Natural History Club- Astronomy

At it again!  I hope the fall study of trees has been a helpful for everyone.  No matter if we studied alot or just a little, every bit of progress made is progress and should be delighted in!  I know more about trees now than I did a few months ago and that is a joy :)

On to the night sky!  Initially I thought that winter time would not be a great time for star gazing as its pretty cold for us northerners!  But then another mother reminded me that it is dark much earlier and that is the advantage.  So, here is another hobby to pick up through this dark and cold season!

The Handbook of Nature Study is our guide.  Please read through the section on the skies starting on page 814.  This will give you some foundation to begin to guide your family with.  There are many wonderful books that can be read aloud or assigned.

Find the Constellations by HA Rey
Stars, a New Way to See Them by HA Rey (more advanced)

Some Let's Read and Find Out titles:
What Makes a Shadow?
What Makes Day and Night?
The Planets in Our Solar System
The Sun: Our Nearest Star
The Sky is Full of Stars

100 Things to See in the Night Sky

Star Stories for Little Folks

Sabbath Mood has plenty to get you started here.  They also have a two different study guides available, one for Form 2 and one for Form 3.

Also, there is a recent movie out called Hidden Figures which might be of interest. 

For observations you can print a wonderful current sky map here.

We are blessed to have a wonderful  local astronomy club and they have monthly nights open to the public for viewing.  Take advantage of this wonderful resource!  The members are passionate about the skies and it's so fun to learn from them.  Telescopes are out and available to look through.  Last month we were out and saw Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter through telescopes and the moon.  

Mayo High School and Bell Museum have planetariums.  It is possible to organize a home school group at Mayo if you desire!  We have done this in the past.  

Suggested outings.

December 10th Bell Museum Planetarium (FULL I'm assuming many people are participating in this, as Nancy had this shared on FB)
January 11th 6pm Rochester Astronomy Club- Watson Field (Like their FB page for updates on events)
January 21st 9:30-11:30 Watson full lunar eclipse RAC
February? If RAC schedules a night out, that will be it!  

A few more resources from Marcia Mattern:

-An example of a nature journal astronomy entry from the Armitt.

-Phenology wheel for upper forms with the moon. 

-Sky Sketching.

-Music related resource. 
"Enjoy Gustav Holst’s suite, 'The Planets'

Listen in its entirety or pick the planet that matches your studies."

That should be enough to get everyone started! Feel free to share what you learn on the FB Natural History Club page or here in the comments. Enjoy!

Natural History Club- Trees and Vines

Hello again!

We get to jump into our special studies with trees and vines this fall.  Fall is a fun time to study both, as we get to watch the leaves change and the hiking is wonderful :)  I hope you are able to enjoy some refreshing time outdoors with your family in the next few months and grow in wonder at all the Lord has made.

Again, Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study is our main guide for parents as we go through each term.  Refresh yourself on her overview of nature study and read through the section on trees.

Special studies reading should only take 15-20 min per week.  Here are some book suggestions to play with.

I'm a big fan of the Let's Read and Find Out series for younger kids. Here are some of their selections and some you can even find on youtube if you don't want to read!

Down Come the Leaves by Henrietta Bancroft
Redwoods are the Tallest Trees in the World byDavid Adler
A Tree is a Plant by Clyde Robert Bulla
Be a Friend to Trees by Patricia Lauber

Here are some others that may be of use in your family.

Ten Common Trees by Susan Stokes
Tree in the Trail by Holling Clancy Holling
The Tree on the Road to Turntown by Glenn Blough
Christmas Trees and How They Grow by Glenn Blough
Trees and Shrubs by Arabella Buckley

Perhaps for an older student something like Edwin Way Teale's Autumn Across America would be of interest?  Sabbath Mood has other great suggestions here.

It's always fun to find the right book, but the bulk of this time for study is for outdoors and observation!  The reading is complimentary!  "The thing is the thing" like Nancy Kelly says ;)

Remember DAILY observations.  WEEKLY journal entry.  Good simple goals!  Take a couple hours each afternoon outdoors.  Take one whole day a week to ramble around. Even a half a day.  Put it on the calendar.  Make it a habit.

