“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says “Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.”
Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
This has been our first year adding a nature study to our learning time and we have really enjoyed it.
At first, I was feeling a little guilty about it though. We weren’t getting our lessons in as much as I thought we should {how it is outlined}. BUT I have come to accept something. That is just one of the beauties of homeschooling – you make it work for YOU and YOUR FAMILY.
So that is what we are doing! We are focusing on one “theme” a month and it is working out so much better. And BONUS, we can stretch this curriculum out over a couple years – WIN!
We use Exploring Nature with Children and it is a great addition to our learning!
So here is what we learned about this winter!
Christmas Plants
This was definitely one of my favorite themes we have done in this program. Our area doesn’t really have any “winter” plants {or at least none that I can tell!} and so we looked at a lot of pictures from books and online.
We talked about coniferous trees and what makes them special. But we spent most of our time looking at Holly, Ivy, Mistletoe, Christmas Roses, and Poinsettias. There are some beautiful winter plants.
We read The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie de Paola – SO GOOD! And we observed Christmas Roses by Claude Monet, and read The Holly & The Ivy poem.
To wrap it all up, Jacob and I made salt dough and he made and painted an ornament with a Christmas plant design. Keepsakes are the best.
Winter Sky
For January, our focus shifted upwards towards the SKY!
Our first winter in Wyoming was pretty brutal. It was just plain cold. The wind howled constantly and it didn’t do much to entice us outside of the house.
We drank lots of hot chocolate and read two of my favorite winter books: The Snowy Day by Ezra Keats and Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. I particularly love Snowflake Bentley. It is such a sweet, true story about a man that loved snow and showed the world that each flake is truly unique.
We decided to make an acrostic poem to describe our feelings about winter. I think we pretty much nailed it 😉
Earthworms
At first, I was a little surprised earthworms were included in the winter study – but it was kind of a nice break and gave us something to look for come springtime.
Luckily, we had talked earlier in the year about the different levels of classifying things in science. We reviewed where earthworms fall into the mix.
We definitely don’t have any earthworms around yet, but we read Wonderful Worms by Linda Glasser to get us in the mood!
As we wrapped up our winter nature studies, we listened to “Winter” from ‘The Four Seasons’ by Vivaldi.
Wrap Up
I normally love winter but for some reason this winter was a little rough for me. But this unit was a great reminder of finding the beauty and diversity in all seasons of life.
Past nature studies:
