Nature Study Follow-Up

On our walk today I answered one of the questions from our list for the Handbook of Nature Study's Autumn Series-Winter Jumpstart Challenge, which I posted here.

Today's Question: What are the horned owl's nesting habits? Do horned owls migrate? They especially want to know if we will be able to find and watch the nestlings again this year.


Earlier this week I reviewed some excellent information about the Great Horned Owl at the following websites:


The Owl Pages - Forest Preserve District of Cook County - The Great Horned Owl

Answer: Great Horned Owls do not build nests of their own, but will overtake an abandoned nest. Nesting season is January-February, lay 2-4 eggs at a time which incubate 26-35 days. Families stay together during the summer, nestlings leave in the fall, adults remain in their breeding grounds year-round. Average home ranges are about 1 square mile.

So we have a good chance of seeing the owls again this next year. Hopefully we will be able to find their nest again.


Here are some of my previous posts about our owl family: First Sighting, Getting up close & Owl Pellets .

My kids reminded me of how we first found the owls- I was pointing and talking about some other birds when my daughter said there was an owl. I, of course, corrected her and continued to tell them all about the birds I was talking about, only to be corrected myself when I realized she was pointing at a different tree with real owls!! Originally I thought it was 2 adults, but we later determined there were 3 nestlings and the parents were usually away from the nest when we came to visit in the early evenings.

On our walk we were very sad to find that one of the trees where we had spotted our owl family had fallen over. The kids are hoping the owls will come back to the same nest. I hope we haven't scared them off.

We walked down to the trees and found lots of evidence of the owls from the past year- owl pellets, feathers, bones, and this handsome skull.

My kids couldn't resist climbing in the fallen tree.
In the tree still standing we were able to see the large nest high in the branches.

And I couldn't resist sharing this video of our darling Dade, hopping through the snow like a rabbit.

It was good to be out, trudging through the snow and breathing the fresh air.

EEEEK!!

We are starting our next school semester on Monday, January 4th!

Are we ready??

Am I ready??

Happy St. Lucia's Day!!

One thing we do in December that I forgot to mention is celebrating some other holidays. We do this to learn more about other countries and cultures, but also to help make December a more special time.

Today, December 13, is St. Lucia's Day. You can read the story of St. Lucia here, and another version here. A more fictional, kid-friendly version here with a St. Lucia paper doll (just found this site and it has lots of beautiful crafts/ideas- can't wait to explore it more!).

You can go here to learn more about the holiday.

Some years we have had more elaborate celebrations, but mostly we keep it simple. We make a paper crown for N with green leaves and candles. We make cinnamon rolls of the Pillsbury variety (this year we also did caramel rolls - yum!) and we also have hot cocoa and juice. We light candles and turn out the lights. Then N serves everyone their breakfast and we talk about the story of St. Lucia while we eat.

Go here to for a great idea for the crown/hats, and some more links about this holiday.

We also usually celebrate St. Nicholas' Feast Day on December 6, but this year we forgot :(.

Here is a list, and another list, of other holidays to learn about in December -- December 18th is Wear a Plunger on your Head Day!!

Christmas Plans

What fun things are you doing this Christmas season?


This year my kids are making some the presents they will give away (mostly to grandparents). I sort of had visions of them being really excited about it and getting them done fast enough to make some for lots of family and friends, but I was delusional. Maybe if we start in January they can do this next year. They are willing and happy to work on their projects most of the time, but they are also kids and get frustrated when things don't go the way they want. And I'm not going to ruin any surprises by telling everyone what we are making, but here are some hints . . .

We usually make some kind of new ornament each year. Last year the kids colored these wooden ornaments from a craft store, but this year we hot glued pinecones to ribbon. We are not elaborate crafters.

The kids were given this advent calendar at church. I found it online at Sugardoodle - a great website with lots more ideas (and wonderful helps for many church callings)!! I love how it has pictures to go with each day.

LDS About.com Advent figures - I printed these out, let the kids color them, cut them out, and they are using them like paper dolls to act out the story.

We are also singing favorite Christmas hymns (i.e. the ones the kids know) during our morning devotionals. Even O and J are singing Christmas Bells with us. And we are working on classic favorites, such as Jingle Bells and Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. I also like to play the Christmas cd's we have.

