Homeschool Legacy ~ Birds of a Feather

I had the privilege of reviewing Birds of a Feather by Homeschool Legacy. Birds of a Feather is a four week, once a week, unit study. The study is biblically based. This study meets the requirements to earn the Boy Scouts Bird Study Merit Badge as well as the American Heritage Girl Friends Badge. Homeschool Legacy sets out to provide biblically centered educational material, while integrating creative, hands-on activities.

Sampling a curriculum helps to see if it is a good fit for your child. Here is a Sample of Birds of a Feather.

Birds of a Feather Table of Contents:

1. Bird Basics And Your Backyard Habitat
2. Bird Identification
3. Ornithology
4. Birds of Prey

If you are not familiar with unit studies and how they work your questions can be answered by simply clicking on one of the three question links below.

1. What is a unit study?
2. Why unit studies?
3. Why once a week?

There is a suggested, "How to Schedule Your Unit Study Time," to use as a guide. We opted to be more flexible and spontaneous with our unit study time.

I absolutely loved the suggested books throughout the study. The books range from preschool age through high school level. There are suggested movies to watch for a "family movie night". Throughout the study there are helpful online resources that are listed. Step- by-step instructions for the unit study, provide minimal work for the parent. 

Some of the books recommended for this unit study are:

• "Whose Chick Are You" 
• "Make Way For Duckling"
• "The Story About Ping"
• "Are You My Mother"

Devotional

I really liked the "Family Devotional" sections.

One of my favorite bible verses, Luke 12:22-24, talks about birds: 

And He said to His disciples, "For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. For life is more than food, and thebody more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds!"

Just one of the amazing finds to be found in Spring. 

Words And Their Meanings
My daughters learned some new vocabulary such as ornithology, ornithologist, and chalazae.

Sayings and Phrases

• "Don’t get your tail feathers ruffled." 
• "She eats like a bird."
• "He’s as crazy as a loon."

I had lots of laughs as my kiddos described what they thought these sayings meant. We had discussions about sayings and phrases and how they make no sense on their own. Their meanings come from metaphors and customs and not from literal definitions. 

We had fun looking up other English idioms and found many that had to do with birds such as:

• "A little bird told me."
• "Kill two birds with one stone."
• "Mad as a wet hen."
• "The early bird catches the worm."
• "Birds eye view."
• "A little bird told me."
• "Wise as an owl."
• "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

Feathers, Feathers, Feathers
A feather has three main parts:

• Shaft - runs down the center of the feather 
• Barbs – the long, soft, flat strands of the feather attached to the shaft
• Downy feathers - at the base of the feather, closest to the body, provide warmth and insulation to the bird 

We found a wonderful site called The Feather Atlas, that helps identify bird feathers. We took a nature walk to a nearby lake and searched for bird feathers. We found some amazing feather patterns.

Observation Journal 

When we set out to chronicle our observations in our notebook, Birds of a Feather, provided a long list of questions to answer. 

Here are some helpful things to ask yourself:

•What is its shape? Is it plump or slender?
•What is its wing shape? Is it pointed or rounded?
•What are its feet like?
•What is its color or color patterns?
•How does it fly? Does it fly straight, hover, soar, or undulate?

Making a Bird Feeder

Grandpa and Megan making a recycled material bird feeder. 

Videos

There are so many amazing videos on the internet that can be utilized to help learn about birds. YouTube is a great resource for videos. My kiddos spend time watching a lot of the FREE amazing bird videos online. 

Here is a video on hummingbirds.

Here is an amazing video on birds feathers.

Books

I have kiddos that absolutely love all things nature, especially animals, bird, and creepy crawlers. We browsed through some of our bird books. One of my favorite books that we used during this study was a book that chronicles 250 birds and their songs. 

Observing Nature

My daughter spent the better part of an afternoon observing birds with binoculars. She saw a cardinal, a bluejay, a sparrow, a robin, and many other birds. We live in an area with lots of big trees. Because it is spring, birds are everywhere. 

Family Movie Nights
We had two family movie nights and watched, Fly Away Home and March of the Penguins.

John James Audubon

 Audubon's Birds of America is an artistic treasure of prints. We talked about which ones were our favorites. Several of my kiddos decided to try their hand at drawing their own bird. We researched John James Audubon to learn more about this incredible illustrator, painter and scientist. His extraordinary four volume, Birds of America, was published in London in 1827. 

