Barb, Author at Homeschool Nature Study

Posted on November 30, 2013 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival – November Edition

We had a great month! November was particularly mild which meant we could spend lots of time enjoying the outdoors together. Thank you to all the participants for this edition of the blog carnival. I know you will enjoy reading the entries as much as I did.

Our family’s entries from this month’s study (in case you missed one):

Be inspired. Be encouraged. Get outdoors!

Woodpecker/November Birds
Nelleke from Education is a Life shares her entry Birds of November with carnival readers.She writes about their bird focus for the month and some great images as well.

November World
Annie from Annie’s Place has submitted their November Weather Study entry for the carnival. She shares how they used the Outdoor Hour Challenge and a Hearts and Trees Weather Lapbook. So many great things in this entry!

Shirley Ann from Under An English Sky has shared their wonderful November World entry with the carnival. What a lovely glimpse into their November nature walks.

Alex from Life on a Canadian Island has submitted her next installment in her series of Window Nature Study – Autumn November. What a fun idea and I am thoroughly enjoying seeing into their continuing study.

Kris from On The 8th Day has written this entry for you to enjoy: Our November Neighborhood. Oh what an insightful entry! She shares how nature study has helped her gain some insight to how her children think…love it!

Barbara from The Schoolhouse on the Prairie shares her November World entry. I loved seeing their cottonwood tree and their nature riddles.

Mushrooms
Angie from Petra School has submitted her entry: Cascade Head Reserve, A Morning Walk. In this entry she has some glorious mushrooms for you to see. I love it!

Eva Varga shares her Fascinating Fungi entry with carnival readers for this edition. Her run through the forest was interrupted by some beautiful fungi. Thanks Eva for sharing!

Potpourri
Taunya from Taunya’s Place shares their Nature Study-The Cattail entry with the carnival. They used the Handbook of Nature Study and had some fun too!

Don’t forget to share your blog entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. All entries done in December are eligible for the next edition. The deadline for entries is 12/30/13 and you can send them directly to me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com or submit them at the blog carnival site (link on the sidebar of my blog).

Join us for the 2013-2013 Outdoor Hour Challenges.

Posted on November 29, 2013 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Field Notebook Nature Journal

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Making a Field Notebook

Use the ideas below to start your own field notebook:

Field Notebook (2009) with free notebook page
Nature Journals (2010)

You may also find this post helpful:
How To Organize Your Nature Journal Pages

Additional Activity:
Hearts and Trees Digital Camera Fall Scavenger Hunt

Download and complete this fun and easy digital camera scavenger hunt to include in your nature journal. Hearts and Trees (my daughter Amanda) has put together a fun outdoor activity that would make a great family project this week.

You may be interested in reading this post:
Nature Study and Digital Photography

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #6. Use your time outdoors this week to collect a few things to put on your nature shelf. Start a collection of anything that interests your children. Use the accompanying notebook page to record your collection ideas. You may also want to check out the ideas in this entry: Start a Rock Collection.

You are welcome to submit any of you blog Outdoor Hour Challenge blog entries to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival.

Posted on November 27, 2013 by Barb — 2 Comments

Backyard Birds: November 2013

I love watching and counting our backyard birds. As part of Project Feederwatch I am observing two days a week, a few minutes per day. Participating in this citizen science project has brought such focus to our birdwatching. We constantly are reminded that if we didn’t put in the effort, we would miss out on so many learning opportunities.

We saw a House Finch last week that has eye disease. This led to a bit of research on the All About Birds website. We learned the causes and the action we need to take when we see a House Finch with an eye disorder. You can read more on Cornell’s Website.

Today we saw a bunch of Juncos…one even posed on the back deck railing. Look at those feet. It spurred me on to pull out the bird feet activity from a few weeks ago to try to discover what kind of feet the Junco has.

It was quite an exciting afternoon when we spotted two Ruby Crowned Kinglets in our front yard. If you look closely in the center of this photo you will spy a little bird with red feathers on his head. He is fast so I wasn’t able to get a very clear photo of him but there he is! He is so light that he can land on branches of the butterfly bushes and they don’t even sag. He can sort of hover over the branch as well…amazing. I was able a few years ago to get a good photo in this entry: November Birds.

