Life Cycle of a Butterfly- Our First "Official" Homeschool Preschool Science Project

This Spring, we have officially enrolled our 4 year old in home school preschool through
Seton Homeschooling!  Homeschooling, to us, is a mental state and a way of life.  Whether or not a child is sent to a public learning institution, their home should always be a place where they learn from the people who love them the most.

Our curriculum consists of Art & Music, Handwriting, Literacy, Mathematics, Physical Education, and Religion.  I am adding Science & History as well because my preschooler absolutely LOVES these subjects, especially science.

Everyday is a science experiment with these two boys, but we completed our first "official" project in our science journal yesterday- The Life Cycle of a Butterfly.  We caught several hungry caterpillars, watched them turn into a chrysalis one at a time, and waited patiently for 11 days.  Yesterday our first butterfly emerged- a beautiful Black Swallowtail Butterfly!  He was pretty sad when it flew away, but it's all a lesson in life.

A hungry caterpillar in it's second stage of it's life cycle.

Finally, the fourth stage- a butterfly!  So exciting!

Our Black Swallowtail Butterfly.  It's beautiful pattern is designed to keep away predators- looks like a large, scary bird from above!