Handbook of Nature Study: Benefits of Giving it a Try

The last ten weeks have brought me to a new understanding of the Handbook of Nature Study. Pulling together and organizing the Outdoor Hour Challenges every Friday on my blog has pushed me to really get to know how to use and benefit from this rather large book.

Here are the some benefits so far:
1. I have read the introductory pages of the book about ten times, highlighted and underlined the parts that spoke to me, and found many gems to share with others. These pages teach *me* to help my children better with their nature study.
2. Our family picked a focus area in the book and used that focus area to learn more about garden flowers. There were about ten flowers listed in the book that we have access to and we have used the observation suggestions from the book to help us better know about the flowers we have in our local area. Even when a flower isn't specifically covered, the garden flower introductory pages helped us learn the basic structure of the flower and so much more.
3. I know now that I won't find every item we want to study in the book and have gathered a few local field guides to supplement our study.
4. We are regularly working in our nature journals and keeping up with making field guide cards for our focus area.
5. I am no longer trying to fit our nature study to the book but rather the book to our nature study.

Are there things I don't like about the book? Yes. Do I think that this is the only book we need for nature study? No. Is this book a positive influence on our family? YES!

If you decide to try the book, go through the first few Outdoor Hour Challenges and read the suggested pages to get you started. You don't need to follow the activities but just reading the assigned pages in the book will give you a better idea of how you can use this book in your family.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

April Showers of Photos: April 29 Yellow Rose

Here is one of my many yellow roses that are blooming. This one has a little friend. Click the photo to get a good look at him.

Thanks to Jennifer for hosting an April Showers of Photos challenge on her blog S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Outdoor Hour Challenge #10 Our First Outdoor Dinner/Picnic

We had been trying all week to get outdoors to have a picnic to complete Green Hour Challenge #10 but the weather just did not cooperate. It rained and then even though the sun was out, it was really still too cold to eat outside. I was determined to eat out on the deck this weekend and it could not have worked out better. We spent the whole weekend working in the backyard because the weather was perfectly perfect.

We added a few more plants to the new butterfly garden, replaced some jasmine plants that didn't make it through the winter, and I found two new hydrangeas that I wanted in my newly made flowerbed...a pink one and a pretty blue one.

Sunday evening rolled around and we threw some steaks on the barbeque and got out the chair cushions for the deck chairs. All was going well. The kids lit the tiki torches just fine and we went inside to grab a few more things for the table. My youngest son went out on the deck and discovered that one of the torches had completely lit on fire. My husband, who is a firefighter, was so calm and ran over to try to put it out. The older children ran and got the garden hose and put the flames out.

So after the excitement died down, we really did have an enjoyable meal. The sky was beautiful and air was warm. It felt so nice to be outdoors together enjoying a nice dinner.

Here is the sky on this beautiful spring day.


Here are a few more photos from the week's nature time.

Figs are on the tree already!

Our sunflowers have sprouted it seems like overnight and we are going to have a bumper crop.

We also continued our tree study in the woods but we are going to also pick a tree in our backyard to use for the seasonal Green Hour Challenge, more on that in another entry.

April Showers of Photos: April 27 Columbine

McKanna Giant Columbine

Finally remembered that this columbine was part of a collection of plants that I purchased last year and planted in this section of the garden. It was part of a butterfly garden mix and it never bloomed last year but it is sure blooming this year! Gorgeous.

Thanks to Jennifer for hosting an April Showers of Photos challenge on her blog S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

April Showers of Photos: April 26 Lavender Pink Flower

Not sure what this is exactly...took this photo at the nursery. It looks like a hibiscus to me but I'm not sure. We did have this growing in our garden a few years ago but we discovered that the deer think it is very tasty and they ate the whole plant. So I will enjoy it at the nursery and not worry about trying to grow it at my house.


Thanks to Jennifer for hosting an April Showers of Photos challenge on her blog S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

More Reptiles: Skink and a Snake

How does this happen? I can go along for weeks and not see any reptiles and then today the boys brought two very different reptiles to my attention.

First at my parent's house, the boys found the remnants of a small gopher snake (Pituophos melanoleucus). I will spare you the gory details but there was enough to identify this creature.

