the world of insects

"Hello there, stomach-foot!"

I hated science as a kid when it was about a boring test book and a list of terms that I needed to memorize for a test. "In 1736, so-and-so discovered such-and-such and called it a thingamajig..." Science wasn't about exploring; it was about passing the test.

And now I love science. Hands-on learning makes a difference. Who wants to read about insects when you can chase them, catch them, keep them as pets, and name them? And when you watch a snail squirm in your hand, learning the fascination facts about it seems so much more pertinent to life. Did you know that snails and slugs are called a gastropods, which means "stomach foot?" At rest, slugs look like nothing more than a ball of snot, but when they move, they suddenly form distinct heads with antennae that can change size, stomachs, and tails.

Grossed out yet? Or are you fascinated?

Pet Bugs

This summer, bugs have been our science focus, and thus we have attempted to set up some bug houses, butterfly houses, and capture some bugs to be pets. We checked out some good books and found a few tools like a butterfly net, a butterfly house, and a plastic terrarium. Then we went exploring in our own back yard.

We found a caterpillar and identified it as a Black Swallowtail, and we put it in our terrarium with some fresh leaves and wooden branches. Within two days, it formed a chrysalis. I started taking pictures every few days, and we kept track of what happened every day.

That is, until I found a wooly bear caterpillar and added it to the bug house. We were very disappointed when the new caterpillar ate the chrysalis before the butterfly emerged. I guess the leaves were not fresh enough, and the little caterpillar got hungry. However, that is the cool thing about hands-on science. Even when an experiment goes awry, you still learn something.

M carries slugs and snails, and R and K search under bricks for pill bugs. R finds worms, and in her gentle four-year old voice, she tells me how cute her baby worm is. They are exploring, and they are learning. And when I wonder if I do enough with their schooling, M tells her grandmother interesting bug facts that most children don't know, listing all the different names of pill bugs, how many legs they have, and what they do to survive.

Pet Bugs and More Pet Bugs by Sally Kneidel
These two books contain information on finding, keeping, and caring for specific kinds of bugs as well as information on the bugs behavior in the wild. Each bug is given several pages of detailed information. Therefore, these two books would make great field guides as well as being a pet guide.

The Insect Book by Connie Zakowski
Designed specifically for younger children, this book focuses on caring for a pet bug. Therefore, one page is given to each bug, giving precise and easy information for finding and feeding the bugs.

Insect Resources
Bugs are Insects by Anne Rockwell
This is a picture story book, and although it is designed for young children, it contains so much information about insects that I was so impressed and learned so much. Beautiful art, well worded and interesting prose, and it kept my 5 year old entranced. A year later, she still remembers the differences between bugs and beetles.

Wormology by Michael Elsohn Ross

Sometimes, our girls call worms "snakes," and I got this book with the intention of helping them learn the difference. This book does more than tell you how to keep worms as pets; it also describes experiments that you can do with them.

Janice VanCleave's Play and Find Out About Bugs by Janice VanCleave
This is an entire book of hands-on bug experiments designed for young children, ages 4 to 7. As with anything Janice VanCleave produces, the experiments are very exciting and original. I have found that you can't find the science experiments she suggests in any other book.

Janice VanCleave's Insects and Spiders by Janice VanCleave
This is a more advanced book of hands-on experiments for older children. Many of these experiments could be used in science fairs.

Eyewitness: Butterfly and Moth video on DVD
We had a lot of fun with different kinds of bugs, but butterflies and moths took the starring role. My girls requested to watch this video daily, completely fascinated by the amount of information they received. Eyewitness does a great job combining history, art, science, and mythology in this video.

From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman
This book is the story of the life stages of a butterfly. Written as a simple narrative for young children, this book introduces science learning in a very easy to understand manner, using a story to teach science.

Insect Literature & Art
Studying insects spilled over into other areas of our learning, including literature and art. We have done more butterfly, ladybug, and other bug projects than I can even remember, including puppets, cutouts, drawings, mosaics, and paintings. And we have read Eric Carle's story books, bringing to life the worlds of bugs while still teaching something interesting.

Insects: Step by Step Instructions for 26 Creepy Crawlies by Diana Fisher
I discovered this book by accident while browsing a book store, and I am so glad I did. Designed for ages 6 and up, this book details careful instructions on drawing insects. I love the resulting pictures that my oldest daughter produced.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
This popular story book depicts caterpillars as they truly are: very hungry. My girls laugh at all the things the caterpillar eats as he prepares to make his chrysalis.

