Welcome to my blog. This blog pretty much reflects me, and I am one eclectic person. I have restaurant reviews, shop reviews, posts about human trafficking, poems (written by me or just appreciated by me), reflections from sermons, events, old mission trip newsletters – and much more. There’s a whole category of posts on the wedding planning and I am now homeschooling our two kiddos, so there’s a smattering of info about that as well.
If you are lost, don’t feel bad. I’m still glad you’re here.
You can easily navigate the blog by scrolling down and checking out the topics on the right hand side. I also have links to some fab other blogs and sites which I love. I hope you’ll share the love and go see them as well. You can subscribe here (also on the right-hand side) or just push through.
I could easily call this book list the “Birds of Prey” list, and that’s what these types of birds are commonly called. But, the kids and I have volunteered these last couple of years at a nearby state park where they have 2 raptors – a red-tail hawk and an eastern screech owl (gray morph) and we have learned so much about terminology and native wildlife. The screech owl is my favorite. She chitters back at me when I talk to her and I really hope someday to be able to hold her.
My daughter also has had a long-time love for vultures. She has been referred to as “agent of chaos” and “dark and twisty” and vultures just fit right in. She keep trying to pretend that toucans are her favorite, especially one at a favorite zoo named Frida (yes, like Kahlo), but really vultures are her true love. We have a few vulture stuffies too, and of a variety of owls.
You may have found this page because several homeschool curricula will likely have a unit in Autumn highlighting hawks, eagles, vultures, owls and you are curious about any additional books that might be found.
You may find a free printable of my list of 24 books on – again for FREE. 🙂
If you want to skip the download, you can find the list on both or
Say hello to Scout, the Eastern Screech Owl. She’s full-grown and for several years, we thought she was a male. And then she laid an egg during a solar eclipse! Scout was found by a well-meaning individual when she possibly fell from her nest as a fledgling. This person took her in and kept her for a year, subsisting on hot dogs, before handing her over to the state. Because of this human intervention, Scout suffers from mental illness, not being fully owl nor human. If you find an animal seemingly lost or injured in the wild, please contact a local rehabilitator for advice – which will most often be, LEAVE IT BE.
We have tried to get outside once a week to a nearby state park (state parks are awesome, especially if you live in Ohio where they’ve been voted best in the nation! But seriously, if you have trouble getting to a National Park, there’s a good chance there’s a state park nearby that could get you to just about the same geography of interest) throughout the whole year – even winter. We try to have the mindset that there’s no bad weather, only dangerous weather, and then prepare accordingly. This year has been a rough one, because I’m going through allergy therapy shots and it makes it hard for me to be outside during high pollen.
All that to say, when you spend time out in nature, you get a lot of various kinds of benefits. One that I’ve come to appreciate most is that our “noticing” skills have improved exponentially. Not just for the kids, but for me too! The park has a troop of volunteers who are fairly knowledgeable as well as naturalists leading activities with us. One thing you can do when learning about raptors is to dissect an owl pellet and we’ve found a few out in the park and dissected them together – surmising which critters were part of that meal. If you are interested in dissecting owl pellets with your kids, you can purchase a kit with all the tools, charts, and sterilized pellets at a fairly low price here.
Another personal story about raptors is that a few years ago, my father-in-law found a young red-shoulder hawk on the ground on their property. He kept an eye on it for a few hours, leaving some water nearby, and checking if it moved. It didn’t move and seemed too large for parents to still be attending to it. He was pretty sure it had injured itself. He contacted the state park near him which has a rehabilitation center on site. They talked him through how to safely capture it and then transport to the center so they could assess injuries and work on recovery.
After a couple months, he got a call saying that they were ready to release the bird and would he like to be there. He jumped at the chance! The kids and I went to the park early to do some exploring and then met up with him and the naturalist in a secluded part of the park. There are bald eagles nesting by the lake, so it was best if it was released in a different area. We got out and the naturalist handed thick gloves to my father-in-law.
