Book of the Trees Nature Outing: Cave Creek Botanical Gardens

Our 7th graders at co-op use the classical curriculum Book of the Trees from Memoria Press. As we are approaching the end of the curriculum it wants us to go out and nature journal a tree each week. This is exactly why we formed the Cardinal’s Nature Club – so we could see what we learn in science first hand. The Cave Creek Botanical Gardens is a free outdoor paved nature walk of all kinds of desert type botanicals. We saw lots of really interesting things and learned four new Read More …

What’s that Bird? Nature Outing

classical education homeschool nature walk

In 6th grade, for science, we study birds. In our classically educating co-op we use the curriculum What’s That Bird? from Memoria Press. We learn to identify 30 of the most common birds by sight and by sound. We also learn about the anatomy of birds, how they fly, characteristics of different birds, etc. It’s a fascinating study and the children love it! To make science come alive we went to our local Audobon center (The Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center) and went a free guided bird tour. It Read More …

Why Do We Nature Journal?

House Sparrow Nature Journal

I remember the first time I went on a hike with my friends. It was a cold December day and I was packed with lots of water and snacks, ready to get a great workout in! Little did I know what I was in for. Hiking with toddlers is at a snails pace. My children were older and the baby was in the ergo carrier but the pace of the group was significantly slowed by the little ones. Well no matter…we can still make up the calories by the length! Read More …