Other resources that might be helpful:

https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/page/vines

This one I thought was fun, as I have many of these in my yard!  I know where we are headed first!  http://www.restoringthelandscape.com/2010/07/native-vines-in-our-yard.html

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/forestry/education/treeforallseasons/nativetrees.html

And don't forget a good LOCAL field guide :)

https://www.amazon.com/Trees-Minnesota-Field-Stan-Tekiela/dp/1885061390

Also, Marcia Mattern has some fun suggestions for wondering questions to ask and some math applications if you want to try them out on her blog here.

Last but not least, Nancy Peters has graciously set up some fun Friday morning classes at Whitewater this fall!  These will be our monthly outings for this term.  There is no charge and even your daily vehicle pass is free.  Just check in at the visitor center.

August 24th 10:30am - Making walking sticks and learning about invasive species
September 21st 10:30am- Forrest/ Tree ID/ Elba Fire Tower/ prescribed burning
October 26th TBD- Watershed Field Experience for middle to highschoolers!  Very cool opportunity! RSVP to Nancy if you think you want to be involved in this.
November 16th 10:30am- hiking and journalling???

***Additional Help for study***

This outline was made by Nancy Peters for implementing special studies in her co-op.  So helpful!

Below is an outline of the Natural History plan for this term - all about TREES.  I was doing a little pre-reading about trees in the Handbook of Nature Study (Anna Comstock) and this suggested outline developed from ideas listed in the book.

Week 1: take classes outside, "tour" grounds and share group observations of the trees.  Guide observations by asking "what do you notice about this tree?"  And then more specific questions like "what do you notice about the bark?  the color of the leaves?  the shape of it's crown?  how wide the trunk is" etc

Likely trees will be dropping leaves by that last week of september so we could ask kids to collect 3-4 leaves each before we go back inside.  In small groups (3-4 kids?), put ~dozen leaves together and ask kids to decide how to classify the leaves.  Will they classify leaves by color?  by form? by size? by smell?  by texture?  (there's no right or wrong, it's more the practice of looking closely at whats in front of them and finding similarities and differences, and working as a team)

if time allows, students choose 1 leaf to paint in their journal

Week 2:

tell students to choose a tree from those we viewed last week.  That's the tree they get to check each week for the rest of the term, and track if leaves are falling ( a little or a lot?) and when is the tree bare?

While checking their tree, also notice (and record in journal ;-) the color of the tree.  Show the shape of head, and relative proportions of head and trunk.  The following file may be helpful to us? 

http://www.lessonsforhope.org/pdf/guide_to_tree_sketching_pdf.pdf

Week 3: roots and bark - talk about purpose/function and size of root system and purpose of bark.  Students look at "their tree" and imagine the size of roots, could do a bark rubbing.  Back in class compare bark rubbing with other students' bark rubbings from same or different trees

Week 4: Leaves - observe and describe shapes, edges, color above and below, veins, ribs, length and thickness of petiole, opposite vs alternate leaves.  Students select two leaves from same tree to draw in notebook, trying to find two leaves that look the most different (from the same tree)

Week 5: fruit or seed - going back to "their trees" and looking for fruit or seeds.  Describe and paint it.  Ask students how they think it gets scattered and planted?

Week 6:  watch youtube video about dichotomous keys for identifying trees.  hand out guides and students finally get to learn (or confirm) what kind of tree they have been looking at each week.  

other activities that can be inserted or substituted :

making leaf prints

finding (short) tree poems to display on the chalkboard for optional copywork - if they're done painting and waiting?

writing parts of tree, parts of leaf, etc on the board so it can be copied and/or used in journal

Many of the weeks above can be moved around, based on weather.  If it's wet outside, we can't do bark rubbing but we could still pick up two leaves to take inside and paint in journals.  Or run outside and look at fruit/seeds for 5 minutes between rain showers. 

Natural History Club- Wildflowers & Flowerless Plants

Round two!

Again, we'll be continuing with the AO nature study rotation.  As the weather warms up I'm hoping to gain some momentum.  The Handbook of Nature study is the go-to resource for us parents.  It's not a great read aloud, but will give you knowledge and confidence as you guide your children into a relationship with nature.

