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Posted on August 31, 2010 by Barb — 19 Comments

Autumn Nature Study Ebook (2010 Version)

Autumn Nature Study with the Outdoor Hour Challenges

The Autumn Nature Study ebook includes:

10 Outdoor Hour Challenges-7 new challenges and 3 continuing studies (Seasonal Tree, Weather, and Queen Anne’s Lace). All the Outdoor Hour Challenges in this ebook are based on the Handbook of Nature Study and include page numbers and suggested learning observations. The three on-going studies are totally revamped with an autumn focus and they will inspire you to continue in your year-long studies that you started in previous seasons.
New to this series of challenges is the focus on learning to compare and contrast using a Venn Diagram. Full instructions and a notebook page are included.
16 Outdoor Hour Challenge notebook pages and nature journal suggestions.
4 optional coloring pages.
Ideas for field trips other than your normal Outdoor Hour Challenge backyard adventures.
Links for further enrichment for many of the challenges.
Complete list of resources and instructions to get started with this ebook.
Download and view a sample:Autumn 2010 Nature Study Ebook Sample.
43 pages.
Topics include: Geese, Horses, Apple, Seasonal Tree/Leaves, Queen Anne’s Lace, Trout and Salmon, Seasonal Weather Comparison, Pine Cones, November World

You will have a complete plan at your fingertips for your autumn nature study when the opportunities arise. The ebook gives you links and resources to find most of the information online, including the Handbook of Nature Study.

Autumn Nature Study with the Outdoor Hour Challenges
Contains all the challenges, custom notebook pages, resource links, and coloring pages for nature study.

If you have any questions, please email me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com.

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Barb — 2 Comments

Frogs and The Sounds of Summer: Our Family Study

This post has been a long time coming. We worked on this last week and the week before that knowing we had a frog study as part of the Outdoor Hour Challenge. We must be having an unusual year because we have not seen a single frog this summer except when we were at Yosemite on our camping trip. We saw a Pacific Tree frog but did not photo because he hopped right up to my foot and I was actually trying to catch him but he got away. He sure could jump!

On a normal summer evening we can sit out on our back deck and hear frogs in the evening as they croak and rib-bit. We took a walk around our neighborhood and found out that the little wetland area at the end of the school soccer field that usually has cattails and frogs this time of year was dried up. They must have come up with a way to drain the area and it is now not fit for cattails and frogs. I am a little sad.

So did we learn something during this challenge even though we never found any frogs? We benefited from two complete walks looking for frogs in our neighborhood and although we were not “successful”, we did learn more about our local frogs. We took some time to research exactly what kind of frogs we should be looking for in our area. We found that there is a species of frog that is endangered, the California red-legged frog.(Image from Wikimedia Commons)

We also have the Sierra Tree Frog and the Sierran Tree Frog (working on figuring out the difference), as well as the Foothill yellow-legged frog.

We enjoyed learning some more information about frogs from the Handbook of Nature Study too and some of the facts are now filed away for future reference.

Posted on August 7, 2010 by Barb — 1 Comment

The End of Our Year-Long Cattail Study

Can it truly be the last season of our year-long cattail study? This year has really gone by fast. I can remember the autumn study we completed for our cattails and how we noted so many interesting new things about them for the first time. The advice in the Handbook of Nature Study to study plants and trees over an entire year, watching in each season is one that we have learned so much from in our family.

We have now spent a complete round the circle observation of a patch of cattails just around the corner from our house. We drive by several times a week and each time I notice the cattails and how they change with the season.

After looking back on our previous entries, our cattails in summer look pretty much the same as our cattails in autumn. The biggest changes were from winter to spring.

The habitat was definitely wetter in the spring and the other vegetation was tall, thick, and green. Now the surrounding area filled in with berries and thistles. We realized that there is a path that some sort of animal has made to get down to the little creek, probably a mule deer. There is a family of deer that live along this stretch of the road and we see them several times a week.

Fall Study

Winter Study

Spring Study

We used our senses but the thing that impressed us the most was how smooth and long the leaves were. We noticed upon looking closer at the arrangement of the leaves and how they are attached to the stalk. Somehow we missed that observation in the other seasons. We tried to remove a leaf from the stalk and we were not successful. Usually someone has a knife in their pocket (that is what happens when you have boys) but not this time. We had to go back another time to get a sample to observe closely.

