Homeschoolers on TV

Two great video segments related to homeschooling from the Glenn Beck show this past week. The first one is long, it's an entire show. The second one is only seven or so minutes. BOTH are well worth the time to watch.

Tick Tock...Day 3

Parsley has changed a little these past few days. Instead of being a pretty green chrysalis, he's now brown. Not as pretty, but we'll take it! 

It's been 3 days, and we're not sure how many we'll have to wait to see him as a butterfly.The books we've read say Monarch butterflies take about 10 days to emerge, so maybe it's the same for Swallowtails.

So until then...we're reading books about butterflies and learning all we can about them. Here's hoping we see a beautiful butterfly in a week!

Gettin' Gassy - the GOOD Kind of Gas!

Right now, our science studies consist of making things happen through experiments. What' better than changing color, blowing things up, and other things like that?

So here's what we did on Friday...

We used one glass bottle, put about 1/2 cup of vinegar inside, filled a balloon halfway with baking soda and attached it to the bottle.

As we lifted the balloon, the baking soda dropped into the bottle and the resulting gas blew up the balloon!

So what happened? The vinegar reacted with the baking soda creating a carbon dioxide gas. The gas inflated the balloon.


It was a quick reaction and the kids definitely loved it!

S is For...Skeletons!

While I was at class one night last week, I gave the kids and Ric a job to do...make skeletons!

Armed with just  a picture, Dad drew the bones on the paper plates, and the kids started cutting.

And cutting...

 And cutting!

(And cutting some more...)

It took a while, but finally, they were able to lay out their skeleton on the floor! YAY!

We might be missing a "few" bones, but not too shabby, huh?

The next day was assembly day. We punched the holes and tied all the bones together

All strung up...and nowhere to go!

All the COOL stuff happens at night!

Once again, we wake up to change. (Not the kind that the world is hoping for right now....but good change nonetheless! heh)

Parsley decided that he didn't need his skin anymore. He shed it and emerged as a pretty green chrysalis! See the little horns?

You can really see the silk harness he created in this picture.

This picture shows his discarded skin.

Now we just wait...not sure how long, but we'll wait!

(I can't believe how PERFECT this little guy has been for us as a learning experience!)

What a Difference a Day Makes!

Since the container where Parsley was living was just a small plastic jar, we picked up something larger...just in time for him to roam around and check things out.

He took a look at every inch of the new branches we gave him, but didn't touch the parsley for some reason.

 Hmmm....maybe this one?

This morning, we found out why he wasn't eating! He was all DONE eating!

Overnight, he  went back to his original stick and attached himself with silk to it. He's getting ready to create his chrysalis!

We've learned that caterpillars will attach their tails first with a blob of silk, then they swing back and forth to create a silk harness around the top part of their bodies.

If you look closely, you can see the silk harness in this picture. It's almost perpendicular to the branch going from his nose to his back.

He doesn't move much at all right now, and this next part is supposed to take a couple of days, but we'll be watching!

Introducing... Parsley

Peek A Boo! Photo Taken 10.12.11

Ryan adopted this little guy, and named him Parsley. Can you guess where he was found? Yep, hanging out in the pot of parsley that we still have growing.

As soon as we put him into a jar, we started looking to see exactly what kind of caterpillar he is.

Funny thing though, we found out that he's not native to the North East at all! Somehow he got lost! It's especially curious because it's October! At first, I thought that maybe there was something wrong with him because he's such a slow mover, but he definitely moves around and has grown every day!

Photo Taken 10.12.11

He is an Anise Swallowtail caterpillar. He is a HUNGRY Anise Swallowtail! So far, he's eaten ALL the parsley we put into his jar every day...and left a lot of little "poops" (called Frass) too!

Photo Taken 10.13.11

According to what we've read, he will grow to about 5 cm before he turns himself into a chrysalis.

Photo Taken 10.14.11

In just a few days, he's changed quite a bit. We can almost see him growing in front of us!

Nom nom nom... Photo Taken 10.14.11

We'll continue to document this little guy's interesting life for you, but until then, check out this website that shows the whole life cycle and humorous adventures of their Anise Swallowtails.