Gearing Up For School

Now that I have a break from Summer classes I am working on the finishing touches for our upcoming school year. I have a love / hate relationship with school planning lol. I love the thought of a new school year but sometimes the details can get very "boggy" and I feel like I'm in a rut. It will pass though; it always does. This year I will have a 6th grader and a 9th grader. My eldest son goes to our church school and my eldest daughter graduated last year. We will be doing lots more nature study per requests of Roosie my 11 year old. I will be posting more links on the pages here for neat sites that I find for all subjects so be sure to check them out.

While working in our flower bed last week we found an interesting  tenant under a flower pot; a black widow spider. So that will be the first subject of our nature studies.I found a great info link here BLACK WIDOWS ; its from our local university. I think you will find it very informative especially if you live in Tennessee. Also the ironweed and goldenrod is already beginning to bloom here so we will do a study on that too. Sometimes we follow the Outdoor Hour Challenge using the Handbook of Nature study but we also kind of go rogue with it sometimes and pick our own thing that catches our eye. We use different websites and things for our info too. I found a great book, ABCs of Nature at our library's book sale for a $1 and it has been a great tool.

Click to buy at Amazon

I try to find some free lapbooks or notebooking pages to use with our studies. If I can't find any ,then I make them. I encourage you as a homeschool family to buy either Microsoft Word or Print Shop software. They are both excellent tools for making worksheets.Worksheets I make I will post on my HSLaunch page. If you are not familiar with that site please go check it out. There are some really great printables there.

Do any of you have any different resources you use for nature study? tell me about them. Blessings! ~ Nikki

Great Giveaway To Use This School Year

Check out this amazing giveaway at Homeschool Creations! I soooo want the Marine Biology course for my DD who is a SHARK FANATIC!!!!

Science Links Page

I posted some cool links on the science resource page. Let me know if they are helpful :)

End Of The School Year

Well our school year ended several weeks ago. We had a great year! We learned so much together as always. My youngest son Hoopy will be a freshman this Fall. I don't know where time is going so quickly lol but it needs to slow down. Its our Summer break time right now although I have some Summer courses to take. I will be working on posting some links and things this Summer. I will probably be adding pages for the links just so they are easier to find. Have a great day! Blessings! ~ Nikki

Spring Time Nature Study Idea

A quaint little nest made with twigs, moss and carpet fiber.

Spring time is here and with it comes warm temps, sunshine, flowers and of course, birds. Birdwatching and feeding are excellent ways to spend some time doing Spring nature studies. Bird feeders and even birdhouses can often be made for free with items around your house or for a low cost. Here are some pictures of some of our yard guests over the years.

How many worms can one robin bill hold anyway?

Nesters in our basketball goal pole

Are you interested in feeding the birds? Most "feeder" birds prefer black oil sunflower seeds although they will eat others. Some birds love fruit too.Popcorn and peanuts are always a hit with our blue jays. here are some neat feeder ideas.
1.pine cone smeared in peanut butter and rolled in birdseed. Tie a string around it and hang .
2.old baking pans or cookie sheets. Fill with seed and place on the ground,an old tree stump or mount on a wooden post .
There are tons of great sites online with FREE bird feeder plans. Here are just a few. They range from the simple to WOW :)
http://wayneofthewoods.com/bird-feeder-plans.html
http://www.birdwatching-bliss.com/bird-feeder-plans.html
http://www.bird-house-bath.com/wp/bird-feeder/suet-bird-feeder-plans-build-a-simple-suet-feeder/
http://lessonplans.craftgossip.com/simple-bird-feeder-craft/2011/04/10
http://www.ribena.co.uk/download/Ribena%20Activities%20-%20Make%20a%20Bird%20Feeder.pdf
And how about if you want to host a family of birds? Well check out these links (and search online for more) to find great ideas and plans for making birdhouses.
http://www.nabluebirdsociety.org/nestboxplans.htm
http://www.50birds.com/d50bh.htm
http://www.freebirdhouseplans.net/freebuildingbirdhouseplans.html
http://www.makingfriends.com/animal/birdhouse.htm
http://www.nesquik.com/adults/activities/makesomethingfun/birdhouse.aspx
 And for those who like to notebook their studies:
http://www.coloring.ws/birds5.htm
http://www.first-school.ws/theme/animals/cp_birds.htm
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/bbimages/PDFs/ColoringBook.pdf
I hope you enjoy these links and the birds :) Blessings! ~ Nikki

Secret Sale At Currclick

Check it out here Secret  Sale. There are some neat freebies too. Blessings! ~ Nikki

January Freebie!

I found this on another blog today and thought someone out there might enjoy it. Blessings! ~ Nikki

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