A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

child-led learning

Nature Study Bring Alongs

By 13 Comments

I was chatting with a gal in my Facebook Group the other day about nature study and things to bring along with you when you go.  I thought it might be helpful to share with you what my nature study bring alongs would be.

Bring alongs would include such things as sketch pads, cell phone, nature books, writing instruments, magnifying glass or travel microscope, and a note pad.   Let’s talk about why these things are important.   This post will include affiliate links where possible.

Nature Study Bring Along, tiger bee fly on a wall

As I wrote this post I was thinking about 10 ways you could engage in nature study summer.  I was thinking about how have a go to nature study bag is vital to that.  I know the summer is a bit more than half way through but pretty soon autumn will be here and that’s a SUPERB time to get out into nature.   It’s so important to have a bag ready to go, meaning that on those hard to school days you can just grab up the kids and hit one of the local trails. 

Sketch pads

Why do you need a sketch pad?   Because you need one! 

Jotting down notes, doing a quick outline so you can remember important features of the plant/animal/insect/bird/fungi/water thingey so you can look it up when you go home.

OR to simply take time to do a detailed drawing of that interesting leaf, to do an image in relief of tree bark, leaf, etc.  

A Sketch pad is an invaluable addition to your nature study book bag.  I learned that for me and my lad that the smaller ones worked better for us than the big pads.  We could fit two into a smaller bag making for lighter travelling.  We tended to like the side bound ones but we have friends who like the top bound. 

You can get good quality pads, or do the cheapies from the dollar store. whatever fits your budget.  The important thing is the preservation of what you see, and the… taking  of the moment to really look at what’s out there. 

Cell phone

Do you HAVE to have a cell phone?  Of course not.  We did plenty of walks without the phone but I found it easiest to answer the lad’s questions immediately and I loved using the notebook feature to jot down questions I couldn’t quickly answer.   Answering one question would often lead to another question, whereas taking notes and saying let’s look when we get home stifled further questions when the desire was right there!

But having a cellphone with an active data plan was great for those spontaneous questions that I didn’t always have the answer to. 

My current phone is a umidigi f1 and I love it!   No bloat ware, fast, does everything I want it to for the fraction of what some of the name brands cost.  An excellent phone that I am so glad I got the case for as this one goes with me everywhere.  It has saved my phone more than once.

Nature books

Okay, honestly, we never brought along nature books.  We occasionally brought nature cards along with us and a couple times “make art from things in nature” books along.  Mostly though, we just grabbed pen and paper and off we went.   BUT I know that some people greatly benefit from bringing along their nature books.  

When we go camping I bring along these books.  

Writing instruments

You will need something to write with.  I like bringing along both pen and pencil. My preference is for pencil but they so often break that having a working pen along just helps with notetaking.  The pencil though serves not only for taking notes but for making quick sketches as well.   I never bring my best along with me because losing things is something TOO easy for me to do.  Always bring along one extra.  You’ll need it!  🙂   An eraser might be a good idea too!

bloom blooming blossom blur
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Magnifying glass or travel microscope

You know those cheap little magnifying glasses you can get?  They work GREAT for nature study.  Looking into the cracks on trees to find small insects or spiders, getting up close to mosses, examining the spores on ferns, and just about anything else.  Take the time to examine the minutae.  You won’t regret it.  God has provided so much variety, and yet, so many interconnections between species.  It will blow your mind.  

IF you want a slightly more indepth look on your nature studies… then bring along a traveling microscope.  They make them in all size now it’s amazing.  The first time I saw what a small hand-held microscope could do I was stunned. 

You can get pocket microscopes or digital microscopes.   These allow for greater clarity and closer inspection of what you are looking at.  I wish I’d had one when the lad was little.  The amazement we could have shared! 🙂 

Note pad

A note pad, scratch pad, old paper, whatever you want.  Have something on which you can take a quick note, particularly if you don’t want to the waste the paper is a good quality sketch pad.  Jot down those questions from your children (or even yourself) so you can look up the information later.   You will never regret having spare paper along with you. 