Then when we got home and we were out in the yard, they found a Gilbert's skink (Eumeces gilberti). I couldn't bear to even take photos but I am going to record the nature find here on our blog. After we got a good look at the skink, a Scrub jay came and snatched the skink and flew away. This is the same scrub jay that has a nest of babies outside my daughter's window in the oleander bush. We were able to see three baby birds in the nest today. It was a circle of life sort of day around here.

Here is the nest.


Here is the best I could get of the babies in the nest. (Try to click the image to make it larger.)


All in all, a good day for nature study and just the way I like it....just taking it as it comes to us as we go about our day.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

April Showers of Photos: April 25 Arrowleaf Balsam Root

Just a fun photo from today's wanderings. I always love seeing Arrowleaf balsam root (Balsamorhiza sagittata) in the spring. It reminds me of sunflowers and that makes me smile.

Thanks to Jennifer for hosting an April Showers of Photos challenge on her blog S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

April Showers of Photos: April 25 Lemon Tree

Lemon blossoms have a surprising colored bud. We purchased this lemon tree last fall and we carefully cared for it all winter. It looked pretty bad at one point and I wasn't sure it was going to make it through all the frosts we had but a few days ago it pushed out so many blossom buds that I am sure it is going to be fine.

There is nothing in the Handbook of Nature Study about lemons or anything citrus that I can find but we will be watching this tree as it develops over the year.

Thanks to Jennifer for hosting an April Showers of Photos challenge on her blog S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Outdoor Hour Challenge #11 Year-Long Tree Study

If you have been following along with the challenges and you picked a focus way back in challenge number four, you should be just about ready to wrap up your first focus study. Our family has been learning about garden flowers but we are soon going to switch over to wildflowers. (This is going along with my son's study of Kingdom plantae in biology.)

This is a good time to start a seasonal tree study. You will be picking a tree in your yard or neighborhood that you could "adopt" for a year to observe and record the changes in each season. I encourage everyone to start their year long tree study with the group this week. This part of the challenge should take one week to complete and then in our next challenge we will be starting a group focus study of wildflowers or garden flowers. Please Note:If your family is enjoying your current focus, you do not need to switch but you can follow your own path and keep us posted.

Observing our tree Fall 2007

Outdoor Hour Challenge #11
Begin a Four Season Tree Study

1. Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 622-623. Also read page 625, Spring Work. After reading, turn to the table of contents, to the tree section, and read the list of trees covered in this book. If possible, pick a tree from the list that you have in your yard, on your street, or in a near-by park that you can observe over the course of the next year. My boys and I have been working on a tree study with an oak tree since August 2007. The changes in the tree have given us something to study in each season. If you live in a more exotic location, like some participants who live in Australia, Brazil, or Spain, do your best to compare your tree to a similar tree in the Handbook of Nature Study. Many of the observations can be used to study a variety of trees.

Before heading out for your nature study time, read the introductory section for your focus tree with your children. Make sure to read the observation suggestions for your particular tree and keep these in mind as you go out to make your observations. You will be challenged in each season of the coming year to make an observation for your tree and record any changes. I have prepared a journal page to record your observations. See the end of the blog entry for a link to the journal page.

2. Take your 10-15 minute outdoor time to study the tree you are going to observe over the next year. We took photos of our tree to put in our nature journal or you can sketch them right into your journal. Keep in mind the suggestions for observation that you read in the Handbook of Nature Study. If you have younger children, just spend your time observing your tree and helping them to look at it closely.

3. Add anything new to your list of items observed in your focus area (challenge #4) that you are keeping in your nature journal. Make note of any additional research that needs to be done to follow up interest found during your Outdoor Hour.

4. Complete the Seasonal Tree Study journal page with your child. Place the page in your nature notebook to have for comparison in the next seasonal tree challenge.


 
5. Post an entry on your blog sharing your experiences. You can link up by clicking the carnival button or you can send them directly to me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com.



You can purchase all of the first ten challenges in a convenient ebook along with custom notebook pages.

April Showers of Photos: April 24 Red Poppy

Beautiful morning light enhanced the delicate texture of this oriental poppy just about to burst all the way open.

The combination of textures between the flower itself and the covering of the flower just amaze me.

A few hours later the sun had burst open the flower but left part of the covering nestled inside. I could not help but take another photo.

Couldn't resist including one more photo of the poppy being guarded by my cat Cocoa.

