A Christian homeschooling farmwife's journey along God's chosen path.
Welcome to our Nature Study Tuesday. I no longer do these every Tuesday, but we do them around monthly.
A week or so ago, my son found a pupa, I couldn’t get my camera close enough to get a picture that you could see. However, my son was out side constantly watching it every day to see when it would submerge.
He got to watch it come out, and he held his hand out to see if maybe it would climb on so he could show the rest of us…and it did!!!!
He observed for a little while and then took it back out to the bush where he found it. About an hour later, it flew away.
I am so glad we got to watch it.
Have you done any Nature Studies this summer? Add your link to any you have done since April, and let share them with each other.
For my new readers, Nature Study is part of our homeschool for my oldest anyway, and it seems his younger siblings enjoy it much more then they admit.
My oldest loves snakes, he is quite careful of what kind he will pick up though. In fact just last week, he was out messing around in one of our out buildings, and located a rattle snake…this is the fourth one we have seen at our home this summer. They are looking for water. It is very dry here, and we have had less then 3 inches of rain here north of town.
Here lately, Philip has set up areas, that garter snakes like. Honestly, I am not sure what he has done, but every time he goes out to one spot in our yard, there is at least one snake in the area. Sometimes two or three.
Notice there is a snake head in each hand? Yep, two garter snakes.
Avery large garter snake. See that big bulge in the middle of it? That could be why it is big, it eats very large _______. We aren’t sure what it ate, frog, mouse—too big for one mouse, rat?
Here you can see it’s head in relation to the bulge…You do know that snakes can unhinge their jaws to eat right?
Here is a shot of it’s belly side up.
Our three year old Isaiah holding the snake…nope he isn’t scared. This little boy picked up a yellow jacket with out getting stung and handed it to his daddy, then gathered a whole handful of blister beetles without getting a single blister. We now have a ask Philip or someone if you can pick it up rule.
I think you can safely say I have a house full of Nature Boyz!
Grab the button and link you your Nature Study Tuesday Post.
I once heard how summer is supposed to be a slow relaxing and carefree time…Ummm, For Who?
Summers in our home are actually the busiest time of the year…
So, as you can see, my time is going to be more limited then normal. My goal is for my children not to dread summer because it is so busy for our family. I want to still include a trip to the pool, wildlife refuge and time to play. Therefore, I am going to be slowing my blog WAY down…2-3 posts a week.
Another thought here…Nature Study Tuesday has not had any participants recently, I am going to stop it…I hate to, but I have to. If at sometime I find God leading me back, I will. However, I need participants…Same goes with Homeschool Snips & Tips.
I will leave my buttons and info pages up for now…as I pray this is a temporary thing. I need to make time in other areas of my life for a bit.
I have a few reviews for this summer. So, they won’t completely stop…a few of them, I have asked to review and are very special needs oriented.
As we enter the warmer months for our area, I find that spending time outside away from the computer to be a priority…Why?
This past winter was quite harsh here and getting out did not happen much. I want take advantage of nicer temperatures and enjoy God’s creation more.
The Baltimore Oriole is a colorful bird. It has an orange stomach, black head and wings, with some orange and white with in the wings.
A good way to tell if this bird has been around is to look for it’s nest. Their nest looks like a crocheted purse, hanging by the handles, attached to the branches of a tree.
I have a bird nest collection of nests found on the ground after wind storms, and our Baltimore Oriels use net wrap from big round bales of hay for building their nests. Inside the nest there are grasses, and I have seen the Orioles picking up chicken feathers. I believe they are using them to line the nests. Their eggs are grayish in color.
Baltimore Orioles live in the East and Mideast regions of the US. We have seen more this year then ever before.
This post brought to you by Philip age 11, a dysgraphic student at Peace Creek on the Prairie. He loves to read your comments. 
Do you have a Nature Study to share? Grab the button and add your URL to the inky below.
This post is a team effort from The Nature Boy aka our oldest son Philip and myself. We have worked on this together from keyword outline to rough draft to final copy.
Creation is the basic foundation of our Christian Faith. As Christians without understand creation there is no need for God…Could this explain the confusion among so many? If we have no creator, we have no need for authority, no need or understanding for right or wrong. God is our Creator, our Authority, and has provided us with a Savior.
