Homemade Bird Feeder

We are using Exploring Creation with Zoology 1:  Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day from Apologia (written by Jeannie K. Fulbright). I love their science curriculum! Of course the number one reason is because it is taught from the creation perspective. The second reason is that so far it has held Riley's attention and he has really enjoyed it (asking to do more type of enjoying it!). The third reason is the activities and projects she has in the book are fun, you can learn from them and easy to do. Most of the items needed for the projects are things you would have in your home. That makes it great! The less money you have to spend, the better in my opinion!!

This past Thursday as we finished up our lesson on birds, we got to make a bird feeder! The nice part was that we had most of what we needed and what we didn't have, we could improvise a little. So here is how we made our bird feeder:

What you Need:
* An adult with a knife
* Two bamboo skewers (These serve as perches for the birds-we did not have bamboo skewers so we used sticks.)
* An empty plastic bottle with a wide mouth opening like a juice jug. You can use a plastic soda pop bottle instead but the narrow opening can make it hard to fill with bird seed. (We used a soda pop bottle and were able to fill it just fine. We just used a paper plate as a funnel and cleaned up our mess afterward!)
* Wire or string (we used a wire coat hanger)
* Bird Seed

1). Have an adult cut two holes on opposite sides of the jug, about two and half inches from the bottom. The holes should be about the size of a nickel or quarter, depending on the size of the seed you bought. The holes should be large enough for a bird to access the seed, but not so large that the seed just spills out. If you bought very small seeds like those from a thistle, for example, you will need to make the hole the size of a pea.
2). Have the adult use the knife to make a small slit at the bottom of the bottle on each side, about 2 inches below each side.
3). Slide the bamboo skewers (or sticks in our case) through these slits to make a perch under each hole.
4). Make a small hole on each side of the bottle, near the mouth.
5). Slide the wire or string through the holes and tie the ends together above the feeder's mouth.
6). Fill the feeder with seeds and replace the lid.
7). Secure your feeder to a tree that birds are likely to see when passing through your area. (We hung ours outside our kitchen window since we do not have a tree that would support it close to viewing range.)

It turned out great and already some Black Capped Chickadees have perched on our feeder to get their dinner! Anything to draw more birds to our yard!  If you are doing a bird study or lesson this is a great, easy and fun project for your kids with some adult supervision.  Have fun!

A Battle of the Wills is raging

Well I must say that this week has been much better than last. Attitudes were much better although still present. The Lord used situations this week to help me learn something about myself and my son. I am finding more this year how much of a strong will my son has. We knew and suspected that he did because we saw evidence of it as he was an infant or toddler. We saw more evidence of it as he grew up but it didn't seem to be quite as previlant the last couple of years. Do any of you have a strong willed child? How do you deal with it?

A dear friend of mine gave me a great analogy yesterday as she was helping me through one of those battle of the wills. He is like a lion in temperament and I am like a lamb. The lion struts around trying to gain control of his territory and show he is king and the lamb stands there trying to figure out how to bring this to an end and keep from getting eaten. It isn't like I don't discipline him at all, I struggle with knowing how and when to do so and to what extent. My tendency is to threaten a certain discipline and then when it is too late I realize that I've really messed myself up by threatening and not following through.

I know the enemy seizes the opportunity to grab a hold of me in my weakness and cause me to doubt my ability to effectively discipline my son. Sometimes it takes me a little bit to realize that a situation is slipping out of control and like yesterday I loose sight of my job as a parent - only momentarily. Then I have to remember to ask myself, what has God called me to do as a Mother to Riley? These verses came to me this morning.

Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4

34"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:34-35


My job as Riley's Mother is to train him up in the way he should go, so he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6), to raise him up in the admonition of the Lord, (Ephesians 6:4) and to show him Jesus, to set an example of Christ before him and be obedient and discipline him in love. In my thoughts and prayers this morning I have been reminded of Hebrews 12:4-12

4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as children? It says,
"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,

6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his child." [a]

7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate children at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had parents who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 Our parents disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

Wow! What encouragement to persevere, to press on and to not loose hope regarding my son's strong will and my inability at times to keep the battle of the wills under control. Thank you Lord that your promises are true and you lovingly chasten us when we loose sight of our job as a parent to these precious gifts you have given us. As my husband and I discussed this situation we have with our son and how it is my job as his Mother and teacher to lovingly discipline Riley. God used my loving husband to show me that I need to have the temperament of the lamb but not back down, to keep persevering and hanging on to my territory as a parent. My prayer this week is that i don't loose sight of that territory and give in to the lion that is waiting to take it from me.

