Parables from Nature by Margaret Gatty

Summary: Parables From Nature is a collection of short stories which were originally published as 4 separate volumes. They are inspired from Nature and written for children. Nevertheless, Gatty uses children’s literature because she knows that in doing so, she can reach a wider group of readers and point out problems from the Victorian Age. (Summary by sailormoon for Librivox)

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Total running time: 11 hours, 14 minutes

Preface

A Lesson of Faith

The Law of Authority and Obedience

The Unknown Land

Knowledge Not the Limit of Belief

 

Training and Restraining

The Light of Truth

Waiting

A Lesson of Hope

A Circle of Blessing

The Law of the Wood

Active and Passive

Daily Bread

Not Lost but Gone Before

Mates in the Sunbeam

Red Snow

Whereunto?

Purring When You’re Pleased

The Voices of the Earth

The Master of the Harvest

The Deliverer

Inferior Animals

The General Thaw

The Light of Life

Gifts

Night and Day

Kicking

Imperfect Instruments

Cobwebs

Birds in the Nest

 

 

Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley

Did you ever wish you knew how to explain natural phenomena such as earthquakes and volcanoes to your children? Search no more, this book has all the answers (at least all the ones that were known in 1869) and gives them in a pedagogical way. Listed on the Ambleside homeschooling list. (Summary by Nadine)

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Preface

Chapter 1 ?The Glen: Part 1

Chapter 2 ?The Glen: Part 2

Chapter 3 ?Earthquakes

Chapter 4 ?Volcanoes

Chapter 5 ?The Transformation of a Grain of Soil

Chapter 6 ?The Ice-Plough

Chapter 7 ?The True Fairy Tale

Chapter 8 ?The Chalk Carts

Chapter 9 ?Madam How’s Two Grandsons

Chapter 10 ?The Coral Reef

Chapter 11 ?Field and Wild: Part 1

Chapter 12 ?Field and Wild: Part 2

Chapter 13 ?The World’s End

Chapter 14 ?Homeward Bound: Part 1

Chapter 15 ?Homeward Bound: ?Part 2

Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers by John Burroughs

Hare in the Forest by Hans Hoffmann

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Running time: 3 hours, 14 minutes

Red Squirrel by Hans Hoffmann

01  Squirrels  00:18:26

02  The Chipmunk  00:23:09

Siberian chipmunk, image released to public domain by its author, Andi W

03  The Woodchuck  00:07:55

04 The Rabbit and the Hare  00:07:15

Squirrel, Hare by Hans Hoffmann

05  The Muskrat  00:07:16

06  The Skunk  00:06:43

Fox by Bruno Liljefors

07  The Fox  00:25:21

08  The Weasel  00:24:42

09  The Mink  00:05:17

10 The Racoon  00:05:24

Common Raccoon, Birch state park, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, image published under GNU Free Documentation License 1.2 by author Bastique

11  The Porcupine  00:11:29

12  The Opossum  00:06:05

13  Wild Mice  00:18:28

14  Glimpses of Wild Life  00:12:51

15 A Life of Fear  00:13:19

By Pond and River by Arabella Buckley

PR Water Garden with lilies, image by Peter Rimar, released into the public domain by its author (Chitrapa) at the wikipedia project

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PR Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) by Kevin Cole from Pacific Coast, USA, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license

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Running time: 48 minutes

PR Frog eye up close by Ren West, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution, 2.0 license

Preface

A Frog’s Life

The Dragon Fly and His Companions

Blue Dragonfly, photo taken by Koyaanis Qatsi and released into the public domain by the author

Down Below

The Stickleback’s Nest

The Kingfisher

PR Water Vole, image taken by Adrian Pingstone and released into the public domain by its author Arpingstone

The Water-Rat, or Water-Vole

The Water-Hen and the Coot

The Water-Bugs

Along the River

The Otter Family

Sea Otter on rocks, this is a public domain image in the United States because it is a work of the U.S. Federal Government

Flowers for the Show

Peggy’s Water Plants

Inside Birding videos

Inside Birding: Episode One, Size and Shape

This video series from All About Birds is designed to teach children the basics to birdwatching.

Here is a summary about this episode from the All About Birds site.

Learn the most fundamental skill for identifying birds: recognizing them by size and shape.

Chris and Jessie show you how to compare different birds and employ your observations to make a confident ID. Join them in the field to practice these techniques on common birds and learn how to distinguish similar species such as Hairy and Downy woodpeckers.

 

Check out the online bird guide at All About Birds!

Click here for more links from All About Birds.  Page down to Explore More to read about sharpening your ID skills with silhouettes, a video about the American Robin, and honing your ability to ID birds with beak size and shape.

Episode Two: Color Pattern

Episode Summary from the All About Birds Site:

If you’re relying solely on your field guide to make an ID, you might be missing out on easy opportunities to identify the birds you see.

