Nature

Challenge #2 from the Outdoor Hour is to use your words. Go exploring and then write down one word describing something you heard, two words for something you saw and three words for something you heard.

Mikey said:
Rustling
Yellow pollen
Silky, yellow pollen


Haley said:
Locusts
Blue dragonflies
Droopy tree leaves
Jeremiah said:

Monkeys
Parrot birds
ummm...don't know

(After some leading questions)
Jeremiah said:
Birds
Hairy flowers
Tall, itchy grass

Mom said:
(mine is from a walk I took alone)
Buzzing
God's promise
still, cool air

We also stopped to watch some GIANT ants, that were half red and half black. We saw an orb spider and its web and lots of wild grapes. We were tempted to eat some grapes but I was thinking about all of the possible bodily fluids that could result from eating something unfamiliar...gross, I know, sorry, but I was a little paranoid.



The "piez de reistance" was an Osprey. We didn't see it until we were in the van and leaving Chamna, it made its nest on top of an industrial something-or-other that is by the river. We didn't even know what we were looking at until we got home and looked it up in the bird book, (which we had forgotten, along with our water bottles, big mistake!). But when we figured it out, we were all pretty excited!

I like this nature study stuff.

Handbook of Nature Study

There is a blog called Handbook of Nature Study. It is based on the book of the same title by Anna Botsford Comstock, which is now on my MUST be purchased list! The book is a homeschool mom's dream guide for getting the kiddos involved in the out of doors, although, as the book rightly points out, this comes pretty naturally for them. The blog hosts an "Outdoor Hour Challenge" each week. The blog is on challenge #52, we just got started with challenge #1 a few weeks ago.

Challenge #1 led us on a walk down the road towards the winery. Within 2 minutes of leaving the construction zone we call home, you could hear the crickets, the grasshoppers, and the birds. It wasn't long before a dead toad caught the kids eyes, and on subsequent walks we have been watching it waste away. But what really fascinated them was watching some ants try to tear apart a dead grasshopper so they could carry it away. They are amazing little creatures those ants. Glorious giggles ensued each time they managed to move the grasshopper in the slightest way. We were able to see them carrying one of the grasshoppers legs off into the weeds.

We managed to talk about the verses in Proverbs about ants, although we didn't do much other research.

Proverbs 6:6
Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!

Proverbs 30:25
Ants are creatures of little strength,
yet they store up their food in the summer...

So what do you get when you cross a fun blog, a great book and excellent conversations with your kiddos? HOMESCHOOL at its finest!