Nature Hunt

Forgive any rustiness, it’s been a while since I’ve done this.  :)

Yesterday ds4 and I went on a “nature hunt” around the yard, looking for items that showed spring has sprung.  We got the idea and list from Dawn.

I believe here he is noting a new bird sound.

Here he is comparing the shades of green in these leaves.

Something red, something blue.

A neighbor’s cat…oh wait, not on the list.  We found most everything, but were unsuccessful with earthworm, despite digging in several different places in the yard.  We haven’t had a good rain in a while so that’s probably why.

Outdoor Hour: Owls

Our subject for nature study this week was owls.  We did so much for this study that it turned into The Outdoor Week lol!  I ordered two owl pellet kits from Homeschool Science Supply and was very pleased with how quickly they arrived.  I thought the boys would be more excited about the whole dissection process, but they were less than pleased (and slightly grossed out) with the concept.  Dh just thought my buying owl puke off the internet was hilarious and wanted to know if I thought he could sell anything he found in the cat’s litter boxes.  Well, if people were buying tar balls from our beach after the oil spill then there could possibly be a market for litter leavings.  ;)  Moving on…

Ds2 helped out his littlest brother.

Here they are measuring the pellet.

See the pure joy on their faces?

It takes a while to pick apart the pellet, but eventually they found bones.  The kit included a bone sorting chart and the boys were excited to find what they think was part of a skull or jawbone in one of the pellets.

Here are some of the other bones they uncovered.

We read some from The Handbook of Nature Study and Usborne Book of Nature about owls and listened to some calls on the internet.  We were surprised that not every owl call is a “hoo”…some even sounded like dogs barking.  We read Sam and the Firefly which both the boys thought was quite fun.

 

The best part of this study was a visit to a local wildlife sanctuary. 

This lovely place is nestled on the outskirts of downtown Pensacola and provides care for injured local wildlife.  Their motto is “Receive Rehabilitate Release.”

You have to look closely as it was hard to get a good shot of the caged guys.  We loved getting a real look at the owls we had been studying all week.

Their faces were so expressive!  We saw owls of all varieties including Great Horned and Barn.

The sanctuary was very educational with plaques and posters everywhere giving details of all the wildlife.  Ha ha, you can see my reflection in this pic.

There was even a place to compare wing spans.  We had a great time with our nature study this week and definitely are more aware of the owls in our area.

Outdoor Hour: Summer Weather

For nature study this week we focused on summer weather.  Specifically we observed a sunrise and sunset.  We tackled the sunset first.

We sat on the front lawn and watched the sky slowly change colors.  If you look closely in this pic you can see some sunrays shooting up through the clouds.

We talked about what we could see (cool colors in the clouds) and hear (birds, crickets and frogs) and feel (slight breeze, soft grass.)  I asked them to compare the evening sensations to what we felt walking across the supermarket parking lot around lunch time…big difference lol!

The boys made some drawings in their nature journals.  We attracted a lot of attention, from neighbors out on bike rides or walks, from their friend across the street, and from…

Mr. Fluffykins, the neighbor cat!  He ambled over to see what had drawn us out on the lawn.

And loaned us the use of his laser eyes for the remainder of our observations.

We had every intention of getting up early and ushering in the sunrise in the back yard, but of course life got in the way.  Dh came home from his two week trip to California and the boys spent his first day back glued to hip lol.  Then they got sick, ds3 with the worst of it.  Although I have no pics to document it, ds3 and I did observe the sunrise this morning, through the living room curtains, after having spent a rough night on the couch. 

Ds was not too impressed and just wanted to lay back down.  I was reminded that following every dark period there will be a light.  :)  Yawn.  Times like this I wish I drank coffee.  For more great nature study ideas please head over to Barb’s.

Outdoor Hour: Cattails

Our first nature study of the new school year!  This week we began a seasonal study of cattails, observing a patch of the plants to see how they change with the seasons.  I had been staking out a cattail stand near some woods behind a local school for our studies.  We loaded up one afternoon, hit the nearby BK for some Icees and headed to the cattails.  Well, it turns out the stand is in a drainage ditch, not a little pond as I had suspected (or hoped really.)  And the ditch is surrounded by sticky vines and such so we didn’t get to get as close as I had wanted.

Here they are in their summer glory!  I had the boys stand as close as we could get and make some observations, noting things like what they saw living in or nearby the cattails, what sounds they heard (other than coming from the highway lol) and etc.

Lucky for us ds2 tagged along and was willing to stretch out and snag us a part of a cattail to observe up close.  Of course the boys’ favorite part was the sharp tip sticking out the top (yes it’s true, boys will make weapons out of anything,) although the fluffy bits that you could peel off and have float away were a hit as well.