Join Jessie and Chris as they demonstrate the importance of observing a bird’s overall color pattern. Learn to recognize specific features and patterns to identify birds with confidence.

 

 

To learn more, go to the All About Birds Site and page down to the Explore More section.  You’ll find links to information about dark and light plumage patterns, key field marks to watch for, the different parts of a bird, and birding the Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Florida, an episode location.

All About Birds has the best online bird guide on the web!

Episode Three: Behavior

Summary of this episode from the All About Birds website:

Besides being fun, observing the way a bird behaves can provide critical clues to its identity. With stunning footage from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Macaulay Library, Chris and Jessie show you different types of behaviors to watch for and how to interpret them.

 

Click here to see links relating to this episode, including the Macaulay Library, behavior clues in greater detail, and birding at Green Cay, an episode location.

Episode Four: Habitat

Here is a summary about Episode Four: Habitat from the All About Birds Website:

Inside this Episode

Join Jessie and Chris as they bird the marshes, cypress swamps, and nearby mangroves of Florida’s Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in pursuit of the elusive Limpkin.

You’ll learn how to employ your observations of habitat to help you determine the probability of finding birds in certain locations and to confirm the identity of the birds you see.

 

For links and more information, click here. Page down to Explore More to check out the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge, great birding opportunities in Southern Florida, or to visit eBird for dynamic information on when and where to find birds.

All About Birds has the best online bird guide on the web!

Click here to view downloadable curriculum from CurrClick relating to the study of birds.

The Insect Folk by Margaret Warner Morley

insect, image from 4th edition of Meyers Konversationslexikon, copyright expired, book is now in the public domain,  Meyers b16 s0352a

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insect, mantis, photo released to public domain by its author Neelix, Mantodea 1

00 – A Word to the Children

insect, dragonfly 3, photo released into the public domain by its author Neelix

01 – Our Pretty Dragonflies

02 – The Fairy May Flies

03 – The Stone Fly Folk

04 – The Silver Fish

insect, Common Cockroach, Project Gutenberg eText 16410, image in the public domain

05- The Old Cockroaches

06 – Neighbor Walking Stick

insects, Mantids, Mantidae, and a Walking Stick, plate 50 volume 1 from Illustrations of Exotic entomology, public domain, DruryV1P050AA

07 – The Grasshopper Tribes

08 – The Shorthorned Grasshoppers

09 – The Longhorned Grasshoppers

10 – Pretty Katydids

11 – The Cricket-Like Grasshoppers

insect, musical cricket, from The Naturalist on the River Amazons by Henry Walter Bates, public domain

12 – The Cheery Cricket People

13 – A Large Family

14 – The Great Bug Family

15 – The Water Boatman

16 – The Funny Back-Swimmers

17 – The Giant Water Bug

18 – Little Mrs. Shore Bug

insect, water strider, Gerris marginatus at Cincinnati Zoo, photo by Ltshears, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Unported license

19 – The Airy Water Striders

20 – A Queer Fellow

21 – The Well Dressed Lace Bug

22 – A Bad Bug

23 – The Troublesome Red Bug

24 – The Ravenous Chinch Bugs

25 – The Well Protected Stink Bug

26 – The Louse

27 – Bird Lice and Book Lice

insect, Cicada,  Illinois summer of 2007, photo by Nickaleck, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 license

28 – Friend Cicada

29 – The Odd Spittle Insect

30 – Pretty Leaf Hoppers

31 – The Comical Tree Hoppers

32 – The Jumping Plant Lice

insect, aphids fight, image by Richard Bartz, aka Makro Freak, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 license, Aphidoidea fight

33 – The Aphids

34 – Scale Bugs

35 – The Horned Corydalus

36 – Fairy Lacewing

37 – The Ant Lion

38 – The Little Caddice Flies

Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton W. Burgess

Northern Cardinal, Male

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Preface

winter wren

Jenny Wren Arrives

The Old Orchard Bully

Jenny Has a Good Word for Some Sparrows

white throated sparrow

Chippy, Sweetvoice and Dotty

Peter Learns Something He Hadn’t Guessed

An Old Friend in a New Home

Camille Pissarro, Le verger (The_Orchard), 1872

The Watchman of the Old Orchard

Old Clothes and Old Houses

Longbill and Teeter

 Redwinged blackbird

Redwing and Yellow Wing

Drummers and Carpenters

Some Unlike Relatives

More of the Blackbird Family

Western Meadowlark

Bob White and Carol the Meadow Lark

A Swallow and One Who Isn’t

A Robber in the Old Orchard

More Robbers

Forest, a painting by Paul Cézanne, circa 1902-1904

Some Homes in the Green Forest

A Maker of Thunder and a Friend in Black

A Fisherman Robbed

A Fishing Party

Some Feathered Diggers

Some Big Mouths

Nashville and Tennessee Warblers

The Warblers Arrive

Three Cousins Quite Unlike

Peter Gets a Lame Neck

A New Friend and an Old One

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Peter Sees Rosebreast and Finds Redcoat

