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Posted on October 19, 2015 by Barb — Leave a comment

Planning Monthly Nature Study

Last month I shared how to plan a nature study course for a year. This time I want to show you how to use the monthly ideas shared in the Handbook of Nature Study newsletter and each Friday here on the blog and make a monthly nature study plan. If you are a member here on the Handbook of Nature Study, there is a set of planning pages available in the printables section of your membership.

Customize Your Monthly Nature Study Plans

Think of all the ideas as ingredients. There are many options for your nature study recipe. Pick the ones that suit your family and your taste. Add them to the planner page and use that as a way to remind you of your options for the month. Don’t feel like you need to complete all the things you list on the planner page….I don’t. But, creating the list will make it more likely I will accomplish something during the month. Celebrate the things you are able to share with your family and look at this as a life long journey, taking one month at a time.

Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter – Download and print the newsletter each month. Read through the ideas presented and pick a few to put on your monthly planning page. Make sure to look on the planning page for nature photo ideas, nature table suggestions, and nature journal topics to jot down on your monthly planning page.
Ebooks- If you are following along with the Friday posts, pick one or two to include on your monthly planning page. (The month’s Friday topics are found on the planning page in the newsletter.)
Archives– You are welcome to pick an ebook from the library and pull challenges from there. Write the ebook title and the challenge title on your planning page.
Seasonal ideas- Use the seasonal ideas from the tab at the top of the website to find one or two seasonal ideas to pick from for your family.
Once a Month Nature Journal Idea – use the idea in the post to create a nature journal page for any of the items listed above.
Printables- If you are a member here on the Handbook of Nature Study, check out the printables in your library for additional ideas to include on your monthly planner.

Does that overwhelm you? Here is an alternative that will be simple to try!

As an alternative, download the newsletter planning page and print the planning page out (usually it is the second page of the newsletter). Add ideas to the page that you would like to include for your monthly nature study time. Again, don’t feel like you need to do everything but use the planning page as a way to stimulate some nature study during your month.

Any more questions!

I hope this helps answer the frequently asked question about nature study planning for your family. Let me know if you have any other questions that I can answer in future posts!

Posted on October 16, 2015 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Field Horsetail

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Field Horsetail

Inside Preparation Work:

Read pages 706-709 (Lesson #196) in the Handbook of Nature Study. Make sure to read the lesson information for the fertile and the sterile plants.
Look at this link for a distribution map to see if you have field horsetail in your are: USDA. I also recommend this concise description and the clear images on this page: Field Horsetail.
Advanced study: Read about the uses of this plant: Field Horsetail—Herbal Uses. Please note I do not recommend eating any plants. I am sharing the link for information only.

Outdoor Hour Time:

During your outdoor time, look for the field horsetail which this time of year is very different than in the spring. Take note of any patches of field horsetail you find so you can look for its emergence in the spring along with the spores and green stems instead of leaves.
For this challenge, use the field horsetail to complete the lesson ideas for the “sterile plant” as found in the Handbook of Nature Study. This is the perfect time to study the plant’s sterile branches along with its roots if possible.
If you don’t have any field horsetail to observe, find another autumn weed to take note of along with its seeds. You can use this time to compare the way some plants use seeds to reproduce and some plants grow from the rootstock.

Follow-Up Activity:

Create a nature journal entry for the field horsetail or any other plant you found interesting. Make sure to include a short caption that explains how the field horsetail reproduces and is different than a seed bearing plant.
Advanced Study: Draw the complete life cycle of the field horsetail plant, labeling the plant’s parts and the time of year.

If you want to purchase the Autumn Nature Study 2015 ebook so you can follow along with all the notebooking pages, coloring pages, and subject images, you can join the Ultimate or Journey Membership Levels. See the Join Us page for complete information. Also, you can view the Autumn Nature Study 2015 announcement page for more details.

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Posted on October 14, 2015 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Goals 2015 – 3rd Quarter Update

Another quarter has come and gone….a few more of my nature study goals have been met. The summer season is my favorite season for getting outside and exploring but now that autumn has arrived I really need to get busy with the remaining goals on my list. I think this is the beauty of having a goal list since it reminds you of your intentions and keeps them fresh in your mind. I have my goal list in my planning binder and now I have some items penciled in on my calendar.

You can read my original post here: Nature Study Goals 2015

Goals Update

1. Yosemite Photo Project: This was a big fail. I took two trips to Yosemite during this quarter and I did NOT manage to take the book with me that outlined my plans for the project. It is a very good thing that I can roll this over into next year.

2. Visit one new state park: Accomplished this one!!! We visited Sugar Pine Point State Park and had a picnic and did some hiking. I just realized I have never created an entry about this trip…it is now on the schedule for an up-coming post.

