NOTE: You may wish to start a new year-long study this spring using some of the ideas above. Spring is a wonderful beginning, so take advantage of the opportunity and season.
The current library contains 25 ebooks covering hundreds of topics. There are 76 newsletters in the library and dozens of printables in addition to the ebooks!
Right now, use the discount code SPRINGBREAK for $10 off an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership. This offer will be valid until 3/31/2020.
You may never have heard of this this week’s subject, skunk cabbage! Our family has encountered it on several hikes that have taken us along creeks and damp places. Keep your eyes on the look out for this rather large, green plant and the tell- tale flower and perhaps even the odor.
Just for Fun: Before you begin your study of skunk cabbage, ask your children why they think this plant is called skunk cabbage. Let them guess and throw out ideas. You might even add these ideas to your nature journal page.
You can also view the information found at the USDA for skunk cabbage to see its range: (Eastern) skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) and American skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus ).
Please note that I will not be posting the complete challenge here on the blog but you’ll find the detailed challenge in the Forest Fun ebookthat is available both in the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level memberships. Sign into your account and download the ebook for the details, more links, a coloring page, and notebook pages.
We are working through the Forest Fun ebook which is a brand new series of nature studies featuring things you might find in the forest. It’s not too late to join us by purchasing an Ultimate Naturalist or Journey level membership.
Topics in this ebook include:
Rabbitbrush
Skunk Cabbage
Azalea
Common Raven
California Quail
Western Tanager
Black Bear
Moose
Porcupine
If you don’t have a membership yet, you can click the graphic above and join today for immediate access to the 24 ebooks and so much more! Remember that all levels, even the Discovery level membership, include access to all of the archived newsletters!
I started thinking on my new nature study goals about a month ago when I was in the thick of packing up my mother-in-law’s belongings so she could move to Oregon to be nearer to us. It brought into focus for me what is truly important in my life and what brings me happiness and contentment. It was clear that “things” are not my focus but rather making memories, keeping a sense of adventure about the world, and continuing to learn about the creation that I see in my everyday life.
With that experience and insight fresh in my mind, I made a new list of nature study goals for 2020.
Keep a nature journal.
Add to our backyard habitat. We are thinking of adding a water feature!
Take local hikes.
Make notes in my field guides. I love it when I turn to a page in my field guide and I’ve written the date of an observation or a location of a sighting.
Continue to participate in Project Feederwatch and the Great Backyard Bird Count.
Visit a new national park
Please note these are Amazon affiliate links to products I own and love.
Goal: the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end.
Well, here we are at the end of another year. 2019 started off with my being extremely hopeful about the prospect of getting outside on my two new hips. I was determined to be strong enough to hike some new trails and to spend a lot of time outdoors.
Then our family situation changed rapidly and it took a rather large chunk of my time and energy. Both sets of our aging parents required us to help them downsize and move out of their homes and into different living situations. We struggled through hospice, strokes, deaths, and moves across state lines.
This was not part of my vision for 2019 at all.
But, because I know it helps us to stay balanced emotionally, we made time to be outdoors when we had the opportunity. I kept my nature goals in mind and made tentative plans each month to go somewhere new and experience the refreshing powers of the outdoors. Those plans didn’t always pan out but it helped to keep them in front of us.
Looking at the definition of a goal I realized that I was indeed working with effort towards an aim or an end. The aim was to use the Outdoor Hour Challenges to learn more about my local habitat, to keep a detailed record of my nature observations, and to keep on hiking/kayaking as much as we could.
I think we achieved most of those goals.
In addition, I visited a new national park and rode my bike far more than I have in the last decade.
I’m choosing to look at the positives of keeping my nature goals, forgetting the perfectionist tendency to focus on what I didn’t accomplish in 2019. I will start again in 2020 with fresh goals and hopefully a little smoother ride through spring and summer than I had in 2019.
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!!!
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.
The Outdoor Hour Challenge for caddisflies is a great opportunity to take a creek walk. Make sure to watch the video linked above to get an idea of what to look for while you’re exploring your creek. You’ll also want to make sure to keep your eyes out for water striders too, since they may be much easier for your children to spot on the surface of the water.
Use the archive link below to get prepared for your Outdoor Hour time and then enjoy a day at the creek!
Members here on the Handbook of Nature Study may wish to print out the Brook and Stream Nature Study notebook page in the printables library. This activity would be a great complement to your caddisfly/creek day.
If you want to purchase the Summer 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 Summer Nature Study Continues – New Ebookannouncement page for more details.
Use the discount code SUMMER5 for $5 off your Ultimate Naturalist Library membership and you will have access to the Summer Nature Study Continues ebook and the Brook and Stream Nature Study notebook page along with 20 other ebooks and many, many more printables!
