“Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life.  And everyone deserves a little sunshine.”

~Jeffrey Glassberg

Open fields of wilflowers are the perfect spot to find butterflies of all kinds. Butterflies need the heat from the sun for energy, thus why you will not see as many out on a cool and/or cloudy day.

The soaring heat and humidity of August makes it an excellent time to observe butterflies in nature.  In fact, for this first structured week of school, I have focused on butterflies with my youngest daughter.  Since my other children are much older its been a long time since I’ve had to think of the basics of butterflies.  We’ve been focusing on these three things:  life cycle of a butterfly, symmetry (butterfly wings), and the parts of a butterfly.  And of course the most important thing is we’ve spent some quality time outdoors chasing and observing butterflies too!  All of my research and ideas for activities and projects that I’ve used have come from the Butterflies Flutter By unit.

There was a gorgeous Monarch butterfly fluttering around us for a long time. He is sitting on the red clover at the center of this picture.

It’s been so nice to focus on the simple, basics of butterflies.  And to see my daughter’s unreserved enthusiam for these beautiful, winged creatures has been simply priceless.  On one particular day we managed to catch a Red-Spotted Purple butterfly to observe for a little bit.  Both my daughters got to stick their hands inside the enclosure to enjoy feeling the butterfly on their hands.  I believe being able to utilize the sense of touch and tangibility in your study of nature is highly beneficial.

The color and pattern on a butterfly's wings is a piece of God's most beautiful artwork.

As your schoolyear is beginning, be sure to bring some sunshine into your life by learning more about and observing butterflies.

Several moms in our homeschool group want to start a nature club but we have no idea where to begin with forming a club. Can you tell me a little about yours? Thanks for the help!

Thank you for your question Lecia and since this is a popular one I decided to write up a blog post entry about it.

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 God’s creation and especially about sharing my love of it with others, and a nature club is an excellent way to do just that!

Here is my list of steps and recommendations for getting a club started:

Determine the interest level in your group. – Poll your group to see if you have a high enough interest level to make it worth officially forming a group. In my opinion, two or more families is great! These things have a tendency to grow quickly anyways once word gets out.

Determine a vision for how you want your nature club to be ran. – Would you like a more structured time including an appointed “leader/teacher” for each meeting and a focus topic for each meeting such as birds, wildflowers, etc? Or would you prefer a more relaxed club where you just meet and freely enjoy nature together? Again, you could poll your group to determine what the majority is looking for in the club. Determine if you want parental involvement to be mandatory at each meeting. I recommend this for a couple of reasons: parents will be responsible for their children and not the leader(s), and I highly believe in parents being involved with and connecting with their children in nature study.

If a more structured time is desired, appoint a leader or leaders who will steer the meetings, being sure the meetings stay on task to what is desired of them. – Perhaps all the members would be willing to take turns leading a meeting; however most often there are a small group of people who are “natural leaders” and/or are more knowledgeable on the subject of nature and will gladly do this. Or perhaps you will determine that having just one leader/teacher works fine too.

Determine the frequency of your meetings and the topics and locations. How many times a month will you meet? Will you meet year round or only in the warmer months? Where are the places you could meet? Make a list of local parks or other locations that your club could meet. After doing all of the previous, make a list of the dates you will be meeting and locations where you will be meeting. Decide what you will do in the case of inclement weather. Will you reschedule?

After determining this, and if you chose to make your meetings a little more structured, make a list of topics your group would like to see covered throughout these meetings. When you are picking topics, match appropriate locations that would work well. For instance, a particular park may have huge wildflower fields that would make it perfect for a wildflower focused meeting. Or another park may have a beautiful creek which would make it perfect for a creek focused meeting. When determining what to teach on the focus subjects that you will be covering keep in mind the NaturExplorers unit studies at Shining Dawn Books each have a section dedicated to giving you ideas of things to do with Nature Clubs and Co-ops. I use these for each of our nature club meetings.

After you have all these details, put the information together coming up with a calendar of dates, meeting topics and locations for your club.

Now you are ready to start implementing your meetings! It is helpful to send out weekly reminders to the group, perhaps via email or another online means. In the reminders it’s helpful to list all the basics (where, what when, etc.) and also any helpful information such as if the children should bring anything special (nets, containers, etc.) or wear anything special (mud boots, long pants, old clothes, etc.).

