Science & Nature

Fun with Leaves

I {heart} Pinterest!  Seriously.  It may very well be the greatest invention on the planet.  Okay, the greatest recent invention. Through Pinterest, I found (and archived) some fun leafy art lessons to go along with our botany studies this autumn. While we didn’t get to all the wonderful ideas – this autumn – we found…

Fungi Study

I told you I’ve been slacking on my posts!  Four botany study posts in four days doesn’t mean we’ve been studying botany in such depth every day.  In fact, each topic took us at least a week to cover.  Today’s post is about one of the lessons spent learning about fungi. After some activities from…

A Busy Animal

We came across this little scene in our yard the other day – some sweet little animal is busily preparing for winter! A few days later, this is what we found in the same tree cavity! It was so full of hickory nuts that I asked my children if they had stuffed the hole.  Everyone…

Conifer Study

Caleb (and Eli) and I have been so loving our study of botany!  This post highlights one of our activities as we learned about gymnosperms, particularly conifers. Gymnosperms are plants with “naked seeds” that aren’t housed inside a fruit.  Conifers (cone-bearing plants) are an example of a gymnosperm. During this lesson, we had collected various…

Studying Trees

In continuing our middle school botany study, we’ve been studying trees.  A lot.  Most of the activities we’ve done have come from the Delightful Deciduous Trees NaturExplorers study. One super-interesting nature walk activity was finding the tap root (main root that grows straight down), lateral roots (large roots that grow outward or laterally) and fibrous…

Pumpkin Math

Every autumn, we enjoy a little pumpkin math! All our children participate according to their abilities – from the 4yo to the 14yo.  This year, the 11yo and 14yo were expected to measure with complete accuracy, while the 4yo dabbled in learning how to measure.  He used standard (rulers) and non-standard (blocks) measuring tools. I…

Teaching Computer Skills

Children of the 21st century simply must be knowledgeable about and capable with computers.  Besides typing programs and internet research,  I like to assign occasional projects that are computer-based.  I thought you might like to see the most recent projects… Writing is something that Caleb does NOT like.  But, when the writing is (at least…

Small tree branch for an image about the study of a twig

The Study of a Twig

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…

Parts of a Flower

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…

Jr. Master Gardener Class

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…

Blog image about simple field guide hints with an image about blue birds in a field guide.

Simple Field Guide Hint

Here’s a simple field guide hint that will work for all ages from preschool through adult. We started using this little trick before our children were even readers and we still use it to this very day. Simple Field Guide Hint Get out the stickers! Before they could write, or even draw very well, I…