Use the Outdoor Hour Challenge topics to stimulate my interest in my local habitat and help to build my skills as a naturalist. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the Outdoor Hour Challenges during the first quarter. Here are links to my favorite challenges: Our Winter Willow Observations – Buds, Galls, and Beavers
Keep a detailed record of my nature observations. I’m keeping up with my daily nature journal notes and it’s always amazing to me that I have something to write about each day. It’s made me be more aware of the many interesting things that happen right in my own yard and neighborhood. My personal nature journal is going well and there are lots of pages completed already. If you read my Nature Observer entries each month here on my blog, you’ll see the pages as I complete them.
Hiking and Kayaking. We haven’t really been able to do either of these activities yet but this coming quarter should be much better weather and trail conditions for us. I’m anxious to get back in my kayak after the river ice melts. (insert a photo of the the icy river)
Read nature related books this year. I’m sorry to say I haven’t read any books yet. I’m going to do something about that this month!
I still think it’s a worthwhile activity to make and work towards nature goals each year. Even though I didn’t quite live up to my goals this past quarter, I’ll make some adjustments to do a better job over the next few months. I’ve had a lot of family obligations in February and March that have kept me from spending as much time outdoors as I would like. I am not going to be discouraged!
I’m doing much better physically with my recovery from my bilateral hip surgery last October. I can walk a great distance and my strength is coming back. I started swimming at my physical therapy and that is really bumping up my stamina. With renewed vigor, I’ll hopefully hit May and June this year with a new ability to hike and kayak to my heart’s content.
The month of February has brought with it a lot of SNOW! We haven’t thawed out completely since the beginning of the snow storms. There have been a few days of sunshine but the temperatures have been very cold; cold enough to keep the snow and ice piled up outside our door.
We’ve been trying to keep up with the birds that visit our feeders as part of Project Feederwatch and also during the Great Backyard Bird Count. From what I can observe, not only have there been fewer bird species but even the numbers of those birds has decreased. Some days I only see a handful of birds….far less than this same time period last year. Because we haven’t lived here very long, it’s hard to know if this is an unusual year or not. We’ll keep a detailed record of our observations and see how the year progresses.
I’ve kept up with my daily nature journal notes with our temperatures, snow amounts, and other interesting details from our observations. These simple notes help record just a little more thorough picture of the season.
Images from my Journal
I completed my January birds page. Now that I look at it, it needs a little more detail to make it a really good record of the month. Perhaps I’ll add the numbers of birds I observed (by looking at my Project Feederwatch data) and maybe compare this year’s January birds with last year’s list.
Here’s the page that I made to keep track of the January snow. I may just add February’s statistics to it as well since there’s room.
I used a Handbook of Nature Study newsletter printable grid to record some fun nature details in my journal. This is a super simple way to get started if you’re stumbling over a big ol’ blank page. See this entry for more information on using nature study grids: Using Printables from the Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter.
Here’s a look at my February birds page in progress. I’m keeping a running list of birds observed, left room for my Great Backyard Bird count details and thoughts, and I’m using a printable grid from the Handbook of Nature Study newsletter to encourage me to be on the lookout for birds of all colors. I will finish this one up by the end of the month.
We heard a pair of Great Horned Owls early one morning and I wanted to create a page that had all of the interesting facts about this bird in my nature journal. I find the process of looking up the information for a page helps me learn and remember things better. I’m not aiming for a fancy page but one that has meaning to me. I’m challenging myself to draw in my nature journal, not on every page but a few times a month.
One More Image
We’ve had a mountain lion roaming our neighborhood for a few weeks. Our next door neighbor snapped this image of the big cat right up in a tree in his backyard. It makes me a little nervous to have such a wild creature so near to our home, but we’re just taking precautions and being alert to any signs that he is back.
There are many, many nature journal ideas included in the archives of the Handbook of Nature Study newsletters. If you have any level of membership, make sure to download the newsletter index to make finding a topic easy.
76 issues of the Handbook of Nature Study newsletter are available in the Discovery level of membership for only $20! You also get the Getting Started with the Outdoor Hour Challenge ebook in this level which makes it a super awesome value for your $20.
Now available in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships:
Tree Study Nature Study Notebooking Set
Salt Nature Study Printable Set
(See the end of this post for more information on how you can become a member.)
Tree Study Notebooking Page Set – You are going to love this set of tree nature study notebooking pages. Here are the trees included: black walnut, buckeye, catalpa, cedar, eucalyptus, Joshua tree, lodgepole pine, madrone, magnolia, palm, palo verde, ponderosa pine, redwood, smoke tree, and Western larch. 15 trees, 30 notebooking pages!
Salt Nature Study Printables – This is a set that has been shared over on my daughter’s website, Hearts and Trees. This printable set will be a great way to learn more about salt for a nature study unit.
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!