The Little Bird

Once I saw a little bird 

Come hop, hop, hop;

So I cried, “Little bird,

Will you stop, stop, stop?” 

And was going to the window 

To say “How do you do?” 

But he shook his little tail, 

And far away he flew. 

~Mother Goose~

My Overall Thoughts
I really enjoying Birds of a Feather, as did my children. We had so much fun learning about birds through this unit study. I would recommend Homeschool Legacy to fellow homeschoolers and educators. 

Check out all of the other wonderful unit studies that Homeschool Legacy

has to offer. 

To read more reviews click HERE. 


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Pezzettino

Pezzettino

I recently read the book Pezzettino, by Leo Lionni to my daughter. Pezzettino is a charming little story about a tiny orange square that is trying to find out who it belongs to. Pezzettino, in Italian, means "little piece, pronounced "pets-eh-tee-no." 

My daughter had a great time creating her own creation. 

Phoebe did an "I Am Special" activity to go along with the book. 

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

About a year ago I read the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and was moved by the story. Henrietta's story will truly live on forever. Through her suffering she became a hero when her cancer cells, named HeLa cells, grew in the lab and became a breakthrough in medical science. It is a story of heartache, deception, science, love, pain, loss and life. The science side of the book is extremely fascinating for anyone interested in medical science. It is a story of racial discrimination that needs to be heard. It is a story of medical unprofessionalism in the face of patient privacy. It is a story of both great love and great loss. If you are looking for a good book to read this summer then this is a great read. WARNING: due to the graphic nature of some of the material this book is definitely not suited for children. Target audience would be for mature teens and adults.

Veritas Bible

Veritas Bible is a wonderful new way for your children to learn God's Word. Through the use of illustrated Bible stories, lessons, and games your child will learn God's truths. Children will love working at their own pace as they walk through the Bible with Veritas Bible. Parents will love that there is NO PREPARATION NEEDED, everything is online with automatic feedback, while tracking your child's progress. Veritas Self-Paced Bible is part of the wonderful line of curriculum by Veritas Press. 

I love their motto.

"Restoring Our Culture for Christ... One young heart and mind at a time!"

I set up three of my children for the 10 Day Trial to see what they thought about the program. My children are 6 years old, 8 years old and 12 years old. They had fun setting up their profile and choosing their avatar. The set up was simple and easy. Within minutes my children were listening to the first story. 

Each course has 128 class periods covering 32 biblical events. Veritas Bible currently has two courses available:

Genesis to Joshua

"Covering 32 events in the books of Genesis through Joshua, students will learn the Bible from Creation through Joshua’s Last Words. Clever interactions and striking video have children join Abigail and Asher, her brother, along with animated characters Teb, an aloof cat, and Tizzy, a pesky gnat. They will keep the student engaged the entire year."

The Gospels

"Covering 32 events out of the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, students will learn of Christ’s birth through His crucifixion. Informative dialog, interactions and games have children join Benjamin, a carpenter, and his young ever-inquisitive apprentice, Jude, along with Spyro, a dove with an erudite sensibility, and Uz, an overbearing, yet insecure termite. Laughing and learning, children will be engaged the whole year."

They are currently working on three more courses that will be released soon. Those three courses are:

• Judges to Kings
• Chronicles to Malachi 
• Acts to Revelation

My children absolutely loved this program!!! They eagerly spent time learning God's Word with this captivating program for children. I would highly recommend this program to fellow homeschoolers and friends wanting to encourage their child's walk with the Lord. 

IDIOM OF THE DAY

Idiom of the Day:

Spring Fever

1. A feeling of restlessness and excitement experienced at the beginning of springtime.  
2. A feeling of invigoration and restlessness associated with the arrival of the warm weather and renewal of nature in the spring season.

Spring is.......

A+ Interactive Math ~ Family Math Package

I had the opportunity to review the A+ Interactive Math Curriculum: Family Math Package from A+ Interactive Math. The program is for 1st grade through Algebra I. A+ Interactive Math has a very wide range of options from which to choose. A+ Interactive has a great product comparison chart for their online and CD based materials. The family packages can be purchased for one child or for as many as ten children.

 

There is a detailed Scope and Sequence for each grade, 1st Grade through Algebra I. 

