Outdoor Hour Ebook at Introductory Price Extended

I have made the decision to keep the Outdoor Hour Challenge: Getting Started eBook at the introductory price of $8.95 permanently. With the economy struggling along and the overwhelming response to the book already, I have decided that as a gift to all of you I am not going to raise the price of the book on April 1st as I had planned.

Would you like to read how some families are enjoying the Outdoor Hour Challenge eBook?

Here are some entries for you to read.

Phyllis at Bergblog shares her thoughts here:
Completing Outdoor Hour Challenge #7 with the New eBook

Tammy at Adventures on Beck's Bounty had this to say:
Enjoying Outdoor Hour Challenges Too Much

Also on Lulu.com there is an additional review of the eBook by Kristiana that you might like to read as well.

Now that spring has arrived in a lot of places and it is coming quickly to the rest of the world, don't hesitate to join the Outdoor Hour Challenges...either here on the blog or with the new eBook.

Thank you to all you have sent me email about the eBook relating how much you appreciate the challenges in this format. I know there are a lot of advantages to having them all gathered into one place. I hope the book encourages families to get outdoors and experience the joy that can be found there.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

House Finch: A Frequent Flyer Around Our Feeder

Female House Finch or is it a female purple finch?

The House finch is what you would call a "regular" in our yard. You will see one or two just about every day perched at the feeder and enjoying a fine meal.

The Backyard Bird Book said this about House finches, "These lively red and brown birds may become the most frequent visitors to your bird feeder."

We had some trouble at first determining whether we had a House finch, a Purple finch, or a Cassin's finch. It took us some time but we finally determined that we had House finches with regularity, Purple finches at certain times of the year, and an occasional Cassin's finch. (see the link below to view their photos)

I still have trouble and the photos in this entry could be of purple finches. (I know that many of you think I am the expert but I am truly learning right alongside you.)

How do you tell the difference? They are all on the same page of our field guide and the Peterson's Field Guide to Western Birds shows the field marks to look for on page 343. The males have very distinct coloration differences and once you know what to look for, you can easily distinguish the three birds from each other. This clear indication of the field marks is what I really like about the Peterson Field Guides.

Here is a link to a very clear description and photos to tell the three very similar birds apart:
Tricky Bird IDs-House Finch, Purple Finch, and Cassin's Finch (Cornell Birds)

Here is another website that has the song of the House finch:
Learning Bird Songs: House Finch


This photo really shows the color of the finches that we have in our feeder. Some day I will get a good photo of one of this beautiful birds.

Another mystery to us was this orange finch.

We discovered that there is a variation in the house finch where sometimes it is orange like this one that comes daily to our feeders.

"House Finch coloring varies widely, and research shows that most of the variation is caused by diet. All male House Finches have the same potential for yellow, orange, or red coloration."
Project Feeder Watch



Other birds we observed this week:

• 2 gorgeous red-tailed hawks soaring over my dad's house
• Canadian geese flying over our house
• Crows
• Western scrub-jays who were building their nests and are very vocal right now
• Titmouse
• Dark-eyed juncos
• Wild turkeys-whole flock in the road with one male showing his big, fluffy tail
• Robins singing in our tree-my middle son said that they woke him up yesterday morning with their very long song
• Some kind of yellowish brown finch in the bushes alongside our trail
• Turkey vultures soaring in the afternoon sun
• Cedar Waxwings-about two dozen in the tree at once
• Mourning doves-a pair of them my son spotted in the lawn and then under the feeder
• California towhees

It has been a busy birding week around our place. When we take our afternoon walks now we can hear lots of different birds...it is as if a whole world is awakening around us. I love it.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Early Spring Wildflowers Part 4

Here is the latest post in my quest to identify all the wildflowers that bloom along our hiking trail...little did I know how hard it would be. :)


Sigh. So pretty.

This flower is starting to bloom on the hillside on our daily hiking trail. Sunny spots and open areas are popping up with these delicate lavender colored flowers.

I have scoured our field guides but with no success.

Edit: We identified it this evening!!! It is a Blue Dick or Dichelostemma capitatum
or here is another description.

I see it in many spots in our county so I know it is something native. These photos were taken the first day I observed it and now it has four parts blooming on the end of the stem. The leaves are thin and pointed and close to the ground.


