Backyard Birding

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May 13, 2020 By Jennifer Lambert 13 Comments

We’ve always been homeschoolers and avid birders.

We’ve loved seeing backyard birds in all the places we’ve lived as a military family: Georgia, Texas, Hawaii, Utah, Germany, and now Ohio.

My kids share my contagious excitement when we see favorites or new birds in our backyard or on nature hikes.

I have proactively taught the kids to be patient, still, and quiet. It’s worth the wait to see a special bird!

We have guide books and apps for IDing song and sight.

We keep journals on our nature finds. We practice our drawing and photography skills.

I have several different bird feeders with different kinds of bird food – nyger, sunflower, safflower, suet, peanuts, oranges and grapes.

We await the hummingbirds each spring.

We also feed the squirrels and raccoons, and even deer. We have baffles and bring the feeders in at night so they’re not destroyed.

We like to visit local parks and ponds to see the water fowl. Feeding bread isn’t healthy. They like peas and greens!

I especially love the owls in our natural areas near our home and the blue herons.

We put up a birdhouse and are waiting to see if we will get a nest and babies.

I notice several nests in the woods in our backyard – squirrels, robins, and more. We see many birds acquiring nesting materials. We love to see the fledglings come to the feeders with their parents.

Sometimes, they get blown down in fall storms and we can study or draw the nests.

Birding helps us appreciate and respect nature, extending to ALL Creator’s wonderful creatures.

Resources:

The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon by Jacqueline Davies
The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton W. Burgess
The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico
Seabird by Holling C. Holling
Birds, Nests, & Eggs by Mel Boring
Feathers: Not Just for Flying by Melissa Stewart
A Nest Is Noisy by Dianna Hutts Aston
Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl by Stacey O’Brien
The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of North America by Bill Thompson III
Bird Trivia Game “What Bird Am I?” – The Ultimate Educational Trivia Card Game Featuring Over 300 Cards
Fly Away Home
The Big Year
A Birder’s Guide To Everything
Merlin app
Birds of Ohio (or whichever state you live in)
Good Birders Still Don’t Wear White by Lisa A. White and Jeffrey A. Gordon
Sibley’s Birding Basics: How to Identify Birds, Using the Clues in Feathers, Habitats, Behaviors, and Sounds
Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding by Scott Weidensaul
Handbook of Bird Biology by Irby J. Lovette and John W. Fitzpatrick
The Genius of Birds AND The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think by Jennifer Ackerman
The Thing with Feathers: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human AND Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World by Noah Strycker
Lost Among the Birds: Accidentally Finding Myself in One Very Big Year by Neil Hayward
To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, a Son, and a Lifelong Obsession by Dan Koeppel
Kingbird Highway: The Biggest Year in the Life of an Extreme Birder by Kenn Kaufman
Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans by John Marzluff and Tony Angell
The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession by Mark Obmascik
Life List: A Woman’s Quest for the World’s Most Amazing Birds by Olivia Gentile
Birding on Borrowed Time by Phoebe Snetsinger
John James Audubon: The Making of an American by Richard Rhodes
All Things Reconsidered: My Birding Adventures by Roger Tory Peterson
Wild America: The Record of a 30,000 Mile Journey Around the Continent by a Distinguished Naturalist and His British Colleague by Roger Tory Peterson
Birdwatcher: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson by Elizabeth Rosenthal

Notebooking:

Bird study notebooking pages for a variety of topics (bird log pages, parts of a bird diagram pages, pages for the study of eyes, ears, beaks, feet, facts, feathers, flight/wings, homes/nests, and songs/calls) plus individual bird notebooking pages for over 170 birds and bird families. Also includes blank templates to add more of your own topics and birds!

Get yours today!

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What’s your favorite bird?

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Wildflowers and Herbs Unit Study

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October 4, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert 5 Comments

We’ve been exploring for months all the herbs and wildflowers near our home.

The kids went on a hike in the woods with my old camera and took fun pictures of interesting finds!

I love how excited they were to show me this humongous grasshopper on a branch.

Tori loved this big mushroom in the detritus.

They took several pictures of the water patterns in the creek.

We always stop to watch the honeybees!

