Outdoor Hour Challenge #30 - Weeds & Seeds

Outdoor Hour Challenge - #30 - Weeds & Seeds
(This post was actually typed up several days ago but just now being completed and published) :)
I was excited about this challenge because it fit us so well. We've had so many things going on and also been down with a "cold bug" so we've really missed our outdoor time. We are so use to having it almost daily. The Lord really set it up nice for us today. The weather couldn't have been better. A nice, balmy day but with a cool breeze blowing. It was amazing and so refreshing to be BACK in our gardens.

"The heavens are telling the glory of
God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.," ~Psalm 19:1 NRSV

Charlotte Mason wrote (volume 1, page 43):

"For we are an overwrought generation, running to nerves as a
cabbage runs to seed; and every hour spent in the open is a clear gain, tending to the increase of brain power and bodily vigour, and to the lengthening of life itself. They who know what it is to have fevered skin and throbbing brain deliciously soothed by the cool touch of the air are inclined to make a new rule of life, Never be within doors when you can rightly be without."

This held so true for us today :). AND our flower gardens, having been neglected the past two weeks - had PLENTY of weeds for us to study AND plenty of SEEDS to harvest as I have not been outside "dead heading" them as normal! :) What a blessing to have a nature study challenge that worked SO well in our life at the moment! It was such a good fit, in fact, I decided to break this challenge into 3 seperate lessons on 3 seperate days. So bear with me as I take you through our study of this wonderful challenge!

We started out by having the kids look around the yard and gardens for plants/flowers that they thought were weeds. I had them bring their "collection" of weeds to me.

We sorted through them at our outdoor pation table.
This was the collection of weeds my son picked up. My daughters both picked several dandelions.

I had read the HNS pages 512-514 as Barb suggested.
On page 512 of the HNS, Miss Comstock gives a definition of a weed:

"A weed is a plant growing where we wish something else to grow, and a plant may, therefore, be a weed in some locations and not in others."

I wanted to ensure the children really understood this concept. My first example of this was with the dandelions. My daughters adore them! What little girl has not spent time in her childhood blowing on their seed spheres? I explained that they were a weed and quite a ferocious one but that they may not be a weed to THEM.

I continued talking to them about other plants that may be a weed to others but not to them or vice versa. The first plant that came to mind was our glorious morning glories! We looked at our morning glories and discussed why we love them so:

1 - They grow FAST!

2- They are a vine that climbs - which WE were actually looking for to cover our fence.
3- We didn't have to worry about them spreading wildly because we spend so much time in our garden that we had the time to "train" them to grow where we wanted.

4- Their huge colorful flowers of several colors that greet us every morning with delight.

I then brought their attention to the fact that the very same characteristics we love about them may be the characteristic that make others despise them and consider them weeds! They couldn't imagine this so we went to look at our neighbor's yard.

Their yard is neat, well cared for. They created a very smart landscape design. Since they do not prefer to spend a lot of their outdoor time caring for their plants, they chose more of a shrub type landscape. They chose plants that rarely needed watering or pruning. They do not have any flowers whatsover - no color at all other than the few berries and such from the evergreens. It suits them. It is nice looking - very well "manicured".

I asked the children if they thought our neighbors would be happy with a morning glory in their yard. The children thought for a moment and agreed they would not. It was like an A-HA moment!! :) You know those when it's like, "OH!!! I understand!" :) We LOVE color and flowers and climbers and spending our outdoor time (and indoor actually) tending to our gardens, plants, flowers, animals, all of God's beautiful creation! But I have several dear friends that told me I was absolutely MAD when I allowed the girls to plant morning glory sees throughout my rose garden right under the fence! :) It's worked wonders - we Love it. But my friends will complain about those pestering weeds (morning glories) that are choking out their little shrubs! :)

We returned to looking at plants that were weeds in OUR yard. This vine to the left is a vine that my kids KNOW is a weed. l am constantly fighting this weed. I have not identified it but we have "studied" it so to speak all summer. It appears to be in every one of the older garden beds that were here before. When I created a "rose bed" near this little fence/flower bed type area I had no idea what issues these little vines create!

