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Posted on January 1, 2011 by Barb — 19 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenges – Getting Started With Nature Study

Getting Started Outdoor Hour Challenge ebook

Getting Started Challenges 1-10 – Now there is a second edition available!

#1 Let’s Get Started
#2 Using Your Words
#3 Now Is The Time To Draw
#4 It Is Coming Into Focus
#5 Keeping a List
#6 Collections
#7 Your Own Field Guide
#8 Magnifying Lens
#9 One Small Square
#10 Picnic

Tips for Getting Started with the Outdoor Hour Challenge:

I always suggest that families start with the first ten Outdoor Hour Challenges, making sure to read the pages in the introduction of the Handbook of Nature Study as suggested in each challenge. Anna Botsford Comstock’s words there are what created in me a better method of teaching “nature study”.
If you would like to try out some simple nature study ideas, you can access the first ten Outdoor Hour Challenges linked above. These challenges are also in the Getting Started ebook which is included in every level of membership. The ebook includes corresponding custom notebook pages to use in your nature journal for each challenge.
You can see and download a sample challenge and notebook pages: OHC Getting Started Ebook Sample.

What To Do After You Complete the First Ten Challenges

Keep your nature study rolling after the first ten challenges by joining us in our weekly nature study activities using the Handbook of Nature Study. Each week there will be a suggested Outdoor Hour Challenge for your family. It is so easy to get started by clicking the graphic below and reading a detailed description of how to participate this coming year!

If you have any questions, please email me!

Posted on December 27, 2010 by Barb — 3 Comments

December World – Texture

We had a break in our rainy weather so that meant we seized the opportunity to get out and walk with the dog on the walking trail. Our surprise nature study subject of the day was “mushrooms”. They were in abundance on this trip down the trail.

After looking at all the photos when we got home, I decided the theme of the day was “texture”.

Must be something rotting underneath the debris….makes for a great photo.

Lots of things going on in this photo…reds and greens make a nice contrast to each other.

This is my favorite image of the day….wow! Look all those textures and colors and layers.

Someone or something had knocked a bunch of mushrooms loose along another section of the trail. Love the gills in this mushroom image.

Last one for today….mushrooms and brown grass make an interesting composition for this image.

We are enjoying our winter break and spending lots of time outdoors, both in the yard and out on walks. I haven’t had any nature study subjects in mind except to enjoy the pleasures that December has offered. I am sort of itching to get started on a more focused nature study plan again in January.

I am off to San Francisco today to spend the day looking at some great art….Post-Impressionists! Of course the museum is in Golden Gate Park so we will more than likely be taking a walk to see what we can find.

Have a great week!

Posted on December 24, 2010 by Barb — 8 Comments

Eureka! Finally Found the New Link! Cornell’s Bird Coloring Book!

I have received so many emails about this coloring book link. Cornell changed the link and it has been near impossible to find online but today I stumbled across the classic bird coloring book for you to download.

Feeder Birds Coloring Book

Make sure to download and save the PDF so you will have it when you need it!

Enjoy.

Posted on December 23, 2010 by Barb — 10 Comments

More Than a Gesture…Priceless

My son left me a gift….he knows how to cheer me up.

I have been busy doing some second term planning and this means a few hours a day sitting at the desk and computer. My boys have noticed that I start early and push myself to just get it done. They have been working on their favorite projects like waxing snowboards, playing basketball, working on model airplanes, taking long walks with the dog, and visiting with family.

I came out to work on chemistry planning and found this beautiful leaf sitting on the text, a gift from my seventeen year old son. Priceless….

I think nature study has made a special bond in our family and I love the way my teenage boys can see beauty in the simplest of things. I hope that in my way that I am helping your families to build that bond and love in nature study.

Posted on December 21, 2010 by Barb — 4 Comments

December World – Raging River in the Rain

Could it have been the day before the first day of winter? It sure felt like it yesterday as we took a drive down to the river to see the high water. Rain, nothing but rain, the last few days which means the rivers and dams are filling up with the run-off.

The American River Confluence is a raging wall of water on this last day of autumn. The beaches are all gone and the whitewater rapids are not visible as the river is swollen up onto its banks. The rain stopped long enough for us to jump out of the car and capture a few misty, wet images of the trail and the river.

