Barb, Author at Homeschool Nature Study

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Barb — 3 Comments

Our Raccon and Skunk Study: Mammals of the Night

This is a visitor we had at our back door a few summers ago. We had a family of skunks and a couple of raccoons that frequented our backyard in the evenings all that long summer. The raccoon would stand at our door and look in until we would chase him off…..this is when we started keeping our cat’s food dish inside. We knew he was eating the food because he would wash the kibble in the water dish, making the water brown and his footprints would lead from the dish off to the edge of the deck.

Last summer was the summer of the skunk in our neighborhood. Just about every night we would smell the fragrance of skunk coming in the windows. This summer….nothing. No skunks at all that I have seen or smelled. What a relief! But also now that I think about it, sort of interesting and curious. Now that we have no grass in the front yard it will probably mean we no longer have a skunk digging around for something to eat….didn’t think about that aspect of our yard remodel.

Mr. B and I have spent more than the usual amount of time outdoors at night the past few weeks as part of his astronomy study. I don’t think we have heard any mammals around the yard except for our cats. We listened to crickets the other night as we sat and watched the stars. A friend of ours said they had a mountain lion on their property last week! I am happy to report we do not have a mountain lion this year like we did last year in our neighborhood. It went around knocking trash cans over and making messes on trash night.

That reminds me of a conversation we had when we were camping at Yosemite in July. My boys and I were talking about whether we were more afraid of bears or mountain lions. We all agreed that in our experience bears were far less intimidating than a mountain lion. I thought that was interesting and we talked a lot about why we were more afraid of the mountain lion. We talked about how bears appear and go about their quest looking for food. If you stay out of their way, they usually just go about their business. Mountain lions seem to be all teeth and claws and if you have heard one scream, well, it is frightening. The one in our neighborhood sounded like a loud baby crying….it totally creeped me out. It was almost as eerie as a coyote howling.

Well, that is our mammal post to wrap up our summer nature study series. We are anxious to start the autumn challenges. My husband and I have sat down to plan some field trips to enhance our studies. We may revisit bats this fall since they seem to be out in record numbers this week. There is also a resident squirrel that needs some observations and journals recorded. We realized too that we have not done a formal study of our frequent guest at the feeder, the white-breasted nuthatch so that may get done alongside our autumn bird study for the challenge.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this summer series of nature study a great success and joy.

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Barb — 1 Comment

Coastal Gum-Plant: Eureka!

I have had a backlog of wildflowers from our summer travels that need to be identified. These happy yellow flowers were alongside the road in northern California on the Lost Coast back in June. I stopped the car alongside the road that was running parallel to the ocean and took these photos.

They had the unusual white sticky stuff on the plants which I thought would make it easy to identify but just yesterday, while looking for something else, I found what I think is the correct identification.

Coastal Gum-Plant or Grindelia stricta var. platyphylla

Posted on September 12, 2010 by Barb — Leave a comment

September Landscape: Forecast Dry

The region of California that I live in gets very dry and hot in the summer. We rarely have rain between early June and late October…it is our “drought” season. Pretty much by now all the wildflowers and grasses are brown and very dry.

This is a typical landscape along our walking trail.

But with willing eyes, you can find beauty even within this dry landscape.

These are such pretty white dried-up flowers and they are everywhere right now.

Oh, see those clouds in the top photo? Not a drop of rain that day….just lots of ominous looking clouds. I was hoping we would get a shower to water the garden but I had to go out and hand water as usual.

Looking forward to another week that promises to be a little cooler.

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Barb — 22 Comments

Searching My Heart: Nature Study

The last few years with the Outdoor Hour Challenge have been a wonderful way to intensify nature study in our family. I know for a fact that if I had not been writing and sharing so much on this blog that our nature study might not have been so enriching and consistent. The community that has developed surrounding the Outdoor Hour Challenges has encouraged our family tremendously in our attempts to keep a love of nature study alive…I could not have done what I have done without many, many faithful readers and contributors to the Outdoor Hour Challenges.

On the personal side, Friday is always looming for me with another challenge to post and then there is the need for me to post our results. After much thought and reflection, I see our family skipping many opportunities for nature study that come up each week because it is not the assignment for the week. I feel more and more like nature study is a job and not the joy I want it to be.

I have two years left with my sons at home. Two years for them to have me as their nature study companion and me to have them as a captive audience. I don’t want to miss the chance to make nature study a meaningful part of their lives, not just another school assignment.