The Constant Singers

Jenny Wren’s Cousins

Voices of the Dusk

Peter Saves a Friend and Learns Something

A Royal Dresser and a Late Nester
Mourning Dove

Mourner the Dove and Cuckoo

A Butcher and a Hummer

Male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

A Stranger and a Dandy

Farewells and Welcomes

Honker and Dippy Arrive

Peter Discovers Two Old Friends
Birdseed mixture in feeder

Some Merry Seed-Eaters

Some More Friends Come with the Snow

Peter Learns Something about Spooky

Queer Feet and a Queerer Bill

More Folks in Red

Hunters in Snow, Pieter Bruegel d. Ä. 105
Hunters in Snow, Pieter Bruegel d. Ä.

Peter Sees Two Terrible Feathered Hunters

The Burgess Animal Book for Children by Thornton W. Burgess

 wolf Canis lupus baileyi running

Summary: Peter Rabbit goes to school, with Mother Nature as his teacher. In this zoology book for children, Thornton W. Burgess describes the mammals of North America in the form of an entertaining story, including plenty of detail but omitting long scientific names. There is an emphasis on conservation. (Summary by Laurie Anne Walden for Librivox)

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Click here to preview or purchase Animal themed copywork and notebooking pages. Clicking this link will take you away from My Audio School.

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Preface

Jenny Wren Gives Peter Rabbit an Idea

Peter and Jumper Go to School

More of Peter’s Long-Legged Cousins

Chatterer and Happy Jack Join

squirrel Tamiasciurus douglasii

The Squirrels of the Trees

Striped Chipmunk and his Cousins

chipmunk Streifenhoernchen

Johnny Chuck Joins the Class

Whistler and Yap Yap

Two Queer Little Haymakers

Porcupine

Prickly Porky and Grubby Gopher

A Fellow with a Thousand Spears

A Lumberman and Engineer

A Worker and a Robber

A Trader and a Handsome Fellow

Opossum Philadelphia

Two Unlike Little Cousins

Danny’s Northern Cousins and Nimbleheels

Three Little Redcoats and Some Others

Mice with Pockets, and Others

Teeny Weeny and his Cousin

Four Busy Little Miners

bat

Flitter the Bat and his Family

An Independent Family

Digger and his Cousin Glutton

Shadow and his Family

Two Famous Swimmers
BAB Beech Marten photo by Franco Atirador from Wikimedia Commons

Spite the Marten and Pekan the Fisher

red fox Vulpes vulpes

Reddy Fox Joins the School

Old Man Coyote and Howler the Wolf

Coyote

Yowler and his cousin Tufty

Some Big and Little Cat Cousins
Raccoon climbing in tree

Bobby Coon Arrives

Buster Bear Nearly Breaks Up School

Buster Bear’s Big Cousins

Unc’ Billy and Old Mrs. Possum

Lightfoot, Blacktail and Forkhorn

Bugler, Flathorns and Wanderhoof

Thunderfoot, Fleetfoot and Longcoat

Two Wonderful Mountain Climbers

Piggy and Hardshell

The Mammals of the Sea

The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre

Spider PlanMyGreen by Ryan, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0

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Tarantula

01 – The Black-Bellied Tarantula

02 – The Banded Epeira

03 – The Narbonne Lycosa

04 – The Narbonne Lycosa: The Burrow

05 – The Narbonne Lycosa: The Family

06 – The Narbonne Lycosa: The Climbing Instinct

07 – The Spider’s Exodus

08 – The Crab Spider

Spider web Telarana by Danel Solabarrieta, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 license

09 – The Garden Spiders – Building The Web

10 – The Garden Spiders: My Neighbour

11 – The Garden Spiders: The Lime-snare

12 – The Garden Spiders: The Telegraph Wire

13 – The Garden Spiders: Pairing And Hunting

Spider on the hunt

14 – The Garden Spider: The Question of Property

15 – The Labyrinth Spider

16 – The Clotho Spider

17 – Appendix

The Biography of a Grizzly by Ernest Thomas Seton

Bear Grizzly_Denali photo taken by Jean-Pierre Lavoie, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 license

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To listen, click play in the box or click on the chapter titles.

bears forest Utro_v_sosnovom_lesu

00 – Dedication, Preface

01 – The Cubhood of Wahb

Bear and Cubs photo from Wikimedia commons licensed by wwwdotfapasdotes, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license

02 – The Days of His Strength

03 – The Waning

The Fairyland of Science by Arabella Buckley

flowers released to public domain by author  Neelix

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Running time: 6 hours, 56 minutes

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flowers 2 released to public domain by author Neelix

Note: I have not previewed this book for evolutionary content.  Glancing through, I did see one reference to “millions of years” in chapter one. If this is a concern for you, please click “read this book yourself” to peruse its contents. This book does appear on some popular booklists, such as Ambleside Online.

