March is Bug Madness

So, I may not understand basketball very well, but being married to a sports fanatic, I do know what March means in the college basketball world. It's March Madness! However March means something totally different our Homeschool world!  It's Bug Madness!

What's Bug Madness?  Well, every March, the kids and I do a study unit on...you guessed it, BUGS!  (aka insects)  We have such a fun time learning about all the parts of a bug and what makes a bug, well, a bug! Last year was our first year doing a study on bugs, and we had such a great time with it, that we're doing it again this year.

I have been sneaking bugs into our regular lesson plan to make the kids think they're playing games when they're really learning. Nothing wrong with that right?

The first day of March, I hid some bugs (fake ones) around the house and had the kids take their bug catching kits to catch these six legged creatures. After catching them, the kids had to examine them using their magnify glasses.  We then put them into groups like, which ones flew,  we had to sort them by color and sizes, and then graphed our findings.  We then had to read about what makes an insect an insect and see if what we caught qualified them as an insect.  If what we caught was indeed an insect, it went back into our bug case. If it wasn't an insect, we let it go back into the house. (I had some plastic bats, rats and other nice things that you want in your house...NOT!)

                                                         Minnie (me)  finds a bug on the blinds!

                                                    Super Boy finds one hanging out on the chair!


Once all the bugs were accounted for, we read a bug count down book. 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1..no more bugs! Woo hoo!  The kids had a blast counting the bugs and seeing how many different types there are!

I never really look forward to March, because I know what the theme of the month will be, but I am learning to like it more because the kids make it fun to learn about those little creatures that aren't mama's favorite. But there is a rule in our household.  "If there is a bug outside, leave it alone. If there is a bug inside the house, well, that bug made the wrong choice!"   I have been getting a little better though. Maybe because we don't get a lot of bugs in the house, but when one does sneak in, I try to be the better person and save it. (sorry but spiders have NO chance of survival in my house!)


So another fun way we get those little critters in our lesson plan is to make up games using bugs.  Minnie (me's) math missions was to read the number and put that many stickers by the number.  Super Boy had the same mission, but he just had to recognize the number- then do the same with the stickers.  This not only helps them with reading and recognizing numbers, but it's great for their small motor skills- getting those bug stickers off the paper.

  

Both kids really enjoyed the activity.  Minnie (me) is my perfectionist, so she would match the same type of bug, where Super Boy was more concerned about getting the correct number on the page.  My little love bugs are so funny!

Another favorite activity we enjoy is labeling the parts of an insect.  They can still tell you the parts of an ant from last year.  "An ant has three main parts. The head, the trunk and the metasoma."   They will also go more in detail..."The ant has feelers, pinchers, sharp claws, a stinger, a poison sac (which is located in the metasoma.")   They are bug pros!  A funny story about them is, the other day they were chasing each other around saying "I'm going to get you with my metasoma!" I just had to laugh out loud!  As long as they use their learning for good not evil right? (hopefully they were telling an invisible "bad guy" they were going to get them and not saying it to their sister/brother!)

So, today we were learning the parts of a butterfly!  They were really good at it and enjoyed a little workbook I put together for them. We had to take all we knew about insects and compare it to the parts of a butterfly. And you know what?  A butterfly is a insect!  We were playing little insect detectives! 

 

                                                                 Labeling our butterfly

                                                                      Minnie (me's) work.

                                                              Super Boy was a busy little bee.

So after our labeling was over, which is great for phonics and of course Science, we moved on to Math!  The kids got really excited when I did a bug twist to a game that we love to play to help us learn our math problems.  

So the kids had to fill in the colored areas with the right number of bugs. After both areas were filled, they had to slide those little bugs down into the last area and add it up!   It was fun to use bugs with our Math lesson.  They were really getting those addition problems done!

                                           Getting the bugs ready to figure out the answer.

Slide the bugs down to the answer area......

The answer!!!

We played this game over and over! We were buggin' out! Sorry, I  know that was bad!

