Nature Journals- Autumn 2010 OHC #1

Although we haven't posted in ages, we have still been out enjoying nature. I just have had trouble finding time to take pictures and post about it. I think it probably has something to do with keeping up with our almost 2 year old.

This week my mother was here and that freed me up to take some pictures of the boys drawing in their nature journals. This challenge was supposed to be done in our backyard, but since my mom was here we decided to take it to the Japanese Gardens! I only wish my backyard looked like this!

First we walked around (well the boys actually ran and jumped, but I walked). Then we found a great place to sit and draw.

My only instructions were for them to find something beautiful to draw. While the three older boys drew, my mother and the baby fed the fish...and I took pictures!

Once the boys got going, they did multiple drawings.

It is never too soon to start a Nature Journal. We have used many different types of journals. My favorite is a medium sized journal with watercolor paper (above), but we have used all sizes and all kinds of papers. For little ones it is nice to have one with not too many pages, so they don't feel overwhelmed and they quickly have a full book.

I let the journal be truly theirs, meaning I don't try to control it. We have ones with upside down pages and sometimes something like a rocket slips into them, but mostly they are filled with wonderful pictures and great memories.

Saturn

Even As A Weaned Child

By Amy Carmichael

And shall I pray Thee change Thy will, my Father,
Until it be according unto mine?
But no, Lord, no, that never shall be; rather,
I pray Thee, blend my human will with Thine.

I pray Thee, hush the hurrying, eager longing;
I pray Thee, soothe the pangs of keen desire;
See in my quiet places wishes thronging;
Forbid them, Lord; purge, though it be with fire.

And work in me to will and do Thy pleasure;
Let all within me, peaceful, reconciled,
Tarry, content my Well-beloved's leisure-
At last, at last, even as a weaned child.

The Heavens Declare God's Glory

A few weeks ago we were all awed by the moon. We had been hiking around and as we were getting ready to start back to the car we happened to see the moon rising above the trees. It was so beautiful. I tried to get a picture of the boys with it in the background, but it just wouldn't show up properly. It looks really tiny in the above picture when in reality it was huge. Finally we were able to catch a better picture of it hiding behind the branches of an oak tree.

We have been amazed by God's handiwork in the skies. Recently we have been able to look at Saturn through the telescope and it is fascinating to see its rings. With the naked eye it is not very impressive. It appears as a somewhat dim star in the East at about 9:00. Yet with our telescope you can see at least one moon and the rings. It looks to me like a shining round diamond ring with a band made of light. It is beautiful.

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." Psalm 19:1

Catching Snowflakes

We have had 3 beautiful snowfalls this winter. During the most recent snowfall, I decided we would try and catch some flakes. We have attempted this before on black construction paper and it was never very impressive. However, this time I happened to have a piece of black fleece that came in one of Amanda's Hearts and Trees Kit. We were blown away by the results! I wish that Iwould have been able to capture some better photos, but this was all I could get.

I guess the fibers on the fleece caused the flakes to last long enough for us to see their shape. We saw dozens of different shapes and each one was amazingly beautiful. Of course we all "know" what snowflakes are supposed to look like, but it was really a wonder filled experience standing in the snow catching flake after flake. We were all very excited. I just wish that I could have gotten better pictures.

In the above picture, look at the bottom left and you will see a flower shaped snowflake!

The above photo is probably our best example.

Once we brought the fleece back inside the heat caused all the flakes to change their form...into ordinary water droplets. Later that evening we read Snowflake Bentley and then looked through a book with his snowflake photos.

"Under the microscope," he wrote in 1931, "I found that every snow crystal is a miracle of God's beauty." (taken from God's World News-Snowflake Bentley article March 2010 edition)

The Great Backyard Bird Count

This weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count! The boys really enjoyed participating in this event last year. Click on the picture to find out more!

