Pawpaw Holler Home

Homeschool Freebie of the Day is doing something a little different this week:

Well, this week we’re doing something a bit different at Homeschool Freebie Of The Day — bringing you ONE great resource that is so big, we had to divide it into SIX separate ebooks: THE GIANT HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY

This is a HUGE (940 pages) and absolutely wonderful teaching guide full of hundreds of nature study lessons, activities and discussion questions. It is a complete multi-year nature study curriculum that you can use for years to come. It is so big (over 100 megs in size) we had to divide it into six manageable ebooks for you. Here’s the rundown:

Monday, January 18th: THE GIANT HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY, PART I – TEACHER’S GUIDE & OVERVIEW plus THE GIANT HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY, PART II – BIRDS & FISH In PART ONE, you get a very helpful and practical teacher’s guide, including an overview of the purpose, scope and style of the handbook… how each lesson is set up… what nature study should do for your children… how to to tie math, art, geography, gardening, agriculture & science into your nature study, and more. Each lesson begins with a "teacher’s story" which can be read to students along with suggested activities & methods, followed by great discussion questions. In PART TWO, we jump into the actual lessons, this time devoted to birds & fish. As you’ll quickly see, these lessons are wonderfully written, blending history, humor, a bit of poetry, and a delightful sense of wonder into these nature studies. Over the rest of the week, then, we’ll bring you the rest of the book:

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Tuesday, January 19th: THE GIANT HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY, PART III – AMPHIBIANS, REPTILES & MAMMALS

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Wednesday, January 20th: THE GIANT HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY, PART IV – INSECTS & INVERTEBRATES

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Thursday, January 21st: THE GIANT HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY, PART V – PLANTS AND TREES

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Friday, January 22nd: THE GIANT HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY, PART VI – EARTH, WATER & SKY

Get them all on their respective days at Homeschool Freebie of the Day and if you subscribe to their newsletter you’ll receive the weekly line-up by email plus an extra “subscriber-only” freebie each week.

If you’d rather have a paper copy of this book, it may be purchased through Amazon:

You might also be interested in:

Studying Nature with Children

Blessings,

Denese

For even more free educational resources, please check my educational freebies tag archive and my Free Homeschooling Page.

Some ice formations we found in the holler last week…

“Ice ribbons”

These form from plant stems and dead wood.

“Needle Ice”

Needle ice emerges from dirt.

“Frost flowers” form when the water in the ground –or plant stem or dead wood- is above freezing and the air temperature is below freezing. The best time to see them is after a heavy, soaking rain followed by a freeze.

If you live in a dry climate, you may not ever see these –but maybe you can create your own…during freezing temperatures, place outside: a pot of wet soil or a piece of dead wood that has been soaked in water.

To learn more about frost flowers:

Ice Ribbons, Ice Flowers, Frost Flowers or whatever they might be called –Web page by Dr. James R. Carter, Professor Emeritus, Geography-Geology Department, Illinois State University

Blessings,

Denese

We have bears here in the Pawpaw Holler, but we hardly ever see them close to the house because our dogs keep them run off –most of the time.

Coming home this afternoon, about a 1/2 mile from the house, we rounded a curve and there was this black thing coming up over the bank.

It was a bear!

He wasn’t huge, but he wasn’t that little, either. Lacy says he’s a yearling and probably weighs about 100-125 lbs.

Our presence didn’t seem to bother him; he just looked at us a time or two and slowly continued on his way around the mountain –probably going to Rocky Top and get in their dumpsters.

Hope you all enjoyed these; I’m sorry the picture quality isn’t any better, but I wasn’t getting any closer to him than I was -plus I may have been a tad excited, Abby and Daniel sure were!

Blessings,

Denese

“Oh no, they’ve got me again.”

“If I could just wiggle a little to the left…

…I got a leg out! Now, a wiggle to the right…

…aaack -I almost got away, but they’re too quick! Hey, don’t squeeze me too hard!”

“Finally…I hope they get warts!”

You might also be interested in:

Some Wee Wildlife Of The Holler

Smoky Mountain Salamander: Eastern Red Spotted Newt

Blessings,

Denese

Lacy has been repairing our flood damaged roads and he graded a little more than gravel yesterday evening -apparently it didn’t see the tractor and the tractor didn’t see it.

This is a 40 inch Timber Rattler –the second biggest one we’ve seen up here. The biggest one we saw was 54 inches long.

Talk about evil lookin’!

Do you know why snakes have no legs?

And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: Genesis 3:14

Blessings and watch out for snakes,

Denese

The flood watch has been lifted for the Smoky Mountains and surrounding areas in Tennessee but we are still under a hazardous weather outlook. Showers and thunderstorms are in the forecast for the weekend and into next week.

Smoky Mountains Forecast

Earlier today we had flooded roads all over the area, there was a power outage near Townsend and a landslide on Wears Valley Road.

A man was removed from an overturned car in Sevier County during a swift water rescue operation and authorities will resume their search in the morning for a woman who went in the river near Metcalf Bottoms picnic area in the Park.

Little River Road is closed between Townsend and Metcalf Bottoms picnic area.

Authorities continue to close roads due to floods

1 pulled to safety in Sevier County swift water rescue operation

Search underway for woman missing in Little River near Townsend

Some flood pictures:

Mountain stream river!

Our roads:

Little River in the Smoky Mountains.

Little River at the swingin’ bridge on old 73 in Townsend.

View upstream of Dark Island from the swingin’ bridge.

Downstream

At the picnic area on 321 in Townsend.

Please be safe and don’t get in the creek or river during a flood and if the water is over the road, don’t drive through it-running water is powerful enough to roll boulders down creeks, and overturn cars!

Updates:

• Travel Alert: Another Flood Watch For East Tennessee Including The Smoky Mountains
• Missing Woman In The Smoky Mountains Is Safe

Blessings,

Denese

Hello…Where am I?

Maybe if I’m real still they’ll forget about me.

I thought I’d never get away!

This salamander is an Eastern Red Spotted Newt (Red Eft) and can be found throughout the eastern United States.

This is one of more than 30 species of salamanders found in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park which, by the way, is also known as The Salamander Capital of the World.

More Information:

Notophthalmus viridescens: eastern newt

Amphibians of The Great Smoky Mountains

You might also like to see:

A Teeny Tiny Toad

Some Wee Wildlife Of The Holler

Blessings,

Denese

We’ve been walking in the woods again…most of the flowers are gone, but there are plenty of  mushrooms in all different shapes, sizes and colors!

These were the biggest mushrooms we’ve seen this year –the size of dinner plates!

Twins

Something was hungry!

We usually see these shelf-type mushrooms growing on logs, but these came out of the ground.

This one is the same type as the one above, but it looks like it’s eating a walnut.

Coral in the woods.

Related Posts:

• Mushrooms In The Mountains
• Fall Mushrooms (from my blog’s old BlogSpot site)

Blessings,

Denese

And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:

I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

Genesis 9: 12-17

There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:

The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;

The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks;

The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;

The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.

Proverbs 30:24-28