Green Hour Challenge Assignment #4

We were supposed to meet with our dear friends on Monday, but we pushed it off to Tuesday due to me being sick. That day didn’t work either. We will just meet next Monday for Green Hour Challenge #5. My kids were bummed, but I assured them we would still do some sort of walk outside this week, even though I am a bit under the weather.

I have to admit, this Challenge #4 left me feeling like I didn’t quite know what to do. I like guidance. Tell me what to do and I will do it. But give me a “Focus Area” assignment, and I am unsure of what to do next. I talked about this with the kids, giving examples of what a “Focus Area” might include. We decided on birds this time around since that is what we are learning about in Zoology 1.

But then as Monday evening drew near, I had another idea. I asked the kids, “What to you think if our “Focus Area” is our backyard? We could go around looking for things in our own yard we would like to learn more about. Turn over some rocks, look up what type of plants we have, etc.” They all liked that idea, though Holly didn’t want to see what creatures live under the rocks. LOL My little girly girl.

So how am I going to accomplish this challenge, when I feel the way I do. Here is what I decided to do:

Monday: We did our Cattails notebooking page. Here is Jessica’s page:


In the morning, we watched a squirrel jump on one of the bird feeders the kids made and down went the feeder and the gray squirrel. Poor little guy ran up the tree so fast. Here is a picture of the gray squirrel resting at the top of the dead tree that is next to the tree the feeder was hanging from:


We also discovered that the Western Gray Squirrel was put on the threatened species list in 1993 here in Washington State. We have so many of them around us, I never knew this bit of information before. The kids were amazed as well. We will be journaling about this furry friend in a few days.

Jessica spotted a bird at our feeder and she quickly grabbed the bird chart and figured out it was a Mountain Chickadee based on the types of field marking it had.

Later in the evening Timmy and Jessica said they both would like to spend some time outside just drawing in their nature journals, trying to figure out what type of birds we have in our area. I told them that sounded good to me, as long as it isn’t raining. Sketch books and rain don’t mix. They laughed and said, “Yes, mom.”

Wednesday: I sent the kids (we had a couple extra friends join in the fun) outside on a nature scavenger hunt. After an allotted amount of time, they brought their treasures back on the deck and we talked about what each team found. We used a really neat poem I found online and then created a notebooking page with it.


And there you have it. Short and simple… I think I am really going to like this “Focus Area” assignment after all.


(NOTE: Head on over to The Heart Of Harmony's Green Hour Challenges to see other wonderful posts and/or to join in the fun!)