This week we are focusing on winter insects in our homeschool nature study outdoor hour challenges. We are using the Winter Wednesday course and Handbook of Nature Study curriculum with our members. You can join our membership at any time. You will find a button at the end of this post that will take you to the signup page.
We are delighted to have you along for our Outdoor Hour Challenges (OHC) using the Handbook of Nature Study either way so let’s hop right into this week’s challenge.
This OHC is from our Winter Wednesday course which utilizes both The Handbook of Nature Study and Discover Nature in Winter.
This Week’s Outdoor Hour Challenge: Winter Insects
1. Read chapter seven in Discover Nature in Winter
Make note of any ideas for observing insects that would apply to your area. The purpose of this chapter is to make you aware of the various places that insects over winter: as fertilized eggs, as larvae, a few as pupae, and a few that hibernate. This chapter has lots of great illustrations showing what insects in winter may look like during the various stages. I highly recommend sharing these illustrations with your children.
2. Our family is going to look for and record any overwintering insects we can find using the instructions on pages 140-141. We will be making a chart like the one on page 141 for our nature journal. We will also be on the lookout for galls and taking photographs for our nature journal. See pages 142-143 for more information.
For families wanting to participate that do not have the Discover Winter in Nature book, I will list a few simple nature study ideas that you can try with your family.
1. This might be the perfect time to learn the life cycle of a common insect such as the monarch butterfly or a dragonfly.
2. Look for signs of insects: on bare tree branches, under rocks, on the backside of leaves, on or under a fallen log, in a woodpile, in the soil.
Join The Homeschool Nature Study Membership
By joining the Homeschool Nature Study membership you get access to all the curriculum, the interactive calendar and a brand new Outdoor Hour Challenge each week.
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Did you enjoy this Outdoor Hour Challenge? Be sure to tag us on Instagram @outdoorhourchallenge and use the hashtag #outdoorhourchallenge so we can see and comment!
Just wanted to let you know I love your blog~ and it has gained an award on my blog~
http://acornsnuggetsofgold.blogspot.com/
Can you tell us more about the chart you mentioned?
I did a little PR for you over on my blog. 🙂
Just wanted to let you know that you have been such an inspiration to me when it comes to our nature studies. I have been wanting to do an “organized” nature study for over a year now and did not know where to start and thanks to you I have a plan. I have been “following” you for about 1 month now.
Yesterday we looked at melted snow in our microscope (hopefully it discouraged the little ones from eating anymore of it now that they seen what they are eating :))
And this morning we will be looking at sometype of winter bug under the microscope that was in our 8 cups of snow which melted to one cup (simply amazed the 6 year old, he just couldn’t believe how little water there was in 8 cups of snow)
Thanks for your dedication and inspiration. God Bless you!
Thanks Purple Squirrel!
Phyllis, I will post more about the chart over the weekend. Check back. Thanks for spreading the word on your blog. 🙂
Joyful Jean, I want to know more about the bug! Thanks for the nice comment.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
Just wanted to let ya know we are still participating in Winter Wednesday.We are going to take a break for a couple of weeks.We will get back in the study soon.We hope to be back for the birds chapter even if it is late!Thanks for all the fun!
Pretty sure it was a snow flea very fun to look at with the microscope.
We are going to be looking at water insects this winter, and comparing them to how we breathe and float in the water. I’ll share what we learn as we observe. I’m excited to see this Winter Insect challenge as well.
Sounds great!