Nature Study Goals 2015 Planning Page
Free Printable Nature Study Goals Planner Page for everyone! Download this simple planner page to record simple nature study goals and create a plan to accomplish those goals. I know there were many of you who responded to my 2015 list and perhaps this will encourage you to make a few goals of your own.
There are new printables for you to use with your family if you are a member of the Ultimate Naturalist or Journey level memberships. You need to log into your account and then check the “Other Releases” section for brand new printables to enjoy along with the Outdoor Hour Challenges in January 2015.
1. Yosemite Photography Project – Start my long term project to take photos from every spot listed in the book. (The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite)
2. Visit one new state park. I didn’t realize how many parks I have not visited right in my own area. (My reference book:Day Hiker’s Guide to California’s State Parks)
3. Visit one new national park. I know it is worth the effort to achieve this goal so we have begun thinking and exploring how to visit a park this year.
4. Visit a bird refuge. I love learning about birds so much and this is something that our family can accomplish with a day trip.
5. Take one new hike from the guide book we purchased last year. (Best Hikes Near Sacramento)
6. Read ten nature-related books this year. Stay tuned for a separate post with the books I have chosen to read.
7. Continue my rock project.
8. Create at least one nature journal entry each month (participate in the Once a Month Journal Project).
9. Rewatch the National Parks series on Netflix.
This is my third year creating goals for our nature study and I think I am getting better at being realistic about listing things that are both meaningful and achievable. I will be updating my goals and sharing my victories every quarter instead of each month in 2015. Join me if you like and share a link to your goals in a comment so I can pop over and cheer you on.
Here’s to a great year!
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Inside Preparation Work:
Outdoor Hour Time:
Follow-Up Activity:
Join us for this series of challenges every week here on the Handbook of Nature Study.
If you want to purchase the Winter Nature Study Continues ebook so you can follow along with all the notebooking pages, coloring pages, and subject images, you can join the Ultimate or Journey Membership Levels. See the Join Us page for complete information. Also, you can view the Winter Nature Study Continues Ebook Announcement page for more details.
Somehow this post got started and then never finished or posted. I think it was just waiting for me to have some important reason to share it….today is the day.
Way back in October I visited Monterey and Pacific Grove (California) for a wedding with my son and we had a few minutes to stop and check out the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary which unfortunately didn’t have any monarchs yet.
We walked around and looked in the trees and along the trail but not a single butterfly to see. We were just too early in the season.
Yesterday, I read an article from the Washington Post on monarch butterflies. The title had caught my eye, “Activists seek endangered status for monarch butterfly”. The article reminded me of our visit to the sanctuary and nudged me to actually finish and post this for you to enjoy.
Did you know that over the past 20 years, the monarch population has fallen by as much as 90%, according to the Center for Biological Diversity? I find that statistic shocking! The reason for the decline is partly because of dwindling supplies of milkweed along the thousands of miles of their migratory route and the illegal deforestation of their winter habitat in Mexico. Of course, the monarch butterflies that overwinter in Pacific Grove face their own perils. Reduction in the groves of coastal trees that provide cover and the reduction in native milkweed are of major concern to the California migration of monarchs.
The Xerces Society website has a list of things we in California can do to help the monarch butterflies, including the planting of milkweed and participating in the Thanksgiving Monarch Count. The results for the 2014 count are available here: Data Western Monarch Count. Shocking numbers!
I hope you take some time to educate yourself about the seriousness of this issue. Resolve to share this information with your children so that they know how important it is to conserve not only the local milkweed habitat but to encourage others to do the same.
What would the world be like without these beautiful creatures? Sad day if we lose these special insects.
We have monarch butterflies come through our garden….we have tried unsuccessfully to grow milkweed but I am determined to give it a try again this year!
January 2015 – Book Basket Edition
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Contents of this edition of the newsletter include:
Please note that Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level members have access to members only printables each month in addition to the newsletter printables. You will need to log into your account and then go to the “Other Releases” section.
December is traditionally a slow nature study month in our home. Not just the weather, but so many things to distract us from our normal routine. We were able to take a few hikes and a snowshoe day this month which reminded me how much I am energized by being outside. Don’t forget that your children may need some outdoor time even in the winter months. Use the Outdoor Hour Challenge ideas to get started and then make the time to share some fresh air soon.
Our family’s December entries from this month’s study (in case you missed one):
I invited past Outdoor Hour Challenge participants to submit their favorite entries from 2014. I thought this would be a fun way to include some spark for nature study planning in the new year. Enjoy the carnival!