I love that the kids have the freedom to explore the woods near our house. I encourage them to get out there every day to see the changes taking place with the seasons.

They’ve been fascinated with wildflowers and herbs lately.

We’ve acquired some fun books as gifts and from thrift stores, and I bought a few. The library had some too!

We also went on a family walk in the woods and brought our wildflower guidebook with us.

We loved this very tall thistle!

Foxgloves are my favorite!

We noticed some lovely flowers popping up all over!

We love notebooking about what we’re learning about:

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Forest Berries

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July 21, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert 18 Comments

We went foraging in our forest for wild berries.

The girls have been interested in wildflowers for a while, so we acquired some guidebooks to go exploring and identifying plants.

We have lots of trails in the woods near our house, meandering all through the Pfalzwald. We love the easy walks to look at the flowers and listen to the birds. There’s even a creek that runs through for us to play in and look for newts.

The blackberries are just now flowering and we haven’t seen any blueberries or raspberries.

The wild strawberries or forest berries (Waldbeeren in German!) are just now ripening along the trails.

We got quite a bit of ripe forest berries on our hike!

We brought our harvest back and added sour cherries to our kombucha and snacked on the wild strawberries.

The wild strawberries are super sweet and the kids prefer them to store-bought strawberries because the seeds aren’t so big and they’re so cute and tiny.

We also went on another walk later in the week and harvested sweet cherries to make into sauce.

Safety first! When foraging, you have to be 150% sure of correct identification. Books aren’t the most reliable ways to go foraging. It’s better to have an educated local guide to help differentiate between similar plants. We saw a plant that looked like a bilberry, but I was too nervous to try!

We made Blueberry Buckle for breakfast one morning, but with storebought berries.

Katie loves baking and is quite adept at breakfast cakes!

I really love the little pop of ginger in this blueberry buckle. It freshens the taste of the cake and berries.

Blueberry Buckle

Course Breakfast

Cuisine cake

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 8 slices

Ingredients

Cake

2 cups flour AP works fine, but we like cake or pastry flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 t ginger ground is fine, but fresh grated adds kick!
2 T butter
3/4 c sugar
1 egg
1/2 c milk
1 small package blueberries fresh or frozen (about 1.5 cups)

Topping

1/2 c sugar we used brown sugar for more depth
1/3 c flour
1/2 t nutmeg
2 T butter chilled works better

More recipes:Strawberry Pretzel Salad/Dessert | The Gifted GabberHealthy Frozen Raspberry and Yogurt Dessert {Dairy-Free & Gluten-Free} | Living Montessori NowLinking up: Crafty Moms Share, Ask Latisha, The Crazy Organized Blog, Oh My Heartsie Girl, Denise Designed, Saving 4 Six, Bloghetti, Life of Faith, Books and Giggles, What Joy is Mine, Marilyns Treats, Modest Mom, A Fresh Start on a Budget, Inspiration for Moms, Written Reality, Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, Smart Moms Smart Ideas, Darling Downs Diaries, MaryAndering Creatively, Practical Mom, Curly Craft Mom, Holly Barrett, Cornerstone Confessions, VMG206, Sarah Celebrates, RCH Reviews, Simple Life of a Fire Wife, Sherry Wilson, ABC Creative Learning, Raising Homemakers, Jamiffer, Penny’s Passion, Adventures of Mel, Lamberts Lately, I Choose Joy, Frog’s Lilypad, Pat and Candy, Bloom Designs, Pocketful of Posies, A Little R&R, Live Laugh Rowe, Katherine’s Corner, The Natural Homeschool, Crystal and Comp, A Bountiful Love, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Feeding Big, Christian Montessori Network, Design Dining and Diapers, Sincerely Paula, OMHG, Create with Joy, The Diary of a Real Housewife, Life with Lorelai, Cooking on a Budget, Happy and Blessed Home, Sugar Spice and Family Life, Our Daily Craft, Being a Wordsmith,

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Karlstal Hike in Trippstadt

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May 10, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

We hiked the Karlstalschlucht in Trippstadt.

It’s a pretty little river and hiking area.

There’s not really any parking. We’ve always been lucky to have room on the side of the road. There is more parking in town and you can walk down.

