Great Ideas to Share: Nature Museum and More

It amazes me what great ideas we all come up with together and then are willing to share. Here is a great idea from a reader that she shares on her blog:
The Museum
They have taken the idea of a nature journal and made it into a great visual "museum" for their family. Her son was a reluctant nature study and nature journal student until he read the Boxcar Childrenbook that told about how they made a museum. Ellie's children were inspired to take the idea and apply it to their nature study.

I love this idea and I have already cleared a spot on our school area wall to hang some of our sketches and ideas until they find their way into the nature journals...which for my boys are binders. Thanks for sharing your idea Ellie.

Last week, Melissa shared a fantastic entry on nature study on her blog, In the Sparrow's Nest. She explains in her entry Carving out Time for Nature Walks the many benefits of nature study in each and every family. She challenges us all to make it a priority and to view getting outdoors and observing all the living creatures around us as important as math and reading. I couldn't agree more. Thanks Melissa for sharing your heart with us all in your entry. I encourage all that have not read this entry yet to pop over and take a few minutes to be prodded to do more with nature study.

I am always so inspired when I read the Outdoor Hour Challenge links each week. Each one is a gem to me. I encourage you if you have a few minutes to check out some of the links at the bottom of each Outdoor Hour Challenge. You will not regret it.

Thanks for all the great ideas.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Special Outdoor Hour Challenge Give-Away

Don't Forget Tomorrow's Deadline of 8 AM! Read below for the details!



The participation in the Outdoor Hour Challenge has really dropped in the last week, or at least the number of links entered into Mr. Linky has significantly dropped off. I want to encourage all to share in some sort of nature study this week so here is my offer.

For every post entered into Mr. Linky this week, you will entered into the give-away for one of my daughter's Hearts and Trees Summer Kits.


These are fantastic kits and included in this package is a nature journal and lapbook designed by ME! There is also a nature scavenger hunt activity as well as a sewing project, a pressed flower project, and a whole artist study for Monet. They are really great tools in helping your family in their nature study and learning more about how art and nature are connected. Click the link above for more details on the kits. They are designed for kids ages 6-12 and the sewing project might need adult help.

For each entry into Mr. Linky that links to an actual blog entry describing how you accomplished your nature study this week, I will put your name down for the give-away. I will cut off the entries at 8 AM on Friday, August 15th. You can complete any challenge that you want to and I will count it towards the give-away tally. If you are just starting out, start with number one. If you started but haven't participated for awhile, start with any challenge you are interested in. If you have been keeping up with us all along, try the last few weeks for your challenges.

I will decide on a winner and announce them next Friday, August 15th.

Please leave me a comment if you add a link and it makes it easier for me to keep up. Email me if you have any questions. If you are interested in purchasing a Summer Kit, click over to my daughter's blog and read more about it there. She has a few left in stock and she would love to answer any questions you might have about the kits.

Have a great weekend and don't forget to take a few minutes of nature time.

Pass the word about the give-away!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Yosemite Trip: Just What I Needed

We spent the last week camping in Yosemite National Park and it is just what this weary mom needed. Time in the fresh air and time spent with just the family can recharge your spirits like nothing else can.

The weather was perfect and we spent every day out doing something in the sunshine. I think Amanda and I identified at least forty wildflowers. We saw a bear cub and several new birds for our bird lists. The butterflies were out in force and we took two new hikes into the high country that were fantastic. We took time to look for moths and we were amazed at the variety that we observed just around the lantern at the picnic table.

So get ready for the next week or two....I will be posting lots of photos, stories, and some of my nature journal pages.

I found a new alpine meadow that I could have sat for hours just gazing at its beauty and I will share it's secrets with you in another post. We were the only humans in that meadow and it was an awesome experience in the high country. I wish everyone who reads my blog could have such an outdoor experience at some time in their life.

Anyway, I am back to real life and will be sharing lots with you as the days go on.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Outdoor Hour Challenge #23 Moths

This week we will continue our mini-focus on insects with a study of moths. The Handbook of Nature Study has several sections on moths that you can read whether you think you will find those particular kinds in your area or not. I found the information very easy to read and now I can apply the suggestions for observation with just about any kind of moth. We do have Isabella Tiger moths in our area so I will be especially on the lookout for those when we do our observations. We will be going camping soon so it will be a perfect time to watch the moths that come to the lantern.

