Posts

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Barb — 4 Comments

Nature Study Goals – 2015

1. Yosemite Photography Project – Start my long term project to take photos from every spot listed in the book. (The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite)

2. Visit one new state park. I didn’t realize how many parks I have not visited right in my own area. (My reference book:Day Hiker’s Guide to California’s State Parks)

3. Visit one new national park. I know it is worth the effort to achieve this goal so we have begun thinking and exploring how to visit a park this year.

4. Visit a bird refuge. I love learning about birds so much and this is something that our family can accomplish with a day trip.

5. Take one new hike from the guide book we purchased last year. (Best Hikes Near Sacramento)

6. Read ten nature-related books this year. Stay tuned for a separate post with the books I have chosen to read.

7. Continue my rock project.

8. Create at least one nature journal entry each month (participate in the Once a Month Journal Project).

9. Rewatch the National Parks series on Netflix.

This is my third year creating goals for our nature study and I think I am getting better at being realistic about listing things that are both meaningful and achievable. I will be updating my goals and sharing my victories every quarter instead of each month in 2015. Join me if you like and share a link to your goals in a comment so I can pop over and cheer you on.

Here’s to a great year!

Please note there are Amazon affiliate links in this post.

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Barb — 4 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Feldspar Rock Study

Inside Preparation Work:

Read pages 755 and 758 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson #214).
View some images of feldspar so you know what you are looking for during your outdoor time.
You may wish to purchase a piece of feldspar to observe in person and then use your outdoor time to look for any rocks you can find in your local area this season. You can find them in most rock shops or online in rock collections.
Common feldspar minerals: Amazonite and Labradorite and Sunstone (Oregon’s state gem).
Advanced Study: Complete some research on the uses of feldspar before your outdoor time this week. What is Feldspar? and Feldspars.

Outdoor Hour Time:

Go exploring for rocks. Bring along a collecting box or bag and see if you can find some rocks, particularly granite that may have some feldspar in it that you can see.
Collect some samples to bring inside to look at closely.
Note: If you weather or local conditions do not all you to collect rocks this week, plan on spending even just a few minutes outdoors this week observing anything interesting you have at hand. Save the rock observations for a time that is more convenient.

Follow-Up Activity:

Choose one of the rocks you collected outdoors and look at it closely using a hand lens. If you collected some granite, can you distinguish the various components? Record your observations in your nature journal.
Use the Rocks Up Close activity to take a closer look at any rocks you have on hand.
Advanced study: Use a rock identification key to identify any rocks you did collect this week.
Advanced study: Create a nature journal page for feldspar or any of the feldspar minerals. Use a rock field guide from your personal or public library.

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

If you want to purchase the Winter 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 Winter Nature Study Continues Ebook Announcement page for more details.

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Barb — 6 Comments

Monterey Monarch Habitat…and More

Somehow this post got started and then never finished or posted. I think it was just waiting for me to have some important reason to share it….today is the day.

Way back in October I visited Monterey and Pacific Grove (California) for a wedding with my son and we had a few minutes to stop and check out the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary which unfortunately didn’t have any monarchs yet.

We walked around and looked in the trees and along the trail but not a single butterfly to see. We were just too early in the season.

Yesterday, I read an article from the Washington Post on monarch butterflies. The title had caught my eye, “Activists seek endangered status for monarch butterfly”. The article reminded me of our visit to the sanctuary and nudged me to actually finish and post this for you to enjoy.

Did you know that over the past 20 years, the monarch population has fallen by as much as 90%, according to the Center for Biological Diversity? I find that statistic shocking! The reason for the decline is partly because of dwindling supplies of milkweed along the thousands of miles of their migratory route and the illegal deforestation of their winter habitat in Mexico. Of course, the monarch butterflies that overwinter in Pacific Grove face their own perils. Reduction in the groves of coastal trees that provide cover and the reduction in native milkweed are of major concern to the California migration of monarchs.

