We’ve only had four classes so far and have covered tons of topics -  plant parts, flower parts, soil types, the water cycle, ecology, organic pesticides and fertilizers, insects and pollination!  Everything has been hands-on and perfectly “beefed up” so the parents of high school students can feel good about counting the class toward biology credits.

I haven’t taken pictures of everything (because I’ve been having too much fun myself), but below are a few snapshots…

A Lesson in Taxonomy

Classifying Insects

Can you eat using your pincers?

Flower Pigment Pounding

An Ecology Project - Birdhouse Gourds

Some quick facts:

• Our class has been limited to (16) 6th-12th graders.
• The original goal of the class was to be able to count it toward biology lab hours for high school credit.
• Our class is using the “official” Jr. Master Gardener material – Book 1.  It’s meant for grades 3-5, but our agent is choosing the activities which are most appropriate for older kids and bumping things up a notch or two when necessary.  (I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how well he is modifying the material for an interesting,  in-depth class.)
• As the main organizer of the class, I am creating 10 question “tests” each week for the older kids to use as part of a grade if their parents desire.
• The class will meet once a week for 8 weeks this semester.
• If the families are still interested, there is a Book 2 program that we might complete in the spring semester.

Talk to your local extension office and see if the 4-H and/or horticulture agent might be interested in developing a Jr. Master Gardener’s class for you!

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Lecia, one of my blog readers, recently emailed me to ask the following question:

“Several moms in our homeschool group want to start a nature club but we have no idea where to begin with forming a club. Can you tell me a little about yours? Thanks for the help!”

Thank you for your question Lecia and since this is a popular one I decided to write up a blog post entry about it.

This spring and summer will be my second time leading a nature club for our homeschool co-op, and I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am. Our nature club was a huge success last year and I truly loved leading it. As you probably know from my blog, I am very passionate about God’s creation and especially about sharing my love of it with others, and a nature club is an excellent way to do just that!

Here is my list of steps and recommendations for getting a club started:

Determine the interest level in your group. – Poll your group to see if you have a high enough interest level to make it worth officially forming a group. In my opinion, two or more families is great! These things have a tendency to grow quickly anyways once word gets out.

Determine a vision for how you want your nature club to be run. – Would you like a more structured time including an appointed “leader/teacher” for each meeting and a focus topic for each meeting such as birds, wildflowers, etc? Or would you prefer a more relaxed club where you just meet and freely enjoy nature together? Again, you could poll your group to determine what the majority is looking for in the club. Determine if you want parental involvement to be mandatory at each meeting. I recommend this for a couple of reasons: parents will be responsible for their children and not the leader(s), and I highly believe in parents being involved with and connecting with their children in nature study.

If a more structured time is desired, appoint a leader or leaders who will steer the meetings, being sure the meetings stay on task to what is desired of them. – Perhaps all the members would be willing to take turns leading a meeting; however most often there are a small group of people who are “natural leaders” and/or are more knowledgeable on the subject of nature and will gladly do this. Or perhaps you will determine that having just one leader/teacher works fine too.

Determine the frequency of your meetings and the topics and locations. How many times a month will you meet? Will you meet year round or only in the warmer months? Where are the places you could meet? Make a list of local parks or other locations that your club could meet. After doing all of the previous, make a list of the dates you will be meeting and locations where you will be meeting. Decide what you will do in the case of inclement weather. Will you reschedule?

After determining this, and if you chose to make your meetings a little more structured, make a list of topics your group would like to see covered throughout these meetings. When you are picking topics, match appropriate locations that would work well. For instance, a particular park may have huge wildflower fields that would make it perfect for a wildflower focused meeting. Or another park may have a beautiful creek which would make it perfect for a creek focused meeting. When determining what to teach on the focus subjects that you will be covering keep in mind the NaturExplorers unit studies at Shining Dawn Books each have a section dedicated to giving you ideas of things to do with Nature Clubs and Co-ops. I use these for each of our nature club meetings.

