watch...

"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." - Roald Dahl

nature study: what it is. {nsm}

What is nature study? Well, it's the study of nature, of course, right? What did you first think of when you heard those words? Do you think generally or do you have some specific preconceived idea? Do you think nature journals or Handbook of Nature Study? Laid back nature walks or focused lessons? Reading from a field guide or from diaries of a naturalist? Do you envision watercolors or digital photography?

In reality, it can be one or all of those, can't it?

'Tis all about making acquaintance with the natural world. as with most relationships, first hand encounters are always of the highest value, yet, secondhand is next best. When you get on down the line to third and fourth hand accounts, that's when stories begin to lose their savoriness, so we'd be best served sticking with our own eyes or at least the accounts of informed eyewitnesses. In that case then, part of nature study will include books on natural history as well as pictorial guides. Honestly though, nothing will replace time spent getting to know the things and the places we find them in, outside.

What do you know of Charlotte Mason's take on out-of-door life? Here are some juicy interesting bits... there is so much more that you can read here.

On the Value of Nature Study.

It would be well if we all persons in authority, parents and all who act for parents, could make up our minds that there is no sort of knowledge to be got in these early years so valuable to children as that which they get for themselves of the world they live in. Let them once get touch with Nature, and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight through life. We were all meant to be naturalists, each in his degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things.

Consider, too, what an unequalled mental training the child-naturalist is getting for any study or calling under the sun––the powers of attention, of discrimination, of patient pursuit, growing with his growth, what will they not fit him for? Besides, life is so interesting to him, that he has no time for the faults of temper which generally have their source in ennui; there is no reason why he should be peevish or sulky or obstinate when he is always kept well amused.

On Flowers.

Milkwort, eyebright, rest-harrow, lady's-bedstraw, willow-herb, every wild flower that grows in their neighbourhood, they should know quite well; should be able to describe the leaf––its shape, size, growing from the root or from the stem; the manner of flowering––a head of flowers, a single flower, a spike, etc. And, having made the acquaintance of a wild flower, so that they can never forget it or mistake it, they should examine the spot where they find it, so that they will know for the future in what sort of ground to look for such and such a flower.

On Trees.

Children should be made early intimate with the trees, too; should pick out half a dozen trees, oak, elm, ash, beech, in their winter nakedness, and take these to be their year-long friends. In the winter, they will observe the light tresses of the birch, the knotted arms of the oak, the sturdy growth of the sycamore. They may wait to learn the names of the trees until the leaves come.

On Living Creatures.

Then, as for the 'living creatures,' here is a field of unbounded interest and delight. The domesticated animals are soon taken into kindly fellowship by the little people. Perhaps they live too far from the 'real country' for squirrels and wild rabbits to be more to them than a dream of possible delights. But surely there is a pond within reach––by road or rail––where tadpoles may be caught, and carried home in a bottle, fed, and watched through all their changes––fins disappearing, tails getting shorter and shorter, until at last there is no tail at all, and a pretty pert little frog looks you in the face.

On the Calendar of Firsts.

It is a capital plan for the children to keep a calendar––the first oak-leaf, the first tadpole, the first cowslip, the first catkin, the first ripe blackberries, where seen, and when. The next year they will know when and where to look out for their favourites, and will, every year, be in a condition to add new observations. Think of the zest and interest, the object, which such a practice will give to daily walks and little excursions. There is hardly a day when some friend may not be expected to hold a first 'At Home.'

On the Nature Journal.

As soon as he is able to keep it himself, a nature-diary is a source of delight to a child. Every day's walk gives him something to enter: three squirrels in a larch tree, a jay flying across such a field, a caterpillar climbing up a nettle, a snail eating a cabbage leaf, a spider dropping suddenly to the ground, where he found ground ivy, how it was growing and what plants were growing with it, how bindweed or ivy manages to climb.

Innumerable matters to record occur to the intelligent child. While he is quite young (five or six), he should begin to illustrate his notes freely with brush drawings; he should have a little help at first in mixing colours, in the way of principles, not directions... A child of six will produce a dandelion, poppy, daisy, iris, with its leaves, impelled by the desire to represent what he sees, with surprising vigour and correctness.

He should not be told to use now this and now that, but, 'we get purple by mixing so and so,' and then he should be left to himself to get the right tint. As for drawing, instruction has no doubt its time and place; but his nature diary should be left to his own initiative.

On Field Guides & Natural History Books.