There were birds all around the cattails but not directly on them. The boys think the birds were attracted to the thistles, berries, and water that were available in the area that the cattails grew in big clumps. In the spring we had heard all kinds of insects in this area and now it was silent. We were hoping to see some frogs too, or at least hear them on this outing but it was very quiet.

I love these year-long studies that give us time and incentive to watch a common plant more closely.

Posted on June 16, 2010 by Barb — 7 Comments

Spring Tree Update: Blossoms on our Tulip Tree

Our tulip tree is blooming like crazy! I have never seen so many blossoms on this tree and the bees have noticed too. The buzzing starts as soon as the sun rises and continues most of the day.

Wouldn’t you want to buzz around this blossom and collect some pollen too? The colors and patterns are very impressive if you take the time to observe them up close. You can see clearly the inner part that will become the helicopter seeds in the fall right there in the middle of the blossom.

You can see how the sepals bend back and expose the flowers. The design of this flower truly shows the finger of our Grand Creator.

Here is a view of the tree with all the flowers….it is amazing the difference between the seasons in this tree.

Our next update will be with the Summer Series of Challenges.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Posted on April 30, 2010 by Barb — 5 Comments

OHC Spring Series #5: Year-Long Cattail Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Spring Series #5
Spring Cattail Observations

“It is an interesting process to take apart a cattail plant; the lower, shorter leaves surround the base of the plant, giving it size and strength. All the leaves have the same general shape, but vary in length. Each leaf consists of two parts; the free portion, which is long and narrow and flat toward its tapering tip but is bent into a trough as it nears the plant, and the lower portion, which clasps the plant entirely or partially, depending upon whether it is an outer or inner leaf.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 500

Inside Preparation Work:
Read pages 500-502 in the Handbook of Nature Study if you have not done so before. It might also be beneficial to read it again this season and highlight the parts that contain information about the leaves of the cattail plant. We will be focusing this season on where the cattail grows and what the leaves look like as they grow up from the plant. Prepare yourself for this week’s outdoor time by reading #1, #2, #4, and #5 suggestions for study on page 502.

Note: If you are using the free version of the Handbook of Nature Study, the cattail section starts on page 551. If you are using the free version from HomeschoolFreebies, you need to look in Plants and Trees, page 65. (Thanks Angie.)

Outdoor Hour Time:
Enjoy your outdoor time this week at your cattail spot. If you have been participating in the year-long cattail study since last autumn, you will know just where to look for cattails. Use the suggestions from the Handbook of Nature Study to talk a little about the habitat where your cattails are growing.

Please note: If you do not have any cattails to observe in your area, you may wish to choose another local plant to observe in each season throughout the next year.

Some Suggestions for a Spring Cattail Study

How wide a strip of land do the cattails cover?
Are they near a stream, brook, or pond?
Observe the kind of soil where your cattails grow.
How are the leaves arranged-growing opposite or alternating?
Describe the leaves’ texture, color, shape.
Have your child make as many observations as they can during your outdoor time of the cattail. (Keep it fun.)

Follow-Up Activity:
Make sure to allow some time after your outdoor hour to discuss any subjects that your child finds interesting. Encourage the completion of a nature journal entry recording your observation of your cattails. You can use the notebook page created for the Spring Series ebook, the notebook page from Autumn, a blank page.

Make sure to encourage your child to sketch the cattail leaves. Also try to include a little of the habitat that your cattails are growing in during this season. Include in your sketch any insects, birds, or animals that you observed near your cattails during your outdoor time.

If you would like all the Spring Series Challenges in one book, I have an ebook gathered for you to purchase for your convenience. The ebook also contains art and music appreciation plans for the winter months as well. Please see this entry for more details:

Spring Nature Study with Art and Music Appreciation

Posted on April 16, 2010 by Barb — 12 Comments

OHC Spring Series #3: Spring Bird Study

This is one of my favorite bird studies of all time! I am very interested in learning to identify birds by their call since many times I do not actually see the bird but hear it up in the trees. My boys are really helpful in recalling bird calls and they are actually better at this skill than I am. We have made our list and I will share with you our results in another post.