“Not only are insects numerous when we regard individuals, but the number of species is far greater than that of all other animals taken together. The number of species in a single family is greater in several cases than the number of stars visible in a clear night.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 295

Outdoor Hour Challenge #23 Focus on Insects-Moths

1. In this challenge we will continue our mini-focus on insects. Turn to the table of contents in the Handbook of Nature Study and skim down the list of moths discussed in the book. Read those sections in the Handbook of Nature Study on moths, pages 310 to 329. I personally don’t know much about moths so I am going to read through all the sections and see what I can learn. Here is some general information.

Moths
Wings not attached
Nocturnal (active at night)
Wings flat when resting
Feathered antennae
Fat abdomen
Form a cocoon

Butterflies
Wings hooked together in flight
Diurnal (active in the day)
Wings upright when resting
Straight, plain antennae
Thin Abdomen
Form a chrysalis

2. This challenge will need to be completed in the evenings. Turn on a light outside or take a flashlight outside. Moths are attracted to light so you should have some success if you are patient. Make sure to look on walls and plants near the light for moths.

Try this website for further techniques in attracting moths.
Attracting Moths
http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/uploads/How%20to%20start%20mothing.pdf

If you are unable to complete the challenge this week for moths, please feel free to take your outdoor time at a time that works for you family. Use your time to look for insects and to enjoy the summer air and sunshine.

3. After you have your outdoor time, provide an opportunity for working on a nature journal entry. This might be a good time to discuss the differences between butterflies and moths. If you didn't see any moths, you can record in your nature journal any other kinds of insects that you found during your outdoor time.

4. If you observe more than one kind of moth this week, make sure to start a list of moths in your nature journal. I like to keep a running list in the back of my nature journal. If you observed some other kinds of insects during the week, record those too.

Outdoor Hour Challenge #23 Moths (complete set of insect challenges in one document)


 
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.

Year Long Tree Study-Our Oak

Looking up into the branches of the oak

" Children should also become familiar with trees at an early age. They should pick about six in the winter when the leaves are gone, perhaps an elm, a maple, a beech, etc, and watch them during the year."
Charlotte Mason in Modern English, volume 1, page 52

Way back last August of 2007 we started our first tree study out in the woods. We took a piece of yarn and staked out a big square around the tree and did observations within that square and then also about the tree. The oak is really big and has lots of interesting things about it.

Here are a couple of the older entries to compare with this entry.

August Tree Study
Our Tree In The Woods: October


Here is the whole tree...in the dry grass and among the rodent holes. The whole area is like a mine field with little holes and mounds everywhere.

Rodent holes

Here is our yarned off square. You can barely see the purple yarn unless you click and enlarge the photo.

Not much there except a few new little baby oak trees.

And near-by there was this poison oak turning red.....watch out for that stuff.

Then we noticed that as we walked we were being stuck by this plant....start thistle. I would consider this a WEED! Our backyard had this plant growing all over the backside when we moved in twenty years ago and my husband has very lovingly removed it all one plant at a time. We found you have to pull it up roots and all in order to get rid of it. It is an invasive weed in our area.

After we got back to the car, we realized our shoelaces and socks were covered with stickers of all kinds. They stick like velcro.


Well that wraps up our year-long tree study for now. We will probably keep our yarn up and continue through another year to see if we see any more changes.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Outdoor Hour Participants...Check This Out!

My daughter, in all her creativity, has come up with a terrific idea. She has designed some products to go along with the Outdoor Hour Challenges. These are not necessary to participate but they are really fun additions to your nature study.

I love the tote bag and purchased one for myself. It now holds my sketch book and supplies and I will put in a field guide or two for our next hike. I also am planning on using it for my library tote bag just because it is so cute. It is fairly good size so I can see it being used quite a bit in our family.

Pop over to her blog to see what she is offering. This is totally her venture and so if you have any questions or comments, please leave her a comment or send her an email.

