Every morning last spring my little man bounced from one toy to the next; looking for something to take his full attention to. When he couldn’t find something to challenge him, he would come to me. Toys strewn across the house and a toddler at my heel I was at a lost. I talked to family and friends and we realized: Z was ready for preschool.

I thought it was crazy; he wasn’t even two! But he needed structured focused activities and my attention in the mornings.

I had never planned on doing any form homeschooling so I was unprepared. I shared all this with a friend of mine who home schools her two boys, their youngest just a few months older than Z. She offered for us to join them once a week for preschool activities. I was relieved.

One day a week the boys get together to do experiential learning activities based on a monthly theme. Z and I were able to join in for one unit last spring on bugs.

They dug through slime with their hands to find bugs. Slapped the correct chalk letter bugs with a flyswatter. They did bug scavenger hunts outside and caught caterpillars.

They learned about the different parts of bugs on coloring sheets and made bugs with tissue paper, pipe cleaners, and googly eyes. They even made ladybug cracker snacks.

On the other mornings, Z and I would read books about bugs. Play with plastic bugs by putting them in play dough, tracing them, hiding them around the house and finding them. (There were a few times I got scared by a usually large spider when cleaning at the end of the day).

I also drew different bugs in chalk outside and we marched like ants, buzzed like bees, flew like butterflies and zig zagged like fireflies.

Z loved every moment of it. And I was grateful that he was no longer calling every bug “bee!

What is your relationship with bugs? Love them . . .hate them? Or are you the “you say away from me I’ll stay away from you” type?