The Karlstalschlucht is a great family hike and lovely for photo opportunities.

A square, black iron sign at the entrance to Karlstal reminiscent of an important visitor: “King Ludwig I of Bavaria, Grand Duke Louis III of Hesse, and Archduchess Hildegard of Austria together with high wake dwelt on 9 August 1862. Karlstal.”

The kids enjoyed the sound of the water and looking at leaves and moss, and BIG ROCKS.

Lots of great photo opportunities! Every time we go, we see girls in impossibly high heels and pretty clothes trying to pose while not getting dirty or sinking into the mud.

It’s a nice easy walk for families. The path is mostly even and safe, though strollers might be difficult.

There are benches to rest or sit and watch the world go by.

Trippstadt Karlstalschlucht is about 30 minutes from Ramstein AFB and 1.5 hours from Spangdahlem.

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Learning About Seeds

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March 1, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert 13 Comments

We’re studying botany for science for the next few months.
We read the Parable of the Sower and about the mustard seed in Bible.

We’re learning about seeds and longing for spring.

We’re seeing a few signs of spring, but also more snow and ice. It’s a lovely dichotomy.
We’re using Exploring Creation with Botany by Apologia as our text and the kids each have an Exploring Creation with Botany Notebooking Journal.

Alex loves his first junior notebooking journal! The girls each have their first regular journals.

There are pages to draw or color, writing sections, puzzles, and lapbooking components.

We compared sunflower seeds and bean seeds. We found the hilum and embryo.

Dad helped us to dissect our soaked bean seeds to see the embryo.

We also placed bean seeds in plastic bags with wet paper towels to view the germination.

Since it’s still so cold here, we taped them to the windowsill by the radiator instead of to our sliding glass door which is in the coldest hallway in our house.

We’ve been observing some early signs of spring like my chives and daffodils sprouting.

We have some wildflowers to plant when the ground gets a little warmer. We will observe bees and pollination.

Katie found this little curly seed at the park and proudly brought it home.

We’ll hold onto it to see what kind of leaves it has.

And here are our bean seeds after ONE WEEK!

I think it’s important for kids to learn where food comes from and how much work farming is.

We’ve had nice gardens in the past with fruits and vegetables. They love to plant, weed, water, watch, and harvest the bounty – and cook, can/preserve, and eat it!

We’re excited to start our garden when the ground gets warmer!

Resources:

Learning About Seeds + Printables
Science of Spring
Learning About Seeds from Untrained Housewife
Tons of Seeds Activities from How Wee Learn
Tot School: Seeds from Kara Carrero
Montessori Seeds from Playful Learning
Scholastic Seeds
Growing Seeds from Play Dough to Plato
PreKinders Seeds
Grow Sprouts
How to Start Seeds

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Our Backyard Pond Study

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May 21, 2015 By Jennifer Lambert 5 Comments

The kids have been super excited to watch our little backyard pond and the life cycle taking place right before our very eyes.

Very fun and educational.

We’ve taken an unschooling approach to our pond study.

Here’s our little backyard pond:

This was the pond a month ago and we have enjoyed watching the plants grow and the frogs and toads frolic.

This is what the pond looks like now:

It was here when we moved in last year, but all dry and overgrown. I cleaned it up. I planted some azaleas and a Japanese maple. I have some pea gravel and want to line it with granite bricks instead of the bamboo fence. I need to trim the bushes.

The yellow irises are a lovely surprise!

And I love the yellow buttercups all over the yard. I can’t bear to mow them or pick them.

I have no idea what I’m doing, but apparently it’s a success!

We have three goldfish that survived the winter. We had a dozen or more frogs and toads last month, singing and mating and laying eggs.

The kids were absolutely fascinated watching them.

The cattails and other pond plants are flourishing.

A few weeks ago, we discovered and several clusters and strands of eggs. The clusters are from frogs and the strands are from toads.

The kids explored the neighbor’s larger pond with lots of tadpoles. Love this pic, taken by our neighbor!

We also drove to a couple nearby larger ponds to explore and compare with our tiny backyard pond.

This heron has learned that the bread thrown by humans attracts the minnows. He uses the bread as bait so he can eat the minnows!