After you have all these details, put the information together coming up with a calendar of dates, meeting topics and locations for your club.

Now you are ready to start implementing your meetings! It is helpful to send out weekly reminders to the group, perhaps via email or another online means. In the reminders it’s helpful to list all the basics (where, what when, etc.) and also any helpful information such as if the children should bring anything special (nets, containers, etc.) or wear anything special (mud boots, long pants, old clothes, etc.).

I have tried to be very thorough in these recommendations for starting a nature club, hopefully I have not left anything out. And hopefully I have not left you feeling overwhelmed. If done correctly a nature club will NOT be overwhelming and tedious to run. It will be well worth the minimal effort! Do not make it too structured and “textbook educational”, keep structured teaching time minimal and hands-on exploring maximal.

Lastly, here is how our nature club looks:

We meet only in the spring and summer, starting in April and going through July. We meet every other Friday morning from 10:00am to 12:00pm, having a total of eight meetings. Some of the families stay after the meetings to have a picnic lunch together. Parental participation is mandatory. We start our meetings with a 10-15 minute teaching session on the chosen focus. Then the remainder of the time is spent exploring and doing fun hands-on activities. I send out reminders at least 5 days in advance giving all the details and recommendations for the meetings.

I will be happy to answer any other questions that you may have. And may God bless you in the study of His creation!

Looking for purple flowers to represent the color of royalty in honor of our King Jesus.

Finding signs of death and decay when considering Jesus' burial.

Exploring large rocks to go along with the resurrection.

For the class, I created a simple scavenger hunt sheet. It’s not included in Nature Study Through the Holidays: Easter (yet), so I’d like to share with you for FREE! It can easily be used for a group or a single child. Simply click on the graphic below to download it.

The Easter Story in Nature

These were bright red mushrooms!

This one is bright red, too, although the color didn’t show up quite as well in the picture.  See the little snail sitting on it?  Can you see the worm holes in the wood?

This was found in the yard once we returned.  Our best guess is a Brown Headed Cowbird.  Any other suggestions?

And this one wasn’t found yesterday, but I couldn’t resist posting it.  We found it at Melissa’s house this week when we went for a visit.  It’s a cowboy hat shaped mushroom!  Eli tried to pick it up to put it on his head!

]]> http://ourjourneywestward.com/2009/05/mays-creation-club/feed/ 1 http://ourjourneywestward.com/2009/03/creation-club-evergreens-focusing-on-conifers/ http://ourjourneywestward.com/2009/03/creation-club-evergreens-focusing-on-conifers/#comments Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:59:55 +0000 Cindy http://ourjourneywestward.com/?p=1458 Our Creation Club started again!  And, as usual, the Lord blessed us with absolutely beautiful weather!  This month’s topic turned out to be more timely than I ever imagined when planning it.  I had anticipated just getting to talk about certain aspects of conifers because I assumed we couldn’t possibly find examples of every stage of cone development.  Boy was I wrong!  The kids were able to find examples of each and every thing we talked about today.

We met in a local cemetery that was established in 1860.  It houses many, many examples of wonderful evergreens, and specifically conifers.  After a discussion of the differences between evergreens and deciduous trees, we talked about differences between needle-like and broad leaf evergreens – and were able to find plentiful examples of each.

Once understanding the distinctions of a conifer (cone-producing) evergreen, I asked the children to find a conifer and bring at least a cluster of its leaves back to our study spot.  Using Melissa’s info on evergreen leaves, I had them observe the leaves closely under magnifying glasses, look for a waxy covering and break apart the leaves to find the liquid.

