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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
This post contains affiliate links to a book I highly recommend and have in my own library.
This month I am really encouraging you to look for ways to use literature in your nature study. I want to share a new favorite book, Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadowby Joyce Sidman. This outstanding book is a treat for the eyes and an inspiration for your pens and crayons!
I love it when a book can engage young readers and Butterfly Eyes uses lovely poetry and clever riddles to draw the reader in. The riddles help the children use their imaginations and their knowledge of meadow inhabitants in way that makes learning fun.
So many meadow creatures are featured in this book. I know lots of you may not live near a meadow so this book will introduce many of the animals, insects, and plants you will find there, creating enthusiasm for a future meadow visit with the narratives and illustrations.
The format is poetry riddles that your child will guess to identify the meadow creatures found on the following pages. The poems are on the over-sized pages…sometimes you even have to turn the book sideways to view the whole scene!
The end pages of the book are complete pictures of many of the subjects found in the book and are a great way to review once you are doing with the last page.
The style of the artwork is another great aspect of this book. Done with scratch art techniques, your children may want to imitate this style to create a beautiful scene for their nature journal or to display on your art wall.
Use the ideas in the November 2013 newsletter in the article I wrote on library books to help you get started reading this amazing piece of nature literature to your children.
Follow Up Ideas:
Identify the creatures on the dust jacket of the book.
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Want to know my picks?
Meals ePlanner from List Plan It (plus their bonus offer for 3 month free trial membership!)
UnWired Mom by Sarah Mae
Green Your Life by Emily
One Bite at a Time by Tsh
21 Days to a More Disciplined Life by Crystal (Moneysaving Mom)
Fresh Nourishing Salads for All Seasons by Kimberly
Taking a nature walk can bring refreshment to your whole family. Maybe you are having a tough day and the children are a little restless or perhaps the weather is just too nice to stay inside all day…these are perfect opportunities to drop everything else, put on your shoes and take a walk in your own neighborhood or a park close by.
Stepping outside can make a world of difference if you are feeling cooped up inside your house.
Fresh air can blow the grumpy attitudes away.
There is always something new to see outside…let your children show you.
Allowing time for children to explore, run, climb, and jump is a healthy way to burn up some built up energy.
Moms need a few minutes outside to look up at the sky and remember that each day has something to be thankful for.
I created a simple nature journal with some of the highlights of our Quiet Nature Walk.
We took a hike this week and I made sure to include a few minutes to walk quietly, using all our senses. This idea was included in this month’s newsletter along with three other ideas to use during your outdoor time.
You can find all four ideas in the October 2013 Newsletter on page 3:
Color Walk
Seasonal Walk
Quiet Walk
Follow the Leader
You can still receive this edition of the newsletter until 11/1/13. If you subscribe today, you will get it in the 10/31/13 entry (Blog Carnival) that comes tomorrow. Hurry…don’t miss it before it is gone.
My fellow authors over at The Curriculum Choice have all contributed to make a huge and valuable resource for nature and science study. I hope you will pop over and take a look for loads of ideas to use in your homeschool.
You may also be interested in following my Nature Study Ideas Pinterest Board. I pin lots of great ideas…more than anyone could ever use in a lifetime.
I have the privilege of hosting the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival for this week’s science edition.
Charlotte Mason was an educator during the late 1800’s and was adamant about science being about real things…things that the children could relate to and have a connection with. She also was a huge advocate of nature study, regular outings that started when the children were young and curious. These ideas have heavily influenced how science and nature study were offered in our homeschool.
I am eternally grateful for Charlotte Mason and her emphasis on keeping things real. I am sure you will be interested in reading this edition’s entries from all around the world.
Here are several of our science related entries, showing our family’s application of the CM Method for our science studies: Living Books for High School Science “I was determined to include living books as part of our weekly plans as well. I didn’t want to abandon our Charlotte Mason feel to our homeschool even in high school. Looking back, I think it was one of the most important decisions we made”
Making Apologia Science Texts Work in Our (Charlotte Mason) Family “Any text is a tool and you can make it work to fit your child. Just because a text has a certain plan for its study, don’t forget that you can adapt the plan so your children get the most out of that text.”
Nature Study for High Students- Reflections
“When we crossed the gap from elementary science to upper level science, I was grateful for our outdoor studies and the solid ground laid for high school biology…the study of life. All those years of personal face to face contact with nature, making observations and asking questions, has given us something to digest and to reason on as we work through the upper level sciences.”
More Science Related Entries from Other Charlotte Mason Homeschoolers
Elisabeth from Treasuring the Moments shares her entry: Science-Are We Equipping Our Kids for Life?
“So how did our friend Brian Jones captivate us? By stories. He told us so many stories about “his animals”. Stories of mischief, danger, protection. We were captivated and enthralled and learned more about those animals than we had ever known before.”
Nancy from Sage Parnassus has submitted her entry: Science-Each New Thing is a Delight.
“Mason assures us that we can make science that wide place where each new thing is a delight. I don’t think the answer is in dry textbooks but in living books with plenty of time and space to explore and discover.”
