Queen Anne's Lace Archives

Posted on May 18, 2022May 18, 2022 by Tricia Hodges — Leave a comment

A Beautiful Queen Anne’s Lace Nature Study for Your Homeschool

Our family made great memories together one year while noticing and studying Queen Anne’s lace throughout the seasons. Enjoy this beautiful Queen Anne’s lace nature study for your homeschool and see what you notice in each season too!

If you don’t have any Queen Anne’s Lace to observe in person, choose two other neighborhood weeds to study and compare using the ideas in the challenge.

Homeschool Nature Study members will find the suggestions in this challenge a great help in learning about this common wildflower. (Some call it a weed, but I prefer to think of it as a wildflower!) Members: Find this challenge in your Summer Continues Outdoor Hour Challenge curriculum ebook.

Queen Anne’s Lace Nature Study

I suppose it’s the new awareness we have from last year’s summer study of Queen Anne’s lace. Or it could be recent rains. Or it could be that we didn’t really start looking for Queen Anne’s lace until late August of last year. Or it could be a combination of all those factors. Which, likely, it is.

It’s abundant. We point and yell, “Look!” everywhere we drive. Lace lines the roadsides to the north Georgia mountains where we trekked last week. Lacey patches are right across the street – almost as tall as Middle Girl.

“Nature study cultivates in the child a love of the beautiful…”
~ Anna Botsford Comstock, The Teaching of Nature Study

(Above photos of her taken with my phone when we quick pulled off the road).

And Queen Anne’s lace thrilled us in the usual spot we checked back in spring. When we went on a family walk that Sunday night before Memorial Day – there it was!

Ready for the picking.

We scooped a few blooms and brought them home to study up close. To sketch.

We also found a beautiful robin’s egg, right in the middle of the grass, while on our walk. We figured the recent winds and storms may have blown it out of its nest.

Our up close studies helped us appreciate. As I sketched my flower, I noticed the hundreds of little, tiny flowers…

…the umbrella looking underneath, the pink tinges of a young blossom.

The children appreciated the certain color of green, the hairy stems, the dot in the center.

“The chief aim of this volume is to encourage investigation rather than to give information.”
~ Handbook of Nature Study

During sketching we noticed that the outside flower clusters open first, just as the Handbook of Nature Study says.

Queen Anne’s lace makes this mama happy. It reminds me of childhood.

Homeschool Nature Study for Your Family

Join us this summer! Enjoy some deliberate delight with nature walks and simple, joyful learning.

Join Homeschool Nature Study Today!

How about you? Is Queen Anne’s lace lining your roadsides?

Tricia and her family fell in love with the Handbook of Nature Study and the accompanying Outdoor Hour Challenges early in their homeschooling. The simplicity and ease of the weekly outdoor hour challenges brought joy to their homeschool and opened their eyes to the world right out their own back door! She shares the art and heart of homeschooling at You ARE an ARTiST and Your Best Homeschool plus her favorite curricula at The Curriculum Choice.

Posted on June 28, 2019 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Summer Wildflowers!

It’s that time of year again! Wildflower season is upon us and it may just be the topic that your children will really enjoy as you take your summer nature walks. Who can help but notice the colors of summer when they start to bloom? Every habitat has something to offer before the season passes.

Use the ideas in the link below to take a closer look at a few of your wildflowers of summer. After you make some observations, you can create a nature journal page for each flower. Keep your study simple and fun this summer and you’ll be sure to make some fond wildflower memories for your children.

Link to the challenges in the archives:

Asters, Daisies, and Black Eyed Susans

Queen Anne’s Lace

You’ll also find a complete list of wildflower nature study lessons (for every flower in the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock) here on this link.

In addition, you can use any of the three Outdoor Hour Challenge wildflower ebooks to learn more about wildflowers not included in the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock.

You may also be interested in reading this entry that features wildflowers and nature study:

Wildflowers to Love

Amazon link to Handbook of Nature Study

Posted on November 2, 2018 by Barb — 2 Comments

Autumn Weeds: Milkweed, Thistle, Teasel, Burdock, Queen Anne’s Lace

This week’s Outdoor Hour Challenge allows you to pick from a list of the autumn weed studies already in the archives here on the Handbook of Nature Study. Pick one of the weeds and then mark your planner to revisit this weed in all four seasons to experience its full life cycle. Make sure to read the lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study as noted below for specific weed observation suggestions.

