From the Archives: This is one of my favorite posts for encouraging new and struggling families with their nature study plans. The thoughts expressed by one of my readers reflect a common struggle that many people have and email me about often.
The reader posed this dilemma:
She shared that she has a hard time focusing (on nature study), was easily distracted by really good ideas, and felt that she needed to cover academic subjects first while she had the children’s attention.
In this post from my archives, I address this situation with some practical advice using the Outdoor Hour Challenge (specifically challenges 1-3).
I invite you to click over and read the entry and see if you find something there that encourages you as the new school year begins or maybe something in the post will stimulate you to give nature study a chance.
Let me know if you have any questions or additional comments.
This is what I encourage you to remember if nothing else:
Nurture a love of the outdoors and the interesting things you find there with your children as they are growing up. Train their eyes to see what is there in front of them….stop and look and listen. These are skills that will make them happier people and better students in all areas.
I just keep adding to my list of animals seen here in Oregon. This week there were sightings of a porcupine and a coyote! The coyote was just trotting along through the back pasture until he came upon a downed tree. He hesitated and then pounced on some little creature, shook his head a bit, gobbled it up, and then continued trotting on down the way. It makes me very happy that my cats are indoor cats!
We’ve seen a variety of birds this month, including a whole flock of mountain quail. They are a bit different than the California quail I’m used to seeing. They don’t have the curved topknot like the California quail but rather have a straight plume sticking up. The mountain quail are much smaller too.
The most memorable outdoor related thing about the past month has been the amount of wildfire smoke in our area. It’s been a constant feature of every day as it obscures the view of the mountains and sometimes even just the across the street. Looking on the bright side, it makes for some crazy colored sunrises and sunsets.
Our grown boys are staying with us right now and we try to fit in some local fun as we all get to know our new area. This past week we hiked up to some waterfalls that create a natural waterslide. The water was pretty cold but the air temperatures were hot. The men all gave the slide a try while I was content to watch, photograph, and stand with my feet in the water along the shore. What a memorable day!
I picked up a new-to-me bike at the thrift shop for $20 and we’ve had it out for a spin a few times on the bike trail at Sunriver. There are miles of trails that wind around the resort and down along the river. Whoever planned the trail was smart! They strategically placed park benches along the trail in perfect spots for viewing the beautiful vistas (when there isn’t wildfire smoke). This new bike will allow us to cover more ground when we explore the beauty of Sunriver.
Garden Update
Just to note my gardening challenges, I was told I live in plant hardiness zone 5A. I’ve been talking to my neighbors about their success in gardening here in the high desert and so many of them have told me to only plant things that are meant for garden zone 4. This means I have to look for plants that have a range down to -40 degrees! I couldn’t understand why at first but just this week I had someone explain it to me in a way that makes sense.
Garden zones take into consideration the low temperatures overall. Here in my area we have the potential for frost throughout the summer and very cold nighttime temperatures will affect the growth of plants. So, this explains why on the surface it appears that I could get away with plants for zone 5A, but just one night of a cold snap will kill them or stunt their growth. It’s far better to pick plants that will grow in zone 4 range instead and not chance it.
I get it now. I will continue my quest to make a practical garden plan over the winter.
If you live in my area, I have found this to be a very helpful guide that we’ve printed out and saved: Xeriscaping in the High Desert.
Want to join in the Outdoor Mom post?
Answer all or just one of the prompts in a blog entry on your own blog or right here on my blog in a comment. If you answer on your blog, make sure to leave me a link in a comment so that I can pop over and read your responses.
During our outdoor time this week we went….
The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)…
In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting….
Many of you know that I am a big fan of NotebookingPages.com and their many homeschool related products. Because of that, I am making sure you know about their current promotion.
This giveaway is worth taking a look at and you may be the Grand Prize winner of an outrageously amazing prize package, including an Ultimate Naturalist Membership here on the Handbook of Natuer Study.
I invite you to click over and enter to win! Plus, if you sign up for a subscription, you get a free Notebook Sampler.
Make sure to enter by September 8th!
Please note I am an affiliate for NotebookingPages.com and I receive a small commission if you end up making a purchase.
I’m hoping there will be many of you who will be joining us for the up-coming autumn season of nature study. I’m all geared up to jump into an ebook from the archives with fresh eyes in a new location.
I am by nature a planner, and I know many of you are likewise, so here’s the plan for the next few months here on the Handbook of Nature Study.
If you want to see the complete plan for the next year, you can pop over to this entry to see what will be covered: Plans for October 2017 to August 2018.
I’m giving away 5 copies of the Autumn 2010 ebook!
Would you like a chance to win the Nature Study with the Outdoor Hour Challenge – Autumn 2010 ebook? Here you go! Enter by leaving me a comment and then using the Rafflecopter gadget to make your official entry. The giveaway will end on Friday, September 8, 2017 at midnight. You can enter once a day until then!