I also realize that I am miss the balancing part of my personality, the artistic side. I look at my art supplies sitting so near but I know my hands are busy with the computer and my heart is divided. I have one son who has a creative soul and I need some time to spend with him not only in developing his love of beauty through nature study but lots of free time and play with paints and other art supplies.

So after much thought, reflection, and prayer I have decided a few things will change, if not in practice at least in my attitude. I am wise enough to know when I need to shift gears and make a few changes. I think that comes with turning 48 years old this year….yes, I am really close to the half century mark.

The blog will not look much different for you dear readers until perhaps January once the Autumn Challenges are completed. I have some amazing ideas to work on in the meantime and I will share my list of things that I brainstormed regarding the blog and the Outdoor Hour Challenges below. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com.

To Summarize My Thoughts and Intentions

I will still be here this season with the Autumn Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges, posting on Fridays and sharing lots of great stuff with you and reading what your families are up to as you complete the Autumn Challenges. You will still have my complete support and attention.
I will be posting the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival on the first of the month. There is nothing but joy associated with this project.
There will not be a new 2011 Winter Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges ebook. There are already two complete series of challenges available both in ebook format and listed on the blog as the Winter Wednesday series. I am still contemplating whether to write a new Winter 2011 Art and Music Appreciation ebook.
I will still be sharing what our family does with the Handbook of Nature Study as the opportunities arise and our nature study takes shape again.
Rest assured my brain is still formulating a new idea. The idea has been simmering for quite some time and I may be ready next spring to actually share with you some exciting new ways to more creative nature study and journals.
I have two new products to review and a giveaway in the works. Stay tuned for that in the next month or so….you will not want to miss them.

There is plenty to do around this blog to keep any family busy for a very long time. I just took an inventory of what is available on the blog sidebar for you to use with your family.

52 original Outdoor Hour Challenges
8 Bird Challenges
7 Crop Plant Challenges
Autumn 2009 Challenges =10
Winter 2010 Challenges =10
Spring 2010 Challenges =10
Summer 2010 Challenges =12
Autumn 2010 Challenges =10 (not listed yet but they will be over the next few months)
Winter Wednesday Challenges =9

That is a total of 128 challenges you can complete with your family!

So, there you have my thoughts for the week, month, and rest of the year. 🙂

I love what I do here on this blog and I am not going anywhere, just taking a different approach.

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Barb — 5 Comments

Mullein: Friend or Foe?

Mullein in our garden is about the only thing that is totally native and grows without any help or water from me. In the past, I dug it up and got rid of it but now I am converted. I leave it alone. It is rather pretty when it blossoms and the lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study has given me a new appreciation for this plant. (The lesson starts on page 537 and the study is Lesson 146.)

We actually studied mullein a little bit a few years ago and you can read about it here: Mullein.

After watching it grow in the garden, we realize now that it grows one year and blooms the next. This means that next year we will have loads of flowers from the many plants I have left in the garden this season. I am anxious to see how they survive the winter.

One thing that intrigued us from the lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study is the information on the “felt” of the leaves and stem. Anna Botsford Comstock suggests looking at it under a microscope. So….we did that and it was beautiful and enlightening. We could clearly see that the felt is actually a mat of sharp little spikes. The Handbook says that this felt also helps keep the water in the leaves from evaporating.

I have begun to open my eyes to native plants and the concept of weed vs. wildflower. There is always something new to learn about and to appreciate if we are open to the beauty right under our very own noses.

Still learning….

Posted on September 7, 2010 by Barb — 2 Comments

Tiger Lily Nature Journal

I have been going through all my photos from the summer, organizing and printing. I found several sets that I haven’t shared on the blog yet. These photos are from a dinner picnic we had at the lake. My daughter and I enjoyed a little time with watercolor pencils and paper….

Same subject, different perspectives. I love how we each have a different view but both are spectacular.

Have you sketched in your journal this week?

Posted on September 6, 2010 by Barb — 1 Comment

Garden Update-September 6th 2010

I have been neglecting my garden. I confess it and I admit it. The herbs are going to blossom and then seed because I am not cutting them regularly. (These are garlic chives.)

My strawberry patch turned brown because of lack of water but here it is coming back to life after two weeks of daily attention.

Okay…is this the prettiest little pink flower ever? I filled a couple of empty pots up with some sort of succulents from Home Depot at the beginning of the summer. I did not realize when I got this one that it would have these pretty flowers come the August heat. Gorgeous. There were about ten flowers blooming at a time on each of the plants. Wish I could remember what kind of plant this is and I would give it to all my friends. I will have to check Home Depot next time I am there.

