Middle School

  • Late Fall Fun

    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.

  • Lichen vs. Moss

    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…

  • Dioramas

    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…

  • Wild Blackberry Walk

    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…

  • Rain’s A-Comin’

    In our Remarkable Rain NaturExplorers unit, one of the suggested activities is to watch and document an approaching rain system. Our family had the awesome opportunity to do this not too long ago. Here are pictures taken over no more than a four minute time frame… Rain can be a very exciting, out-of-the-norm nature study….

  • Animal Signs Walk

    Late Autumn and Winter (before everything is covered by snow) is one of our favorite times to search the woods for signs of animals. It’s funny I’m posting this today as we’re covered by about 5 inches of snow, but here’s a peek into our walk a week or two ago. There are wonderful nature…

  • Winter Conifer Walk

    Nature Study in the Winter? Yes!  There are still plenty of wonderful topics to study during the winter.  I’ve written about several of them before in a previous post titled, well, what else – Nature Study in the Winter.  One great topic that always makes for interesting study is conifers.  Conifers are evergreens that produce…

  • Death and Decay

    Whether you’ve begun Nature Study Through the Holidays: Easter yet or not, you’ll likely be on the lookout for death and decay this week as you discuss Jesus’ death and burial. I wanted to share some photos of our fascinating finds this past week to give your some inspiration during your walk. When the perishable…

  • The Easter Story: A Nature Walk

      Easter Nature Study It’s been awhile since my Creation Club met for nature study together. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share the Easter story with them and do some mini-hunts based on the ideas suggested in Nature Study Through the Holidays: Easter. Easter Scavenger Hunt Printable For the class, I also created…

  • Cleopatra Exhibit

    Every once in a while, blogging has nice perks.  As a blogger in the Greater Cincinnati area, my children and I were invited to tour the traveling exhibit, Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt, at the Cincinnati Museum Center.  We just so happened to be finishing up Ancient Greek history and moving…