Great Toolbar for homeschooling moms!

Check out this cool tool bar that I downloaded from the Homeschool Lounge!  It is called the Homeschool Toolbar.  It has so many great features that a homeschool mom could use!  It gives you a link to Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, links to some of the best homeschool websites, links to the top blogs in homeschooling, and HS feeds.  There is also a cool little button that has a to do list, calculator and other very usable features.  The current weather for your area and an email notifier are also included.  For the kiddos (and adults too!) there is an awesome little game button that has tons to choose from!  If you look to the far right of the toolbar and click on the two little arrows you'll find a bunch more little surprises, a radio player is one of them.  I'm thinking this toolbar could cut down on the search time a little bit!  It really puts some of those daily places I go to online right at my fingertips!
The Homeschoolbar is a free download found on the Homeschool Lounge website.  If you haven't joined this wonderful group yet, check it out.  It is full of resources, encouraging words, ideas for homeschooling, recipes and games.  I have really enjoyed being a part of these Christian women who are striving to raise their children in the admonition of the Lord and possibly experiencing the same or similar things we are.  So be sure and check out the Homeschool Lounge and see what they have to offer.  While you are there check out the Homeschool Toolbar.

Happy New Year!!

Well let me just say, Happy New Year to each of you!  My prayer for you is that your New Year is rich with God's blessings.

We thoroughly enjoyed our New Years Eve, the three of us stayed home and had a nice candle lit dinner of crab legs, shrimp, salad and sour dough bread! It was delicious!  Riley was so excited when he found out we were having a candle lit dinner and even more excited when he found out we were having crab legs!  He jumped in there and cleared the table, and helped get it set and got the candles ready.

As we ate we discussed what the new year brings, an opportunity to make resolutions, to make a new start and to anticipate what the Lord has in store for us.  We had to redirect Riley a little when he said his 'revolution' was to play more WII...it's hard for an almost 8 year old to think about anything else except for playing.

Chris surprised me and asked Riley if he wanted to be homeschooled this next year.  I must admit, I was a little anxious to hear his answer.  Thankfully he said he wanted to keep homeschooling!  Whew!!!!  Then we talked about doing the Abeka DVD's or continuing on our same curriculum choices we've been using.  Riley said he liked what we were doing!  That is a good thing!  I just need to get some more energy somewhere!!  This break we've had over Christmas has been a BIG blessing to me for I was really tired!!

I look forward to starting school next week.  I have some things to do to get ready.  Math, Phonics and Bible are easy because we'll just pick up where we left off.  Science we are still studying birds and I need to see what is in store for us there.  We need to finish up our American History/Geography so we can resume our Mystery of History.  Of course we need to do some more reading and make a trip to Pizza Hut for his Book It awards.  We are doing a Coop this winter/spring.  I had decided to take the Fall off from doing any Coop classes and here's why.  Last year we had Friday classes and it seemed that by Thursday school would be going well and we'd be on a roll then we would have to stop and go to classes on Friday and I felt like we were falling behind.  After taking the fall off, I've decided my plan worked, we really enjoyed staying home and getting school done and being able to do our own thing once we were done.  However, I really felt Riley was missing the interaction with other kids.  So we are giving this a try.  I'm looking forward to it, I've never done a Coop before.   Riley seems a little excited too, it's always hard to meet new people.  It meets on Friday mornings from 9-noon.  So we'll have the afternoon to finish up projects or get other stuff done.  We'll see how it goes!

I have spent this past week cleaning out particular areas of our house.  They were in terrible need of purging and dusting and cleaning.  I feel like I have made some progress!

So I guess I say all that to say that I feel like we are going into 2010 somewhat ready mentally for somethings.  At least my home will be purged and clean for the most part and we will be ready for school next week!!

So blessing to you this weekend as you start your new year!