Living Science, Nature Study and Buzzing Bees

For the last two years my second grader's science curriculum has completely been led by living books, nature study and a lesson book to include her very simple narrations.  Our topic last week was about insects.  She read Insect Detective by Steve Voake, Magic School Bus Inside A Beehive, and The Life and Times of the Honeybee by Charles Mucucci. She went about learning as routine:  read a book daily,  narrate after reading, on the fourth day made her drawings and wrote a few things she thought were important.   

Later that afternoon she and her siblings went outside to play as usual (or at least I thought).  Somehow their playing evolved into mad rushing in and out of the house.  Again, not unusual.  A few minutes later, after the noise level seemed to go down (this was unusual), I decided to check out what was going on.  Everyone was on top of  the hillside full of Mezoo Trailing Red ground covering, Dandelions, and other pretty flowers. 

They were armed with clear plastic containers, magnifying glasses and books.  Doing what?  Trying to catch bees.  Why?  To study them of course.  After all we hadn't done our nature study yet.