The real use of naturalists' books at this stage is to give the child delightful glimpses into the world of wonders he lives in, to reveal the sorts of things to be seen by curious eyes, and fill him with desire to make discoveries for himself. There are many* to be had, all pleasant reading, many of them written by scientific men, and yet requiring little or no scientific knowledge for the enjoyment.

We're accumulating posts for sharing May's nature studies... Won't you add yours to the list?
Please feel free to share the following image in your post and inviting your readers to come on over and join us, too? The more the merrier!! :)

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Quotes used with permission from Volume One of Charlotte Mason's Homeschooling Series, made available for your online reading enjoyment by AmblesideOnline.org.

really cool nature: piranha. {nsm}

I've had precious little personal experience with the infamous piranha, thankfully.
Besides that one time I went swimming in a lake full of them. Yep. I'm brave like that sometimes. Not often, but in my younger years it definitely was a more common occurrence. Of course, I thought only of the alligators that only come out at night and the ten foot river otters. Oh, back to the story: How did we know that the lake was full of piranhas, you ask? Both because our friend told us it was so, AND because he showed us it was so by baiting his line with a chunk of fruit and tossing it overboard. A few seconds and sudden roiling fin-ful water later, we had caught one. Next, he tossed a piece of the hooked piranha over and it disappeared in a matter of milliseconds. Rewind, repeat that a couple times, and we were all fully convinced. This was AFTER the swimming episode. Right. I did not swim again; thank you very much. I'm not that brave.

Piranha.

Note the pronunciation and spelling of that, will you? In spanish we say pee-RON-yah. But in English we SAY, per-ON-ah, but I have to THINK per-on-HAH or pee-ron-HAH (in espanol). I point this out, because you, like me, might have the hardest time remembering how to spell it. The H is silent in Spanish AND English and seems to want to trick us into misspelling it. However, we will not be beat, and we all now know how to spell it! ;)

Basic facts & myth debunkers:

You may have heard the debate about just how dangerous piranhas are. Obviously, as rumor has it, they are extremely deadly. Everyone's heard that, right? Ever since Theodore Roosevelt reported a story of a man who fell off of his horse and was devoured before his companion's eyes*... What, didn't you know that some species of piranhas were actually named Rooseveltialla and Taddyella after him? Yep. I'm not even joking. :) But those names eventually wore off as they proved to identify the same genus of fish that already had been named.

But those who know what they're talking about report, which lines up with the reality as we've seen it for ourselves or as friends have attested to us, that NOT all piranhas are as aggressive as others. They eat both fruit and flesh, and they mainly go after smaller fish, or those that are trapped or wounded. They are attracted by frantic movements and by blood tainted water. But serious injury or death is not common even for regular bathers in these waters. Of course, those people know the rules. If one of you folks goes out and tries to catch one, you might just get bit... this is a more common occurrence, actually, even amongst those who know what they're doing (see video). But, as long as you don't go flailing your bloody body in piranha infested waters, you'll be fine... at least when it comes to piranhas that is. ;)

If you want to know more, The Piranha Book was interesting. If you buy the 1972 version, it contains a progression of articles as the authors, editors and publishers expounded on the original findings with updated information debunking previously published misguided information. Of course, there's much more now to be added, but it's an interesting place to start as it has a lot of history as well as historical and experiential information along with pictures and paintings.

Here's an interesting takeaway... Before today, did you know what an ichthyologist is? Well, ichthyologist is the branch of zoology that deals with fishes. You probably could have guessed that from the context, as I did. But you're on your own for figuring out how to pronounce and remember how to spell that one! Nah, it's not that hard, really, if you want to know. :)


Yes, in FACT my husband is holding his lips to a piranha. Of course, everything's all fun and games 'til someone gets their lips bitten off by a piranha, right? Geesh.

More links:
Alex with a piranha (micah took this video, too)
Cannibal piranhas (another of micah's vids. he's so cool, isn't he?)
This is a 'really cool nature' post. Wanna see what else I'll be posting about? See this post. :)


We're accumulating posts for sharing May's nature studies... Won't you add yours to the list?
Please feel free to share the following image in your post inviting your readers to come on over and join us, too! The more the merrier!! :)

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really cool nature. {NSM}.

Keeping things lively, I'll be attempting to identify and post about some of the wild and crazy jungle finds pictured above over the next month. These aren't your average Handbook of Nature Study foci. This should be interesting! :)


'Kay, so we're accumulating posts for sharing May's nature studies... Won't you add yours to the list?
Please feel free to share the following image in your post inviting your readers to come on over and join us, too! The more the merrier!! :)

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thoughts and quotes on the use of mind.

