Nature Calendar

I'm going to try something new on my blog. I found a wonderful nature calendar over at Holy Experience. We have been doing the little activities every day for the past few weeks and have been enjoying them immensely. They don't take very long to do, and we are learning alot. I'm going to try and do a series of short posts about the daily nature activities we have done from this calendar.

The nature calendar is from a book called "Natural Science Through the Seasons: 100 Teaching Units" by J.A. Partridge. It is an older book, published in 1946 and is out of print. I looked around on the internet and could not find a copy. My library system had only one copy stored away in a back room that I could look at but not take out of the library. I looked at it and it was a great book. Hopefully I'll stumble upon a copy one day. Ann at Holy Experience has taken photos of the calendar pages in her book and posted them on her site. I printed out a copy of March's nature calendar from her blog.

Anyways, today's task was: Watch for moths coming out of cocoons.

I have never found a moth cocoon. I thought this was an interesting task. I did find two websites about moth cocoons though, here and here.

We did not see any moths coming out of cocoons today, but we were out in the backyard making mudpies, filling our birdfeeders, and looking at some moss we have in a dish (it was a task from another day).

I'm going to link future entries at the bottom of this post so you can follow along with us if you like!

March

7th: Sun rise Sun set Length of day

8th: Get books on attracting birds and birdhouses.

9th: Watch for canada geese flying north.

10th: The song sparrow is due.

11th: Place a twig with tent caterpillar eggs in water.

12th: Watch for the red winged blackbird.

13th: Make a home for a bluebird.

14th: Observe how the water in a stream wears, carries and deposits soil.

15th: Sunrise Sunset Length of day

16th: It’s time for the meadowlark.

17th: Learn of the shamrock and St. Patrick.

18th: Our orchard friend the bluebird, settles in their new home.

19th: List the winter sleepers that have come out. Raccoon? Chimpmunk? Bat? Bear? Skunk?

20th: From maple sap to maple sugar.

21st: Start garden seeds indoors.

22nd: Sunrise Sunset Length of day

23rd: Prune roses 6 to 8 inches from the ground.

24th: Place twigs of cherry, apple or plum in water.

25th: Have you seen the mourning cloak butterfly?

26th: Look for frog’s eggs.Watch a few develop in a jar of water.

27th: The chipmunk comes forth from his burrow.

28th: The first wildflower, the skunk-cabbage, is a cousin of the calla lily.

29th: Sunrise Sunset Length of day

30th: Be sure you water your garden seedlings.

31st: Look for robin, killdeer, grackle, cowbird, heron, brown creeper, phoebe.

Backyard Hawk Sighting

In the first place, do not send them; if it is anyway possible, take them; for, although the children should be left much to themselves, there is a great deal to be done and a great deal to be prevented during these long hours in the open air.

Charlotte Mason, Home Education Vol. 1 p. 43

Last week I tried to toss the kids in the backyard by themselves and this was the result:

"My mitten fell off and I can't get up the stairs and why is my Mommy not coming to help me! Why is she standing at the kitchen door taking pictures of me?"

"No one is ever going to help me. Mommy doesn't have her coat or shoes on and she's in the kitchen. I will be stuck out here by myself in the freezing cold forever. No, I don't want my brother to help me!"

Yesterday, after reading the above quote in my Charlotte Mason book, I resolved to go out in the backyard with my children. As an added bonus it was easier to take photos of the kids.

The Nuthatch has learned to make his snowangels first thing, before all the fresh snow is trampled.

As he was lying there he noticed something at the top of our tree.

I ran in to switch lenses on my camera so I could get a picture before he flew away. Then I ran in to get my binoculars. Then I ran in to get the bird field guide. I managed to tramp a lot of snow through my kitchen.

He is a sharp-shinned hawk. We have seen them once or twice before in our yard. His feathers are all puffed up to keep him warm in this frigid cold weather. They eat small birds, of the sort we attract with our bird feeders. He was likely looking for a nice snack. I had the kids look around, and there was not another bird to be seen anywhere. They know better.

The Bluejay even paused from eating snow to bird watch for a moment.

She also mentioned in her quote that "there was a great deal to be prevented" when the kids are outside. I suppose that would include keeping your kids from falling out of trees and landing on their heads.

I even had a moment or two to myself to capture the snow piled high on some of my wildflowers that I did not get around to cutting down in the fall. I think I'll leave them over the winter from now on. They are so pretty.