December World = Wet.

PS Did you see the lunar eclipse? We had too many clouds although we were out and looking a couple of times last night.

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Barb — 3 Comments

Yesterday’s Hike: Our Familiar Trail

I love having a “familiar trail”. The subtle changes that take place from week to week sometimes escape my notice until I look at them through the lens of my camera. The light is different this time of year and the colors so very different. This trail that is bursting with wildflowers in the spring and early summer is now just a palette of browns and greens, with an occasional splash of color if you really look for it along the edges.

Although this may sound like a complaint, it really isn’t. I love having the contrasts between seasons, anticipating the next progression of growing. It is something at the core of me that knows this is the natural way to keep time. Thinking about it…perhaps this is why I don’t wear a watch or carry my phone with me at all times. I just like to feel the natural rhythm of the day and the seasons without fussing too much with the minute by minute ticking of time. It’s cloudy, rainy, cold, the oaks have lost their leaves, the buckeyes are sprouting on the ground, the ferns are unfurling…..it must be close to the first day of winter.

Guess I’m feeling sort of reflective on this cold, gray afternoon. 🙂

What to see a few images from our walk? Enjoy!

It was still wet from the melted frost we had overnight and the mood was very somber.

It is a steep hike back up the canyon after we hike down. Great exercise for humans and canines. (If you want to see what this place on the trail looks like in the spring, you can click HERE.

Dried up blackberries still hanging on the vines next to the trail. This is near the mushy part of the trail and soon we will have a little creek to hop over at this point.

Wet wintery weeds are everywhere….I can visualize what the spring will bring but for now the landscape is pretty sad.

The most colorful spot we found on our hike was right near the top where the ferns, mosses, and fungus are all bursting out.

So there you have it….a December day on our familiar trail. We are now facing ten forecasted days of rain so we may not make it back for another week or so down this trail. If the weather clears, we will jump on the chance to get out and hike again on this path so close to home.

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Barb — 2 Comments

December World – Colors

Our December days are accented with color….right in our own yard.

My husband brought some granite rocks into the front yard when we remodeled and I am so happy to see that they are alive with moss and lichens of a variety of colors. Now when I walk down my front path I will see some living things that have made themselves at home…that makes me happy.

There are still leaves falling each day from the colorful trees and I love the way this red leaf fell among the yellow-green leaves. Now that I look at the photo closely, I notice there is a mushroom peeking through on the top left side.

The gray skies of December have a different feel to them and give the afternoon a somber cast. The sweet gum tree is all dressed up with its sticker balls and a few remaining red-orange leaves. I find myself looking up at the sky more in the winter….checking the sky for clouds, looking for birds, viewing the world that opens up when the leaves are gone.

I feel a whole series of December World posts coming on as I work my way through my photos from this week. Using photography to capture your world is not only an easy way to document your time outdoors but it can be therapeutic to see the world through the lens of your camera. You get to focus on the small and the big.

Hope you are enjoying the series so far.

Posted on December 14, 2010 by Barb — 6 Comments

Flaming Tree on an Autumn Morning

Up early a few days ago on a brilliant autumn morning, I noticed one of our sweet gum trees ablaze with the sunrise. It looked like a torch against the blue sky all lit up with the morning rays.

The curious thing about this tree is that it still has most of its leaves. You can see in the photo there are similar trees on either side of it that have lost all but a few of their leaves. Three trees…all the same kind….all planted at the same time…..one decides to keep its leaves. Curious.

“The autumn leaf which glows gold or red, has in it only the material which the tree can no longer use. It is a mistake to believe that the frost causes the brilliant colors of autumn foliage, they are caused by the natural old age and death of the leaves-and where is there to be found old age and death more beautiful? When the leaf assumes its bright colors, it is making ready to depart from the tree; a thin, corky layer is being developed between the petiole and the twig, and when this is perfected, the leaf drops from its own weight or the touch of the slightest breeze.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 622

Here is another tree that is planted on the side of our house and it is amazingly tall and colorful. The birds like to sit in this tree and sing in the summer time but now they are mostly gone.

