Doing What Comes Naturally

We've been doing Apologia Science this year for school, and have continued into the summer. We've been working through the first book in the Exploring Creation series for elementary students called Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. It has awakened in Matty and Molly a love for observing nature, and we have been looking at the world in a whole new way. The kids and I have studied birds and have been keeping a life notebook, recording when interesting creatures come to the back yard. We've also built bird houses to put on the fences, and have had two families of wrens come and nest in them. We've seen the usual varieties of birds that are common for Northern Virginia, and have enjoyed identifying them and observing their behaviors. They go on frequent "critter hunts" and find snakes, turtles, toads, and insects, and bring them home to watch them. We have a rule that they have to return them to their natural habitat after keeping them for a day, which usually means at sunset.

Today we again observed our red-tail hawk that has been visiting our dead tree at the edge of the woods. I was able to get a picture this time around. We also witnessed a most dramatic scene in which a lovely, but disabled moth that Matty found on the deck was rapidly consumed by a wasp. It was wonderful and horrible all at the same time, and we found it fascinating to watch!

Below is a slide show of some of the visitors we've had to our back yard.