A reader recently commented, "Our nature hikes are not as structured as yours."
Hmmmmm...had to think on that one awhile.
I think sometimes people get confused about the Outdoor Hour Challenges. In our family, the reading and preparation work may be structured with particular topics and page numbers but the nature walks themselves are very unstructured and many times they happen spontaneously.
I always suggest 15-20 minutes for the Outdoor Hour Challenges but once our family gets started we usually spend much more time enjoying the outdoors together.
As we start a new area of focus, I perhaps remind the boys what we are looking for as we head out the door and into the backyard or off down the trail.
I might say something like, "I wonder if we will see any animal tracks today?"
Or something like, "Have you seen any wildflowers blooming yet?"
Many times though, as we work through a focus area we find that something else will capture our attention.
When we were in the desert, we were looking for tracks and burrows but when the wildflowers and lizards came across our path, we spent most of our time slowing down to observe what had caught our eye.
I noted before that the boys will let me know when I am interfering with their nature time. Not so much with their words but they will wander off on their own and enjoy the air and peace and quiet and leave me to my own investigation.
My husband and I enjoy our own nature study when the boys have decided climbing rocks and being silly are much more fun.
They enjoy nature study "tools" as well and they bring along whatever they think will be fun for the afternoon. Sometimes it is a pair of binoculars, sometimes the GPS, and sometimes the portable weather station. I just let them do their own thing and I do mine....which usually involves my camera and my nature journal.
For those of you that participate in the Outdoor Hour Challenges, please note that I have had HUGE computer issues this weekend and I am in the process of backing up ALL my files from my laptop because of some sort of spyware/adware/virus that has taken it over. My computer literate son is hoping to get it up and running tonight. This means that I am pressed for writing the Outdoor Hour Challenge for this week......new focus on birds. I haven't even started yet so unless I get a huge block of time between now and Friday, I may need to take a break this week and come back next week with a new challenge. I will keep you posted. (This all happened after I added my new blog background on Saturday from Cutest Blog on the Block....rather suspicious but I am not absolutely positive at this point if that is where it came from....just a caution.)
The other note that I wanted to share is with the new focus on birds, I am going to be attempting to help you start using a field guide. I have two that I think will work well together and provide field guide experience on two different levels.
If you want to use the recommended resources, I will list them below and you can see if you have them already on your shelf or if you can find them at your library. They will not be absolutely necessary to complete the challenges but if you want a great way to teach your children about field guides, I highly recommend getting one of them or both of them to supplement the Handbook of Nature Study.
I think we are all ready for a change of focus. I had a lot of requests for switching to birds this time around so I hope some of you will be happy with what I have planned and then with what you learn alongside your children.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
For younger children and/or beginning birders.
This field guide is the one that our family uses the most lately. You may need to purchase the Eastern version of the field guide for you family depending on where you live in the United States.