Another surprise flower that will be blooming soon. I don't have any idea what it is so it will be a wonderful gift to see what is in store with this flower.
Edit: I now know this is a California Indian Pink.


Wow! Look at those pointy things on this plant! Here is another photo.


See the purple flowers there....those are on the ends of the pointy parts. (The white flowers are something else.) I feel so humbled by all the flowers and plants that I have never learned about before. What an amazing Creator we have that has all these interesting things for us to learn about.

Now, I know this is not a wildflower but this insect came flying by as I was taking photos and it startled me. It was really big and what an interesting shape.

The body looks like a yellow brain and the wings were really long with a green spot on the edge. Anyone have any idea what it is?
Edit: My hubby and I spent a few minutes with our field guide and then Google images and we identified this insect: Green Stigma Hangingfly.



This flower is blooming *everywhere* alongside the trail. So delicate and pretty and I love the color of this one. Still working on identifying it though.

This is definitely a work in progress.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Dog Study: Outdoor Hour Challenge-Mammals

Our Lovable Labrador...Kona.

Outdoor Hour Challenge #51 took us some time to complete for some reason. The boys didn't think that they needed to learn much about our dog but after we got going, we really enjoyed some of the ideas that Anna Botsford Comstock suggested in the accompanying lesson.

We watched the PBS video on wolves in Yellowstone and we were so interested to see how the circle of life goes round and round even within one national park. I think someone else mentioned that they had a hard time knowing which side to be on when you saw a skirmish. I totally agree with that.....like with the wolves, the elk, and the coyotes. Each one had its family and its physical needs and without eating each other, none would survive. It gave us lots to think about.

Now to our crazy dog study....my boys were so funny working through the lesson on dogs in the Handbook of Nature Study. I couldn't believe how much they could answer without even getting up and looking at the dog or the cat. The comparison between the two in the lesson ideas worked out great because it made us stop and really think about the differences between canines and felines.



Sleeping dogs are great to take photos of since they don't move around. She really doesn't like us to take photos of her very much and trying to get photos of her body parts was impossible. I felt like we needed to wrestle her to the ground but my son decided that having a little "scooby snack" in his hand did the trick.


I think I shared this photo before but this is a priceless photo of our dog showing her teeth. I don't remember exactly what we were doing that made her give us a "smile" but it makes me laugh every time I see this picture.

Her ears are also very expressive in real life and we can tell if she is listening by the way she has them positioned. Sometimes when she runs her ears turn inside out and it looks so cute.


Even though we didn't have much success getting photos, we did have a great time examining the things that the Handbook of Nature Study suggested we look at during a good dog study. Kona uses her nose to sniff just about everything when we go for our walk and we have even named one spot on the trail "Smelly Rocks" because she can't bear to pass by without giving them a good sniff. There is also one particular bush alongside the path that gets her interest every time as well. This photo is sort of a "all the better to smell you with" kind of photo.....her nose looks really long and her nostrils very large.

If you haven't completed this particular Outdoor Hour Challenge yet, I encourage you to do so with your own dog. You will learn a lot!

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Spring 2009 Observations

This week sometime you can go ahead and complete your spring observations both for your year long tree study and for the year long weather study. If you have completed your study for one year with one tree, you could start another year long tree study with a new tree.

Seasonal Tree Study Notebook Page -I changed the file so hopefully it will download for everyone now.

Seasonal Weather notebook page

If you have time, you might want to take a Spring Nature Walk as well. My daughter over at Hearts and Trees has this notebook page to share: Spring Nature Walk

Have a great weekend and spend some time outdoors! I will have a new bird Outdoor Hour Challenge next Friday. Don't forget to post about your robin, cardinal, or house finch for last week's study.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Wednesday Flower Study #2-What Are You Going to Study This Week?

This week we studied the dandelion. This cheerful flower/weed is found all over our yard and our neighbor has a whole crop of dandelions for us to study.

Here are some interesting facts we found out about the dandelion.

*In the sunflower family-No wonder I think they are happy little flowers.
*Grows from 2" to 20" tall.
*It has a hollow stalk.
*Common name comes from "dent de lion" which is French for "lion's tooth", referring to the teeth on the leaves.
*The flowers open and close.

