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

Summer Seasonal Nature Study Reminders

Seasonal Topics – Summer Reminders

It is that time of year again! Time to plan a few seasonal observations….and get outdoors with your family! I make it easy with the printable notebook pages that go along with these year long nature study ideas. Pick one and get started or take a few minutes to make the summer observations happen before we run out of summer.

Year-Long Big Dipper Study – with free printable
Seasonal Cattail Study – with free printable
Seasonal Milkweed Study – with free printable notebook page
Year-Long Pond Study – with a free printable notebook page
Year-Long Queen Anne’s Lace Study and a free printable notebook page
Seasonal Tree Study – with printable activities and a free notebook page
Year-Long Thistle Study
Summer Weather and Summer Weather

If you have a continuing year-long nature study project, don’t forget to put it on your calendar or you may forget to make your autumn observations.

Enjoy your summer activities and share your comments or links in this post and I will come over and check it out.

Posted on July 15, 2015 by Barb — Leave a comment

New Printables for Members – July 2015

I hope you can make use of these two new printables that we created for some summer time nature study.

What Does the Moon Look Like? – Make observations several times during the month to note the changes in the moon’s shape.

Butterfly Journal – Use this notebook page to document a butterfly sighting from your outdoor time.

These new printables are free 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.

Enjoy!

Please note that I am in the process of updating and indexing the tabs found at the top of the website. Take a look at the Summer tab and the Garden tab to see how I have added more challenges, alphabatized the topics, and tried to include more links for you to try with your family! I will be working on these tabs over the next few weeks so that finding a particular challenge will be easier to find both here on the blog but also in the ebooks.

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Barb — 3 Comments

Outdoor Mom’s Journal – Yosemite Thoughts

Outdoor Mom’s Journal – July 6, 2015

Sometimes when I think of Yosemite my heart skips a beat. What place on earth is like it? For our family it holds so many memories and has created a heart in each of us for being outside and feeling connected to the living and growing things found there.
It is the stuff of dreams.

This trip we shared the experience with a couple of our family friends….both of them first time visitors to Yosemite National Park!

Maybe it is in my very make-up. My family has been visiting Yosemite National Park for three generations. The back of this family photo says it is from August 31, 1941. I wonder how their experiences compare to ours today. They certainly dressed differently than we did for our visit and they don’t look as happy and relaxed as we do….maybe it was just for the photo.

Sometimes sitting high on a mountain or at the crest of a waterfall, I still gasp at the beauty that is found there. The music of the wind blowing sweetly or the water spilling on the rocks below is so beautiful you wish it would never end. I would go there every day if I could.

The incredible feel of being on a trail in Yosemite is beyond words, an experience so special and sacred. At times it feels like you are close to God and can feel his power and qualities.
Create a lifelong desire in your children to visit the various national parks… this is just what happened when my daughter was home for a visit from New York. She wanted to go to Yosemite and to Lake Tahoe. We did both!

So, that is one happy mama in the photo! I was able to make both outdoor experiences happen for her during her stay with us….we savored every moment together…pure joy.

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.

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 July 3, 2015 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge- Bachelor’s Buttons

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Bachelor’s Buttons

Inside Preparation Work:

Read pages 578-579 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson #160). This is a short lesson but still full of interesting tidbits about bachelor’s buttons, or cornflower.
Please note that this lesson refers you to Lesson #131 on composite flowers. You will be using the ideas in Lesson #131 to complete your Bachelor’s buttons study.
Video: Here is a nicely made video focusing on Bachelor’s buttons: https://youtu.be/nE8Wper3LzY

Outdoor Hour Time:

This is a perfect time of year to take a garden walk.
If you have your own flower garden, make a special point to prepare your child for a garden nature study by explaining what you will be looking for during your fifteen minutes outdoors.
If you need to visit a local flower garden, make sure to explain that you can’t always pick flowers if they belong to someone else without their permission.
Look for this week’s flower or look for plants at your garden nursery to observe.

