Bird Feeder Visitors (just a few)

Not sure. Can't find anything similar in our bird book.

Carolina Chickadee

Downy Woodpecker

Cardinal and Carolina Chickadee

Bird Study, homeschool extras

A few months ago, we went on a field trip to the zoo. We attended a short introductory bird class. Then we were given binoculars and some time to observe the birds in the aviary.

Even Gabe got to try his hand at using the binoculars. :)

 After the field trip to the zoo, we began our study on birds. As part of our homeschool curriculum, we studied some of the state birds. I wanted Olivia to learn more about birds so we began to study them more in depth. We joined another family once a week and began putting together a lapbook to display what we were learning.

Here is Olivia's lapbook. She tells me that is a picture of her holding a bird. :) And, as you may have guessed, that is a lifecycle picture there on the front cover. We also looked closely at an egg and talked a little about reproduction.

On the left, is the the bird classification. Olivia wanted to study Hummingbirds specifically so her classification is of a hummingbird. The minibooks below that are of bird beaks and feet. We talked about their diets in that lesson as well. The bird report is her specific study of hummingbirds. We found a cool book of poems written by a family that had a hummingbird make a nest on their porch and observed its behavior. On the right are bird poems and songs. I was teaching to a group of 8 kids, ranging from Ezra, 4months at the start, to a 10 year old. It was a learning experience, to say the least, teaching to multiple ages.

The two minibooks on this page are about birdwatching. We learned what you need to be a birder, supplies (notepad, guide, etc) and behavior (sitting still and quiet). Olivia also recorded some of her observations from watching the bird feeder in our backyard. The best time to watch is in the mornings. We plan to do lots more birdwatching once warmer weather returns. Stay tuned for pictures of some of our common visitors tomorrow. The pictures at the top right were part of our discussion on aerodynamics and flight.

Here are our minibooks on the Ostrich and the Bee Hummingbird. The top right shows some types of bird feathers and functions. The minibook at the bottom is were she recorded what she learned about the differences in males and females.

The book at the top is a story that she read and then identified the parts of the bird. The flap book at the bottom contains our bible verse. Matthew 6:26 (although you should read verse 25-34) We don't need to worry. God is our provider and he knows our needs. We can trust him.

Here is a lapbook I made for Gabe. We read Feathers for Lunch by Lois Ehlert so that is where many of his activities come from. He is learning to identify his letters and even knows some sounds. So here we are reinforcing Bb. Then he has his copy of the bible verse. A child is never too young to begin instilling the truth of God's word in his heart.

There are minibooks covering counting, colors, and positions. The bird in the nest comes out and can be moved around. The game on the bottom left was used for colors and matching like birds (there are two of each).

Here are Gabe's copies of the poems and songs on the back of his book. Gabe just loves music, rhymes, and fingerplays

We made birds nest from chow mein noodles, shredded wheat, and melted peanut butter and chocolate. The eggs are jelly beans. We were talking about Robins that day so that is why we have blue eggs.

Here is our second nest. This day we played a game. The kids made bird masks (sorry, no pictures) and then had a meal of seeds, nuts, and dried fruit. They then had to go outside and gather materials to build a nest. (I planted fake grass and sticks around and we used the pb/chocolate "mud" again) Then they used playdough to make eggs for their nests. Then they received a bird. I believe Olivia made some worms for her bird to eat or feed her babies. Also, if you are wondering about the big leaf...It is providing shade to the bird as she sits on her eggs. :)

Here is Olivia doing some bird watching. We made fake binoculars out of paper towel tubes. While they don't actually work like binoculars, they do help her to focus on an area. She has a very hard time sitting still for long as you may well imagine. She will be getting a real pair of binoculars soon and we will be doing more bird watching when the weather warms up a little. Olivia's favorite, as I mentioned, are hummingbirds. We put a hummingbird feeder in the backyard but it was not very popular unfortunately. We are hoping for better success in the spring.

The Nutcracker, homeschool extras

We have been studying Tchaikovsky for the last 10 weeks or so of our homeschool curriculum. We started learning about his life and then began listening some of the music from his Nutcracker score. It was lots of fun. We marched with the toy soldiers, ate chocolate chips when we listened to the Spanish Hot Chocolate Dance, and drank tea when we listened to the Chinese Tea Dance. We read books, colored pictures, and watched the ballet on DVD.

Olivia watched a DVD of the Nutcracker Ballet. Her assignment was to pay attention to detail and remember it so that she could then draw a scene from the ballet afterward. She chose the Waltz of the Snowflakes. 