Summary: I have promised to introduce you today to the fairy-land of science; a somewhat bold promise, seeing that most of you probably look upon science as a bundle of dry facts, while fairy-land is all that is beautiful, and full of poetry and imagination. But I thoroughly believe myself, and hope to prove to you, that science is full of beautiful pictures, of real poetry, and of wonder-working fairies.

(From the Introduction to The Fairyland of Science)

Redwood sunlight, with fog and sun rays, in Redwood National Park.  This image is in the public domain, as it is a work of a National Park Service employee.


Lecture One: The Fairyland of Science: How to Enter it, How to Use it, and How to Enjoy it


Lecture Two: Sunbeams and the Work They Do

Lecture Three: The Aerial Ocean in Which We Live

FLS Drop of Water falling from a piece of ice, photo released to public domain by its creator Jonas Bergsten

Lecture Four: A Drop of Water on its Travels

Lecture Five: The Two Great Sculptors: Water and Ice

Lecture Six: The Voices of Nature and How We Hear Them

Primrose, Primula sinensis, a hand colored engraving from John Lindley's Collectanea botanica (1821), a plant both named and drawn by Lindley

Lecture Seven: The Life of a Primrose

Lecture Eight: The History of a Piece of Coal

FLS Coal, this image is a work of the Minerals of the World project, and is in the public domain

Lecture Nine: Bees in the Hive

Lecture Ten: Bees and Flowers

FLS  Bee Sucking Nectar, photo released to public domain by its author and copyright holder, Jon Sullivan

First Moon Landing 1969

Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.  His words, “One small step for man, a giant leap for mankind” became legendary.

Parents, please do not allow your children to peruse YouTube (or any other video sharing site) alone, and preview all video content before sharing with your children.

Wild Life in Woods and Fields by Arabella B. Buckley

WLWF Muir woods trail
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WLWF spider, public domain photo by Jon Sullivan

01- Introduction

02- Spiders on the Common

03- The Woodpecker’s Nest

WLWF Buberel_unknown_flower_4, photo by Jason Buberel

04- Spring Flowers

05- A Family of Squirrels

06- The Skylark and Her Enemy

WLWF Black walnut dead nut, image by Susan Sweeney, 2004, GFDL license

07- Nuts and Nut-Eaters
08- The Mouse and the Shrew
Shorttail shrew, source: National Park Service public domain image


09- The Ant-Hill

10- The Humble Bee’s Nest

British blue cat


11- Peter’s Cat

12- The Greedy Stranger
European Mole, GFDL license

13- The Mole and His Home

Moths of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter

Moths and Butterflies from Meyer's Blitz Lexikon
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Metamorphasis of a butterfly

01 – Moths of the Limberlost

02 – Moths, Eggs, Caterpillars, Winter Quarters

03 – The Robin Moth: Cecropia

butterflies and moths image from Meyers Konversations Lexikon

04 – The Yellow Emperor: Eacles Imperialis

05 – The Lady Bird: Deilephila Lineata

06 – Moths of the Moon: Actias Luna

07 – King of the Hollyhocks: Protoparce Celeus

Hollyhocks by Jan van Huysum

08 – Hera of the Corn: Hyperchira Io

09 – The Sweetheart and the Bride: Catocala amatrix–Catocala neogama

10 – The Giant Gamin: Telea Polyphemus

Spodoptera litura_diagram, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license by its author, Art Cushman, USDA; Property of the Smithsonian Institution, Department of Entomology, United States

11 – The Garden Fly: Protoparce Carolina

12 – Bloody-nose of Sunshine Hill: Hemaris Thysbe

13 – The Modest Moth: Triptogon Modesta

The bunch of lilacs by James Jacques Tissot, c. 1875

14 – The Pride of the Lilacs – Attacus Promethea

15 – The King of the Poets: Citheronia Regalis

Birds of the Air by Arabella B. Buckley

Vermillion Flycatcher by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, public domain image

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Total running time: 1 hour, 26 minutes

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Ivory Billed Woodpeckers by John James Audubon, copyright expired

Preface

Birds We Know

The Song of Birds

The Nests of Birds

The Greater Flamingo, drawn by Audubon for Birds of America, public domain image

Birds’ Eggs

Baby Birds

Birds Feeding Their Young

Where Do Birds Sleep?

Birds of America by John James Audubon, Trumpeter Swan

Feeding in Summer

Migrating in Autumn

Bird-Food in Winter
Other Small Birds

Birds of Prey

Rooks and Their Companions

Anas platyrhynchos (by John James Audubon), copyright expired

Web-footed Birds

Bird Enemies