The Xerces Society website has a list of things we in California can do to help the monarch butterflies, including the planting of milkweed and participating in the Thanksgiving Monarch Count. The results for the 2014 count are available here: Data Western Monarch Count. Shocking numbers!

I hope you take some time to educate yourself about the seriousness of this issue. Resolve to share this information with your children so that they know how important it is to conserve not only the local milkweed habitat but to encourage others to do the same.

What would the world be like without these beautiful creatures? Sad day if we lose these special insects.

We have monarch butterflies come through our garden….we have tried unsuccessfully to grow milkweed but I am determined to give it a try again this year!

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Barb — 2 Comments

Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter – January 2015 Book Baskets

January 2015 – Book Basket Edition

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 January so be sure to download it before 1/31/15.

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:

7 book basket related articles (3 reprints from the archives)
January planning page
January Nature Journal Toppers
February preschool nature table ideas, printables, and activities (including a Monet art project)

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.

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival – December 2014

December is traditionally a slow nature study month in our home. Not just the weather, but so many things to distract us from our normal routine. We were able to take a few hikes and a snowshoe day this month which reminded me how much I am energized by being outside. Don’t forget that your children may need some outdoor time even in the winter months. Use the Outdoor Hour Challenge ideas to get started and then make the time to share some fresh air soon.

Our family’s December entries from this month’s study (in case you missed one):

I invited past Outdoor Hour Challenge participants to submit their favorite entries from 2014. I thought this would be a fun way to include some spark for nature study planning in the new year. Enjoy the carnival!

Favorite Nature Study Entries 2014

Angie from Petra School has been a faithful follower of my blog and a regular participant in this blog carnival. I love how she incorporates nature study in her Oregon habitat with her two sons even as teenagers. She is a joy to read. I invite you to read her favorite entry from 2014: Winter Mammals at the Coast.

Photo credit: Janet from Pursuing Joy in the Journey

Janet from Pursuing the Journey has submitted some wonderful entries over the past year. I have picked up on her enthusiasm for her local nature projects and wish we had something similar here. Please take a moment to pop over and read her favorite entry from 2014: More Mammal Recording.

Eva Varga has submitted a current entry to this edition of the carnival. Here is her submission: Winter Nature Walks. Eva has been participating as a blog carnival participant and as a newsletter article writer for a very long time. We have had the opportunity to meet in person since she is a fellow Californian. You may interested in knowing that she is also the author of science curriculum for children: Science Logic.

Be inspired. Be encouraged. Get outdoors!

Don’t forget to share your blog entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. All entries done in January are eligible for the next edition. The deadline for entries is 1/30/15 and you can send them directly to me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com.

Posted on December 29, 2014 by Barb — 4 Comments

Nature Study Goals 2014 – Final Recap

Concluding Thoughts

Overall I think I did pretty good this year in reaching my nature study goals. A few areas I could have done a better job but those goals can rollover into 2015. We were able to do some amazing traveling during 2014 which was very unexpected and exciting. So, what started out as a rather wacky idea to make nature study goals way back at the beginning of 2013 has actually been just what I needed to push me in creating the opportunity to grow and learn as a person deeply interested in discovering and then learning more about what I see in my natural surroundings.

December 2014 Final Results

#1- Visit two new national parks in 2014. Complete.

#2- Identify and journal three new birds. Complete.

Completed the Bewick’s Wren, the Clark’s Nutcracker, and now the Killdeer.

#3- Identify and journal three new rocks. Completed only one but will continue on again in 2015.

#4- Three new hikes. Complete!

#5 Visit a new-to-me nature center. Complete.

#6- Post a nature photo of the week for the entire year. I came really close to accomplishing this goal! I did 48 of the 52 prompts. If you are interested in seeing the Pinterest board with all of the images from the year, you can pop over to Nature Photo of the Week 2014.

#7- Camping in all four seasons.

