All About Birds

Since we have finished our formal Science text, I decided to throw in a small unit study for us to finish out the year.  So I found this one on Curr Click about Robins.  Since our back yard is filled with them I thought that would be an awesome way to really study them.

Before beginning the study I wanted to have a bird feeder around so I ordered this one from Amazon.

I thought it would be really neat to have one that was attached to our window, so we could get a closer look at the birds.  Then we went to the store and got some bird seed, on the package of seed I noticed that they didn't list robins as a bird that would eat it.  Later as we were doing a little bit of the study I found out why, because robins don't eat seeds!  Their digestive systems can't digest it.  Good thing we are studying them then huh?!!

We first had the feeder on our big dining room window, we thought it would be neat to be able too see them while we ate our meals.

After a while we hadn't attracted any birds (ok so it was only a half hour!), so we decided to move it to a window in the school room.  After a few hours we still hadn't seen any birds, but I kept hearing a noise outside the window like scratching claws.  I knew it was a squirrel trying to get to the feeder, but I thought there was no way he could get it.  The next day while doing some school work, this is what we see...

The silly squirrel had found something on the side of our house to climb up on and then he attached himself to the screen!  Well after a day of this we had to move the feeder back to the dining room window.  Eventually the birds did find our feeder.  The boys absolutely love watching them, and have learned to stand or sit very still so they don't get frightened and fly away too quickly.

Some of the birds that we have identified at our feeder are the chickadee and a blue jay.  There is still one that we can't quite figure out yet, but we are working on it.  We have this bird identification book
that we are using to help us.

Gearing Up for Next Year

We are about 4 weeks away from finishing our "school year"!  This is so exciting for us, I can now say that we finished one year of homeschooling, and that I plan to continue!  This is a big deal considering I wasn't thinking I could do it at this time last year.  Now I wouldn't have it any other way.

We are also finalizing our curriculum for next year.  After attending our homeschool convention over the weekend I was able to find a few extra things to round out our curriculum.  I will be writing a separate post about what we will be using later on.

Right now I want to share something that really stuck out to me while listening to a seminar at our convention.  I actually went to two seminars about basically the same thing, one was about occupying little ones while homeschooling older children, and the other one was about homeschooling multiple age children.  Both of them said the same thing... spend undivided time each day with your little one!  That hit home to me, that I need to make sure Zach is given his time with me to learn.  So in our schedule next year I will have to make sure that I schedule 15-30 minutes each day just for him!

Anther tip that I received was to include the littles in as much as possible.  So when the big kids get their new supplies, make sure the littles get some new things as well.  When the big kids are doing worksheets or coloring pages make sure the littles have one as well.  These are all awesome ideas that definitely need to be implemented into our homeschool.  They are also things that I know, but struggle to actually do on a daily basis.

Anybody have other tips for me for homeschooling multiple ages of children?  I am always open to new ideas!

Homeschool Convention 101

Ha!!  Yeah I have been to ONE homeschool convention!  Last year was the first one I attended and it was super overwhelming.  For one thing we had not started to homeschool yet, and secondly we were leaving our baby, who was 8 months at the time, and didn't like to be left!  We are very fortunate and have a local homeschooling convention about 20 minutes from our house.  Its pretty small, I guess compared to some of the larger ones, but it was still pretty overwhelming for us.

So our strategy last year was to get in and get out, so to speak.  We went for a very short period of time (like 3 or 4 hours), we were able to attend a couple of seminars, do a little shopping and that was it. Last year we also knew, for the most part, before going what our curriculum would be.  So that helped us to not have to wander too much, we found that booth, looked it over and bought it.

Here is what I learned from attending my first homeschool convention, last year.  Make sure you give yourself plenty of time, just to browse.  We were on such a time constraint last year I feel like we really didn't get to look at much.  I suggest at least 2-3 hours just to shop!  We also did not set a budget for ourselves before going, we knew what the curriculum would cost, but didn't figure in any extra stuff.  That is where we blew our homeschooling budget last year.  I also did not write down any questions for our curriculum venders, I think that would have been helpful.  When they asked if we had any questions, I couldn't think of any, until it came in the mail a few weeks later and then I had tons!  So as you are browsing online, jot down some questions that you might have.  Before attending last year I really had no idea what to expect.  I think talking to someone you know who has been before can give you a good idea of what's going to happen that day.

So here are my tips from the newbie to a newbie:
1) Do your research before attending!  Narrow down your choices to about 2-3 curriculums that you want to look at.  Not that you can't look at others, but if you get overwhelmed easily, then I strongly suggest it!

2)  Bring a notebook for taking notes, but also to jot down questions you may have for the venders.  I find it helpful to write the questions down before I attend.  (Last year I did not and felt a little frazzled because I couldn't think of any, until I got home, of course!)

3)  Take your time!!  Really browse and look through stuff, this might be the only time that you will get a chance to page through the books.  Make sure you have at least 2-3 hours just to shop!

4)  Before buying anything, do a walk through of all the booths!  This is so important, because it will save you from buying something and then finding something similar that you like better!  If you look at every booth then you can narrow down what you would like to buy.

5)  Set your budget before going!  This will be helpful, especially if you are tight on money, that way you aren't tempted to pick up any "extra" stuff that looks appealing, because it WILL be appealing!!

Hopefully these tips will help you to not be overwhelmed and really enjoy your convention!

Do you have any other tips that I may not have listed?  I would love to hear them!!

I am linking up at the Homeschool Village today, so hop on over and see what else you might find!