I have tried to be very thorough in these recommendations for starting a nature club, hopefully I have not left anything out. And hopefully I have not left you feeling overwhelmed. If done correctly a nature club will NOT be overwhelming and tedious to run. It will be well worth the minimal effort! Do not make it too structured and “textbook educational”, keep structured teaching time minimal and hands-on exploring maximal.

Lastly, here is how our nature club looks:

We meet only in the spring and summer, starting in April and going through July. We meet every other Friday morning from 10:00am to 12:00pm, having a total of eight meetings. Some of the families stay after the meetings to have a picnic lunch together. Parental participation is mandatory. We start our meetings with a 10-15 minute teaching session on the chosen focus. Then the remainder of the time is spent exploring and doing fun hands-on activities. I send out reminders at least 5 days in advance giving all the details and recommendations for the meetings.

I will be happy to answer any other questions that you may have. And may God bless you in the study of His creation!

Below are notes from a nature workshop that my friend Cindy and I taught at the CHEK conference this past July.  I thought this might be helpful in aiding those who are trying to include regular nature walk and study time into their home schools.

Are you including regular, consistent nature study in your home school?  Here are some of the reasons I wasn’t:

• not enough time after regular studies
• I’m not sure I see the value to the children’s long-term education
• I can’t check off one of those little boxes on the grade appropriate checklists when we do it
• It’s too cold, too hot, too wet, too dry, too humid, I’m out of shape, I might sweat, I might be cold

If some of you are where I used to be, you’ll really relate with some of those reasons.  After you read an average Nature study article you may say that you’d love to do Nature Study, if there were time, but just how do you make time?  I read article after article and books that all recommended Nature study because kids need to be outdoors, it’s good for them and Nature Study is really fun.  I knew that, but just how was I going to get my children’s educational checklists done and then have time to go and do that!  So, perhaps if your like I was, Nature Study rarely happened.  I viewed Nature Study as being more supplemental to our regular education, and not required.

I’d like to challenge you today, to try to view Nature Study in a different way.  Can you possibly see it as being just as important as Math?  Language Arts?  How about MORE important?  Because guess what, today I certainly do!  Nature Study is now a pivotal launching point for many of our other studies.  

But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you.  Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? – Job 12:7-9

If seeking Him, we will find Him in His Creation.  His fingerprints are all over it!  If we walk into nature with this new vision and ask God to open our eyes, we and our children will find Him and grow from it.  What we gain from getting out into nature is simply priceless!

What are some of the benefits our family is gaining from Nature Study?

• we grow closer in relationship and knowledge of our Creator –  I can’t help but to feel reverence and awe of God as I closely observe things in Nature.  And I’ve been able to notice many symbolisms in Nature to teach us about our lives.
• develop a closer relationship with my children  – Seeing my children’s face light up in excitement as we discover something new and sitting with them to observe, spending time with them just having fun, it’s all wonderful.
• ignites a desire and need to know more about all Creation – Again, my children and I can’t help but to want to know more and discover more as we spend more and more time with His Creation
• cultivates a natural curiosity and love of learning - Because we find it so neat and exciting this drives our natural curiosity to know more which in turn makes learning fun
• provides fresh air and expends energy in children which benefits everyone - We always feel rejuvenated after a Nature Walk or Hunt or just spending time having fun out there
• can be used to teach other subjects – I was overjoyed to find how easy it was to incorporate other subjects using our experiences in Nature. 
• helps to gain focus and attention ability – my highly distractible day-dreaming daughter, and  overly-hyperactive and unfocused son suddenly have gained the ability to focus and pay attention better and not just in Nature Study but in regular studies as well.
• improves discrimination and comparison skills – as we are identifying wildflowers or anything else in Nature it is necessary to be able to notice details and be able to compare things to figure out what it is.
• improves memorization abilities – I am in awe at how much my children are able to memorize in Nature such as the names of things and where we found them, and it helps with other subjects too
• guaranteed to experience and learn more than you could imagine because God is amongst it!  -We can count on this fact because it is His Creation and because He tells us in His Word that we can learn from it, WE WILL LEARN FROM IT!

So, how do I start including more Nature Study time into our home school?