I spotted a house sparrow in this tree off the side of our deck. The sparrows are regular visitors to our feeders and stick around the whole year. This one seemed to be enjoying the sunrise.

I enjoy a good sunrise myself.

Posted on December 12, 2010 by Barb — 2 Comments

December World – Fragrance

Lavender in December-Still Fragrant

Our December World still has a fragrance. I stepped out the front door and down the steps and out of habit I reached to touch the lavender next to the stairway. Running my hand along the leaves and then placing my hand up to my face, I smell a summer smell. The leaves this time of year are a silvery-gray-green but they hold a sweet lavender smell that I adore.

Rosemary

My eyes started looking for other things that might have fragrance and I spotted my new rosemary plants up by the birdfeeder. They still have a few purple blossoms on the ends and as I kneel to take a photo or two I spot a bee buzzing near-by! I am surprised.

Violet

Around the corner and back to the back steps I spot my favorite cold weather fragrant flower…the violet. There are just a few starting to bloom but each flower holds a potent gift of violet goodness. Besides….who can resist a purple flower?

Oregano-Still a few leaves to pluck and bring up to the kitchen.

My garden is pretty much sleeping for the winter but tucked into Mr. B’s box are a few herbs and these give a fragrance to winter as well. He has thyme, oregano, and chives all hanging in there despite our cold temperatures.

Peas late in the season

I notice that the peas we tucked in the box a few months ago have woke up and are growing. It will be interesting to see if they continue to grow.

Garden box and my leaf pile.

The rest of the garden is pretty much done and the pile of leaves there in the background will soon be spread over the remaining boxes as a nice winter blanket. The smell of the leaves as they decay is rich and potent, ever promising to protect the few plants that are left for the winter and then to enrich the soil when we till them under in the spring.

So there you have our fragrant December World….perhaps you have some smell that reminds of the coming winter. I encourage you to open your sense of smell this month and see if you can discover some odor to enjoy. Wood smoke? Pine boughs?

Thanks to Palmy from Mens Sana who sent me a link to her fragrance entry….you will need to translate if you don’t speak Italian.

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Barb — 13 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge – December Mini-Challenge and Notebook Page

My whole impetus for starting this blog was to share how our family finally cracked the book open and started implementing the ideas that Anna Botsford Comstock wrote about so skillfully in this book. The entire Handbook of Nature Study is to help parents/teachers to be better nature study guides.

The breath of fresh air, the moving about outside, the getting to know better our own backyard…these are the joys of the Outdoor Hour Challenge. The most successful families involved in the OHC are those that embrace the idea that getting outdoors as a family is important and worthy of our time. The OHC is the vehicle for getting us outside, hopefully giving us something interesting to learn about. If we skip the preparation work and don’t read the pages in the Handbook of Nature Study, we are missing out on the simple ideas that Anna Botsford Comstock shared in the pages of each lesson.

We can all use some refreshing ideas from time to time and I am encouraging every single participant of the Outdoor Hour Challenge to spend a few minutes over the next few weeks to read the pages from the challenges below…you will not be sorry. Read with a note pad or highlighter to create some of your own points to remember as you go outdoors with your children this winter. I have listed some of my favorite points below.

Handbook of Nature Study Reading Suggestions
Challenge 1: Pages 1-8
Challenge 2: Pages 23-24
Challenge 3: 16-17
Challenge 4: 10-11 and 13-15

“In nature-study the work begins with any plant or creature which chances to interest the pupil.”

“In nature study any teacher can with honor say, ‘I do not know’, for perhaps the question asked is as yet unanswered by the great scientists.”

“No child should be compelled to have a nature journal”

“…but in nature-study, the observation of form is for the purpose of better understanding life.”

“It is a mistake to think that half day is necessary for a field lesson, since a very efficient field trip may be made during the ten or fifteen minutes at recess, if it is well planned.”

You don’t have to go farther than you own backyard because “nature study is science brought home”.

To help us implement some of the ideas we read about, I have included a December World Notebook Page as part of this entry. You can use it to record your outdoor time over the next few weeks.

Please note I am an affiliate for NotebookingPages.com and I receive a small commission for every purchase you make after clicking my links. I hope that you find their products as valuable as I do!

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Outdoor Hour Challenges for families since 2008!