This dogwood tree nature study is a wonderful addition to your spring homeschool. Enjoy time outdoors as a family and learn together.
“But when spring comes, these bud scales change their duties, and by rapid growth become four beautiful white or pinkish bracts which we call the dogwood flower.”
– Handbook of Nature Study
Dogwood Nature Study to Enjoy Indoors
Read pages 680-682 in the Handbook of Nature Study(Lesson 188). Read through the lesson for suggested observations for your outdoor time.
Enjoy your outdoor time for this challenge looking for blooming trees. Spend a few minutes observing the colors of the blooms and look for any insect visitors. If appropriate, gather a leaf and a blossom to sketch in your nature journal.
This is the perfect time to begin a year-long tree study. For ideas on how to get started, see this entry: Year-Long Tree Study.
If you have a dogwood to view up close, use a few of the lesson ideas to make careful observations. Look at the bark, the flowers, and the arrangement of the flowers on the branches.
Advanced study: Bring along your sketching supplies and sketch or watercolor the bracts and flowers.
Follow Up Dogwood Nature Study Journaling Activities
Take a few minutes to sketch your tree, the flower, the leaf, the bark, or fruit of your tree. You can use this website’s images as a reference for your drawing: Identifying Dogwood Trees (They call the bracts “petals” but otherwise this is a very good page.) Homeschool Nature Study Members: There is a notebook page and two coloring pages included in the ebook curriculum for your dogwood study. There is also a notebook page for any flowering tree.
Advanced study: Complete a nature journal entry for your dogwood or other blooming tree. Homeschool Nature Study members: There is a notebook page to complete using a field guide or the internet.
Advanced study: Pick a tree from your local area and do additional research. Record your findings in your nature journal.
Dogwood Sketching with Chalk Pastels
We had been noticing the dogwood blossoms for a full week as we went back and forth, in and out of the neighborhood and thought it was time to take an up close look. It was time for a dogwood nature study and chalk pastel sketches.
Additional Dogwood Nature Study For Your Homeschool:
Use this azalea homeschool nature study for your spring homeschool to learn more about these beautiful shrubs and then create a page for your nature journal.
Azaleas come in many colors and are often a staple at garden nurseries around this time of year. This is wonderful news for families that may not have a wild azalea to observe!
Azalea Nature Study for Your Spring Homeschool
Azaleas are part of the Heath family of plants. If you would like to find an alternative flower to study in this family, you can look on this website for ideas: Heath Family.
Learn More with These Azalea Resources
Our full azalea nature study is included in our Forest Fun curriculum. You can enjoy the Forest Fun Outdoor Hour Challenge curriculum which is a brand new series of nature studies featuring things you might find in the forest. It is not too late to join us by purchasing a Homeschool Nature Study annual membership.
Join The Homeschool Nature Study Membership for Year Round Support
You will find hundreds of homeschool nature studies plus all the Outdoor Hour Challenges in our Homeschool Nature Study membership. There are 25+ continuing courses with matching Outdoor Hour curriculum that will bring the Handbook of Nature Study to life in your homeschool! In addition, there is an interactive monthly calendar with daily nature study prompt – all at your fingertips!
Taking anature 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 and take a walk in your own neighborhood or a park close by.
I’ve observed that families that take nature walks on a consistent basis, as part of their weekly routine, benefit greatly from the efforts they spend in making them happen. They feel more relaxed in nature, they see their children get excited about things they discover, and they feel a closer bond as a family because of shared nature experiences.
Whether you use the Outdoor Hour Challenges as part of your nature studies or not, the fundamental idea of taking a short walk outside with your child is the basis of building a happier childhood.The Benefits of Nature Study with Ideas for Creative Nature Walks
Insect Nature Study for Kids: How to Identify an Insect
“Insects are among the most interesting and available of all living creatures for nature study. The lives of many of them afford more interesting stories than are found in fairy lore; many of them show exquisite colors; and, most important of all, they are small and are, therefore, easily confined for observation.”
Our family has always enjoyed being outside together, hitting the hiking trail and doing a little exploring. But often the biggest obstacle to taking that hike was figuring out where to go. We may have had the desire and the time to get outside but wrestled with the question of where to go. Often we thought too big.
