We’ve completed week 5! And frankly I’m too exhausted to write this. So I’m going to say a few words and then post a bunch of pics. We’ve been all about birds this week. Our science experiment was to see if birds prefer sunflower seeds or thistle seeds. It’s still a work in progress, but so far the sunflower seeds are winning. 🙂 We’ve seen over a dozen different kinds of birds in the yard this week, with our favorites being a Ruby-throated Hummingbird (female) and Mr. Downy Woodpecker. A Brown-headed Nuthatch was a newcomer.
The rest of the week was normal school stuff–math, grammar, Latin, etc. History was about John Marshall and the Supreme Court, music continued with Handel, and art was copying a painting of the Infanta Margarita by Velazquez. (Hence the drawings of the girl in the big dress below.) Sassafras started a book about William Wilberforce and continued to read The Magician’s Nephew, while the Z-man cackled his way through Frog and Toad. (Yes, he thinks Frog and Toad are hilarious!) Little Man practiced writing numbers 1-5 and asked me to read The Emperor’s New Clothes…..repeatedly, and Doodlebug…..well, she dismantled Hippos Go Berserk.
We finished up our week by going to Cedarock Park. We took a walk around the historical site and walked a couple of trails. Our goal was to look for birds, but in the end we mainly saw butterflies….and spiders. Something tells me the birds knew we were coming. 🙂 There were, however, a good many Eastern Bluebirds, including juveniles (I had to look those up!), in the open areas.
Doodlebug:
Little Man:
Z-man:
Sassafras:
September 1, 2012
barefootinthepark
Barefoot in the Park 
4 responses to “Week 5: A Bunch of Birds”
Janelle
September 1st, 2012 at 12:39
Sounds like a great week. We’ve enjoyed our bird studies too. Now to rest up and be ready to begin again on Monday!
Mary
September 1st, 2012 at 16:48
Love the notebook pages on the Supreme Court!
Connie Larsen
September 2nd, 2012 at 04:26
I have been trying to attract goldfinches with sunflower seeds and thistle seeds also. No luck so far in our tiny valley town. They love the mountain areas by my friends house also. Isn’t it a joy to see all the different colorful birds our God has sent to us to bring a breath of fresh joy to us from the outdoors. Have a great next week and, once again, thank you for sharing yourself and your family with me.
barefootinthepark
September 2nd, 2012 at 10:54
Goldfinches don’t come to our feeders either. However, we had two sunflowers planted in our flower bed this year. A goldfinch would come and eat directly from the sunflowers. In our neighborhood we would also see goldfinches around other people’s sunflowers. You may want to try that next summer. Now at my friend’s house a little farther out in the country, goldfinches flock to their feeders!