Tori loves turtles!

I love the Charlotte Mason, Montessori, and Unschooling methods of learning.

The children are responsible for their education, with just a little guidance from the parent or teacher. They are led but what delights them, are independent, and are not externally rewarded.

They develop a love of learning.

What’s the difference between the methods I mentioned?

Charlotte Mason: “Education is an Atmosphere, a Discipline, a Life.” We keep lessons short and don’t work on every subject every day. We read, read, read living books and explore.

Montessori: “a system of education for young children that seeks to develop natural interests and activities rather than use formal teaching methods.” I provide many opportunities for the children to learn individually and naturally with open-ended activities.

Unschooling: “puts the desire, drive, motive and responsibility for life – this thing we call learning, or education – in the hands of the learner.” I am open to many different options for learning and don’t just rely on prepared curriculum.

How we learned about pond life:

Observation

We watched the plants bloom and grow and the critters move about. We discussed what they were doing over a period of several weeks.

Reading

We used a variety of reading materials to further explore – online articles, from the library, from our home bookshelves, encyclopedias. We love The Handbook of Nature Study for lessons on our natural world.

Videos

We looked up videos of frogs and toads online and watched different parts of the life cycle. We compared the different species at different times.

Notebooking

We have open-ended pages to draw and journal about our learning experiences. The kids write and draw about what they found most fascinating. They asked for pages on frogs, toads, irises, ferns, snails, wildflowers, cattails, and more! All pages are different and original.

Successfully unschooling:

It’s important that I am excited about learning with my kids (and sometimes moreso!) My excitement is surely contagious and I show my children it’s safe and ok to get excited about what we’re learning.
Many extended learning opportunities. I provide books and websites, notebooking pages, videos, field trips, library trips for more books. We all do love to read and books are super important to us. I have modeled a love for reading since before my kids were born.
Lots of oral discussion. I love listening to my kids and answering their questions as we learn. I always want them to feel safe to ask the hard and uncomfortable questions.
Projects and crafts. My kids learn best by doing. They love to create as they learn, so providing them opportunities to draw and be artistic is good for them and helps them understand concepts.

I’ve found that when I don’t stress with checklists, schedules, curriculum…my kids naturally learn and explore and exceed my expectations with their school work!

Favorite Resources

Notability app for iPads for fun clipart, presentations, and graphic design. My kids love to create books about their favorite topics!
Productive Homeschooling for printables and online creation. My kids love the beautiful designs and many options for notebooking pages!
Handbook of Nature Study blog – great printables, challenges, and ideas for learning about nature and art.
BBC Nature Documentaries – great video education in a British accent
Cornell Ornithology Lab – tons of info about birds, including their calls, videos, coloring pages, and more!
My Nature Study Pinterest board has lots of great ideas and lesson resources.

We love science!

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Light in the Darkness

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August 13, 2014 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

So, the sun shined through my blinds this morning as I dragged myself from bed, groggy and irritable after a rough night of bad dreams and cats romping and discomfort.

I barked at the kids that they should’ve eaten cereal instead of waiting to demand of me a hot breakfast. They were more than capable. I threw back three cups of coffee.

That whole choice of joy? I made it this day. I didn’t feel it. I chose it.

I didn’t want to waste the sunshine. I was about to give into to Seasonal Affective Disorder with all the rain we’d had lately.

I got dressed and told the kids to get ready for a hike.

Liz went to the Backerei and got some rolls and salami. We set out for the woods at the edge of our village and the creek I had discovered a couple weeks ago. The rain all week left the trail muddy and the grass quite damp. The woods smelled of earth and leafy detritus.

Just when the kids started getting hot and bored and asking when we would get there, we heard the trickle of water and saw the creek. I encouraged them to walk on to the clearing I had found and then we could explore and have a picnic.

The light reached in fingers between the branches of the trees, tickling our eyes and chasing the breeze.

Alex was nervous. He doesn’t like the woods. He didn’t want me out of his sight. He clung to my hand, anxious not to leave my side.

Our shoes were wet with dew. I lay our picnic blanket on a bed of pine needles and moss and the sound of rippling water and birdsong filled my ears.