I realized over time that we didn’t need to travel far to find places to go on short notice or even for a half day’s hike. I loved being able to roll out of bed, decide to go on a hike, and be out the door in a short period of time. So, how did I overcome the dilemma of finding places to hike near our home? Ideas for Field Trips and Day Hikes Near Home
Plan to Make Your Backyard a Natural Wildlife Habitat
Here are some simple ways you can make your backyard a natural habitat for wildlife. You will love having the opportunity to have nature come to you in your very own backyard. Involve your whole family in the project and spend some time outdoors! Here are the simple how tos: How to Make Your Backyard a Natural Wildlife Habitat
Learn the Parts of a Flower
This plant life nature study is going to be helpful to all families as they strive to learn the technical names for flower parts. Make sure to read the pages in the Handbook of Nature Study and look up the link in the challenge with a printable with the flower parts labeled. Don’t make this too much of a drill or memorization assignment. As the need arises, use the proper names for the flower parts as you go through your outdoor time and find garden flowers or wildflowers to observe. Plant Life Nature Study
Simple April Nature Activities: Keep Weather Records!
Keeping weather records has not only been a pastime for thousands of years, but it has also been essential to predicting the weather and its effects on everyday life. What should we wear? When should we travel? Is it time to plant our garden? We make many of our decisions based on the weather and its patterns and cycles. Keeping Weather Records as Homeschool Science
Enjoy a Ladybug Nature Study
It’s time for a ladybug homeschool nature study! We love ladybugs in our garden. It is as simple as that. They always make me smile when I see them crawling around in the grass or on the rose bushes. Maybe it is the nostalgia of childhood memories that flood in when I see ladybugs….you know, singing *that* song. A Delightful Ladybug Nature Study
Use Your Magnifying Lens in Your April Nature Study
Looking for ways to encourage your child to explore things in nature? Using a magnifying lens in homeschool nature study is not only fun for children but it helps them see more clearly the wonderful world of objects we have all around us. Try one of the ideas below to help your child get started making careful observations of natural items. Here are 5 Ways to Use Your Magnifying Lens in Homeschool Nature Study
Easter Nature Studies
With signs of spring upon us, enjoy these beautiful Easter nature studies for kids. A fun and hands-on way to celebrate the resurrection story. Be inspired here!
Join The Homeschool Nature Study Membership for Year Round Support
New for members this month!
Preschool Nature Study Plans
Enjoy relaxed preschool nature study plans for your homeschool with nature table suggestions, simple nature study activities, field trip ideas, images to print, coloring pages, and so much more. What a privilege to introduce children to the glorious world God created! Get your FREE SAMPLE of Preschool Nature Study Plans HERE!
Spring Flower Lantern Nature Craft
It’s officially Spring! The first flowers of the season are beginning to bloom so let’s celebrate new life with these Spring flower lanterns! With pressed flowers we can create something beautiful to illuminate our gardens and enjoy the spring blooms even after dark. Here is a preview in the video, below:
The Outdoor Mom Celebrates April
April is the month when spring begins to make its presence felt. Deciduous trees produce new leaves and blossom; wild flowers such as daisies, cowslips and bluebells begin to appear in fields and woodlands; and birds build their nests and fill the air with their sweet, sweet song.
In this lesson, you can enjoy prompts for your April garden, encouragement for slow living, the April home and Holy Week preparation, nature journaling for mom, ideas for being creative, nature journal prompts and more!
You will find hundreds of homeschool nature studies plus all the Outdoor Hour Challenges in our Homeschool Nature Study membership. There are 25+ continuing courses with matching Outdoor Hour curriculum that will bring the Handbook of Nature Study to life in your homeschool! In addition, there is an interactive monthly calendar with daily nature study prompt – all at your fingertips!
Even if you or your children are squirmy about insects, there is so much to discover and learn! In this insect nature study, learn how to identify an insect with simple steps!
“Insects are among the most interesting and available of all living creatures for nature study. The lives of many of them afford more interesting stories than are found in fairy lore; many of them show exquisite colors; and, most important of all, they are small and are, therefore, easily confined for observation.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 294
I am finding this to be the case in our everyday life…there are insects everywhere. The caterpillar above we found on our hike yesterday. The more we looked, the more we found.