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Spring Series #3
Spring Bird Study

Inside Preparation Work:

As part of our spring nature study this week, we will prepare by learning about some familiar bird songs. Read about the “Songs of Birds” in the Handbook of Nature Study on pages 42 and 43.
Here is a link to a page that will help you learn about to listen to and then identify birds by their calls:

Songs and Calls

Brainstorm a list of birds you know that live in your area. Pick two or three to research on the All About Birds website. Look up each bird and listen to their bird songs. Challenge your children to imitate the bird song and to listen for it when they go outside.

Outdoor Hour Time:

Spend your 10-15 minutes of outdoor time this week looking and listening for birds. You might try going out several times during the week at different times of day to listen and observe.
This will be a week you can work on a few minutes of quiet time while you are in your backyard or local park. Remind your children that if they are quiet even for one minute they might hear a bird or other animal. One minute can see like a lifetime for young ones so use your good judgment on this activity.

Follow-Up Activity:

Take a few minutes to follow-up on any interest that came from your outdoor time even if your children were interested in something other than birds. Review the bird songs you learned and practiced during your preparation work. If you saw an unfamiliar bird, try to identify it using a field guide. Learn more about identifying birds here on this page: Bird Identification Skills.
If you do not have a field guide, you can try this online bird site to help identify birds: WhatBird? And this website for additional information as well: AllAboutBirds.
Don’t forget to look up any birds you identify in the Handbook of Nature Study and see how Anna Botsford Comstock suggests you learn more about that particular bird by reading the narrative and the accompanying lesson.
Allow time for a nature journal entry using the accompanying Spring Bird notebook page from the ebook or your own nature journal.

If you are really interested in learning more about birds, you can work through my bird series of Outdoor Hour Challenges that are found on the Bird Page here on my blog. .

Posted on March 26, 2010 by Barb — 2 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge-Spring Maple Tree Bonus Challenge

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Spring Bonus Challenge-Maple Trees

Inside Preparation Work:
Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 628-634. Pay special attention to the section on page 629 where it talks about how maple trees change in the spring. Also on page 634 there are specific suggestions for spring observations of a maple tree.

Please do not worry if you do not have a maple tree to observe and perhaps instead you would like to complete the Signs of Spring Challenge from last week or you can download the Spring Nature Walk sheet from my daughter’s Hearts and Trees blog.

Outdoor Hour Time:
If you have a maple tree, spend some time making springtime observations. The Handbook of Nature Study suggests looking for the leaves and blossoms. On page 629 of the Handbook there is a photo of the sugar maple blossoms.

If you do not have a maple to observe, spend some time looking at any tree that perhaps has some buds forming or a tree that is just beginning to leaf out.

Follow-Up Time:
You can use the Maple Tree Study page provided below for your follow-up activity or you can sketch your maple tree right into your nature journal. The best way to follow up any maple tree study is to eat something with real maple syrup.

Spring Maple Tree Notebook Page

Spring Themed Ebooks Available – click the cover image to read more.

Posted on March 12, 2010 by Barb — 4 Comments

Winter Series Challenge For Mammals: A Hike and a Study of the Douglas Squirrel

Yesterday we were able to take a hike out in the snow at our favorite spot. It felt like spring and the sun warmed my neck in a welcome way. I realized I can smell the forest again. This is the first time I noted that during winter there are far less fragrances in the air. Yesterday we smelled the piney woods fragrance of the evergreens in the warming sun. It smelled delicious.

We tried to focus on finding signs of mammals on our hike as part of the Winter Series Challenge for mammals.

The squirrels have been busy munching on cones.

Isn’t this just the most wonderful cone you have seen in a long time?

The snow is melting a little on this familiar hike. The beaver dam is still visible with all the leaves gone from the trees and bushes.

Here you can see the snow pulling away from the creek water and exposing the grasses underneath. It feels like spring here for the first time.

I am thinking these are dog tracks but perhaps coyote since we have seen them in this area before.

Now these I am pretty sure are rabbit tracks…or perhaps snowshoe hare tracks.

We spotted this trail of tracks to the left of the snowy log and if you look carefully you can see them disappear in the distance. I have no idea who made them but they were fun to see and to talk about.

Here are some more tracks down by an icy spot on the creek.