Here is our November 2013 List of Birds:
House Finch
White Crowned Sparrow
Dark Eyed Junco
Oak Titmouse
Anna’s Hummingbird
Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
Spotted Towhee
Western Bluebird
White Breasted Nuthatch
Cedar Waxwing
European Starling
Western Scrubjay
Bewick’s Wren – new to our life list
Northern Mockingbird
Ruby Crowned Kinglet

I am so looking forward to December bird watching!

Join us for the 2013-2014 Outdoor Hour Challenges!

Posted on November 18, 2013 by Barb — 1 Comment

Project Feederwatch and Autumn Birds

Time for Project Feederwatch to begin for the season! I am ready to go this year and have me days planned for observing our feeders. It only takes a few minutes on two consecutive days each week to participate. If you miss a week, that is okay too…just pick up when you can.

Watch a video on how to get started.

I love weaving a citizen science project like this into our lives. We have several feeders we can see from our windows and keeping them filled with seed is easy. Those feeders become the focal point of our bird observations because for Project Feederwatch you only count birds that come to eat.

We have participated for the last two years and it is interesting to compare our numbers from year to year.

We are already seeing some of our winter residents arriving from their summer migration areas.

What are you seeing at your feeders this month? Are you anticipating the return of any birds to your feeders?

Here is what we had at our feeders this week:
Dark eyed Junco
White-crowned Sparrow
House Finches
Anna’s Hummingbirds
Spotted Towhee
Western Scrub Jays
Titmouse
Starlings (in the trees, not the feeder though)
Goldfinches
White-breasted nuthatches

Plus a NEW BIRD!!!

This is the first time ever I spotted a Bewick’s Wren in my backyard! I was out trying to capture my Spotted towhee when this little guy caught my eye. He was flitting around in the shrubs and he ended up on the lilac branches in my butterfly garden. I wasn’t sure if I could get him because he was fast! But, there he is and the image is clear enough that I was able to go in and identify him using WhatBird? and AllAboutBirds.com. He is new on my life list and he will be going into my nature journal soon.

I will be sharing my bird lists each month and if you do the same you can drop me a comment and I will come and take a look.

You may be interested in following my Nature Study-Birds Pinterest board!

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – November World Nature Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge November World Observations

Outdoor Hour Challenge
November World Nature Observations

November is a transitional season month in our part of the world…not exactly autumn and not quite winter yet. Use this week’s outdoor time to create an impression of your November World…create word pictures and enjoy the time outside with your children.

You may want to use some of the ideas in these challenges:
November World 2010 – Familiar Spot
Signs of Autumn – Challenge and Notebook Page

November World Notebook Page
(from the November 2011 Newsletter)

Have some fun completing this challenge and then record your November World observations using this simple notebook page.

November World – Know Your Own Backyard Notebook Page

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #2-Using Your Words. Create some lovely word pictures after your outdoor time for this challenge. Use the accompanying notebook page to record your words or use a blank journal page.

Note: This nature study challenge can be found in the Autumn 2010 ebook.

If you would like to own this ebook, it is part of the Ultimate Naturalist Library for members. You can find more details on how to get your own membership here: Join Us!

Ultimate Ebook Library @handbookofnaturestudy

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Barb — 1 Comment

November Weather Grid Observations

Have you started your November Weather Grid observations? We have continued to have warm, sunny days – last week with the afternoon temperatures in the 70’s and this week in the 60’s. It is not our typical November weather at all.

My rain gauge has not had a drop of rain in it all month.

There were only a few clouds to observe this week and we made a point to get out and watch for awhile. I remembered to think of some words to describe them: thin, grey, fast-moving, swirly, like cotton, friendly.

The birds are returning to my feeders a little at a time and I spend some time each day looking out the window at the trees in the backyard for some bird visitors. Mr. B pointed out two Northern Flickers a few days ago…he says, “Hey Mom, there are two really colorful big birds outside my window!”

I found parts of two different butterflies in the yard when we were raking up some leaves. Have you ever tried picking up a butterfly wing? It is so very delicate and when you set it down it blows away in the slightest breeze. Amazing to look at with the magnifying lens.

One day I collected some autumn twigs, branches, and dried flowers from the garden for a “bouquet” that sits on the nature table. Nothing fancy but it makes me happy.

We have still been walking outdoors just about every day, sometimes in our neighborhood and sometimes we take the local walking trail. The trail is dry and covered in fallen leaves…so very dry. I know the rest of November may be cooler and wetter but for now the word to describe our weather is DRY or maybe WARM.