Rain beetle: Although she looks dead, she really wasn’t. She kept flipping over on her back and wiggling and stretching her legs. Today was a first. I actually looked closely at a very ugly beetle. Yes, I am becoming an insect gal. I know this for sure because my daughter and her friend Shyloh brought me home a very large, very alive beetle creature. I had asked all my family to bring home any interesting insects they find and had even given them each a ziploc sandwich bag to bring them home in. Yesterday was the first time someone brought me an insect treasure. They said they couldn’t bear to put it into a baggie so they used a small plastic container from my daughter’s lunch box. She said there were hundreds of the beetles so she felt like she could bring one to us to study
How to Identify an Insect
At first I was disgusted by this creature but after taking her out of the container and looking carefully, I once again found the beauty in the design of the Creator. Now all that was left to do was to discover what sort of beetle this insect was.
Steps To Identify An Insect
1. I pulled out my field guide but could not see any beetles that looked like this one.
2.So it was off to the internet and we started by looking up “beetle, california” on Google. I am finding that if I Google something and then look at the images it takes me far less time to identify a creature.
3.Once you find an image that looks like your insect, click on the link associated with that image. The majority of the time this is enough to get you pointed in the right direction.
Insect Nature Study For Kids
Here’s what I learned about this little female insect: Rain beetle or P. puncticollis (more on classification at BugGuide.net)and can be found in California woodlands. The male is approximately 1″ and the female can be slightly larger at 1 3/4″. The males have wings but the females do not. They range in color from reddish-brown to black. The underside is covered in hairy bristles.
The interesting thing about this beetle is that it makes a sudden appearance after a soaking rain….hence the name Rain beetle. We had a really good rain all the night before so I think this is probably why we were able to see this amazing creature. The life cycle of the Rain beetle is very long. The larvae, who feed on roots of live trees and bushes of oaks and conifers, take up to as much as 10-12 years to mature but once they become adults the males wait for the first rains to bring them out for their mating flight and the females dig a tunnel to the surface to wait for the males to find them. Here is the fascinating part:The conditions that trigger the males and females to emerge are so stringent that this may only happen in a population for a single day in a given year. This made the finding of this insect all the more precious since it is a rare event.
This is the head of the beetle and if you look closely you can see her little “horns”. The males fly slowly over the area, low to the ground, looking for the females who although rarely leave their underground burrow, wait at the burrow’s entrance for the arrival of the males. She puts off a pheromone that attracts the males. After mating the female closes off the entrance to her burrow and lays her eggs. These mature the following spring.
I love this photo that shows her leg parts.
Wow, so much to learn. I have a new appreciation for the study of insects after learning that this was not just an ugly bug. It has a whole life story to learn and now I can share it with others.
“When it is properly taught, the child is unconscious of mental effort or that he is suffering the act of teaching.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 6
I did all this research and it hardly felt like any effort at all. I will be striving to make our nature study so that it is interesting and feels not like work but like refreshment.
If you’re not a member here at Homeschool Nature Study yet, please consider joining to gain the benefit of having a nature study library at your fingertips. There are numerous resources available for you to help create the habit of nature study within your family.
Here are some tips for enjoying summer nature study when it’s hot outside. I live where it gets really hot outside in the summer. We have had just a taste of the heat so far this year but it has been enough to remind me just how hot it can be in the sun in the afternoon.
I want to encourage those that have emailed me lately telling me that it is too hot to participate in the Outdoor Hour Challenges right now in their part of the world. I sat and thought about how we can accomplish the Outdoor Hour even when the temperatures and humidity get up to the point where staying outdoors is unpleasant and potentially dangerous.
Homeschool Family Tips for Enjoying Summer Nature Study
Here are homeschool family tips for enjoying summer nature study (what we do in our family).
We try to get outside early in the day when there is still a little shade. We take a few minutes first thing to take a walk around the garden to pull a few weeds, make sure the watering system is working, harvest any goodies that are ripe, and enjoy the progress of the garden.
