Bluejay Babies

The Steller Jay eggs in our garage hatched while I was in Alaska. Here's a couple of pictures I took today, so they would be what? a week and a half old? The pictures are dark because I didn't want to blind them with the flash:



They are very silent considering how loud their parents are. When we go out through the garage the parents fly out to the nearest tree and squawk abrasively, but you would never guess that the babies have this potential. A book I read recently, called "Mind of the Raven", makes the point that the loudness of the babies, or lack of it, depends upon nesting conditions. Baby ravens are very loud, because their nests are in inaccessible places. I conclude that corvids who nest in places like boxes on top of garage shelves, or on porch lights, will tend to have silent babies. I wonder when they get their voices?

Condition of Receptiveness

Strenuous Effort and Reverence.––We have seen in Ruskin and Wordsworth the strenuous attention––condition of receptiveness––which made each of them a producer after his kind; and whosoever will play the game, whether it be cricket or portrait painting, must learn the rules with all diligence and get skill by his labour. It is true, ‘the labour we delight in physics pain,’ but it is also true that we cannot catch hold of any one of the affinities that are in waiting for us without strenuous effort and without reverence. A bird-lover, one would say, has chosen for himself an easy joy; but no: your true bird-lover is out of doors by four in the morning to assist at the levée of the birds; nay, is he not in Hyde Park by 2.30 a.m. to see––the kingfisher, no less! He lies in wait in secret places to watch the goings on of the feathered peoples, travels far afield to make a new acquaintance in the bird-world; in fact, gives to the study of birds attention, labour, love, and reverence. He gets joy in return, so is perhaps little conscious of effort; but the effort is made all the same.

A Book I Won't Be Giving Away

This young man, my husband's uncle, who died in World War II at age 19, had this book as a child. You can see his signature, at about age 8, in the front flap of the book (below). He seemed to be practicing his cursive because he wrote his name about five times all over the front leaves.

I'm having Kieron read it for nature study this term. It's in Ambleside Year 3.5 but I didn't want Kieron to miss it.

The pictures are a bit muddy -- I can't get a good light inside the house this time of day. But you get the idea.









































I was just reading about The Wild Duck -- the text brings back a different age:

THE title will suggest to most boys a line across the autumn sky at sunset, with a bit of mystery about it; or else a dark triangle moving southward, high and swift, at Thanksgiving time. To a few, who know well the woods and fields about their homes, it may suggest a lonely little pond, with a dark bird rising swiftly, far out of reach leaving the ripples playing among the sedges. lo those accustomed to look sharply it will suggest five or six more birds, downy little fellows, hiding safe among roots and grasses, so still that one seldom suspects their presence. But the duck, like most game birds, loves solitude; the details of his life he keeps very closely to himself; and boys must be content with occasional glimpses.

Simple and Truthful Observations

I've been reading the first part of Anna Botsford Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study -- a few quotes about what nature study is and what it should do for the child:

Nature-study is, despite all discussions and perversions, a study of nature; it consists of simple, truthful observations that may, like beads on a string, finally be threaded upon the understanding and thus held together as a logical and harmonious whole. Therefore, the object of the nature-study teacher should be to cultivate in the children powers of accurate observation and to build up within them understanding.

From the Introduction to Handbook of Nature Study

WHAT NATURE-STUDY SHOULD Do FOR THE CHILD (summary)

First, but not most important, nature-study gives the child practical and helpful knowledge.

Nature-study cultivates in the child a love of the beautiful; it brings to him early a perception of color, form, and music....

But, more than all, nature-study gives the child a sense of companionship with life out-of-doors and an abiding love of nature. Let this latter be the teacher's criterion for judging his or her work.....

Perhaps the most valuable practical lesson the child gets from nature-study is a personal knowledge that nature's laws are not to be evaded. ....

Out-of-door life takes the child afield and keeps him in the open air, which not only helps him physically and occupies his mind with sane subjects, but keeps him out of mischief.....