When we got home the boys made some drawings, ds3 is on the left and ds4 on the right.  We had found a website that detailed how to go about eating a cattail, but sadly mean old mom forbade that.  Since they couldn’t eat it or use it as a weapon, the cattail specimen has sat idly on the school table all week, awaiting daddy’s return from California to show it off anew.

If you are in need of a gentle, fun, hands-on and simple to execute nature study be sure and head over to Barb’s site.  Next week we will be observing summer weather (before summer slips away for another year.)

Outdoor Hour Summer Series: Mosquitoes

(Click on the pic to go to a site with lots of good info.)

We have taken too long a break from our nature studies!  We are joining in on the summer series of weekly studies at Barb’s and this week’s theme is mosquitoes.  We have a lot of experience with this pesky insects, none of it good lol!  We had no problem finding a pool of water outside in which we could observe some “wrigglers” or mosquito larvae.

Ugh!  A close up of the larvae in our observation jar.  We learned that they go to the top of the water and stick out a breathing hole to breath.

I like this shot because you can see ds3 in the reflection.

They really enjoyed watching the wrigglers do their thing.  After we did our observations we discussed how only female mosquitoes bite and why (they need blood for laying eggs) and some ways in which we can avoid the pests and prevent their infestation.

  Then, all in the name of science, I showed off the huge welt I get when a mosquito bites me.  Yep, I’m one of “those people” who mosquitoes love.  Lucky me.  ;)  Ds3 could really relate to the allergic reaction, as he just had allergy testing done and knew of my pain.

I think this was a perfect start to our summer nature studies…not all nature is pretty, folks!  Head over to Barb’s site to read more about the Outdoor Hour and many, many other ways to incorporate nature study into your homeschooling.

Outdoor Hour: Spring Wildflowers

Or maybe not.  The boys and I took a lovely walk around the neighborhood today in search of signs of spring, specifically wildflowers.  We took pics of what we found and came home to search the Handbook of Nature Study and internet to identify what we saw.  I couldn’t find any of the beauties we observed and now believe we may have just been oohing and ahhing over weeds anyway lol.

Yes, my guys are wearing thick jackets in 60 degree weather…they are on an Ed, Edd and Eddy kick (don’t ask me, it’s some cartoon) and one of the Eds wears a jacket all the time.  Sigh.

It rained last night and ds4 says he was making rain prints with his shoes.  A closer inspection of his attire shows us an inside-out pajama shirt, a pair of swim trunks, socks and crocks, and of course, the jacket.  He is stylin’!  No wonder only one neighbor was brave enough to say “Hi” this morning.  ;)

Oh well, I am just thrilled that warmer weather is on it’s way and our future holds many more hours outside.

Outdoor Hour: Winter Tree Study

It’s been so cold and gloomy around here we really haven’t been keeping up with our nature studies.  I did manage to get the boys outside one morning when the sun decided to peek through and we completed the winter version of our tree study.

We chose dh’s Maple tree for this year’s study.  Here ds3 makes his bark rubbing.

I don’t know why he chose to do his sketch in his nature journal with his back to the tree lol.  It’s okay, though, ds4 is keeping an eye on the tree and describing it to ds3.  We noticed a few buds and some very small new growth on some of the branches.  I sure hope our recent “winter storm” doesn’t hurt the tree’s progress.  Seriously, though, we have had a record number of  hard freeze nights for our area and we are all (plants and people included) so very ready for some warmer temps.  ;)

Autumn Nature Series: Pumpkins

This is week 5 of the 10 part Autumn Nature Series.  I had dh pick up a pumpkin while he was out running errands with the boys.  Ds2 recently remarked that he missed our nature studies since starting public high school, so we did our pumpkin study this weekend so he could participate as well.  We finally had fall-like weather, too; sunny, cool and windy.

Everyone had a turn picking up the pumpkin and seeing how heavy it was.  Then we filled a tub with water and predicted whether it would sink or float…there were 3 votes for sink, 1 for float.

It floated!  We then discussed why this happened and headed inside to check out the pumpkin’s innards. 

Dh was in charge of pumpkin cutting.  Ds4 was the supervisor.

Ds2 was in charge of the de-gutting.  I tried to get them to estimate how many seeds there would be and all I got was “5” from ds4 and “a lot” from ds2. 

As usual, ds3 was not interested in sketching, so I had him fill out a “sink or float” prediction worksheet from kidssoup for his journal entry.

Ds4 and I drew pumpkins and seeds for ours.  This was a fun study, and I know the boys all learned a little something.  Head over to Barb’s for more Outdoor Hour Challenges.