Snow Days

We have had so much snow in the past three weeks here that I am beginning to wonder if the books on "snow" we are reading had something to do with it. I have been using FIAR with Abigail but have been adding in various different topics each month depending on holidays or events that strike our fancy. When we went to the library for this last load of books at the end of Janurary, I decided to explore the topic of the winter olympics, which led naturally to the topic of snow. Little did I know that this would bring the onslaught! We have had plenty of hands on experience with snow. I didn't even have to look far for a field trip- just walk out the front door! We have enjoyed reading "The Snowy Day" and making footprints like Peter did. Eating snow cream- it was the first time I had made it for my kids. But the best, by far, has been the birds. We have several bird and suet feeders which have attracted so many birds we have not seen at our feeders before. We typically have Junco's, Cardinals, Nuthatches, and Chick-a-dees but this storm brought Red-Winged Black Birds, both male and female(which are not black at all),Cowbirds, Sparrows, Mourning Doves, Starlings, a Downey Woodpecker, a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, and Purple Finches. I also thought I saw a Gold Finch. Abigail made homemade suet with my mom and covered pinecones with peanut butter and birdseed. Britni has taken some beautiful pictures of the icicles we had hanging from the roof. We've gone for walks in the snow and took in the wonder of a snow covered frozen pond. This is not at all what I had planned in the lesson book but I can say that we learned so much more. This is not to say that I won't enjoy getting back to "normal" school days, but I am glad that we can look back on these past few weeks and know that all was not lost!