Delighting in the Days....

Jun. 19, 2008 - Honey Ants

Honey Ants Gather Honey Dew Secreted by Aphids the Ants Farm Photographic Print
Grall, George
Buy at AllPosters.com

One of the best things about homeschooling is learning right along with my children. This week we have all been intrigued by honey ants. Have you heard of them? They are amazing! God certainly created some amazing creatures.

We first read about them is this book (which we love):

Christian Liberty Nature Reader Book 1 (Christian Liberty Nature Readers)

The ants store honey in their body to help sustain the colony during times when food is scarce. They are like living honey pots! Their abdomens stretch out and become quite large.

The other neat thing about honey ants is that they have "pet" aphids. They tickle the back of aphids to get then to release a sweet substance called honeydew. The ants then take it and feed it to the repletes(the ants which store the sweet stuff).

This is where I just love having the internet. We googled "honey ant" and found some great photographs and videos.

To see a gallery of honey ant images click here

Here is great video we really enjoyed. It shows honey ants harvesting honeydew from aphids!

Here is another great video:

Last of all I want to share a few pictures my daughter drew of honey ants:

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May. 20, 2008 - Wordless Wednesday - Butterfly

Posted in Nature Study

See our other butterfly photos here and here

Visit other Wordless Wednesday participants here
or visit the Wordless Wednesday Headquarters here.

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May. 19, 2008 - Butterfly Wish Granted!

Posted in Nature Study

A few days ago I posted about our butterflies. At that point we still had one left and we hoped to see it emerge from it’s chrysalis (we missed the other three).

On Saturday we left the video camera on while we went to the Farmers Market in case it should decide to come out while we were away. It didn’t.

Just as I was rewinding the video tape my daughter yelled, "There it is!" I missed it again, but she saw it!

Here is a picture of the butterfly right after it emerged. Sorry the quality is not great, but you can see the wings all curled up.

Today my daughter’s second wish was granted. She really hoped one would get on her finger and she could let it fly away. It did. Here is a picture:

She was thrilled.

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May. 16, 2008 - Rearing Butterflies

Posted in Nature Study

We have had so much fun with our butterflies. It is definitely something we will want to do again.

I am hoping we will find a caterpillar or two in our yard sometime.

For future reference I wanted to post a few links about rearing butterflies at home:

http://www.rearing-butterflies.com/

http://insected.arizona.edu/bflyrear.htm

Clip art from http://butterflywebsite.com

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May. 16, 2008 - We have Butterflies!

Posted in Nature Study

For this week’s Show and Tell I want to introduce you to our Painted Lady Butterflies.

A few weeks ago we received some caterpillars in the mail! They were tiny. They came is this container which had all their food in it.

I hate to think of the kind of roller coaster ride they had getting here! We ordered them from Insectlore.com

Of course you could find your own caterpillars in the garden - we have never seen any though. If you do, I’ve read that you should put them in a jar along with whatever plant you found them on.

We had a lot of fun watching them for a week or so. I had no idea caterpillars made so much silk!

After a while they crawled to the top and hung upside down in a "J" shape.

Not long after that there were 4 chrysalis hanging down! Here is a picture of one:

We moved them to a big mesh cage and waited.....

On Monday we went to the store...when we came home there was a butterfly! We put a flower in there and sprinkled some sugar water around. It was really exciting to watch the butterfly uncurl it’s proboscis and drink. My daughter named this one Sweet Love.

Two days later, we could see that the other chrysalides were looking darker. We knew they would come out soon and kept a close eye on them. We set them aside to make lunch and when we looked again (5 minutes later) there were two more butterflies!!!! We missed it again! But it was close enough that one of the butterfly's wings were still curled up. SugarBean named these two Orange Love and High-O. Orange Love was very protective of the orange slice we put in the cage. And High-O likes to go up high.

There is one more. We would really love to see it come out.

We will be letting them go soon. SugarBean plans to put her hand in and is hoping one will get on her finger so she can bring it out and let it go.

Here a few fun butterfly links for you to check out:

All About Painted Lady Butterflies

Life of a Monarch Butterfly

Life of a Monarch Butterfly

Butterflies and Moths

Please visit Canadagirl for more show and tell.

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Aug. 23, 2006 - Hummingbird Moth

Posted in Nature Study

Look what we had in our yard:

It's a hummingbird moth. I have never seen one! There were four of them at these flowers!

Here is a close up look:

If you want more information you can go to www.hummingbirdmoth.com

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Jun. 21, 2006 - Our Bluejay

Posted in Nature Study

While on vacation at Gramma and Grandpa’s house we have made friends with a Bluejay. Every day he flies into the backyard and we run to get some nuts for him. Sometimes he cracks the nuts and eats them, other times he buries them in the ground.

It has been great fun to observe our bird up close. He lets us get just inches away. It has been even more fun to see the curiosity and wonder shine through the eyes of my children at each of his visits.

After a little searching we believe he is called a Scrubjay.

One morning my daughter went out into the backyard without me. I heard her talking to someone and rushed to see who it was...she wasn’t talking with a person but with our bluejay. A most animated conversation it was...she told him that she did not have any nuts yet but she would go and ask her mommy for some! How sweet.

We have played outside a lot during this vacation. The kids have spent much time digging in the dirt and discovering new bugs and such. We are enjoying sunshine and fresh air.

This experience has confirmed the importance of including Nature Study in our children’s eductaion. Charlotte Mason was really onto something. It is wonderful to see my kids delight in God’s magnificent creation. It is also fun for me to feel excitement as I see and learn more about the world God has made.

To top it all off - my son, who is 21 months old, found a beetle yesterday (which he calls a "beekle")...when I asked him "Who made the beetle?" He replied, "GOD DID!". What a blessing to hear those words from his lips.

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About Me

I am an Australian married to an American, currently living in the U.S.A. Join me as I strive to delight in the moments that make up our days and aim to have a happy family that loves God and serves others.