More Nature Study Book 1 Archives

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Barb — 3 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge – More Nature Study #2 Leaf-Miners and Leaf-Rollers

Here comes the second challenge in the new series of Outdoor Hour Challenges! I will be posting one new challenge each Friday and you are welcome to jump in and work through the challenges as you have time.

Inside Preparation Work:
1.Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 329-334 (Lessons 77 and 78). Pay special attention to the “Leading Thoughts” and the “Methods” sections in each lesson. These will give you hints and ideas for searching for Leaf-miners and Leaf-rollers.
2. Optional YouTube Video: Watch a leaf roller HERE. One short one showing it up close HERE.
3. Preview this YouTube video of a leaf miner at work: The Good, The Bad, the Ugly…Larva. Awesome! Watch it full screen if you dare.

Hints: Look on sumac, basswood, and witch hazel for leaf-rollers. We have found leaf-rollers on our crepe myrtle and coneflowers. For leaf-miners, look on nasturtium, columbine, lamb’s quarters, dock, and burdock. You may also try pine needles for yellow tips. We have found leaf-miners on oaks.

Outdoor Hour Time:
1. Go outside with the intention of looking for and observing some insects. Keep in mind the images of the leaf-miner and the leaf-roller. Look for signs of these kinds of insects on the leaves in your garden or in your neighborhood. There are many varieties of each kind of insect so you may wish to consult your field guide before you head out.
2. If you don’t find any insects to observe, take a few minutes of your Outdoor Hour time to examine various leaves with a hand-lens. Look for anything that has damaged the leaves and describe what it looks like. Many things can damage leaves besides insects.

Follow-Up Activity:
1. Insects are hard to identify but the point of this challenge is mainly to look for Leaf-miners and Leaf-rollers and how they use leaves during their life-cycle. If you can see the larva or the insect itself, you may have a good chance at identifying it. On the other hand, you may just need to talk about the behavior of this kind of insect and give the opportunity to sketch the leaf and your observations. You can use the accompanying notebook page for convenience (ebook users only).
2. Advanced Follow-Up: Read this link for more information on leaf rolling insects: Leaf Rollers on Ornamental and Fruit Trees ( UC Davis). Complete the Upper Level notebook page with your research (ebook users only).

This challenge is part of the More Nature Study – Autumn series. All of the challenges are gathered into one ebook with notebooking pages (regular and for advanced students) and additional resources. You can gain access to this ebook by purchasing an Ultimate Naturalist membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study. See the Join Us page by clicking the link at the top of the website for more information about what comes with your Ultimate membership.

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Posted on September 14, 2011 by Barb — 10 Comments

Our Milkweed Study – Featuring the Pods

Showy Milkweed pod and dried flowers – Yosemite Valley 8/2011

Nature study while traveling is a gentle way to learn more about a new place, or in this case, a familiar place. Our family spends quite a bit of time at Yosemite National Park and consider it part of our big “backyard”. Learning flower names, tree species, more about the mammals who live there, and how they all work together has been a layer of understanding that over time has given us much pleasure. We KNOW this place and appreciate the beauty and awesome balance found in this most special of valleys.

As part of our milkweed study, I remembered an abundance of Showy milkweed in Yosemite Valley…whole patches in the meadows. We made a special walk along the Valley floor to observe an abundance of milkweed…it was hot in the sun but that is part of the late summer experience at Yosemite.

I was wishing were not a national park so we could pick some pods to dissect….we restrained ourselves and used our eyes and camera to capture our experience instead. There is so much to learn by using your senses.

Things we found interesting to think about and research a little more:

Insects we observed: milkweed beetle, some sort of bee/wasp
Size of some of the pods…was it a “good” year for milkweed?
How long until the pods burst open and shed their seeds?

Mr. B did a comparison of the milkweed seeds (images from a previous encounter and internet research), dandelion seeds (found in our backyard), and the cattail (gathered at our local patch).

We also have a small pot of milkweed on our back deck that we have been nurturing for two years. It did grow a bit better this year but still no blooms or pods. I am going to try again next year with new seeds but after reading about milkweed in the Handbook and online, we may plant them directly in the garden.

All in all, I think the new Advanced Follow-Up suggestions went rather well for this challenge.

If you would like to see another milkweed entry we did a few years ago, you can click over here:

Milkweed (Challenge #30 Weeds and Seeds)

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Barb — 8 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge – More Nature Study #1 Milkweed

More Nature Study
Challenge #1 Milkweed (or any other autumn blooming plant)

Where to find it? Showy Milkweed and Common Milkweed

Showy Milkweed in Bloom Earlier In The Summer

Inside Preparation Work:

Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 491-493 (Lesson 128) on the milkweed plant. Glean some ideas from Lesson 128 for your milkweed observations. This plant is still in bloom in many areas of the country but even if it is past bloom, the seed pods should be present and a wonderful nature study lesson all on their own. Lesson 128 in the Handbook of Nature Study gives some interesting suggestions for observations.
If you have a field guide for wildflowers, you may wish to look up milkweed in the index to learn more about your local milkweed.

Outdoor Hour Time:

As part of your Outdoor Hour this week, look for milkweed to observe.
Make observations of the flowers, the leaves, and/or the seed pod. If it is appropriate, break off a leaf or cut a stem to see the rubbery “milk”. Did you see any insects on or near your milkweed?
If you don’t find milkweed, check for other fall blossoming wildflowers to observe like: Jewel Weed (Lesson 134), Late blooming Goldenrod (Lesson 132), or Asters (Lesson 133).

