Posted in Nature Studies

We are doing a really fun unit study this week and it's a free one too!  It's called Autumn Treasures (click on the link) and you can download it for free if you want to try it out yourselves!  It has a lot of great internet connections as well as lapbook components included. 

One of the things in the unit is to go on a daily Nature Hike.  My boys are loving this.  So am I!  I'm not always so good are taking time to specifically study nature - we are kind of sporadic about it.  Since nature cries out about God though - it is definitely worthy of being studied!

We are to notice and find things.  Leaves are an obvious choice this time of year.  We have found some very interesting and lovely ones too.

Isn't this leaf beautiful?  I love the colors and how it is changing.

They have also done a fair amount of drawing of various aspects of fall.  I love seeing the details that each boy adds in as it shows so much of their personality and interests.  Does this boy look proud of his work, or what?

One day we gathered leaves to do leaf rubbings.  Instead of going back in the house, I had an impromptu idea to go to the treehouse instead.  This was a lot of fun!  I loved hanging out with the boys up there - and know I need to do it more often.  (It helped that this was during Eliana's nap!)

The boys really enjoyed making the rubbings.  It made me wonder when was the last time we had done this?  It must have been awhile.

I like using this guide book to help identify trees and leaves.  You want to know what I like best about it?  It has trees that are here where we live!  Not trees we won't come across in our day to day wanderings.  It only cost a dollar or two and I bought it at one of our state parks.  Great resource if you live in North Carolina!

Here are just a few more photos that I enjoyed.  Eliana loves going down the slide!  It is even more fun with someone you love. 

She also loves to swing.

This is a fun chalk drawing the Rebecca made of some of our favorite things at the State Fair.  We were planning to go today, but one of our boys wasn't feeling well.  It was a good choice to stay home and we are hoping to go another day soon!

That's all for now.

Blessings

Leslie

Posted in Nature Studies

We are rowing Andy and the Circus this week and I wanted to find time to go to a pond to look for tadpoles.  This was spurred on by a comment Isaiah made when he told me he had never seen a tadpole.  Huh?  Really?  I thought we needed to change that!

So today we worked on our boxes, finishing most of them before lunch despite a late start.  Then we went to Chick-fil-a for a lunch treat.  :-)  We then went to a nearby lake to have a picnic and then look for tadpoles. 

It turned out to be a really, really warm afternoon (high 80s).  I'm not ready for the heat yet!  lol  We saw geese in the pond.

We also saw some mallards - Mr and Mrs and one of their ducklings.  Some of my children were trying to figure out "which one" it was - Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, etc.  (This is from Make Way for Ducklings which we recently read too.) 

As we were walking down a path, Isaiah stepped off of the path and found a hole that intrigued him.  He wanted us to look and we asked if there was anything in the hole.

To my surprise, there was something in that hole.  A tiny, little turtle.  He was about 1-1.5 inches in length. 

I had brought along clipboards and paper in case we found something we wanted to draw for our nature journals.  I really need to get/make some nature journals for the younger boys.  Thankfully the pencils were still tied on from our Moonjellies dinner because I did forget pencils.  LOL

After drawing and writing a bit about the turtle, we walked a little further down the path.  We found several spots that looked perfect for tadpoles, but only saw lots of small fish.   The kids tried to catch some with the cups from our lunch - but no luck.

Daniel was able to use his happy meal toy - a monocular  - for taking a closer look at things.  It worked really well too.  Chick-fil-a has the best toys!

We also saw some turtles.  You can see the one sunning himself on the log.  Can you also see two more with their heads popping up out of the water?

It was a nice afternoon.  We all agreed that we need to return again soon.  We left when the heat was too much and Eliana was more than ready for a nap.  I'm glad we are able to do things like this.  I love seeing God's handiwork all around us. 

Thanks for sharing our day.

Blessings,

Leslie