You must read the introductory pages to the dandelion study starting on page 531 of the Handbook of Nature Study. Anna Botsford Comstock writes in such a narrative style that you will enjoy reading the information and I am sure you will remember much of it to share with your children.

"Professor Baily once said that dandelions in his lawn were a great trouble to him until he learned to love them, and then the sight of them gave him keenest pleasure."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 531

I couldn't agree more. I always hate it when my neighbors use the weed eater to remove the thousands of dandelions from their property. I would much rather look at the cheerful yellow flowers than a bare piece of ground.

The Handbook of Nature Study has a great list of activities in the lesson for the dandelion.

Here are a few that we complete:
3. Sketch or describe a dandelion leaf.
4. Take a blossom not yet open. Note the bracts that cover the unopened flower head.
7. Note what hour the dandelions on the lawn close and at what hour they open on pleasant days.

We were able to work on all three of these ideas in our study today.


Here are the bracts covering the petals before the bloom opens.


Really short dandelion that practically is blooming flat on the ground...interesting how some are tall and some are not.


You can really see the "lion's teeth" in this photo. :)


Another garden flower/weed is now recorded in our nature journals.

I think next week we will work on the tulips in our yard that are just starting to really bloom.

If you would like to join us, see the instructions in this entry: Wednesday Flower Study. You can join us during any week you have a study and blog about it and want to share what you learned with other families. Enter your link in Mr. Linky below.

Thanks for sharing!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Robins in Our Nature Journals-Finally!

These are some feathers we found on our front lawn under a big tree. We are not sure what kind of bird feathers they are but they were very, very soft. We spent our Outdoor Hour listening to birds and trying to spot them. Our feeders have slowed down a bit in the last few weeks with the changing weather. The most predominant birds in our backyard feeders are Western scrub jays and House sparrows at this time of year.
My son was telling me about the flock of robins that were perched in the tree outside his window yesterday after our snowstorm. He thought there must have been dozens of them.

We have a resident robin that sits in the very top of our tree outside the front window and he sings and sings and sings very early in the morning...starting just about this time of year.

Here is what our robin sounds like in the morning:
Robin at Learn Bird Songs

We read through the information in the Handbook of Nature Study and found most of it was new to us. How could we be so uninformed about a bird we practically see very day?

"Moreover, a robin notebook, if well kept, is a treasure for any child; and the close observation necessary for this lesson trains the pupils to note in a comprehending way the habits of other birds. It is the very best preparation for bird study of the right sort."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 57

This statement in the introduction to robins made me stop and think about all of our bird studies. The point is well made that birding is more than just learning to identify birds. Careful study of any particular bird helps us to learn so much about *all* birds and it gives us skills we can use with all birds. We took special interest in the schedule of robin study in the lesson given for robins. This is another example of how to expand nature study to really get the most out of it. My boys were not particularly interested in studying robins so I think we will skip the in-depth study but we will apply the principles to a bird that does interest them.

This week some of us decided to use the coloring page from Cornell to complete in our nature journal and Mr. B (youngest son) decided to just free-hand draw a robin to include in his binder. I like to use the coloring page and then add my own interesting facts as well.

We will be moving on to the House finch later in the week and I will share that study when we are finished.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Early Spring Wildflowers (Part 3)

Popcorn flower
(found in the meadow, sunny location)

"There should be from first to last a steady growth in the intelligence of the child as to the places where certain plants grow. He finds hepaticas and trilliums in the woods, daisies and buttercups in the sunny fields, mullein on the dry hillsides, cattails in the swamp, and water lilies floating on the pond. This may all be taught by simply asking the pupils questions relating to the soil and the special conditions of the locality where they found the flowers they bring to school. "
Handbook of Nature Study, page 458

We are adding a few new flowers to our list of early spring wildflowers along our walking trail. I am also updating a few photos to ones taken with my older camera with the better macro lens.


Chickweed.....now I see it everywhere! Even in our backyard!
(along the trail)


Spring Beauty
(along the trail)


Unidentified as of today.
(along the trail in the shade...very low to the ground with interesting leaf shape)


Fiddleneck
(sunny areas)

Here is another photo of Fiddleneck


And another Fiddleneck.