“...the child's mind is no mere sac to hold ideas but is rather, if the figure may be allowed, a 'spiritual organism' with an appetite for all knowledge. ”

p111, CM's principle #9 AND the theme of this chapter.

The psychology [think mind is an empty sac/blank slate theory] touted by Herbart [the guy whose philosophy Charlotte primarily refers to in this chapter], is extraordinarily gratifying and attractive to teachers who are, like other people, eager to magnify their office...” because teachers are tempted to show off “how every child is a new creation as he comes forth” out of his or her hands, and may begin to pin the student's success as a result of the teacher's own prowess in teaching.

This may describe many a classroom...even a homeschool? The unit-study approach is particularly in danger of falling into this category. Note the similarities:

• First we have nine lessons in literature and language, the subjects being such as 'Robinson climbs a hill and finds he is on an island.'
• Then, ten object lessons of which the first is,––The Sea, the second, A Ship from Foreign Parts, the sixth, A Life-Boat, the seventh, Shell-Fish, the tenth, A Cave. How these 'objects' are to be produced one does not see.
• The third series are drawing lessons, probably as many, a boat, a ship, an oar, an anchor and so on.
• Then follows a series on manual training, still built upon 'Robinson'; the first, a model of the seashore; then models of Robinson's island, of Robinson's house, and Robinson's pottery.
• The next course consists of reading, an infinite number of lessons,––'passages from The Child's Robinson Crusoe and from a general reader on the matters discussed in object lessons.'
• Then follows a series of writing lessons, "simple compositions on the subject of the lessons. ... the children framed the sentences which the teacher wrote on the blackboard and the class copied afterwards..."
• Arithmetic follows with, no doubt, as many lessons, many mental examples and simple problems dealt with Robinson"; the eighth and last course was in singing and recitation,––'I am monarch of all I survey,' etc. "The lessons lasted about forty-five minutes each.

“The teacher was probably at her best in getting by sheer force much out of little: she was, in fact, acting a part and the children were entertained as at a show, cinema or other; but of one thing we may be sure, an utter distaste, a loathing, on the part of the children ever after, not only for 'Robinson Crusoe' but for every one of the subjects lugged in to illustrate his adventures. We read elsewhere of an apple affording a text for a hundred lessons, including the making of a ladder, (in paper), to gather the apples; but, alas, the eating of the worn out apple is not suggested." p116, CM 

I'm not trying to single out the unit study approach, however, this bears thinking about. This is why this is such an important issue...

The children who are capable of and eager for a wide range of knowledge and literary expression are reduced to inanities; a lifelong ennui is set up; every approach to knowledge suggests avenues for boredom, and the children's minds sicken and perish long before their school-days come to an end. p116

As I have said elsewhere, the ideas required for the sustenance of children are to be found mainly in books of literary quality; given these the mind does for itself the sorting, arranging, selecting, rejecting, classifying, which Herbart leaves to the struggle of the promiscuous ideas which manage to cross the threshold. p117

Charlotte then moves on to point out how this erroneous [empty sac/blank slate] philosophy works out in the education of the time. Things we see happening again in our time. She quotes from several authors to support her thinking.

"There is too much learning and too little work. The teacher ready to use the powers that his training and experience have given him works too hard while the boy's share in the struggle is too light. It is possible to make education too easy for children and to rob learning of the mental discipline which often wearies but in the end produces concentration and the capacity to work alone...”

p119 CM quoting Alexander Paterson in Across the Bridges.

Charlotte quotes Paterson as he talks about the fact that in Elementary schools time is WASTED on such like as tiresome unit studies or spending too many years teaching the basic R's of education, instead of providing that feast of knowledge on which a mind must inevitably grow. The teacher acts as the prime figure while the student's minds go to waste because, “...the powers of voluntary thought and reason, of spontaneous enquiry and imagination; have not been stirred...”. p120

She goes on to speak about Continuation Schools which seem to refer to high schools, as reference is made to the fact that at one time it was the norm that, “the seventh standard boy about to leave school and take up his life work.” and again, “the average boy whose school-days are to end at fourteen”.

Remember, we're near the Industrial Age when the outcry was growing against children forming part of the work force and their need for schooling... so the subject of Continuation Classes [Poly-technic, which from the context we can deduce that these are high schools that teach a trade].