This gives us an opportunity to watch birds, look for worms, see butterflies, look at spider’s webs, watch ants, pick up some acorns, feel the cool breeze, look at signs of nocturnal visitors, and so many other everyday sorts of nature study.
Other than working in the garden, we many times take a short walk just around the perimeter of our property just looking for anything interesting. Ten or fifteen minutes is usually all that takes. Do we sometimes get hot? Yes we do but then we come inside and get something to drink and take a little time looking up anything we found interesting online or in a book while it is fresh in our minds. It might be a feather we found or an interesting rock. It could be a new flower blooming or a spider we don’t know the name of. Here is a quote from a newer participant in the Outdoor Hour and what she wrote on her blog.
“I have noticed in our studies that if we wait, nature will come to us.”
I love that and it is so true. It is the little things that come your way during your everyday business and travels that enrich your nature study.
It really isn’t about the big field trips or the nature study classes, it is the day to day, ho-hum stuff that is fascinating. The house fly that you look at with the hand lens, the ants crawling on your front step, the bird gathering twigs for a nest outside your window, the things we so many times fail to notice.
Nature Study When It’s Hot Outside
Here are some simple tips for summer nature study:
Have a Focus for Your Nature Study
I think in the heat of summer you just need to plan and have a focus for your nature study. You may want to focus your Outdoor Hour Challenges on garden flowers. Each challenge can literally be completed by taking a ten to fifteen minute period of time outside. You do not need to travel to a nature study area or spend a half-day or a whole day outside. For instance, challenge #17 was to look at leaves. My son and I went out and found about ten different leaves to look at and we were only outside about five minutes. We brought the leaves inside and we looked at them and then he drew them in his nature journal in the comfort of the cool indoors. You really only needed to find one leaf and bring it in to look at….tops outdoor time would be five minutes and that is still doable in hot weather.
Involve Water in Your Nature Study
I find that if I involve water in some aspect of our outdoor time the children and I enjoy it more. Watering the grass or watering with a watering can can provide just the touch of coolness to our time even if the temperatures are soaring. How about a squirt bottle to cool off with as you take a few minutes in your yard or neighborhood exploring?
Have a Cool Snack
The promise of a cool snack at the end of a short period outside is always a great way to keep spirits up as you have your outdoor time. We keep popsicles and Go-Gurts in the freezer for a refreshing snack in the shade after we have made our observations.
Remember That Your Children Are Developing Their Senses
The other aspect of nature study is that we are really training our children to see the differences in their world in each season. So many children today are raised in houses heated and cooled to a comfortable temperature year round. Our cars and the grocery stores are temperature controlled as well. Our kids need to feel the hot air of summer and the cold air of winter. It is part of growing up and experiencing our world and developing their senses.
I think that until we recognize that our children need outdoor time in nature close to their own homes, we do not make it a priority or think that it is worth while. Richard Louv in his book, Last Child in The Woods has a chapter titled “A Life of Senses: Nature vs. the Know-It-All State of Mind”. He makes some excellent points. Here is just one quote.
“Children need nature for the healthy development of their senses, and, therefore, for learning and creativity.”
More Ideas for Your Summer Homeschool
You might also like these fun ways to enjoy summer homeschool nature study:
Do you think this will help those that are hesitant to have nature study in the summer? I hope everyone that has a willingness to try will now not use the heat (or cold) as a reason to procrastinate nature study and participating in the Outdoor Hour Challenges any longer.
March brings beautiful spring opportunities to homeschool families. Enjoy these March nature activities perfect for spring celebrations!
10 March Nature Activities Perfect for Spring Celebrations
First Day of Spring – Simple Ways to Study Nature in Your Homeschool – We are excited to get started on this first day of spring with simple ways to study nature and a fresh set of homeschool nature study ideas. It hardly seems possible that we are at the beginning of another spring season but here we go! We look forward to another season of encouraging nature study. Have fun and get outdoors with your children!
Clover or Shamrock Nature Study – (includes an art lesson too!) Enjoy a clover or shamrock homeschool nature study this spring and learn about this abundant ground cover you likely have in your own backyard.
