Challenge #7

Last Friday, we completed Challenge #7. The above is a picture of our little tree in the backyard that we decided to study all year long. We think it is an ash tree, but the jury is still out on that one.

We all enjoyed the blue, blue sky of autumn and the tree's yellow leaves against that beautiful blue backdrop. We noticed this time that our little tree is losing its leaves rapidly, the air is getting colder, and fall is slowly turning into winter here.

Challenge #6

Yesterday we completed Challenge #6 over at the Handbook of Nature Study blog. We have decided to study a tree in our backyard for the entire year which looks much like the ones we have at our local park. The days here in ABQ have been picture perfect, so we once again took our studies to the park.

Part of the challenge of nature studies is to get everyone outdoors to enjoy God's creation. I have noticed that on the days we get outside for a little while, everyone's mood and attitude is much better-- including my own!

Chloe commented, "Mom, I feel so free when I can feel the sand between my toes!"

Perfect place to practice ballet

Abby getting a running start for a round-off. We all feel certain she'll add that back hand spring soon!

Some of the best things about fall and the outdoors are jumping in a pile of leaves, and

climbing trees!

Challenge #6 contains suggestions for collections, and the kids have already been bringing a little of the outdoors inside. Our collection box is nothing fancy--just an old shoe box!

In trying to encourage the kids in keeping their own nature journal, I've started one of my own.

Bringing Autumn Indoors

We had such a good time at 4th of July Canyon on Saturday that we just had to bring some of it home with us. Today, we finally got some time to craft with our leaves, acorns, and seeds. First, I cut out a small circle (about 8 inches in diameter) from heavy cardboard. Then, I cut a smaller hole in the middle. The kids then painted the ring with a thick coat of green tempera paint.

Once the paint dried, we strategically hot glued the leaves, acorns, and seeds that we found on our hike to our wreath.

Here is our finished product. Now I just have to find a place to hang them!

We still had some left over leaves that we couldn't part with, so we ironed them between sheets of waxed paper and hung them on our sliding glass door giving them a stained-glass effect. If you decide to do this with your kids, I discovered that you should use a low temp. iron, and only go over the wax paper once. You'll be tempted to go over it several times with the iron, but doing so will loosen the wax paper and it won't stick.

Manzano Moutains: 4th of July Canyon

Isaiah 55:12 "For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Honey Eating Bee

The Botanic Gardens held their annual Fall Harvest Festival this past Saturday here in ABQ. To see pictures of the apple cider making and other things we did, check out Allison's blog. I just had to post this picture that I took (The kids didn't like being around the bee lady.). She allowed this bee to eat honey right off of her finger!

Challenge #5

We just completed week 6 of school, and have made it to challenge #5 in our nature studies! I'm very excited that we have been able to keep our nature studies an important part of our school week. If you haven't checked out Barb's Handbook of Nature Study blog, you really need to get over there and check it out! I think our focus area is going to be trees and leaves since fall is in the air, and we are spotting more and more colorful leaves everyday. This little guy, however, caught Grant's eye today.

Leaf rubbings are so fun to do!

Rio Grande Nature Center

Today we drove to Albuquerque's nature center to see what they had to offer. We saw beautiful Cottonwood trees changing colors.

Wow! That's a big tree trunk!

We finally snapped a picture of a roadrunner. They are quick little birds!

Barn Owl