We found a whole patch of Miner's Lettuce.
(growing in patches along the path...moist areas)


The California poppies are just beginning to bloom on our hiking trail.
(sunny hillside, along the trail)





Common Owl's Clover
(Note to self: This was on the walking trail and not the Red Shack Trail. Growing along side the trail and on a sunny hillside.)

These flowers are all from last week's hikes. I am trying my best to keep current.

We had a snowstorm yesterday morning! It all melted rather quickly though and today we were back to our spring like weather.

Tomorrow I will try to post about our bird study and then on Wednesday we will share a garden flower study from the Handbook of Nature Study.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Bird Calls #1 -Robin, Cardinal, House Finch

I thought it would be fun to start to learn some bird calls. Our family is going to try to learn the calls of the birds from the Outdoor Hour Challenge. I have one son that definitely learns things well when we make them into a song so I thought this would be a fun project for him to do.

If you would like to join us, here are the links to a website where you can hear the bird calls.

Robin
Here or Here

Cardinal
Here or Here

House Finch
Here or Here

Let me know how it goes in your family.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Red Birds-Robin, Cardinal, and House Finch

This series of Outdoor Hour Challenges is going to help you study birds, their habits and their unique features. Learning to really see the parts of the bird in order to not only identify it but to see how each bird fits into the overall world of animals. I have decided to emphasis the most common backyard birds in this series of challenges. Using the Peterson Field Guides For Young Naturalists: Backyard Birds, I am organizing the challenges to follow this book’s sequence and organization. This will make it more manageable when we go over to the Handbook of Nature Study. If you do not have the Backyard Birds book, you can certainly still complete the challenges using only the Handbook of Nature Study. I am also including the Peterson Field Guides to Birds in the challenges this time for those families that are ready for a "real" field guide. As the weeks go by, we will be using the field guide to help us learn to identify birds in our own backyard. Again, you can complete the challenge without the field guide and just stick to the Handbook of Nature Study if you wish to. Please note that the HNS will not serve as a field guide to identifying birds. (Links to all books are at the bottom of this post.)

One bird at a time….one week at a time….building a lifetime of bird knowledge.

I realize that many times the bird discussed in the challenge may not be available for observation in your particular of the world. This is going to be true for the vast majority of us. I am only aware that there are thirteen of the thirty or so birds listed that we will actually be able to observe in person. Knowing this, try to look at the study of birds you don’t have locally as a way to broaden your general knowledge of birds and to glean ways to observe any bird that you will encounter over the next ten to twelve weeks. Do not skip the challenge but make sure to complete the Outdoor Hour Activity step each week regardless of the bird we are focusing on at that particular time. (see additional note below)

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Birds #1
Robin, Cardinal, and House Finch


Inside preparation work:
1. Read the Handbook of Nature Study pages 27-28 to get a general overview of bird study using this book. In addition, read pages 43-44 for some ways to attract birds to your yard. I highly recommend hanging a feeder of some sort and providing water as well.

2.Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 57-62 about the robin. There is so much information about the robin on these pages that it is a little overwhelming. I would read the information and mark any ideas or facts that you are interested in sharing with your child.

3. Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 127-130 about the cardinal grosbeak.

4. Backyard Birds: Read aloud with your child the introductory pages and the section on red birds: the robin, the cardinal, and the house finch. Take note of each bird’s field marks for future reference. Notice the difference between the female and male birds for each kind of bird.

5. Peterson Field Guide: Read the introductory pages 17-22(W) or 23-30(E). Look up in the index the robin, the cardinal, and the house finch. Observe the illustrations carefully and read the narrative descriptions and explanations.

Please Note: (W)=Western Birds and (E) Eastern Birds
(See Amazon.com links below for particular books used.)

Outdoor Hour Time
On your appointed day, take your 10-15 minutes of outdoor time to enjoy your own backyard. Since this series of challenges is about birds, be aware of any bird subjects that come your way. This could include feathers, nests, bird tracks, or the sounds of bird calls.

You could also use your outdoor time to hang a bird feeder and talk about what kinds of birds you hope to attract. You could talk about the different kinds of seeds. The more you include your children in the process of setting up the bird feeder, the more excited and invested they will be to watch for birds to visit.

Your goal this week is to spend the time outdoors with your children and perhaps observe a bird. What particular aspect of the bird are you observing this week? How about the color, size, and shape of the beak? This should get you started in your bird study.