3. Visit one new national park: Accomplished during the second quarter – Zion National Park.

4. Visit a bird refuge: This is going to happen in this last quarter of the year so stay tuned!

5. Take one new hike: We have picked a hike and now that it is autumn we will give it a try. (#37 in the book-Codfish Falls on the American River).

6. Read ten nature-related books this year: So far so good with nine books read and one more to go!

7. Rock project: We had plans to work on this one but we had to cancel our trip due to the wildfires here in California.

8. Create one nature journal entry each month: Yes! Using the Once a Month Nature Journal ideas, I have been able to create at least one page a month.

How are your nature study goals coming along for 2015? Do you need to create a list?

You might like to read the Planning Nature Study for the Year post from last month for some ideas to get you started.

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Cockroach

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Insect Study – Cockroach

Inside Preparation Work:

Read pages 350-351 (Lesson #83) in the Handbook of Nature Study.
This is a helpful page that you can read with your children and download any of the pdf identification cards you desire to include in your nature journal: Cockroaches.
Advanced study: Here is a National Geographic video about the cockroach. Just be warned it may be hard for some people to watch. I suggest previewing this video!

Outdoor Hour Time:

Go on an insect hunt! Look for any insect to observe and compare to a cockroach.
Observation Ideas: Look at the shape and size of your insect. Look at the antennae. Look at the eyes. Look at the wings.

Follow-Up Activity:

If you had a cockroach to observe, use the lesson observation suggestions from the Handbook of Nature Study to create a nature journal page.
Advanced study: Research incomplete metamorphosis. Create a nature journal page that records your findings.
Advanced study: Research the insect order blattodea. Pick two insects in this order and compare them in your nature journal. There is a notebook page in the ebook for recording your data.

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Posted on October 7, 2015 by Barb — Leave a comment

National Audubon Society – First Field Guide Reptiles Review

There is a book that I have found very helpful in my study of reptiles. Yes, it is a children’s book but it is just what I need. There are so many helpful aspects to this particular book that I wanted to recommend it to you and your family. It is available on Amazon.com only as a used book from third parties but I don’t think it will disappoint you even in used condition.

Here is my affiliate link: National Audubon Society First Field Guide Reptiles

A few things I like about this book:

For advanced students: Naming reptiles with order, family, genus, and species. Talks about scientific names and many common names for same thing.
Clear images for each reptile in the book, with look alikes and related species noted right on the side of the page.
Maps are clear and understandable.
Simple explanations about where reptiles live. (pages 38-39)
Specific ideas for how to find reptiles in llate spring, summer, early fall. Helpful tips are including like keep sun at your back and look for reptiles basking on sunny parts. (pages 44-45)
There is a helpful index.

If you would like to have a wonderful reptile reference book for your nature study shelf and library, this is one that I highly recommend.

Still time to join us this month with our newsletter focus on reptiles.

Posted on October 5, 2015 by Barb — 2 Comments

Outdoor Mom’s Journal – October Edition

: My September Collage: Beautiful coneflowers from a visit to a botanical garden. My swallow bird study nature journal entry. Smoke from the large and destructive wildfire we experienced here in California. A new variety of apple from our apple farm visit.

Charlotte Mason said, “Some children are born naturalists, but even those who weren’t were born with natural curiosity about the world should be encouraged to observe nature. Most children are influenced by the opinions of those around them and if their parents don’t care about nature, or are disgusted by little creatures, they will pick up that attitude and all the wonders of nature will pass them by.”

I think I was born a naturalist. I know a few fellow naturalists in my real life and I see them here through the lens of my blog. Perhaps you have one in your home.

I try to feed that love of the natural world as much as I can fit it into my busy life….it is a balm and a balance to our very fast-paced, technologically focused world.

Most inspiring this month was my butterfly observations in my own front yard. I spent quite a bit of time sitting quietly waiting for a butterfly to stop flying around and land for a photo. I was rewarded for my effort.
I wondered about how the migrating birds know when to come back. I saw the appearance of my juncos and sparrows. They arrived at our feeders just as we got our first measurable rain since last spring.
I am anticipating and dreaming about a soon to happen trip to Connecticut. We are hoping for fall color and good weather for hiking. Time will tell.

Two photos I want to share!

This is one of my morning glories that I have growing in a pot on my back deck. It is so amazing when it firsts opens up….just like a paper flower! It is truly a glorious flower.

This is something else from a pot on my back deck. Tomato hornworms that completely ate my tomato plant pretty much in a night. I check this plant everyday and somehow missed them until I saw their telltale droppings on the deck around the plant. I left them for the birds to deal with. It’s kind of late in the season to hope that the plant revives but I can always have hope. It is hard to believe that these caterpillars eventually turn into beautiful sphinx moths.