Anything Else?

What you bring along depends on where you are going.  If on a longer hike you’ll want to bring water and some sort of travel food with you.  If going on QUITE a long hike, a compass, map of the area, extra clothing, an emergency blanket and a first aid kit would come in handy. 

But for your average, let’s go to the park or the local small bush type hike, these are the basics of what you’ll need.  I’ve learned it’s great to bring along a plastic bag for garbage you see along the way.  And another bag for any not damaging to nature items you want to bring home… like a pretty rock, empty pine cone, or some deadfall leaves.

Plan to leave the world a better place than you found it right?

Have I missed anything you consider essential to doing nature study?  What nature study bring alongs would you add?  

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses shares My Must Have Homeschool Resources.

Kristen @ A Mom’s Quest to Teach shares Homeschooling Must Have Resources and Supplies in Our Home.

Annette @ A Net in Time shares Nature Study Bring Alongs.

Jessica @ My Homeschool with a View shares My Top 5 Homeschool Supplies.

Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag shares Must Have Supplies … For Mom.

Vicki B @ Tumbleweed News shares Homeschool Must Have Resources / Supplies.

Yvonne @ The Life We Build shares her Top 5 Favorite Homeschool Supplies and Resources.

Lori @ At Home: Where Life Happens shares Homeschool Supplies… Squirrel.

blog hop 2020

Propaganda of World War 1

By 8 Comments

My son has been LOVING doing research papers.  He’s just finished a rather significant one of poison gas, and as he finished he asked “what’s next mom?”  I mentioned we hadn’t talked about propaganda and how it was handled during the war and he was immediately intrigued.   Since it was our research week we set to. 

propaganda in world war 1

First we Watched Videos

Three types of propaganda

  1. Homefront – for people at home
  2. Front – to increase morale among your troops andweaken it in the enemy
  3. Foreign  – to counter the propaganda of the enemy

Censorship and propaganda often went hand in hand.

It was thought that film could easily be used as a method of propaganda even though it was still fairly new.  But it was very difficult to get film of war battles.  They needed permission, subject to censorship, hard to carry and set up, and light sensitive (most battles happened at night). 

Posters were most often directed at men with national emblems surrounding a healthy modern Canadian man.  Shaming posters were also used.  

We enjoyed the sheer variety in the posters. From the Victory Bond posters, to the enlist now. The different units like the Canadian Irish Rangers. We noted that some WW2 posters were slipped in as well.

You want to show the enemy as beatable, and yet you also want to show him as formidable.   Finding that balance was often difficult. 

Then we took to the books

He read selections from these books.

My goal was to have him research one of the foci of propaganda and then do up a poster showing what he learned.   He wants to do this BUT he also wants to write a paper.  I imagine it will take him two weeks to be happy with his research and the paper he comes up with. In the meantime I will learn lots about wartime propaganda! 🙂

Others in this Series

Poison Gas in World War 1

By 7 Comments

Did you know that France was actually the first company to use poison gas in World War 1? I didn’t either. Learn more amazing facts in the video below.

Welcome to Our study of Poison Gas of World War 1.

poison Gas of world war 1

My son has been longing to tackle this topic but I deliberately held it off until the nicer weather. I’ve been imagining my son wanting to make smoke bombs and what not to test wind patterns. Nice weather makes that a whole lot easier to do eh? 🙂

BUT on to our study. We watched a number of videos. 🙂

Types of gas used

  • tear gas – not truly dangerous, more of a nuisance
  • chlorine gas – burning eyes, nose, mouth
  • phosgene gas, sometimes mixed with chlorine gas killed 85% of all gases used.
  • mustard gas – the most painful of all gases

Learning about Chlorine gas

Phosgene gas. 85% of all people who died from Chemical warfare died from this gas. Freshly mown gas smell. 80,000 people.

