Posted in Nature Study and Journaling

Here is the next installment of our tabletop garden!

We FINALLY have sprouts on our sweet potato! Honestly, I had given up on this little guy...but we now have sprouts growing! After a little more than 2 weeks it started growing little sprouts!

And the radishes have lots of green as well!

This has been a very fun project for us to have going in our home! I can't wait to see what the sweet potato looks like as it grows leaves! The turnip, however, is probably seen the best of its days. It is so tall now that it is starting to lean, and anyday now I think it will topple over out of the water. But it sure has been exciting while it lasted! We have never seen a plant grow 1-2 i nches OVERNIGHT!! Pretty cool!

Here is entry #4 if you want to go back and look at the previous growth from our tabletop garden.

Posted in Nature Study and Journaling

One day during our butterfly unit we talked about the life cycle of the butterfly. The girls remembered most of it without any prompting from me. We also did the "actions" to the life cycle! Curling up in a small ball for the eggs, slithering around on the floor as a caterpillar, curling up in another ball and covering up with a blanket for the cocoon/chrysalis and finally emerging from the blanket/chrysalis and fluttering our new wings around the room!

Here are the girls drawings in their nature journals.

Hannah's life cycle drawing

Posted in Nature Study and Journaling

This is entry #4 on the tabletop garden.

I know in the blog pictures it doesn't quite catch the spirit, but we are just amazed at this turnip's growth! It has been fun, every morning the kids run into the play/school room and see how much more the turnip has grown! Sometimes it will grow more than an inch in one day!!

When this picture was taken, it was up to 13 inches tall!

And see the pretty yellow flowers starting to bloom? Well, now 3 days later, there are a lot more yellow flowers!

So, all you gardeners out there...should I plant this in the ground? Or what should I do with it? It's so pretty and tall, I hate to just let it fall over and die?!?!

Tabletop Garden entry #1

Tabletop Garden entry #2

Tabletop Garden entry #3

Posted in Nature Study and Journaling

Entry #3

Read Entry #1

Read Entry #2

We cannot believe how tall this turnip plant is growing!  One day I drew it in my nature journal, it was 6 inches tall, the NEXT DAY it was up to 7 inches...and now about 3-4 days later it is reaching 10 inches tall! Crazy!

The rutabaga still just has little sprouts...but they are still green...we are hoping it will grow a bit taller soon!

Here are our drawings for our nature journals! (well, Emily's picutre of her drawing came out too dark...)

Hannah's drawing of the turnip.

My drawing of the turnip.

Posted in Nature Study and Journaling

Entry #2

HERE is our first entry about our tabletop garden!

We are so excited to see things GROWING!

The veggie with the fastest and most growth is the turnip, by far!

Coming in at second are the radishes.

The girls got a bit frustrated trying to draw ALL the veggies on one page. So, this week, we are going to choose 1 veggie/plant to draw and focus on that one. We will also record the height of the growth. I think we will start with the turnip.

Posted in Nature Study and Journaling

Over the weekend we started our tabletop garden! I'm excited about this nature project! In just the 2 days we have had our veggies in water, we have already seen a little bit of growth! The kids are super excited!

Posted in Nature Study and Journaling

I am still enjoying the book, Pocketful of Pinecones, by Karen Andreola. Remember when I shared about it here?

In the latest chapter, she writes the words out for This Is My Father's World. What a fabulous hymn for spring! In fact, I think we will make that our copy work for the month of April, as we do a full month of nature units - spring, plants, birds and butterflies. I think it would be nice to do a few lines on different pages of our nature journals and illustrate! While we are at it, we will learn to sing this hymn for our morning devotion time in April.

We put out a new birdfeeder this week! You know how we love our birds around here! This feeder was done very cheaply! Our neighbor had several trees trimmed down, so there were a lot of logs and branches in her front yard. I took a small sized log and spread peanut butter on the top of it, then the kids helped me sprinkle bird seed on it! We set it on our back porch and have been watching the birds enjoying it!  Now, the peanut butter has been washed off, but we sprinkle more seeds on it still. Some go down in the crevices and it is fun to watch the birds stick their beaks down in there searching for seeds!

This is my Father's world, and to my listening ears

All nature sings, and round me rings, the music of the spheres.

This is my Father's world: I rest me in the thought

Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas, His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father's world, the birds their carols raise,

the morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker's praise.

This is my Father's world: He shines in all that's fair;

In the rustling grass I hear him pass, He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father's world, O let me ne'er forget

That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.

This is my Father's world: the battle is not done;

Jesus who died shall be satisfied, and earth and heaven be one.

At the end of this chaper, Karen Andreola states, "Life can be stressful. What a comfort it is to 'rest me in the thought' that God is ruling, that Christ is sustaining all things by his powerful Word. Have you comforted yourself with such thoughts lately?"

Posted in Nature Study and Journaling

Spring is just around the corner! Today was such a beautiful glimpse into what we have to look forward to! I can't wait! We were outside this afternoon...David was painting, and I was digging the beginnings of what will be our sunflower house. I even got to go walking with friends...outside!

Kindly spring again is here,

Trees and fields in bloom appear;

Hark! The birds with artless lays

Warble their creator's praise.

Where in winter all was snow,

Now the flowers in clusters grow;

And the corn, in green array,

Promises a harvest-day.

Lord, afford a spring to me,

Let me feel like what I see;

Speak, and by thy gracious voice,

Make my drooping soul rejoice.

On the garden deign to smile,

Raise the plants, enrich the soil;

Soon thy presence will restore

Life to what seemed dead before.

~~ John Newton (author of Amazing Grace) ~~

Posted in Nature Study and Journaling

Are you sick of reading about our birds yet? Surprisingly enough, none of us are losing our enthusiasm for the birds in our backyard! We continue to be amazed at the new creatures that God sends our way! The bird feeder is just outside the big window in our play/school room, and we have a perfect view of it as we sit on the couch and read. So, every morning as we are reading or discussing our books and devotions, we see the birds coming to eat. I love it!

Here are the birds we have seen at our feeder this week!

Mr. Male Cardinal

Mrs. Female Cardinal

Tufted Titmouse

House Finch

Sparrow

Red-bellied woodpecker

Red-headed woodpecker

Black-capped chickadee

And, we have 2 fellows that we haven't identified yet! I did get some new bird seed/food the last time I was at the store, and I really think the new food is what is drawing more birds to our home! This was mostly made up of the black seeds, but also had dried fruit in it - which I think is what the woodpeckers like.

Posted in Nature Study and Journaling

We have seen our new friend the woodpecker again today! And, to our surprise, we learned that we actually have 1 of each of these in our yard! Today we saw both of them come visit our feeder within the same 5 minutes!

In addition to these fellows with the red heads, we saw what I think is another woodpecker, but this one had no red on him that we noticed! He only had the black and white...kind of like stripes, almost spots on him. Anyone know about this fellow? I have yet to find a picture of him exactly, still looking!

UPDATE: I just got a picture of his head as he was eating! Does anyone know about this little bird friend? I only got a quick shot of his head as he was eating...so it's not the best picture, but maybe someone can identify this bird for us.

Today we are writing this poem in our nature journals and attempting to draw a woodpecker of our own!