I mentioned before in another post that we really enjoyed watching our painted lady larvae morph through the different stages and then we loved releasing the beautiful butterflies. My aunt and uncle gifted the kids with a kit that included 8 painted lady larvae. We fed them and took care of them, watched them created the chrysalises and then watched them come out of those as beautiful butterflies.
Well, we got to experience that again in another way. We have fennel in our front herb garden. Fennel happens to be a host plant for the Black swallowtail butterfly to lay their eggs on. So, we were fortunate to get to see the beautiful caterpillars devour that plant.
They started out so tiny!
They were just so pretty!
This guy enjoyed watching them as well!
But, when the caterpillar is ready to make its chrysalis, it goes far away from the fennel plant to find a different place the form its chrysalis. We found several around our property.
One began forming its chrysalis on one of our pomegranite plants.
Here is another one forming one on the side of our house.
Others continued to eat the plant and grow bigger and bigger and then made their way away from the plant.
Drew found one way around our home towards our backyard seeking a place to form its chrysalis. So, he helped it out by putting it near a plant. Sure enough, it made its chrysalis and we found it. So, a week or so after making the chrysalis, I pulled it from the tree and put it in our butterfly net. We watched it as it emerged and then got to release it. It may have been one of the most beautiful butterflies I have seen! It was just gorgeous with its black, blue, white and orange and its uniquely shaped wings. We released it together as a family.
But, I later found another butterfly that was far more beautiful than this black swallowtail. Her name is Abbey:
We had so many happenings in May that were homeschool-related that there really were too many to mention! Here are just some of the fun moments we experienced in May.
All of these kids love the Wild Kratts. So, we decided to visit the Austin Zoo one morning to see lots of animals in person that they had learned about through watching the Wild Kratts.
And, we even fed some of the animals while we were there.
Luke's end of year art project for his art class at his homeschool enrichment academy. The students had to select an artist that they learned about during the year, and create a work of art inspired by that particular artist. They also were required to provide a short biography on the artist.
This was Frank Stella's piece, Shoubeegi, from 1978, which was Luke's inspiration for his project.
Luke and Abbey also participate in a book club. All of the kids read the same book and then participate in a deep, group discussion about the book. The kids received tickets for answering questions and then used those to buy prizes. The kids love book club!
Luke's homeschool enrichment academy had an end of the year "share day" and a field day. It was a lot of fun to visit each class (he has music, character building, art, spanish, communications and P.E./health there) as a family and see what Luke has accomplished over the year.
Some of Luke's best buddies from the homeschool enrichment academy
Here is Luke sharing his Spanish family tree with all the parents at the end of the year "share day" for his homeschool enrichment academy.
Siblings got to attend field day too. Here is Abbey and her friend, Lauren.
The fire department was there and demonstrated their equipment, while also talking about fire safety.
Tug of war is a must on field day!
And, of course, the old fashioned sack race. Luke's second attempt was much better than his first.
(oops, he was a little eager to start. But, he almost caught up even after the fall!)
We also visited the Zilker Botanical Garden's woodland Faerie exhibit. Folks can sign up for a plot and create a little faerie home that is put on display for a certain period of time at the Garden. It was so much fun to see how creative they were.
There are lots of other things to explore there too!
This past year we have seen quite a bit of a progression in both Luke's and Abbey's reading skills. Abbey has had a great love for reading since she was a tiny baby. She decided early on that she wanted to read independently. So, at 3 years old, she began reading. Now, at just over 4 years old, she is reading really well. We are checking out Kindergarten and First grade level books at the library for her to read and she reads them with ease. Do I think Abbey is super smart for reading at a young age? Not necessarily. Abbey was just very interested in it and really wanted to learn, so I followed her lead and supplied her with books and some tools to learn. She pretty much learned all by herself though. Believe me--I am no expert reading teacher. I never spent time with her using flashcards, or drilling her on the sounds each letter makes. We have plenty of games and tools at home that she can use at her will with just a bit of guidance so she can learn on her own. We read together and I teach her "rules" of the English language as we go. Had she not been interested in learning, she would not be reading at the level she is currently, and I believe that is perfectly alright.
I firmly believe in child-led learning. For those who aren't familiar with "child-led learning" here is some information that explains the premise (from wisegeek.com):
This style hones in on the child’s interests and preferences in
selecting subjects to learn and methods for learning. In such learning
environments, children are not forced or coerced into learning.
Instead, parents work to follow the lead of their children, providing
support, resources, and instruction, in keeping with their children’s
wishes. The premise is that children learn best and rise to their full
potential when they are allowed to lead the way and explore subjects
when they feel ready. Proponents often state that traditional education
may actually dull a child’s interest in the world around him,
encouraging him to learn simply to pass tests. Once testing is over,
they assert, children forget much of what they learned because they were
not interested in the first place.
