Nature Study Lesson 57: Squirrels

We have a lot of Grey Squirrels where we live and we see them on a daily basis, so this nature study was not hard. One of our family's most adored stories involves a squirrel. One day, when my oldest was about 10 years old, I looked out the kitchen window to check on all of the kids playing in the backyard and saw her petting a squirrel which was sitting in her lap! I immediately thought that the squirrel must be sick or she wouldn't be able to hold it, so I calmly called her to come into the house, hoping that the animal would not bite her if she put it down immediately. She placed it gently on the ground and it loped calmly away. I saw it several times that day, and in fact most days that summer. It never came that close to us again, but it was clear that it was not rabid or sick in any way. She had just been patient and gifted enough to convince the squirrel to come into her lap for awhile. She didn't think all that much about her feat, as she has often charmed animals, but I certainly will never forget that day.

Recently we have had a problem with squirrels making a nest in the attic, so they have not be our favorite animal these days.

We have been enjoying reading The Burgess Animal Book for Children. It is in a story format, but has a lot of interesting facts about the animals. The Handbook of Nature Study, however, is still the major text we use, and encouraging the boys to make their own discoveries the major learning tool. I encourage the boys to include some of their observations in their nature journal pages. My second student made a comparison between rabbits and squirrels.

Here is a wonderful website, The Squirrels in our Window where you can view a mother squirrel and her babies growing up.