Yep our school was disrupted when I took a break to water the garden and was shocked by the remains of certain plants. So I went on a bug squishing spree which brought me to my tomatoes that were doing amazing. Of course on that day they looked half gone and with some more investigation I found these monsters. So our lesson switched from books to nature. Sadly I can't support all these guys. I still want some tomatoes.
(Ms. Nelson aka- Jill would be proud. She taught the life cycle of a butterfly when we were in Washington this summer. You should have been here.)
Something like Wild Cherry Sphinx (moth) Caterpillars
We believe these are Black Swallowtail (butterfly) caterpillars.
These guys liked my parsley and carrots. :(
So now for the funny twist. Monday night Avery had a friend over for our Family Night. So when we went outside to say goodnight I noticed a frog sitting in front of the Caterpillar cage. He looked like a little boy sitting in front of a Candy shop. So the whole family came out to see the toad. We thought it was so funny we took out a Caterpillar to see if that was indeed what he was staring at. We watched and watched and indeed he has one FAST tongue. So we tried it again and we still had a hard time seeing it. We all thought it was funny and figured 2 huge caterpillar was enough for the little guy and we went in. Well Tuesday night we had a late night missing item so I ran out to the van to look for it and was surprised to see Mr. Toad back to his spot sitting in front of the caterpillar door with his begging eyes and patient pose. So Avery and Payton weren't quiet asleep so I let them come back out and see him again. Again he helped us with our caterpillars population problem and we watched his hunting skills. He is very endearing and I had a laugh at Payton's new concern. "Mom what is going to happen to our new toad when we move?" We have been avoiding having a pet,(except for the short bunny incident) for these reasons. If I see him tonight I will try and snap a picture of our new friend.
3 comments:
oh, that is AWEsome! I love how you can peak their curiosity in the moment! SO COOL! And can research and look up the name of the insects, etc. Yayyy!! So how's the adventure of homeschooling going?? Oh, I wish we lived close so we could share kids!!! (And homeschooling??!!) Love you!
p.s. Picture of Ben with the jar is so sharp and a great snap!
Homeschool...wow, I'm impressed!
nature can be so fun for kids. I love the pictures by the way.
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