Outdoor Play

What We Learned From Our First Garden 1.  Get bigger tomato cages. The tomatoes get a lot bigger and heavier than you think they will. 2. Plan ahead a little bit. We started the first garden Mother’s Day weekend 2011, which I’ve learned is kind of late. 3.  Plant more than two okra plants if […]

Winter nature study is just as fun and interesting as any other season, and getting outside in the crisp, cool weather is just the thing to cure the winter-blahs. All you have to do is head outside to find something interesting to observe and study. Winter Nature Study Resources   If you need a little […]

Even if it’s really cold outside, you can still enjoy nature study projects in the winter. So, pull out your nature journals, and bundle up! It’s time to go explore what’s outside in the winter world. 1. Fill up the bird feeder and watch for winter birds. Are they different from the birds you see […]

I’m on a quest to incorporate more outside play into our school days this year. Even though my kids are getting older, there’s always a benefit to going outside and expending some energy. With schoolwork, media, and Minecraft taking so much of their time and attention, I am actually planning “Active Time” in our school […]

The boys were swimming and diving in the pool over the weekend, when a surprise came swimming by. We got an up-close look at this bullfrog, who was enjoying the pool as much as the boys were. It was really huge, and filled up both of my 16-year-old’s hands! Being homeschoolers, of course we had […]

It’s so easy to incorporate nature study into your homeschool schedule, and many times, it just happens spontaneously. Our nature studies take many forms, from drawing in our nature journals to simply observing. How to make the most of spontaneous nature study: Ask your child questions about what he sees. Look closer and observe the details. What […]

It’s gardening time!! One of my favorite times of the year. My youngest son is my farmer in training, and he and I have already been cultivating our seedlings as we anxiously await putting them in the ground. Our raised bed is all prepared, and our little plants are coming along nicely. My mom was […]

My kids attend homeschool art classes throughout the school year, but they go on hiatus for the summer months. This gives us an even greater opportunity to pull out our drawing supplies and head outside and practice the art skills they’ve learned as we await fall classes to begin again. We love to spend time […]

We have so much to discover all around us. We’re fortunate to have a creekside nature trail in our neighborhood that leads to a lake, and we have some forest around us too, so we get to see wildlife regularly. We had to come to a complete stop in the road on the way home […]

Things to Make and Do: A blast from the past! Do you remember McCall’s Magazine? First lady Eleanor Roosevelt once had a regular column in it, and authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ray Bradbury were published in it. McCall’s was a staple in my grandmama’s house, and I looked forward to flipping through her […]

We’ve covered a lot of nature study in our homeschool, and going outside to see what we can see is always the highlight of our day. We take advantage of spontaneous moments, often setting the books aside to spend some time observing and studying marvels of nature. We keep our nature journals and supplies at […]

One of my homeschool mom friends hosted a fall leaves nature study for the kids, and we took advantage of the weather and seasonal changes to create a fall leaves discovery day. These activities were fun for all ages, as we had an age range from 9 to 16 participating. The kids enjoyed being outside most […]