Make your own bird feeders

I didn't think until we were done that I should've taken pictures throughout the process - so no pictures, but I wanted to share what we did.

We are doing Apologia's Zoology 1 book - the study of flying creatures.  The first half of the book is the study of birds.  We made 2 bird feeders today to attract different birds to our yard to study.  The first feeder we made was for regular bird seed with a jug.  We used bamboo skewers for perches and wire to hang it by the tree.

The second one was making suet for a suet basket.  The book said sunflower seeds will attract songbirds and birds that usually eat insects prefer suet.  It says woodpeckers will flock to this "Smart Suet".  Okay, so here's what you need:

small ziploc bags (we used the sandwich size.  The quart size looked too large for our suet basket.  If you have a large suet basket, I think the quart would work well.)
a suet basket or mesh bag
stove
pot
stirring spoon
freezer
2 cups crunchy peanut butter
2 cups lard (not shortening)
4 cups rolled oats (not quick oats)
4 cups cornmeal
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup raisins
1 cup bird seed (you can also add whole wheat kernels or other unprocessed grains.)

1.  Melt the lard and peanut butter ina pot over low heat.  (We used a 2 quart saucepan and it was very hard to stir everything in at the end.  I suggest using a large saucepan.)

2.  Stir in the rest of the ingredients.

3.  Scoop the mixture into the small plastic ziploc bags.  (We were able to get 5 sandwich sized suet bags)

4.  Place the bags in the freezer so that the suet will harden.

After the suet is hardened:

5.  Remove the suet from one of the bags and place it in the suet basket.

6.  Hang it on a tree.

7.  Wait, watch and enjoy.

I will try to take pictures of the birds that visit these feeders to post, but birds are hard to get good pictures of.

Olympic lapbook.

This has been an ongoing project.  We began this in July before the Olympics started to gain some history before they came on.  We worked on it during the Olympics and now that they are over, we finished it up.

This is the inside of the lapbook and the Bible verse.  We studied China, different events of the Summer Olympics, talked about the Olympic flag, the route of the Olympic torch for this year, designed their own flags, chose a team to watch and graphed the medals won by that team.  We had planned on holding our own family Olympics, but our schedules didn't allow it.  Most of the pictures are from Nicolas's lapbook unless they each did something unique.

Below is our study of China.  Each boy wrote their own name in Chinese.  The left is Nicolas and the right is Alex.

Below, the boys designed their own flag for the Olympics.  The left is Nicolas's, the right is Alex's.

The boys each picked their teams.  Nicolas picked the United States who ended up with 38 golds, 36 silver and 38 bronze medals.  The number of medals was off the charts so he wrote the number at the top of his graph (but you can't see it in the picture.)

Alex picked Great Britain.  The total medals were 19 gold, 13 silver, and 15 bronze.  I wish they each would've chosen a lesser know team, but they had fun looking each morning to see how many medals their team had gotten while they were asleep.

Update on our chrysallis

If you look very closely, you can see the wings.  I don't think it will be long before we see the butterfly.

Birds field trip

To go along with our study of cardinals, we attended a field trip at Minnetrista in Muncie about birds.  After listening to bird calls, the kids disected an owl pellet.  Owl's eat live animals like rodents and such.  However, their bodies cannot digest all the animal they eat, so after the meat is consumed, they upchuck (for lack of a better word) the bones and fur of the animal.  this is called an owl pellet.  Now, it may sound disgusting (and for those of you who know Nicolas, he has a strong gag reflect and I was concerned), but she explained that the pellets were cleaned to get rid of germs and they were very dry.  Here are pictures of the boys disecting.

And here is what we found.  To the far left is the top part of the skull.  Aiming toward the bottom left are the long front teeth.  Next in line are the bottom parts of the jaw - you can also see the long teeth there.  Then the next pile is just miscellaneous bones.  She let them bring the bones home.

Then we talked about beaks of different birds and how they are used.  The first was a Robin and that their beaks are long to fint down into the ground for worms.  Here the boys are digging for 'worms' in oatmeal with chopsticks.

Then there was the birds that crack open nuts, like the Cardinal.  Here the boys are using a nutcracker.

Then there are birds that use their beaks to peck insects off of trees, like the woodpecker.  The boys used tweezers to pick rice off a log.

And finally there are hummingbirds that use their long beaks to get nectar out of flowers.  The boys used straws to get water out of a vase.

What a great learning experience.  This field trip went along great with our science also - Zoology, the study of flying creatures.  We were already discussing bird calls and field markings.

To finish the field trip, they kids walked around outside to listen for and look for birds.  We didn't see many, but it was a nice walk.

Indiana history trip to Mounds St. Park

Our 4th graders all visited Mounds State Park in Anderson today to see the Indian mounds.  We learned that they used the mounds to help them know what time of the year it is - or for their calendars.  Many people believe that they are burial grounds, and some are, but most where used for ceremonial purposes.  They would have "church" on the mounds.  Also, they built the mounds so that at the spring and winter equinoxes, the sun would set directly behind a smaller mound letting them know it was time to hunt in the spring or gather food in the winter.  It was very interesting.

Here is a picture of the great mound.  It looks like a hill and a ditch.  The Adena indians dug them themselves using bone and baskets.  Because of erosion, the mounds aren't near as tall as they were originally built, and the ditches used to be much deeper.  Indians today still consider these mounds sacred structures.

Here is our group in front of the mound.

Albert lapbook

Here are pictures of our Albert lapbook.  Since they are both pretty much the same, most pictures are of Alex's lapbook.  I have added in a couple that were different in Nicolas's.

Where do cardinals live?

Cardinal's song.

Alex's copywork above, Nicolas's below.

And our study of sound.

Our schedule this year

 I just wanted to share the exciting things we will be learning this year and give insight on the schedule we will use.