Winter Nature Study

It seems to me that there are many nature lovers who choose to hibernate through the winter. While it is great to watch the birds at your feeders through the living room window, I want to encourage you to get outside, into the cold and snow. There is so much to discover.

Yesterday, I awoke with anticipation of the great time we were going to have on our hike. I wanted the kids to have a good, filling breakfast before we went, so I made a big pot of oatmeal. Then, all my plans began to unravel.

I usually put chocolate chips in the oatmeal to make it more appealing. We ran out. So I used maple syrup, which did not seem to appease my children. I spent the next half an hour force feeding them all that nutritional goodness.

That done, it was time to dress up. It was a chilly -13 Celcius (9 F), so we needed all our layers. That involved finding the long underwear that had strayed to the four corners of our house. After another 1/2 hour wrestling uncooperative children into many layers of clothing we were ready to go. Until they all announced they had to go pee. I was exhausted and we hadn't left the house yet.

We finally arrived at our favorite nature destination. We return to the same place, again and again, week after week. As we pulled in the long drive I heard one of them exclaim "It looks so different!"

It took the boys roughly 3 seconds to discover all the crunchy ice in the shallow ditch. They quickly set to work smashing as much as they could. Soon a large stick was found to help with the job of ice smashing.

We set off for the shore of the small lake. There were hundreds of Canada geese, some in the open water, and many were sitting on the frozen ice. Every now and then they would all start honking and a group would take off. We watched as they gradually formed themselves into a V shape and set off. Their wings whirred as they flew overhead.

Chickadee wanted out of her stroller. She looked rather comical with the oversized outfit I had put together to keep her warm. I recently ordered her new mittens (look at those fabulous gauntlets!). I bought them a little large so she would get more than one season out of them. I think she'll be wearing them for awhile, they probably come up to her shoulders!

We started our hike. Along the way we found that familiar summer and fall plants had changed.

Queen Anne's Lace

Goldenrod

Milkweed

Another favorite thing to do in the winter is to look for animal signs. There wasn't any snow that day, but the geese had left their footprints in the sand on the beach.

Goose track

Shrub gnawed by beaver (light wood is a fresh cut, grey wood an old cut)

Another highlight of our walks is the tea or hot chocolate I bring in a thermos.

It does take effort to get out in the winter, I won't kid you on that. By the time I have everyone dressed I am ready to give up and stay home. However, once we get outside I always find that it was all worth it.

Gearing up for Winter Nature Study

The weather has turned a bit chilly around here. This week has been cold enough that I have needed to get out all of our winter outerwear in order for us to enjoy being outside. I wrote about this topic at the end of February last year, this seems a more appropriate time.

We had a wonderful hike today. It snowed this week and there was about 5 cm still on the ground. We went to our favorite conservation area. I showed the boys some deer tracks I found and they spent the rest of the morning following the deer footprints all over the place. It was quite lovely. We were out for almost an hour in the brisk minus sixteen Celcius weather (3 degrees Farenheit).

Here's a little fashion show from the Bluejay, showing how we keep warm:

For his first layer he has on long underwear. They are made out of some sort of polyester, and they wick away moisture from his skin if he starts to sweat after making 27 snow angels in a row. My long underwear (photo not shown) is made out of silk. It is extremely light and warm, but too expensive for growing children.

Next layer is his regular clothes and a scarf. Soon he will also be wearing a wool sweater that I need to finish.

There's lots to talk about in the final layer. He has ordinary winter boots right now, he will inherit his older brother's (nice ones from Land's end) as soon as I buy the Nuthatch a new pair. He has on rain pants as a windproof / waterproof layer. I still need to sort out which snowpants fit which kid. He has an ordinary winter coat. His mittens are fabulous. They are waterproof and have a gauntlet that comes right up the sleeves of his coat. Snow does not get into his mittens and up his sleeves. Lastly he has a brightly coloured hat, which makes it easy to keep an eye on him!

Last year it took me approximately half an hour to suit everyone up to go outside. This year I'm hoping it will take a little less time because they are a little older and can get ready a bit more by themselves.

It is a bit of an investment in time and money to gear your kids up to be able to spend extended time outside in the winter, but it is so worth it. Make sure your kids stay dry with waterproof mitts and snowpants. Keep them warm with wool sweaters and long underwear. Then go outside and enjoy!

November flowers

It seems that nature is not quite ready to close up shop for the winter. We went for a lovely walk today at our local botanical garden. It was a balmy 20C, one last warm week before the chill sets in. The changing of seasons always makes me a little shutter happy.