Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Autumn Nature Study

Thanksgiving is fast approaching.  It's a good time to reevaluate where the year is going and what we want to have more of.  This year, we had a lot of art and nature study.  We don't do this every day, nor do we have a set schedule for doing it.  We often take a hike and make 4 nature journal entries that week, then don't make any at all the next week because it was rainy and yucky outside.  It's an art.  Like any other art, it is dependent on mood, weather, season, etc.  But after a few years, the books fill up, and wow!  What an incredible hobby it has turned out to be!

Here are a few entries for this autumn:


One nature study subject came quite out of the blue... he was in our Costco shopping cart!

We learned that the Praying Mantis changes its color during its molt based on the colors around them.  They are not like chameleon, where they can just change at any time, but in years where there is far more yellow than green, the mantis will change during a molt to adapt to its surroundings!  Because this spring was so wet and this summer so dry, we had a lot of very tall, very yellow grass.  I believe the mantis adapted to that environmental change and many of them turned yellow!

It was a very cool subject, because none of the Mantis in the books were yellow.  Not one.




It has been so fun to do this beautiful art with the kids.  It has always been my favorite subject!
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Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Halloween 2017 - Hogwarts Edition

A Hogwarts Halloween!  We love fantasy and this series is so beautifully written that I have read it several times.  This year we allowed the kids to watch the first couple movies of Harry Potter and Logan was hooked.  So we all decided to have a Hogwarts Halloween!  
This owl costume caused a bit of controversy.  Just days before Halloween, Luke watched a Wild Kratts on Snowy Owls and discovered that the boy Snowy Owls are not speckled like Hedwig, Harry's owl from the movies.  In fact, Hedwig was a girl.  So about half way through the making of this costume, he changed his mind and wanted to be pure white.  "Because I'm a boy!"  Can't argue with that...  ;) 
It took some doing but by the end of the week we had a beautiful boy snowy owl costume.
We all chose the Hogwart's House that fit us best.  Cyan, with all her many animals and plant loves, chose Hufflepuff!
Logan, my extrovert warrior, chose Gryffindor!
We all had a great time trick-or-treating with friends and handing out candy!

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