Autumn Weeds – Handbook of Nature Study

Autumn Milkweed – Lesson 148

Autumn Thistle – Lesson 141

Autumn Teasel – Lesson 147

Autumn Burdock – Lesson 142

Autumn Queen Anne’s Lace – Lesson 128

Make sure to click the links above to read the entire Outdoor Hour Challenge with helpful links, nature study ideas, printable notebooking pages, and suggested follow-up activities.

Additional Links

Queen Anne’s Lace Autumn Study: Here is a link to one of our autumn weed studies.

Autumn Nature Journal Examples: Take a look at some of my autumn nature journal pages, including an autumn thistle page.

If you’re a member of the Ultimate Naturalist Library, you have access to the following ebooks with notebooking pages for each of the autumn weed studies listed below.

Autumn Milkweed – More Nature Study Autumn

Autumn Thistle – More Nature Study Autumn

Autumn Teasel – Autumn Nature Study Continues

Autumn Burdock – Autumn Nature Study Continues

Autumn Queen Anne’s Lace – Autumn 2010

This Outdoor Hour Challenge is part of the 2018-2019 Plan here on the Handbook of Nature Study. We’ll be using the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock to discover new things about the world around us. Join us each Friday for a different nature study topic. Make sure to subscribe to this blog to receive the weekly challenge right in your email box.

If you want to become a member here on the Handbook of Nature Study, you can click the Join Us button for more details. Benefits include those shown above including access to ebooks, notebooking pages, archived newsletters, and new ebooks and printables published during your membership.

Posted on June 22, 2018 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Summer Queen Anne’s Lace – Begin a Year Long Study!

From the Archives and from the Summer nature Study ebook

Summer and Queen Anne’s Lace just seem to go hand in hand. Although to most of us this is a common roadside wildflower, it has such charm and beauty that I look forward to its appearance each year. I haven’t spotted any on my property yet, but you know I have my eye out for it so we can enjoy it here in Oregon just as much as we did in California.

During this summer challenge, as linked in the archive post above, you’ll be using your senses of sight, smell, and touch to learn more about Queen Anne’s Lace (or wild carrot). Since this plant is not a true native plant to most of us, your family can decide whether you consider it a weed or a wildflower. Some states list it as a noxious weed.

Advanced Study: You can read an interesting article here about the topic of wildflower versus noxious weed: Problem Plants.

Here’s a free printable notebook page for you to use after your summer study!

Queen Anne’s Lace Seasonal Observation Notebook Page

Join us for this exciting series of nature study topics as we work through the

Summer Nature Study – Using Your Senses ebook.

This ebook is found in the Ultimate level membership for you to download and use with your family. If you would like to gain access to this ebook, you can purchase a membership now and have instant access.

Posted on November 17, 2017 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Queen Anne’s Lace

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Autumn Queen Anne’s Lace Observations

Seasonal Weed Study Option

From the Archives and from the Autumn 2010 ebook

With the change of the season, it’s time to make your autumn observations for Queen Anne’s Lace. Whether you’re just starting a year-long study of this pretty wildflower or you’re continuing from the summer season, you will find the suggestions in this challenge a great help in learning about this common wildflower. (Some call it a weed, but I prefer to think of it as a wildflower!)

If you don’t have any Queen Anne’s Lace to observe in person, choose two other neighborhood weeds to study and compare using the ideas in the challenge linked above.

If you own the ebook, there are two different notebooking pages for you to use for your nature journal entry.

I recently used one of the challenge ideas and collected a number of autumn weeds and seeds for a “weed bouquet”. This might be a wonderful idea for an autumn nature walk that combines observing weeds and seeds and then culminates in a lovely bouquet for your nature table. You can see my entry here: Weed Bouquets and Autumn Time.

If you would like to own this ebook, it’s part of the Ultimate Naturalist Library for members. You can find more details on how to get your own membership here: Join Us!

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Summer Queen Anne’s Lace

Just wanted to let you know that both Ultimate and Journey level members have new printables that were added today. They will be useful with next month’s challenges. Log into your membership and find the three new notebooking pages available now.

Outdoor Hour Challenge:

Take a wildflower walk this week and try to find some Queen Anne’s Lace to observe up close. Look alongside your roadways as you drive…we often see it growing along the shoulders of our local roads. Use the ideas in the original challenge (and the printable notebook page) to complete you Queen Anne’s Lace nature study.

Original Summer Queen Anne’s Lace Challenge

Printable Activity: Wildflower Photo Hunt

Use the free printable to guide your wildflower and weed hunt this week…or save the photo hunt for when you visit a natural area with wildflowers.

Printable Wildflower Photo Hunt Activity

Use discount code = discount5 to save $5 on your $10+ purchase at NotebookingPages.com

Getting Started Suggestion:

If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #8. Use the suggestions in this challenge to look up close at any garden flowers or wildflowers you have in your yard or neighborhood. Follow up with the notebook page if you want to keep a record of your observations.

