Have you started off this month thinking that you can’t face a month long study of mushrooms, moss, and lichen? Did you print the newsletter and look at the grids and wonder how your could possibly find anything interesting to occupy you for this month’s grid study? I don’t think you are alone…in fact, a number of years ago I might have felt the same way too.
Honestly, this month and next month are the months that I have sort of dreaded preparing for the monthly challenges. Both this month’s topic and next month’s topic of reptiles and amphibians are not easy ones for many of us girl types.
But, I would like to encourage you with yesterday’s family walk to the river where we found an abundance of moss and lichen to get our interest and our powers of observation going. Once we started looking for moss and lichen, we saw it everywhere!
The shapes, patterns, colors, and textures were all so different and interesting. There was moss on rocks and tree bark and lichen on riches in varying colors. It made our hike to the river and back a delight.
My best advice is to give it a try by printing out the Mushroom, Lichen, and Moss Grid and bookmark. Share it with your children and then follow along each Friday with the suggested study, preparation, and then activities. I almost guarantee that you will learn something interesting.
Who knows? You may even end up enjoying this month’s study and become fascinated with this topic like I have over the years.
Here is a list of the twelve topics that we are covering this year on the Handbook of Nature Study.
- September 2012 Insects
- October 2012 Trees
- November 2012 Mammals
- December 2012 Weather
- January 2013 – Rocks and Minerals
- February 2013 – Birds (Great Backyard Bird Count)
- March 2013 – Moss-Lichen-Mushrooms
- April 2013 – Reptiles-Amphibians
- May 2013 – Garden Flowers-Crops
- June 2013 – Wildflowers-Weeds
- July 2013 – Fish (Ponds)
- August 2013 – The Sky and Stars
One of the first studies we ever did was about mushrooms. We happened to be in the woods right after a rain and found numerous different colors, shapes, and sizes. It was like a revelation! Such beauty. Such individuality. Such creativity. What a wonderful Creator. Looking forward to studying along with you (though I don’t know if I will post about it this month.)
I’m actually really looking forward to this study–it seems like every week on our group nature study outings, we’re seeing all different kinds of moss and whatnot, and it’s something I know nothing about! So we’ll definitely be following along with interest!
Fungi, lichen, and moss are some of our favourite things to look at when we’re outside. Such a huge variation between them even in a small geographical area!