I suggest, on top of reading the opening section on how to study nature, page 453 on "How to Begin the Study of Plants and their Flowers."

As the sections are laid out I suggest a course of study as follows, taking 2 weeks for each:

Flowers Anatomy
Spring Wildflowers
Ferns/ Horsetail
Mosses
Mushrooms
Mold/Bacteria

These special studies time should only take 20-30 min per week.  You could add more time for older students.  Also, it is only natural that the youngest of children will be more interested in flowers, whereas the older ones may have more capacity to study bacteria/mold.  Don't worry too much and let the children take what they will from the "feast."

This is a wonderful time of year to be considering plants!  Many of us are getting gardens ready, starting seeds, and visiting plant nurseries.  Perhaps you could plant some natives in your yard?  I've heard that Sargents has a good selection.  Involve the children in whatever you can.  Learn the plant anatomy and use the correct terms in conversation.  The HONS talks about this.

Wildflowers of Minnesota has been a useful field guide for our family as we've gotten aquatinted with flowers over the years.  It's very easy to use and narrows down the choices to search through, versus a general Peterson or Audubon guide.

Make daily observations around your yard to see what is coming up as the season changes.  Encourage weekly nature journal entries, including not only drawings but also notes and observations.

This is a subject where you could play around with flower pressing or printing.  You could also start an herbarium!  So many fun examples if you search google images!  Like this site!  These kinds of things would be fun to share with each other, too.  It is my hope the kids (and adults!) would have journals and such things that they would be proud to exhibit to each other.

Consider the relationship between insects and plants.

Whitewater and Carley have some fun flowery/mushroomy activities you may enjoy as a family.  https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/event.html?id=54959
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/events.html

Again, you can look at Sabbath Mood's science book suggestions for living book ideas.  Feel free to share on the FB page as we go along, any books or resources you're finding helpful or fun!  We've been enjoying the "Let's Read and Find Out" science book series here.

ADE's podcast episode on special studies may also be of interest.

This website has some tips on what wildflowers to look for during the term.  There are also a couple of Facebook groups here and here that are good places to connect with local wildflower enthusiasts.

The dates for our monthly outings are:
4/17 Nerstrand State Park
5/22 Carley or Whitewater (depending on the bluebell blooming time)
6/19 Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

(*Note*  I altered May's date to be the 4th Tuesday since my family will be in the middle of theatre production week on the third week.)


Also hoping to have a naturalist share for a short time before each outing.  Will update via FB.

Natural History Club- Mammals

Winter Term 2018

Mammals

We’ll be using the Ambleside Online nature study rotation for simplicity, but I’ll include Sabbath Mood’s links for nature study as well, since Nicole has wonderful book recommendations.  I’m also trying to model the club after Marcia Mattern’s, but I’m going to start out much simpler!

Parent’s Reference:

The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Comstock will be the go-to reference for parents.  It is possible to use some or all as a read aloud as well.  You decide what works for your family.  She also has a wonderful introduction on studying nature.  If we keep on this, we'll be through the whole book in five years!

Home Education by Charlotte Mason section “Outdoor-of-Door Life” p. 42-95.  Foundational for all of nature study in a CM philosophy.

Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling by John Muir Laws

Any basic field guides related to topic at hand (Peterson, Audubon, etc.)

For parents and children:

Nature Anatomy by Julia Rothman

Readers Digest North American Wildlife has been a favorite in our home and is common to find used.

We’ve also enjoyed Jim Arnosky books, which the library has many of.

Through Minnesota’s Seasons with Jim Gilbert has also been a favorite.

Sabbath Mood’s suggestions:

http://sabbathmoodhomeschool.com/charlotte-mason-living-science/nature-lore-books/

Supplies to keep on hand:

Art supplies, sketch books, pencils, watercolors.  Binoculars, magnifying glasses, etc.

There are some suggestions here.  http://johnmuirlaws.com/field-sketching-equipment/

We’ve enjoyed purchasing things from Nature’s Workshop Plus! and Home Science Tools.  The birding store in town has a great selection of binoculars.  Feel free to start simple and purchase things as time permits.

