For years, my husband, Curtis and I have gone back and forth about having backyard chickens. We never got serious about it until I decided that raising chickens could be a great part of our home education.
After much debate on what to buy or use for a coop, we came up with the idea of remodeling the boys’ cedar playhouse currently collecting dust. The remodel became a lesson in carpentry. Grayson and Grant learned to use measurements, saws, hammers, and nails. We painted the floor and trim, added some wagon wheels and our chicken coop was born!
Seven years later and we are still learning and loving our backyard chickens. We created charts to track each hens egg production, started an egg business which pays for feed and created cute tote bags made from the empty feed sacks. We sold those bags in our family enterprise.
Each of our hens has different personalities. They respond to each of us in different ways. They won over our hearts. It is likely I will be running an old lady’s home in my backyard for aging hens.
Caring for animals is a continual lesson of tremendous value. If keeping chickens is not in your future, find a fellow homeschooler who does have a coop and visit their flock for an afternoon. Have their children show your children the responsibilities required for fresh eggs. Perhaps visit a local farm to allow your child to interact in the care of the animals for the day.
Animals of any kind can become a unit all their own in your children’s education. We had no idea getting a flock of chickens would become an ongoing unit of study for years to come. Together, our family has learned many valuable lessons by keeping backyard chickens.
Join Holly in the video above as she gives you a basic anatomy lesson with two of our girls, Talulla and Charity.
Make notes in your journal about what you learned.
- beaks
- egg color
- eyes
- varieties
- feathers
Learning where your food comes from and the cycle of how food gets to the table is a great life lesson. The lesson is a glimpse into the plan God has designed for us. All ages can participate in the following lesson on different levels whether you have chickens or not.
