Homemaker Chronicles

What I love about home school is that it doesn’t have to look like school school.  I mean, the public school I knew didn’t really birth in me a thirst for knowledge.

I wished for more of a knowledge famine.

Actually, to me school was a reason to hang out and wear cute clothes.  I am trying to guide my children in a little more stable-uh-mindset.  School is actually meant for learning and learning is actually good.  I have to remind myself of that sometimes too, because I really didn’t and still really don’t enjoy sitting in a chair and listening to someone teach me about something when I’d rather be outside exploring or figuring it out for myself.

In light of all that stuff, here is a project we done to help us be teached better.  (just kidding)

This is a fun project we did recently:  Backyard Birds.

Supplies:

• bread crumbs
• dried fruit (raisins)
• coconut
• binoculars
• paper
• crayons
• cardboard

First I put all the food on a plate and headed out to the backyard; 5 kids in tow.  Then I explained to them that there are many different kinds of birds in our very own backyard and I asked them a series of questions about what kind they have seen out there in the wild forest that is the public walking trail.  Then we talked about what those birds might like to eat and threw out the prepared bird food onto the ground around the house.  (I made sure the food was near our windows for the live viewing to be held later on)

As we came back inside to watch the birds gobble up the little pieces, we talked more about what the kids have already seen and expect to see out of the backyard birds.  We talked about nests and what they use to make them and we searched the trees with the binoculars to find some.  Then all of the sudden we heard a sweet little chirping from the tree outside.

It was our cardinal buddy calling to his wife.

She was too good to eat our food offering, and he was too busy trying to get some bird-lovin’ to stop and nibble, but I was able to snap a picture.

Then we noticed a sweet little red-breasted Robin in the neighbor’s backyard.  She was pulling worms up out of the ground- for her baby chicks we assumed.  Adia really enjoyed watching her hop around!

I’ll bet you guys didn’t figure me for a bird-watcher, but I’m thinking about taking it up as my new hobby…as long as they come to me.  You know, if they fly into my backyard, I’ll watch them.

That makes me a bird-watcher, right?

After watching all the birds NOT eat our free buffet, we went inside to continue the project.  I had printed off some pictures of a few common birds and I paired the kids up so that we could all color together (an older kid with a younger kid and me with Salem).  They learned all about the bird in which they chose to color and they even drew a few little details to show off their newly acquired knowledge.

*Another option would be to have the kids draw what they saw instead of coloring a picture.  You can decide!*

It was special to see them get so excited over ordinary backyard birds!

For the grand finale, I had the kids cut out their birds and we glued them to a piece of cardboard for show.

Now our artwork graces the windowsill overlooking the area where we lovingly laid the food, so that all the kids can be reminded of our time together and joy it brought us.  Doesn’t that sound like the perfect little family project?

Gag me with a spoon…

Truthfully, it was fun for the time and a great way to get the kids engaged, but it really was one of those “throw it away in a couple of days” projects- when the kids finally forget about it.  Those are my favorite ones!  Plus, now Adia draws my attention to every single bird she sees while walking or driving.

Do you have any idea how many black birds are in central Arkansas this time of year?  Three million…at a minimum!

Many more projects and fun crafts to come.  I’ve just recently realized we do crafts all the time and you guys might want to try some of our ideas.

Not necessarily.

But it’s possible.

You like?

~Angie

Homemaker Chronicles