Morning:

Bible (using the book series Ten Boys Who Changed the World, Ten Boys Who Used Their Talents, Ten Boys Who Didn't Give In, etc. - series also has Ten Girls Who...)

Math (both boys are using Horizons this year)

15 minute break

Science (Apologia's Zoology 1 - the study of Flying Creatures - birds and insects.  There are lots of opportunities for experiments.  Last week we discussed lift and drag as it pertains to flying objects and made 2 cardboard airplanes with different lengths of wings to see which one travelled further.  This week we will be making a bird feeder to invite different species of birds into the yard to enjoy and nature journal.)

Language Arts (Nicolas is using Horizon's Phonics along with A Beka Readers and library books for his reading.  Alex is using Bob Jones English 4 which we are alternating with his spelling book.  I have listed books I would like him to read this year that either relate to our Unit Studies or are from the Ableside Online book list.  Last week and this week, he is reading a book from Hank the Cowdog series.  Nicolas is reading an Usborne title, Cowboys.)

History (Moving West History Pockets from Evan-Moor.  Alex only.  Many of our Unit Studies are westerns this year, so we are using the history pockets to go a little deeper.  Alex really enjoys doing these pockets and he is mostly independent in his work while I listen to Nicolas read aloud to me.)

Afternoon:
Lunch break (1 hour)

Unit Study (This will vary depending on whether or not we had our co-op meeting that week.  When we have co-op we are using some Five in a Row Volume 4 titles and some homeschoolshare.com titles.  Beyond co-op, I have chosen some animal studies that relate to our co-op titles to fill in, we will do an election study right before election time, I have chosen a Detectives study that will be super fun for the boys, and I will allow the boys to pick something they would like to study on some blank weeks.  These are the titles that we will make into lapbooks.)

Read Aloud (I have chosen books from Ambleside Online that I want the boys to be familiar with, and also some books that go along with our Unit Studies.  Last week we read Buffalo Bill to go along with Lightning Larry, and keeping with the western theme, this week we are reading B is for Buckaroo: A Cowboy Alphabet.  This week's Unit Study is not of a western theme, but our next 2 are, so I decided to just stick with cowboys and westerns rather than take a break this week.  The boys seem to be enjoying them.)

Break (15 min)

Electives (This will include many things throughout the year.  At this point we have not started this section of school, since we are getting into the school routine slowly.  We will begin in September.  Subjects that will be rotated here are Poetry Study, Artist Study, Musician Study, and Typing for sure.  Hopefully I will begin piano lessons for the boys, or possibly they will take music lessons on their favorite instruments - Alex on guitar and Nicolas on drums.  I would at least like to teach them to read music, if not playing the piano.  I may or may not throw a foreign language in here.)

Our goal would be to start school at 9:30 and finish by 2:30 or 3:00.

Although we don't use a year-round school calendar, we do start earlier than the public school and take more breaks.  We started on August 4 this year and will still be done by Memorial Day.  We are taking the following breaks:

Labor day week
Last week of Oct for fall break
3 weeks for Christmas
Last week of March for spring break
Last week of April
Plus some 3 or 4 day weekends throughout the year.

 

 

Lightning Larry lapbook

Here are pictures from our Lightning Larry lapbook.  We didn't end up doing all that I wanted to do with the lapbook, but since we are shortening our weeks during August, we ran out of time.

Inside of Alex's above,  Nicolas's below.

Alex's tall tales and Alliteration books opened.  We changed the names of the character's in the book from "bad" names to "good" names since the cowboys became good after Lightning Larry shot them with the lightning bolts.  Dismal Dan became Daring Dan, Stinky Steve is not Steady Steve, Lousy Luke is Lovely Luke, Moldy Mike is Mighty Mike, and Creepy Cal is now Cool Cal.

Nicolas's Past and Present and Alliteration books opened.  Again the names were changed: Dismal Dan - Daring Dan, Stinky Steve - Stuffed Steve, Lousy Luke - Likes Luke, Moldy Mike - Mighty Mike, Creepy Cal - Care Cal.

All of the above finish Alex's book.  Below finish Nicolas's

Albert pictures

For co-op, the boys drew pictures of cardinals, below:

Alex's above, Nicolas's below.

Albert co-op

Today we read the story Albert.  Albert did not like to go outside because of all the bad noises, so we made many excuses so he would not have to go outside.  When he finally did go out, we discovered some good noises, one being a cardinal's nest.  We learned about decibals and how to draw a bird.  Here are a couple pictures from today's co-op.

For Indiana History today we talked about the Mounds Indians as the first inhabitants of Indiana.  We are going to Mounds State Park in Anderson on Friday.

Rodeo

To go along with our story The Legend of Lightning Larry, we attended a local rodeo.  It was long and we cut out early since we had church the next day, but we enjoyed what we saw.  Here are a few pictures:

Caterpillar to Chrysalis

Our caterpillar continued to grow last week.  Then last night we saw he was hanging from the top of the box.  This afternoon when we got back from co-op, he was a chrysallis.  Here are pictures.

The Legend of Lightning Larry Co-op meeting

Our first co-op meeting was yesterday.  We read the book The Legend of Lightning Larry - the story about a cowboy who shoots lightning bolts at bad guys and makes them good.  The children acted the story out.  Below are pictures.

Camping weekend

We went camping this past weekend to Potato Creek State Park near South Bend with the rest of the Higginbotham family.  We were celebrating July, August and September birthdays while at Jodi's sister's house.  Here are pictures of our trip.

 

And below are animals we saw at the Nature Center.

Goldfinches (male are brightly colored and female are dull.)

Hummingbirds

Osprey.  The one on the left was at the Nature Center (stuffed) and the one on the right we saw by the lake, but couldn't get a very close shot.