Good morning from small-town Kansas, USA! In introduction: I'm Merideth. I'm married to Tim, whom I still like more days than I don't 
. We have two adult children (boy and girl), a daughter-in-law and 5yo granddaughter, and our "surprise" boy, who just turned 9. I have no chickens as yet, although I've wanted some for years and am now researching in earnest, since our town recently changed our statutes to allow them.
Some background info leading to my chicken ideas: Our boy has Asperger's Syndrome, which is an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Our goal for him is the same as for our other children: to raise him to be a happy, productive, independent member of society. It's a little more challenging for him than for the other two. I could write a novel here, but I'll try to condense . . . "normal, easy" life skills take a lot longer to learn and it's very difficult to string individual skills together as part of a whole (and it's sooo easy for us parents to teach all the individual skills while forgetting to tie each into the whole of an independent life). So . . . chickens . . .
I've been wanting to take "keeping chickens" and divide it all up into "lesson modules" spread out over the next year and beyond. Something like: Spring-about chickens as an animal, a food source, their housing/food/play needs. Summer-planning and building a coop and run based on our needs research. Fall-deciding what traits we want in our chickens and breed research, budgeting for supplies, etc. Winter: planning chicken care routines and fitting them into our daily routine, lining up egg "customers" (a neighbor and an aunt), researching local Farmer's Markets, (one "known variable" type of customer - know exactly X eggs delivered every Tuesday; one "unknown variable" type of customer - don't know how many ppl we'll come into contact with or if/how many eggs they'll purchase,etc.). He'll budget his proceeds like we've always done with our children: 50% save, 20% give, 30% he can decide. Spring-buy chickens and begin, with ongoing learning.
My hope is raising chickens will help us help him see individual skills as part of a whole life full of short- and long-term goals and accomplishments, all intertwined. Raising chickens will touch on caring for another being, fine and gross motor skills, planning and organizing, financial skills, health and wellness (ours and theirs), adapting to the unexpected, and on and on.
I realize my plan isn't well organized yet, but that's where BYC comes in. I've already read so much here and I look forward to much more learning. Thank you all for taking time to share your knowledge - hope I'll be able to obtain and share mine soon!
. We have two adult children (boy and girl), a daughter-in-law and 5yo granddaughter, and our "surprise" boy, who just turned 9. I have no chickens as yet, although I've wanted some for years and am now researching in earnest, since our town recently changed our statutes to allow them.Some background info leading to my chicken ideas: Our boy has Asperger's Syndrome, which is an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Our goal for him is the same as for our other children: to raise him to be a happy, productive, independent member of society. It's a little more challenging for him than for the other two. I could write a novel here, but I'll try to condense . . . "normal, easy" life skills take a lot longer to learn and it's very difficult to string individual skills together as part of a whole (and it's sooo easy for us parents to teach all the individual skills while forgetting to tie each into the whole of an independent life). So . . . chickens . . .
I've been wanting to take "keeping chickens" and divide it all up into "lesson modules" spread out over the next year and beyond. Something like: Spring-about chickens as an animal, a food source, their housing/food/play needs. Summer-planning and building a coop and run based on our needs research. Fall-deciding what traits we want in our chickens and breed research, budgeting for supplies, etc. Winter: planning chicken care routines and fitting them into our daily routine, lining up egg "customers" (a neighbor and an aunt), researching local Farmer's Markets, (one "known variable" type of customer - know exactly X eggs delivered every Tuesday; one "unknown variable" type of customer - don't know how many ppl we'll come into contact with or if/how many eggs they'll purchase,etc.). He'll budget his proceeds like we've always done with our children: 50% save, 20% give, 30% he can decide. Spring-buy chickens and begin, with ongoing learning.
My hope is raising chickens will help us help him see individual skills as part of a whole life full of short- and long-term goals and accomplishments, all intertwined. Raising chickens will touch on caring for another being, fine and gross motor skills, planning and organizing, financial skills, health and wellness (ours and theirs), adapting to the unexpected, and on and on.
I realize my plan isn't well organized yet, but that's where BYC comes in. I've already read so much here and I look forward to much more learning. Thank you all for taking time to share your knowledge - hope I'll be able to obtain and share mine soon!
and Welcome To BYC! Not sure if you have seen them, but there are a number of threads on using chickens as part of home schooling projects you might like, ie 