Mustard Gas. Though in this video the creator was wrong in stating that the Germans started the poison gas attacks. They did grab onto the idea rather firmly though. Mustard gas was named for its yellow-brown colour and mustard smell. It was a nasty gas which didn’t dissipate easily and would sink to lower levels and stuck around for years. Exposure to skin contact leads to blistering and burns. It could be very disfiguring.

Learning about the disfigurement of mustard gas led us to learn about Anna Coleman Watts/Ladd and her work making masks for these poor soldiers.

Videos My Son Picked:

This only the first half of this video is on poison gas.

The history of Fritz Haber. Haber was a Jewish German Chemist who thought that chemical warfare would end the war more quickly. Even though it didn’t. He never apologized for his work or actions. As a Jew he was later unwelcome in Hitler’s Germany. He died in Switzerland from a heart attack. He found himself unwelcome in many places due to his work in chemical warfare.

Small box Respirator. This video led us to learn more about the small box respirator through the Canadian War Museum. I think, Lieutenant Dockar, a Canadian, wrote this article. We learned a good bit reading that article. Close up’s of the SBR can be found here.

Reading

The lad did some reading from various books and downloaded product.

Other posts about world  war one

Model Airplanes, Progress

By 5 Comments

Do you remember we’ve been studying the airplanes of world war 1? We each had planes we were interested in. My son found eindecker a curious plane, and I liked a few different ones. I asked the lad if he would like make an airplane model if we could find one. The answer came swiftly….YES!

Model Airplanes, progress

We were in London the other day and stopped in at AVF Hobbies. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot as I’ve been looking on-line for WW1 airplane models without a lot of success. My first perusal of the store met my expectations, but then I discovered their backroom and guess what!

They had TWO planes for world war one and lucky lucky lad.. they had the Eindecker! They also had a Sopwith Camel.

And herein this post you can see the difference between the lad and myself. With him, the careful reading of instructions along with “mom, isn’t that a good idea?” and me… “well, in instructions don’t say that so I should probably just go ahead” instead of listening to reason.

Sometimes I just want to rush ahead you know? My planner lad never does that. 🙂

He is taking the time to follow the instructions “Paint first, build second”. The painting takes a while to do, but he’ll get good coverage of the plastic.

Admittedly, we have old paint as well.. I have yet to buy curriculum for next year! New model plane paint isn’t in my budget. But the paint we have will do, we just need to work with it a bit.

Model Airplanes, progress

I decided to leap right in! Painting after you have a model together is a fair bit trickier I have learned. It will help me continue to develop my patience and help me listen better to my son for next time. 🙂

Model Airplanes, progress

I am pleased with the progress that we are making. It will probably be a month before we are finished. It takes time to let paint dry and to find the time we want in the evening. It’s a fun time together painting, talking, and helping each other out.

Ska-nah-doht

By 4 Comments

March break this year I wanted to do something different with the boys. I searched for something to do with them and hit upon Ska-nah-doht. I had never been to this Indian village. It is part of the Longwoods Conservation area and is located outside of London.

Ska-Nah-Doht first nations village and museum

Our venture out was on a sunny day, our trip was easy, but our walk-around Ska-Nah-Doht was rather slip-n-slide. The ice of the winter had not yet dissipated which gave our Brazilian student an education in Canadian winter walking. 🙂

Out Buildings and Village

We heard from another family visiting that they had a museum. It was fairly easy to get to and was warm after being outside. We started off our time watching a movie. I don’t know how much our student understood, but he at least paid attention. 🙂

Visiting the Village

We enjoyed the exhibits which varied upstairs from posters, to exhibits of animals and tools.

Downstairs led up to an interactive area. The boys had fun here. From posing for silly photos, playing old time games and being amazed at the size of a wild turkey.

Ska-Nah-Doht first nations village and museum
Some silliness.

