All the wonder of springtime is hidden in the bud of a waiting flower; and when you come on millions of them at once – well, you just hold your breath and give yourself over to the marvel. ~ Amy Mack (A Bush Calendar, pg. 104). (Winter’s) resting time is over, and millions upon millions of little buds are justing…
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I wonder if you are finding it hard to incorporate nature study into your week? Some of you are not living next door to the beach, rain forest, or national park. Going out with your little ones may seem a little too hard. I understand, I’ve been there. I know you want to feel the freedom of being outside, of…
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Have you ever considered how much math you can cover as you study the weather? From the graceful arc of the rainbow, the incredible formations of the clouds, to the seasonal variation in temperature, come on a weather discovery adventure with me and add some math to your day. Because we have such long dry summers, when it rains, it…
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We are all living in a strange time of forced lock-downs and controlled movement. You may be feeling like nature study is harder than ever. Or it may not be the lock-down that is preventing you from getting out and about. It could be sickness or the logistics of getting many little ones ready to go on a walk. I…
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I wonder if you have ever stopped to watch an earthworm? What do you notice? I thought it might be fun to include some math in our observation of earthworms this week. Our focus was measurement and statistics. Can you measure a worm? This is the question I asked my children. My 14 year old was adamant that it wasn’t…
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“Higher up the bank a host of red spider flowers jig like living things to the music of the wind.” Amy Mack – A Bush Calendar Usually, when we think of searching for wildflowers we think of Spring. But in Amy Mack’s A Bush Calendar, we are introduced to an amazing array of beautiful flowers gracing the Australian bush in…
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Do you like searching for mushrooms? This Fly Agaric is such a pretty mushroom, but it’s not one you would want to eat. Australia has some amazing fungi but some are deadly. While this Fly Agaric will probably not kill you, the Death Cap (Amanita phalloides) might. I enjoy searching for mushrooms and photographing fungi, but when I want to…
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Are you interested in finding out more about the Banksia plant? This week, we are spending time with A Handbook for A Bush Calendar: Lesson 35 is all about Banksia Flowers. I love how Amy Mack describes her arms are full of flowers and she just can’t resist stopping at a Banksia to collect some of their spectacular flowers to…
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It’s migration time again. Every year, birds that we have become accustomed to seeing, disappear. It seems that as the cooler weather comes, some birds leave our backyards and travel north, to warmer weather and plentiful food sources. Here in Victoria, where I live, we are used to seeing Pardalotes, Honeyeaters, Silvereyes and Wattlebirds. Now these nectar feeders and insectivores…
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Have you wondered how geckos are able to climb smooth surfaces and crawl upside down? How do geckos magnetize themselves to any kind of surface? What makes their feet so sticky, without leaving a print? Did you know that everything around you is made up of atoms? When God created the universe, He first made atoms and then used them…
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The exterior angles (one per vertex) of a certain convex polygon with n sides are obtuse. What is the value of n? Ummmm….. could you repeat that in English please? Does Math vocabulary bewilder you? One way we can help our kids to not be afraid of math is to teach them the language of math. When they become familiar…
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