Butterfly Morning Homeschool Meetup

So, I mentioned that I took over the organizer position of the homeschool meetup group I found? The first couple of Park Days were a bit of a flop, due to last-minute switching of the calendar days, and park locations being closed for repairs when we showed up. I was getting discouraged...and frazzled...and wondering if I shouldn't have taken this on.
See, it's not my typical thing. I'm an introvert. All the way, baby. Organizing group social activities, and leading them...well...frankly that's a prior nightmare prone to triggering panic attacks. But when I saw the notice that the group would be deleted if nobody stepped up soon, some part of me decided...I needed to do it.
Maybe I'm grasping at anything that will help us with homeschool success - because it's h-a-r-d folks, and I've been on the verge of quitting more times than I can count. I needed support, and like-minded families, and kids for my boys to play and learn with now and then. I needed opportunities for us to get out. I was willing to fight against my own challenges for it. I must be growing tremendously through this homeschool transition, because I jumped. I jumped IN, and said "I'll do it." Me.
Today I led my first big organized meetup. I may or may not have been a stressed out wreck preparing for it, and oh my word don't get me started on our butterfly habitat, which is what the whole event revolved around in the first place!? Let's just say - cats and insect habitats don't mix. Take note if you do a butterfly habitat at home! We really rooted for them...and then every time I turned around I'd find the thing upside down again.

The idea was for us to share the observation and release of our butterflies into the community gardens. Well, we messed up the butterflies, as I said, so I scrambled and pulled a bunch of things together to make up for it. I searched and gathered and printed and laminated and in the end we had the following:
1) Library Corner with a few insect and butterfly books from our local library. I already had these in our homeschool room on our library ledges.
2) Butterfly Life Cycle another library picture book, laminated photo/word cards, and laminated butterfly fact cards, with random interesting things... like for example, Did you know butterflies can't fly or eat unless their body temp is at least 86 degrees? Did you know there are hidden patterns on their wings that only other butterflies can see with their ultraviolet vision? Did you know there are over 24,000 species of butterflies? Did you know they feel, smell, and hear through their antennae? Nature is rad.

3) Take a Closer Look! laminated photo/word cards for parts of a butterfly, a cool Bugs book from the library, laminated cards of magnified butterfly photos, and a few laminated sets of actual butterfly wings, with magnifiers to look at them with.
4) Garden Sensory Bin last-minute, I decided to include our classroom sensory bin for little hands to be busy. Since we couldn't interfere with the real garden plots ; ) It has birdseed, fake flowers, mini pots, gloves, scoops & rakes, plastic bugs & butterflies and garden rocks. Everything except the bag of birdseed was purchased at the dollar store.
5) Very Hungry Caterpillar Felt Board Set Lastly, I made a set of felt board story pieces to go with one of our favorite books. I found the templates for free on this blog and used my felt stash. A few afternoons and it was done.

Our main activity was Butterfly Symmetry Art Instructions for this art project can be found here at Buggy and Buddy. I gotta say - I am a fan for painting with colored glue! Food coloring Elmer's folks. Brilliant.

After the first portion of this project, we had free time to mingle through the stations and gardens, while the artwork dried between stages one and two. While everyone was away from the tables, I quickly snapped pics of each butterfly, because it was fascinating and beautiful how they were each different!

Here are some photos of our friends enjoying the stations and gardens...

Then we joined up again to finish our Butterfly Art by painting the wings with watercolors. The kids had a great time doing this project, and it worked well for a span of ages, with a little grown-up assistance.

Do you know what? I had fear that nobody would show up, fear (from more than one past experience) that my own kids would sabotage it with difficult behavior rooted in anxiety (hello special needs), fear that it would flop...well, you can see for yourself that was not the case. We had a fantastic time! It came together and people participated and enjoyed themselves and learned and played and met new friends and ART was made! Meetup group success : )
Here's what *I* learned: You can do things. Even if, in the past, they were the absolute hardest things for you to do. Put yourself out there. Be brave and share your gifts - you may not be aware of the fact that they are gifts to be shared. The effort is worth it, my darlings. p.s. butterflies are pretty incredible
Thanks for taking a few minutes to read about my day. I'm not crafting. I'm not throwing themed parties. I'm not really blogging all that much. I'm homeschooling my posse...and taking this thing by the horns.