Creation was written about 4000 years ago. Was it by chance? What about the order of the events of creation, were they by chance? No, God went through the days of creation in an orderly manner. There was reason and method to creation, just as there is when you prepare a meal. You don’t throw uncooked meat into most casserole or uncooked pasta into your spaghetti sauce. Much like meal preparation there was a certain order for the days of creation.
Day One of creation was the beginning of light and dark. The light became day and the dark became night. God saw that it was good. 
Day Two of creation was the making of water, air and heaven. The air is heaven an expanse from the waters. He saw that it was good, there was evening and morning.
Horse water tank. 
He had to make light and dark, air and water for the plants… the plants would be the food for the animals, and humans.
Day three of creation was the making of land and sea, plants, flowers, grass and trees. Now we have food for Day Five’s creation. 
Day four of creation filled the sky with the sun, moon and stars. The night sky was filled with the stars and the moon. The day sky was lit with the sun’s bright light.
Day five of creation earth with birds and sea life, fish and such. They would need the plants from day three.
Day six of Creation filled the land with animals, and man. Man was made in God’s image and has been put forth to rule over all the living creatures. We are to subdue the earth by being fruitful and multiplying.
Day seven of creation, has been made a day of rest. His work was done, and rest was needed from the hard work he had completed.
We are studying Eagle’s Wings Considering God’s Creation. A Creative Biblical Approach to Natural Science. We received this free as a product to review…this is not a review, only a summary of what we are studying.
Here are a couple of the worksheets that went with our study of creation
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This week, we didn’t get out much and when we did, I didn’t have my camera. However, we did get out on Easter Sunday and rode horses.
Lora 8 riding for the first time by herself.
Your’s truly riding Stormy…this is the mare that was severely injured in August…We have come a long way.
Our Lilac bush blooming
Our onions and potatoes…waiting patiently for them to come up.
Do you have a Nature Study to share?
Grab the button and add your URL to the Linky.
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Wow, we managed to plant 200 onion sets and around 100 potatoes…I didn’t count them. lol I have four rows that are nearly 20 feet each. 
Our lilacs are blooming and with them, have come the butterflies. We have spotted Monarchs, Painted Ladies, Sulphers, and Black and Yellow Swallowtails.
Spring has Sprung and the winds are blowing…or they have been. Like my van door…no? Well, neither do I. However, that is a direct result of extremely high winds blowing, and me not allowing the wind to blow the door out of my hands. I just bet that little piece of plastic is a whole lot cheaper then a new door though.
I will try to add pictures a little later. I took them, but they are blurry. My camera settings were on close up rather then landscape. lol
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Grab the code above and paste onto your Nature Study post. Then add your url to the linky below.
Hey all, here is my real post.
Nature Boy isn’t quite done with his post for this week, so you are stuck with me. 
Sunday morning dh and oldest found a dead possum on the road. On their way home, they stopped to see if it had babies. Well, it did and this one was still alive…for a little while anyway. They brought it home and I attempted to be a mommy possum, but it didn’t go too well. We figure it’s real momma had been dead at least 12-15 hours, so the chances of me actually being able to save it were very slim.
Philip also found a rather large fence lizard. Sorry, the picture is blurry, but if you compare it to the other one, you can see how large it is.
Here is a burrowing owl. It is a small owl only growing to a mere 8-10 inches long as an adult. They nest in burrows that normally slope down for about three feet then go out horizontally to a nesting area ten feet or more from the opening. They line their burrow and nest with feathers, grass and dried mammal dung. They even use the remains of their prey. They eat insects, reptiles, and rodents. Hunting during the day or evenings. Their habitat are prairies, plains deserts and other open spaces. This one was found in our alfalfa field near our home.
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Guest post from:
Philip (11) AKA Nature Boy.
I caught a fence lizard the other day. I set up a habitat with old decaying wood, rocks, dirt and growing cheat for it in an aquarium. I like to do a few science experiments with it. I made a jungle gym out of yarn for it to play on, I will watch how it balances and moves on it. As it gets tamer, I hope to observe it enjoying it. I also, want to get one or two more lizards, so I can watch how they interact together. I have seen him moving his tail around like he is talking, another reason I want another one, so I can see them interact.
I feed my fence lizard insects from outside. This time of year I have to find them under rocks and such.
You can’t feed them rolly pollie bugs as they will make them sick and they will die.