Outdoor Hour CafePress

Amanda's email:
amandachristina@yahoo.com


Here is the magnet. I think it would be a great way to remind ourselves to complete our Outdoor Hour Challenges. I stuck mine right on the front of my refrigerator.

There are a few new items in the works but her blog entry has all the details.

Great job Amanda!

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Channel Islands National Park

How can you live in a state your whole entire life and not know about a fascinating, secluded, national park right at your doorstep? Off the coast of California is the least visited national park in the United States, Channel Islands National Park.

We were trying to think of something new and interesting to do during our few days we had down the coast and this came up and we decided to take a chance and go out to the islands. We caught this boat in Ventura, California early in the morning.

As we started out of the harbor, we saw this whole flock of pelicans sitting on the rocks of the jetty. If you have never seen a pelican close up....they are huge and wonderful to watch as they fly.

We chose to go to the largest of the Channel Islands to do some day hiking. Santa Cruz Island is about an hour's trip by boat from the coast.

As we cruised out to the island, we were happy to learn that a park naturalist was on board and would be giving a talk once we got to the island. The naturalist came around and introduced himself to our family and I told him that we were taking the trip to the island as a way to build interest in marine biology since we were going to be studying it this school year. He was so thrilled to have interested listeners and he gave us his special whale lecture as we rode along on the boat. He knew his whales and we were interested to know that we could actually see whales during their migration from the island at certain times of the year. (I see another "field trip" later in the year.)

Once on the island I realized that it was a wildflower paradise. Check out the size of these morning glories, unique to the islands.

How about this beauty of a flower....I haven't identified it yet.

And this is the remnants of a wild cucumber. See the seed inside?

We hiked about five miles from one part of the island to another. We started at Scorpion Ranch and then went to Scorpion Point and then went over to Potato Harbor.

Look at the color of that water and I wish you could have audio from this place. We could hear sea lions barking from the rocks at the entrance to the harbor.

There were many sea birds but the one bird that I never got tired of seeing was the raven. Their flight is so graceful and lovely to watch. Here is one raven that actually stayed in my camera's line of vision long enough to get captured.

Back at the cove on the dock where we waited for the boat to pick us up at the end of the afternoon, we were interested in watching the kelp as it swayed in the water. It was truly like an underwater ballet.

You can also see if you look closely in this photo, purple sea urchins under the water....lots of them.


Then at just as the boat was due to pick us up, this sea lion came to give us a show.

This was a fantastic place for nature study and you can camp on the island...a little primitive but Santa Cruz Island has potable water. I highly recommend a visit to the Channel Islands National Park if you are ever in California.

We are going to go back and spend a few days sometime in the next year. I would love to go whale watching and sea kayaking.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Our Bean Germination Results and Garden Update

Outdoor Hour Challenge #19-Germination


Here are our beans after germination. You can see the roots clearly and the stem and then the first leaves at the very top.


Another shot where you can see all the parts.


Here you can see the roots clearly and the plant trying to reach up out of the bag.

This was so easy and very rewarding. I hope everyone tries it at some time during their nature study.

Now for our garden report.

More tomatoes growing a bush.

Pumpkins starting to really put on the leaves.

Green bean blossoms.

Bean vines growing into the walnut tree....which is loaded with nuts (or seeds).

Pretty daylilies starting to bloom all over the yard. First a pink one.

Now a dark red and yellow one.

And finally my roses and sunflowers.


That's my garden update for this week. There are so many interesting things going on around the yard that it is taking me a long time to make my rounds in the mornings. This is what makes a gardener's heart happy.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Nature Study and Environmentalism

Many times I receive comments on this blog that I do not publish. It is amazing how many people feel the need to criticize my personal thoughts about nature and being a mother. I don't know why they bother to read my blog if they feel so angry about the encouragement to families to spend more time outdoors.

One recent commenter felt that even doing things like picking berries and building forts was abusing nature. Yes, you heard me, he felt berry picking apparently is one way that humans "exploit" nature. I had to scratch my head at that one.