I will be choosing 5 winners at random!
The giveaway runs until Friday, September 8, 2017 at midnight so enter now!
Change is good! I know many of you are disappointed with my decision to stop creating a monthly newsletter. Please read the rest of this entry to understand a bit more about my decision to make some changes here with the Outdoor Hour Challenge and memberships at the Handbook of Nature Study. (You can read my previous entry here: Plans for October 2017 to August 2018.)
New Beginnings
Here we are at the beginning of a new month and a new school year. My fellow nature-lovers have long enjoyed the monthly newsletters here at the Handbook of Nature Study but now the time has come to make a change. With 76 issues in the archives, I’ve helped to create quite a library of ideas and encouragement along with my amazing contributors.
Over the last year I became increasingly aware that the newsletter has had a good run but it was time to go in a different direction. So, instead of creating a newsletter each month to encourage nature study, I will be back to writing encouraging blog entries on a regular basis that subscribers will receive in their email inbox.
I Will Still Be Creating New Resources for Nature Study
In addition to those blog entries, there will be new things like printables and ebooks shared via the Member’s Library. (Remember Ultimate and Journey level members get all the new printables and ebooks for the year of their subscription.)
To help you see what is actually available with your membership, which includes the 76 newsletters, I am going to do two things: give everyone access to several complete newsletters as samples and create a printable list of the topics and contents of each issue.
The newsletter index will be helpful in making the decision to purchase a membership. It will also be a quick guide for all members here on the Handbook of Nature Study to find resources to supplement your nature study.
Remember, every level of membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study includes the 76 archived newsletters!
It’s the beginning of a new chapter here on the Handbook of Nature Study and I hope you will stick around to see all of the amazing things I have planned this year.
If you haven’t subscribed to my blog yet, I encourage you to give it a try and see if it encourages you and your family to get outside and learn together, to explore together, and to get to know the amazing things right outside your door! Subscribe here: Email subscription to the Handbook of Nature Study blog.
Here in Central Oregon we have many asters and daisies to observe. This week’s challenge takes us into the Handbook of Nature Study lessons on daisies and asters. Look for these flowers in your garden and yard. If you can’t find any flowers to observe in person during your outdoor time, you can usually find these flowers in the floral department at your local grocery store.
Make this a fun and enjoyable study by following up with some watercolor paintings in your nature journal. I am always inspired to be creative when I take my paints outside and your children may just be the same way.
Make sure to watch the videos in the original challenge to inspire even the most flower study reluctant boys. They might want to look for the patterns and the Fibonacci sequence in the challenge flowers after learning more about this fascinating aspect of nature.
You can also follow up by pressing flowers for your nature journal or allowing time for your children to arrange a beautiful bouquet of flowers for your kitchen table.
Above all, get outside and enjoy your family time!
My current nature themed read isVitamin N by Richard Louv. I am gleaning so many new and original nature study ideas from his writings. I know many of you have read his other book, Last Child in the Woods, but Vitamin N takes his ideas one step further by providing specific and practical ideas for enjoying nature with your family. I highly recommend this book! Look for it at your public library.
Looking for the autumn plan for the Outdoor Hour Challenge? Here is a link!
I had every intention of keeping thorough weather records for the month of August. I printed out my weather chart and kept it right on the kitchen counter next to my nature notebook. My usual routine is to get up each morning and make a few notes in the notebook about any nature observation of interest. I note any animal activity, keep a list of the birds I see, and any general thoughts about the changing landscape. It makes me happy to look back over the notes and then many times I create a formal nature journal page based on those notes.
It became clear from the beginning of August that my weather chart was not a good fit for what I wanted to keep track of here in Oregon. The column headings and spaces were too confining. I started to envision a new chart in my mind. I am working on creating it now and soon it will be found in the Member’s Library…probably the first week in September.
In the meantime, August was not a big weather month and the skies were mostly filled with smoke from the wildfires burning locally and all the way from British Columbia! There were a few slightly less smoky days but we rarely saw Mt. Bachelor or Paulina Peak.
The last week of August was the week of the hottest daytime temperatures but there developed a pattern of cooling off in the evenings and the nights were actually quite chilly. If I fell asleep with my bedroom window open, I would wake up super cold!
There was no measurable rain this month but there were several afternoons with thunder in the distance. We know that the lightning started several fires. Everything is so dry here in the summer!
I’m going to try to do better keeping records in the month of September. I am told by locals here that we go straight to winter once summer has faded early next month. Autumn is not my favorite season so I don’t think I’ll miss it much, although I’ve been thinking about “autumny” things like pumpkin spice lattes and wearing sweaters or flannel. With the aspens in our neighborhood, I’m thinking we may get some autumn color. Perhaps we will take a drive up over the Cascades to see some maples and visit the Willamette Valley during the next few months.
