About 11:00am a couple of mornings ago we headed out on this week’s nature adventure out in God’s Amazing Creation. We were once again participating in Barb’s Outdoor Hour: Nature Close To Home-Winter Tree Study . We made it down to our little lake and I pointed to what I believed to be a Dogwood and I said hey guys do you want to do the tree study on this Dogwood? My oldest said “mom, that is not a Dogwood”. Well, since he is right more times than I am, we continued on our walk. =) We did go in the same direction as our last walk. The first thing my boys noticed was the lack of ice, they were a little disappointed. My youngest was also a little under the weather so we didn’t walk as long as we all had wanted to when we headed out. I do look foward to observing the little tree we chose. It is wonderful to see the changes through out the seasons that our Creator has given us.
We had a beautiful Sky when we headed out on our walk, within half an hour the sky was almost completely covered in clouds. Does anyone know what kind of clouds these are? We thought Cumulusstratus?
Taking a break and having a little snack.
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We did end up choosing a Dogwood to study, it is one that is right beside our driveway and near the edge of the woods.
Blooms of a Dogwood (Pic from Wikipedia)
My oldest with the Dogwood we chose for our Tree Study
The Dogwood from closer perspectives
The Legend of the Dogwood
As legend has it, the cross on which Jesus was crucified was made from a dogwood tree. God decreed that the dogwood tree would from that day forth never grow large enough to be used to make a cross. Thus, the dogwood tree is a small, under story tree. The flower of the dogwood has four petals which makes the shape of a cross. The center of the flower resembles the crown of thorns with bright red, clustered fruit in the center representing the blood of Christ. The dogwood blooms in April when Easter Sunday marks the resurrection of Christ after the Crucifixion.
The Flowering Dogwood Care –A Step by Ste Guide
My oldest creation journal
My youngest Creation journal
Look at this beautiful wee little nest we found on the ground while on our walk. It is to big to be a Hummingbird net bust still it is such a small one. Check out How to identify a bird nest , More on Nest HERE, Bird Nest @ Back Yard Nature
TheOneThing 
Love the dogwood tree…my neighbor has one I can see from my front window and I love the blossoms and then the color of the leaves in the fall. Gorgeous. Great choice for a year round study. There is a section in the HNS on the dogwood if you haven’t already found it.
Have you read up on hummingbird’s nests? We found one awhile back and we were amazed that they “glue” their nests together with spider’s webs.
Here is a link:
http://www.worldofhummingbirds.com/nest.php
Amazing!
Thanks for sharing your nature study this week!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
Thanks Barb for all the wonderful information. YES, so much of what we find out about God’s creation is nothing short of AMAZING!!!
I never heard the dogwood legend – how interesting!
I had to double check the date of this post when I saw those short sleeves on your son. LOL But then I remembered not everyone lives in the freezing cold. Thanks for stopping by my blog.
I love reading about other people’s homeschooling adventures. You have a wonderful blog here.
My guys wish that got colder weather so they could have more snow and even ice =)