Favorite Nature Study Entries 2014
Angie from Petra School has been a faithful follower of my blog and a regular participant in this blog carnival. I love how she incorporates nature study in her Oregon habitat with her two sons even as teenagers. She is a joy to read. I invite you to read her favorite entry from 2014: Winter Mammals at the Coast.
Janet from Pursuing the Journey has submitted some wonderful entries over the past year. I have picked up on her enthusiasm for her local nature projects and wish we had something similar here. Please take a moment to pop over and read her favorite entry from 2014: More Mammal Recording.
Eva Varga has submitted a current entry to this edition of the carnival. Here is her submission: Winter Nature Walks. Eva has been participating as a blog carnival participant and as a newsletter article writer for a very long time. We have had the opportunity to meet in person since she is a fellow Californian. You may interested in knowing that she is also the author of science curriculum for children: Science Logic.
Don’t forget to share your blog entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. All entries done in January are eligible for the next edition. The deadline for entries is 1/30/15 and you can send them directly to me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com.
Concluding Thoughts
Overall I think I did pretty good this year in reaching my nature study goals. A few areas I could have done a better job but those goals can rollover into 2015. We were able to do some amazing traveling during 2014 which was very unexpected and exciting. So, what started out as a rather wacky idea to make nature study goals way back at the beginning of 2013 has actually been just what I needed to push me in creating the opportunity to grow and learn as a person deeply interested in discovering and then learning more about what I see in my natural surroundings.
#1- Visit two new national parks in 2014. Complete.
#2- Identify and journal three new birds. Complete.
Completed the Bewick’s Wren, the Clark’s Nutcracker, and now the Killdeer.
#3- Identify and journal three new rocks. Completed only one but will continue on again in 2015.
#4- Three new hikes. Complete!
#5 Visit a new-to-me nature center. Complete.
#6- Post a nature photo of the week for the entire year. I came really close to accomplishing this goal! I did 48 of the 52 prompts. If you are interested in seeing the Pinterest board with all of the images from the year, you can pop over to Nature Photo of the Week 2014.
#7- Camping in all four seasons.
We made summer and autumn camping trips easily. After much thought and discussion with my husband, we decided we really don’t have any desire to go camping in the winter. Call it wimping out or whatever you want but we would rather go camping when the conditions are warmer and the days are longer. Our spring camping trip will happen in 2015!
I will be posting my 2015 after the new year rolls in and I get them down on paper.
We had a chance to hike to the river this week to look for winter berries. The only ones we observed were the bright red toyon berries that lined the trail in certain spots. This is a shrub that we have studied in depth in the past and although it is not in the Handbook of Nature Study, we used the internet to discover what birds or animals eat the berries.
I found information that says that there are many birds, coyotes and bears eat the toyon berries which help to disperse the seeds.
Here is my Toyon Berry (or Christmas Berry) entry from last year.
This hike though was all about the variety of fungus that we have emerging from the ground in our area since the rainy season has officially started.
So these look like Emetic Russula that my field guide says are present in all western forests. In the comments in the guide it says that they are usually regarded as poisonous and have an extremely acrid taste that would discourage you from eating them anyway. I will just enjoy their bright pops of red on the forest floor as I hike along.
Here is a glimpse into some of the other more interesting fungi we spotted as we hiked. It was actually a little overwhelming to try to see them all…it was a perfect fungi walk!
This is my favorite…the trametes versicolor or turkey tail. Don’t you just love it?
The woodlands of our area are coming alive right now as the rains bring on the green grasses and beginnings of the early wildflower plants. As we pass the first day of winter and the days gradually get longer and longer, I feel the pull to be outdoors again even in the cold temperatures. This is actually one of the best times to be outside in our area if the sun is shining. Hats and jackets are required to keep warm but as long as you keep moving or stop only in the sunshine, it is a glorious time outside.
As this year draws to a close, I am reviewing my Nature Study Goals for 2014 and anticipating those for 2015. Stay tuned for those posts soon!
Our December bird study has been accomplished by participation in Project Feederwatch.
We didn’t see a Belted Kingfisher for that particular Outdoor Hour Challenge. As much as I travel in California, I have never seen one in real life. I used the location and species application over on the Great Backyard Bird Count website to local possible locations for future observation. It looks like that we can find them within an hour’s drive of our house which is encouraging.
This year I am pretty much on my own for weekday nature walks. I am scheduling in at least two long walks a week because walking and thinking are so very refreshing. Just getting outside in the air to observe the season takes a little effort but it is never disappointing. Let me how you are able to keep your nature walks going during the winter. I will be writing an article for an up-coming newsletter about the benefits of regular outdoor time for families.