If your children learn to weather watch, they will begin to see your weather patterns, knowing what the signs of autumn are in your location. Such knowledge is valuable and a skill that many people are lacking in the modern world.
Become a weather watcher! You can find many weather related Outdoor Hour Challenges under the Misc/Seasonal tab at the top of the website.
Every day this week I have felt more and more like summer is coming to an end. The days are shorter, the nights are chilly, and the landscape is turning a golden brown as the grasses dry up in the sun. We have had lots of smoky days from wildfires in our area which make the light different and the view not as pretty.
I created a page at the beginning of August to document a few of my summer observations and a few favorite things. I used watercolor pencils to create the background and then a ZIG pen to do my journaling. I like the way it turned out!
During our trip to California, we fit in a hike up on the Tahoe Rim Trail. We made it to Round Lake and sat by the water’s edge for a long time watching the clouds and birds. There was some drama as an osprey caught a fish and then an eagle tried to take it away! Then, the eagle flew right over our heads so we got a very close view of him…what a magnificent bird he was!
The newsletter this month featured some ideas for mammal study and I took that idea and created a mammal page for my nature journal. I featured some of our smaller mammals that I have seen this summer in our area. Can you believe we saw a badger?
Of course, I had to document the total eclipse that occurred here in Oregon. We were at 98% totality so it was a dramatic experience as we sat in our own backyard. Our town has been full of visitors and people passing through even since the eclipse so I added a little mention of that part of the impact on us locally.
Hopefully you have been adding to your journal this month. Don’t forget to keep your pages simple and create something that fits your style and experience. You will never regret taking the time to document your nature adventures.
Don’t forget that I am sharing a nature journal page each week on my Instagram account if you want to see the pages as they unfold. Follow me here:Instagram – outdoorhourchallenge.And, if you want to create a page and share it on your Instagram for me to see, use the hashtag #OHCnaturejournal
Please note that I am an affiliate for NotebookingPages.com. I have used these pages with my own family over many years. They are truly a simple way to get those nature journal pages done!
Use the link in this post or the mammal tab at the top of the Handbook of Nature Study website for the list of mammal study options to choose from for this week’s Outdoor Hour Challenge. We have been observing lots of mammals this summer and I’m anxious to do my own mammal study using the Handbook of Nature Study.
Many of the Outdoor Hour Challenges listed on the mammal study page include resource links, videos, and printables.
Do you have a pet dog, cat, mouse, or rat? Do you have a neighbor that has a dog or cat they will let you observe? How about a relative? How about visiting a pet store? Be creative.
If you are a Charlotte Mason homeschooler, please make a note of the mammal nature study page here on the Handbook of Nature Study. The Ambleside Online nature study topic for the upcoming winter season is mammals and you may want to refer to this list when you plan your winter mammal study!
I keep reminding myself that the perfect summer weather is only here for a few short months in Central Oregon. It could get cold and wet as soon as September or early October so we need to be outdoors as much as we can right now. We made lots of time for kayaking and exploring in July, both close to home and during a trip to New York. Here are a few of the highlights.
Our youngest son was home for a few days at the beginning of the month so that gave us an opportunity to get out on the lake in the kayaks. We were there fairly early and it was fantastic weather for exploring this crystal clear lake up on the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway. We paddled across the lake, through a canal of sorts, and then over to the other part of the lake. We had the dog with us and she is such a good passenger, even if she gets excited when we see ducks and geese. The yellow water lilies were blooming and the damselflies were out in force, landing on our arms and legs if we stopped paddling.
We had some young people come and stay with us for a week and one thing we did was kayak up on Sparks Lake. I love this lake! The view of the mountains, the relaxed paddling around the lake’s edge, and the beautiful wildflowers all contributed to the enjoyment of the day.
One of the most amazing parts of living where we do now is the ability to drag our kayaks straight from the backyard down to the river. We had left the truck down at the pull-out earlier in the day so all we had to do was jump on the water and go. We went further than normal and it ended up being a four hour paddle/float down the Little Deschutes. The girls were really good sports about the unexpected length of the trip. My husband made up for it with a delicious dinner when we got back home.
I had the opportunity to spend some time in New York and Ontario with my kids during July. We were driving right through Niagara Falls so we made the stop and took the Hornblower cruise from the Canada side. All I can say is that it was WAY better than I expected and it was overwhelmingly beautiful. The power of the falls is awe inspiring.
We took one day while the girls were here to make the trip to Crater Lake National Park. We stopped and viewed the lake from two different viewing points, hiked the Castle Crest trail to see the wildflowers, and then hiked to Plaikni Falls. I will be writing up our entire trip in a separate entry.
This is a peak in our area that you can actually drive up to in a car. Let’s just say we’ll be driving up there probably every summer to take in the splendid view atop a volcanic mountain. It is breathtaking!
I hope you enjoyed seeing a glimpse into our July travels and adventures. It was fun to have some young people to share the experiences with us.
Struggling With Consistency and Focus