Guide to Spring Nature Study – Getting outside with our children can be the sanity saving activity we all need. As spring approaches, have you considered adding a little nature study into your weekly routine? I’ve heard from families that they were reluctant to start a nature study plan, stating that they thought it would restrict their freedom to focus on one topic. But, they found that having a focus each week actually helped them to stay regular at getting outside and it helped them be better at taking a few minutes to learn about an object they encountered, even if it wasn’t the original aim for getting outdoors.
Spring Nature Study with Art and Music Appreciation – This spring homeschool nature study curriculum contains all the nature study Outdoor Hour Challenges, custom notebook pages for nature study as well as three months’ worth of art and music appreciation.
Beautiful Easter Nature Studies for Kids – With signs of spring upon us, enjoy these beautiful Easter nature studies for kids. A fun and hands-on way to celebrate the resurrection story.
Spring Weather Homeschool Nature Study – Here are some easy ideas for a spring weather homeschool nature study from rain and mud puddles to noticing tree buds. Includes ideas for nature journaling!
Your Backyard Homeschool Nature Study Laboratory – We are challenging you to begin homeschool nature study with the intention of creating the habit of getting outside with our children every week. There is something exciting about starting nature study with all the possibilities in front of us. Take the opportunity to join us for what could be the start of a grand adventure.
5 Easter Activities Perfect for Tweens and Teens – What if I told you You ARE an ARTiST offers Easter activities perfect for tweens and teens and suitable for all ages? Nana also has a brand new art lesson appropriate just for your tween or teen!
Christian Liberty Nature Readers – These books are great for not only reading practice and comprehension, but they paint a beautiful picture of God’s awesome creation. There are numerous subjects covered and each book is a little different. The book we’re reading right now for instance talks about all kinds of things in nature from the honeybee to quails to bison.
Spring Homeschool Nature Study with Art – Perfect for commemorating spring, Nana’s spring homeschool nature study with art explores all creatures great and small and all things bright and beautiful! These nature-inspired art lessons are easy and fun for the whole family!
March Homeschool Art Activities – Add a beautiful layer of education with art! With these March homeschool art activities and spring homeschool ideas, you can celebrate Lent, St. Patrick’s Day, Dr. Seuss and Van Gogh’s birthday and more!
For our Homeschool Nature Study members, it’s a bumper nature study month this month with five nature study challenges for your homeschool. I think that the “Signs of Spring” as to be the one I am looking forward to the most!
If you’re not a member here at Homeschool Nature Study yet, please consider joining to gain the benefit of having a nature study library at your fingertips. There are numerous resources available for you to help create the habit of nature study within your family.
Begin with a lovely reminder of the Lenten season. Countdown to Resurrection morning with this member printable calendar complete with nature prompts by our Nature Illustrator and Crafts Editor, Victoria Vels.
Easter Lily Nature Study for Your Outdoor Hour Challenge
Outdoor Hour hostess, Shirley Vels, shares, “during the Easter season, churches and homes are adorned with gorgeous, fragrant Easter lilies. But why? Why have these flowers become synonymous with Easter?”
Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
Luke 12: 27
Also grow a mini egg shell garden and learn about seed germination! Make an edible Easter lily dessert and make paper lilies too. All available now in your Spring Course in Homeschool Nature Study membership.
Easter Craft – Make a Resurrection Garden
Just some simple supplies but plenty of discussion can happen while making it. Victoria is leading our members in creating your very own Resurrection Garden for her continuing Nature Crafts series.
What a beautiful symbol of the Easter season – the lily! Enjoy this art lesson from our sister site, You ARE an ARTiST, included in the Easter Lily Nature Study in membership.
Julie shares, “Easter seems to come up suddenly. Maybe it’s because Easter weekend moves around the calendar, or maybe because it is preceded by Lent which is more solemn.
I decided I wanted to spend as much time anticipating the Resurrection with my children as we did the Incarnation. Both are beautiful events in our faith. Both bring a sense of wonder and awe. The Resurrection is special because it shows “God with us,” and God victorious for us!” Draw Your Way Through the Resurrection Story
More Spring and Easter Activities for Your Homeschool
Here are even more spring and Easter activities for your homeschool:
Easter and Spring Nature Studies in Homeschool Nature Study Membership
Join us for even more homeschool nature studies this spring! With a new nature study each week plus a nature study calendar with daily prompts, you will have joyful learning leading all the way to summer!