Our sunflowers this year were quite disappointing. They bloomed for a day or two and then immediately turned brown and shriveled up. After last year’s bumper crop, we felt like we hardly had any at all to count bees on for the Great Sunflower Project. This is the Lemon Sunflower which I have come to love for its big yellow petals.

We are still picking tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini from our garden but nearly as many as normal. The squirrels are eating or dropping all the walnuts from the tree and making a huge mess. I have already started my fall garden clean-up which is very early for us.

Our attention has been in our front yard, remodeling to remove the water thirsty grass and replacing it with plants that need less water. We removed a tree and put in a retaining wall while we were at it.

Here is the before photo:

Here is where we are now:

We are hoping to finish the basics and fill in with plants and pavers as we have time and money. My husband and the boys are doing all the work themselves. I will write up some future entries with exactly the process we have worked through to get where we are in the remodel.

That wraps up this garden update. There is always something to do and something to plan for the garden isn’t there?

Posted on September 5, 2010 by Barb — 7 Comments

More Grasshopper Study…And A Little Praying Mantis Study Too

We were busy picking flowers and taking some photos when we had a visitor. It hopped right up on my arm and it tickled. I realized I had a visitor. My son scooped him up and put him on a flower while I captured him in a few photos.

I was pretty excited until I realized that the challenge was cricket, grasshopper, and katydid….we had ourselves a praying mantis! Oh well, it was fun observing him up close anyway.

Here is his behind….way too funny huh?

He was very good at posing. It made me laugh because every time I tried to take his photo, he would move so his head was facing away from the camera. He would actually look right at me and then turn at the last minute.

One last pose…I think he only had one antennae.

We spent last week in Nevada and it was amazing to us how many grasshoppers there were in the barren landscape. I never did get a single photo of the grasshoppers but we talked about their habits quite a bit as we were out and about.They were rather small grasshoppers in comparison to the one we found near a river in Reno.

I shared this guy last week and since them we have been trying to identify him with no success. He was rather large, probably close to 2 inches long. We think it may be a two-striped grasshopper.

Since we had crickets, grasshoppers, and katydids on our minds, we have slowed down a bit to try to find some to observe. We went out several times to try to hear some crickets but they seem to be smaller in number so the volume is less than usual. It has been a crazy weather year and I am wondering if it is effecting the crickets.

Sometimes I think we might learn more when we have trouble locating our challenge subject. We definitely find more to learn about.

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Barb — 1 Comment

Summer of Queen Anne’s Lace: Our Extended Outdoor Hour Challenge

This could very easily be called the Summer of Queen Anne’s Lace. Our local area has been blanketed with this wildflower, lining the roads and filling the fields. It is now starting to fade as the weather is very dry and hot….still a few green patches here and there but the stems are shorter and the flower bunches not as large.

Here is a patch we see regularly…this photo was taken back in July.

This is a patch we have just across the street from our house…photo taken last weekend. We were actually on a cricket hunt at sunset but the Queen Anne’s Lace captured our attention. It is still surprisingly green while all the surrounding weeds are brown and crispy. Kona wanted to be in the photo, stickers on her nose from the surrounding weeds.

Here is what the Handbook of Nature Study calls the “fruiting cluster” or “bird’s nest”. Look at all those seeds!

Here is a side shot of the Queen Anne’s Lace and you can see the red dot in the middle very clearly in a few of the flowers.

Here is a close-up showing the red blossoms in the center of this flower. If you look in the background of this photo you can see the star thistles….ugh. Those plants are crazy wicked. We pull them up by the roots if they happen to grow in our yard.

I thought this was such a pretty shape and the seeds almost look pink. This may work its way into my nature journal when I have a few minutes.

The boys have been experts at picking out Queen Anne’s Lace. At first they were mixing it up with Cow Parsnip.

This is what the Cow Parsnip looks like from the side. See how thick the stem is?

Here is the flower cluster. The balls of flowers are different once you recognize it and the leaves are totally different. The size of the plant is much larger than the Queen Anne’s Lace. I have never seen them growing together either so that makes it another identifying feature as well.

So in our attempt to identify and learn about Queen Anne’s Lace, we have learned a lot about the Cow Parsnip as well (also yarrow but that is another post).

I think for our family having a nature study focus has given our adventures a spirit of purpose. We always enjoy getting outside to enjoy our environment. Having a few possible topics in mind as we travel has helped us glean even more from our time outside. It is sort of like seeing an old friend when we come across the particular focus like Queen Anne’s Lace or grasshoppers or bats.

As we wind up our summer studies, I feel the pull of a new set of autumn adventures. I don’t usually like autumn but this year I am ready for it with its cooler days and nights, the fall of the leaves, and the changes. I think nature study has changed me inside and I know it has changed my children.