One of my 5yo daughter's suprised me by saying, "Mom, this is the weed that takes the roses' water!" I was impressed :) This vine is fast and vigorous- it quickly wraps itself around the plants and chokes them out. It completely covered a mature azalea bush and killed it when we first moved in.

On page 512 of the HNS it says:

"A weed may crowd out our cultivated plants, by
stealing the moisture and nourishment in th soil which they should have; or it may shade them out by putting out broad leaves and shutting off their sunlight."

It seems no matter how often I weed - this vine continuously comes back. We have been watching and fighting it all summer. The only sure help we've found is to ensure when we pull these weeds we get ALL of the root and to be incredibly persistent in trying to tackle them. I have found the only relief is to tackle them daily. I showed the kids how to pull the vines so that they would be able to pull up the root with it. They thought it would be much easier than it is and I giggled as (especially my son) was surprised at the strength of these tiny plants!!
HNS page 513 ~

"Each weed has its own way of winning in the struggle with our crops, and it behooves us to find that way as soon as possible
in order to circumvent it."

They can become difficult to get the full root once they are even slightly established

Here they are showing me what they were able pull up. They were so happy when they were finally able to get "some root."

We spoke about why I try to at least do a quick weeding each day. How it is SO much easier to pull up a young weed than a weed that even has established for a short time. I showed them the differences and allowed them to try both young weeds and the more established and they quickly realized what I meant! For this reason- we talked about HNS page 513 "Especially, every one who plants a garden should know how the weeds look when young, for seedlings of all kinds are delicate and easy to kill before their roots are well established."

Afterwards - I also browse through the Lesson section of the book and choose a few questions to discuss with my children. I never do them all and I do it all orally and very casually as we discuss our nature study from the day. For this time outdoors, I had chosen some discussion questions from Lesson 135 on page 513 in the HNS.

1- Why do we call a plant a weed? (When it grows where the gardener wants something else to grow) Is a weed a weed wherever it grows? (No) How did this weed plant itself where it is growing? (The dandelions are from seed speres that are blown by wind, children, other things. The vines seem to make their way from roots established years ago and we have yet to "get them all")

2- Where did they find their weeds? (in the lawn for the dandelions and in the rose garden for the vines) By what agency was its seed brought and dropped? (We talked about the different ways seeds travel - birds, wind, people, squirrels, etc. A great book to read about this is The Usborne First Book of Nature. We take it slow - only a 2 page layout per day but its colorful and informative and my children seem to really like it. If you want to supplement - I would recommend this book.)

3- Why must we study the habits of a weed before we know how to fight it? (Each weed has its own way of taking over our beloved gardens so we must study it in order to defeat it)

The children created their nature journal pages and sketches.

HNS p. 512~ "(God) is the great farmer. Continually (He) sows and reaps, making all the forces of the universe the plants' tools and helpers; the sun's rays, wind, rain and snow, insects and birds, animals small and great, even to the humble burrowing worms of the earth..."

What's the Story Morning Glory?!?

What's the Story Morning Glory?!?

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

3 John 1:4 (NIV)

What a GLORIOUS scripture to start off the homeschooling morning! As I took a moment to walk through our garden this morning ~ I thought I'd share what things are doing. When I came inside with camera in tow - I found this scripture awaiting me from one of my daily devotions and I thought I'd share it with all of you as I share our photos from this morning.

I planned on starting off this morning by laughing at myself! :) Those wonderous "bean plant" photos I've been blogging about -- that my DD grew from seed? Well~~~ ha ha~~~

Evidently - these are NOT beans! lol - as I stated in an earlier blog post - there is something to be said for being more organized next year and labeling our seeds! Turns out - as you can obviously see - her wonderous bean plant is actually morning glories! This was a NICE suprise - however - I think we're more excited to have morning glories! They are just simply beautiful - a true spectacle every morning of the work of the Creator. I can clearly see them from my kitchen window so as I clean breakfast dishes every morning I have a gorgeous vine to look at!