The problem with education extends and displays itself in life after school in the following ways:

"...we seem to aim at producing a nation of clerks for it is only to a clerk that this perfection of writing and spelling is a necessary training."

As a result of a faulty education, while a boy may boast of perfect execution in the kinds of work that would make a successful clerk (3R's), he may not care to boast additionally of the accompanying short attention span, low comprehension, incapability of working alone, feeble memory – which attributes will show themselves quickly in a general laborer or even a professional who at times is obliged to work at a dull job.


What we should aim for then, is that “boys are not trained to be lawyers, or parsons, or doctors, but to be men. If they have learned to work systematically and think independently they are then fit to be trained for such life and profession as taste or necessity may dictate.”

And we are happy with Paterson, who happily remarks that Universities on the other hand, “do not undertake to prepare barristers, parsons, stockbrokers, bankers, or even soldiers and sailors, with a specialised knowledge proper for each profession. Their implicit contention is, given a well educated man with cultivated imagination, trained judgment, wide interests, and he is prepared to master the intricacies of any profession; while he knows at the same time how to make use of himself, of the powers with which nature and education have endowed him for his own happiness; the delightful employment of his leisure; for the increased happiness of his neighbours and the well-being of the community; that is, such a man is able, not only to earn his living, but to live.” p121

In conclusion, I thought this quote particularly inspiring, as we think about how to educate the little persons in our charge:

"What the poor, as well as the rich, require is not to be taught other people's opinions, but to be induced and enabled to think for themselves. It is not physical science that will do this, even if they could learn it much more thoroughly than they are able to do.'

"The young people of this country are not to be regenerated by economic doctrine or economic history or physical science; they can only be elevated by ideas which act upon the imagination and act upon the character and influence the soul, and it is the function of all good teachers to bring those ideas before them.'

John Stuart Mill, quoted by CM on p127

interesting ideas from the chapter:
knowledge/idea as mind food.
Herbart.
apperception mass.
unit studies.
educating the whole person for life.


helpful links:
A Pot of Green Feathers.
CM Blog Carnival on Principle #9
Robinson Crusoe in Education by T.G. Rooper, a PR article (expands on related information presented in this post)
This article, and this one also, seem to be somewhat favorable to at least parts of Herbart's philosophy.
CM volume 6, ch7
Thoughts on the mind of the child and our resulting obligations, from Sally Clarkson



This has been another 'thinking out loud' post, along the lines of chapter 6 of CM's Homeschooling Series, Volume 6, Towards a Philosophy of Education. Did you know that the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival is going through this volume systematically? Interested? Check out recent posts and the schedule for future posts here.

Our Week in Nature! {NSM}

My friend Tammy says that I find the most amazing bugs. Well, that's probably only half true. I should admit of several possibly unfair advantages. For one, I have an extra ten pair* of eyes {ahem... edit required. that would be *five pair, ten total. now, how many of you actually counted??} Many times the first sighting is accomplished by one of those extended pair. Second, we live in a place with an AMAZING amount of insects. I think I can safely say that not a day goes by that I fail to see something awesome. If I am looking, that is.

Without an internet connection, it's amazing what you have time for; the things you see and can get done! I don't even get to be online tons because of a limited source of internet, but as that ran out last month, I found myself without the wisp of a possibility and I felt as free as the birds for a whole week! Here are a few of our sightings... Lamentably, I don't always get photos of everything!

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I have really enjoyed reading your posts! SO. much. goodness.
Please keep sharing them!

If you care to tell others, I'd love if we were able to share more nature study encouragement!! This is the last week to add posts to April's Nature Study Monday Linky! (Of course, we'll start it all again next month with a brand spankin' new linky,  but I just thought I'd add that this one will close on the last day of April. :)

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Last day of the SALE!

Today is the LAST day for 30% off everything at CompassClassroom, the makers of Visual Latin and a host of other products... So, you'll have to hurry and check it out here!

And yes, sirree, I DO make a dollar or two if you click through my links, for which I THANK you! ;)


We've used various of the products here...


And here's a new product that looks  VERY interesting to a teenager or two in my household...


P.S. I'm sorry not to have given the heads up sooner! We were without internet for a week.

thoughts on education is a life...