Instruction/ Scaffolding:

Modified from Marcia’s blog   

“Read (as the mom) the HONS pages ahead of time (this is not necessarily meant to be read aloud to children).  Spend a maximum of 15 minutes discussing and reading short excerpts from books about the subject for the week.  I find that children already know very much.  By asking wondering questions such as “what do we already know about fur?” we begin the session with loads of shared knowledge.  

Get outside everyday for at least 30 minutes of nature study.  Have one day be a longer “romp” in nature-perhaps 1-2 hours.  In a Charlotte Mason approach, we want children to be in contact with the subject.  Books should support the learning they are already doing by observing or hands on.  

This scaffolding is coming at mammal study three ways:  1. Observation, 2. Supporting books read aloud and silently, and 3. Narration done orally and in your nature journal.  The more you do these, the greater your learning.  Each week will be a specific focus on mammals.  You should also be specifically studying a mammal and it’s specific characteristics.  Pick six mammals over the 12 weeks to get to know personally very well.  

Daily record something in your nature journal.  Spend time writing scientific data, sketches, dry brush entries and notations after you have considered the curiosity framework.  http://johnmuirlaws.com/stewardship/a-curiosity-framework  (This is mom and children!)

I ask my children to complete at least one page in their nature journal a week.  One day  might be a sketch.  The next day they add their questions “I notice…”,  “I wonder…”,   “It reminds me of…”  Another day they might copy all the information they have read about a specific mammal from a nature guide.  One day might include a list of what they saw.  Don’t let a day go by without being in nature.  (Last page includes these prompts.  You can print this out on card stock and cut for your children to use as a book mark in nature journals.)

For the non-readers/writers (Form 1), I let them draw the pictures and then dictate to me what they want to write down.  For Form 2, I encourage them to write and not worry about grammar or spelling.  Sometimes, if they struggle, I might write a word out or find it in a study guide for them to do copywork into their nature journal.  

Make a commitment as a mother to keep a nature journal.  Make a commitment to get outside everyday and increase your own observations skills.  Be prepared to share at the Natural History Club!  We can learn a lot from each other and from the positive peer pressure!”

Breaking up the Handbook of Nature Study mammals section into 12 weeks.

Week 1: Rabbits

Week 2: Muskrats

Week 3: Mouse

Week 4: Woodchuck

Week 5: Red Squirrel and Chipmunks

Week 6: Bats

Week 7: Skunks and Raccoons

Week 8: Wolves and Fox

Week 9: Goats, Sheep, and Horses

Week 10:  Cows and Pigs

Week 11: Dogs

Week 12: Cats

Notes:

We will tentatively meet at Oxbow Nature Center, as long as we can meet inside for drawing free of charge.  Plan on meeting for 2 hours 1-3.  The first 20 min or so we can let the kids catch up and play and then hopefully a good 40 minutes of hiking and observing and the rest of the time indoors drawing our specimens, making notes in our journals, and sharing what we've found.  We’ll see how the first meet-up goes and adjust.  In the warmer months we will stay outdoors the entire time. 

Planned dates:

January 16^th

February 20^th

March 20^th

How Our Charlotte Mason Community Came About.

I wanted to share a little bit about how our CM community has formed thus far, some of our process,  trials and errors, and some of what I've learned.

Two years ago, I had asked the fabulous Nancy Kelly, about attending one of her seminars in Minneapolis.  She had suggested I host one in my home city.  I had been to The Living Education Retreat twice, so we knew each other a bit.  And so, I put one together.  She had a certain format already planned, so I just put an ad in my local networks, got the food together, printed out some materials, and got it going!  One thing that I did was save the contact information from every registrant.  That was important.  The seminar was great.   People came from other states which surprised me.  Nancy had also shared on her networks, which is much larger.  We had a beautiful day of learning and connecting with other likeminded parents.