How do you get the new ebook? It is included in both the Ultimate Naturalist Library or the Journey level memberships!

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Barb — 5 Comments

Queen Anne’s Lace in Autumn

We live in an area where Queen Anne’s Lace is abundant and it is a constant part of the scenery all summer long. It lines the roads and fills the empty fields. I am always aware of it now as we hike and spend time outdoors. It makes me think about Anna Botsford Comstock’s words:

“The object of this lesson should be to show the pupils how this weed survives the winter and how it is able to grow where it is not wanted. The weed is very common along most country roadsides, and in many pastures and meadows. It blossoms very late in the autumn, and is available for lessons often as late as November.” Handbook of Nature Study

This year however our family noticed a difference in our summer time Queen Anne’s Lace. Instead of the really tall towering plants with loads of blossoms, we only had short plants which were sparsely covered with flower heads. Our growing season has been very unusual with hotter and drier conditions than the last few years. We are reasoning that that is the cause of the smaller plants. It will be interesting to see the crop that sprouts next year and then make some more comparisons.

Some more Autumn weeds to enjoy.

This is the joy of a year-long nature study of any subject, getting your eyes to see the changes not only from season to season but from year to year.

You may wish to read my Autumn Queen Anne’s Lace entry from 2010 where we looked very carefully at the seeds of this plant. You can complete your own study using this year’s Queen Anne’s Lace challenge along with a free printable notebook page.

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Barb — 3 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge- Seasonal Study: Queen Anne’s Lace

If you don’t have Queen Anne’s Lace to study, try the Getting Started suggestion in this post.

Outdoor Hour Challenge:
This week’s Outdoor Hour Challenge is from the Archives and the beginning of a potential year-long study of Queen Anne’s Lace. Please see the following Autumn Queen Anne’s Lace challenge for suggested activities to get your started. This is a study that you can repeat in every season for a complete year to see the life cycle of this interesting plant. Here are the past resources for Queen Anne’s Lace.

Autumn Queen Anne’s Lace (Autumn challenge 2010 ebook)

Please Note:
If you are interested in connecting your insect study and your study of Queen Anne’s Lace, do some careful observations of your plant for signs of insects. Follow up your outdoor time with some time spent identifying your insects.

“Children should be encouraged to make notes about the same plants or birds for several consecutive years. Each year will bring some new things to their notice and a fuller knowledge of the ways and habits of their subject.” The Charm of Nature Study, 1930

Printable Notebook Page:
This week the challenge extra is another notebook page. Make four copies and use one in each of the up-coming seasons to record your Queen Anne’s Lace observations.

Seasonal Observations Queen Anne’s Lace – Use this notebook page in each of the four seasons to record you careful observations. Use the suggestions in the challenges listed above to guide your study.

Getting Started Suggestion:
You can complete Challenge #2 Using Your Words and the accompanying notebook page if you have the ebook. This would be especially helpful if you do not have any Queen Anne’s Lace to observe.

Save

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Barb — 5 Comments

Our Nature Study Week – The Familiar and the Surprising

Want to know what I love about walking a familiar trail? I love knowing where things grow, the landmarks to notice, the way you can tell that something is different. Usually this is the changing of the season, seeing the plants grow, blossom, and then die down in the fall. Sometimes it is a man-made change and it is shocking!

This is where our star thistles, Queen Anne’s lace, and sweet peas grow in mass every spring and summer. We haven’t been on this section of the trail in a few months and were were surprised to see that they had cleared it off, inserted a culvert and pipe, and then recovered it with this material. We are wondering what they reseeded it with. I can guarantee it is not star thistle, Queen Anne’s Lace, and sweet peas.

I dug up a photo from a previous season.

Our family used this spot as a landmark. I could say to the boys as they ran on ahead, “Stop at the thistle spot.” Now we shall have to see what grows and make a new landmark. I know I will miss my Queen Anne’s lace.

Another change we see is in our bird feeder attendees. This year we are seeing Anna’s hummingbirds everyday in our feeder. They are coming and going all day long. Several of you have noted the hummingbirds on my monthly bird list. This species (Calypte anna) is an iridescent green and gray below…the male has an iridescent red head and throat. If you catch a glimpse of them in the sunshine, you are amazed at their dazzling color. They stay all winter even in the sub-freezing temperatures. I go out to check their feeder each day to make sure it isn’t frozen.