It was a great month….looking forward to finding the autumn gifts in October.

Outdoor Mom’s Journal

Whether your family spends a few minutes a week outside or hours at a time, share what is going on in your world. I hope you have enjoyed your August.

How Do You Join?

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….
I added nature journal pages about….
I am reading…
I am dreaming about…
A photo I would like to share…

I will be posting my Outdoor Mom’s Journal entry once a month. Look for it during the first week of the month each month.

Posted on October 2, 2015 by Barb — 2 Comments

October 2015 Printables for Members

I’m really trying to encourage you to go a little deeper in your reptile study using the brand new reptile reproduction notebook that has been added to the membership library. Also, it isn’t too late to take a brook or stream walk this season using this mini grid notebook page. Print one for each member of your family and take a walk sometime soon!

Remember the Ultimate and Discovery levels of membership receive access to all of the monthly printables.

Reptile Reproduction Notebook Page – perfect for more advanced students who are taking their reptile study to a higher level.

Brook and Stream Mini Grid Notebook Page and Activity – print one for each member of your family and use it to have some fun at a local brook or stream.

These new printables are in your membership library if you are a member of the Ultimate Naturalist or Journey level memberships. You need to log into your account and then check the “Other Releases” section for brand new printables to enjoy along with the Outdoor Hour Challenges in 2015. Currently there are 36+ printables in the members library in addition to the ebooks and newsletters.

Be Inspired! Be Encouraged! Get Outdoors!

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Barb — Leave a comment

Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter – October 2015 Reptiles

Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter

October 2015 – Reptiles

When I was preparing ideas for this newsletter, my husband and I were up in the mountains on a camping trip. One afternoon on a hike, we happened to encounter a snake on the trail. Well, apparently I almost stepped right on him without noticing. My husband saw him and shouted a warning to me. I screamed and jumped up and promptly ran further along the trail. Then, I calmed down, gathered my wits and went back to see the snake…a mountain garter snake. He had stopped just off the side, near a log. His amazing coloring blends in and provides such protection in the rugged habitat. We snapped a few images and decided to leave him in peace, probably searching for his next meal.

As always, my initial reaction to a snake encounter is fear but then it turns to admiration upon closer inspection.

Please read the following explanation outlining how to get this month’s newsletter.

The newsletter link is not in this email but will come separately. There may be a delay in your receiving the email so please don’t email me until the second day of the month if you haven’t received the link on the first. For some reason, some email providers take longer to receive the newsletter email.

If you don’t receive the separate email with the download link, you probably aren’t subscribed to the blog yet. This will take less than a minute to do if you follow the steps below.

If you are a subscriber and you haven’t received your newsletter email yet, check your SPAM inbox. Some subscribers have found the email buried in SPAM inbox.

If you need to subscribe:

You will need to go to the Handbook of Nature Study, look to the top right corner for the box to type in your preferred email address, and then confirm the email that comes to your email inbox.
Once you subscribe, you will receive a thank you email from me with the download link.

This month’s newsletter link will be available only during the month of October so be sure to download it before 10/31/15.

Remember! All of the archived and current newsletters are available as part of the Ultimate Naturalist Library…every level!

Contents of this edition of the newsletter include:

Reptile nature study tips and resources in the form of links to the Handbook of Nature Study website, contributor’s links, and Pinterest. This month’s featured contributors are Heather Woodie from Blog She Wrote and Alex from Life on a Canadian Island.
October Nature Study Planning Page printable – don’t miss the little extras I have added this month like nature photo ideas, field trip ideas, and a special 15 minute challenge for parents.
I have written an article entitled, Learning About Local Reptiles, where I encourage you to learn more about reptiles using your own personal style.
Reptile Study Notebook Page – This page includes a prompt at the top to help your family go more deeply into a leaf study this month or in the months to come. It can also be used as a nature journal topper if you want to cut and paste the prompt into your own nature journal.

Members: You may also wish to download the April 2013 Newsletter from the archives. You will find additional articles, printables, and links to support your tree nature study. Note: All levels of membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study include all back issues of the newsletter.

Please note that Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level members have access to members only printables each month in addition to the newsletter printables. You will need to log into your account and then go to the “Other Releases” section. There is a reptile related notebook page that has been created to go along with this month’s newsletter theme. Look for it in the printables section of your membership.

Need help getting started with your nature study using the Handbook of Nature Study? Check out the fresh “Getting Started” page here on the website!

