When homeschooling goes bad

It is with embarrassment and true mortification that I share with you my 'homeschooling gone bad' story. Sadly, I have no one to blame but myself for this because several of my non-homeschooling friends can now say, "I told you so."

So, here it is, the good, the bad and the ugly about homeschooling science.

I'm not sure when exactly I got the bright idea to raise mealworms as part of our life cycle study, but I did. I ordered them and was slightly nervous but excited when they arrived. We set up our mealworm display (sadly no pictures) and were off.

A few days later we bought geckos. Bonus! Not only could I teach the life cycle of a mealworm, but I could illustrate part of a food chain for my children and they could enjoy watching their geckos feast on the mealworms. Fair enough.

Later I discovered there was an actual mealworm shortage and I joked about keeping our experiment going and raising them for money! But I was only joking people.

Then one day the boys casually mentioned they saw a darkling beetle in their sisters bedroom on the 2nd floor.

No, that couldn't be true.
I ignored that.

Then one day they said they saw a darkling beetle in the hallway on the first floor.
No..... that couldn't be true.
It better not be true.
I ignored that.

Oh, did I mention I kept our mealworm experiment in a hall closet INSIDE my house? Oh yes, with a top that I made myself. A nice net and rubberband contraption that surely would hold the mealworms that are not supposed to be able to climb up the sides of the complete mealworm kit (with no lid) I bought.

So, one day I go in the closet to get some mealworms to feed the geckos and what do I see on the floor next to the mealworm bucket but a few mealworm sheds and a darkling beetle on its back (still alive)!

That I cannot ignore.
I scoop them up and toss the entire experiment (mealworm shortage be darned) into my trash outside.

No more mealworm experiments!
Whew, that was a close one, right?

So why am I still finding the odd Darkling Beetle inside my house almost three weeks later?

Looks like I better call an exterminator when we go out of town.
I am horrified to say the least.

I want to know what those suckers are eating since I had to faithfully cut potatoes and apple slices to keep them happy and fed. I don't have any laying around my house.

How are they still alive three weeks later? How many escaped?

And mostly, do I really want to know the answers to these questions?
I think not.

Somewhere an exterminator is going to be blogging about me.
I'm so not happy about that!
Shhhhh, Don't tell Big Daddy!