We came home and decided to look up and learn about a mammal from our field guide. There are quite a few to choose from that live in this particular area, but we chose the Douglas squirrel (or Chickaree). We often hear squirrels in the trees and now we know that in this particular area, the only tree squirrel is the Douglas squirrel. They have a chattering sound that is distinct, making it easier to identify even if we don’t actually see them in the trees. Our mammal field guide says that they are active all year long, but they still store a winter cache of cones. We also learned that the piles of leftovers where a squirrel eats are called middens. There is an actual name for those piles we see under trees!

We used this online book to learn more about our local mammals: Nature Guide to…
Wikipedia Article: Douglas squirrel
Link to its tracks at BearTracker: Douglas squirrel
This site has some great images: Nature Works

“Nature has made him master forester and committed most of her coniferous crops to his paws. Probably over fifty percent of all the cones ripened on the Sierra are cut off and handled by the Douglas alone, and of those of the Big Trees perhaps ninety percent pass through his hands.”
John Muir on Douglas squirrels, The Mountains of California.

Isn’t that interesting? I love when we take a few minutes to learn a little more about something in our nature study that really is meaningful and will help us understand our local environment better.

This was a great challenge for us this time around.

Posted on March 5, 2010 by Barb — Leave a comment

Winter Series: Our Salt Study

Outdoor Hour Challenges-Winter Series #6: Salt Study

We completed the salt crystal experiment described in the Handbook of Nature Study. I think it took our water about a week to evaporate enough that we had crystals on our paper. Reading other families’ experiences with this activity I was interested in the fact that some of their water evaporated overnight or within a day or two! We must have a very humid environment compared to others.

We also completed all the experiments in Amanda’s Hearts and Trees Salt Lapbook….let’s admit it. We were her guinea pigs for all the experiments. 🙂

We completed the experiment to find out which melts faster-ice with or without salt.

We were totally amazed at the differences in the different freezing points of various salt/water solutions.

And the most long lasting activity was growing salt crystals on a string, with really beautiful results.

We are going to copy some of the other families who conducted the salt crystal activity with various kinds of salts. I think this would be a great way to wrap up our study of salts and to have some more fun in the kitchen together.

Posted on February 23, 2010 by Barb — 3 Comments

Winter Mix and Match Nature Study

This post is a mix and match post with lots of different interesting things we are studying. I am trying to get through all the photos I have taken in the last month to close off our winter studies before spring comes.

I brought in some branches of various trees and bushes in January and we have been watching them as they unfold. This is such an easy project that I encourage you to give it a try. Any woody plant will work and we are trying some new ones this year.

Here are some instructions you might want to read: Bursting Blooms

This is the sweet gum as it starts to unfold. Edit to add that this is a maple and not a sweet gum.

Now this is my mystery tree branch (perhaps a Quaking Aspen) that I brought home from my romp up in the mountains. The branch was broken off on the trail and I decided it might be interesting to bring it home and see if it would sprout leaves. It had buds at first and then the buds burst open to reveal these catkins.

The catkins then dropped off and the leaves are now sprouting bright spring green leaves and I am still not 100% sure this is a Quaking aspen branch.

This is the forsythia bush twig that I brought in and it is so pretty in yellow. I must be tired of the winter drabs because this yellow really cheers me up.

These are just two things that have been sitting on the nature shelf that someone brought in to look at and study. We haven’t had time to really research them much, but they are interesting none the less. The crepe myrtle bush has some interesting seeds and the pods have become really hard as they dry. The seed pod from the trumpet vine is filled with thousands of seeds with wings. They are amazing actually.

Now for a few outdoor things that I would like to share.

This buckeye seed has broken open and sent out a pinkish root. They are striking to see as we walk along the trail.

The acorns are doing the same thing right now as well. This black oak acorn has sprouted.

Here is another photo of an acorn sending down a root. Amazing to see in real life. Just think, a gigantic tree can grow from just this little acorn and one little sprout.

One last photo with some manzanita that is ready to bloom. I love the delicate pink buds that will soon be blooming all along our walking trail.

I think that catches me up with photos from the camera. We are trying to keep up our daily walks and I am feeling the change of the seasons coming. The air is different.

I encourage you to try the Bursting Blooms activity with your kids and to get outside for a few minutes this week to enjoy the day.

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