Posted on September 30, 2015 by Barb — 2 Comments

September Leaf Study – Smoke Tree

“During autumn the attention of the children should be attracted to the leaves by their gorgeous colors. It is well to use this interest to cultivate their knowledge of the forms of leaves of trees; but the teaching of the tree species to the young child should be done quite incidentally and guardedly. If the teacher says to the child bringing a leaf, ‘This is a white-oak leaf,’ the child will soon quite unconsciously learn that leaf by name. Thus, tree study may be begun in the kindergarten or the primary grades.” Anna Botsford-Comstock

The September newsletter was all about trees and a leaf study. I was trying to find a new subject for my study this month and decided upon a fairly new tree I have growing in my front yard. We have not pruned it to be a tree but have let it grow more in the shape of a bush. Our smoke tree provided a wonderful focal point for my leaf study using the suggestions in the newsletter and on the notebook page provided.

Note: If you subscribe to this blog, you will receive each month’s newsletter in an email. If you are interested in access to all the back issues of the newsletter, you can purchase any level of membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study and those will be available for download. See the Join Us page for more details.

Doing research on this interesting plant, I learned it has numerous common names including mist tree, cloud tree, wig tree, and Jupiter’s beard. I have always liked these trees because they develop this interesting pink “smoke” over the summer months and then the leaves turn a deep reddish purple in the autumn. Our smoke tree has just started to blush with red color on many of the leaves. Soon it will be ablaze with its autumn splendor.

Can you see the hint of red in some of the leaves above? I used the prompt from the newsletter to compare the top and bottom of the leaves. The tops of the leaves are a dark gray green color and the backs are more of a silvery green color. You can feel the veins on the bottom of the leaf but the tops are smooth. Also, you can see the beginnings of the dark little fruits that form on this plant in the fall.

I used the suggestion on the notebook page to smell the leaf and then to crush it and see if that enhances the scent. Yes! I thought the leaf had the fragrance of spicy earth but when I was doing my reading about the smoke tree, I found that it said the crushed leaf smells like orange peel. Once they put that thought in my head I had to agree…orange peels. In the photo above, you can see a few of the dark small seeds mixed in with the pink smoke.

So here is my completed notebook page with all my observations and interesting facts…an a watercolor drawing of the leaf. I may print a photo of the tree and attach it to the back of my notebook page for my journal since I have one that I took that I especially like. My page is now tucked away in my nature journal binder and thinking about it makes me happy.

Using the notebook page, I realized that I need to make the prompt on the next notebook page a little more narrow so if we want to use it as a nature journal topper it will fit in a sketchbook or blank nature journal better. Look for that next month!

Need some additional ideas?

Here is a video I made on how to make a watercolor leaf which is especially good for beginners: Watercolor Leaf on YouTube.

I created another video featuring watercolor crayons that create a beautiful leaf in my nature journal: Watercolor Crayons – Leaf Demonstration.

Here is a link to Hearts and Trees: Fall Nature Study- Things to Do With Leaves (10 things to do with leaves)

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Prickly Lettuce

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Prickly Lettuce

Inside Preparation Work

Read pages 529-531(Lesson #143) in the Handbook of Nature Study. Make sure to take along a compass on your nature walk just in case you find a prickly lettuce and you want to see which way the leaves are directed.
Look at the images and read all about prickly lettuce: Prickly Lettuce. Prickly lettuce is found in all states so there is a good chance you will find this plant to study in person: USDA Prickly Lettuce.
Advanced study: Read about prickly lettuce as an invasive species.

Outdoor Hour Time:

Take a walk along a road or in a field or pasture to see if you can find some prickly lettuce! Look to see if the leaves are oriented north and south. Remember that the stem has prickles and be careful when making your observations.
Enjoy an autumn weed walk as part of this challenge. Collect some dried leaves, seeds, and flowers for closer observation. Sketch these carefully in your nature journal. You may wish to view and complete this challenge: Signs of Autumn.

Follow-Up Activity:

Create a nature journal for the prickly lettuce or any autumn weed you find that interests you. There is a notebook page included in the ebook for you to use. Make sure to sketch the interesting shape of the leaf!
Advanced study: Complete a nature journal page for the prickly lettuce. Research and include any medicinal uses of the prickly lettuce. (Note: I do not recommend or encourage you to eat any plant.)

How are your nature study goals coming along for 2015? Do you need to create a list?

Still time to join us this month with our newsletter focus on reptiles.

Outdoor Mom’s Journal

Remember the Ultimate and Discovery levels of membership receive access to all of the monthly printables.

Be Inspired! Be Encouraged! Get Outdoors!

Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter

October 2015 – Reptiles

Outdoor Hour Challenges for families since 2008!