After that day, which was in August, I put the word out among the local attendants that I would be hosting a book discussion.  We'd be going through CM's original works.  I picked a regular monthly time and stuck with it.  Each month I'd send out a reminder and I'd go.  Sometimes there would be a nice sized group, sometime there would be just me.  I made the decision that I was primarily doing this for myself and my kids.  Charlotte Mason's works and connecting with the larger CM community had breathed life back into my homeschool.  I have been homeschooling for 10 years.  It had been a long and winding road and I was tired!  I had originally read Susan Schaeffer Macaulay's , For the Children's Sake, when starting out way back.  It had spoken to me back then, and I knew that I wanted to live that life with my kids, but without the support of others doing the same, I had been floundering.  Yes, I had been reading living books, and yes we have immersed ourselves in connecting with nature and real things, we've had the "grand conversation" without knowing it had a name, but there was so much more I had been missing!  I really needed this to keep ME going.  Not only to homeschool my own, but really, this is nourishing way of life that I needed myself!  Charlotte Mason's words made complete sense.  She said so many things that I had already thought was true about learning, children, and life.  In a way, her words were affirming.  I desperately needed that affirmation.   With the homeschool world always having another method or curriculum to appeal to my insecurity, I needed real wisdom about the simplicity of learning and life.  So, for me this was not about getting other moms to do this with me, I was in it for me, myself, and I.  But, sharing is caring, right?  And so, the open invitation.

After a year of doing the book study (that seems like a long time!), I invited local homeschooling moms to do a regular nature study through the summer with our CM folks.  We had a few regulars by then, but the nature study was mostly a flop.  Oh well.  I think everyone was expecting me to know what I was doing, which I didn't.  And with the summer busyness, it just didn't fly.  Lesson learned.  After that I created our own Facebook page.  There are other local homeschooling Facebook pages, so it seemed to make sense.  And at the end of the summer, a friend was hosting a co-op immersion day in the Twin Cities, so I put out an invite to that and a couple of moms wanted to go to it.  Then the discussion started about doing a co-op here.  Now I have to say I felt in no need to create this.  It was apparent that there was a need in the community and I had some experience.  I also kind of like administrating things.  Silly me.

So, we had an info night, and talked about doing it, following a similar schedule to the group we had immersed ourselves in.  Now I know there is a great resource here for starting one of these.  Our process was similar.  Our first session we met every other week for three months.  Our subjects were Shakespeare, Poetry, Composer, Artists, Handicrafts, Folksong and Dance, and Hymns.  We met in one member's home.  Each mother took a subject and we went around the room.  (Part of the reason why I like this, is that every mother feels involved and invested.  We are ALL learning together)  Each lesson was short, involving some kind of narration.  It lasted two hours.  Now, this was our first time around.  We were all kind of awkward in someways, not really knowing what we were doing, but we did it.  And I think we all learned things, about the subjects, ourselves, each other, and collaboration.  In my opinion, it was well worth it.  And really, I hadn't realized how beneficial it would be to have other mothers teaching my kids.  I like to teach most of those subjects at home, but each mom does things differently and it was refreshing to see things done in new ways.  It was also particularly delightful to see other mothers getting excited about learning, making their own connections.  Now we are stepping into our second session.   So far we are slightly changing the subjects and moving to a weekly meeting, so that the ideas are more fresh in our minds, especially the younger minds.  Two weeks is a long time for a six year old!  I like the idea of hosting in homes, but to lessen the load on the families, we are leaning to using a public space.  One thing that is unique about our group, is that many of the mothers either own a business, have a career outside the home, or are in school.  Using a public space will lessen the stress of having our houses in presentable shape!  I also think our group will be smaller, which we hope will lend to a more relaxed learning environment.

One more thing.  One of the moms organized christmas caroling at a local nursing home in December.  It was really nice.  This certain facility was organized into "neighborhoods,"  so we went around to each and sang.  I think it was 8-10 in all!  The kids did great.  One of the kids realized that one of the carols was written by the composer we had studied that term.  He was ecstatic!  Ahhh.  A living education.  We are considering partnering up with another nursing home to share what we are learning with the residents and build relationships.  Maybe we can sing hymns or folksongs together?   Recite poetry?  Maybe one of them can give us tips on our crocheting?  I am super excited to see what comes of this and how we can serve others with our learning!