For an early Christmas present, Olivia received a new dress with ballerinas, a miniature nutcracker, and the news that she and I would be going to see the Nutcracker ballet. Olivia was more than excited! :)

We went to the Carolina theater to see the ballet. It was a cold, windy  and rainy afternoon but we had a great time. The characters from Act 1 of the ballet were mingling in the lobby as we came in. The butler had a tray of gingersnaps that he was handing out. It was so much fun. And what a great theater! Olivia and I had seats in the front row of the mezzanine so we had a great view looking down on the stage.

Olivia loved the Nutcracker prince of course. She liked Clara's pink dress at the party in Act 1. She also said that the Russian Candy Cane dancers were her favorite. They had red and white striped tutus in the classic style. She also liked the Pas de Deux with Sugar Plum Fairy.

Thanksgiving 2010--a little late

Dad with Olivia and Gabe. Any time my dad is around, the kids just run to him. They absolutely adore him!

Dad with Gabe, Mom taking a picture :)

My grandfather with Ezra and Gabe. Playing with trucks of course!



Greeting Grandpa as he came in the door.

Playing Kerplunk with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa and Gabe were on a team together. Being that Gabe didn't get strategy at all much less waiting for his turn very well, Grandpa and Gabe lost every time. :)



Grandpa and Gabe again. They love each other for sure!

Christmas Tree

First Snow

We got our first snow of the season yesterday, so JR took Olivia and Gabe out to play. 

 Olivia kept trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue.

Gabe just thought the snow was cold on his hands. He did like running around in it, though.

Creation Lapbook

We started a creation lapbook. We learned the story of creation and what was created on each day. We talked about how God created living and nonliving things, making a list of those. We also talked about cells. We have been learning the continents and oceans so I included that in this lapbook. I incorporated some of our memory work from Classical Conversations last year. We classified animals and will review plants soon.

Our Latest Homeschool Adventures

 We have continued our trip through American History. We are now also doing some geography by going through each of the states. Olivia has a notebook that she add pages to each time we talk about an event, person, or state. We also have a timeline hanging on our wall that she adds to. We have covered the first 17 states. We try to enjoy something specific to a state when we study it, like we made peach cobbler when we talked about Georgia, and enjoyed maple syrup on ice cream when we talked about Vermont. For each state she writes the abbreviation, the capital, and colors in the bird and flower. We also find that state on the larger US map in our notebook. She places a flag sticker on the page as well. We learned about the Statue of Liberty when we covered NY. As we trek west through KY, TN, and OH, we have learned about Daniel Boone, Eli Whitney, and Johnny Appleseed. We have also talked some about how the pioneers made their clothing (not going to the local store but making it by hand) and also what their schools would have looked like and how they would have learned to read and such.

We just finished reading Farmer Boy as our read aloud. Olivia was a huge fan of the book. She was sad when it was over. We are going to start Betsy's River Adventure which is set in 1808 and talks about a girls journey westward on the Ohio River.

Our current names for Jesus have been the Way, Immanuel (God with Us), and the Lamb of God. It is so neat how God reveals himself through all these names in the Bible. He is a God that knows us and is able to meet our needs.

We have done some further reading about birds as we talk about each state's bird. We have been watching our bird feeders closely and trying to identify the birds that come into our backyard. We have also been joining some friends to put together a bird lapbook as we learn about them more. We are also learning about birdwatching. Olivia has chosen hummingbirds as her favorite bird so we got some books and have learned more about them specifically. We tried to put out a hummingbird feeder but were only somewhat successful in attracting them. Of course, now it is getting too cold but hopefully in the spring we will have more success. Pictures and more information on the bird study to follow at a later time as we are still working on our lapbooks. :) Also for science we talked about weather and made a weather vane to determine which direction the wind is blowing. We also are learning about how to tell direction and approximate time of day by the position of the sun. We did some experiments to check out how warm air expands and rises and cold air shrinks.

Some recent artwork:

She learned how to draw stars. (Those are feet sticking out of the tent!)

Contour Drawing - Not an easy task!

Color mixing - Learning to observe that there is more than one color to things, i.e. the sky, leaves on trees...

Olivia continues to practice her reading. We are specifically working on punctuation and reading out loud so that it makes sense. We are also working on basic reading comprehension. She is learning to write sentences of her own now. She is enjoying writing letters to family and friends.

Fall Fun

***Forgot to add this funny story when we posted these pictures***

Gabe was diving in the pile of leaves and then came up with one in his hand and said, "look mommy, a leaf!". He said this with pure innocent excitement! Of course he had no idea how ironic it sounded as he was in a huge pile of leaves. :)