Of course, we also provide structure. And, I believe reading and math and many other subjects are very important, but we follow the kids' lead on when they are ready and interested and how they desire to learn. So far, this method of learning has been very successful for us.
When Luke was Abbey's age, he was not as passionate about reading. He was building very complicated lego sets. His attention span was so large, that he could sit for literally hours building things. He also loved puzzles and enjoyed piecing together puzzle after puzzle. He loved technology, robots and electronics. Because this is what he enjoyed, we provided him games and toys that were geared towards technology and building. His skill level in this area continued to grow and grow as he was given lots of time to "play" with these types of toys. Luke learned to read when he was her age, but he stayed at a very basic level of reading until he turned 5 and a half. He really didn't have a big interest in reading at all. And, that was alright. Then, when he realized that by reading he could look up lego sets on Amazon, he suddenly took up an interest in reading. So, at that point, we began a formal reading curriculum. We found a curriculum that he loved. He progressed rapidly this past year through our reading curriculum, Explode the Code. He is currently reading at a 3rd/4th grade level now and is enjoying checking out books at the library with characters and story lines that he enjoys and are at 3rd grade level and above. We are encouraging him to read more challenging books (using the five finger rule) so that he continues to progress. He is our perfectionist, and doesn't like to miss a word. When he was first learning to read, if he missed one word then he would think the book must just be too difficult for him. But, now, he realizes that when he reads more challenging books, his brain grows.
I love having both of the kids read to me now. It really is one of my most favorite parts of the day. We snuggle up on the couch. They read books they have selected and giggle as the funny stories unfold. The kids get to pick out books that THEY want to read and are within their reading level. We go to the library each week and select new ones. It is exciting to them to get to pick any book they want. (How awesome is the library?) So, to know that they are enjoying this special time as much as I am and it is not just a "school task" that I am requiring them to do makes me super happy. In homeschooling, one of my main goals is to provide an environment that encourages the kids to become passionate about learning, and be able to do so independently. So, to see them excited about their recent reading progression is really exciting to me!
Abbey loves reading so much, that she even reads to her stuffed animals.
They love to take turns reading books to each other. Here they are early one morning, bed head and all.
Just so I have documentation of Abbey reading, here is a video I took of her reading a book a month ago or so:
Abbey had her first Dance Recital on May 14! She loved every bit of it!! But, she will tell you her favorite part of the day was getting to wear makeup, Mimi and Papa watching her and getting the special post-recital gift from Mimi and Papa.
With Mimi and Papa waiting for the recital to begin.
And on the Monday following her dance recital, Abbey had her last dance class for the dance-season. During this class, they had group and individual photos and they got to play fun games.
Abbey loved dance and definitely wants to enroll again in the fall!
May was an extremely busy month for us. We had the culmination of many events, tons of activities scheduled and lots of projects due. AWANAs was just one of the many things that came to an end for the "school year". We love AWANA at our house. The kids look forward to each club night on Sundays from September to May. The kids memorized so many verses this past year, and I firmly believe these have been hidden in their hearts.
This past year, Luke was in the Kinder-2nd grade Sparks class, and Abbey was in the Cubbies class for 3-4 year olds. This was the first year for Luke in Sparks, and it was quite a big leap in the amount of memorization each week versus Cubbies. For example, one of the verses Luke memorized was John 3: 14-16:
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
It was tough, but he memorized every single set of verses in the book. He even had to recite all the books in the New testament one week.
Cubbies was one of the highlights of Abbey's week each week. In fact, she loved it so much that the recurring theme for her pretend play in her bedroom each day with all of her stuffed animals was re-enacting Cubbies club. Abbey was the Cubbies teacher and all of her students were the stuffed animals. It was adorable and heart-melting to hear her teach those stuffed animals about Jesus and help them recite their verses each week.
At the end of each AWANAs club semester, the kids got to go to the AWANA store and use their AWANA bucks to buy whatever prize they wanted. It was fun to see what the kids would select with those hard-earned bucks. This semester, Abbey selected some minion chapsticks in various colors. She told me that she selected those because she wanted to have lipstick just like me. She put that "lipstick" on every day "just like I do." After a few days of putting that "lipstick" on ALL day long, I told her I would let her have some "real" lipstick that has good ingredients in it in exchange for those minion chapsticks, She loved that idea and now she has her very own lipstick that she keeps in one of grandma's old purses (that is now hers).
On the last day of AWANA, the kids had an award ceremony. Each of them received certificates for completing everything in their books. They also sang a couple of songs and Abbey even recited a verse on stage.
