If you haven’t joined us for our weekly nature study yet this year, it’s not too late to jump in with the rest of the year’s plan!
We’ll be starting a new series of nature study lessons from the Forest Fun ebook on January 17, 2020.
Topics will include: bear, porcupine, raven, skunk cabbage, California quail, moose, rabbitbrush, azalea, and Western tanager.
I’m super excited to be offering these topics that are not covered in the Handbook of Nature Study, but are subjects that many of us observe during our nature study outings and during our vacations.
After we finish up the Forest Fun ebook, we’ll move on to another completely new (soon to be published) ebook that features topics from the High Desert.
Topics include: mountain lion, coyote, elk, pocket gopher, golden mantled ground squirrel, river otter, sagebrush, bitterbrush, snowberry, succulents, greater sage grouse, turkey vulture, juniper tree, and the bristlecone pine.
Our year will finish off with the Creepy Things series of nature study topics. This newly released ebook includes fascinating studies of the banana slug, tarantula, black widow, scorpion, leech, muskrat, sphinx moth, cicada, millipede, and poison oak.
I’m inviting you to join us as members here on the Handbook of Nature Study which will give you access to all of these brand new nature study topics in addition to the archives of past ebooks, newsletters, nature planner pages, and growing list of printables available.
Use the discount code NATURE5 when you purchase your Ultimate Naturalist membership and you’ll receive $5 off your purchase.
Your membership will start the date of purchase and will be valid for one complete year from that time. This will include all of the upcoming ebooks and monthly printables released during that 12 month period.
We have had a server crash and we have only been able to restore the website to July 2019. This means the newer ebooks are not posted up in the library.
I will be adding those back in by the end of the week and hopefully get back on track.
I apologize for any inconvenience!
Edit to add: If you are a member and no longer have access to your account, you can email me and we will set your membership back up. So sorry for the extra work!!!
Ultimate and Journey Level members can click this graphic to go directly to the library to download a copy of this new ebook. Make sure you are logged in and if you’re having trouble with your password, please leave me a comment or send me a direct email to receive my assistance. Email: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com
New Ebook is Now Available to Members!
The Creepy Things ebook is now ready for you to download and use with your family. This is one of the ebooks we’ll be working through later in the 2019-2020 plans. I learned a lot about so many things as I wrote this set of challenges and I know you will too!
There are 10 brand new Outdoor Hour Challenges for you to complete as part of your nature study lessons with your children. These Challenges are not based on information in the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock. You’ll be using internet links and field guides to glean information about each topic.
This 46 page digital ebook has 10 challenges and supplemental activities that will help you learn about things that you may have wondered about in the past but considered too “creepy” or scary to learn about in person.
There are multiple custom notebooking pages for each of the topics. You can choose from simple notebook pages or more advanced notebooking pages.
Here are the specific topics included in this ebook:
Banana slug
Tarantula/Tarantula hawk
Black Widow
Scorpion
Leech
Muskrat
Sphinx moth
Cicada
Millipede
Poison oak
How do you get the new Creepy Things ebook?
Members of the Ultimate Naturalistand Journey levels have access to the new ebook in their library. You need to click the “Members Area” button at the top of the website, sign into your account, and the ebook is there to download and save for your family to use when desired.
If you don’t have a membership yet, I’m offering a $5 off discount code that will be good towards your Ultimate Naturalist membership.
Ultimate and Journey Level members can click this graphic to go directly to the library to download a copy of this new ebook. Make sure you are logged in and if you are having trouble with your password, please leave me a comment or send me a direct email to receive my assistance. Email: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com
New Ebook is Now Available to Members!
The Forest Fun ebook is now ready for you to download and use with your family. It will be a part of the 2019-2020 plans here on the Handbook of Nature Study. I’m excited to have a new set of challenges to complete along with you!
There are nine brand new Outdoor Hour Challenges for you to complete as part of your nature study lessons with your children. These Challenges are not based on information in the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock but you will be using internet links and field guides to glean information about each topic.
This 47 page digital ebook has 9 challenges and supplemental activities that will help you learn about some common things you’ll find in a forest, especially the forests of the western United States.
There are multiple custom notebooking pages for each of the topics. You can choose from simple notebook pages or more advanced notebooking pages.
Here are the specific topics included in this ebook:
Rabbitbrush
Skunk Cabbage
Azalea
Common Raven
California Quail
Western Tanager
Black Bear
Moose
Porcupine
How do you get the new Forest Fun ebook?
Members of the Ultimate Naturalistand Journey levels have access to the new ebook in their library. You need to click the “Members Area” button at the top of the website, sign into your account, and the ebook is there to download and save for your family to use when desired.
If you don’t have a membership yet, I’m offering a $5 off discount code that will be good towards your Ultimate Naturalist membership.