Table of Contents: 
1st Grade
2nd Grade

3rd Grade
4th Grade
5th Grade
6th Grade
Pre Algebra
Algebra I

Top 12 Reasons To Use "Family Math Package" Program

Program Overview
The program is very versatile. Each grade level provides weekly lesson plans to follow which means no extra work for the parent/teacher. The entire curriculum can be done via the computer but you also have the option to print out both worksheets and exams. There is an Ebook included for those that may not want or need to use the generated computer lessons. Parents and students can easily track their progress with the Progress Tracking link. With this link you can see which lessons, online worksheets, and exams that have been completed. There is no need to keep track of your child's progress, it is all done for you!! A+ Interactive even provides a calculator in the upper right hand corner of your screen. You can change the current grade level your child is studying, at any time. 

Lesson Plan

Exams

Ebook

My First Impressions
The instruction portion of the lessons is AMAZING!! The explanations are thorough yet simple enough for the child to understand. The person who is narrating, speaks in a calm, slow voice that aids in a child's ability to follow without getting lost. At any time, the child can press the pause button to ask questions if they do not understand. My daughter did this multiple times and I was able to repeat or rephrase the explanation for better understanding. I was very pleased with the step by step explanations and use of examples utilizing pictures, graphs, or whatever was needed to explain the concept being taught. 

The interactive Q&A section was AWESOME!!! The questions reinforce the exact material taught in the instruction portion of the lesson. The child is given four multiple choice answers to answer each question. If the child gets the correct answer a "thumbs up happy face" with fireworks appears. If the child gives an incorrect answer, a sad face appears.  The correct answer is then given to the student. Step by step instructions are then presented to the student to show how the correct answer is found. The program then goes back to the lesson and has the child redo the problem to reinforce the correct answer.

How we used it
I used this for my 1st, 3rd and 6th graders. I will be totally honest, in that, all three of these kiddos do not like math. There are many tears, especially with my 3rd grader when it comes to math.

1st Grade
My first grader is currently working through 2nd grade math, so I started her in the 2nd grade level of A+ Interactive Math. My daughter worked through many of the lessons and gleaned a lot of information. Sometimes the lessons got a bit long and I had to redirect her focus. I loved how detailed the program lessons are. For example, when she was working through a lesson on money, it talked about how currency is another name for money and how different countries have different currency. It explained that pennies are copper and have smooth edges, while dimes have bumpy edges, are thin, and are the smallest of coins in size. My daughter's favorite problems were the frog problems. For frog problems the child types in the answer above the frog and then clicks on the frog. The frog then "ribbits", which always made my daughter giggle.

2nd Grade Number Types

Phoebe, my 1st grader, had fun working through the lessons teaching time, calendar, and seasons. After the lesson on the seasons, Phoebe came running to me and announced that her birthday was during the summer months of June, July, and August.

Success

Post Lesson Progress Report

3rd Grade

My third grader struggles with math and gets easily frustrated. She is currently in 4th grade math. She was frustrated with the 4th grade level in A+ Interactive so I decided to go back to the 3rd grade level. I wanted this math experience to be positive and fun. Review is always a good thing. Going back to the 3rd grade level gave her the confidence that she really needed. During one particular lesson, she paused the lesson and said, "Be quiet so that I can count." The fact that she had control in pausing the lesson was great. She then proceeded to find the answer to the problem and then pressed play to resume. She got a bit confused as they explained multiplication methods since their approach was a bit different from how she had learned them. It was great to learn a new method. During the fraction sections she had to use paper and pencil in order to figure out like factions. The lessons were long enough to help her understand but not so long that she got frustrated. 

Fractions

More fractions....

6th Grade

This could have possibly been a great supplement to my daughter's current math curriculum, but my 6th grader was very unimpressed by how the speaker talked down to her like she was a "first grader". She also did not like the affirming comments such as "great job", and  "wonderful", as it was, in her words, "babyish". The other thing that she really did not like was how SLOWLY the speaker spoke and how slow the answer choices were displayed. She tried several lessons but just could not get past what she didn't like about the program. Tweens are sometimes very hard to please. We found that the Ebook was a great alternative that fit her well. She was able to work through various lessons in the Ebook and if she needed a bit more understand she was able to go to the online lesson and get better understanding. 

My Thoughts

I really liked A+ Interactive Math. The program was comprehensive, easy to follow, and can be purchased for a modest price. The program would be great to use as a complete curriculum or as a supplement to your current math curriculum. The program was a great fit for our family and all of my children benefited greatly from the time that they used the program. I would definitely recommend this program to other homeschoolers and educators. The only thing that I would change would be that, in the upper grades, they speed up the lessons and talk to the students on an appropriate age level. 

To read more reviews click HERE.

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