Character Sketches - Great Horned Owl

I have had this beautiful three volume set of Character Sketches sitting on my shelves for over six years.  Chris and I bought it at the last FPEA Convention we went to years ago.  The books link a character quality you want to encourage in your child with both an animal and a story in the bible.  Being the animal lovers that we are it seemed perfect.  The drawings inside are gorgeous (Audubon quality sketches) and the concept so inviting we couldn't resist.  The issue was that the boys were not old enough to appreciate them until now.  

As part of of our new school year that started this week, we have added this into our study.  After reading the suggestion of how to use the book, Chis and I decided to divide and conquer the task and this is how it worked.

The first animal was the Great Horned Owl.  On Friday, the boys and I read the scientific pages about the Great Horned Owl and then spent some time learning to draw a great horned owl.  Here's the neat drawing video we used:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fjnp84HNT7A

Then we decided that breakfast on Saturday was the best time to get everyone together to do the study.  It didn't quite happen like that, but Chris did get together in the morning with the boys while I took Amber outside so that she wouldn't distract them.

First, Chris asked a general question about what they would do if....(choice the bible character had to make).  Then he read the bible story, they discussed some more and then read how the Great Horned Owl showed loyalty in his timing (the character quality).  

Then we told the boys to get dressed and we took a trip to the "Audubon Birds of Prey Center" to see a Great Horned Owl in person.

Much to our delight, a volunteer was willing to not only talk to us about these beautiful creatures but actually took one out for the boys to see up close.  He even pointed out their asymmetrical ears and gave a demonstration of how their wings allow them to fly silently compared to the other raptors on hand.   I was so thrilled I forgot to take any pictures till the boys were examining the feathers.  The picture above is a picture Chris took of the same bird (we think) years ago when he was doing some photography for the center.

We had a delightful time after this exploring the rest of the facility.  It was so exciting to have the opportunity to explore a subject from so many scholarly and hands-on angles.  We may not be able to do a field trip each week but my goal is to make it fun in some hand-on way. 

Next week the animal is the Canadian Goose.  Thankfully we saw them in person on vacation since they aren't in any zoos around here.  Though ironically we did get a photo opportunity at the Birds of Prey Center....