Follow-Up Activity:

Give the opportunity for discussion of the Outdoor Hour time and the details of your milkweed or wildflowers nature study and then follow-up with a nature journal entry, a notebook page, or a coloring page (ebook users) to finish your nature study for the week. Note: If you downloaded the September 2011 Outdoor Hour Challenge Newsletter, you have a custom notebook page to use along with any weed study.
Advanced follow-up: Compare the seeds of the milkweed, the dandelion, and/or the cattail.
Advanced follow-up (Ebook users only): See the Upper Level notebook page for suggestions for additional research. Use the blank notebook page to record your information.

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Barb — 1 Comment

More Nature Study With The Outdoor Hour Challenge – Autumn 2011 Ebook

Nature Study Using the Handbook of Nature Study- Autumn 2011 Series

Completely updated in 2016!

The ten challenges included in this new ebook are written in the format of the Outdoor Hour Challenges that can be found on the blog. Each weekly challenge can be completed as you have the opportunity and you can complete as much or as little of each challenge as you have time and interest.

Each challenge has three parts: inside preparation work, outdoor time, and then a follow-up activity. Each challenge is written so you can adapt it to your own backyard or local area. Use the challenge ideas to get started with simple weekly nature study using the Handbook of Nature Study.

This ebook is written for families with children of all ages. In addition to the regular challenge, new to this ebook is the addition of suggested nature study activities and follow-up for more advanced students. I included “advanced follow-up” ideas and created “upper level” notebook pages to give each challenge a deeper study if you have children who are ready for additional learning opportunities.

Also, a new feature for Charlotte Mason style homeschoolers is the addition of suggested Charlotte Mason style exam questions to be used at the end of the term. The questions are meant to help your child recall and then share in some way his nature study experience. Since this is the first time I have included exam questions, I would love to hear your feedback after using them with your children. I am planning on using them with my high school age son.

Included in the More Nature Study With The Outdoor Hour Challenge – Autumn 2011/2016 Ebook:

Ten challenges centered on the Handbook of Nature Study
Eleven notebook pages and eight coloring pages
Thirteen Upper Level notebook pages
Ten Charlotte Mason style exam questions
Complete instructions for each challenge included additional links and resources
Nature journal suggestions
Complete list of supplies needed
Coordinates with the monthly Outdoor Hour Challenge Newsletter ideas
52 pages
Sample here: More Nature Study Autumn

Here are the topics covered in this autumn ebook along with alternate ideas for you to include if they are more appropriate to your area.

Milkweed – any other autumn wildflower or weed
Leaf Miners – examine leaves with a hand lens
Pears – year long tree study
Cobwebs of all kinds
Fall Color – leaf gathering
Chipmunk – squirrel
House sparrow – any other bird
Leaf Close Up
Thistles – any other fall composite flower
Maple seeds – any tree that has seeds of any type

As always, please email me with any questions or comments. harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com

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Posted on August 19, 2011 by Barb — 15 Comments

Door to a Fuller Life:Nature Study for High School – New Ebook Coming!

“Mrs. Comstock believed that the student found in such a study a fresh, spontaneous interest which was lacking in formal textbook science, and the phenomenal success of her work seems to prove that she was right. Moreover, nature-study as Mrs. Constock conceived it was an aesthetic experience as well as a discipline. It was an opening of the eyes to the individuality, the ingenuity, the personality of each of the unnoticed lifeforms about us. It meant a broadening of intellectual outlook, an expansion of sympathy, a fuller life.”
Handbook of Nature Study Publisher’s Foreword 1939

Textbooks are lacking.
Nature study leads to an opening of the eyes and a fuller life.

Which would you pick for your children? I think there is no question that nature study is a door, or perhaps a window, through which our children can gain a view of a fuller life. They really see what is there and can make close connections between themselves and the physical world. This link with the physical world can actually build a foundation for a more spiritual person as well. (Romans 1:20, Hebrews 3:4)

High school is not the time to drop a living books approach to science and a nature study approach to awakening the curiosity and wonder of the world we live in. Our family continues our adventure with nature study using the Handbook of Nature written by Anna Botsford Comstock.

More Nature Study With The OHC
Starting in September there will be a fresh new series of Outdoor Hour Challenges that will post every Friday. These challenges will be doors and windows into your own backyard and neighborhood. I will be offering them in a brand new ebook to be released on September 5, 2011. The first of the new series of challenges will be posted on September 9, 2011. Each challenge will be clearly explained and can compliment your autumn nature study. The ebook will contain notebook pages for each challenge and a number of coloring pages as well. If you like having everything ahead of time or you have worked through the previous series of Autumn Series 2010 and are ready for some new challenges, you will be interested in the new ebook: More Nature Study With The OHC.

What About the Monthly Newsletter?
I will continue to write the OHC Newsletters each month and they will be filled with ideas and articles to support your family’s nature study. The newsletter activities will complement the new ebook ideas perfectly and you will still find lots of free goodies to offer in your nature study. These will continue to be posted on the first of each month.

What About the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival?
I have enjoyed having all the month’s nature study gathered in one place and I think it has been easier for participants as well. I will not be adding Mr. Linky to each challenge posted in the new series but you are welcome to enter as many of your nature study related posts to the carnival for an end of the month carnival. If you have any questions, please email me.

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Category: More Nature Study Book 1