The rest of the garden is slowly dwindling in the cooler weather we are having. It's always a fun time of year with school starting. Fall has always been my FAVORITE time of year - I LOVE the cooler yet not too cold weather - the pumpkins, apples, parties, and cider! After having my own flower gardens for the first time this year, however, I feel a bit saddened that I'm going to lose my beautiful flowers (especially my roses) for some months. Although - being my favorite time of year - I know it is a season and everything has a season-

Ecclesiastes 3
Everything Has Its Time

1Everything on earth
has its own time
and its own season.
2There is a time
for birth and death,
planting and reaping,

And I'm sure I'll quickly remember why Fall is my personal favorite!! Here is a short collage of a few of the garden flowers I photographed this morning

So enjoy your time with your children, the last remnants of your summer gardens - take as much Outdoor Hour time as you can while we still have such gorgeous weather... we will be doing as much school time outside as possible - from reading to nature study!

Outdoor Hour Challenge #10 Picnics, squirrels, caterpillars, beetles OH MY!

Outdoor Hour Challenge #10---Picnics - ongoing throughout our studies :)
We joined the Outdoor Hour Challenges late so as we go through our family's nature studies - I try to use the Outdoor Hour Challenges as much as possible and "catch up" on the ones we missed as they fit into our focuses and studies. These challenges that Barb so graciously posted for all of us to enjoy and share with our loved ones are TOO good to pass up any of them!! This particular challenge is one that I know we will use frequently and I plan to do at least several times each term (other than winter lol - we'll see ) It will be great to really EXPERIENCE the season by having a relaxed meal outdoors as a family in God's beautiful creation!!!

“The whole earth is full of his glory”.~ Isaiah 6:3

As with many of our homeschooling friends, we will be starting "school" on onday so I wanted to spend some relaxed time this week with the kids. Having breakfast outside was a nice surprise for them. :) It's great when they awaken and I tell them we are having breakfast outside and they all start screaming,"Yes! Yeah! Cool!" Mom's not always that cool :). I was pleased with their excitement. :)

As you can see they are still sleepy but it was so nice to enjoy a meal outside together. Once they were finished, we decided it would be nice to follow up with some outdoor observation and painting- but our poms had to be spoiled first... Here Chance is feeding the leftover eggs to Kilroy and Brittany - our 10 and 11 year old pomeranians. Kilroy was shaved recently by the vet for an allergic reaction which is why you see a bald pomeranian!

Kilroy is still begging Chance for more eggs - I didn't realize until I was looking at the pictures last night that he was feeding him from one of our FORKS! With an apple in one hand feeding the dog eggs from a fork in the other! It was too funny for me to say anything!

We took a walk through our flower beds and garden bed to see how things were progressing. They were so happy with thier plants. In hindsight - I will handle garden plants and flowers much differently next year! I just let the children run wild with seeds and we were so excited that we didn't really label anything on thier end of the garden so we're "waiting to see" what plants develop into on several of them. We will be more organized next year. This year was our first summer here so I was so busy planting in the beds my DS and DH were building and the kids and I reading about so many different plants and flowers that the labels seemed to get left out somehow.

This is the kids' end of the garden bed - we essentially built up beds this year and this one was already here. Initially the dirt was hard and unmanagemable with small, "rooty" vines that were killing what was left in it but it wasn't our main "focus" so I worked with the kids to till the dirt by hand and gradually add compost and rich topsoil throughout the summer. We have weeded to our heart's content to rid it of the choking vines and it worked out much better than expected. It's actually produced for us which is more than we thought it would do! :)


cherry tomato - not yet ripe

Cucumber

Basil Chance's 1st green/string bean

Chance standing beside Alyssa's bean plant to show how TALL it has gotten!!
Alyssa was still sleepy and being camera shy :)

We looked over my garden flowers (see all of them under the "plants in our backyard" slideshow on the right side of my blog) and then I brought out books, watercolors, and insect nets and jars for the children to work on some nature study.

My DH had found Chance a HUGE beetle that he had been observing. We tried looking him up in several books and websites and since his color was metallic green and copper - we continuously found "Japanese Beetle". He looked quite a bit like a Japanese Beetle but was SO large. We ended up labeling him from the book - "Peterson First Guides - Insects" We identified him as a Shining Leaf Chafer but nothing further than that. I'm not certain if he is just a really LARGE japanese beetle or another chafer that we didn't have information on.
Either way, this beetle, like the Japanese Beetles that I pluck from my roses constantly is an agricultural or garden pest. According to the guide,

"Shining Leaf Chafers are often extraordinarily beautiful,
but are also often very destructive both as larvae and adults. Few of us can appreciate the color pattern of the Japanese Beetle as it munches through a rose bush or an orchard. Its larvae, like others in this group, eat roots and are especially destructive to lawns."