The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle
I never thought of ladybugs as grumpy, but this one sure is. He challenges everybody in order to prove that he is the strongest, but in the end, he decides that he would rather just eat his aphids in peace.

The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle
The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle
The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
What list of literature books about bugs would be complete without Charlotte's Web? I loved this book as a kid, and children today are still entranced by the barnyard story.

Fatigue

My husband has banned me from volunteering at church. Why? Because my life is full and there is nothing more I can add to it before I crumble into pieces. I am a full time working mom to 3 young kids and I home school. Enough said. On top of that, I am writing a novel, I try to help out around the house, I have a vegetable garden to provide fresh produce and to save money, and I take time out to spend with my husband. Yes, one more thing and I will tumble over.

I have recently learned that I have some kind of intolerance or allergy to something called gluten, which causes me a whole host of medical issues. Fatigue and depression are two of the biggest issues that have prevented my life from moving forward. No matter how much sleep I would get, it never seemed to be enough, and I would drag myself out of bed and stumble about the house. Saturday mornings were the worst because I did not have to force myself to go to work. The mental fog often chained me to the couch, and no matter how hard I tried I never seemed to catch my bearings.

Truthfully, I felt like a failure. I couldn't be supermom. I couldn't keep the house clean, do the homeschooling, go to work, and be ultra organized like my friends seemed to be. And we were always running late to church because I found it so hard to climb out of bed. That is, if we even made it at all. As the weeks passed, I fell further and further behind with everything. My husband began to think that the family had lost their importance to me because I had nothing left to give at the end of the day.

But in particular, homeschooling has been hit or miss lately because I just haven't had the energy or the patience. Sure, it's summer, but we are unschoolers, really. Unschoolers live learning, and life does not end just because the days grow longer and hotter. However, an unschooling parent has more work to do in research to prepare for lessons because they don't depend upon someone else's lesson plan. I have done so little preparation, and once September begins, I have no way excuses anymore.

I have been struggling with a steady weight gain since Christmas. Prior to that I was on WeightWatchers and had hit a year long plateau after losing 30 pounds after my 3rd child was born. I have just regained about 17 pounds of those 30, and nothing I did seemed to stop the steady gain. Sometimes plateaus are caused when you become lax with your familiar routine, so I started doing research, looking for a new diet plan, something to spice up my routine.

I discovered a book called UltraMetabolism that mentioned that some people have an intolerance to certain foods that react as toxins within the body, causing inflammation and weight gain. Hmm, it sounded very familiar. For years, I had been saying to my husband, "I feel toxic, like something is just wrong with me." So I tried his three week diet that cut out foods that could be triggers, like dairy and gluten.

I never knew how awful I felt until I knew what it was like to feel great. Suddenly I had boundless energy, and my husband, who had at first thought this was just another diet plan, turned his head to actually hear me giggling again or to see me running around with the kids at the end of a long day at work. And not just my husband, but other friends as well began to notice the change in me. Symptoms that I had never even noticed because they had become a part of my life went away. To me, it seemed like a miracle.

Then I did some research, trying to know more about gluten, what it is and how to avoid it. I learned about Celiac Disease and its symptoms, of which I seemed to have a plethora, and I learned about all the things one has to do to avoid gluten. Did you know that gluten is in makeup, toothpaste, medicine, vitamins, low-fat dairy (no wonder why I couldn't lose weight!), ketchup, mustard, salad dressing, and even Popsicles? Gluten comes from the Latin word, meaning "glue," and it is found in wheat, rye, and barley. When you mix water and flour, it is gluten that gives the dough its elasticity that helps it rise to make perfect bread, and because of gluten's doughy nature, it is used in everything processed to fill it out and give it texture.

According to the blood test, I do not have Celiac Disease, but the doctors informed me that the test is not always accurate. They wanted me to continue with further testing, but I would have to eat gluten for 3 weeks. Who wants to purposely poison themselves? I wanted to be about the business of getting well rather than wallowing in sickness. I already know gluten makes me sick, and I already know that I need to avoid it for the rest of my life. Do I really need to know whether it is an allergy, an intolerance, or something more sinister?

So here I am, slowly recovering, slowly learning what I can eat, and looking forward to a new school year with more energy, passion, patience, and joy than I had the year before.