We made summer and autumn camping trips easily. After much thought and discussion with my husband, we decided we really don’t have any desire to go camping in the winter. Call it wimping out or whatever you want but we would rather go camping when the conditions are warmer and the days are longer. Our spring camping trip will happen in 2015!

Grand Canyon May 2014 (3) — My daughter and I had our cross country road trip.

Shelving Rock Falls May 2014 (2) — Our family had some time in New York, Vermont, and Connecticut! This was at Shelving Rock Falls in New York.

Half Dome Top — My boys climbed Half Dome!

My son went on an extended trip to Peru.

I will be posting my 2015 after the new year rolls in and I get them down on paper.

Posted on December 26, 2014 by Barb — 1 Comment

Winter Berry Hike – Fungi Too!

We had a chance to hike to the river this week to look for winter berries. The only ones we observed were the bright red toyon berries that lined the trail in certain spots. This is a shrub that we have studied in depth in the past and although it is not in the Handbook of Nature Study, we used the internet to discover what birds or animals eat the berries.

I found information that says that there are many birds, coyotes and bears eat the toyon berries which help to disperse the seeds.

Here is my Toyon Berry (or Christmas Berry) entry from last year.

This hike though was all about the variety of fungus that we have emerging from the ground in our area since the rainy season has officially started.

So these look like Emetic Russula that my field guide says are present in all western forests. In the comments in the guide it says that they are usually regarded as poisonous and have an extremely acrid taste that would discourage you from eating them anyway. I will just enjoy their bright pops of red on the forest floor as I hike along.

Here is a glimpse into some of the other more interesting fungi we spotted as we hiked. It was actually a little overwhelming to try to see them all…it was a perfect fungi walk!

This is my favorite…the trametes versicolor or turkey tail. Don’t you just love it?

The woodlands of our area are coming alive right now as the rains bring on the green grasses and beginnings of the early wildflower plants. As we pass the first day of winter and the days gradually get longer and longer, I feel the pull to be outdoors again even in the cold temperatures. This is actually one of the best times to be outside in our area if the sun is shining. Hats and jackets are required to keep warm but as long as you keep moving or stop only in the sunshine, it is a glorious time outside.

As this year draws to a close, I am reviewing my Nature Study Goals for 2014 and anticipating those for 2015. Stay tuned for those posts soon!

Posted on December 17, 2014 by Barb — 8 Comments

December Bird Study and Nature Notes

Our December bird study has been accomplished by participation in Project Feederwatch.

We didn’t see a Belted Kingfisher for that particular Outdoor Hour Challenge. As much as I travel in California, I have never seen one in real life. I used the location and species application over on the Great Backyard Bird Count website to local possible locations for future observation. It looks like that we can find them within an hour’s drive of our house which is encouraging.

Here are our details for Project Feederwatch so far in the month of December.

Anna’s hummingbird-1
Western scrub jay-2
Titmouse-2
House finch-12
Junco-9
California towhee-2
Spotted towhee-3
Sooty fox sparrow-2
White-crowned sparrow-8 (no house sparrows yet!)
Mourning dove-2
Downy Woodpecker-1
Mockingbird-1
American robin-5
Lesser goldfinch-6
Western bluebird-3
Northern flicker-3
European starling-6
White-breasted nuthatch-1

Other Nature Notes

Aside from counting birds this month, I have been keeping track of rainfall. Yes, we have had rain! Our rain gauge has measured a total of 11 inches of rain since 12/1/14. We have been so dry that we don’t mind the rainy days at all!
We have had some beautiful orange-pink sunrises in the last week with the stormy clouds.
The last of the autumn leaves are down from the trees.
My Zygocactus has started to bloom.
We have several rose buds on the plant.
My early spring Narcissus bulbs are blooming! I think they are a little mixed up about the season.