Nebby from Letters from Nebby has written and shared her entry: How to Study Science in a CM Way. “But how do we study science in a CM way? I put that little question mark in parentheses in the title of this post because I am as much asking as telling. I have a few thoughts but I would love more input, especially as we enter the dreaded high school years.”
Nicole from A Sabbath Mood Homeschool would love to share her entry with you: Science-The Last Hold Out.
“Science seems to be a last hold out – that one subject we don’t want to hand over to Miss. Mason. We reason that she lived in a different time and place than we do now, and that she couldn’t have understood then how important a science education is now for our students in this technology driven world.”
Tammy from Aut-2B Home in Carolina submits her entry: Science for Students in the Autism Spectrum.
“Some autistic students develop the habit of frustration for a variety of reasons. It takes time to help them find joy in learning what is beyond their pet interests. Every person is different, so what works for one autie may not inspire another.”
Megan from The Winding Ascent has submitted her entry: Knowledge of the Universe.
“As many of you know, Science is not my forte. Neither is math. These are the joy of left brain, administrative people, not right brain creatives like me, right? Well, that’s not completely true.”
Additional Charlotte Mason Themed Entries
Annie Kate from Tea Time with Annie Kate share her entry: Review-Mathematics: Is God Silent?
“This is a beautiful book for moms about the history and philosophy of mathematics and it explains a way to teach math that’s consistent with the way the universe functions. I think I finally am starting to understand the idea of ‘living math’.”
Brandy from Afterthoughts submits her 31 Days of Charlotte Mason post for you to enjoy.
“I’m hosting 31 Days of CM and thought I’d submit the link to Day 1, which includes the directory for the month (which I add to each day)…..I think total there will be something like 17 guest posts from about 15 different authors.”
Cindy from Our Journey Westward would love to share her entry: How I Teach Active Kids Using the Charlotte Mason Method.
“Just how does a CM education mesh with the busyness of boys – or inquisitive gifted kids – or minds that jump from one thing to another in a matter of seconds?”
Amy from Fisher Academy International would love for you to view her entry: A Nature Study.
Celeste from Joyous Lessons would love for you to read her entry: The Case for a Non-Fiction Home Library.
“I don’t know about you, but non-fiction books used to be the first kind of books I would pass over at a book sale, thinking, “Oh, I can just Google it,” or “We can get books on that topic from the library when they’re interested.” But once my kids really started reading independently, I had a change of heart.”
Join the carnival for its next edition:
October 29 – Knowledge of the Universe: Geography (Ch10, pt3a)
You can send your entries to this email address: charlottemasonblogs@gmail.com.
Autumn is here and we can start planning some of our autumn year-long nature study observations. There are so many that you can choose from but the trick is to pick one and remember to complete a study in each season.
Have you picked your topics yet?
Here are some ideas from year-long nature study topics we have done in the past:
Fall fun! It is time to really sink our teeth into some fall nature study and start looking for signs of fall. You can use any of the activities listed below to get your Outdoor Hour Challenge started this week.
Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #8-Using a Magnifying Lens.This is always a great challenge for children to complete…nature study tools make it so much more fun! Don’t forget to pull out the accompanying notebook page for your child to record their findings or they can use a blank page in their nature journal if they wish.
Building a library of field guides for your reference shelves is something that you can do as you work through the Outdoor Hour Challenges or as part of creating a homeschool library. You don’t need to invest a lot of money all at one time but choose a topic of interest and search out a good field guide as you can afford it. It is an investment in your family’s growing interest in nature study that will enrich your life for many years to come.
What is a Field Guide?
First of all, what is a field guide? A field guide is a book that helps you identify wildlife like plants and animals or other objects you find in nature like rocks or weather phenomena. It is usually created to cover a specific region or area of the world. The guide usually has photos or illustrations of the object along with descriptions of the subject that help the reader identify it. Field guides are usually arranged to group subjects by color, shape, or habitat. Each guide will have introductory pages to explain how that particular field guide is organized.
Our collection of field guides has grown year by year. I will share three choices that there are for field guides to use alongside the Handbook of Nature Study: Audubon Society Field Guides, Peterson Field Guides, and Golden Guides.
Separate section with thorough descriptions for identification
Vinyl cover for more durable wear or carrying in your day pack
Some topics available in Western or Eastern North American editions
My favorite: Birds
Peterson Field Guides (This link will take you to a list of all the series available.)
Illustrations of typical specimens
Field marks for birds
Leaves, nuts, cones, needles shown for identification in the tree guide
My favorite: Trees
Golden Guides (This link will take you to the list of guides available.)
Compact size and interesting to look at
Illustrations in color
More than a field guide with help in getting the most out of each study
My favorite: Pond Life
Which field guide would I recommend you start with? If you are looking for a field guide to purchase as a starter and to go along with the autumn nature study series we are currently using, I would recommend a tree field guide. For the next three weeks, there is the opportunity to learn more about our autumn trees.
. 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.
by Joyce Sidman. This outstanding book is a treat for the eyes and an inspiration for your pens and crayons!
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