🐦 HOMESCHOOL NATURE NOTES: MAY is Bird Migration Month!

We think bird study is one of the best subjects you can take up in a homeschool environment. It’s suitable for all ages, it can be solitary or social, it can be as elementary or as advanced as you wish, and birds can be found just about anywhere at any time of year.

But this time of year, and the month of May in particular, is special, and we’ve designated May as our own Bird Migration Month in the River Houses. Why May? This is why:

The above graphical summary of peak migration dates across the United States is from the wonderful BirdCast website (birdcast.info), which we encourage all homeschool naturalists to explore during the spring and fall migration seasons.

Although some birds in the United States begin their spring migration as far back as February, and a few continue on into June, the greatest number of species and the greatest number of individuals head north during May.

If you want to take up bird study in your homeschool — and we hope you do — we have a host of educational resources available, along with some special ones that will be going up during this migratory month of May.

The best way to get started is with a standard bird guide. Many are available, but the one we particularly recommend as a standard reference book for your homeschool library is the popular and comprehensive National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Our regular introductory post about this bird guide at the beginning of each homeschool year will give you a good overview of its features and of how you can put them to good use in a homeschool setting.

With your bird guide in hand, you and your students can follow along with our regular Friday Bird Families posts. These posts are a miniature natural history curriculum that goes through all the main bird groups in North America over the course of the homeschool year, using your bird guide as a textbook. Print a copy of the Friday Bird Families schedule on our main homeschool calendar page and come along with us.

In addition to BirdCast, mentioned above, two of the other online resources that we especially recommend are the eBird website (ebird.org) and the associated All About Birds website (allaboutbirds.org), both sponsored by Cornell University. These are large sites, packed with features and information that you and your students can explore all through the year. The All About Birds website is especially geared toward beginners and can serve as an excellent portal into many other online natural history resources. The eBird website will help you keep track of your own bird observations and let you find out what other people are seeing and have seen, in your neighborhood and around the world.

Bird migration is one of the world’s most wonderful natural phenomena. Don’t miss the chance to teach your homeschool students about it, during May and all through the year.

What ornithological observations and naturalistical notes have you and your students been making in your homeschool this Leo Term? 😊

❡ Homeschool birds: We think bird study is one of the best subjects you can take up in a homeschool environment. It's suitable for all ages, it can be solitary or social, it can be as elementary or as advanced as you wish, and birds can be found just about anywhere at any season of the year. Why not track your own homeschool bird observations using the free eBird website sponsored by Cornell University. It's a great way to learn more about what's in your local area and about how bird populations change from season to season. 🦅

❡ Feed the birds: Setting up a bird feeder is one of the easiest educational activities you can do in a homeschool environment. Here are some tips that will help you get started today! 🐦

❡ Enchiridion: The front matter in your bird guide (pages 6–13) explains a little bit about basic bird biology and about some of the technical terminology used throughout the book — why not have your students study it as a special project. Have them note particularly the diagrams showing the parts of a bird (pages 10–11) so they'll be able to tell primaries from secondaries and flanks from lores. 🦉

❡ Words for birds: You may not think of your homeschool dictionary as a nature reference, but a comprehensive dictionary will define and explain many of the standard scientific terms you will encounter in biology and natural history, although it will not generally contain the proper names of species or other taxonomic groups that aren't part of ordinary English. (In other words, you'll find "flamingo" but not Phoenicopterus, the flamingo genus.) One of the most important things students should be taught to look for in the dictionary is the information on word origins: knowing the roots of scientific terms makes it much easier to understand them and remember their meaning. 📖

❡ Come, here's the map: Natural history and geography are deeply interconnected. One of the first questions you should teach your students to ask about any kind of animal or plant is, "What is its range? Where (in the world) does it occur?" Our recommended homeschool reference library includes an excellent world atlas that will help your students appreciate many aspects of biogeography, the science of the geographical distribution of living things. 🌎

❡ Nature notes: This is one of our regular Friday Bird Families posts for homeschool naturalists. Print your own copy of our River Houses Calendar of American Birds and follow along with us! You can also add your name to our free weekly mailing list to get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🐦 🦉 🦆 🦃 🦅

❡ Homeschool calendars: We have a whole collection of free, printable, educational homeschool calendars and planners available on our main River Houses calendar page. They will help you create a light and easy structure for your homeschool year. Give them a try today! 🗓

❡ Support our work: If you enjoy our educational materials, please support us by starting your regular Amazon shopping from our very own homeschool teaching supplies page. When you click through from our page, any purchase you make earns us a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for helping us to keep going and growing! 🛒

❡ Join us! The aim of the River Houses project is to create a network of friendly local homeschool support groups — local chapters that we call “Houses.” Our first at-large chapter, Headwaters House, is now forming and is open to homeschoolers everywhere. Find out how to become one of our founding members on the Headwaters House membership page. 🏡