Follow Up Activity
For your follow up activity you can learn more about the particular bird that you observed. If you know what kind of bird it is, look it up in the Handbook of Nature Study for more information. You can also use the Peterson Field Guide or an internet resource such as whatbird.com or Cornell’s bird website at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/

The above websites also can help you identify an unknown bird. We will be learning in the upcoming challenges how to use a field guide to identify birds so don’t worry if you don’t find an exact identification for your bird.

The most important part of this challenge is getting outdoors with your children and beginning a search for birds. If you have a nearby park, you can try visiting there during your week to see if there any different birds for observation. Many parks have ducks and geese that make excellent subjects for bird study.

Hopefully during your outdoor time you found something to investigate further. Questions are always a great way to extend your nature study to other days of your week.

Also I am highly recommending that you purchase the All About Birds-Basic Study set for $2.95 from NotebookingPages.com. They are perfect for this series of bird challenges.


Also, if you would like some ideas for attracting and feeding birds in your own yard, check out my Squidoo page: What Do You Feed Birds in Winter?  This page is applicable to all seasons.

Enjoy your bird study and don't forget to come back and share your link on Mr. Linky!

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Please note that you will only need to purchase one of the field guides, either Western or Eastern.

How to Make a Plant Press

If you didn't catch my video on how to make a simple flower press last year, I wanted to post it again.

We have been using our press just about every day this week and it is an easy way to press your flowers that you are learning about for your Wednesday Flower Study lessons. It only takes a few days in the press and then the flowers are ready for your nature journal. Let you kids watch the video and have them make it for themselves...it really is that easy.

Here is the link to YouTube: Flower Press

Or you can watch it here on the blog.


Simple and easy.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Largest Mammal: Blue Whale

This is an incredible creation that we studied today in our Marine Biology. I know it is a not covered in the Handbook of Nature Study but I can't resist sharing this YouTube video with you all.

Watch and be amazed.
Here is link if you are on email subscription. Blue Whales
(just be sure not to scroll down and read the comments on the video page...profanity)



So much we don't know about this world around us. It makes me excited to share things like this with my boys because we can see the opportunity for learning far into the future...

I am in awe.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Violets are Blue? How about Purple?

We began our study by reading the pages in the Handbook of Nature Study. Wow! If you are the least bit interested in violets and you get the chance, you must read the information in the Handbook of Nature Study, pages 476-479. This section is jam-packed with information about violets but also about more general ideas for a nature portfolio (we would call it a nature journal).

"To make this work of the greatest use and interest, each pupil should make a portfolio of the violets of the locality. This may be in the form of pressed and mounted specimens, or of water-color drawings. In either case, the leaf, leafstalk, flower, flower stalk, and rootstock should be shown, and each blossom should be neatly labeled with name, locality, and date. From the nature-study standpoint, a portfolio of drawings is the more desirable, since from making the drawings the pupils become more observant of the differences in structure and color which distinguish the species. Such a portfolio may be a beautiful object.....Each drawing may be followed by a page containing notes by the pupil and some appropriate quotation from botany, poetry, or other literature."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 478

The variety of violets that grow in our yard is extremely fragrant. It is hard to imagine that such a sweet, strong smell comes from such a delicate little bloom.


Our violets grow in a shady, moist area of our yard, mostly around the edges of our deck. They spread easily to other shady areas as well and it is always a joy to see them sprout up in new places.

We carefully observed whether our violets had the leaf stalks come directly from the underground rootstocks or if they came from a common stem as suggested in the Handbook. We observed that the leaves were smooth and glossy. We looked at the sepals and petals.

We looked into the opening that leads to the nectar-spur. We found the tiny undevelped flowers that will produce seeds down near the rootstalk that are meant for self-pollination. So many things we would have never thought to look for all on our own.


As I suspected, I was the only one who wanted to actually watercolor in their nature journal. I allow the boys the freedom to choose how to follow up their nature study.


We pressed a leaf and a flower for my son's nature journal binder.


I love working with watercolor pencils....such an easy way to get a great effect in your nature journal.

It felt so good to be out in the garden this morning. The sun was warm and it was great to spend time with the boys. Our hands got a little dirty in the soil and that is oh, so good after a long winter. I look forward to seeing what you come up with for your Wednesday Flower Study.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Wednesday Flower Study-An Invitation For You

After writing yesterday's post about flowers, I had the brainstorm to start with a Wednesday Flower Study each week.

