Barb, Author at Homeschool Nature Study

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Barb — 2 Comments

Nature Study while Learning to Draw and a Reminder

Tree Study Sketches

“Correlation of nature-study and drawing should give excellent results to both subjects. The nature-study should afford objects in which the pupil is genuinely interested; the drawing should aid in focusing the observation and making it accurate. Drawing should be encouraged primarily for the purpose of discovering what the child really sees. As the child sees more, and with greater accuracy, the drawings improve. So the drawings become the approximate measure of the progress of the pupil. Do not measure the drawings merely as drawings, or from the artist’s point of view. We are likely to dwell so much on the mere product of the child’s work that we forge the child. Too early in the school life do we begin to make pupils mere artists and literators. First the child should be encouraged to express himself; then he may be taught to draw and to compose.”
Liberty Hyde Bailey The Nature Study Idea pg 225

Don’t forget to send in your Outdoor Hour Challenge blog entries for the Blog Carnival. The deadline is June 29, 2011 and I will post the carnival on 6/30/11. If you have trouble entering, please feel free to email me your link but try to use the form first. Several of you are receiving errors when you submit and I have no idea what the issue or how to fix it.

Here is the link: Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival
You will need to scroll down to the “submit an article” button.

Added incentive: Every entry submitted will give the writer a chance to win the June Newsletter Challenge Giveaway for the Squirrel-Buster Birdfeeder!

Make sure to download the June Newsletter before 7/1/11.

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Barb — 10 Comments

Our Tree Study – Sitka Spruce in Oregon

Jedediah Smith Redwoods – Boy Scout Tree Trail June 2011

Our camping trip to the Oregon Coast was glorious. The weather was perfect without even a sprinkle or a cold day! We enjoyed sunshine, sand, and trees all up and down the southern coast of Oregon. Although I could fill a complete post with our adventures, I want to focus on our tree study that was completed right in our campsite.

We were prepared with some notebook pages and a field guide so this was not only an easy study, it was informative and interesting. The campground had a brochure that discussed the common plants and trees to be found so it was our starting point. We read through the brochure and decided to focus our tree study on the Sitka Spruce. Turns out our campsite was surrounded by them!

We looked up the identifying marks of the spruce as well as looked at the images of the needles, the cone, and the trunk. We discovered that the Sitka Spruce is found along the fog belt of the coast of North America.

They are not quite as tall as the Coast Redwoods we experienced most of the week but they are still very tall trees. The photo above is my husband showing how large the base of this Coast Redwood is on one of our hikes. These trees make you feel small and insignificant. We would hike along and one of these ancient ones would come into view and it would make you stop dead in your tracks. Breathtaking.

Even though the Sitka Spruce is not in the HNS, we looked up the information for the Norway Spruce and used the suggestions in Lesson 186 to learn more about spruces in general. We observed the needles, the cones, the bark, the shape of the tree, the roots like buttresses, and the way the limbs droop.

NotebookingPages.com – Nature Study Set. I like to embellish mine a bit with colored pencils.

Somehow I misplaced the photos I took for our study so now I am glad that we did the sketches on the notebook pages for our journals. We enjoyed our simple vacation nature study….one of many we did on this trip.

Here are some other things we observed and read about: harbor seals, trillium, fuchsia, gumboot chiton (sea creature in the tidepools), Winter wrens, huckleberries, and owls. There is a story to every nature study we did and if I had time I would relate them all but for this entry I will stick to our tree study.

Here is the best shot I have of the Sitka Spruces around our campsite. We could have spent our week focusing on the many plants, birds, and trees of this place and not run out of interesting things to think about. Eating and sleeping under the spruces made our study even more meaningful.

Okay, do you love my new tent? It is 6 1/2 feet tall and even my really tall husband and boys can stand up inside it without rubbing their heads on the ceiling. I love the hinged door too! This was our first outing with it and I think it is going to serve us for a long time.

Just a pretty shot I took one night while we were out for a sunset walk…the moon was incredible the whole time we were camping, a natural nightlight.

So there you go…our vacation tree study. Wish every tree study could be this up close and personal.