We were so surprised when they said he could do the honors of releasing the bird! It was brought out of the cage, carefully handed to him (not happy to be handled!) and then tossed into the air to go on its way. What a rush! What satisfaction!
I hope you have as much fun as we have learning about raptors!
Disclaimer:This site uses some affiliate links. This costs you nothing, but helps supplement our homeschooling costs. Thank you for your support!
It’s that time of year! When apples get the spotlight and we start to cozy in for Autumn and sweater weather – We have had some of that this week around here for sure!
I decided to go through my database (glorified Excel sheet) to bring you a list of all the books we have read and enjoyed related to APPLES over the years.
You may have found this page because several homeschool curricula will likely have a unit in Autumn highlighting apples and you are curious about any additional books that might be found.
You may find a free printable of my list of 27 books on – again for FREE. 🙂
If you want to skip the download, you can find the list on both or
Some of the activities we enjoyed the most were going to the local apple orchard and picking out apples. Our nearest one (with the best *ahem* apples and cider) doesn’t allow the public to pick from the trees, but they have a sweet little shop and gobs of apples bagged up for you.
If you don’t have an orchard nearby, the grocery store is still an excellent option as there are such a variety of apples available. You can talk about the color, size, and even smell. Maybe grab a few different kinds and then compare taste and texture when you get home. Some apples are crisp, some are kind of crumbly, some are sweet, and some have a sour bite to them.
Cutting into apples is also a fun activity as cutting into wedges and also thin rounds produces different view inside the fruit. Cutting straight through the core between the stem and bottom will give you a beautiful star shape where the seeds are stored. You can throw a couple slices with a cinnamon stick in a small sauce pan with water to heat on low and get such a yummy apple-pie smell. Add some cloves for added scent. You can also dry them out a little in the oven and then use it as a stamp (although, I can never bring myself to make such a sweet fruit inedible). You can try making a watercolor of the cutting too and then eat the subject when finished.
Apple skin is a very fun subject for watercolor, especially when it has pretty pink, yellow and green splotches mixed throughout. We also decided to make ourselves an apple pie and we got creative with the top crust. But our favorite thing for a long time was homemade applesauce. I prefer splitting my recipe with half sweet apples and half sour apples. It helps me limit the sugar I add, but also gives a little tang to it. And, of course, a fair amount of ground cinnamon. Homemade applesauce reminds me of my grandma every single time I make it.
I hope you have as much fun as we have learning about apples and getting into the new season!
Disclaimer:This site uses some affiliate links. This costs you nothing, but helps supplement our homeschooling costs. Thank you for your support!
I am not generally a fan of autumn, mostly because it bears the unsavory burden of coming before winter. I am most definitely a summer girl, but I’ve been learning ways to appreciate Autumn more. I like learning about the astronomical significance surrounded the seasonal shift. I like learning about how wildlife changes behavior during this time. I will never learn to appreciate the bane of my existence, which is ragweed pollen. I can, however, be fascinated by the chemical processes within a leaf and other plants as they go into a time of dormancy.
Picture books about the Autumnal Equinox can be a tough find, but I’ve put together a list of 15 here for you. You may have found this page because several homeschool curricula will likely have a unit in Autumn highlighting the Equinox and you are curious about any additional books that might be found. I promise to only include books on my lists which I have read myself and with our kids.
You may find a free printable of my list on – again for FREE. 🙂
If you want to skip the download, you can find the list on both or
If you are looking for a good Autumn Equinox activity, I would recommend a scavenger hunt for fall nature items. Depending on your location, it may take a few more weeks to find all of the items, so you could extend it throughout the season until all the items are checked off, or you could watch some movies set in the fall and see what all you can spot – Halloween movies are excellent for this, if it something you celebrate in your home.
Disclaimer:This site uses some affiliate links. This costs you nothing, but helps supplement our homeschooling costs. Thank you for your support!