I'm not terribly mortified about my lawn but I can tell you - its frustrating as a rose gardener at the FAST and FURIOUS destruction on my rose bushes. This is my first year as gardening roses and they have been a constant "thorn in my side" - no pun intended.

Here's an example from one of my own roses -

Chance did an excellent journal page using watercolors to paint the chafer.

Briana wanted to read about and identify two caterpillars that we found at the park. Using "Princeton Field Guides - Caterpillars of Eastern North America" we were able to identify them both. The black caterpillar with white hairs covering his body is a Walnut Caterpillar.

My photos of these caterpillars are not very good - I couldn't seem to focus well on them. I found a better picture online here.

We identified the second caterpillar as a Banded Tussock Moth Caterpillar.
He has

"conspicuous black and white lashes extending from anterior end of his body."
Caterpillars of Easter N. America page 471
Again- my photo is not that good. I found a better picture of the Banded Tussock Moth Caterpillar here.

Here is Briana with the walnut caterpillar.

This caterpillar fell out of one of the tall trees at the park last week and right down my back! It frightened me until I realized it was a caterpillar. The girls couldn't wait to get him home and put him in their butterfly pavillion. Shortly before that I looked up and saw a very hairy yellow caterpillar crawling on my camera. We left the park with two caterpillars for our nature studies! All of the children (even their playmates we'd met there) were so excited to see these beautiful caterpillars.

We read about the both of them and realized that we hadn't been providing them with the proper nourishment as they both consume woody shrubs and trees-

The walnut caterpillar feeding on: butternut, hickory, pecan, and walnut.

The banded tussock moth caterpillar feeding on: alder, ash, birch, blueberry, chestnut, elm, grape, hackberry, hazel, hickory, oak, walnut, willow, and many other woody shrubs and trees. After studying and sketching them, we decided this morning to let them go so they could obtain better nourishment - they'll need it for their metamorphasis. Here is Briana's amazing watercolor and journal page:

Alyssa caught her favorite insect - the ladybug. She has been in love with these little beetles for some time now. :) She's fascinated with them in a way only a young child full of heart and imagination can be :). As you can tell - it's dear to me. Here you will find a great ladybug picture.
I did not get a picture of the ladybug Alyssa caught because she flew off as soon as she was free from the butterfly pavillion. I have a link to the right side of my blog that is a slideshow of "backyard discoveries" where I thought I had a picture of Alyssa with a ladybug but I couldn't find it. We used the same Peterson First Field Guide - Insects to read about Alyssa's ladybug as we used for Chance's chafer. The ladybug is actually a lady or ladybird beetle. We've seen this before but its so easy to slip back into calling them ladybugs.
According to the guide,

" they... are familiar to everyone as "ladybugs." Their popularity is well deserved as they are among the most helpful insects. Of the 400 North American species only 3 feed on plants. Most of the rest devour vast quantities of agricultural pests such as aphids and scale insects. "

We also looked the ladybug up in a book, National Audubon Society - First Field Guide of Insects

This is actually a nice book - much clearer and easier for young children such as mine - Praise God for the library so that I can review all of these before making purchases. This book had a nice page on the ladybug. Pages 94 & 95 are devoted to the ladybug beetle and its look-alikes. Alyssa was SO pleased that her favorite insects were a help to gardeners! This book give similar information as the Peterson Guide but it was a bit clearer for her.
"One of the best places to find ladybug beetles is on a plant
that is infested with aphids. By devouring these sap-sucking pests, the adult beetle and its black larvae help to protect the host plant. The number of spots a ladybug has depends on the species, not the insects age. Some ladybugs have no spots at all - still others are striped."
This was good information for us both since we've seen so many that have either few spots or no spots and we were curious as to the differences.

Here is Alyssa's watercolor and journal entry:

Another wonderful entry!