I love Christmas stories, so we are reading lots of these as well!!

Our favorite is Hilary Knights The Twelve Days of Christmas (I love her Cinderella too - I remember reading it as a kid!!)

And favorite movies!!!

Frosty the Snowman, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Prancer, The Little Princess, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and so many more!!

Autumn Series: Winter Jumpstart

Outdoor Hour Challenge- Autumn Series: Winter Nature Study Jumpstart

For those who aren't aware, we have been going through a crazy time, well, more crazy than normal. My daughter (almost 3) fell out of a shopping cart and ended up with a skull fracture, spending a couple days in the hospital, and needing close supervision the last couple weeks. She is doing wonderful, though not 100% yet- she does get occasional headaches and tires out quicker than before, but she is up and playing, fighting with her siblings, and asserting her personality, so her recovery looks great. School has been down to the bare minimum, and we are slowly getting back into the swing of things. My older kids and I have been able to go for a few walks, and we were able to do the last Autumn Series challenge over the weekend.

I made our list in the form of questions my kids asked as we went along:

1. What do the deer do in winter (mule deer in our area)?

2. Do mourning doves migrate?

3. What are the horned owl's nesting habits? Do horned owls migrate? They especially want to know if we will be able to find and watch the nestlings again this year.

4. How was this ditch made? (water/erosion)

5. What are the predators in our area?

6. What birds are in our area during the winter?

7. What happens to cactus during the winter?

This gives us plenty to learn about when we are inside on cold winter days!!!

More details/info on O can be found at our family blog: Our Days

Devotional

We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (also known as LDS or mormons) and so our devotional materials reflect this.

Each year the church puts out an outline for the Primary (kids age 3 - 11) to use in weekly Sunday meetings and for a Primary program in the Fall. I use the suggested monthly themes, scriptures, and songs for the opening of our devotional, and we work on memorizing them as well. Here are the links for 2009 and 2010.

Then we read the scriptures together. We are currently reading the Book of Mormon using The Book of Mormon for Latter-Day Saint Families (I found it on clearance for $20-did not pay full price!!) using Penny Gardner's Scripture Highlights. Once we finish this we will be using this Book of Mormon Study Guide together, but that may be for our family scripture study and we would start the Bible for devotional using Penny's other scripture highlights.

We read from Gospel Principles, a manual covering the basics of our beliefs. We cover about one chapter each week.

I also think church history is very important, so I try to find ones that are kid appropriate. In the spring we read Stories from the Life of Joseph Smith, and now we are reading The Lord Needed a Prophet.

Then we alternate reading a few other resources:
A Story to Tell
LDS magazine for kids- The Friend
A Hive of Busy Bees
Wisdom and the Millers
(The last two are Menonite, but are great moral stories)

We try to do our devotional each morning, even non-school days. It takes about 30 minutes and really sets the tone for our day.

UPDATE (11-10-09): I forgot to mention some other links-

LDS Resources
Milestone's Academy devotional page. There are many wonderful ideas and plans- some I have used, some I haven't, some we will, and some we won't!

School of Abraham- Many wonderful links to check out.

Other Religious Resources
Ambleside Online addresses church history in each individual year, and has a hymn rotation schedule for memorization.

Simply Charlotte Mason has bible study in their history module, scripture memory packs, personal development, and hymn study as well.

School Motto

We are using the motto Charlotte Mason gave her own students for our school motto.

Here is a link to the motto explanation at Ambelside Online.

Here is the link to the poster I have made for our school room wall. It hangs above our schedule so we can review it every day as part of our Opening Exercises.

Here is where I found the information for our poster:

The first part of each section is from the author of the Milestone's Academy curriculum (I couldn't find it on her website so I may have gotten it from the milsteonesacademy yahoo group).

Here is a link to Donna's Journey for some of the scripture references. Some of them aren't the same, but I know I found my list of scriptures from Donna through the LDS-CMers yahoo group. Update (11-10-09): I found a list of the scriptures at the Moor House Academy site, which Donna founded- scroll down to The Moor House Academy Affirmation.