Enjoy these fun activities for learning about bird nests and eggs. Includes ideas for getting outside, bird resources and suggestions for follow up activities as well.
Spring is the time for birds to nest and currently we have nesting boxes up for a variety of birds: bluebirds, swallows, flickers, chickadees, and new to us is a robin’s nesting platform. Every bird has its own unique nest and as we learn about birds, take time to look up and learn about their nest and eggs.
In Homeschool Nature Study Membership, there are several notebooking pages to use to record information about birds and their nests and eggs.
The book Birds, Nests, and Eggs is the perfect beginner’s book for homeschool nature study. It’s also a wonderful take along guide that features many of the common birds that we see in our yards and neighborhoods.
Examples of Nests and Eggs: This is a page on the Cornell website that shows actual nests and eggs for many common birds. Spend some time with your children clicking the images and viewing them together.
Nestwatch: This citizen science program is something your family could participate in if you have a nest in your yard. Take a look and see if it’s something you can incorporate into your nature study plans.
Listen to Nana of You ARE an ARTiST’s John James Audubon podcast. He was the famous ornithologist, naturalist, and painter that documented all sorts of American birds in their natural habitats. He also identified 25 new species!
Homeschool Nature Study members can find Bird lessons in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter courses alongside the Outdoor Hour Challenge.
Bird Nests and Eggs Studiesin our Homeschool Nature Study Membership
You can find even more bird nature study ideas in the Learning About Birds Outdoor Hour Challenge curriculum. This ebook curriculum is available in annual Homeschool Nature Study membership. There are also bird studies in each of the seasons. So many resources to enjoy!
All homeschooling moms have them: homeschool topics that we don’t feel confident to teach. Here are some tips for tackling difficult nature study topics.
Building the Habit of Tackling Difficult Nature Study Subjects In Our Homeschools
Tackling the difficult topics found in nature study can be a stumbling block for many moms. Most of us find it easy to be interested in and to learn about topics like birds and butterflies alongside our children. But, what about things like spiders, fungus, or rocks? Are we as eager to study those things commonly found in nature? I’ve suffered from this lack of interest in tackling difficult topics in nature study with my children.
Reasons We May View Topics as Difficult
Let’s face it. Most of us are not “experts” in nature study. These things were not covered in our educational years. So many times, when we’re faced with introducing our children to nature study, we feel unqualified.
We lack knowledge in the area under study.
“But she should not let lack of knowledge be a wet blanket thrown over her pupils’ interest. She should say frankly, ‘I do not know; let us see if we cannot together find out this mysterious thing.’”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 3
We lack personal interest in a topic.
It’s our attitude about a topic that can either encourage or discourage our children in their pursuing the study of a topic. If you are disgusted by spiders, they will probably take on your attitude. Honestly, I found studying snakes one of the most difficult things to do with my children so I would continually put it off until a future date.
Resources may not be readily available.
At some point, we come across something during our nature study time that is not in the Handbook of Nature Study. It may be a local wildflower or a migrating bird. Whatever the topic, we lack the knowledge or resources to easily study it with our children. We realize we need to do more research in our study. It seems like too much work.
Ideas to Help with Difficult Nature Study Subjects
Start with the Handbook of Nature Study lessons for a topic.
Build Up Knowledge
If you need additional information, try the children’s section at your public library for books that talk about the topic. Search for videos on YouTube if you want some help making a topic less intimidating. (Note: The Outdoor Hour Challenges (OHC) will usually have all these ideas in the lesson so make sure to look up your topic to see if there is an OHC on the website that you may be able to use.)
Example from our nature study:
Rain Beetle – How to Identify a New Insect: I found that the closer I looked at this insect, the more beauty I found in its design and features. It taught me that sometimes if we just take time to learn more about a topic, the more interesting it becomes.
Develop Interest Over Time
If you introduce a topic and it falls flat, nothing says you can’t move onto something else. Sometimes you just need to let some time pass before you find a hook for a particular nature study topic. This is especially the case when you’re studying a subject that you haven’t encountered in person. We all get more excited about something new we see and experience with our own eyes!