Well maybe not that up close….my boys have decided Planking is rather a fun activity.

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Barb — 8 Comments

Making a Garden a Place of Joy – Give Yourself Permission

Sunny hot weather this week in Northern California has given our garden just the breath of life that it needed after our cool rainy weather in May and the beginning of June.

The sunflowers actually look like sunflowers all neatly growing in rows, just waiting for each day’s sunshine. If you remember I planted three varieties in this section of the garden…my artist garden. I am envisioning a lawn chair in the shade of the maple tree, paints and colored pencils sitting at my side and a sketch book in my hand just across the yard from these beauties.

My three sisters garden is all planted and growing! We added the beans and pumpkins and most of the seeds have spouted and are growing right as they should. This has been a fun project….one that has captured my interest, renewing my gardening zeal.

We have had several quarts of strawberries already…big and juicy red ones!

Now this is another of my “mystery” plants. I was waiting to see what was going to bloom and this week it has come alive with color! Here they are…Cantebury Bells. I vaguely remember planting them last year and since they are a biennial, they are blooming this year. Amazing color….which you know will make its way into my nature journal.

We had two birdbaths in the backyard so I decided to move one to the front yard…perfect fit. The empty spot in the garden is really needing some attention and I don’t know what to put here. In the spring there are tulips and allium that bloom but in the summer there isn’t much to fill in the spot. I think those are old gladiola bulbs that didn’t bloom last year coming up. I am not a big fan of gladiolas. This spot gets sun most of the day so the roses love it and I let the allysum grow where it wants. Any suggestions for plants for this middle spot would be appreciated…I’m thinking something taller than the roses.

The tickseed is in full bloom and it makes such a great little bouquet for the table….nothing makes you smile more than having breakfast with a vase of sunshiney tickseed in front of you.

The chore list for the garden this week includes quite a bit of weeding, including the hedge bindweed that I wrote about recently. I try to spend 15-20 minutes in the morning each day just pulling weeds. The whole garden never is weeded at one time but it doesn’t get too crazy with daily attention. I have one tomato that doesn’t look so great so I will try to figure out how to perk it up. I also have one garden box that looks like it has some insect eating the leaves on the plants…..time for some private eye time to see if I can figure out who is the culprit.

In the past, I worried about having the garden “just right”. I spent way too much time worrying about the weeds and the organization and the practicality of it all. I realized this week that I have come to a new understanding about my garden. The garden is what I make of it and if I want to grow pumpkins in the middle of my grass…I can give myself permission to do so. If I want to try something new, I can because it is MY garden.

This year I am just going to enjoy the gardening experience…take the ups and downs as they come. I will put in the effort that I can and see what happens.

Jami’s Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Barb — 3 Comments

First Day of Summer Activity Page

Summer is Here – Get Outside and Enjoy!

First day of summer…at last! June 21, 2011 is the first day of summer.

Here a few fun summer activities to do with your family.

First Day of Summer Notebook Page

Summer Nature Walk – Using Your Senses (From Hearts and Trees)

Look at the long list of Summer Series nature study challenges from last year. These are all listed on the “Summer” tab at the top of my blog.

Challenge #1 The World of Smell and Mosquito Study

Challenge #2 Summer Tree Observations

Challenge #3 Summer Weather Observations

Challenge #4 The World of Sound and Bat Study

Challenge #5 Owls

Challenge #6 Frogs

Challenge #7 Summer Cattail Observations

Challenge #8 Moths and Fireflies

Challenge #9 Evening Primrose and Other Night Blooming Flowers

Challenge #10 Crickets, Grasshoppers, and Katydids

Challenge #11 Queen Anne’s Lace Summer Observations

Challenge #12 Raccoons and Skunks

I am very ready to get into summer mode with our nature study. My bee garden is growing and my “artist’s garden” is coming along….my paints and markers are just itching to get started.

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Barb — 2 Comments

Hedge Bindweed – Handbook of Nature Study

We have hedge bindweed growing under our birdfeeder. I am guessing the seed came for our seed mix and now it is establishing itself under the feeder. It is such a pretty pink flower that I am tempted to let it grow but I am a little concerned that it will spread into other parts of the yard.