Thanks to Jennifer for hosting an April Showers of Photos challenge on her blog S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

April Showers of Photos: April 21/22/23

Argyranthemum-Meteor Red-my new potted plant on my back deck


Delphinium-so pretty and blue


Oriental poppy in my daughter's garden

I got a little behind again in my posting so here are three photos to "catch up". I have been taking photos every day but just not posting them. The challenge has made me more aware of color and taking opportunities to capture them with my camera and for that I am grateful.

Thanks to Jennifer for hosting an April Showers of Photos challenge on her blog S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Red-Winged Blackbird on a Spring Day

Red-winged blackbird
You can click the link above and read about this bird and also there is a link to hear his song.


If you click this photo to make it larger, you will notice his little beak is open. He was singing up a storm for us.

Here he is landing in the rushes alongside the pond area at the nursery.

We were out at the nursery on Saturday and the meadow and pond area were full of these beautiful blackbirds. I was able to capture this particular bird by creeping as close as I could and then taking lots of photos. :)

The Handbook of Nature Study has a whole section on red-winged blackbirds so I was able to learn a lot about them from Anna Comstock's easy to read narrative. The section starts on page 117.

"The red-winged blackbird lives in the marshes where it builds its nest. However, it comes over to our plowed lands and pastures and helps the farmer by destroying many insects which injure the meadows, crops, and trees." Handbook of Nature Study, page 119

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

A Study of Garden Flowers

Lilacs are in full bloom near a local winery.

Our family's focus area for nature study this spring term is garden flowers. We began our study by making a list of flowers that are covered in the Handbook of Nature Study. As the weeks are going by, we will be examining closely the garden flowers we have in our own yard.

Yesterday my daughter planted a variety of flower seeds to be sprouted for our garden boxes. This will be our "laboratory" in a few weeks where we will observe the plants as they grow and blossom and also observe the insects that will be attracted to them.

"People have always admired the wild flowers that grow in the weeds and meadows, and have wanted to be able to bring them near their homes. And so when someone would see a flower that he thought especially beautiful growing in field or forest, he would take it from its native home and plant it in a garden. If others admired it, they would ask for seeds, roots, or cuttings' and thus the plant would come to many gardens."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 546

Nature study brings an increased awareness of what is all around us everyday. We do not need to go far to find something interesting to learn about. The Handbook of Nature Study has helped us look at the details with eyes of understanding.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

April Showers of Photos: April 20

Can you believe this one? I love the shape of the petals and the color too! I snapped this photo at the nursery and now I wish I would have bought one of these beauties for my garden.

Thanks to Jennifer for hosting an April Showers of Photos challenge on her blog S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

April Showers of Photos: April 19 Iris

So delicate and special....the iris. I love the variety of colors you can paint your garden with by planting different shades of irises. This one is one of my favorites.

The Handbook of Nature Study, page 573
"Each iris flower has three side doors leading to the nectar-wells; and the bees, in order to get to the nectar, must brush off the pollen dust on their backs."

Look at that color!


Or how about this one for a totally different look to the same kind of flower? Can you imagine anything being so pretty?


This is one iris I need to have in my garden.


Thanks to Jennifer for hosting an April Showers of Photos challenge on her blog S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

April Showers of Photos: April 18 Dogwood

Dogwood blooms are so beautiful to observe and really mean that spring has arrived.

The Handbook of Nature Study, page 680
"The flowering dogwood forms its buds during the summer, and of course they must have winter protection. They are wrapped in four close-clasping, purplish brown scales, one pair inside and one pair outside, both thick and well fitted to protect the bunch of tiny flower buds at their center. But when spring comes, these bud scales change their duties, and by rapid growth become four beautiful white or pinkish bracts which we call the dogwood flower."

Wow, I never knew that before. There is more information on the dogwood in the Handbook of Nature Study on pages 680-682.


Thanks to Jennifer for hosting an April Showers of Photos challenge on her blog S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Outdoor Hour Challenge #10 Outdoor Picnic

"..by beginning with the child in nature-study we take him to the laboratory of the wood or garden, the roadside or the field, and his materials are the wild flowers or the weeds, or the insects that visit the goldenrod or the bird that sings in the maple tree, or the woodchuck whistling in the pasture."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 21

Our family eats dinner outside every night from June to September....longer if the weather allows. We have arranged our patio table under a canopy and the citronella candles are always kept nearby. We have a tree that the hummingbirds sip nectar from in the dusk hours and after our meal we sit and observe their dinnertime.

