Birds of the Air

Birds of the Air by Arabella B. Buckley, one of her much-loved Eyes and No Eyes nature readers, is a gentle, story-first study of the birds, and one of the loveliest living books for meeting them the Charlotte Mason way. For the reading we use the free public-domain recording by Laura Caldwell of LibriVox, cleaned up and trimmed. We build it into a Kindred Thicket Enhanced Edition by adding the illustrations and the correction notes for the outdated science, all within the Kindred Thicket Charlotte Mason lesson structure, so you can gather your children and stay present.

There are three ways to use it, two of them free: the read-aloud videos on YouTube, the printable coloring pages from our email list, and the paid companion of copywork and object study for families who want the paper work prepared.

What it is

Each chapter is built into the full Charlotte Mason lesson: a short opening to draw your child in, a moment of telling back what she remembers from last time, the vocabulary made clear, the reading itself with illustrations throughout, and narration with the chapter’s birds and people on screen to support her. The reading is Laura Caldwell’s LibriVox recording, cleaned up and trimmed, and wherever the old science is out of date a correction note appears on screen as you listen. It is free on YouTube.

Who it is for

Every homeschool family studying birds, whatever curriculum you follow. Many families read a chapter each week across the year, often with several ages gathered together, then watch for the real bird outdoors. One reading serves the whole group, each child narrating in her own way.

What’s free, and what’s in the paid companion

• Free, on YouTube: the read-aloud videos for every chapter of Birds of the Air, the Enhanced Edition, with the corrections on screen.
• Free, with the email list: printable coloring pages for the whole book.
• Paid, on Gumroad: the companion of copywork and object study for every chapter.

Is the science accurate?

Birds of the Air is a beautiful book, written long ago, and like most older nature books it carries some science and bird names that have since moved on. This is a Kindred Thicket Enhanced Edition: you hear the original read aloud, and wherever a fact or an old name is out of date, the correction appears on screen as you listen, so what your child takes in matches what naturalists know today. The free read-aloud carries these corrections, and the full list of updates comes with the companion, so you can see our work and decide what to share. You stay the one who decides.

We do the planning. The books come alive. Your child does the learning.