Nature Studying our backyard

For any homeschoolers out there I'm not one to call myself a Charlotte Mason style homeschooler. Yet over the years her ways in which she teaches have become more and more appealing to me. The simplicity and the enjoyment of nature study is something we in chaotic rapidly moving Southern California have lost. This week we took time to enjoy spring and watch the beauty come alive in our very backyard.

The boy's made humming bird nectar. A simple concoction of 

• 4 cups of water
• 1 cup of granulated sugar (I messed up and did two and my humming birds love it)

Bring water to a boil, pout in sugar, boil with stirring for 2 more minutes and then let cool before pouring into humming bird feeder. *Take not feeders should be hung high. My sister has her humming bird feeder on a plant pole and she says she doesn't get any birds.

I enjoyed watching the boys problem solve this scenario. Each one took turns playing a step stool for the other. End result....they got the step stool.

We sat outside and watched the humming birds come taste the new batch. We have three humming birds visiting us, we have two feeders yet they fight over this cheap plastic one bought at the dollar store.  

There are a total of three humming birds we've tracked that come visit us. We have identified and nicknamed them. They are "Anna's" humming birds. One is thought to be a female and another male. The third we haven't been able to fully identify. We have nicknamed them Red Neck hence, it's red neck and the other Green Back, as it has a green back. We have seen them many times throughout the day enjoying our homemade nectar. 

Later, we did a nature study on hummingbirds. It was enjoyable seeing my son thrive in learning information and interesting facts on humming birds.

As resources I used the wonderful Pinterest. I found a page that told us how to draw humming birds here . We also used this page to narrow down the type of humming birds in our area, which also provides a free lap book for younger learners. You can access the sheet here. To get further info on the different humming birds with specific details, go to Humming birds. We also used my incredibly helpful Handbook of Nature Study. A must have.

We also took pictures and printed them out for the boys to hang in their rooms. What a great way to build memories and learn through nature.

In exploring our backyard we found this beautiful butterfly dead in the grass. We have now froze him to preserve his color and plan to hang him in our classroom for future nature studies.

One critter I didn't care to do a nature study on was this fella. This alligator lizard lives in our yard and he's a speedy little thing. We have named him Kimmy Gibbler, as he has been found twice now in the house as an UNinvited guest. (Ewwwwww)