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We've been studying and learning all about birds the past while using Jeannie Fulbright's Apologia science book entitled;
"Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day;
Exploring creation with zoology".
Need I mention how much this family has enjoyed all of her volumes to date, including this one?
The way she is able to articulate her words on each topic and bring a zeal toward each subject contained in her books to light using layman's language, coupled with plenty of experiments using items we already have in our homes, how could one not appreciate all of her hard work and dedication to bringing course studies such as this one into the education book market.
Our children are very fond of all her books we've used so far.
They love using map skills learning books as part of their educational studies. It was interesting to see their reactions to the idea of "bird mapping", a type of colorful mapping system they've not yet used to date.
At first glance they were sure these couldn't possibly be a type of map at all, that is until they noted the diagram example and the key below to show what the goal of it was all about. And then, the notebooks were opened and off they went, eager with artist kit nearby to make a bird map.
Vocabulary usage sure seems to become enriched when new words on Jeannie's science topics are introduced and soon thrust before their eyes repeated in all the readings, the very words they are also recording in their notebooks.
This past two week's bird study has included the most interesting fact finding and informative topics to keep interests peaked; bird mapping, flight, feathers, bird feed experiments, instinct, extinction and more.
We headed outdoors on what would prove to be the coldest day of the year to refill our feeders for the experiments with new types of bird food, not the most pleasant weather to snap photos, therefore I have none of all the outdoor work to date. brrrrrr.....
The bird feeders are far away from the house with our new feed filling up their interiors, mostly because we've had more rodent issues of late and prefer not to have them closeby.
It was interesting to see how quickly a black squirrel became visible, running about in the attempt to hoist himself upward to the yummy feed. And then we noted a vole popping out from the depths of snow below and a fast return of several downy woodpeckers and mourning doves grazing continually at the feeders.
The goal is to see which type of feed/seed becomes a preference for local birds. We think we already know, however to be fair here, the children's window and binocular viewing sessions are still in progress for keeping track of scientific documentation towards the assigned exercise, so I dare not yet reveal which type of feed just now.