“No teacher is expected to teach all the lessons in this book. A wide range of subjects is given, so that congenial choices may be made.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 24
Study a Variety of Nature Study Subjects
There is no end to the variety of nature study subjects available to you. You could easily stick to topics you are passionate about for a long time. Eventually, you may develop a desire to tackle some of the less attractive topics with your children. Give it time.
“Usually, the reason for this lack of interest is the limited range of subjects used for nature study lessons. Often the teacher insists upon flowers as the lesson subject, when toads or snakes would prove the key to the door of the child’s interest.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 6
Find a Group That Can Support Your Study
Ask around your community or look at local social media to find a group or event that will help you get excited about a nature study topic. Ask at a local nature center. Put the word out in your homeschooling community. Find a mentor for a topic that your child is interested in learning more about and you have no interest in tackling. There is no shame in finding help for difficult topics.
My Homeschool Mom Experiencewith Tackling Diffucult Nature Study Topics
One year we studied rocks and I took the kids to the local rock and mineral show at our fairgrounds. Talk about the perfect place to find a mentor in this area! Most of the participants were eager to share their knowledge and even invited the kids to join their rockhounding group. I was able to get suggestions for places to go look for rocks to collect and for books that we could add to our nature library.
More Ways to Include Nature Study in Your Homeschool
All of the materials in Homeschool Nature Study Membership are going to give you support and direction in offering a simple study of difficult nature topics. Because we each have our individual likes and dislikes, it’s hard for me to point to just one resource for you to use in your study.
Each February, for four days, the world comes together for the love of birds. Over these four days we invite people to spend time in their favorite places watching and counting as many birds as they can find and reporting them to us. These observations help scientists better understand global bird populations before one of their annual migrations.
Birdcount.org
Bird Watching 101: Attracting Birds to Your Yard
Here you will find all sorts of ideas for attracting birds to your yard for homeschool nature study and birdwatching. We love to watch birds and do so on a regular basis without ever leaving our backyard. We can watch from our window or our deck and see usually around 4-5 different kinds of birds each day. At sometimes of the year, we have a lot more than that and it is exciting to see a new kind in the feeders.
Fun Bird Nests and Eggs Activities for Nature Study – Enjoy these fun activities for learning about bird nests and eggs. Includes ideas for getting outside, bird resources and suggestions for follow up activities as well.
Ultimate List of Bird Nature Studies Using the Outdoor Hour Challenges
You can enjoy a simple birds homeschool nature study with these resources we have gathered for you to use in your own backyard. It is such a delight to study and learn about these beautiful creatures! Find the list HERE.
Make Bird Feeders and Bird Crafts for Your Backyard Birds
We created these amazing bird feeders in a special winter event with our sister site, You ARE an ARTiST! There are even more bird feeders/crafts you can enjoy in the replay. Find out more in this Winter Tree Homeschool Nature Study!
These are such fun with sayings such as: “Bee Mine”, “I’m Nuts for You”, “Owl Love You Forever” and “I Love You Deerly”. Perfect for exchanging Valentines with friends or for mailing to grandparents! (Homeschool Nature Study members have these in your Resources course and on your February Nature Study Calendar!)
Keeping a nature journal and building the homeschool nature journal habit can be a wonderful extension of your outdoor learning time. You will find nature journal ideas for everyone from young children to the homeschool mom!
You can even start a Calendar of Firsts – such a wonderful habit that will hep your children notice seasonal changes and more.
Spring Homeschool Nature Study with Music and Art
Because by the end of February we are all ready for spring! You may even have some early spring bulbs poking through the soil! Take a peek at this Spring Homeschool Nature Study.
Join The Homeschool Nature Study Membership for Year Round Support
Can you believe all of these bird resources you will find in membership? You will also find a continuing series on bird nature study, bird watching and attracting birds plus all the Outdoor Hour Challenges for nature study in our Homeschool Nature Study membership. There are 25+ continuing courses with matching Outdoor Hour curriculum that will bring the Handbook of Nature Study to life in your homeschool! In addition, there is an interactive monthly calendar with daily nature study prompt – all at your fingertips!
