Three Petals Homeschool
A Little Wild Learning for Spring
New Wild Learner editions, tiny creatures worth noticing, and a gentle return to learning from the wild around us.
It’s been a little quiet around here.
Life has a funny way of filling the spaces we thought we would use for other things, and somewhere along the way, the blog grew still. But the learning didn’t.
We’ve still been homeschooling. Still reading books at the kitchen table, asking questions we don’t know the answers to, watching things crawl through the garden, and stopping whatever we’re doing because someone spotted something interesting outside.
And, slowly, I’ve been finding my way back to creating.
The Wild Learner Series has always grown out of the way we actually learn at home. A strange bug under a rock becomes a question. A bird in the yard becomes an afternoon of watching. A sound from the pond becomes something we suddenly need to identify.
The curriculum comes after the curiosity.
That has always been the heart of Wild Learners: taking the creatures children encounter—or might encounter if they slow down and look a little closer—and giving them an opportunity to know them better.
This spring, four new little corners of the natural world have joined the collection.
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Beneath the Garden Leaves
The Earwig Edition
Earwigs might not be the first creatures that come to mind when you think of a nature study, but that is exactly what makes them so interesting.
They’re strange. They have pincers. They hide in cool, dark corners of the garden. And they carry around the unfortunate reputation of crawling into people’s ears—which, thankfully, is only an old myth.
The Wild Learner Series: Earwig Edition takes a closer look at these misunderstood little insects, from their nocturnal habits and unusual folded wings to their exoskeletons, life cycle, and role in the garden ecosystem.
One of my favorite discoveries while creating this edition was learning how attentive female earwigs can be. They guard their eggs, clean them, and remain near their young after they hatch—behavior that feels surprisingly tender for an insect so often treated as something creepy or unwanted.
It’s exactly the kind of unexpected detail that can turn “Ew, a bug!” into “Wait… tell me more.”
The Little Rolling Garden Keeper
The Pill Bug Edition
Pill bugs might be my favorite Wild Learner yet.
They are tiny, familiar, and easy to overlook. Most of us have probably lifted a flowerpot or turned over a log and watched them scatter—or gently curl themselves into perfect little armored balls. But the more I learn about them, the harder it becomes to think of them as simple little garden bugs.
Pill bugs are actually crustaceans, relatives of creatures like crabs and shrimp, adapted to life on land. They breathe with specialized gill-like structures, depend on damp environments, and spend their lives quietly helping break down decaying plant material and return nutrients to the soil.
But what fascinates me most is their behavior.
Pill bug mothers carry and protect their young. Their babies develop in a special brood pouch on the mother’s underside, and after they emerge, the young may remain close together while they grow. Watching them makes it difficult not to wonder how much more is happening in their tiny world than we usually notice.
They explore. They react to unfamiliar surroundings. They seek safe spaces. They can appear curious, cautious, or fearful, and anyone who has spent time observing a group of them knows there is something surprisingly captivating about the way they move through and respond to their environment.
There is even research into play-like behavior in invertebrates more broadly, and observations of pill bugs can raise wonderful questions about curiosity, learning, stress, and just how much awareness we may overlook in very small animals.
The Wild Learner Series: Pill Bug Edition invites children to slow down and really look at these little garden neighbors—their unusual bodies, their life cycle, their role as decomposers, and the behaviors that make them far more interesting than their size might suggest.
Sometimes the wildest discoveries are hiding beneath a log.
Voices From the Pond
The Bullfrog Edition
From beneath the garden leaves, our next Wild Learner takes us to the pond.
The Wild Learner Series: Bullfrog Edition explores the American bullfrog and its life in and around freshwater habitats. Children can follow the bullfrog through its incredible transformation from egg to tadpole, froglet, and finally adult frog while learning about metamorphosis, gills, amphibians, vocal sacs, and more.
Bullfrogs are one of those animals children may discover with their ears before their eyes. That deep, booming call traveling across the water on a warm evening is an invitation to stop and listen—and maybe wonder who is making all that noise.
Their life cycle also gives children a chance to watch one of nature’s most dramatic transformations. A tadpole hardly resembles the frog it will eventually become, yet slowly it grows legs, develops lungs, loses its tail, and becomes an animal able to move between water and land.
Signs of Spring
The American Robin Edition
And then there is perhaps one of the most familiar signs of spring: the American robin.
After a long Michigan winter, there is something special about noticing robins hopping through the yard again.
The Wild Learner Series: American Robin Edition follows these familiar backyard birds from their beautiful blue eggs through the hatchling, nestling, and fledgling stages. Children can learn about nests, feathers, migration, habitats, and the lives of birds they may already be watching outside their own windows.
This edition feels especially close to what I want Wild Learners to be: a bridge between the page and the real world.
Learn about a robin.
Then go find one.
Listen to its song.
Watch how it moves through the grass.
Notice what it eats.
Look for a nest without disturbing it.
Learning doesn’t have to end when the worksheet does.
Shop the American Robin Edition →
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Learning From the Wild Around Us
Curiosity Comes First
Each Wild Learner packet combines nature and life science with elementary literacy skills, including informational reading, vocabulary, reading comprehension, proofreading, writing, life cycle exploration, and other activities.
They’re designed with multi-age homeschool families in mind because that is how we use them ourselves. Younger learners can work alongside older siblings, with activities that can be adapted depending on a child’s reading and writing abilities.
But more than anything, I hope these resources encourage kids to be curious.
Turn over the rock.
Listen near the pond.
Notice the bird in the yard.
Watch the tiny creature beneath the leaves.
What is that?
What is it doing?
Why?
Because sometimes an entire day of learning begins with something very small.
And after a quiet stretch here at Three Petals Homeschool, it feels fitting to return in the spring—with new things growing, new creatures to discover, and a few more reasons to head outside and see what we can find.
Explore the Wild Learner Series →
Happy wild learning. 🌿