One commenter felt that it doesn't matter how much we expose our children to nature at a young age, some will grow up to be "developers of land" and actually want to build a house out of wood no matter what. That is weird logic to me but I guess we all are welcome to have our own opinion. I personally live in a house made from wood but I truly have a great appreciation and respect for the natural world, trees included. Owning a house made from wood does not make me anti-nature. (Isaiah 65:21)

I approach the whole idea with a different point of view. My experience has been that the more we connect our children and ourselves with nature outside our own doors, the more chance there is that they will develop a love for God's creation. My point in spending our time each week outdoors is not to make my children into environmentalists; it is to bring them to a better understanding of the Creator, the world they live in and to provide opportunities for them to learn how to be more confident and skilled in being outdoors.

In real life, I am the most eco-friendly person you can imagine. We hung up our water skis for kayaks and a canoe. We ride our bikes and walk whenever possible. Most vacations are to national parks where we camp and hike and take photos. I recycle *everything* and use thrift shops and garage sales and ebay whenever possible. I hang my laundry outside to dry whenever possible. We no longer use paper napkins or paper bags. I pack my husband's lunch each day in reusable containers. We use the library and don't subscribe to a newspaper. My car is just about ten years old. I have read The Green Book and have implemented lots of the suggestions that I had never heard of trying before. You get the idea. :)

So this post is sort of a response to those that are taking shots at my "get out into nature" approach to helping homeschooling families. I don't dispute that there are things we all could do to have less impact on the environment. But I also know that the key to making this situation better is to keep on adventuring into the woods, hills, oceans, deserts, gardens, parks, and our own backyards as much as we can with our children. The more we get to know what is around us and under our noses, the more likely we are to develop a respect and awe for it.

Feel free to comment as much as you wish but if you are just going to criticize and not explain your solutions, please know I will not publish your comments. The focus of this blog is to share our family's experiences in nature study using the Handbook of Nature Study. If I encourage others along the way to start down the path with their own families using the Outdoor Hour and any other means of nature study, I have been successful. This was meant to be a positive experience for all who are involved. Debating methods is not constructive.

Thank you to everyone else that leaves notes and ideas that are constructive and upbuilding. I truly appreciate your time and energy and positive words.

It's summer! Get outdoors a little each day!

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Mammals in the Twilight

Last light just about sunset I was in the backyard puttering around. I love to go out at that time of the day and enjoy the cool air and the stillness. Walking back up to the house I realized that my friendly neighborhood skunk was standing right in front of me. He isn't very big, about the size of a large house cat. He has a very distinct tail that is actually quite lovely as long as it is pointing away from you. :)

He saw me coming and ran under the deck and I ran up the back stairs.

I called to my husband to tell him that the skunk was in the yard and asked if our cats were inside. One cat was in and one cat was out so I stepped back onto the deck to call Cocoa. She usually comes when I call her at bedtime but there was no sight of her.

My husband joined me on the deck and we stood for a minute looking out over the backyard waiting for the cat to decide to join us. As we stood there, we saw something amazing and new to our yard. We knew right away it was a fox! I think it was this kind: Red Fox.

"The red fox is so clever that it has been able, in many parts of our country, to maintain itself despite dogs and men."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 253

There is a whole section on red foxes in the HNS starting on page 251. I am going to read it today and see what I can learn about this creature. The skunk has a section in the Handbook starting on page 245.

We really do live in a fantastic spot for wildlife. We seem to have all sorts of creatures right under our noses and never realize it until we slow down and really look for them. I don't know if I really want a fox in my yard every night but last night I felt so blessed by his appearance.

We sat on the deck late into the evening discussing the events we had just experienced. The familiar skunk and the rare fox had touched both of us; the variety of life we have all around us was remarkable. Shortly after seeing the fox, the bats began circling around the yard having their evening meal.

Skunk, fox, bat, and then the curious cat all kept us company.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Nature Journal Sidebar Links Fixed

I think I have all the nature journal sidebar links fixed now. If you find something that doesn't work, please email me. I also found some more to add so you might want to check down the list to see if anything interests you.