• start small and fall in love first (spend a few minutes a day just observing, go out with no other objective except to enjoy what you find) then gradually increase the amount of time you are outdoors, I have a feeling this will come naturally, possibly incorporate journaling and other small objectives – maybe take photos and observe them on your computer with your kids
• prioritize it, don’t treat it as supplemental, look at is as even more important than Math, carve out the time and honor it the same way you would your other subjects
• find specific inspiration (start focusing on something you or your children are interested in such as wildflowers, birds, etc.)
• make it personal, find out names of things by using identification books and websites, you will care so much more when, like a friend, you can call it by name
• incorporate ways to use nature for other subjects (L.A. – write about a nature walk, or something they found outside, use new terms for vocabulary/spelling, Art and Music – draw/paint in a nature journal while listening to inspirational music, etc.)  You will be surprised how easily it can satisfy other subjects, just be open to seeing the opportunities and they will come.
• Mom, get excited!  Be interested! Don’t be afraid to get a little hot or chilly or wet or dirty, I promise you if you let go and be joyful you will enjoy yourself! AND your children WILL follow.  My children have laughed for hours at me for some of the crazy things I do.  Evidently they’ve never seen another Mom pet an earthworm or talk sweet to a little toad, or take off her shoes and squish in the mud!

Perhaps it’s been the distraction of the beautiful weather and longing so much to be outside all the time, or the noise of the large construction equipment working at building a new house next door, but I’m thinking it’s both those things and just plain needing a break from the structured schedule.  As it is we limit our structured learning to the morning hours, but it seems even thats been too much lately.  And instead of Mom doing as she should and reading the signs, I’ve been fighting it and making us all quite miserable.

The truth is I’ve been just as distracted as they’ve been, but just too stubborn to want to give up the schedule before my planner says it’s time.  Yesterday and today, we all met our breaking point and we’ve been heavy into spending most of the day working through our ugliness.  So, beyond the talking and tears another lesson has been learned….Learn when to let go.

Oh, that’s such a hard one for me!  I’m an insufferable control freak!  I know this is really surprising perhaps, but the Lord has done great work on me this last year to let go the way I have been with nature study and other things; and just let my children learn at a more natural pace for them.  You see, somewhere in my perfect worldly dreams I wanted to see my children being scholarly, book smart, able to pass all the tests with flying colors as everyone around me stood cheering and clapping for how “intelligent” they are.  For unfortunately this is how the world measures success.  I am so ashamed  that I have thought this way!  For this is NOT God’s measure of success.

God blessed me with two very unique children who are full of wonderful talents and abilities and simply amaze me with these things every day.   And over the years, He has gradually taught me to let go of these preconceived, world taught ideas of what makes a person successful.  And start using His truth to measure our successes.  We are always progressing, in some ways astronomically and in others at a much slower pace….but always progressing.

Admist the turmoil, we’ve still be having fun outside.  I’ll be posting soon about all our wonderful “hands-on” fun learning about dandelions; while we take a much needed earlier than planned break from structured studies.

Then suddenly, silence.  In my continued visual search, my eyes came to rest upon what I thought was a Mourning Dove.  He was very close on a dead tree trunk at the edge of the woods.  Upon closer observation I realized this could be no dove, he was hammering on the wood, and he had a red strip around the nape of his neck!  I raced back inside to grab my binoculars.  Getting a better view I knew I had seen a bird that I had never seen before in my backyard…a Northern Flicker.  I instantly remembered the post that was at Jenn’s nature blog.  I observed it for a moment or two, and then went about my business of filling the feeders.  I went back inside still wondering why I had never been able to spot the Pileated Woodpecker.

After telling the kids about my new observation, we looked him up on the computer, and listened to his sound.  Well, guess what he sounds a lot like?  Yep, a Pileated!  Check it out…Northern Flicker Sound.  So it was him, not the Pileated.

So fast forward to today.  After regular studies were finished, we went outside just for a moment and guess what we heard again?  This time I did a quick glance of the woods for the Pileated, but I knew better this time when I didn’t see him to look for the Northern Flicker.  We found him after a short look and listen, sitting on another dead tree trunk.  Well, we ended up sitting out there for 30 minutes watching and observing him through the binoculars!  What a treat!  He hung around, pecking away at the trunk, as if just for us to muse at!  After consulting our field guide, we also knew that he was a “he” from his black mustache that the female lacks.