We looked it up in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson 129)and here are some points we gleaned:

When the bindweed doesn’t find something to support it up in the air, it will grow in a mat on the ground. Anna Botsford Comstock says that it makes an “exquisite pattern”.
She says that it winds itself in a clockwise manner as it twines around its support. We had to go look.
The leaves are arrow-shaped, glossy and perfect.
The flower bud is twisted….another great thing to observe!
She wrote that the pollen is white and looks like pearls under a microscope. We took a look at this too.

She suggests two things, one we did right away and one we will be doing as an on-going project.

Watercolor for the nature journal

Compare the hedge bindweed to the morning glory. We have a pot of morning glories started on the front deck so as the vine appears and we see how it attaches to the railing we can make some comparisons.

This was another quick and easy nature study using the Handbook of Nature Study.

I also found the notebook page from NotebookingPages.com’s Weeds and Wildflowers set to be handy to quickly jot down the points we observed in our study.

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Barb — 3 Comments

The Benefits of Nature Study

First of the Season!

“From constantly using them, all of his senses are keen-such as his eyesight, his hearing, and the rest. His powers of observation have been cultivated to a high degree of refinement; and let me tell you right here that a good observer holds, in any course of life, the reins of success in his hands-as compared with the one who is lacking in it-in a proportion that is truly remarkable. With good powers of observation comes good judgment and the ability to render correct decisions in many matters vital to success, together with the ability to assist others.”
The Nature Study Review

With our powers of observation, we noticed our first Queen Anne’s Lace blossom of the year! Success!

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Barb — Leave a comment

Our Crop Plant Study: Corn!

Our crop plant study as part of the June Newsletter suggestions focused on corn. Yes, corn. We haven’t had much luck in the past growing corn but we wanted to try again this year as part of our Three Sisters Garden where we plant corn, beans, and squash as companions. (There is an official Corn Crop Plants Challenge on my sidebar. You can just observe an ear of corn and make an entry if you wish.)

We did some reading beforehand and realized that we needed to plant more corn than we usually do so it will have a better chance of pollinating. We planted the corn in mounds and have let it grow to around six inches high before planting the beans around the corn and then pumpkins in alternating mounds between the corn. You can find complete directions HERE on Renee’s Garden website (love this website).

Here are our young corn plants. We have been using homemade compost to enrich our soil and every time I dig around to weed the mounds I find oodles of earthworms. I am hoping that is a good sign for our corn and its health.

We had to put tomato cages around each mound for now to keep the critters out…..human kind and canine kind as well.

I noticed that there is a potato growing in the row so we decided to leave it and see what happens with it. We have never grown potatoes but there must have been one left in the compost when it was dumped in this section of the garden.

We read in the Handbook of Nature Study that corn study can take place in the spring as soon as the leaves appear and that because the corn plant grows so fast that it is a great season long study. We will be watching anxiously as our corn grows and in Lesson 168 in the Handbook of Nature Study there are many interesting observations to make as the plant grows.

You can purchase a set of notebook pages to go along with all the Crop Plants studies in the Handbook of Nature Study HERE. There are also challenges listed on the right sidebar of my blog to go along with them.

We are also anxious for our green beans to start their vines…our poles are ready!

Don’t forget to post and then share your crop plant study with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. Here is the link to ENTER.

Posted on June 11, 2011 by Barb — 6 Comments

Wildflowers – Sierra Spring 2011 (Part 2)

Keeping up with our area’s wildflowers has been pretty difficult the last few weeks. Our “spring” has been so much wetter and colder than normal so our wildflowers are lagging behind their normal bloom time.But now that the sun is out and the temperatures are rising, we have a show of wildflowers to make you smile if you take the time to notice.

Don’t get me wrong….it is not a burden to enjoy the bursting out of colors and shapes along the walking trail and our hiking trail. I love seeing the familiar happy flowers and it warms my heart to realize how many of them I actually can identify with no hesitation. The slow flower-by-flower learning of my local area is a joy and it makes the last four or five years of focusing on looking up and naming flowers worth the effort.

