Pre Green hour #4

Here we are! Week 4 and challenge 4! I cant believe we have been doing this for an entire month now! *Ü* We have hardly scratched the surface of what we can learn and explore, but I look forward to this being a long lived habit in our home. Nature walks rule! Even if it is right outside my back door. *Ü*


In this challenge we were asked to read again from our faithful Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Comstock.... this week were to read form pages 10 and 11:

The use of scientific names.

What jumped out at me during this reading was this

" The child should never be required to learn the name ofanything in nature-study work; but the name should be used so often and so naturally in his presence that he will learn it with out being conscious of the process."

This means for me, I will be reading and learning a lot! Good thing I’m interested or we might not learn a thing! *Ü* It also means that the walks and exposure are very important and should also become a natural part of our day. Not daily if I can’t... but routinely a few times a week.

I read in one of Barbs recent posts (Fitting it all in)that Barb and her children go for walks daily, but only once a month do the actual Nature Study and it becomes a day long event. This is more along the lines of how I envisioned our study... although I had never thought about only doing one long day of Nature study.... Reading Barbs post just reconfirmed my desires I guess.... and I’m so grateful we have someone to help us and guide us on this new journey.... It is a journey!

Ok... Now for pages 13-15 The Field Notebook

I am enjoying this large book! For years I have had it and been so intimidated by it.... I felt lost every time I opened it! I even bought a very old copy when I found one at a thrift store... and on my shelf it sat..... I’m grateful for the guidance and small bits to chew on...

" b) The making of drawings to illustrate what is observed should be encouraged. A graphic drawing is far better than a long description of a natural object.

c) The notebook should not be regarded as a part of the work in English. The spelling, language and writing of the notes should all be exempt from criticism.

d) As occasion offers, outlines for observing certain plants or animals may be placed in the notebook previous to the field excursion so as to give definite points for the work."

Again... things I need to hear and ideas I want to glean from!The challenge this week was to pick a focus area for our study. We looked online at Ambleside and decided our focus would be garden flowers and garden vegetables (not weeds unless it suits our fancy). So for the next 6- 8 weeks this will be our focus.

I’m very excited. We built our home almost 2 years ago, and we have little landscaping or flowers, we also do not have a garden. So this Spring we will be working on this.... gardening!I went to Barnes and Noble and splurged a bit! At Barbs recommendations.... I wanted to look at 2 books, the first one is called

Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew

and The Graden Primer by Barbara Damrosch.

The 2 are really for me, but after reading over a bazillion books today I think RyLee will enjoy the square foot gardening book too. We also bought a field guide to wild flowers just because.... but still need a good book for garden flowers... know of any good ones to suggest?? We are in Washington State. I am still on the look out...


We went for a walk today... down our road and back.... it was about 1 mile total. I didnt bring the camera, we did bring the dog! That in itself was an adventure... We are going to a nursery on Thursday to pick out a few plants and we will be planting some seadlings tomorrow for our garden.... We will post on that too and as they change.


To visit more great green hour challenge posts please visit barbs site at The Heart of Harmony.