Posted on September 2, 2010 by Barb — 1 Comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival: Hot August Edition

Welcome to the Hot August Nights Edition of the Carnival! Our busy summer is winding down and autumn will soon be here. Our family did a pretty good job of completing the summer challenges although I have been slow in posting the results for the last few. I will make sure now that the Autumn ebook is finished to post our entries for you to see.

In the meantime, you will want to read what other Outdoor Hour Challenge families have accomplished in the past month. There are some fantastic entries in this carnival and I encourage you to read them for additional inspiration. This carnival is not very fancy because I have limited time this week to pull it together. The entries themselves will tell the nature study stories from August. I appreciate all the families that are willing to share their adventures and learning, it means a lot to me to be able to see how the ideas I put together are helping children all over the world become better acquainted with their own neighborhoods. Thank you.

I look forward to next month’s entries from all of you…..There is one more Summer Series Challenge that will post tomorrow and then the Autumn Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges will start on September 17th.

Starting off with the Summer Series Challenges….

Summer Series #1 Mosquitoes
Kelsey from Mud Puddles and her children did a study of the mosquito as part of this challenge. She gleaned some great ideas from other families just like we do.

Summer Series #2 Seasonal Tree
Kelsey from Mud Puddles shares the end of their year-long tree study….they learned a lot from their careful observations this past year. Guess what? Now you get to pick a new tree!

Summer Series #5 Owls
Kelsey from Mud Puddles and her children continued their owl study, complete with pellet dissection. They started off squeamish and ended up enthusiastic. I call that successful.

Summer Series #6 Frogs
Tricia from HodgePodge Homeschool shares some great photos of some unexpected tadpoles as well as their family’s study for this challenge. They are now prepared for frogs when they find them in their adventures.

Summer Series #7 Cattail Study
Angie and her boys from Petra School completed an awesome study of their cattails. They were able to make a second visit this season to do some comparing and more in-depth studies.

Kelsey from Mud Puddles wrote about their cattail observations and how they compared to their spring study. I really like their sketches too.

Summer Series #8 Fireflies and Moths
Just a note about this challenge: Since we do not have fireflies in California, I was not aware that there really is a season for observing them. I now know that it needs to really be a spring study or very early summer. I love learning new things. 🙂

Tricia and her children spent time not only studying but getting to know their lightning bugs this summer. I really like that they call them lightning bugs instead of fireflies and I can almost hear their Southern accent when I read the entry.

Summer Series #9 Evening Primrose and other Night Bloomers
Angie from Petra Schoolwas on a quest to find an evening primrose and they finally stumbled upon one to observe….literally. Let’s just say there was joy in her heart!

Kelsey from Mud Puddles is lucky enough to have a patch of evening primrose in their yard to observe up close. They were able to see them open up after dark. Awesome!

Tricia from HodgePodge Homeschool gives us a great entry sharing their night blooming flowers. They are not evening primroses but they are awesome to look at and she even includes a video.

Summer Series #10 Crickets, Grasshoppers, and Katydids
Angie from Petra School shares their entry about Bob the Cricket. This was a thorough study with some really good photos…I love reading about Angie’s boys and their adventures.

Tricia from HodePodge Homeschool shares their singing cricket study. This family is a great example of how nature study folds into your everyday life.

Summer Series #12 Raccoons (Posted early but that is totally fine with me!)
Tricia writes about their raccoon study…. a little early because the opportunity came up when Tricia’s grandmother shared some photos and experiences with raccoons in her birdfeeder. Delightful entry.

Other Challenges from the Past
OHC #22 Butterflies
Holli from Settled in My Home shares their beautiful butterfly entry. They saw quite a variety and she was able to capture some in some lovely photos.

Tricia from HodgePodge Homeschool writes about their study of butterflies, learning about the complete life-cycle and including an art project with pastels. Lovely thorough study and entry!

Spring Series #8
Makita from Academia Celestia shares their summer snake study. I love it when opportunities arise and family’s take the initiative to spend a little time learning more about the subjects that arise. Check out their great photos.

Winter Series #6 Salt
Phyllis from All Things Beautiful shares their salt study, just look at those beautiful crystals! This is an activity our boys never grow tired of completing.

Please consider submitting your Outdoor Hour Challenge entries and your Summer and Autumn Series entries to the next carnival. Deadline for submissions will be September 30th, 2010 and all entries from September are eligible. Here is the link for submissions: LINK.

Thanks again,
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Author: Barb