Snow in the High Sierras

Oh, these vast, calm, measureless mountain days, inciting at once to work and rest! Days in whose light everything seems equally divine, opening a thousand windows to show us God. Nevermore, however weary, should one faint by the way who gains the blessings of one mountain day; whatever his fate, long life, short life, stormy or calm, he is rich forever. --- John Muir

Our House

Our road (and our dog)

Our trees

The view behind our house

Looking eastward from the summit of Pacheco Pass one shining morning, a landscape was displayed that after all my wanderings still appears as the most beautiful I have ever beheld. At my feet lay the Great Central Valley of California, level and flowery, like a lake of pure sunshine, forty or fifty miles wide, five hundred miles long, one rich furred garden of yellow Compositae. And from the eastern boundary of this vast golden flower-bed rose the mighty Sierra, miles in height, and so gloriously colored and so radiant, it seemed not clothed with light but wholly composed of it, like the wall of some celestial city.... Then it seemed to me that the Sierra should be called, not the Nevada or Snowy Range, but the Range of Light. And after ten years of wandering and wondering in the heart of it, rejoicing in its glorious floods of light, the white beams of the morning streaming through the passes, the noonday radiance on the crystal rocks, the flush of the alpenglow, and the irised spray of countless waterfalls, it still seems above all others the Range of Light. -- John Muir

Sequel to the Squirrel Invasion

I think this little fellow is one of the same family who spent their babyhood in our rafters. He appears to be a Northern Flying Squirrel. We found him downstairs this morning and Kevin managed to get him in the live trap. One less set of little scurrying feet in our ceiling space to keep us awake at night.


The house from a squirrel's eye view -- see Brendan back there?


Check out the big eyes. They are nocturnals, and seem half blind in the light, which is how Kevin caught him, I think. He certainly didn't look or act sick.

We took him out in the woods a safe distance from the house (hopefully far enough so he can't get back).
Once the cage door was open he got out of there way too fast for me to get a picture, but here's the tree he scampered into.

We've glanced out our window at night and seen this type of scene but this photo is a National Geographic one.


Kevin reset the live trap and we caught a Douglas squirrel which he will drop off somewhere in a few minutes. It seems to want to chew through the metal.

High Sierras

A few more pictures of the high country, from a couple of hikes that my husband took with Brendan (to the Kaiser peak):






and to Tom Mt, with Brendan and Clare (Clare took the picture of Brendan and Kevin)

The Great Squirrel Invasion

That above is my 12 year old's proposal for a title. Certainly appropriate.

I wrote this on my journal blog, but pictures are easier to upload here. A nest of baby flying squirrels must have gotten to the age to explore their environment. Please ignore all the dirt up there, those rafters are about 20 feet off the floor and I can't find a duster to reach.

Two in the rafters:

One on the fireplace


One curled up in our pantry.
There is one more running up and down a rafter that I haven't been able to photograph.

They're babies and don't seem to understand caution yet. They seem to think they're our pets or vice versa. Sigh.

Storm on our Side of the Sierras

There is a huge storm just hitting our area of California. Our giant incense cedars and sugar pines, some of them well over 100 feet tall, are tossing in the wind outside our windows, bringing to mind angry or distressed ents on a very large scale, or perhaps Birnam Wood. It gives you a feeling of being very small. We could get up to 10 feet of snow.

We were supposed to have our homeschool cookie-decorating Christmas party this afternoon but it is going to be postponed because of the storm. So we are staying home in front of a blazing fire eating the sugar and gingerbread cookies we made for the party, and also turning the thermostat up to 68 degrees so that if the power goes out we at least have a warm house for a little while.

A 64 year old man who is a chaplain for the police department, and his twin 15 year old children drove out to see the snow yesterday, they think near Oakhurst, and they have not been found as of Friday afternoon. It is storming too heavily for a helicopter search. I am praying for them and thought I would mention it on here since I am sure they and their family could use some extra prayers right now.

ETA The Clovis man and his twin children were found safe yesterday evening. Deo gratias!

We got five inches of rain here but it did not turn into snow until later at night so we didn't quite get buried as we thought we might.

It looks like this:

Nature Study Planning

I was asking a friend what she did for nature study and she gave me some ideas which I will share, with due credit to my friend who is another veteran hser and a mom of six:

First, we both have older children who will be following the Mother of Divine Grace Natural History syllabus so she suggested starting with that as a sort of general spine theme for the whole group of kids (she is way, way better at multi-level teaching than I am).

Then:

Go to the Forest Service or tourist information center in your area (we both live in National Forests surrounded by spectacular scenery) -- pick up any free brochures and bring them home to generate ideas about possible field trips.

Visit a couple of selected spots at regular intervals during the year -- building up a relationship with them, take photos and then sketch at home. See if there's any notable art based on the scenic spots. You can bring your sketchbook to the scene, but we agreed that this was very difficult for us during the many years that we had little ones. But drawing at home based on photos taken is a nice alternative, and you could even use the photos and sketches to make a natural history scrapbook.

