Matthew 23:37 — “as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings” (KJV)

1. Parts of an egg. Crack an egg into a bowl and find the shell, membranes, air cell, white (albumen), yolk and the chalazae that hold the yolk in place. Draw and label it.
2. Incubation and candling. Chicken eggs hatch in about 21 days. In a forced-air incubator they are kept near 99.5°F and turned several times a day until about day 18. Candle an egg (shine a light through it in a dark room) around day 7 to see veins.
3. Hatching and the brooder. Chicks pip and zip out of the shell over a day or so. In the brooder they start near 95°F, about 5 degrees cooler each week until feathered. Set up or sketch a brooder with heat, feed, water and bedding.
4. Growing up. Chicks grow feathers over their first weeks; most pullets start laying at about 18 to 22 weeks. Compare breeds and their egg colors.
5. Egg math. Use the Chicken Tracker: count eggs for a week, work out the lay rate (eggs ÷ hens ÷ days) and the cost per dozen from the feed bill.

• Younger children: draw the life cycle as a circle of pictures and count eggs each day.
• Grades 4–8: keep a daily table and make a line graph of the lay rate.
• High school: research embryo development day by day and write a lab report on a hatch.

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John 12:24 — “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die…” (KJV)

1. Inside a seed. Soak a large bean overnight, split it and find the seed coat, the stored food and the tiny plant (embryo).
2. Germination test. Roll 10 seeds in a damp paper towel in a bag. Count how many sprout in a week — that is the germination rate. Try it on old seed from the seed box.
3. Soil jar test. Shake garden soil with water in a jar and let it settle for a day. Sand sinks first, then silt, then clay. Measure the layers.
4. How plants make food. Plants use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to make sugar and give off oxygen (photosynthesis). Cover part of a leaf with foil for a few days and compare.
5. Plan by the frost date. Look up your frost dates in the Garden tracker and plan when to start, transplant and sow three crops.

• Younger children: plant a bean in a clear cup and draw it every day.
• Grades 4–8: run the germination test on two seed packets and compare the percentages.
• High school: design an experiment with a control on one factor (light, water or soil) and write it up.

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Proverbs 24:13 — “eat thou honey, because it is good” (KJV)

1. The colony. A colony has one queen, thousands of female workers and, in warm months, male drones. Learn what each does.
2. Pollination. Bees carry pollen from flower to flower, which many fruits need to set. Find flowers on the homestead and watch which insects visit them.
3. How bees talk. Forager bees do a “waggle dance” that tells others the direction and distance of food. Act it out.
4. Honey and wax. Bees turn nectar into honey by drying it, and build comb from wax they make. Taste two kinds of honey and compare.
5. The beekeeper’s year. Read the beekeeping calendar on the Bee Tracker page and list what a beekeeper does each season.

• Younger children: draw a bee and the parts of a flower.
• Grades 4–8: map the flowers that bloom each month on your land.
• High school: research varroa mites and how beekeepers monitor them (mites per 100 bees).

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Genesis 8:22 — “seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat…” (KJV)

1. Why seasons happen. The earth is tilted, so through the year each half gets more or less direct sunlight. Show it with a lamp and a ball.
2. Clouds. Learn cumulus, stratus and cirrus clouds, then watch the sky for a week and record what you see.
3. Measuring rain and temperature. Make or set out a rain gauge and read a thermometer at the same time each day for a week.
4. Frost. Frost forms on clear, still, cold nights. Look at your frost dates and the 7-day forecast on the Weather tab.
5. Weather and the farm. List how the weather changes the work: hay needs dry days, animals need water and shade in heat, plants need covering before frost.

• Younger children: keep a picture weather chart for the week.
• Grades 4–8: graph a week of high and low temperatures and rainfall.
• High school: compare the forecast with what happened for two weeks and work out how accurate it was.

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Luke 14:28 — “sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost” (KJV)

1. Costs and sales. Look at the Farm Ledger together. Sort a month of entries into costs and sales and add them up.
2. Profit and loss. Profit = sales − costs. Work it out for one animal or the garden, and talk about costs that are easy to forget.
3. Unit cost. Divide a cost by how much it made — cost per dozen eggs, per pound of meat, per jar.
4. Percent and budgets. Find what percent of spending went to feed. Make a small budget for next month.
5. Graph it. Make a bar graph of costs and sales by month, then compare with the Year in Review charts.

• Younger children: count coins and play “store” with eggs or produce.
• Grades 4–8: work out unit costs to the cent and round correctly.
• High school: write a one-page business plan for one homestead product, with a price and break-even point.

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Genesis 1:24 — “cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind” (KJV)

1. Traits. List traits you can see in your animals (color, size, ear shape). Which ones look like the parents?
2. Pedigrees. Read a three-generation pedigree in the Rabbitry Tracker and draw a family tree.
3. Dominant and recessive. Learn how one gene from each parent works, and draw a Punnett square for a simple trait.
4. The breeding calendar. A rabbit doe kindles about 31 days after breeding. Use a breeding date to count forward to palpate, nest box and kindling days.
5. Choosing breeding stock. Talk about why breeders keep records and avoid breeding close relatives.

• Younger children: match pictures of animal mothers and babies.
• Grades 4–8: work out three Punnett squares and the chance of each outcome.
• High school: research inbreeding and how breeders measure it, and write a short paper.

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Proverbs 6:8 — “Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest” (KJV)

1. Why food spoils. Bacteria, yeasts and molds need water, warmth and food. Leave a slice of bread out and watch (do not eat it).
2. Acid and canning. High-acid foods can be canned in a water bath; low-acid foods like green beans and meat must be pressure canned, because the botulism germ can survive boiling. Always follow a tested recipe.
3. Drying. Drying removes the water germs need. Dry apple slices and weigh them before and after.
4. Freezing. Freezing slows germs but doesn’t kill them. Learn why vegetables are blanched first.
5. Fermenting. Good bacteria turn sugar into acid in sauerkraut and yogurt. Make a small jar of sauerkraut and watch it change.

• Younger children: help wash jars and label them, and draw the fruit before and after drying.
• Grades 4–8: work out the percent of water lost when drying.
• High school: research pH and why 4.6 is the line between high- and low-acid canning.

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Psalm 104:16 — “The trees of the LORD are full of sap” (KJV)

1. Name the trees. Collect leaves from five trees and identify them by leaf shape, bark and buds.
2. Tree rings. Count the rings on a log end to find its age, and look for wide (wet) and narrow (dry) years.
3. How wood dries. Fresh wood is full of water. Seasoned firewood should be at 20% moisture or less. Check a pile with a moisture meter, or weigh a split each week.
4. Measuring a cord. A full cord is a stack 4 feet high, 4 feet wide and 8 feet long — 128 cubic feet. Measure a woodpile and work out how much is there.
5. Caring for the woods. Talk about taking the crooked and dead trees first and leaving good trees to grow.

• Younger children: make bark rubbings and leaf prints.
• Grades 4–8: measure three piles and work out the cords in each.
• High school: research how much heat different species give and plan a winter’s wood.

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