Next, we moved on to the cones.  I asked them to try to locate one cone that was open and one that was closed.  We talked about how the cones are the “fruit” of the conifer, how the scales house the tree’s seeds and open up to drop seeds when they are mature.  I introduced the term “gymnosperm” as a “naked seed” – or a seed not housed in a fleshy fruit.  We talked a little about how the cones will grow flowers – male and female on the same tree – in order to pollinate.  I never expected the kids to be able to find flowers this time of year, but you’ll see below that they did!  We were also able to open up some of the scales to find seeds already!  Some of the children dissected their pine cones to reveal the inner “vein” that delivers food from the tree.  Do you know how sticky and sappy evergreen food is??

Finally, each child was given a notebooking page (which you can see here).  They had to find a conifer, identify it using tree field guides and complete the info on the notebooking page.  In walking around to help them, I was amazed at the vast diversity between tree types in this small cemetery alone!  Big cones, tiny cones, shaggy bark, smooth bark, needle leaves, rough leaves.  Amazing!

Some woodpecker had a feast of sugary sap from this fir tree.

Anyone have an explanation for these rings?  It’s a pine tree of some sort, we couldn’t quite pin down the exact type.  The rings were beautiful, but we were puzzled as to the cause.  A parasite??

I sent them home to try a cone experiment.  Did you know cones will close and open depending on the humidity?  They each took home at least one open cone.  They are supposed to put it in water for an hour to watch it close.  Afterwards, they are supposed to let it dry overnight to watch it open again.  This is one of God’s mechanisms to protect the seeds from rain before they’re ready to fall from the cone.  Nature never ceases to teach me something new about God!

]]> http://ourjourneywestward.com/2009/03/creation-club-evergreens-focusing-on-conifers/feed/ 2 http://ourjourneywestward.com/2008/10/octobers-creation-club-trees/ http://ourjourneywestward.com/2008/10/octobers-creation-club-trees/#comments Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:35:00 +0000 Cindy http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/westward/607857/ Our Creation Club met for the last time until spring.  (Boo Hoo)  This month’s focus was on trees and we were as busy as beavers!

As a warm-up activity, each child was asked to find a leaf from any tree in the area.  They had to remember which tree it came from!  Then, they exchanged leaves with someone and had to located the tree their new leaf came from.  The partners worked together to give hints to each other if needed.

I gave a simple explanation of why leaves change colors in the fall while the kids took notes on a notebooking page.

Then, we played a game to warm up their detail finding skills.  Everyone teamed up in partners again.  The first partner had to close their eyes, while the second partner led them to a tree.  With eyes still closed, the first partner had to touch the tree remembering as much detail as possible.  The first partner then led them back to the starting point with eyes still closed.  The first partner then had to try to locate the tree with eyes open.  Fun!

Now the kids were ready to “adopt” a tree.  Using a notebooking page from Considering God’s Creation, they had to notice all sorts of things about their tree such as bark style, tree shape, leaf type, leaf shape and more.  On the back of this page, I added a few more things for them to do like measuring the circumference of the trunk, tracing a leaf and coloring in detail, sketching something they found using a magnifying glass and such.  You can see this simple page here if you like.

Using watercolors, they had to paint a picture of their tree.  We used our imaginations a bit since the drought has really caused all of our trees to lose their brilliant colors already.

Then, they were asked to take a few quiet minutes to write a poem about their tree or a prayer to God in thanksgiving of trees.

Finally, we took a short walk to some tree stumps to see if we could figure out the age of any of the trees that were once there by counting the rings.

This was two hours of our day that were definitely not wasted!  Thank you , God, for your glorious creation!

We will soon be listening to Peggy’s Violin: A Butterfly in Time (which is a wonderful story of the life of a violin, by the way!)  Woven into the story are several classical music pieces by famous composers.  One of the first is “Canon” by Pachelbel.  Before heading downstairs for our artist tea, we listened to “Canon” on the computer.  The kids were very excited to know this piece was played at my wedding!

Then we headed downstairs for some peppermint tea and cookies.

We did a picture study of “Lilacs in a Vase” by Manet.  After a brief biography session, we used the idea from Discovering Great Artists to create melted crayon still-life paintings.

