of grateful praise

All in a homeschool day...

And, oh what a day it was!

The day began with energy. Loads of energy. Which culminated in "tickle fights" over and over and over again. My heart was anxious, awaiting that scream that would lead us to the emergency room. I don't know how God decided I would be the best match for 3 boys... but He did. I guess he figured I could somehow handle the craziness. Or, that it would be a great constant source of learning for me. But as the "tickle fights" got to be too much for this mama, I decided something had to be done. Oh, yeah... school. Ooops. The morning had passed, and we had yet to do any school work. I sat the boys down, hesitantly. I actually wanted to just leave the house and go for a run in the wild. But that couldn't be done at the moment. Please Lord, be with us now. I read out loud our poem for the month. And it began. A fascinating time of learning. Praise God.

Our Nature Study group learns one poem a month. The kids memorize it and recite it at our end of the month hike. This month, we are learning one of our friend's original works- "Butterflies are all around us, They surround us wherever we go. One lands on my finger, It feels as light as snow." Isn't it fabulous? {Way to go Luke! And thanks for sharing it with us.}

It is a perfect poem for us at the Naraki household, because our backyard is all a flutter with butterflies. After reading the poem, I pulled out this beautiful specimen which the Mr. found in our backyard. We took some time to study it's beauty. The boys were fascinated.

But wait! Turn it over to reveal even more wonder.

We then documented our discovery.

And I busted out my FAVORITE nature book. Aren't the illustrations amazing?

We found the Butterflies and Moths section and learned even more. Obviously science was being covered here. But also vocabulary as we learned the word- metamorphosis. And geography as we learned about the amazing migration of the Monarch's winding through the Rocky Mountains, making their way to California.

We also learned that the caterpillar molts, just like the grasshopper. And I remembered that Isaak's grandma rocked our homeschool world by finding a molted grasshopper in her garden and saved it for us. So out it came.

We read more and enjoyed the beautiful illustrations.

And then it was time for copywork. Which somehow turned into Isaak negotiating a candy corn for every perfectly formed letter e & s. Oh, the beauty of schooling at home!

We ended our school day by eating lunch with our eyes gazing upon our backyard. Our butterfly friends kept us entertained as we observed over a dozen fluttering in our midst. The boys even pointed out they had butterflies on their juice boxes! Oh, the delights of it all.