I know how much the Outdoor Hour Challenge year plan is anticipated by the families that follow the series of topics each week! I’m happy to announce that I have it all organized and ready to go for you a little bit earlier than usual. You’ll be excited to hear that there are 5 new ebooks publishing over the next year, three of which will be included in this year’s Outdoor Hour Challenge plan!
Here are the four ebooks that will be planned out from September 2019 to August 2020.
Autumn Nature Study Continues ebook from the archives:belted kingfisher, hawks, salvia, teasel, burdock, lizards, ash tree, hemlock tree, witch hazel tree, staghorn sumac tree, stinkhorn, bracket fungi, pig, constellations (Cassiopeia’s Chair, Cepheus, and the Dragon), mica, and winter berries.
Forest Ebook: Contains 9 challenges: rabbitbrush, skunk cabbage, azalea, raven, California quail, tanager, bear, moose, and the porcupine. This ebook will be added to the Ultimate and Journey level memberships in August 2019.
High Desert Ebook: Contains 14 challenges: bitterbrush, sage, sage grouse, succulents, mountain lion, coyote, pocket gopher, bristlecone pine, elk, turkey vulture, juniper tree, snowberry, golden mantled ground squirrel, and river otter. This ebook will be added to the Ultimate and Journey level memberships in February 2020.
Creepy Things Ebook: Contains 10 challenges: banana slug, tarantula, black widow, scorpion, leech, muskrat, sphinx moth, cicada, millipede, and poison oak. This ebook will be added to the Ultimate and Journey level memberships in November 2019.
Outdoor Hour Challenge September 2019 – August 2020 for Members
Get the Year Plan in a PDF: Subscribe to the Ultimate Naturalist Library or Journey level membership. Your membership will give you access to a detailed schedule for the entire year. You’ll have a printable plan that shows dates and specific topics that will be considered every Friday. This makes your planning super easy!
New this year are monthly planning pages with lots of additional nature study ideas that you can use to enrich your nature study. These are similar to the planning pages I created for the newsletters in the past. If you’re a member at any level, you will receive all 12 months of planning pages in one pdf to download and print! View a sample planning page below.
These pages will be added to the Ultimate and Journey level memberships by the end of July 2019.
Do You Want to Join Us? Here’s what you need to do!
Purchase a membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study. Remember that if you want access to all the ebooks, you’ll need an Ultimate Naturalist or Journey Level Membership. If you purchase a membership now, you’ll have access to all of the new ebooks as they become available. A membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study starts the date of purchase and is valid for one year.
Download the ebooks as they become available (see the publishing dates above).
Download the September 2019 through August 2020 plan from your membership account.
Download and print the monthly planning pages from your membership account when it becomes available at the end of July 2019.
Subscribe to the Handbook of Nature Study blog for reminders each Friday.
Click Below to Get Started!
Note: There will be two more ebooks in addition to those mentioned above that will be published this year:
Once again, the Handbook of Nature Study memberships were given a Practical Homeschool Reader Awardas an outstanding elementary science plan for homeschooling families. What a privilege! The nature study plans offered as part of the Outdoor Hour Challenge continue to be a favorite resource for families around the globe. Thank you!!!
If you can’t purchase a membership at this time, you can still follow along by subscribing to the blog and each week’s Outdoor Hour Challenge will come right to your email inbox.
Use the Outdoor Hour Challenge topics to stimulate my interest in my local habitat and help to build my skills as a naturalist. I have been faithfully following the Outdoor Hour Challenge but I have not been as good about posting my results here on the blog. I do lots of research and preparation work during the week leading up to each challenge and then sort of fall flat on writing about it. Perhaps a good addition to this goal would be to post at least on blog entry per month sharing what we learned in completing the weekly Outdoor Hour Challenges.
Keep a detailed record of my nature observations. I’m still going strong with my observations in my daily journal, the five year journal, and my personal nature journal. I have learned a lot about our habitat by comparing this year’s details with last year’s records. It helps me see patterns and then anticipate when something will bloom or the arrival of a particular bird. In general, things are much later in the season this year, our temperatures are much cooler, and there has been far more rainfall.
Hiking and Kayaking. Our hiking and kayaking have ramped up for the season. There have three kayak trips and numerous short hikes. We hiked a new trail from La Pine State Park to Fall River which is mostly through the evergreen forest but also a little along the Deschutes River. We also hiked a favorite trail at Smith Rock State Park (making a note to write a blog entry about this awesome state park).
Read nature related books this year. I’m enjoying a new book featuring insects of the Pacific Northwest. I am also working my way through the book, Nature Walks by Claire Leslie Walker.
As noted in my Nature Observer post for June 2019, I am spending a lot of time outdoors while the weather is warmer and things are growing and visiting in my yard. It seems like every effort I make to be outdoors is rewarded with an interesting discovery.