Follow-Up Activity:

Create your nature journal entry featuring a Bachelor’s button or another garden flower you observed for this challenge. There are notebook pages in the ebook for you to use.
Advanced Study: Research the difference between annual flowers and perennials.

If you want to purchase the Summer Nature Study Continues 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 Summer Nature Study Continues – New Ebook announcement page for more details.

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

Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter – July 2015 Twilight

July 2015 Twilight

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 July so be sure to download it before 7/31/15.

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:

Three articles encouraging twilight nature study during the summer months
July planning page (five challenges to schedule for each Friday in July)
July Nature Journal Toppers, grid, Animals at Night notebook page
August preschool nature table ideas, printables, and activities (so you can plan ahead of time!) Check out the Amazon Store for this month’s topics: August 2015 Preschool Nature Table Ideas.(my affiliate link)

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.

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 June 30, 2015 by Barb — Leave a comment

New Bird to Our Life List- Pinyon Jay

What happens when you discover something new? How do you learn about a bird that you don’t recognize?

On the third day of our visit to the Grand Canyon, we rode the Orange shuttle all the way out to Yaki point, the last stop on the route. We were only trying to find a bit of solitude to hike in away from the crowds at the rim and the chatter of groups of hikers. Maybe they don’t realize what they are missing by endlessly talking as they walk or they just don’t know how to experience the beauty of a national park. Anyway, we achieved what we were looking for and set out along the rim to the east of the shuttle stop.

We walked and stopped occasionally to scramble out to a rock on the edge so we could view the vista and take a photo or two. At some point, we became aware of some birds chattering from the tree tops. Lots of birds! The sound was unfamiliar and loud.

We chased them down and observed a large flock of the birds chattering in the trees. They flew overhead once and we were able to take a closer look. We could tell they were about the size of a robin, they were bluish gray, and had a large black beak. This helped us later to figure out which bird it was.

After we returned to our campsite, I looked the bird up in my field guide. It was a pinyon jay!

You can read more about the pinyon jay here: All About Birds – Pinyon Jay.

Here is what it sounds like: Pinyon Jay Sound.

How about a video? Pinyon Jays.

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Barb — Leave a comment

Almost Somewhere – Nature Book Project 2015

This month’s book was Almost Somewhere: Twenty-Eight Days on the John Muir Trail by Suzanne Roberts (my affiliate link). This was a really fast read for me…something about the story just compelled me to keep on reading. In a nutshell, it is the account of the author and two girlfriends who decided to hike the John Muir Trail right after graduating from college. They meet and hike with various other people during their trail time and each person brings a little something to the story.

The hike took place back in 1993, a time when girls hiking the JMT alone was still a novelty. The author shares the story from notes in a journal she kept during the hike and each day is described as it unfolded and features mileage, weather, and association they have with other hikers and each other. Each girl brings a different personality and life experience to the hike and I ended up seeing a little of myself in each of them.

Although I may never hike the complete John Muir Trail, this book gave me another perspective on just how rigorous but doable it could be with planning and people who have a goal to achieve something great.

Some Quick Thoughts

This book creates a good sense of the struggles and triumphs associated with hiking the JMT. The author has a nice storytelling style and she includes just enough detail in the plants, animals, scenery, and weather to make it interesting to the reader (at least this nature loving reader).
There are lots of quotes from John Muir in the book that really add such a nice seasoning to the accounts shared in each chapter.
I loved the way the book ends with a positive note and reflects on how the hiking experience had changed each person.
This is definitely not for children or teens, but women twenty years and up will probably glean something from reading this book.
There are adult themes like anorexia, bulimia, drug use, nudity, and unmarried sex discussed. The language is a little on the foul side at times but not overpowering. I usually don’t tolerate bad language but in this book it wasn’t a glaring annoyance. Evolution is referred to in several spots if that is an issue for you…it wasn’t for me.

Previous Month’s Books and Reviews

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

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Crayfish

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Crayfish Study

Inside Preparation Work:

Read pages 425-432 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson #108). I think Anna Botsford Comstock really liked crayfish because this lesson is so very detailed! It makes me wish we had a crayfish to observe up close but for now we will enjoy her description.
Highlight interesting facts in the lesson to share with your children.
Youtube video: How to Catch a Crayfish/Crawdad
Advanced Study: Youtube video: Crayfish External Anatomy.