I also built an ant farm. I have gathered three different species of ants and put them in a gallon jar. I found that ants as well as bees all have different jobs. I added a bunch of dirt to the jar and observed them dig out. The digging ants look different than the rest of the colony. As I watched them, I saw they use their jaws to saw a piece of rock or dirt and then carry it out of the tunnel. That is how they make the ant hills. I feed them on bread using jelly and whatever else I am aloud to rob from the kitchen. 
I enjoy doing nature studies. I to catch everything or keep it. I like to keep small animals for just a few days to observe them and learn more about them up close. My mom doesn’t always like it when I do it. My mom likes to take pictures of the things I find.
Grab the button and link up your Nature Studies.
There are little signs of spring all over. The strawberries are starting to poke through the hay we mulched them with, the alfalfa fields are more green then brown, and the wind is BLOWING. Blowing hard enough that we actually stayed inside today. Why? Because the pollens are high and the need for Benadryl has increased.
Though, I am glad to see signs of spring, I could do with out the wind that brings us our spring temperatures…or shall I say summer temperatures?
This week we saw a fence lizard, numerous insects, and a snake. Our opossum seems to moved on.
So, many of you are used to seeing pictures here, why aren’t there? My camera battery won’t charge and I can’t get one here, so I have to wait until I leave town. 
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Welcome back to Nature Study Tuesday. We took a break over the coldest months of the winter, but now it is warming up and time to get back outside and enjoy God’s creation.
Over the winter our oldest Philip, AKA Nature Boy, fed an opossum in our garage. This opossum has been lose and able to come and go as it pleased. It will now come up to you to be petted, and loves to be carried around.
Through the winter we studied possums and learned it is actually rare that they carry diseases. In fact it is rare for them to carry rabies. Jeannie Fulbright, author of the Young Explorer Series, had a opossum as a child according to her book Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day. In fact much of the positive information we found about opossums was from her experience and research. They have very strong immune systems and can survive being bitten by many poisonous snakes. They only have a lifespan of about two years. Opossums are marsupials, meaning they carry their young in a pouch. They are the only marsupials living in the United States. In the U.S. the opossums living here are the Virginia Opossums.
So, there a little bit about the opossum you may or may not have known.
What have you seen in your Nature Studies? Have you had the crazy weather over the winter? Share your Nature Studies from the winter in the below linky. Add the button to your post to help others find more Nature Studies from around the globe.
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Homeschooling is one excellent way to be able to help your child learn about a career they are interested in. From a very young age, our oldest has wanted to work at a wildlife refuge or be a missionary in an animal filled area…Think Amazon here. 
Though we are not able to take him to the Amazon, we do try to help him learn lots about his interest in this area.
We attend many outings at the local Wildlife Refuge. We also do lots of nature study, and he has TONS of books and other resources about animals. He is the reason I have Nature Study Tuesday on my blog. We have also allowed him to be active in the acute care of our animals. From cattle and horses to cats and dogs. When they need shots, or other medical treatment, he is out there with us. Just this past Saturday, he was walking our sick horse. At the time, we feared colic, though we are fairly sure that is not the case now, but he was there helping us out.
We also allow him to keep and observe different animals for a time. We have had a baby barn swallow, who our cat caught and we rescued, baby squirrels, who were blown out of a tree, spiders, snakes, lizards, bunnies, frogs, toads, stink bugs, fish, and various other critters.
His interest has seemed to float around our family and attach it self to each of us in it’s own way. We all now agree that opossums are cute. We have one that will eat out of your hand living in our garage. We have a spider that has wintered with us named Beauty. Yeah, I know a bit twisted it is a spider. lol
Many friends and relatives will call us to come identify different animals. We have received calls to relocate snakes too. lol Though, we won’t mess with suspicious snakes, or we don’t mean too lol.
How have you helped your children pursue their career goals?
This will be the last weekly NST until spring, unless, I have people showing interest to continue it. I am considering it doing it monthly through the winter. I just don’t see myself, or others, really being out in Nature enough to be about to post each week.
This past Friday, we went to a Pumpkin Patch. We learned about pumpkins, male and female blooms, the vines, and different types up pumpkins. We also learned about the different types of crops grown here. Here are the group of homeschool children and their parents listening about the different crops, what the crops are used for, how they are harvested, and the different stages of growth.
We also saw lots of different farm animals, how they are used, what they do, eat and different things needed for their care.
The children got to play for quite awhile on home made play things.
Have you done any fall specific field trips?
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This past weekend, we went to the nearby wildlife refuge for their annual celebration.