The section I'm talking about today is about one of my all time FAVORITE things out of many of my favorite things that Charlotte Mason wrote about: ideas as mind food. If I weren't the blessed possessor of a smidgen of self-control, you my readers may have been blessed by my having gone wild highlighting and commenting on the entire section this time, but I decided to rein myself in. I hope you'll be more glad than sad about that. Either way, sit back and enjoy, 'cause this could end up long... ;)

A mind must eat, and it is sustained on ideas. Hey wait, I've talked about this before. Whaddya know?! So did Charlotte, matter of fact, she talked about it a LOT. Because for her, it was that important. And really, it could be the most important part of education, since without such there would be none.

A mind feeds on ideas, just like the body needs food, or the locomotive needs fuel. Without fuel an engine quits. Maybe it can run on fumes for a second or two, or you could get behind it and PUSH! Or hook a body up to an IV, but those are artificial or extenuating circumstances at best, and not intended to be the way things go on forever. In the same way that lacking food a body won't function, a mind will not grow without sustenance.

“We know that food is to the body what fuel is to the steam-engine, the sole source of energy; once we realise that the mind too works only as it is fed education will appear to us in a new light.”

While a body may continue for a while on junk food, or a mind on twaddle, is that a justifiable excuse for making of these a regular diet? We all know that sawdust isn't good for us. Yet, we may have heard of times of severe drought and extreme economic distress when people have had to survive on less than nothing, making bread from tree-bark, and things not meant for human consumption. But if this persists, it follows that there will be resulting problems... perhaps with lasting or even permanent effect.

“The body pines and develops humours upon tabloids and other food substitutes; and a glance at a 'gate' crowd watching a football match makes us wonder what sort of mind-food those men and boys are sustained on, whether they are not suffering from depletion, inanition, notwithstanding big and burly bodies. For the mind is capable of dealing with only one kind of food; it lives, grows and is nourished upon ideas only; mere information is to it as a meal of sawdust to the body; there are no organs for the assimilation of the one more than of the other.”

So, ideas. Amazingly powerful things, those.
Tell me, has something like one of the following examples ever happened to you?
Idea = seed. (maybe you remember something because of a smell, or song...)
The Seed is watered. (maybe that song reminds you of a person which reminds you of 8th grade, which reminds you of your English teacher who cried in class, which reminds you that it's amazing that Shakespeare speaks to all types, even those with whom you never thought you'd have a single thing in common, which leads you to think... you get the picture, right? Ideas are alive. We experience this daily.)
The Seed gets sun. (okay, switching ideas in the middle of this illustration, I hope you don't mind... So, say you found a butterfly. The butterfly had cool patterns that looked like camouflage eyes. Then within a day or two, you see someone's posts on fb about Maria Sibylla Merian who lived in the 1600's and sailed from Germany to S.America to document insects and get this... butterflies. You look up her amazing sketches and find one that looks super similar to that butterfly you found earlier (see image at the top of the post!) and looking around further, you learn that as a result of that face-like-camo, it's named after an owl. Cool. A couple weeks later, you read about someone else who who also sailed to S.America around the same time... could they have sailed on the same voyage as Ms. Merian? Could they have met? And once again the idea tap starts flowing... and we could go about the methodical pursuit of this addictive 'idea trail' in various and sundry ways.).
The point is, ideas are the fuel we start with. Consumed and digested, they are what cause our minds to expand and grow. Let's get us some more of them!

"From the first or initiative idea, as from a seed, successive ideas germinate." "Events and images, the lively and spirit-stirring machinery of the external world, are like light and air and moisture to the seed of the mind which would else rot and perish." "The paths in which we may pursue a methodical course are manifold and at the head of each stands its peculiar and guiding idea.”

So, our kids are mini-us's. Their minds are made to feed off of ideas in the same way ours are! When they are little, it doesn't seem to matter what we think of their minds. If we misunderstand and start out by thinking they are just like a big empty bucket waiting to be filled up with letters and sentences and math facts and bible verses and dates and songs and facts and stuff, regardless of how we think of them, it will always be those same idea-stuffs that he happens upon that his mind will feed upon. He'll take what he needs of these, and all the extras will be forgotten or lost. The worst that could happen, is that all this dead weight bucket material might cause him to faint or to stumble, from which while he is yet very young, he can still probably recover. But let's not settle for fodder or filler! Let's do better! What we feed our very young children matters! Let's nourish their budding minds with the BEST!

“In the early days of a child's life it makes little apparent difference whether we educate with a notion of filling a receptacle, inscribing a tablet, moulding plastic matter, or nourishing a life, but as a child grows we shall perceive that only those ideas which have fed his life, are taken into his being;all the rest is cast away or is, like sawdust in the system, an impediment and an injury.”