Thanks so much for everyone's help and support.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Outdoor Hour Challenge #16 Growing Sunflowers

“Many of the most beautiful of the autumn flowers belong to the Compositae, a family of such complicated flower arrangement that it is very difficult for the child or the beginner in botany to comprehend it; and yet, when once understood, the composite scheme is very simple and beautiful, and is repeated over and over in flowers of very different appearance……The large garden sunflower is the teacher’s ally to illustrate to the children the story of the composites.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 574

This week I am going to challenge you to start some sunflower seeds growing in your garden or in a pot. If you purchased some sunflower seeds back in challenge #12, you are ready to go with this challenge. If you are still in need of some sunflower seeds to plant, take another outing to the garden nursery to let your child pick a packet of their own. The idea behind starting the seeds is to provide a “laboratory” for your child to observe and learn in all summer long. Even if you just plant the seeds in a pot and watch them grow on your front porch, this is a valuable activity. If you don't have a sunny spot in your yard, ask a friend or relative if you could plant a few seeds somewhere in their yard. Be creative.

Note to those working on the earlier challenges: You may wish to do this challenge in addition to whatever other challenge you are working on this week. Sunflowers take about 12 weeks to mature, depending on the variety you choose. You will need to get your sunflowers going fairly soon or you will not have any sunflowers to observe later in the summer.

Outdoor Hour Challenge #16 Sunflowers-Summer Project

1. Read the Handbook of Nature Study pages 574-576-The Sunflower.

Find a sunny spot in your yard or on your porch to plant your sunflower seeds. These seeds will eventually sprout and grow and provide a late summer challenge all of its own. These sunflower plants can be subjects for your nature journal as well. After the seeds have matured, you will have something for the birds to enjoy. Follow the instructions on the seed packet and get your seeds growing this week. Make sure to keep your seeds moist as they germinate.

2. Take your 10-15 minute outdoor time to look for some garden flowers in your own area. If you already have some of your own garden flowers blooming, pick one to identify and see if it is listed in the Handbook of Nature Study.

3. Add any new garden flowers to your list in your nature journal.

4. Provide an opportunity for a nature journal entry. Practice your flower drawing skills that you worked on in challenge number 15. Record your flower seeds’ growth and/or record your sunflowers growth for the week. You may wish to sketch your sunflower seeds before you plant them, looking at them carefully with a magnifying glass.

5. Continue making field guide cards for your garden flowers.

6. Add flowers to your press from you nature time. (see challenge #14 for more information)

7. Post an entry on your blog sharing your experiences and then come back to the Outdoor Hour Challenge post and add your blog link to Mr. Linky.











This challenge is part of my Garden Flowers ebook. This ebook has ten garden related challenges that will walk you through a study of garden flowers using the Handbook of Nature Study. In addition to the challenges already written, there will be more photos, nature journal examples, book lists, and totally new notebook pages designed to go with each of the Garden Flower Challenges.
Follow the link below to view the ebook! Over 50 pages for $6.95

Our Green Hour Challenge #14 Bursting with Color: Composite Flowers

This week's Green Hour Challenge for us was very enjoyable. Our flower garden is just bursting with color and with garden flowers as our focus we decided to read and observe a special kind of flower, the composite.

"Many plants have their flowers set close together and thus make a mass of color, like the geraniums or the clovers. But there are other plants where there are different kinds of flowers in one head, those at the center doing a certain kind of work for the production of seed, and those around the edges doing another kind of work."

"Can you see that what you call the flower consists of many flowers set together like a beautiful mosaic? Those at the center are called disc flowers; those around the edges ray flowers."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 503

We had a great time studying these flowers and now we are going to be looking closer when we see a new flower to see if we can tell if it is a composite or not.

Here are some of our flowers that we observed.

Close up of a pink gilardia...can you see the anthers?


Yellow gilardias



Tickseed or corepesis


Pin cushion flowers where you can really see the flower parts


Pink cosmos, first one of the season


Close up of the different kinds of flowers making up the composite. Can you see the disc flowers and the ray flowers?

My son's nature journal entry.


We then put the flowers in our press. I am planning on making a flower calendar to make a record of flowers blooming in our yard for each month of the year. This will be a beautiful way to document our flower study throughout the year by pressing some flowers blooming in each month, pressing them, and then affixing them to card stock with the month neatly labeled on each page. I will share our first month's page when these are ready to be added.


Another great week in our garden. My son and I both learned something new and enjoyed our time outdoors with a focus and purpose.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom