named McMullin can give them that clear conscience they're looking for. McMullin isn't even on the ballot in about 20 states but he's telling Utahans that if they vote for him they can make it impossible for Clinton or Trump to win the needed 270 votes, and send the vote to congress where congress will vote for HIM. He has also expressly stated that his determination is to keep Trump from winning (and thus basically asserting that a Clinton victory is a better thing.) In case you're telling yourself, "That can't be!" Yes, it's true, people actually believe this guy who - even if he were a legitimate possibility for president - is a terrible candidate politically. For awhile McMullin was ahead in the polls so Trump supporters in Utah banded together and set up rallies and town halls to educate people about the McMullin movement and try to get people to go out and vote for Trump. When the one in Salt Lake came up I had to go. The kids were excited to go with me and even shouted "Go Trump" a couple of times. I hope to find more opportunities like this to teach my kids about their civic duty to vote and become educated and to educate others through our first amendment right. With all that is at stake this election, I thought this was an important opportunity for them. No matter the outcome of this election, I want them to know their mom believes in the right things and loves America!

Seeping cell

In the mornings W and I read and study scriptures in our library. Our cat Luke just loves to steal the attention and W takes the bait.

The weather has been great lately, so we've been doing some of our subjects outside in the shade. It's really nice and I recommend it for people with busy babies. Our baby could just roam as he pleased and he loves the stop and play with the grass and he was easy to keep an eye on (no furniture in the way to block my view). Whenever the weather is nice we try to take advantage of this.

W constructed a 3 dimensional cell replica. The book called for use of Plaster of Paris. I didn't have the stuff and I didn't want to buy it. So I looked up online if there were ingredients I had at home that would suffice. Many websites had an alternative of 1 part water to 2 parts flour. This seemed to worke quite nicely. We put together our cell and set it out to dry up. It seemed to take a long time to dry up. After about 3 or 4 days it started dripping down the side because I had lifted one side the night before to check it's "dryness". I think that let some air in and then the air tried to escape bringing gobs of the stuff dripping out the side. I waited to see if it would stop and it did that dripping thing for another day. Eventually the oozing stopped and it still looked decent so I decided to let it keep "drying out". Eventually it started to smell really bad. I turned the bowl and saw a clearish green puddle forming in one spot. I asked W if I could just throw the thing out. He said that was okay. I figured, even though it took us probably 3 hours to make the thing together, we could just do it again if we really wanted to. I took it out of the bowl and put it immediately into an old bread bag, tied it up and had it disposed of outside. Underneath the bowl was a slimy clearish green film that I had to wipe up (with an antibacterial wipe of course). It was disgusting! Lesson learned, and note to self: just use Plaster of Paris next time - don't always believe the internet.

E is also learning about cells. This is HER version of constructing a cell, a plant cell and an animal cell. The "chloroplasts" are suppose to be green grapes and not red - I messed up. But I think what saved me was me telling her, "pretend these are green". Ha ha! 

We had the chance to attend an event for Constitution Day with the author David Barton. It was great! I learned many new things. The most interesting thing to me was to learn that America is the only country in the world that has had only ONE constitution, and other countries that have had a constitution have had many, 10 or more. This is God's country for sure, those founding fathers created a solid and inspired country. May He protect it through the right choices of it's citizens.

W was the only child that came with us. His friend was the one who invited him and then we just tagged along. He actually listened the whole time and I was amazed. I know he paid attention because he remembered and picked up a lot more than I did. Ha ha.