Milkweed and the Red Milkweed Beetle

This is the milkweed plant

We walked to Summerfield Park on the trail and my Mom saw a pretty wildflower growing in the field. We looked at it closely and saw an insect on it.We had trouble finding it on the computer, but Mom asked some friends and they helped.
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2013/08/01/milkweed-longhorn/ This website made it their bug of the month for August. It is a type of Milkweed Longhorn. A red and black spotted beetle called a Red Milkweed Beetle. They feed on the leaves of the milkweed plant.

Hiking at Yellowwood State Forest

On the Jackson Creek Trail

We took a long drive today and went to a state forest we had never been to before. We looked at all of the campsite and the huge lake. We might camp there soon. Then we went on a hike in the woods. It was 1.5 miles and took us an hour because we stopped so much to look at the trees and other plants. My Mom and Dad took turns carrying my little brother because he got tired half way through. There were 23 markers on the trail telling people about the plants in that area.

This is Jewel weed, it is a natural treatment 

for poison ivy. 

If you put the leaf in water the underside will look silver and shine.

We also saw wild mushrooms growing in the woods. I love to eat mushrooms, but Mom said some are poisonous and she didn't know about this kind so I didn't eat it.

The Jackson Creek was dammed in the 1930's and it created the Yellowwood Lake. In the creek beds you can find different types of fossils and geodes. I brought one home.

My Dad, brother and I on the dock of Yellowwood Lake

Mom, brother and I on the bridge over the creek

Looking for fossils in the creek bed 

X marks the spot, moss covering the fallen trees

A walk to the park

Trumpet vine growing on a fence

We walked to the park down the street since it wasn't hot today. On the way we saw a trumpet vine. The flowers are pink and orange. 

 We also stopped to look at a Rose of Sharon bush. It is a member of the hibiscus family. I liked this one the best.

Counting rings

At the entrance to the park there was a huge tree stump. I counted the rings to see how old it was before they cut it down to make a road. I got to 53 rings. Mom said it was a shame they cut it down. She said they could have moved the road over a couple of feet and saved the big tree. I don't like for people to cut down trees. We need trees for oxygen to breath. If there were no trees we would all die.

Oh honey, honey bee

I like bees. This bee is covered in pollen from the black eyes susan flowers. I learned a lot about bees when I went to a honey farm with my homeschool group in June. This is a worker bee. He goes out and brings back pollen to turn into honey and help feed the colony. Bees are very important pollinators. They spread pollen so plants can fertilize and make fruit or seed. If a bee flies around you just stay still. Don't kill bees.

July 18, 2013 Cicadas!

                                               Holding the Cicada Nymph exoskeletons we found under the trees




Today we went to the park by the library with our friends. While we were playing under the trees we found lots of cicada exoskeletons. I kept calling them locusts, because that is what I thought they were until we got home and looked them up. Locust and Cicadas are very similar. These were cicada though.
Cicada nymphs live underground for up to 17 years drinking sap from tree roots. Then they dig their way up with sharp claws. When they get to the surface they molt and fly away with new wings. 

                                                                                 My friend Destiny and I with the cicadas  

July 17, 2013 it's HOT outside!

It is the hottest week of the year so far. I mean 85 at 9:00am HOT. So we went to a park early. Trai wanted to go to a park with no shade, we compromised on this partially shady park. We only stayed about 20 mins. And when we left we were covered in sweat, but they both played a little and did a short nature study on the flowers, trees and insects nearby. ~ MommaGina

                                                                         You can see the flowers and shady area in the distance

Today is hot. We played a little at a park and saw flowers and bumble bees. Here is a picture my Mom took of a bumble bee on a cone flower. This is a good picture. 

We also saw a big tree that I could not put my arms around. There were bugs crawling on the bark.
I didn't want to touch it, but Rhys did.

 

July 11, 2013 Nature Walk in the woods

                                                                       Running down a trail in the woods

Today we went to a park near our house and walked on the trails in the woods. We got there about 9:30am to beat the heat. There weren't many flowers, but lots of trees and neat looking leaves. I found one I really liked on the path. When we got home we looked it up and saw it was from a sycamore tree.

                                                             Holding the sycamore leaf

American sycamores grow over most of the eastern United States. They can grow to be 130ft tall.  In 1770 George Washington recorded a sycamore while traveling along the Ohio River where it meets the Kanawha River in West Virginia that was 45 ft in circumference.
Below is a map showing where the American sycamore grows.

Why make a blog?

Our first official day of the new school year was July 8, 2013. We started early so we can take free days throughout the year and still meet our requirement of 180 days of instruction by the end of April 2014.
This blog is a part of our curriculum for the year. We are following the Charlotte Mason Method and using a guide supplied for free at www.amblesideonline.org You can check it out if you are interested.
Charlotte Mason was an educator in the late nineteenth century.
"Her method, the Charlotte Mason method, is centered around the idea that education is three-pronged: Education is an Atmosphere, a Discipline, a Life.
By “Atmosphere,” Charlotte meant the surroundings in which the child grows up. A child absorbs a lot from his home environment. Charlotte believed that atmosphere makes up one-third of a child’s education.
By “Discipline,” Charlotte meant the discipline of good habits — and specifically habits of character. Cultivating good habits in your child’s life make up another third of his education.
The other third of education, “Life,” applies to academics. Charlotte believed that we should give children living thoughts and ideas, not just dry facts. So all of her methods for teaching the various school subjects are built around that concept.
For example, Charlotte’s students used living books rather than dry textbooks. Living books are usually written in story form by one author who has a passion for the subject. A living book makes the subject “come alive.”She encouraged spending time outdoors, interacting with God’s creation firsthand and learning the living ways of nature." ~ taken directly from www.simplycharlottemason.com
We are going to be conducting outdoor nature studies 1-3 times per week throughout the school year. Our blog is to keep track of all we have seen and learned about. Trai is helping me write it by journaling and then doing some of the typing on the blog. So this blog is a collaboration of us both since he is still a little too young to type it all and think of all we are going to say.

July 9, 2013 Nature Walk

                                                      We found some yellow goats beard while walking in the meadow this morning.

This morning we went on our nature walk at a local park. We got there about 9:30am and went looking for three different types of wildflowers to photograph and learn about. When we got home we looked them up in our field guide.
The first one we found was yellow goats beard. It is a member of the daisy family. It has grass like leaves but resembles a dandeloin.
The next one we came across was a bloodroot flower. They like shady areas and have heart shaped leaves. Native Americans used the red liquid from their roots as an ink or for paint.

                                                                                         Bloodroot flower

Then we saw a lot of red clover in the fields. It can be used to make tea. Deer love to eat it too!