I decided to take Barb's advice and paint with the children. To let go of the fact that I'm really not good at it and just enjoy the morning with the kids and relax with them. I was amused the entire morning by our backyard buddies (and sometimes pests!) - the squirrels. We've found we have a lot of "frequent visitors" of both the squirrels and birds that we can expect each day now and I LOVE IT! The squirrels, however, amuse me - that is until I'm filling holes back in with compost, top soil, and mulch where they have dug and pulling out "peanut plants" from my flower beds!! LOL

We were looking at all of my DC's ideas when we noticed our little burgular-

He had decided to send the birds away and jump in their platform feeder to have an extra snack. I had already fed him - mind you. I had filled up a feeder with peanuts, sunflower, and corn kernels and also put out an ear of corn for them. I guess he was still hungry! He stayed here for quite some time - then another joined...

keeping in mind - this 2nd little acrobat is EATING out of a SQUIRREL PROOF feeder!!



Our next little visitor was thirsty and decided it would take time to drink and relax in the bird bath.

This squirrel is one of 2 or 3 that we see that are much smaller in size and have a much thinner, less bushy tail. My DC and I wondered if it was because they were younger - possibly born in a huge mass of leaves and sturdy branches in a pine tree out back that we've been watching. I tried searching online but didn't really find anything. I didn't see anything in the HNS concerning this either. Maybe someone knows and would like to share?

In The Handbook of Nature Study I found this great picture~


I just LOVE the quote I found from The Handbook of Nature Study on page 233 when she opens up her study on squirrels:

"We ought to yield admiring tribute to those animals which have been able to flourish in our midst despite man and his gun, this weapon being the most cowardly and unfair invention of the human mind. The only time that man has been a fair fighter in combating his four-footed brethren was when he fought them with a weapon which he weilded in his hand."

SIDE NOTE--

This is NOT to start a debate on guns or hunting or gun control - afterall my brother is a police officer and MANY of our closest homeschooling friends are military - I just found her introduction o squirrels quite bold and passionate. My opinions on weapons are for another spot - not this post but I thought this really lead into the antics and intelligence of the squirrels - especially since for most people - they've went from the dinner table to the hearts and amusement of their outdoor time. :) She goes on to explain her opinion further - much of which I agree to - but again for a different type of post.

How could anyone resist the antics of these creatures? I sometimes think they are God's comedians when I need a smile or a laugh. They really are quite amusing!

As I read through Ms. Comstock's notes on squirrels in the HNS- as I usually do when we come in from a nature "walk" and have something I want to research - I quite enjoyed all of her squirrel chapter. If you enjoy squirrels in your backyard or park or otherwise- I STRONGLY suggest you read pp. 233-236 at a minimum. I won't go into all of it now as I would probably be copying all three pages here in type! I found myself grinning and giggling and nodding my head in agreement as I read these pages despite myself. My DC must have thought mommy had "lost it" until I explained that I was reading about our "backyard, fury friends" :). I could feel Ms. Comstock's passion for these little creatures that was so similar to my own. We will be studying mammals in the winter so I will obtain more books and information at that time. I started this little ramble here to just express my own interest in them and reason for MY watercolor. Keep in mind - this is not for my talent (or lack of :) but to take Barb's advice (which was spot on) and paint for my enjoyment, positive modeling for my DC, and for thier enjoyment. They really took to mommy painting with them.

Again- I MUST thank Barb for a great challenge. I truly believe starting the morning off with a loving, peaceful out door breakfast was the way to get this nature study rolling. I realize this was a long entry and forgive me but once they were outside - everyone took off in their own direction of interest! It was GREAT! So much knowledge and enjoyment in one morning!

Outdoor Hour Challenge #1 - yep #1

After reading Barb's email a few days ago about going back and working the first few Outdoor Hour Challenges before 'jumping in' - I realized that was something we did not do. Since we've been working on the new flower gardens and :) my DH has been working on my bird feeder 'station' I thought we'd start back a bit.