Winter Sky and Stars

We have been studying the sky since early Autumn. In the beginning we didn't even have binoculars. We started off only knowing the Big Dipper, but over the months we have been able to find a number of other constellations and planets.


Once we were able to purchase binoculars we were able to see 4 of Jupiter's moons. This was truly amazing! I couldn't help but think of all the school text books that talk about the very things we were looking at with our eyes! It was strange to realize all this was not just in a book, but it has been out here in the night sky all our lives.

With our binoculars we have been able to see quite a bit. The only difficulty is that ours are heavy, which leads to tired shaky hands. Christmas brought a telescope, much to the delight of the boys. I guess if I really wanted everyone to get in bed on time this was a bad idea! Nevertheless, we have been able to see amazing views of the moon and Orion's nebula.In Texas we do have some cold nights, but as you can see most nights we don't even have to bundle up! This picture is the boys looking at the Nebula on Orion's sword. Our two primary books on finding the constellations and particular stars and planets have been, The Handbook of Nature Study, and Find The Constellations, by HA Rey.

Now when I get up with the baby at 3am, I can't help looking out the window to see Orion and the Great Dog emblazoned across the Southern sky. Now that the winter stars have become so familar, we are anxious to see what Spring and Summer bring.

9 Year old's Journal entry of the Andromeda Galaxy.

7Year old's Journal entry of the Andromeda Galaxy

Seeds

Our recent Nature Study project happened quite by accident. I tossed some Red Bud seeds into a recycled pudding cup with some soil and in just a few days we had some little green shoots peeping through the soil. It quickly shot up nice and tall and I realized we have an in-house subject for Nature Study.
I rummaged around and found some other small containers and we planted seeds from a pine, oak, and an apple (we already have a baby lemon tree grown from seed.) I arranged them on our school table and then added some books about seeds. It is nice to have something living and growing right before your very eyes. We are hoping that our other seeds will sprout, but until then we have our Red Bud and Lemon to observe. Here is one of our nature journal sketches of the young Red Bud's.

UPDATE: 5-3-10 We were so surprised at how quickly this "red bud" was shooting up. As it continued to grow we realized something was amiss. Not only was it growing unusually fast, but the leaves did not look like the leaves of a red bud. So, we decided to wait and watch. Eventually it budded and bloomed....a pale yellow composite flower! So, we are not sure what happened to our red bud seeds, and where did these come from? One of our pines sprouted and then died, and we still have the lemon tree and an apple tree.

Ambleside Schools International

For those of you who are inspired by Charlotte Mason, here is an exciting organization that is making a difference in the lives of children and adults. It is Ambleside Schools International. If you have read, When Children Love To Learn, you will definitely want to check out these schools. Their website is very pleasant to look at and you can also sign up for a monthly newsletter that hopefully will be an inspiration to your home school.

Ambleside Schools International

Until The Stars Appear

by Amy Carmichael

Make us Thy laborers.
Let us not dream of ever looking back;
Let not our knees be feeble, hands be slack;
Oh, make us strong to labor , strong to bear,
From the rising of the morning until the stars appear.

Make us Thy warriors,
On whom Thou canst depend to stand the brunt
Of any perilous charge on any front;
Give to us the skill to handle sword and spear,
From the rising of the morning until the stars appear.

Not far from us, those stars-
Unseen as angels, and yet looking through
The quiet air, the day's transparent blue.
What shall we know, and feel, and see, and hear,
When the sunset colors kindle and evening stars appear?

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases...

We are having our second snowfall in a week! It is so beautiful and unusual for our part of the country. It is like a blanket of peace upon our house.

The last of the 4 boys came down with the flu today. Our oldest came down with it last Tuesday and we have been steadily working our way through each of them until this morning my 7 year old woke up with fever. It has been exhausting, yet as always God's grace has been ever present to help. It is such a unique time when you have been nursing sick children for a week. I think about the women who have gone before me and sat by sick beds for much longer than what I am doing. I think about their faith and perseverance. I think about my friend Amy who stood by her daughter's side through suffering and death. I am grateful for the example of faithful mothers who care for their children.