Note for 2020: Next year I am going to make it a goal to plant more seeds earlier indoors, perhaps in a green house, so that I can get a jump on the growing season here in Central Oregon. The seeds we did put in pots early are doing fantastic and we are beginning to see the fruits of our labor. This goal may dovetail into another goal to increase the bird and butterfly friendly areas of our yard.
Did you make nature goals this year? How are doing at achieving those goals?
These are Amazon affiliate links to books I own and love.
We’re coming up to our fourth and final willow tree study in our Year-Long Tree Study. Take some time this week to revisit your willow tree and make your summertime observations. You may wish to pull out your autumn, winter, and/or springtime observations to make some comparisons.
If this is the first time you’re studying a willow, follow the link to the challenge in the archives for suggestions to get started. All of the previous season’s studies are listed below for your convenience.
The Summer Willow study is found in the Summer Nature Study Continues ebook. If you have access to this ebook in your Ultimate or Journey level membership, make sure to print out the notebook page that goes along with this challenge.
You’ll also find a complete list of tree nature study lessons (for every tree in the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock) here on this link.
Now available in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships:
Rock Set #1 Notebooking Pages
Rock Set #1 Notebook Pages: This set of five new notebooking pages for your nature journal is perfect for recording your research notes and sketches for each rock. Topics included: Pyrite, obsidian, coal, hematite, and chalk.
(See the end of this post for more information on how you can become a member.)
Note: If you have any subjects you would like me to create nature notebook pages for, please let me know in a comment here on the blog or in an email: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com
Print a complete list of printables available in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships by clicking the button above.
Use the discount code NATURE5 for $5 off an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership!
It’s that time of year again! Wildflower season is upon us and it may just be the topic that your children will really enjoy as you take your summer nature walks. Who can help but notice the colors of summer when they start to bloom? Every habitat has something to offer before the season passes.
Use the ideas in the link below to take a closer look at a few of your wildflowers of summer. After you make some observations, you can create a nature journal page for each flower. Keep your study simple and fun this summer and you’ll be sure to make some fond wildflower memories for your children.
You’ll also find a complete list of wildflower nature study lessons (for every flower in the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock) here on this link.
In addition, you can use any of the three Outdoor Hour Challenge wildflower ebooks to learn more about wildflowers not included in the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock.
You may also be interested in reading this entry that features wildflowers and nature study:
I decided to observe the first day of summer by taking a tour of our yard to look for interesting things to note. First of all, the temperatures have been cool again…really cool at 33 degrees when I get up in the morning. I haven’t lost any of our plants yet to the cold temperatures so I’m hoping they will continue to grow.
Our transplanted sunflowers are looking good in their new box. I think we may have over planted but my husband just can’t bear to thin the seedlings. I’m dreaming of the colorful flowers to come. The only thing to be concerned about are the deer that may somehow get inside our fence and eat the flowers like they’re at a salad bar. It’s happened before!
I don’t think I have mentioned that the sunflowers we are growing come from Renee’s Garden. I have once again received some complimentary seeds from them to use in my garden.
We’re blessed with an abundance and variety of wildflowers in our yard this year. Partly because we have kept the deer out and mostly because I convinced my husband to let a few areas just grow wildly. This has revealed a number of plants we didn’t know we had growing along the edges like the penstemon, the goosefoot violets, and the salsify.
Along with the increase in flowers, there are many more insects to observe. Right now there’s an insect that is rolling itself up in our aspen tree leaves.
We have ground squirrels that are burrowing into our landscaping berms. They are trying to tunnel their way over to the birdfeeder. Our dogs then take the opportunity to dig the tunnels out and chase the squirrels away. This is a problem because they unearth so many of our newly planted flowers in the process. I’m trying to resolve this problem without harming any flora or fauna.
Chickadee
The babies are all hatching in our nests and nesting boxes. There have been a few casualties along the way but I think for the most part the birds are thriving and it has been a successful year of supporting the birds in our habitat.
On a more serious note, we almost had a tragedy involving our puppy and mushrooms growing in our yard. We didn’t realize we had any mushrooms until I started looking carefully when Sierra started acting strangely. She was stumbling around, very agitated, and drooling. I found the mushroom near where she had dug up a small tree stump in our backyard. We rushed her to the vet’s and they were able to get her stabilized with fluids and oxygen. They tried to induce vomiting but were not successful. But, in the end, after a long and scary night, she came out the other side and seems to be recovering. We were very relieved that we caught it in time to get her help and that she’s a strong, healthy puppy.
PLEASE check your yard for mushrooms. Doing more research on this topic, I’ve learned that mushrooms are a common cause of poisoning for dogs. You can bet I will be mighty vigilant from now on and pluck any mushrooms up and throw them away as soon as I see them.
We’re looking out over the next couple months with anticipation for all the summer things we want to do while the weather is warm.
What did you do for the first day of summer?
Here’s a link to the original challenge for many ideas and printables to use as part of your early summer weather study: Outdoor Hour Challenge – Summer Weather