We were on the way home from gymnastics and tae kwon do classes yesterday afternoon and I mentioned to the children that with all of the outdoor time we'd had as a family in the past couple of weeks - we hadn't taken time to work on our nature notebooks(journals). I asked each of them to tell me (narrate) their favorite nature 'memory' from the past couple of days. They AMAZED me -I am always surprised by the knowledge these little ones hold in and after giving all glory to God for creating such amazing children - I just have yet another confirmation of the educational road we are travelling. The time spent out of doors and the Charlotte Mason style education we've been using has always surpassed my expectations and constantly wipes out my doubts and fears. With Barb's Outdoor Hour Challenges planned out for us - it is just one more step to making things easier and giving us more time to be out of doors together versus sitting inside while I create these nature excursions on my own.

"Be anxious about nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6, 7

As I pray on these things - the Lord undoubtedly answers my prayers. First - with Barb's recent emails of old posts about not becoming overwhelmed and then my discussion in the car with my DC.
As I asked them to narrate their favorite experiences to me - they all had something different that had appealed to them.

Chance (my 6 yo DS) - described his close encounter with our friendly, little Black & White Warbler. This little bird is quite brave in his interactions with us. He appears to be just as interested in us as we are in him.

Chance described (orally) the black & white warbler in surprising detail. I asked him questions about where he saw him and what he was doing and I was quite delighted at the accuracy of his answers.

He then went on to tell him he also LOVED seeing one of the male robins that frequent our feeders.
Tenderly named "Mr. & Mrs. Robin" by dear mom :) these joyful birds visit us daily with such an accurate schedule!! We can ALWAYS anticipate them as SOON as the heat wave breaks in the evening. They begin with a cooling bath/drink in our bird bath and then some hopping all around the feeders' overflowed and spilled seed on the ground. He again described the Robins in detail and went on to tell me about the differences between the male and females. He then couldn't WAIT to sketch both of the birds out for me.

Here are two OLD entries he made in his nature journal from May when we first began studying the Robins...

HNS - We've been studying Robins since the spring when we found the robin's nest in our front tree. They are a common visitor and we've reviewed most of the HNS information on them but it was nice to work on p 62- series g -Summer reading and observations - this was a nice lead in to the summer observations. I LOVE how Ms. Comstock did this section with the robins as we can follow them thier entire season here.
Warblers were not in the HNS but I did manage to find some information on them in All the Birds of North America page 133-

Mniotilta varia 5 1/4" - Numerous in deciduous and mixed woods. Migrates early when trees bare; gleans insects from tree trunks, large limbs. Striped head and body. Male has black cheek patch, female gray. Spring male has black throat. Song: Weesy, weesy, weesy, high-pitched song.

Alyssa chose to tell me about a bird she saw. Unfortunately - I missed the bird so I can only go by her description. She is one of my 5 year old twins and probably
has the least descriptive narrations of the three but she was rather excited
about her bird and rambled on about it :).
She described it as black and white on its head, wings, and back and a yellow breast. She is looking through the All of the Birds of North America book now to try to identify him. This is one I have NOT seen myself outside. :) It is difficult to find anything in the HNS since I'm not quite sure which type of bird she observed. We'll spend some more time together outside trying to look for this bird and pray we observe him again together so I may help her in identifying him.

Briana chose to narrate to me about a butterfly she found and caught. She described a small, yellow butterfly to us that she managed to catch in her bug jar. She then caught a moth and looked at both of them very closely before letting them both go. She found the both of them on the children's marigold flowers.

We have not yet studied butterflies or moths so it brought a new interest into our nature study. She seems very interested in learning more about them.

Here you will find one of the children's marigolds that she found her butterfly on.

I looked up the butterflies in the HNS and did not identify her butterfly to be any located in the book. We pulled out our Usborne Spotter's Guides - Butterflies. We discussed the butterflies' proboscis and its importance.

Amazingly enough- later on in the day - my son and I were outside sitting and we looked at the marigolds to see four of these butterflies on the flowers. As we sat there - we were able to observe the butterflies' 'unroll' thier proboscis and begin probing into the marigold flowers with them. I've known what a proboscis was since I was a child but never really took the time or had the opportunity to sit and watch it in 'action'! It was quite the delight of the afternoon. I am posting some pictures below.

Here's another that really shows his proboscis

Now we need to try to identify these guys! :) It looks like we've got a lot to work on!! :)