Now. What about the bits that LOTS of people, including myself in my youth, have had a mind to think are unbearably boring and void of living matter, like Math? And Science? There's so much memorization of Latin names and body parts and tables and elements and formulae and hypotheses and lab book entries... We might admit, if it weren't for such an immense body of facts, it would be absolutely FASCINATING. Add some tidbits about the lives of the scientists or mathematicians and their personal dedication, struggle and sacrifice and it would be RIVETING. Why doesn't run-of-the-mill education do that for our children?

"'Scientific truths,' said Descartes, 'are battles won.' Describe to the young the principal and most heroic of these battles; you will thus interest them in the results of science and you will develop in them a scientific spirit by means of the enthusiasm for the conquest of truth . . . How interesting Arithmetic and Geometry might be if we gave a short history of their principal theorems, if the child were meant to be present at the labours of a Pythagoras, a Plato, a Euclid, or in modern times, of a Descartes, a Pascal, or a Leibnitz. Great theories instead of being lifeless and anonymous abstractions would become living human truths each with its own history like a statue by Michael Angelo or like a painting by Raphael."

Okay, so even the boring bits might be interesting if they weren't presented as a dry list of facts, or force-fed to be memorized and spit out on a test. But, how? Clothed with story. With Books, Biographies, works of Historical Fiction that bring the time period to life, dressing the naked idea with all kinds of sumptuous details and interesting facts... painlessly. The idea grows and the mind is fed, and the student learns and everybody is happy. Unless of course there is ever another drought of ideas... of course in a CM education, and many living books, this need never take place!

Here we have an application of Coleridge's 'captain-idea' of every train of thought; that is, not a naked generalisation, (neither children nor grown persons find aliment in these), but an idea clothed upon with fact, and story, so that the mind may perform the acts of selection and inception from a mass of illustrative details.

In summary, this little section, which in troth, is one of my all-time favorite quotes as mentioned previously of many, needs no commentary, it is as clear as day and as true as the Gospel:

"Education is a life. That life is sustained on ideas. Ideas are of spiritual origin, and God has made us so that we get them chiefly as we convey them to one another, whether by word of mouth, written page, Scripture word, musical symphony; but we must sustain a child's inner life with ideas as we sustain his body with food. Probably he will reject nine-tenths of the ideas we offer, as he makes use of only a small proportion of his bodily food, rejecting the rest. He is an eclectic; he may choose this or that; our business is to supply him with due abundance and variety and his to take what he needs. Urgency on our part annoys him. He resists forcible feeding and loathes predigested food. What suits him best is pabulum presented in the indirect literary form which Our Lord adopts in those wonderful parables whose quality is that they cannot be forgotten though, while every detail of the story is remembered, its application may pass and leave no trace. We, too, must take this risk."

This has been another 'thinking out loud' post, along the lines of chapter 6 of CM's Homeschooling Series, Volume 6, Towards a Philosophy of Education. Did you know that the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival is going through this volume systematically? Interested? Check out recent posts and the schedule for future postshere.

The Face of a Friend {NSM}

While we were trying to identify this moth in a HUGE book of Butterflies and Moths...

Whoa! check out that tail...

...flipping through the field guide, we came upon the picture of this moth we'd found and pinned last month.

Funny, we hadn't looked it up before. However, I do know WHY we didn't look it up. Same story as before. Have you ever tried to identify a butterfly?! There are LOTS of different butterflies and moths in the world, and it seems like the ones we find in real life never make it into the books.

So, it can be somewhat frustrating, that.

Anyway, a thrill came over me when I happened on the page...


It was kind of like spotting the face of a friend in a crowd, or more like happening upon a familiar face in someone else's photo album. 'Cause after you've spent time with a live thing and further, repeatedly come back to gaze at it on display, it gets to be rather like the familiar face of a friend.

Perhaps it helps that the upper sides of his wings actually LOOK like a face; an owl's face, to be precise. And we have an owl that lives nearby. Right.

Speaking of moths and butterflies...

Have you heard about Maria Sibylla Merian?! Thanks to Google, I recently learned about this awesome lady, who I am sure I would have longed to be familiar face-to-face friends with, had I too lived in the 1600's. She travelled all the way to South America to study insects... Yes. Go ahead and read that again. A woman. In the 1600's. Who travelled to S.America to study insects. Amazing.
You can read/see more about her right here:




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'kay, so we're accumulating posts here for April's nature studies... care to join us?

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