A few days before the flu came to our house I was remembering that THE STEADFAST LOVE OF THE LORD NEVER CEASES. I kept thinking that phrase over and over and finally looked up the passage in Lamentations 3:21-24,

"But this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him."

How did Jeremiah (the author of Lamentations)call this to mind. How did he know that amidst suffering God's love was steadfast? Well, I think he knew it because he knew the law of God. If you read Deuteronomy 5:1-21, right in the midst of the 10 commandments you find where Jeremiah got his hope. The Lord promises to show steadfast love to those who love him, even while he is bringing judgement on those who hate him.

How blessed we are to have the example of those who have gone before us and the word to dwell upon.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.

Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 1

Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?

A. That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live unto Him.

His Faithfulness

By Amy Carmichael

O wind of God, blow through the trees;
O birds of God, come sing your song;
For now I know the joy that frees,
The joy that makes the weakest strong.

The vapors march in shining crowds,
High in the trackless roads of air;
I look, and lo, unto the clouds,
His faithfulness is even there!

Pass foolish fears; the fresh winds blow;
O birds of God, come sing with me.
My God is faithful this I know;
My Father, I have all in Thee.

Introducing...

The Iron Clad Beetle

Mark's mother found this beetle ,at her house, in the dog food dish. She put him in a jar and brought him to us. Well, the poor little guy looked as though he were dead. There were a couple of times that I thought I saw him moving, but everytime I went to check- there he was laying on his back-- dead. We were planning to add him to our dead insect collection, but at last we found that the little guy was playing a trick on us. He was actually still alive, but anytime we came near he played dead. We were so impressed with his trick that we set him free in our flower bed.

Education is an Atmosphere

Over the summer I read and loved the book, When Children Love to Learn. It was very inspiring and hopefully as our routine smoothes out I will be able to post some of my thoughts. But for now I thought I would show you some pictures of our learning areas.

Our Learning Atmosphere begins with books!

This is where we keep our nature books and field guides.

Here is where you will find our art supplies and some of our prints.

This is my desk and the red nature table.



This is our butterfly collection.

On my desk, I like to put a print from the art period we will be studying along with a reminder of our nature focus (birds), and I really just like mushrooms so that is on there, too.

This is our work table and the light from the windows caused this picture to not turn out well. We have our timeline as a backdrop and on the table from left to right are the following: Turkey feathers in a gourd vase, shells in blue jars, a picture of mushrooms, a terrarium, our book of months, and finally our pencils, paintbrushes, and erasers.

As I cleaned and arranged I was thinking about the visual aspect of atmosphere. Although there is more to atmosphere than the placement of desks, pictures, and pencils, it is an aspect of atmosphere that is important. A place where the mind is inspired and at peace; a place for both inspiration and contemplation.

Wordless Wednesday

Backyard Science

A little over a week ago, one of the boys came running into the house to let me know that he had spotted a strange caterpillar on the fence. Of course this is an invitation for me to go outside and investigate with him. So I grabbed the camera and off we went. Indeed it was a very fascinating specimen. The black barbs and bright colors made us a little wary of touching it. We looked through our caterpillar book and could not match it with any of the drawings, although one was close. So, we decided to do some searching on google. We found a site with great photos and it had a perfect match to our caterpillar---the Gulf fritillary.

Later in the day he noticed that the caterpillar had assumed its position of hanging upside down and we knew it wouldn't be long until it was a chrysalis. Sure enough, the next morning we found him as a chrysalis. We never cease to be amazed at this transformation! Now we are watching and waiting for the butterfly to hatch!

Wordless Wednesday

Sketch Tuesday-Fences

Last week was so busy and I forgot to send the boys sketches in for Sketch Tuesday; so I promised to post them here!

Wordless Wednesday