For anyone who has used this, did you get bored with the birds? We started the year with the insects so we would be able to study the real things easier. We are now in Lesson 4 and I am bored to tears learning about birds. I love that Apologia studies things in such depth even in the younger grades. Truly, I do. We studied Astronomy last year and it was fantastic. I had no interest in the subject at first, but that book was so interesting. I enjoyed learning about the insects earlier this year and I hate creepy crawlies! The birds, though, wow am I bored. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make this study more fun? We have read several books from the library and watched a couple of documentaries on Netflix. The selection on Netflix wasn't great for birds.
This was my problem with Apologia, too. My dh has been watching birds as a hobby for years, so there was really not a lot of information that the kids didn't already know. By skipping over what we already knew, it took us two weeks to finish "Flying Creatures". And the parts we did do were really not that fun for the kids OR me. I don't have any suggestions for you, since I basically just threw it out in frustration. Surely someone here is more creative than I am can help you out LOL!
Your children are young. Take the birds that interest them and have them sculpt birds out of clay or homemade play dough. If you have money, buy some colorful feathers and have the kiddos glue the feathers on the birds. If you can't use feathers, use cheap paint or add food coloring to your homemade dough. Get a blank map and have the kiddos locate the area where the birds live. Have them decide whether the bird lives there because it needs heat, cold, or humidity to thrive. Mark the map with a colored push pin or paste a picture to the map. Have them finger paint birds or make birds out of beans and use twigs for the feet. Study why birds eat what they eat and if possible find examples that the kiddos can glue to paper and have them label what it is and what bird eats it. Run with it! By doing this, it turns a boring book into hands on work. It is fun and can count as art, geography, science, and zoology. Use the book for information but allow the kiddos learning style to be your guide in teaching the book.
I thought I'd hate that book, but it ended up being my favorite of the three! I loved the bird section!
Great ideas, Patty! Thanks! They chose a bird back in November and did a little bit of research to find out some basic facts about it to create a shoebox model of its habitat. They really had fun with that. I know they will enjoy your ideas, too. I really thought I would enjoy the bird section more. Maybe Mom just needs an attitude adjustment. Or a resident birder to do the teaching. Haha!
We are working on it right now. I think the best thing I did was buy 3 bird feeders. We have had so much fun watching the birds and talking about what we learned. When we studied feathers we watched the birds and tried to point out what feathers the bird was using and when. We have really spent so much time just watching and enjoying the birds more then before. I also have a book, and we have tried to id the birds in our yard and the ones we see as we travel. It makes the book more interesting when you can see the things in your yard that you talked about. Several times we would read something, then go outside and see if we could find a bird that had what we were talking about ( like a crest, or wing band)
If you have a wildlife reserve/rescue center, try and arrange a field trip to observe local birds. We've had a lot of fun seeing birds of prey up close that are native to our area and getting to really see their talons, beaks, markings, etc. There are several cheap units on currclick too that will teach about particular birds as well as resources on The Oldschool House store site in the dollar section. Maybe doing some of those instead of just using the book. We're using that book now and are on the tail end of birds. Have learned a ton, but we are ready to move on as well
I'm not sure if we have a wildlife reserve or rescue around here. My searches show pet rescues. I know a lady who volunteers to rescue wildlife like squirrels but not birds. I'll ask her if she knows of one in our area. Thanks for that idea. I hadn't thought of it. Yes, we do need to get some feeders. We have a pretty large population of birds that visit our yard as it is and we love watching them. We will have to be careful where we put them, though, because we also have a cat that is very good at catching birds.