Pick a few nature writers to study -- some examples we came up with are: John Muir, Rachel Carson, Thoreau, Audobon (her ideas) -- (my ideas)Beatrix Potter, Donald Culross Peattie, Edwin Way Teale, and JH Fabre (a family favorite).

Once you have a few selected, you can read a few of their books alongside with a well-written biography or documentary of their lives

She has a kindergartener who loves to color, so Prismacolor pencils and Dover-type realistic coloring books can come in very handy with the littlies.

There you have the embryo of a nature study plan that includes all the age groups.

In addition, I realized we have a Sierra Historical Society bookstore in our area that has various local history and nature books and resources on sale. It might be nice to develop an intimacy with our local region this year -- it is really the first year we haven't had various issues that prevented us from exploring -- for several years it was pregnancies and babies, then medical difficulties, then last year our car was dying slowly and we didn't trust it on the backroads and byways.

Finally, more on the science proper front; Kieron seems to love doing those simple experiments and projects and crafts, so perhaps we will build on that this year.

Sierra Sunset

I'm glad Brendan spent some time outside with his old Vivitar camera capturing this sunset last year.

Sierra Spring Rambling

Walking in our bit of the Sierra National Forest -- quite a few changes since only two weeks ago.

Liam, Kieron, Aidan and Patrick -- and that's one of the changes -- Liam came back from college last Sunday:

Some new life:




Dogwoods are blooming now at our 5000 ft altitude:

A snow flower:
Patrick:
Liam looking for ants.

I tried to photograph the ants but the camera simply ignored them:

However, the camera will acknowledge the existence of mid-sized dogs -- this is Frodo, though we think we ought to have called him Bombur instead since he got pretty barrel-shaped once he was past his first youth:

High Ceilings, High Thoughts

This is interesting: Environment Matters -- from Eide Neurolearning Blog.

When subjects looked at a list of different sports-related items in high ceiling environments, they were more likely to draw abstract relationships and connections between items. On the other hand, subjects in low ceiling environments were better at identifying specific differences among the items so fewer common groups were generated.

I wonder if this relates at all to Charlotte Mason's focus on getting kids outside for a large part of the day, since the sky is the ceiling there.

It also makes me think of the question of Church architecture.

May is for Nature Study

This month, my Learning Goal is a natural -- literally, I guess. Nature Study!

I have just started a nature almanac for myself -- in notebook form, not blogging right now. But I'm thinking of starting a nature blog as a family project. I've also resolved to take the children out on a nature walk several times a week. Having a camera this year gives me some motivation.

Here's Ambleside's Nature rotation
Here's MacBeth's Opinion on nature study
Here is Anna Botsford Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study online in PDF and other formats.

Here is the Sierra National Forest where we live. This path is quite near our house, so even Aidan with his limited mobility (mild CP) can go on an easy nature hike.




Here is what the view from our house looks like right now.


Yes, it's snowing today! Good thing I am a procrastinator and didn't have my garden in or anything : ).

A Love of Nature from Earliest Days

Intimacy with Nature makes for Personal Well-being.––But to enable them to swim with the stream is the least of the benefits this early training should confer on the children; a love of Nature, implanted so early that it will seem to them hereafter to have been born in them, will enrich their lives with pure interests, absorbing pursuits, health, and good humour. "I have seen," says the same writer, "the young man of fierce passions and uncontrollable daring expend healthily that energy which threatened daily to plunge him into recklessness, if not into sin, upon hunting out and collecting, through rock and bog, snow and tempest, every bird and egg of the neighbouring forest . . . I have seen the young London beauty, amid all the excitement and temptation of luxury and flattery, with her heart pure, and her mind occupied in a boudoir full of shells andfossils, flowers and seaweeds, keeping herself unspotted from the world, by considering the lilies of the fields of the field, how they grow."

Charlotte Mason is quoting from Charles Kingsley's Glaucus/The Wonders of the Shore which seems to be about the advantages of taking Natural History seriously in one's lives. He lists many more benefits to the mind and to physical health, and ends in this manner:

And so I end this little book, hoping, even praying, that it may encourage a few more labourers to go forth into a vineyard, whichthose who have toiled in it know to be full of ever-fresh health, and wonder and simple joy, and the presence and the glory of Him whose name is LOVE.

I don't agree with everything Kingsley says but the bit CM quoted rang with me ten years ago when I first read it and it seems to have been borne out in our lives since.
Today's Lesson has a post on Expend Healthily that Energy.

Aidan stacking firewood in front of our house.