The Study of a Twig: Botany Nature Study My middle school son has been enjoying a fabulous study of botany. Today’s topic was the twig of a deciduous tree: What is a twig? Where are twigs located on trees? What grows on twigs? How do twigs grow? We first learned about the terminal bud, which…
There’s very little better than a field trip to make learning come to life! Eli (our preschooler) has been begging to go to the zoo for months. Lucky for him, we won two free tickets to the Cincinnati Zoo not too long ago and last week was the perfect weather for an outdoor field trip. …
I’ve wanted to attend the Ohio Renaissance Festival for years. Since this is our last medieval history cycle with Mahayla (boo hoo), visiting the festival was now or never. What a fun experience! (A little gypsy-like at times, but fun nonetheless.) We attended on their special school/homeschool day. While I didn’t like dealing with the…
While Mahayla takes a formal, high school biology class this year, Caleb (6th grade) and I (along with the interested 4-year-old) are studying biology using a variety of resources like Considering God’s Creation, Lyrical Life Science, Vol. 1 and, of course, NaturExplorers studies. Botany has been first on our list and we’ve been having so…
You cannot even imagine how wonderful our Jr. Master Gardener class (aka Botany Lab) has been. Our horticulture extension agent rocks! 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…
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…
Fruits and nuts nature study is full of goodness when you add creative nature walks, fun activities, and a few good living books. This post contains affiliate links. Our weekly nature walks so far in September have been so exciting as we’ve been on the hunt for fruits and nuts. This is the perfect time…
Does the thought of spider nature study give you chills? It shouldn’t! Spiders are pretty incredible and you don’t have to get all that close to observe them in nature. This post contains affiliate links. Autumn is a great time for finding spiders and spider webs. Here, there…spiders everywhere! Are you afraid? The garden bugs…
Not every nature walk has to be serious! Let your children take the lead during nature study often. It might not be just the thing you would’ve planned, but it will be exciting and worthy nonetheless.
It can be difficult during a nature walk to identify lichen vs. moss. These simple descriptions and pictures should help you learn the differences between the two. Lichen vs. Moss: What’s the Difference? Through the course of our nature clubs and writing the NaturExplorers studies, the following question has come up several times. “What’s the…
Some of the NaturExplorers guides suggest the completion of a diorama to go along with a research project. Dioramas are such a fun and creative way to model entire habitats or ecosystems. Even better, they can prove to be an informal assessment of your child’s understanding when you ask him or her to create a diorama…
In our neck of the woods, July is wild blackberry month. Over time, we’ve located several wild brambles growing along fence lines around our farm. I have to admit that harvesting is a tad difficult because of all the thorns, but well worth the effort. I wanted to share just a few pictures from our…
End of content
End of content