The Kona dog doesn’t mind the weather and takes advantage of the opportunity at our river walks to jump in and swim. The river is low right now so she paddles around or fetches a ball if we have one to throw in for her. The water is too cold for me but for our Labrador it is heaven.

Look for a weather related challenge this week and I look forward to seeing some of your November World observations in the up-coming Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival.

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Barb — Leave a comment

Rock Study #6 – Quartz

Quartz is a common rock found in my part of the world. We see it just about everywhere we go whether it is on our walking trail or down by the river. We mostly have milky quartz.

Here is my specimen gathered locally and now sitting in my collection. Okay, I already had lots of quartz in my collection but since my nature study goals were to collect the samples this year, I decided to get another one…you can never have too many rocks. 🙂

According to Wikipedia, milky quartz is the most commonly found type of quartz and can be found almost everywhere. I know we have found it a lot of places we have traveled. Even though it is very common, it is still beautiful and amazing to look at.

Some more interesting facts I learned this time:

All granite has quartz and feldspar crystals in it. The crystals in granite are not large and perfect.
Amethysts are crystals of quartz colored a beautiful violet by the presence of a tiny amount of manganese.
Quartz crystals are six-sided.

Photo courtesy of Rob Lavinsky at iRocks.com

Another interesting aspect of our quartz study was the knowledge that our local gold mines were commonly quartz gold mines. The gold was extracted using a series of stamp mills, mixed with water, and then extracted using mercury. I have seen the stamp mill replica in our town and was told that when it was in operation the noise echoed all over the town. I can only imagine how that would have sounded!

If you are interested in studying more about quartz using the Handbook of Nature Study, don’t miss this challenge from the archives: Quartz Study

To refresh your memory, I am going to try to collect all fifteen rocks discussed in the Rocks, Fossils and Arrowheads (Take-Along Guides).This month we spent lots of time out and about looking at rocks, collecting a few new ones, and enjoying our rock adventures. We did not actually complete any of the fifteen rocks from the book. I can see now that I need to be more purposeful if I am going to achieve this goal in the year 2013.

The affiliate links in this post are to things I own and highly recommend.

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Barb — 1 Comment

Nature Literature and Step Gently Out

Step gently out,
be still,
and watch
a single blade
of grass.

I want to introduce you to another wonderful children’s nature study book, Step Gently Out. This book, written from the ant-eye-view, will inspire you and your children to perhaps look more closely at nature when you are outside together.

Read the pages, examine the images, and let your child tell you what he thinks of each and every page. Use this idea of looking carefully during your next Outdoor Hour (or even a quick minute or two if that is all you have).

In our modern world it might be easy to miss these opportunities to take a good look at our surroundings. This book will serve as a stimulus and a reminder.

This is one you can look for at your public library and then decide if you want it for your personal library.

Step Gently Out • A nature picture book for all ages from Step Gently Out on Vimeo.

I’m an Amazon Affiliate and only recommend products that I personally own (or wish I owned) and think my readers will love as well! This post may contain some links that will take you to these products on Amazon where I receive a small referral fee. I greatly appreciate your support!

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Barb — 1 Comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Woodpecker Bird Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Woodpecker Nature Study

Use the ideas in these challenges from the archives:
Black and White Birds – Woodpecker, Chickadee, Nuthatch, Towhee
Woodpeckers (2009)
Ideas for Creating a Bird Themed Nature Table (printable)

Bird Feet
Use some of your time this week to observe some bird feet. Any birds will do so get creative…do you have ducks at a park, chickens near-by, or birds at your feeder?

These notebooking pages for your nature journal are meant to help you go deeper in your study of bird feet. page one can be used by younger children and page two is meant for a more advanced study. Feel free to choose one to use now and one to use later if you need to.

Here are some links to help you get started:
Birds Legs and Feet – lots of great images to view and discuss
Fantastic Feet of Birds – more amazing and clearly illustrated bird feet
Advanced Study – Types of Bird Feet

Printable Bird Feed Grid and Advanced Study Notebook Pages

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #4. Use the ideas in this challenge to start a focused study of birds. Use the accompanying notebook page to record your week’s outdoor time and then start a running list of birds you see this month or for a season.

Author: Barb