First we went on the tram, the took us through an area of the refuge to the lookout tower over the marsh and wetlands. We learned that the marsh, is supposed to be naturally salty, but over the years has “freshed” up and is now more fresh water then salt water. The people who work at the refuge are trying to solve the problems and help naturally bring it back to it’s original state. We also learned about the trees there.
The cedars and pines have all been brought in, and are not natural to our area. They again, are trying to get rid of many of the non-native trees, and bring the prairie areas back to their natural state. At the lookout tower, we saw Sand Hill cranes using the scopes they had set up, we also saw pelicans . The children found an armadillo, though they scared it in their excitement.
After the tram, we walked around the lake, we saw tiny little frogs, big bull frogs, and a garter snake.
Overall, we had a fun time and enjoyed the afternoon there. What have you done in your Nature Studies? Grab the button and add your URL to the linky below.
I am sorry I am getting this up late. Our four year old most likely broke his arm Saturday, and I have been running. He has an ortho appointment tomorrow, so we should know for sure by then.
Friday we went to an Apple Orchard for a field trip. It is a beautiful place to go and so much fun to eat an apple that you picked yourself.
The apple I picked and ate.
Hannah eating an apple.
The apple Noah, 4, picked and ate—yep before he “broke” his arm.
What have you seen in nature this week? Have you been to an apple orchard? Share with my readers what you are doing in your nature studies by grabbing my button below and adding your URL to the linky.
This week we were out playing, and our landlord/adopted grandpa drove in with a special package. I guess our love of nature must have rubbed off on him. ;) Anyway, he brought us a large moth. We believe it is a tobacco hornworm moth, but umm, it seems that these big moths all look very much alike. He found the moth on a gas pump, and I suspect that is probably not it’s normal habitat. This moth’s host plants are in the night shade family—tomatoes, tobacco, potatoes. It’s wingspan is 3.5 to 4.5 inches.
Read all about our Nature Studies. I share how we do them, and why.What have you seen in nature this week? Have any of your friends or family gained interest in nature study along with you?
Grab the button and add your URL to the linky below and share you nature with the world.
We have been doing some description or another of Nature Study for many years, long before we were officially homeschooling. I have always had an interest in Nature, and knew that I would pass it down to my children.
If we give our children regular opportunities to get in touch with God’s creation, a habit is formed which will be a source of delight throughout their lives. ~ Karen Andreola, Charlotte Mason Companion
For our family this is more to Nature Study then drawing and writing. For some of our children drawing or writing, would take all the joy out of God’s creation. They wouldn’t be able to learn as much either. We have modified your typical nature study to suit the needs of our children, much like we have done with nearly all our curriculum.
For Nature Study, I find it far more important to teach them about what they observe. This helps them better understand the wonder of God’s creation.
Why the Viceroy Butterfly is marked like a Monarch?
Why some animals are capable of changing color to blend in with their changing surroundings?
Why the Buckeye has wings that look like eyeballs?
Many of these questions would be swept under the rug by requiring drawing and writing for our children as part of their nature study at this point. One of our children really struggles with written work. I want Nature Study to be fun for him.
To simplify our Nature Study, we take lots of pictures. Our oldest is learning about digital photography, and enjoys it.
One way, I use our photography of our Nature Studies is on my blog. I host Nature Study Tuesday, a weekly meme in hopes of gathering bits of nature each week from around the world.
I also have tons of books about animals, trees, plants, weather, and so forth. My children can often be found looking through these books in hopes of learning more about the latest piece of Nature they have found.
Take a look at what other members of TOSCrew have to say about their Nature Studies.
Once again our oldest was working with dad near Quivera Wildlife Refuge, when he found three Eastern Fence Lizards. These are the neatest little creatures, and they are really cute in a scaly kind of a way.
They are so fun to watch. They bob their heads, race around and the tiny one will crawl up on top of the largest ones head, causing the largest one to race around like crazy. Hmm, acting like children maybe?
These were found in an alfalfa field along a wide stand of trees.
What have you seen in Nature? Are you still able to enjoy God’s creation where you live? Share your URL in the linky below and Grab the button and add it to your post.
mother, christian, wife, woman, child of God. It is about my life as a farmer’s wife, as a cook, a baker, a nurse, a teacher, a woodworker, a housekeeper, a farmer (yep, I drive tractors, pick up hay bales, and other farm duties), a gardener. So, what you read here, is me, as a transparent sometimes hot headed, passionate, and opinionated person.
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