Here is a sort of photo journal of some of our wildflowers from the last few weeks.

Yarrow

Golden Brodiaea

The chinese purple houses are everywhere this year. I think the abundance of rain has brought it all out. It is almost “common” this year.

This is my treasured purple milkweed and there are only two plants that I could find this year. I have gone back to see if it is blooming and it is still in bud. I don’t want to miss it.

Mustang clover blankets whole hillsides along our trail. Isn’t it a happy flower?

We don’t have too much larkspur but there is one spot that I can find it every year. It also doesn’t last long so I was glad that I was able to catch it on the bloom.

The Checkermallow has such a delicate pink color and check out the bud. Doesn’t look like candy?

I can’t remember the name for this pretty flower….

Blackberry blossom

Monkeyflowers are the flower of the year. They line the roadside ditches with explosions of yellow.

What about your part of the world? What are your common wildflowers and what is in abundance this year? I would love to hear your stories.

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Barb — 5 Comments

Honeybees and the Great Sunflower Project – Nature Study Using the Handbook of Nature Study

Our choice for the Garden Critter study this month is the honeybee. We have been building a bee, butterfly, and bird habitat in our yard this year and it seemed fitting that we take a few minutes to read in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson 99) about this welcome guest to our garden.

We have planted many bee attractive plants and every day, rain or shine, they come to visit. Their favorite spot in the yard is the center square filled with lavender. If you sit close by, you can hear the buzzing of wings and you can watch their activity among the flowers.

Water for the Bees – Lavender and Baby Lemon Queen Sunflowers

We read recently online that bees need water as part of their habitat. We found a shallow pie pan, filled it with an assortment of local rocks we had on hand, and then filled it with water. The rain has kept it filled but now that the weather is looking like it will remain dry, I will just replenish the water when I water the garden. Here is a really informative article about Planting a Bee Garden.

We found this webpage very helpful: California Habitat Gardening and this one too: Bee Friendly Gardens.

This is what we are aiming for…image from two summers ago in our sunflowers. Can you believe that pollen?

We will be taking part in the Great Sunflower Project later in the summer. I highly recommend this nature activity which is fun and simple to do as a family. Click below for more information.

Don’t forget to post and then submit your June Newsletter nature studies to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. Here is THE LINK. If you need to find the link quickly, it is at the top of my blog in a couple of places for easy access.

Jami’s Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Barb — 5 Comments

Ideas for Garden Critter Nature Study – June Newsletter Suggestions

As part of the June Newsletter, I suggested that you try to find a garden critter to observe and study using the Handbook of Nature Study. There are already quite a few challenges that feature critters that you may come across in your own garden. Using the Outdoor Hour Challenge does not need to take a lot of time. In fact, I originally started the challenges and expected participants to only spend 10-15 minutes outdoors with their children. You do not need to make your nature study into a unit study or complicated. In fact, the simpler the better since it usually means the children are following their interests. If you already own the Getting Started ebook, you can use the first five challenges along with the suggestions in the June Newsletter.

Here are a few links to challenges that you may wish to think about using as part of the Garden Critter suggestion in the June Newsletter.

Earthworms (Spring Ebook)
Rabbits
Bees
Ants (Spring Ebook)
Robin
Garden snake(Spring Ebook)
Swallowtail or Monarch butterflies
Grasshopper(Summer Ebook)
Ladybug
Garden snail (no OHC yet but covered in the Handbook of Nature Study)

Have fun exploring your garden or yard for something interesting to learn more about in your nature study. You might try to go outside early in the morning or later in the evening when the temperatures are cooler and there may be more critters moving around.

Make sure to follow up your study with the chance for a nature journal entry. Look up the answers to any questions your children may have either in the Handbook of Nature Study or at your local library. After you make your blog entry about your garden critter, submit it to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. Remember every entry to the carnival is an entry in my June Newsletter Giveaway for a Squirrel Buster Birdfeeder.

Author: Barb