SO, you know after having such a wonderful observation session, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to teach further.  After all, we hadn’t done our Nature/Science lesson for the day yet.  I grabbed the Handbook of Nature Study and was so excited to see that Ms. Comstock had a whole lesson on the Northern Flicker.  I’m always excited to find it there because her writing style always engages us.  So we read through the introduction and observation questions.  We found this part we liked best because it made us all roll in laughter:

“Those who have observed the flicker during courting season declare him to be the most silly and vain of all the wooers.  Mr. Baskett says:  “When he wishes to charm his sweethearts, he mounts a small twig near her, and lifts his wings, spreads his tail, and begins to nod right and left as he exhibits his mustache to his charmer.  He sets his jet locket first on one side of the twig and then on the other.  He may even go as far as to turn his head half around to show her the pretty spot on his back hair.  In doing all this he performs the most ludicrous antics and has the silliest expression of face and voice as if in losing his heart, as some one phrases it, he had lost his head also.”

Can you just imagine this silly bird making a fool of himself for a gal?!!  Sounds like some boys I used to know!

We added him to our ongoing Taking Note of Birds observation lists, and Hannah also drew a picture for her nature journal.  

What was especially wonderful about spending time learning about this bird, is that before seeing him today we were having a terrible day!  Bad attitudes and the whole gamut of yucks!  This unfortuntely included Yours Truly.  REALLY bad day.  I’m telling ya, the weather is starting to really grind down on me and the kids.  I try my hardest to not be discontented, but these rainy, gloomy days, and end of the winter blues sends me for a loop I tell ya!  I had been praying for some relief, and the Lord sent it in the form of nature, imagine that!!  Even on a gloomy, wet day…His majesty reigns!

We’ve been seeing very small glimpses of him for a week now..but he was so quick to fly away, we could never really observe in detail.  But…sometime within the last week my son managed to hear and remember their call.  Here’s how I know….
Today, right when we were getting school started this morning, Alex jumped out of his seat and exclaimed, “That’s him Mom, that’s him!”  You see the window was open in our schoolroom for the first time in months because today’s temperature got to a balmy 65 degrees, yes spring is coming.  I asked Alex, “That’s who?”  He said, “Listen Mom, that’s the Pileated Woodpecker!”  To which I looked at him rather quizzical wondering how my son could know there was a woodpecker visiting us.  “Listen Mom,” he persisted.  Suddenly I heard a loud “Kic, Kic, Kic, Kic, Kic” sound (slow then faster) vibrating through the window from a short distance away.  Listen to this sound here: Pileated Woodpecker

In lickety split all three of us were up gawking out our back window into the woods.  My jaw nearly hit the floor as I saw this beautiful very large woodpecker with a stout red crest sitting on a large old log right on the edge of the woods by the creek at the bottom of our yard.  He was calling away with a loud command as if he was summoning our attention.  While he was still too far away for me to get a good photo, he sat there widdling, no drilling away at that log for a long time, giving us a great view and time of observation.  As he was starting to fly away I got a video on my camera of him, it’s not a great video, but at least now I have proof!!  Just watch for movement, you’ll see him!  You’ll also hear my way overexcited son in the background telling me “he’s ginorman,” that’s his way of saying gigantic and enormous together!  And my daughter trying to shush him!

 

 Alex begged me to make a paper Pileated Woodpecker outline, and he took it and decorated it.  I was amazed at the physical details he remembered and put on the outline.

He then proceeded to fly it around, with detailed and accurate sound effects and all, inside and outside all the rest of the day!

So what is it about nature study with my children that is so amazing?  Is it the smell of the fresh air or newly bloomed flowers in the spring?  Or perhaps the peacefulness of the birds chirping in the trees or flying overhead?  Yes, it’s definitely those things.  But there is one thing that stands above any other…the precious moments that my children and I have together connecting to one another and to our Heavenly Creator.

Since starting to take regular time to be in the great outdoors together, and indoor studying about nature topics, I am overwhelmingly amazed each day at the wonderful experiences and learning opportunities that we have.  Opportunities that have nutured my personal relationship with my children, and deepened our relationship and understanding of the Creator of all.

