Today started our Bird Week for school. I'm still in the beginning stages of homeschooling, as my kiddos are 4, 2, and 1. I'm still figuring out how I want to structure things, and what curriculum to choose, and how to do a range of ages at the same time - but for now, I am trying to make it fun to learn as much as we can. This week, that means crafts to make and books to read about birds, and hopefully some of the activities will be fun and help the kids recall some of the information I'll stuff into their minds. So, here we go!

Things started last night with a lazy quick dinner of grilled cheese and ramen noodles. Why not make it bird shaped? (I've got a million cookie cutters, may as well put them to use!)

This morning I meant to be super mom and make some form of birdie breakfast, but we ended up with waffles or cereal, since this pregnant momma is tired from the get-go. Once the kids had some independent playtime - aka: time for mommy to sit in her recliner and ponder where she can purchase a little more sleep - I sat them down and began to "do school". Keep in mind, I have no clue what I'm doing, and that all my kids are young. Deker is 4.5, Miles is 2.5, and Teyla is just past 1. It's an interesting set of ages with varying degrees of skill and patience, but I do what I can to make it engaging.

By the time I sat everyone down, it was snack time. So I combined food and education as best as I know how. We were learning about bird beaks and what they eat with those special types of bills. We started with the hummingbird.



We had hummingbird books from Chick-Fil-A, and the reference page I found here:
http://feederwatch.org/learn/identifying-birds/#download-feederwatch-posters



A little red Kool-Aid in a juice glass, a silk flower (with the bottom cut off to make a wider hole), and a straw "beak" made for some fun make-believe as we imagined how a hummer might get his nectar. After that experiment and the reading of the books, we filled our feeder and placed it outside.



Next course for snack was "bird feed". As we read about beaks, we munched on a trail mix that consisted of peanuts, cashews, almonds, raisins, Craisins, and shelled sunflower seeds. The flip cards are of different beaks and a bird that has that type. I found those for free to download here:
http://www.shop.montessoriprintshop.com/Animal-Adaptation-Birds-Beaks-SCF-69.htm



Deker took it literally and used his "beak".



Next was an idea that Deker actually helped with. We needed, of course, gummy worms for Bird Week, but as we were shopping for those, he saw new gummy snakes and Swedish fish. Naturally, he reasoned that some birds like worms, but some birds eat snakes and fish, too. Who was I to argue? We bought all three kinds of bird "prey".



Teyla particularly enjoyed the worms.



Lunch today was a birdhouse pizza with a breadstick roof and a cheese bird (using those cutters again!). Sometimes as I'm making these crazy thoughtful themed meals and snacks, I wonder why I'm trying so hard. It's just food. But when you see how excited they are when they are handed that plate, it's not just food. It's a memory. It's a fun thing that doesn't usually happen every day, and that matters. Sometimes it is the small things that stick in their minds the most.

Not much else bird-related was done the rest of the day. After lunch was naps (for all of us), and then a long stretch of outside playtime, since it was 74 degrees and not terribly windy. Then the standard distractions of preparing dinner (which I chose not to do bird themed) and then feeding dinner and then baths and stories and then the day was over.

I'm not too worried, though. Even though we only did a few things, it was still enough to get them talking and thinking about birds. And there was a lot of time spent in front of the window quietly watching our bird feeder and identifying birds with their laminated print outs.

And you know what? They want to do more "bird school" tomorrow.

I count the day as a success.