We took a walk around our yard last week as part of the Preparation for Winter-Plants challenge. This challenge had us looking for ways that plants get ready to survive the cold winter temperatures. We noticed that several of our plants are putting out a new bloom. This Moonshine yarrow is very pretty..especially up close.

One plant that is surprising us is our yellow rose. It is still blooming…not the prettiest of blooms but still treating us to some rose-goodness for the kitchen table. For all you Redwall readers out there, we have named this the Winter of the Rose.

As part of my research and preparation for the new More Nature Study #2 ebook, we are having fun studying rocks up close with our magnifying lens. I set up a spot on our nature table with some interesting rocks and I noticed that just about everyone has stopped by to take a peek. (Quartz will be a topic in the new ebook.)We have lots of examples of quartz in our rock collection so pulling them out and putting them in one place has brought them back out of the shoeboxes and into the spotlight.

We are headed into another week of dry sunny days so we will be outdoors walking quite a bit. I know at some point the rain and snow will come but for now we are breathing deep the warm (50’s) afternoons together. Hope you get the chance to be outdoors this week.

Scheduled Publish Date: 12/28/11

By popular demand, here is the link to the SE Folding Magnifier, Glass Lens 2 1/2″ Dia., Power 5X
we have in the photo above.

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Barb — 8 Comments

Nature Study on an Ordinary Day – Autumn

Sometimes it is nice to head out the door and see what comes your way, no assignments. My neighborhood is rather ordinary – no parks, very little sidewalk, lots of empty lots with weeds/wildflowers, and a busy street. I take my lovable Labrador for a walk every morning and in the late afternoon, sometimes with my camera and sometimes without. We head down our side street, around the corner and onto the sidewalk to walk alongside two open lots. Right now if you don’t stop to look closely you would think there wasn’t much there to be interested in. But wait! Don’t judge too soon because you might miss a few interesting things.

Queen Anne’s Lace….in bloom….in November! Can you believe that? This is the latest I have ever seen with fresh blossoms in our neighborhood. I would have missed that if I did not slow down to look closely.

My neighbor has a fresh crop of chickory blooming as well and it is surprising to see it as late as this.

Now if my boys were younger we would take time to investigate this sign. Where does the water from our gutter go? The river is really far away and the creek is more of a trickle…is that where this water goes to? We will have to wait until the rains come again and try to figure it out. The gutter and sewer drain were put in last summer so this is something new to our neighborhood.

We have been on the look out for thistles and the lot has a whole field of star thistle. I was hoping to spot a purple thistle but no luck here in the neighborhood. We do know a spot along our walking trail that had thistles so we will need to hop over there one day this week to check it out. (Thistles will be this Friday’s Outdoor Hour Challenge.)

I love a good mystery and this flower is a mystery! There is a little patch of these growing on the hillside around the bend from the end of the sidewalk. Kona went four wheeling off the path and I stumbled onto these beauties. I really need to look them up in our field guide. See? It isn’t such an ordinary walk after all!

Heading back home I slipped the camera back into my pocket and we just enjoyed the sunshine and the time outdoors together.

Rounding the corner and into our drive, I smile at our front yard. Yes, it makes me smile every time I see it.

If you have been reading my blog for the last year you know we pulled up our grass in the Summer of 2010 and added drought resistant plants for a whole new look. Here is what our yard looks like today.

The star performers right now are the sage, the purple fountain grass, and the dogwood. Color! I love the feel and movement in this yard now that the grass is gone and the birds, butterflies, and bees have all moved in.

From ordinary to extraordinary in fifteen minutes! I challenge you to find something interesting on your next neighborhood walk. Comment and let me know what it is once you find it!

Tag: Queen Anne’s Lace

A Beautiful Queen Anne’s Lace Nature Study for Your Homeschool

Queen Anne’s Lace Nature Study

Homeschool Nature Study for Your Family

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Summer Wildflowers!

In addition, you can use any of the three Outdoor Hour Challenge wildflower ebooks to learn more about wildflowers not included in the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock.

Autumn Weeds: Milkweed, Thistle, Teasel, Burdock, Queen Anne’s Lace

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Summer Queen Anne’s Lace – Begin a Year Long Study!

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Queen Anne’s Lace

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Summer Queen Anne’s Lace

Original Summer Queen Anne’s Lace Challenge

Printable Activity: Wildflower Photo Hunt

Printable Wildflower Photo Hunt Activity

Queen Anne’s Lace in Autumn

Outdoor Hour Challenge- Seasonal Study: Queen Anne’s Lace

Our Nature Study Week – The Familiar and the Surprising

Nature Study on an Ordinary Day – Autumn

Outdoor Hour Challenges for families since 2008!