Precious moments spent learning about His creation seem to naturally create lessons teaching of His great love for us and His great Truths about life.  I can’t even begin to tell you how many wonderful life changing conversations that my children and I have had while looking at something as simple as a wee little flower, or watching a bean seed growing, or listening to the sound of a crow cawing in the distance.  And outdoor moments spill over into our inside school teaching.  While we look up and study the parts of a flower, or read a book on gardening, or read about the behaviors of the crow, meaningful discussions occur where many Truths are discovered.  For this is God’s promise:

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. ~Psalm 19:1-3

In years past I would attempt to teach about nature with the main intention of trying to fill my children’s minds with numerous facts about it, trying to make sure they could recite them if needed.  And then I would wonder why they seemingly appeared to not be interested; and not surprisingly could recite very little of what they’d learned.  I continually made the mistake in the past with nature study, and all subjects for that matter, of trying to fulfill a pre-conceived agenda and checklist; thereby forfeiting valuable “real” teaching moments.

Just recently I have learned that what my children really needed was to find something tangible, something to put their hands on, something that sparked their interest; and most of all they needed to see that Mom was overwhelmingly passionate about learning about her Father’s creation.  That last part came in time with my growth closer to Him.  I’m finding that being outside amongst the beauty of the trees, observing without rush His marvelous works around me, that is where I find myself closest to Him.  I’m immediately drawn to want to learn more about everything I see.  And my children notice this, they take very careful note, and before long I see their wide eyes of excitement as we delve into each and every subject.

I’ve learned, when teaching my children about nature, to make it my sole objective to ignite within them an interest and passion.  What are the fruits of this?…I’m already seeing a love of learning emerging from the black ashes that remained before.  Suddenly subjects that used to bring dread, such as reading and writing, come with more ease.  But most importantly, the fruits of the Spirit are being formed within myself and my children.

Another beautiful thing about nature study is having the freedom to pursue our interests, and run down any “rabbit trails” that we may find.  Even though we may set out to learn about a particular subject such as trees or birds, I am learning to always stop and smell the flowers, watch the clouds, etc. when presented with a chance to.  I am no longer making myself a slave to tight agendas and checklist objectives which in the past proved to stiffle our love of learning.

If this sounds like a fairy tale land, perhaps I need to add a bit of a disclaimer here.  This method of learning is relatively new for us and has been a long time coming, and we are very much still a works in progress.  Some days drudgery and complaining about learning in any form creeps back in no matter what I do.  BUT, we are experiencing changes of heart, and are for the first time on a path towards what homeschooling for our family was intended to be ~ a gift from God.

God’s blessings to you, and may you and your children find many precious moments in God’s creation.

Melissa

“The crocus, like the snowdrop, cannot wait for the snow to be off the ground

before it pushes up it’s gay blossoms, and it has thus earned the gratitude

of those who are winter weary.”

~ Anna Botsford Comstock, Handbook of Nature Study

On our nature walk Sunday, one of the things Hannah discovered was an uprooted young Crocus.  She immediately assumed “Mother” role and wanted to take it home and save it.  She was genuinely concerned and excited to take care of this flower.  Immediately when we got back home, with no prompting from me, she began caring for it by placing it in a cup of shallow water.

I’m slowly learning to seize these “natural interest” opportunities to teach my children.  Today, while watching her tending to her new “baby” and changing the water, I had a light bulb moment that opened up a wonderful teaching and learning experience for us.

I asked her if she’d like to learn more about the Crocus in order to make sure she was caring for it properly.  Her face lit up and we began our study.  First we looked it up in our Handbook of Nature Study and read all about it.  Between her genuine interest and the engaging and entertaining way the Handbook is written, I never once had to ask her if she was listening

We proceeded to go over the questions listed at the end, which had us closely examining our little Crocus and identifying the different parts.   We had a wonderful discussion on how the “baby Crocus” came from a larger “Mother Crocus”.  We also marveled at how the flower had already changed from yesterday and was beginning to open up to bloom.

After that she asked (I didn’t have to even say anything) if she could draw a picture of a Crocus for her nature journal.  “Of course so,” I obliged.  Since recently reading about combining nature with other subjects, this was my “light bulb” moment; I asked her if she’d like to combine her dictation for today with her drawing.  She immediately said “that’s a great idea Mom.”  After I picked my jaw up off the ground (because of her enthusiasm), she proceeded to draw a lovely, lovely picture, and we finished it off with dictation that I took from the Handbook.

After finishing the rest of our other studies, she polished it all off by giving her baby Crocus (and the wild Violet) a better environment to live in.   And we had another great discussion about God’s infinite beauty in His creation.

We effectively accomplished four subjects from Nature Study:  Science, Language Arts, Art/Drawing, and Bible.  But more importantly, Mother and Daughter had a wonderful teaching experience together.