Outdoor Hour Time:

Plan a trip to a local creek to look for your own crayfish or other aquatic inhabitants. If you don’t have any crayfish to observe, make sure to create a nature journal page with any subjects your child finds of interest.
Take along a plastic tub or jar to collect some creek water. Use your magnifying lens to look for anything interesting in your water.

Follow-Up Activity:

Create a nature journal entry for crayfish, any other aquatic creatures you observed, or the creek water.
Use the notebook pages and/or the coloring pagein the ebook to create a memory of your outdoor time.
Advanced Study: Draw a crayfish for your nature journal and label its parts. Record any interesting facts you learned and want to remember.
Advanced Study: Do some research on arthropods and create a notebook page to record the definition, a list of arthropods, and your favorite facts about arthropods.

Join us for this spring series of challenges every week here on the Handbook of Nature Study.

If you want to purchase the Spring Nature Study Continues 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 Spring Nature Study Continues – New Ebook announcement page for more details.

In two weeks, we start the summer series from the new ebook, Summer Nature Study Continues.

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Goals 2015 – 2nd Quarter Update

This has been an amazing quarter for us as far as getting outdoors and exploring!

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

Goals Update

1. Yosemite Photo Project: We have a trip planned to Yosemite next week so I have my list ready to go of photos to take.

2. Visit one new state park: Failed this one again. I picked one to visit over the summer so I am determined to accomplish this goal in the up=coming quarter.

3. Visit one new national park: Zion National Park!!! We also spent four days at the Grand Canyon and thoroughly enjoyed our time there.

4. Visit a bird refuge: Fail on this one again.

5. Take one new hike: Still waiting to take a hike from our new guide book.

6. Read ten nature-related books this year: I am keeping up with my schedule and really enjoying the way I had it planned out from the beginning of the year.

7. Rock project: This will be accomplished in July with a trip to visit Devil’s Postpile National Monument. I won’t be able to collect any samples there but we are going to see basalt rocks.

8. Create one nature journal entry each month: I am keeping up with the Once a Month Nature Journal ideas to create at least one page a month.

It is not too late to create some nature study goals of your own. I invite you to download and use this free printable goals planner:

Printable Nature Study Goals Planner

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Barb — 2 Comments

Growing Herbs

I finally got all my herbs planted in pots on my back deck. I decided to stick to the basics, ones that I use regularly in cooking during the summer. I knew I was limited in pot space and in watering ability because of the drought.

Those factors forced me to pick carefully and choose herbs I use all the time.

Here is my short list!

Cilantro- These are growing from seed I received from Renee’s Garden. They are looking great and I paired them up in a pot with the thyme and oregano. I know I will need to keep the other two herbs pinched back or they will take over the pot but that shouldn’t be a problem if I get into the habit of harvesting a bit of fresh herbs every few days.

Basil – The basil is also from seeds that came from Renee’s Garden. I am anxious for my first harvest of basil later in the summer! I picked a variety that is meant for containers…perfect!

Lemon Thyme and Oregano – These two herbs I cheated and purchased them from Home Depot. I just wanted to have a little green spot in my containers and was too impatient to wait for seeds to grow this time.

Chives – I have some garlic chives in my regular garden that have survived the drought. But, I wanted to try growing some regular chives up on the deck to see how well they grow. I planted seeds and they just started to sprout and grow….too small for a good photo, maybe in the next garden update I will be able to show their progress.

So that is it! Nothing too fancy or unique for our container garden up on the deck. Simple is sometimes better. With the third year of drought and heavy watering restrictions here in my county I am needing to look at our garden in a whole different way. Now that all my children are living outside the home, the demand for fresh veggies has declined to where I may be able to get by with the zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and little peppers that I have growing in pots. 2015 is the year of a new start in gardening and I am always up for a challenge.