Yes, we made it! It has been a long cold winter, but just this week I saw bunches of daffodils, baby lambs frollicking in the fields and trees with beautiful pink buds. Thank you, Lord for Spring.

Here is a great bible verse to put in your notebook:

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Psalm 42: 1-2

Deer must search for water everyday. In the hot summer sun they pursue water as their main goal. That is how we are with the Lord. He is our main objective, our source of refreshment and strength. When we seek Him first all else will be added.

Thanks to my friend Laurie, we can watch eagles nesting. Laurie sent me this site today. Look at how huge their nest is! Pretty soon we will probably see babies....I mean eaglets.

http://chil.vcoe.org/eagle_cam.htm

SPRING NATURE STUDY ADVENTURE
More than 70 pages of beautifully illustrated and practical nature lessons
for you and your student to enjoy for years to come!
$16.00

I loved using the Five in Row series of books for homeschooling. Both my children loved reading and rereading the books that Jane Claire Lambert picked out in this wonderful curriculum. Five in a Row totally enriched our lives and helped me make connections with my kids from art, math, and language to mapwork and science. Jane opened my eyes to a very special way of learning.

Imagine my delight when I found out this amazing author wrote a series for Nature Study. Jane had done it again!

 Jane Claire Lambert has written a Nature Study book for each of the four seasons. I recently read over her book, "Spring", a huge 70 page resource packed with nature study ideas and applications. If you need ideas to get started in nature study with your students, this book is for you. This volume is for all ages as she gives you ideas for discovering nature with younger and older children.

Spring is an amazing time to study God's creation, and Jane seems to leave no rock unturned. She covers clouds, weather, mammals, reptiles, insects, eggs(there is too much to name here) ...all with beautiful color illustrations. There is enough information on a variety of subjects to help you teach your children and come across very informed!

The second half of this book could be its own volume. It is full of sweet poems, ideas for spring art, music, and, best of all, student pages to start you off on your nature journaling. And true to Jane's style, there are plenty of extra links for parent resources and library book ideas.

This is a fantastic resource that can be used year after year. I highly recommend it!

Another added bonus is that it comes in a quick download if you follow this link and you don't have to wait for shipping.

http://www.fiardigital.com/FIAR_NATURE_STUDIES.html

Hi kids, have you noticed more American Robins in your yard lately?

They are such cool birds. I read today that baby robins can eat up o 70 worms a day!

Here's some questions to ask yourself when you first see them in the Spring.(or February)

What was the date you first observed them?

What was it eating? What noises does the robin make? For an audio of the robin check out this website.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/American_Robin_dtl.html#sound

How large is a robin compared to a sparrow?

What colors are on the robin? Are the males and females exactly the same colors?

What color are their beaks? What color are a robin's eggs?

If you see a robin you could add it to your nature notebook. Have fun.

Nature Deficit Disorder is a term recently coined for the trend of children spending less time outdoors and more time indoors and in front of a screen. It has been thought that this has led to some of the behavioral disorders we see in kids. It has also been said that the number of visits to our National Parks have decreased and the purchase of children's electronic-type media has increased.

The truth is people feel better after being in touch with the great-out-of-doors and experiencing first hand something God has created. What are some of the ways we can encourage our kids to get in touch with nature?

1.Put out a bird feeder. Talk about what you see the birds doing. Get a  bird book from the library and try to identify them.

2.Let the kids camp out back. As the weather warms up it is a great opportunity to hear the owls in the distance as they lay snug in their sleeping bags and later feel the dew on their tent in the morning.

3.Go walking down a trail. Everyone benefits. Parents and children. The exercise is a bonus. If you go down the same trail seasonally you can chat with your kids about the changes you notice. Turn over a rock and look at the creatures that live underneath. Skip rocks in a pond and observe the ducks...

4. Use a leaf press. Or if you don't have one, get an old phone book and put flowers and leaves inside of it. 2 weeks later your child will be amazed at the pressed items.

5. Plant something. Spring is coming soon. You don't have to have the perfect spot or the perfect garden to enjoy the wonder of a seed growing. Let your child pick a spot and watch their seed grow. Go back daily and check it out. Don't turn it into a big science project. Don't  always make them  draw it. Let them simply wonder at it.

I will share more ideas for getting outside later. I just want to encourage you to keep it simple and  just be interested in what you see. Your kids will follow. It will wake them up to the things around them and it will cause them to ask questions and to ponder the world around them. No computer game can offer that:)

I am so excited to be starting our class this Friday and I wanted those of you who are attending to know that you don't need to bring a lot of supplies. I will be supplying the notebook and all you really need is a pencil and some colored pencils. If you forget them that's OK, I usually have extra.

I wanted to write a list of extra things that are nice to have for Nature study at home. Maybe you could keep things in one spot at home so they are quick and easy to find when the notebook urge strikes you. I have a spot at home where I keep my bird identification books, binoculars and even bird seed all near the window where they come to our feeder.

So here is a list of items that will help you with your nature study:

A magnifying glass-to get up close and see details of leaves, feathers, rocks, etc.

Field guides-I have one that covers the whole Pacific Northwest and comes in very handy for many of the plants, birds, animals we come across. There are also ones for birds, rocks, flowers, etc. I even use one for the clouds I see.

Containers-jars and plastic containers that can hold a lizard or bug while you observe it.

Watercolor pencils-this is a fun extra. With these you can draw your object as you would with colored pencils and then add a bit of water with a small brush and you will see your picture take on the look of water colors. It works like magic and works perfectly with our new notebooks as they have lots of watercolor paper inside.

Other supplies: scissors to cut plant samples etc, zip-locks for samples, crayons for leaf rubbings etc, a camera for taking pictures to draw later, a microscope for seeing minute details, the list could on and on.

None of these ideas are mandatory, all you need are your eyes for observation and a heart that wants to explore the things God has made.

“A unique journal with alternating
lined and blank watercolor stock pages to allow for watercolor, sketching, and fieldnotes.”

I am so excited to show you the books I ordered for our class. They look like the perfect size and we can draw, write and even paint in them. 

If you would like one of these for a sibling or you are not in my class and you want to start a nature notebook, here's the website or just click on the picture.

naturenotebook.com

Job 12:7-10

"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 these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind."

"God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars."-Martin Luther

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."-Einstein

Albrecht Durer was a painter and printmaker in the late 1400s and the early 1500s. He made the picture of these squirrels. Notice the details of Durer's drawing. What are each of the squirrels doing? Did you notice the whiskers and the claws? What does a squirrel use his whiskers for? How are his claws useful to him? Why do you think the squirrels are turned away from eachother? Who are their enemies? How do you think the artist made them look furry? What colors does the artist use? Maybe you could try and copy this picture in your nature notebook.

Do you have squirrels in your backyard? We do. They are so fun to watch as they try and steal the bird food we put out.

As you know, squirrels bury nuts to retrieve later. I watched a documentary recently that proved, through a series of experiments, that these rodents find their buried nuts from memory and not from a sense of smell. Squirrels have a great memory and are very routine in their eating habits. (Although once in a while they will forgot where they buried them and you may come across a little pile of nuts or seeds under some leaves or dirt.) In winter a squirrel will not only eat nuts, but buds and cones. In fact they take the cones apart leaving the scales of the cone in a heap as they search for the seeds which are inside.

Watch the video below to see what lengths they will go to to get their food.