Raising painted lady butterflies is a simple, exciting special study opportunity for families. Here is our experience and some things we used to enrich our butterfly study.
This past 2023-2024 school year was our first year of Classical Charlotte Mason formal lessons. I am very green in my educational philosophy and homeschooling experience.
With a 6, 5, 3, and 1 year old, along with being a first generation homeschooler, the learning curve has been steep. As I have dug more into Classical Charlotte Mason philosophy, this has been such a delightful pursuit in our home and homeschool.
Charlotte Mason talks about special study and object lessons for young children.
A Child Learns from Books + Things
“We older people, partly because of our maturer intellect, partly because of our defective education, get most of our knowledge through the medium of words. We set the child to learn in the same way, and find him dull and slow. Why? Because it is only with a few words in common use that he associates a definite meaning; all the rest are no more to him than the vocables of a foreign tongue. But set him face to face with a thing and he is twenty times as quick as you are in knowing all about it; knowledge of things flies to the mind of a child as steel filings to a magnet.” -Home Education pg. 67
Children learn better from things. Especially young children. I could’ve checked out every book from the library about butterflies and metamorphosis but watching the pure wonder of giving my children the thing alongside our books far surpassed what could be provided in the pages of a book alone.
What is special study?
Special study is an extension of nature study. The study and observations of a certain thing. This can be done in your backyard, on nature walks or brought into your home like we have done with raising butterflies.
“They learn what to observe, and make discoveries for themselves, original so far as they are concerned. They are put in the right attitude of mind for scientific observations and deductions, and their keen interest is awakened. We are extremely careful not to burden the verbal memory with scientific nomenclature. Children learn of pollen, antennae, and what not, incidentally, when the thing is present and they require a name for it. The children who are curious about it, and they only, should have the opportunity of seeing with the microscope any minute wonder of structure that has come up in their reading or their walks.” -School Education pg. 238
What is an object lesson?
An object lesson is a short 5-10 minute lesson of bringing a child’s attention to a specific thing. Charlotte Mason cautions the mother about not doing this too often and not coming across as the ‘showman of the universe’, but perhaps once a week, coming alongside her children in observing God’s world in this more direct way.
On the nature walk I may point out a certain flower and share a fun observation or memory I have as a child that has to do with the flower. Not too many words but just an inspiring idea to leave the children with and possibly peak a sense of wonder about the object of observation in their minds.
Raising Butterflies
As we received our cup of caterpillars from Insect Lore for our term 3 Special Study, my main goal for this project was for my children to observe. I did not want to be the showman of the universe during this process. I simply wanted to watch their wonder, provide some supplemental guides and delight with them in one of the miracles of God’s world- watching a caterpillar turn into a butterfly.
Where to order butterflies
We ordered our caterpillars for painted lady butterflies from Insect Lore. Within a few days we had our cup of caterpillars right at our doorstep with all the supplies we needed in a butterfly garden kit. They make the process very simple, fairly hands-off and straight forward.
Supplements we used for Raising Butterflies
(these are not affiliate links- I don’t receive anything from these, just sharing what we have used and love!)
- Insect Life by Arabella Buckley
- Handbook of Nature Study by Comstock
- Butterflies, Dover coloring book
- Nature Notebooks
- Watercolor paints
- Watercolor brush
- The Secret Life of Butterflies picture book
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar board book for my littles
There are probably a plethora of other resources we could have used but I think less is really more with young children. Setting out these supplements for afternoon occupations on our dining table provided a fun way for my children to engage with their ideas. These were fun aids as they experienced watching our cup of caterpillars turn into butterflies.
The process of raising butterflies
The process of raising these little butterflies was very simple. I probably would not have invited insects into my house if it was more complicated.
We set our little cup of caterpillars up on the shelf out of reach of toddlers and babies. Each morning I would set the cup on the table for my children to make observations. I tried very hard not to interfere with this process and allow them to organically narrate their findings to me. Hearing what each of them observed was way more fun than me trying to point out my own observations. They were making the connections. They were truly learning.
After about 3 weeks the caterpillars were all in their chrysalis.
Next, we transferred them to their butterfly garden and waited.
This took about another week before they started opening. Very fun to watch!
Then, after they were all opened we kept them in the butterfly garden for a few days, feeding them a piece of fresh fruit daily.
After we were done observing, we released them in the backyard.
This special study is definitely one I would save for Spring and Summer if you are in a climate that is cold during the Fall and Winter. I think we were right at the start of Spring weather being acceptable to release butterflies.
They flew away and we never saw them again but my children have so much to share about this experience.
Would we do it again?
Would we raise butterflies in our homeschool again? Probably. Since my little two are 3 and 1, I’m not sure how much my 3 year old will remember. I also want my 1 year old to have the same opportunity when she is older. The process is honestly so simple that it’s hard to find an excuse not to try it in our homeschool.
Did I get grossed out? 100%. I could not wait for the caterpillars to be in their chrysalis and to throw away the nasty cup a few weeks in. I am not an insect person by any stretch of the imagination. But I tried not to show this…for the children’s sake.
The wonder that came from this special study was delightful to experience. From observing the fragility of a butterfly and the amazing phenomena of metamorphisis. Appreciating God’s world as we had the opportunity to watch a miracle right before our eyes? That was worth it and I would do it again when my littlest students are a older.
Have you tried raising butterflies? Let me know how your experience was in the comments below!
I share more about our homeschool hits and misses in this video down below!
Until next time!
Amanda
