Hi, my name is Dana.

[Dana]

Hi!  I'm so glad I found this forum.  It's already been a huge help.  I just got my first mantis ever yesterday from a friend's yard.  I've been searching for one for weeks, and thankfully she found one and let me have him/her.  I'm a homeschooling mom, and this experience is meant to be part of science for us.  It's also just plain fun, really.  I've got two kids, ages 4 and 6, and I've been working on increasing our love of bugs/insects/the like for the past year.  I'm excited about the experience with our mantis.  I've got questions but I'll post them in the appropriate areas.

 

[Serle]

Greetings   -  Day-na or Dan-a  & welcome.......... S

 

[CosbyArt]

Hello Dana and welcome to the forum

A great classroom activity that will open doors to many other things. I know that mantids have for me in many ways. If you post or link to some photos of your new pet we can help identify the species and gender.

 

[Rick]

Welcome

 

[kitkat39]

Hiiiiiiiiii Dana

 

[Kermit]

Dana! Welcome...

 

[Zeppy44]

Heyas and welcome. Let us know when recess starts to include plastic bug jars, LOL.   Seems a few home school moms are doing the same with mantis. Fantastic.

 

[Ocelotbren]

Welcome, I'm sure you'll find the answers to all your questions here.

 

[Teamonger]

Welcome!

I love every time I hear about teachers, home school or otherwise, using mantises to foster a love and interest in insects in children. Insects are so misunderstood and generally hated by so many anything we can do to educate the next generation is amazing. I used to be terrified of insects when I was a kid til my uncle took me out and showed me they were harmless and really neat. He bought me bug catching gear for my birthday and from then on I was hooked!

 

[Ocelotbren]

Welcome!

I love every time I hear about teachers, home school or otherwise, using mantises to foster a love and interest in insects in children. Insects are so misunderstood and generally hated by so many anything we can do to educate the next generation is amazing. I used to be terrified of insects when I was a kid til my uncle took me out and showed me they were harmless and really neat. He bought me bug catching gear for my birthday and from then on I was hooked!

That is awesome that your uncle did that.

 

[Teamonger]

@Ocelotbren My mother (who is not so enthusiastic) still blames him for the fact I now have a Bug Room ;P

 

[Ocelotbren]

@Teamonger Haha, sounds like she should've joined you guys on your bug exploration!

 

[Sarah K]

Welcome! I am so excited thatyou are using them for educational purposes! I wish one of my teachers had decided to bring a mantis into the classroom when I was still in school, but then again, if they had, this obsession probably would have started even sooner for me.  

 

[Dana]

Greetings   -  Day-na or Dan-a  & welcome.......... S

Thank you!  Mine is Day-na.  lol  

 

[Dana]

Welcome!

I love every time I hear about teachers, home school or otherwise, using mantises to foster a love and interest in insects in children. Insects are so misunderstood and generally hated by so many anything we can do to educate the next generation is amazing. I used to be terrified of insects when I was a kid til my uncle took me out and showed me they were harmless and really neat. He bought me bug catching gear for my birthday and from then on I was hooked!

Thank you!  A year ago I started to gain interest in bugs - mainly for my kids' sake.  It's quickly turned into my own hobby that I am hoping will be passed on to my children.  So far, so good.  Sometimes they look at me like I'm crazy, but most of the time they see the value in the things I research and find out for us.  One example is there was a huge "bee" on our screened-in porch this afternoon.  We all wanted to run for the hills.  I posted it to the entomology group on Facebook and low and behold it's a tiger bee fly that doesn't even sting.  Nothing to be afraid of!  Bugs and the like are terribly misunderstood and misrepresented (especially in social media).  I'm fascinated by them now!

My sister-in-law who is a kindergarten teacher at a public school just today commented that she'd love me to come in and speak to her class.  Surely I'm not an expert and hardly even qualified, but I'm totally going to go.  Hopefully it'll be when Jade (my used-to-be male mantis named Kristoff, recently discovered is actually a female...) is still with us and well and I can bring her for all to peek at!  If not, I'm sure I can catch some other specimens to show off!  Speaking of bug containers...I'm going to need to get more of those.

 

[CosbyArt]

@Dana Sounds like your well on your way sharing your interest in "bugs" to all around you. Incidentally I've never heard of or seen a tiger bee fly in my state, I'll have to look that up. Have fun in the classroom.