Those  Dollar Store bugs sure came in handy today!  They will get even more usage since it's only the beginning of March! Now you can see why we call it "Bug Madness"! 

I got the adorable "Add It Up" game from confessionsofahomeschooler .

Learning Begins at Home

If you were to tell me five years, or more, ago that one day I would be homeschooling my children, I would have called you NUTS!  Why in the world would anyone want to do that??? 

I'm sure my first opinion on homeschooling was like many others out there. I thought only of the "bad" things I thought about homeschooling or the opinions of the world.   To be honest with y'all, I have NEVER even heard of homeschooling until I moved to Florida and was in a church where most of the parents chose this type of learning.  Thank the Lord one of my closest friends opened my mind to the whole idea. If she hadn't,  I would have never experienced the joys I've been having the last two years.

So why write about it? Easy, because I know that there are parents out there who are thinking how I once thought OR are wondering if homeschooling is for them. Maybe they need that key to open that closed mind. Now of course, whatever you decide is best for you child(ren) is your choice and I'm not saying homeschool is the only way to teach children or that it is for everyone. I am saying that maybe it's something you should think about and really pray about!

My reason for homeschooling is: right now it's what's best for my family.  DISCLAIMER: * I think this world is a mess and not getting any cleaner. What are "we the people" basing our faith and trust on these days? Not the right things I can tell you that!  Public schools WILL NOT get their hands on my kids. There's just no way!

Sure someone told me, "Well, you went to public school and you survived."  Well that was a choice that my parents made and it seems like schools are getting worse and worse as the years go by. I was never taught about gay history. (yep, in California that's a subject!)   And school bullies are out of control! I mean kids will be kids, but it seems like bullying has gotten out of control. My heart aches for the families of kids who took their own life because of a bully. I pray that one day it will stop. We are all made in God's image, so why do some think they are better than others? Differences make us special not weird and strange. And when did kids start bringing guns to school? Really???  I know I can't keep my kids in a bubble and they will be bullied at one time or another, believe me I've seen it happen to my kids at a place we like to go to because of the kids play area. But if I can keep them from having to deal with it everyday, you bet all the money in the world that's what I'm gonna do!  I just think public schools have just gotten a little out of control.  Parents NEED to be parents, not the schools. I could go on and on, but this is not a blog about bashing schools!  :)

I think that teaching my own children is so priceless, even on difficult days.  I get to watch them learn and I can monitor what goes into their precious growing minds. It's so rewarding to hear your child read their first word, to add their first addition problem and to ask questions that shows their minds are yearning to learn.

Being a mom and a teacher is a very tiring job, but it's the most rewarding job out there! It's a 24-hour-a-day, 365-days-a-year job. And if you're thinking you're not qualified to homeschool, let me ask you this, Are you a mom? Do you love your kids? Do you want the best for them? Well then, you can homeschool!!
I know you can! 

Teaching my children is my calling. I am called by God to be the mother of my children (1 Timothy 2:15) Keeping my home, including training my children and managing our family's resources, is a responsibility on which our testimony hangs. (Titus 2:3-5)  I do not take this lightly at all. I am not only concerned about test scores or concerned if they don't remember every date in history, I sure don't. I'm not going to stress on perfection. I am after a great goal: character, not acclaim, wisdom and understanding, not mere knowledge, work ethic, not riches; service, not popularity; godliness, not grades.

                                                          SuperBoy on the first day of school.


You won't get a paying paycheck, but what you get is worth more than millions! I am working for something much more valuable than a paycheck, a house, electronics, or social status.

I love being able to plan our day and add more activities than what's "expected" of my children. My kids are able to learn at their level and even learn more than they're suppose to. My son is not even suppose to be in school, yet he is almost done with Pre-K4. He even picks up some things from his older sister, who is in Kindergarten.  (and doing 1st grade math!)

                                                        Minnie (me) on the first day of school


This is only my second year of homeschooling, and it's been a been a wonderful learning experience....for the whole family.  <3

Oh- to answer the question of "Why would you want to homeschool?"  My answer is "Why wouldn't you want to homeschool?"