Ducklings

A few days ago we went for a short walk in the little woods in our  neighbourhood.  We found a snailshell, some wildflowers, some trilliums (provincal flower of Ontario) and, shockingly, a mamma duck and her ducklings!

Snailshell.

Wildflowers.

Momma Duck and Ducklings in someone's backyard!

Look how close she came to the kids!

Trillium.  Ontario's Provincial flower.

Pink Trillium (which is really just an older and faded white trillium).

For the Birds

Forsythia Bush

Adrianna calls these bushes "banana flower bushes" because of the yellow banana shaped flowers.  We finally researched and learned that they are Forsythia, a member of the olive family (never would have guessed that!).  They were brought to Europe originally from China and from Europe made their way to the US and then to Canada.  They are in bloom all around us here.

Beautiful Nature Prints
While researching the Forsythia bushes, we then found these WONDERFUL nature pictures and spent some time looking at different birds.  He has some beautiful pictures.  Honestly - browse the site!  Stunning.

Black Capped Chickadee
Male Northern Cardinal
Song Sparrow

Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Looking at pictures of birds led us to search for the bird calls of Song Sparrows, Black-Capped Chickadees and Northern Cardinals.

SPRING!

It is finally spring!  The kids race out to the backyard, pull off their coats, boots and socks and run in wild circles, arms open, heads back, laughing at the sun.  "I don't want winter to come back ever again!" That's from the girl who likes "cold things" - even she is done with this winter!

With weather that is both sunny and above zero, we've been outside daily.  I don't anticipate fitting nature study into our routine to be much of a struggle.  I'm looking forward to many upcoming months of hiking and exploring.

Making a chalk road for Nate



Nate riding his bike on the chalk road

 

First spring flowers!

so nice to see color again!

Chilly ride on the slide at the park
(love the "matching" stripes?!)

yay!

Why step when you can jump?

Goats at Mountsberg

Making a new friend

Aren't the markings on the feathers beautiful?

observing each other

I love spring.

Spring has Sprung (not really - but at least there are puddles)

We've all had colds these past few weeks (with my ear infection lingering on and on and on...), so not much has been done around here except a lot of grouching.
Some coloring.  Some cutting/pasting.  Too many cartoons. 

And of course, what every sick kid needs - PUDDLE JUMPING!

It may not make the cold feel any better (and quite possibly make it WORSE), but the first puddles of the season can't be missed!  Perfect way to break up days of snotty-nosed misery.

The kids also discovered scratchy crunchy snow (no fun), a swollen river (lots of fun to toss sticks into) and the first mud of the season.  It's going to be a fun spring (if it ever comes!)



Finding the ONLY patch of mud!




oh dear.  going to be a messy spring!





The one who makes the mess, gets to clean the mess!



Winter Nature Study

We have been blessed here to have fresh snow and warm enough weather (only -8) to go outside and enjoy it - at least for a few minutes!

We have discovered SNOW, icicles, blocks of ice with dirt and bits of leaves frozen inside, and tracked the squirrel (?) tracks left in the snow.

I can only assume these are squirrel tracks as we have a TON of squirrels here.  Or a bunny?  I know we have skunks and raccoons but do they run around in winter or do they hibernate?  I have no idea.  Obviously, somebody is visiting our yard!

This is new to me!

Adrianna also discovered that "drawing" in snow is pretty cool too.

Nature Study

It is a LOT of effort to get the kids outside these days.  Snowpants, boots, hats, gloves (that don't stay on).  Also, I personally don't particularly like being outside in the cold so I've been trying to convince them to be outside on their own.  Today I gave up and went out with them hoping that would encourage them to be outside longer. 

Immediately, Adrianna ran up to me excited at her discovery.  ICE!  The cup holder on the roof of the wagon was full of ice.  So we poked at it, examined it, discussed it (what does it look like? how does it feel?  how did this happen?  what would happen if we brought it inside?  etc.).  Both kids were VERY engaged.  And then their hands got cold and that was the end of that!

Here's Adrianna's journal entry.

"This is ice.  I saw lots of ice in my big red wagon.  It was hard and made from water.  The ice made my hands feel cold."

I took the kids on a mini walk yesterday along a path near our house.  We needed fresh air and a change of scenery.  Adrianna found this:

We stopped and examined it.  We observed that it was growing on a vine in a swampy area.  We took a few home with us.  Then, googled it and we learned together that it is a prickly cucumber.  Very fun. 

Then, Adrianna proceeded to pick it apart completely layer by layer and bit by bit.  Later, she "narrated" it to Daddy, "we found a pokey cucumber and it had seeds in it.  It grows on a vine!"

Ok.  Maybe I can do nature study.

Amazing Fungi Time-lapse

Adrianna loves trees and mushrooms and forests.  She found this (and other) time-lapse videos of mushrooms growing absolutely mesmerizing.  Very cool. 

Get Those Kids Outdoors!

Here is a wonderful aticle about how nature study (ie: just being outside in nature) really helps the brain to absorb materiel and learn. 

Unschooled Nature Study

The idea of unschooling fascinates me although I highly doubt I'd ever be brave enough to do it fully.  I love the Charlotte Mason methodology of short lesson plans and a big focus on nature and the outdoors.  To me it is the perfect combination of structured study and student, desire-led study.  Any homeschooling I do, I want there to be ample free time left for my kids to just be kids and to explore the world on their own terms and pursue their own interests.

With the change of temperatures outside, we have had a few cool "visitors".  The other day, a ladybug joined us for breakfast.  Both kids climbed up on the table to get a closer look.  Anna pulled out her magnifying glass.  Nate observed from a distance but did not want the bug to go near him!  Anna on the other hand, was delighted that the ladybug decided to crawl on her hand and arm.  She declared that the ladybug was her "bestest friend in the whole wide world" and Nate blew kisses towards the bug.  Anyway, we spent a good 10 minutes (eternity to young preschoolers!) examining and interacting with this ladybug and then Anna released her to the wilds of the front porch.  Very cool.

Later that same day, I walked into the kitchen to see a spider dangling mid-air from the ceiling.  I quickly called the kids in to see and asked how they thought that spider was "floating" there like that.  Anna figured it out immediately and was quite fascinated.  Nate again kept a safe distance and felt quite relieved when the spider made a hasty retreat back up to the ceiling. 

A few weeks ago, someone spilled some Coke and didn't clean it up properly.  Anna and I noticed a straight line of ants walking along the baseboard from the front door to the sticky pop drop on the floor.  We spent some time studying how the ants walked in a straight line and stayed close to the wall.  We also studied how they grouped together into a mass on top of the pop drip. 

Nature study in the comfort of our home. 

Thus far, Nate hasn't showed too much interest in nature or bugs.  He likes trucks.  And trains.  And "mighty machines".  And tools.  Today, I showed him a YouTube video of a freight train.  He screamed with joy.  Literally screamed.  And then demanded more.  And more.  And more.  He watched a good 15 minutes of video of freight trains going past intersections.  He was thrilled. 

I have a feeling, I'll have to keep my computer hidden for awhile unless I am willing to watch railroad crossings over and over and over.  His enthusiasm was adorable.