{ Building birdhouses }

You haven't seen joy on a child's face, until you tell them that you are going to spend the day building something together.

Truthfully, our children are actually pretty easy to please, they don't really want very expensive outings or special days at out of this world places.  They want our time, they want our attention and they are happy just doing something as a family.

This past weekend we decided to join homeschooling with fun for the family, by building birdhouses.  It was part of the Home Life lesson but it was fun to do because they not only learned about birds, they learned about the different tools, they learned about wood and from that the conversation switched to how wood is made and where it comes from, which then led into a lesson on the environment and cutting down trees and what happens when we do and how that affects us etc.

With one simple theme....Birds, you can open up a whole broader spectrum.

So let me show you what we did.

First we started with some very simple Bird House directions, nothing fancy and since the kids were building them themselves it had to be easy.

They measured and they drew the templates, or helped in some cases.

Dad did all the cutting of the wood, that is one thing they wanted to get their hands on, but they are way too young to be handling power tools and not to mention the fact that I think I would have been so scared the whole time.

Always practicing safety.

Starting to come together.  Watching their faces as they build something themselves is for me, one of the best parts of doing this as a family.

And then the hammers were brought out and of course for THEM that was the best part.

The look of determination

Dad went through the rules, the safety, the how to's and then let them go for it.

Nicholas got to practice his Fractions as well, which is something he is doing right now in school.  He thought it was really cool that fractions are written on tools.

Here he is sanding down the opening for the birds....his birdhouse is looking mighty good for having been built by an 8 year old :)

And here's the girly.  This child of mine makes me laugh, she was out there in shorts, a hoodie and black boots LOL  I just started laughing but she was all "I'm comfortable, leave me alone" LOL

I can happily report that no fingers were harmed in the making of the bird houses.  Well except daddy's, Nic accidentally whacked his thumb LOL

The birdhouses are now waiting to be painted, we need a few moments to do that but during the week it's kind of impossible between the homeschooling and all the other running around.

So, they will be painted and finished this weekend and then hung up for the birdies to enjoy.  I'll share more pics once those are up.

After a morning of hammering and cutting and measuring, we came inside for a quick lunch, the kid's request.  Nachos, a lettuce/pepperoni/cheese sandwich and some fruit salad.  :)

Honestly, I have to tell you again that the kids had such a blast doing this project and are now looking forward to more.

Next on our Home Life course though is Herb Gardening, so we'll be starting on those shortly.