We explored some fallen trees with roots long eaten away. We threw pinecones into mossy puddles to make a splash. We stabbed sticks into black oozy mud and pulled them out to hear the squirshy sound. We stood in the creek and watched the mud swirl around our toes.

We discovered mushrooms and a multitude of moss. We were ecstatic to see trees oozing sap, still warm and soft and sticky, smelling sweet and ethereal, almost good enough to eat.

At the last minute before we left the house, I grabbed Glow in the Dark Fish, a Creation Bible study. As the kids munched on salami, grapes, and animal crackers, and sipped Capri Sonnes (the German version is so goooood), I read our lesson.

I love how God speaks to me in themes! Today’s Bible lesson was about light. It discussed bioluminescence in sea creatures and related that to shining our lights for Jesus and God being Light.

After we got home and completed our other lessons, I read from our science book and the chapter was about light.

The text asked a question about when God spoke: “Let there be light.” That was the first day. He didn’t create the sun until day four. (Genesis 1) How was there light and how did plants survive without the sun?

Kate exclaimed, “God Himself is Light!”

Amen.

We also explored the linguistics of Sol for the Sun and Jesus as the Son…and the sol/soul homonym. I love these spiritual conversations!

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Nature Trail

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June 25, 2014 By Jennifer Lambert 2 Comments

I discovered a trail that circles our German village. It’s about 3 miles at its shortest. It meanders through the forest, with wild strawberry and blackberry patches offering up their fruit to hungry hikers.

The canopy of trees overhead all but blocks out the bright sun and makes the temperature feel much cooler.

Horses and riders, cyclists, runners, and walkers share the wide path. A few couples must have thought I am that crazy American taking pictures of every odd wildflower and lizard I came across.

Apparently, everyone in the village knows who we are, what our names are, that we live over the GetränkeShop.

So, I don’t want the villagers to think ill of us. With all the windows open all the time, I constantly urge the kids to be quieter. I know their squeals and singing carries down the street.

In the woods, it was quiet except for birdsong and bees and the occasional squirrel running along branches or lizard scurrying through the underbrush.

I love the views from the trail of the village rooftops.

I was taken with the various wildflowers.

I absolutely love these!

These little black beetles are everywhere.

I caressed the mossy old trees.

I felt like I was in a fairy tale. Magic could happen in this forest.

Towards the end of the trail there is a little babbling brook.

I look forward to the changing seasons here. Early summer is gorgeous, cool and sweet in the morning and warm in the afternoon sunshine, and promising to bring wild blackberries soon!

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New Nature Studies

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June 12, 2014 By Jennifer Lambert 1 Comment

The kids and I are excited to explore our new home and the huge forest we’re going to live in.

We have hats (ticks) and homemade bug spray (with essential oils) and we’re anxious to get settled and go hiking. I hear there’s a gorgeous lake not too far from our village. We shall find it.

We stopped at one of the makeshift parking spots by the roadside and had a snack and saw some lovely flowers and critters.

I’m thinking this is Queen Anne’s Lace or some wild parsley.

These lavender flowers (probably common speedwell) are by the roadside everywhere. And red-orange poppies. Gorgeous. And the dog roses and clover smell so sweet.

I’ve been trying to identify the birds around here. We have sparrows, crows, blackbirds, starlings, swallows darting all over – and some darling black and white tufted guys (I think it’s a crested tit).

I do loved the blackbirds when they chatter. They sound like an old typewriter.

This one is a type of robin, probably a redstart.

We stood watching this guy on a blade of grass for quite some time.

We are enraptured by the red tufted squirrels. They are the cutest things! I need to snap a photo. They’re not real shy but I haven’t had my camera on our walks around base.

Luckily, the base library has some nifty nature guides to tide us over for a while.

The kids are loving collecting the seedpods from all the trees around here. Sweetgum, maples, beech, oaks…and all the magnificent evergreens.

I can’t wait to print some notebooking pages for our new studies and for all our art supplies and notebooks to arrive this week!

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Spring Pastel Art

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April 3, 2014 By Jennifer Lambert 2 Comments

I love these pastel art books. This is not a review. I bought the whole collection because they’re so well-done and easy for my kids to complete with very little help. They love making pastel drawings!