This year I am pretty much on my own for weekday nature walks. I am scheduling in at least two long walks a week because walking and thinking are so very refreshing. Just getting outside in the air to observe the season takes a little effort but it is never disappointing. Let me how you are able to keep your nature walks going during the winter. I will be writing an article for an up-coming newsletter about the benefits of regular outdoor time for families.

How is your December looking?

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Study Continues – Winter Nature Study Ebook

Included in the Outdoor Hour Challenge Winter Nature Study Continues Ebook:

11 new challenges centered on the Handbook of Nature Study
29+ notebook pages (regular and advanced options) and 13 coloring pages
Ten Charlotte Mason style exam questions
Full color images for 10 challenges in the ebook (separate pages so you can choose whether to print them or not)
Complete instructions for each challenge included additional links, videos, and resources
Nature journal suggestions
Complete list of supplies needed
72 pages in the ebook!
Download and view a sample her: OHC Nature Study Continues Winter Sample

Here is a list of the specific challenges included in this ebook:

Rock Study – Feldspar
Star Study – Orion
Crystals
Fungi Study – Scarlet Cup (Saucer)
Bird Study – Flicker
Mammal Study – Cattle/Deer
Wildflower Study – Bloodroot
Garden Flower – Violets
Wildflower Study – Hepatica
Wildflower Study – Dutchman’s Breeches and Squirrel Corn
Garden Flowers – Bleeding Hearts

I am happy to announce the release of the long awaited Outdoor Hour Challenge Winter Nature Study Continues ebook! You are going to love the fresh new challenges to try in your family as you work your way through the weekly topics. I have been eager to start them as I put them together, gathering lots of fun videos and supporting resources to use along with the Handbook of Nature Study lessons.

Which edition of the Handbook of Nature Study do I need?

You will need to have a copy of the Handbook of Nature Study to use with the suggestions in the ebook. You can purchase a copy from Amazon.com or you can use an online version. The version of the Handbook of Nature Study I use is ISBN 0801493846.

Each week I will be sharing one of the challenges here on the blog which means you can follow along without a membership if you subscribe to my blog. You can subscribe by entering your email address in the subscription box at the top right of my website. After you enter your name, you will need to confirm your subscription by responding to the email that will come to your inbox.

Where Can I Get The New Ebook?

This ebook will not be sold separately but will be added to the Ultimate and Journey levels of membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study.

If you are a member of the Ultimate or Journey levels here on the Handbook of Nature Study, you will find the ebook listed in your library after you log into your account. The ebook version available to members includes all of the notebook pages, coloring pages, and color images. I highly recommend purchasing a membership for all the added benefits for each and every challenge.

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Barb — 4 Comments

Family Rock Study – Looking for Mica

Mica has been our rock seeking list for the past two years. Remember when I was trying to find, collect, and journal about all the rocks in the book Rocks, Fossils & Arrowheads ?

This was part of my Nature Study Goals in 2013.

I wasn’t completely successful in 2013 and now in 2014 I finally pushed us to get out and find some mica close to home. It is actually muscovite which is abundant in California and in the county where I live. I can’t believe how much time I have spent looking into this rock. I am just not a confident rockhound.

Here is a glimpse into our mica rock study.

So some sources said we have muscovite mica and some say mica schist. I am not completely sure what the difference is between the two (if any). I will just call it mica.

We visited our cattail site and took a look at the changes to the plants during the past few months. You may wish to start or continue your own year-long cattail study. Make sure to mark your weekly planner for a date coming up soon.

We were able to spy some cool bracket fungi.. a little late for our official bracket fungi study but still so very interesting.

There was water collected in the top that was shaped like a cup.

Well, that was our mica rock walk and study. I am still trying to come up with a better way to identify rocks without taking hours and hours. Any suggestions are appreciated!

Just a note to all my faithful readers.

I will be sharing how my Nature Study Goals for 2014 turned out and posting my 2015 goals soon. Look for a printable for your to use to record you nature study goals here on the blog soon.