Caleb chose to do a still-life of red hot  peppers in a vase, while Mahayla found some clover in the yard.

They had fun, but we had to continually stop painting to re-warm the crayons in the oven since we don’t own a warming tray.  (Don’t use a good muffin tin – it will never be the same again!)

We didn’t do a morning nature walk this week because our Creation Club met in the afternoon.  Here are a few pictures from the wildflower walk and journaling time.

I can’t wait to keep you posted on our Tuesday learning!  I think Tuesdays will turn out to my favorite day of the homeschool week – never mind the kids!

Let’s see, the kids played a relay carrying containers of water on their heads, a sponge and bucket relay, and competed in a water obstacle course.  They had to try to keep water in their cups while jumping rope ten times, and they had a water balloon launching contest.  They also had a frozen t-shirt contest, trying to be the first to thaw and put on a wet t-shirt that had been folded and frozen solid.  And apparently, it doesn’t matter where the water is, kids will jump in and have fun (see the cow watering container below.  It was clean!)  Here are a few pictures from the day.

And look!  My friend, MonkeyX4, brought me a whole box of cucumbers since we haven’t been having any luck with them this year.  I was able to can 14 quarts of dill pickles this morning!  Thank you, D!!

During the nature workshop at the CHEK convention, I talked about some of the resources I use for choosing activities during our club meetings.  I forgot to add a few of those resources to the workshop handout, so I promised I’d post them here.

The book that got the ball rolling for the club is the Creation Club Idea Book.  In it are all sorts of ideas for particular broad themes in nature.  You will find Bible references, active games, craft ideas and more.

During our club, though, I typically try to focus in on one or two aspects within a broad theme.  For instance, instead of a study on water, we studied ponds.  In fact, we even limited that study to life around a pond and just within the water’s edges.  Because the Creation Club Idea Book’s themes are broad, I use other resources to round out a particular study’s focus.

Of course, the #1 resource is the internet.  I’m amazed at the worksheets, diagrams, activity ideas and information that pops up when I do a quick search of the topic!

The #2 resource is the library.  Depending on the topic, I’ve found all sorts of activity books and information books that fit the bill perfectly.

Below are some other books I’ve found useful for adding activities that are suitable for groups.

• Nature Crafts for Kids
• Science Crafts for Kids
• AIMS education books (Activities in Math and Science)
• Project Wild activities
• Project Learning Tree Activities
• Creek Stompin’ and Gettin’ Into Nature
• Considering God’s Creation
• Janice van Cleave books

I’d LOVE to hear about a nature club that you start.  If you already take part in a nature club, I’d love to hear about that, too!

FYI – I’m working on another post to answer some MSG questions and pass along a few recipes.  I probably won’t be able to complete it until next week sometime, so stay tuned.  I’ve really appreciated those of you who have shared – even the ones who disagree with me about MSG’s overall negative effect in our food supply. 

We met at the local cemetery.  Cemeteries are wonderful for nature study!  Typically, they have a huge variety of trees, shrubs, fungi, weathering and even critters to be found.  With tweezers and baggies in hand, the kids’ first job was to go on a Tweezer Trek.  Basically, they were asked to collect anything and everything nature related that they could pick up with tweezers.  We had a show-n-tell time and studied a few things under the magnifying glasses.

The next activity was to dissect flowers.  Thanks to a couple local nurseries, we had an abundance of flowers to use.  Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Botany has a wonderful flower dissection tutorial that we went through.  Before digging in, though, we read The Reason For a Flower and drew/labeled a flower diagram.  As you can see, our little botanists were very serious about their dissection and recording what they had found.

Here are a few great sites to go along with flower dissection…

Virtual Flower Dissection

Color Photos of Flower Parts

Flower Dissection Lab Activity

ETA:  Since the original post, Shining Dawn Books was born and NaturExplorers Wonderful Wildflowers was written where you can find OODLES more creative ideas for individual or group study on the topic of wildflowers!