Picnics don't need to be fancy. Wrap up a sandwich in a cloth napkin, grab a piece of fruit, and some water and you are set. Venture outside even if it is only to your own yard to sit on a blanket and enjoy your lunch. Afterwards you can make time for a short period of nature study.
 
Outdoor Hour Challenge #10
Picnic

1. The challenge is to have a picnic. No need to go far or to even have a picnic table. Food always tastes better outside and if you don’t want to commit to a whole lunch, why not just a snack?

“…When the weather is warm, why not eat breakfast and lunch outside?…Besides the benefit of an added hour or two of fresh air, meals eaten outside are often delightful, and there’s nothing like happiness to convert food and drink into healthy blood and bodies.“ Charlotte Mason quote Outdoor Life pg 43

After you eat, sit and listen to the sounds of the spring.

“Given the power of nature to calm and soothe us in our hurried lives, it also would be interesting to study how a family’s connection to nature influences the general quality of family relationships. Speaking from personal experience, my own family’s relationships have been nourished over the years through shared experiences in nature-from sharing our toddler’s wonder upon turning over a rock and discovering a magnificent bug the size of a mouse, to paddling our old canoe down a nearby creek during the children’s school years, to hiking the mountains.” Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv

2. After your picnic, spend 10-15 minutes observing your surroundings. Add anything new to your list of items observed in your focus area that you are keeping in your nature journal. Make note of any additional research that needs to be done for things your child is interested in. Make a journal entry if you wish.


 
3. Post an entry on your blog listing out what you did for your Outdoor Hour. You can link up by clicking the carnival button or you can send them directly to me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com. 

You can purchase all of the first ten challenges in a convenient ebook along with custom notebook pages.

More Reptiles to Identify: Arizona Style

I am still struggling with my disgust of reptiles. Lizards are becoming a bit more palatable but as far as snakes go, I'm still struggling.

Good thing for me that we saw mostly lizards on our trip to Arizona.

On pages 210 to 213 of the Handbook of Nature Study there are many lizards and their descriptions listed. I think on page 213 that number 7 looks surprisingly like the lizards we saw in the photo below.


I did recognize this reptile but only was able to capture his hind end as he scurried under a rock. He was definitely some kind of iguana.


These two photos were taken while we were at the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum. They had an enclosure where they used to have a bear but the bear has since been retired to a more comfortable place on the grounds. The enclosure did have these interesting, if not rather large, reptiles inhabiting it.


Climbing up the rocks


This guy was also at the museum and was making his way across the riparian habitat.


Now for something pretty to look at. I can only take reptiles for so long and then I need something colorful and beautiful to enjoy.


Close up of the spines


Are you proud of me? We are still working on identifying the reptiles for their nature journals but we are learning a lot along the way.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

April Showers of Photos: April 14/15/16/17

Somehow I got behind posting my daily photos so I will do a combination entry for the last few days.

Three greens and white!


Oriental poppy bud getting ready to bloom


New green leaves


Spring leaves on the sweet gum tree



Fluffy white seeds

Thanks to Jennifer for hosting an April Showers of Photos challenge on her blog S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Our Small Square: Outdoor Hour Challenge #9

We had a chance today to enjoy the spring weather and complete our small square project. My son picked the spot and marked it out for us. Right away he picked the big objects out but I challenged him to list all the small items he found in his square. He used his magnifying glass and we used a small stick to dig around in the dirt a bit and we found a few things to be interested in.

We found quite a few of these clusters from the tree near the square. I suspect they are full of pollen since I noticed when they are on the tree that they send off little "puffs" of something every so often in the breeze.

Then we found some of these little plants that are not grass or dandelions.


A few misc. seeds were underneath the leaves in our square and we have no idea what kind they are.




We both enjoyed digging around in the soil and we did see one small ant.

Here is his journal entry for the day.

We are both interested to identify the tree that the clusters came from so that is our assignment for the next week. It is hard to identify since it currently has very small leaves and doesn't look anything like the tree we see in the summer.

That was our Outdoor Hour assignment this week, nothing fancy right in our own yard but still very interesting.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom