John James Audubon Study – Part II

Sorry this second part of the post has taken so long to get to. There are a few reasons that is…the first of which is we actually started the study this week so we have been busy with school. The second of which it is nice outside and we have been trying to get the first of garden preparations done.

Now I have split this up into categories to be user-friendly, but we will actually be tackling the study on a much more interest-led-see-where-the-day-brings-us way. I find we actually accomplish more this way because one thing will lead into another. If I just do a “Well, children, this is what we are doing today,” I get accosted with groans and mumbles. I leave those for our formal math-latin-grammar work! Some of the books fit into more then one category but I tried to pick the category we would most be utilizing it as. And you may think that you have some books that you would add to categories as must haves, especially in the Literature section. That may be. I only listed what I had available to me that we already owned or that I could readily find at the library.

Our Bird Shelves

Activities

Learning the history of who John James Audubon was and what he contributed to America. (History)
Learning about naturalists ~ who they are and what they do. (History & Social Studies)
Narrations on books read (Reading Comprehension, Assimilation & Logic, Grammar, Writing)

Learning about the egg and its development from embryo till birth. (Science)
Learning about the feather and how flight works. (Science)
Learning Bird Anatomy through 3 part cards Download here for free. (Science)

Learning to recognize bird calls and songs. (Science and Music)
Learning to identify birds by sight. (Science Classification)
Playing our Montessori Bird Puzzle. (Good for the toddlers to do while reading bird books to the older children.)

Taking nature walks to practice birding skills and look for treasured feather finds. (Science, Physical Education)
Practicing sketching and watercolor/colored pencil techniques with drawing birds and eggs. (Art)
Playing with our Audubon stuffed birds (also helps in recognizing bird calls) (Assimilation)

Reading poetry and children’s literature about birds and other springtime animals. (Literature & Poetry)
Memorizing poetry about birds. (Poetry)
Copywork on spring poetry, narrations, original Audubon writing excerpts (Penmanship, Grammar, Poetry & Literature)
Listening to our For the Birds CD (Music, Poetry, Science)

John James Audubon History Biographies (all preread to be excellent living books although the first two are my favorites!!!)

The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon by Jacqueline Davies (all ages – exquisite illustrations)
Into The Woods: John James Audubon Lives His Dream by Robert Burleigh (all ages – poetry and journal excerpts and original paintings)
Audubon: Painter of the Birds on the Wild Frontier by Jennifer Armstrong (younger)
John James Audubon: Wildlife Artist by Peter Anderson (middle or read aloud)
First Impressions: John James Audubon by Joseph Kastner (older – some more mature content, also shows some original paintings)
Ornithological Biography by John James Audubon (older – his collection of writings and work)

Birds (References, Field Guides, Science)

The Living World of Audubon by Roland C. Clement (graphic photography, original Audubon paintings and excerpts of his writing – both Art and Science Reference)
Birds at Home by Marguerite Henry (our favorite living book on birds!)
Birds at My Feeder by Glen & Loates (our other most read living bird book)
Stokes Beginner’s Guide to Birds (our favorite, very-dog-earred field guide!)

Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock (a must for every Charlotte Mason homeschooler!)
Birds: Nature’s Magnificent Flying Machines by Caroline Arnold (Science – a superb book, will be using as our main science spine)
Crinkleroot’s Guide to Knowing the Birds by Jim Arnosky
An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Aston & Sylvia Long (A most exquisitely illustrated science book about eggs!)
Birds at Night by Roma Gans (a great living science book)
A Nest Full of Eggs by Priscilla Belz Jenkins (Science)
Lifecycles: From Egg to Chicken by Gerald Legg (Science)
A First Discovery Book: The Egg (Science ~ one that Luc carries around daily and loves lifting the transparency flaps)
A Child’s Book of Birds by Kathleen N. Daly
United Tweets of America: 50 State Birds (History Reference – a must have for home libraries, my kids LOVE!)
Hobby Handbooks: Birdwatching by Rob Humes (Science)
Spring by Ron Hirschi (Science)

Bird Music

The Bird Songs Anthology by Les Beletsky (#20 ~ the Ptarmigan’s call is my kids favorite. They will play over and over and over and over again and always erupt into a million giggles!)
Music of the Birds: A Celebration of Birdsong by Lang Elliot (a book with accompanying CD)
Songbirds Bible: A Visual Directory of 100 of the Most Popular Songbirds in North America (also a book with accompanying CD)
For the Birds (my homemade musical CD full of bird folk songs, poetry, and bird calls)
Bird Jam (an Internet site devoted to learning and recognizing bird calls and songs)

Bird Art & Sketching

Sketching Outdoors in Spring by Jim Arnosky
Art For Kids: Drawing in Color by Kathryn Temple (the only art book you’ll need)
Ways of Drawing Birds: A Guide to Expanding Your Visual Awareness by Simon Jennings
Nature Book to Color (Rod & Staff Publishing – mainly birds – my kids favorite coloring book)
Henri, Egg Artiste by Marcus Pfister (Literature living book on art and art techniques practiced on eggs ~ goes through several famous paintings. A great book for picture study)
Tools ~ Prisma colored pencils and Tombow brush markers (for watercoloring)

The basket that holds our colored pencils and sketchbooks.

Inside our Nature Walk basket.

Other Naturalists (Supplemental Reading or rabbit trails – these are just the ones we happened to see at the library, by no means the only good books on them!)

The Flower Hunter: William Bartram, America’s First Naturalist by Deborah Kogan Ray (history and science living book)
Beatrix Potter by Alexandra Wallner
My Dear Noel: The Story of a Letter from Beatrix Potter by Jane Johnson

Literature (have included other spring animals as well for the season of spring)

The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton W. Burgess (Literature & Science – great living books!)
The Cuckoo’s Haiku and Other Birding Poems by Michael J. Rosen (Poetry)
Give Yourself to the Rain: Poems for the Very Young by Margaret Wise Brown (Poetry ~ spring)
Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit series (Literature)
Funny Frank by Dick King-Smith
Petunia by Roger Duvoisin
The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson
The Story ABout Ping by Marjorie Flack
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
Bambi: A Life in the Woods by Felix Salten
The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Gentle Ben by Walt Morey
The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett
Spring: An Alphabet Acrostic by Steven Schnur

Foreign Languages ~ French (Audubon was sent over from France to avoid the Napoleonic French War ~ Lily picked up on the French phrases in the biographies we’re reading and wnted to know more)

Bonjour Les Amis: The Gentle Art of French Learning (Language DVD’s)
Carla Bruni CD Quelqu’un M’a Dit (Music ~ our favorite French singer, beautiful even if I can’t understand a word she’s saying!)
Children’s Literature in the French language (just happened to find at a garage sale when a native French girl was moving!)

And, last but never least, our Easter selections. They are included here because we will be reading them alongside this study. It goes perfectly with spring and the egg ~ the renewing of life. And we want our children to know that the only reason we get to enjoy all else is because of this most amazing sacrifice on the cross. Would love to celebrate this more formally with Lent but did not have time to research a book I wanted to put the time or money into. We will do that for next year. Am open to suggestions in the comment box.