Both boys tried this game. The lad was fairly confident, our student was somewhat lacking. He liked the other games better. 🙂

We had a very good time. I was pleased that it was a fairly quiet day, despite it being a day off school with some planned activities. We managed to avoid most of the groups which meant we could relax and just have fun. The boys were invited to take part in a hike but decided they’d rather head out again. A great day out that I will most likely do with another student. It’s great to show them some history of Canada.

Other Canada Field Trips

Submarines of WW1

By 10 Comments

After studying the sea battles of world war 1 we thought perhaps we were done until we remembered submarines.  That deserved another week of study!  

Submarines of WW1

We started our study as always with Youtube.

We found it interesting that submarines were thought useless in battle until Kaiser Wilhelm took a ride and loved them, he ordered Germany to start building submarines. Other highlights included: The Electric Boat Company became General Dynamics a major USA based submarine company, the USA was first to use diesel engines in their submarines and Great Britain has 74 submarines built at the start of the war.

Highlights: Submarines changed the face of war. The Germans made the most use of submarines during the war. Living conditions were absolutely horrible due to the use of kerosene lamps and close quarters.

I liked how they talked about what to do with you were in the water, keeping your eyes in the Horizon looking for help.

German high command decided that risking battle with the USA, and ignoring the laws of humanity was necessary in order to win the war.

The lad did some reading in World War 1 History for kids.

His goal this week is to research the changes in submarines from the beginning of the war to the end. Lots of different advances were made. He has since expanded that project as he’s learning a ton and thoroughly enjoying the process. 🙂

Learning Electronics from a Clock Radio

By 12 Comments

Do you remember we took apart a couple of telephones a bit back?  Well, last week we started to dismantle a clock radio. Wow.. it was just so very interesting do to this, a great hands on way to learning electronics. 

We only had the one clock radio, so we shared our discoveries with each other.  Join us in learning electronics from a clock radio, won’t you?

Learning electronics from a clock radio

Okay, so this is what we did.  We took this clock radio and figured out how to take off the outside of it (basically just needed to undo some screws).

Once we got the cover off we took a really good look at the internal parts.   

We took what we learned from the telephone and found the resistors, diodes and capacitors.   We also found some… wire coil things we needed to look up.  Learned they were inductors.  And we found a transformer too!  OH!  and I mustn’t forget the really thin copper wire wrap!  We couldn’t figure out how to detach it so are saving that for another day. 

OH, that thing with the ON-tech on it?  I looked up that number and learned it was a transformer.  The lad figured how to get it out of its’ housing.  It’s gone into our keep pile.

Digital Display

He was very intrigued by the digital display and managed to get it out of the clock radio.   Unfortunately he was unable to get it to work.  He wants to see if Dad can help him get it working as he has plans for it it he can!

Even though he couldn’t get the digital readout to work, he did check out what capacitors, diodes and resistors do.  It was actually quite fascinating.    Here is the capacitor one that he did.  It’s not the best, but I tried.

Oh I should tell you what he used to test the components out.  He has a battery pack with a black and red wire.  He also has some resistors (I think) and he would simply connect the component he was testing to the wires and see what happened.   No chance to electrocute himself or his mother.  🙂  The idea made him laugh though, and then he explained his reasoning really well and all was good. 

In our Remaining Time:

What else did we have time for…. OH, it was a tough job but I managed to get the speaker unattached from the plastic housing.  WOW.. it was stuck on with some rather tough glue.   To get it off it took the two of use to pry a screwdriver underneath and break a clip.  Then it was just a matter of brawn over glue. 🙂

See!   We did get the motherboard (I think that’s what you call it) out of the plastic housing.   The lad and I clipped out a d1 and d2, three resistors, and two capacitors.   We hoped to get to the diodes but ran out of time.   

The lower the resistor the brighter it made the led bulb.  The capacitors made it gradually brighter and the d1 and d2 only worked in one direction. 

That’s all we managed this past Friday, check out our resources eh?  Maybe you’ll learn a bit more like we did!  🙂

Resources

We used these sites: 

Role of a capacitor.

List of electronic components.

As well as our book: 

I’m going to check if my library has these books, or at least books like them.