I have been reading through the Handbook of Nature Study's section on plants...especially wildflowers, weeds, and garden flowers and I realized that we have a long list of flowers that we need to include in our nature journals.

"The only right way to begin plant study with young children is through awakening their interest in and love for flowers."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 453

So in order to make myself accountable and to include you in the study, I have outlined a schedule of flowers to include over the next few weeks. Please feel free to make your own list of flowers using the Handbook of Nature Study. If you would like to join us, I will add Mr. Linky to the bottom of the Wednesday posts and you can share what your family studied whether it is the particular flower our family is observing or if it is something else from your local area. It is always enjoyable and interesting to learn about other parts of the world.

Here is our list:

Flowers Blooming Already or That We Can Study Right Now
Violet (page 476) Finished 3/18/09. Here is a LINK.
Buttercup (page 516) Finished 4/27/09. Here is a LINK.
Tulip (page 552) Finished 4/1/09. Here is a LINK.
California Poppy (page 531) Finished 4/8/09. Here is a LINK.
Petunias (page 581) Finished 4/20/09. Here is a LINK.
Mullein (page 537) Finished 5/5/09. Here is a LINK.
Dandelion (page 531) Finished 3/25/09. Here is a LINK.

Flowers that Will Study in Addition to Those Above
Bleeding Heart (page 558) Finished 4/15/09. Here is a LINK.
Bachelor's Buttons (page 578)Finished 5/20/09. Here is a LINK.
Sweet Peas (page 588) Finished 5/27/09. Here is a LINK.
Queen Anne's Lace (page 542) Finished 6/3/09. Here is a LINK.

I think that should keep us busy for a few weeks. I realize that everyone's list will be different and I look forward to seeing what your family finds to study.

I think we will start with the violet this week and perhaps the dandelion as well.

We will read through the pages in the Handbook of Nature Study and then use the observation ideas to go out and really take a look at our violets.There are a lot of ideas for nature study in the Handbook section on violets but first and foremost we will just enjoy the beauty and fragrance as we begin our flower study this week.

I am going to try to get the boys to join me for nature journal entries as well. One son has switched over to pressing flowers for his nature journal and one son would rather take photos so you will get to see a variety of types of nature journals as we go through the next few weeks.

Here is a link to wildflower coloring pages if you are interested in including something like that in your nature journal or as a way to see how to sketch them yourselves.
Wildflower Coloring Pages

So pick one flower this week and get started! Come back to this entry and add your link to Mr. Linky so we can all come by and see what you did for your flower. I will make our post and add it to Mr. Linky when we are done.

One flower, one tree, one bird at a time. It works.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Early Spring Wildflowers (Post 2)

The hillside is beginning to burst open in flowers this week making our daily walk such a feast for the eyes. Everyday now it seems that there is something new to discover.


This unique white flower has me puzzled.
EDIT: Vera helped me out with this one...it is chickweed!

Here is another photo of the plant and its blooms.

The petals are so interesting.


This tiny white flower is blooming right in the middle of the pathway. It is about 1 or 2 inches high at the most. I really need to take my field guide with me and try to identify this one as well.


This one has me stumped....grrrr. I know it has to be something fairly common because I notice along the trail in a couple different of areas. I am going to take a better look today and see if I can figure it out.
Edit: Georgiaberry suggested that this may be Spring Beauty and I am going to check it out today.

Okay, this has been one frustrating post for me. I really want to identify all the flowers this year and so far I have more questions than answers. Maybe I should hire myself a botanist to go on the trail with me and have them teach me all the names of the plants. Wouldn't that be nice?

Expect a garden post soon...our yard is waking up. I read through the pages in the Handbook of Nature Study on plants....wildflowers, weeds, and garden flowers and I made a list of those flowers were are going to study this spring. I will share those plants that we have included and maybe you will like to join us over the next few weeks or whenever you have these particular flowers blooming in your area.

I just had a great idea.....how about since we finished our Winter Wednesday activities, we start a Wednesday Flower Day study? That will hold me accountable to keep up our family's studies and anyone can join us that wants to have a little structure. I will post about it tomorrow.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom