Every parent hopes their child receives a solid science education. This is the case whether our children are homeschooled or attending a traditional school. Many parents, including myself, know we received very little “real” science education growing up and when it comes time to teaching or supporting science learning in our children, we tend to feel slightly inadequate. This doesn’t need to be the case!
Jeannie Fulbright, Apologia Science Writer, inspired me to think about a living science beyond the books type of education and hands-on experience. To stop putting a time slot on the schedule for “science learning” and to start exploring the world with curiosity. To invite opportunities of discovery regardless of where we are or when it is during the day.
For our family, providing the opportunities for science as part of our every day life has been as easy as opening our back door and doing some exploring together. Books are a wonderful window to the world but true heartfelt science learning takes place when you learn about things you can see, touch, smell, and hear. You might enjoy some tips from our post: 30 Backyard Family Activities.
Living Science Beyond the Books
Birds in a book are great but birds in your very own feeder are a living and breathing example to learn from. We have found what works best is observation first and then facts. For example, we learned more by trying to identify these feathers…using a feather identification key for the first time, reasoning on which birds we see in our backyard, and then narrowing it down to a few bird choices. We had to learn the different kinds of bird feathers and make careful observations about color and pattern. So much to build on from just this simple feather find from our backyard.
Learning about pollen in a book is interesting but seeing it on a flower, watching a bee covered in it, and then perhaps looking at the flower pollen with a hand lens takes the lesson on pollen to a whole new dimension. Suddenly you care about the pollen…it means something. My son noticed the little yellow specks on flowers in our yard, so we brought them inside for closer inspection…pollen! No wonder the bees are swarming around this plant in our yard!
Fearful of Nature?
My youngest son hates spiders. He found a spider on a leaf and we spent some time watching it together. Direct observation of a spider takes the fear away and allows the awe to settle in for such an amazing living creature. Living science beyond the books is the best kind of learning for science. Books are there to support and generate interest! But remember to get outside to observe it.
“Nature study, as far as it goes, is just as large as is science for “grown-ups”. It may deal with the same subject matter and should be characterized by the same accuracy. It simply does not go so far.” Anna Botsford Comstock, Handbook of Nature Study
She supports the idea that beginning with nature study and observation we can build on those ideas and experiences and go farther with more formal science. For a complete picture of how she outlines nature study for families, read the introductory pages of the Handbook of Nature Study (pages 1-24).
“Adults should realize that the most valuable thing children can learn is what they discover themselves about the world they live in. Once they experience first-hand the wonder of nature, they will want to make nature observation a life-long habit. All people are supposed to be observers of nature and there’s no excuse for living in a world so full of amazing plants and animals and not be interested in them.” Charlotte Mason, Volume 1
So, I think we are in good company. We can provide or support science education in our homes if we remember to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves. Open eyes, open hearts, and then open minds to enjoy living science.
Homeschool Nature Study Membership
Join us for even more homeschool nature studies for all the seasons! With a nature study each week, you will have joyful learning leading all the way through the homeschool year for all your ages!
Not yet a Homeschool Nature Study Member? We’d love for you to join us and take advantage of the numerous studies – already planned out for you, craft ideas, free worksheets, and #outdoorhourchallenge fun! Become a member and bring the love of learning nature and science easily into your home.
These 7 tips for a successful outdoor hour challenge will help you and your family establish an easy and fun nature study routine.
What Is The Outdoor Hour Challenge?
This is a great question! And there is a simple answer. Basically there are three parts:
Inside preparation of a nature topic
Outdoor time (even 10-15 minutes!) looking for and learning about one or two topics (or whatever you find!)
Follow up time nature journaling about your topic
Just how do you get started in homeschool nature study? How do families participate in the Outdoor Hour Challenges? It is so simple to get started and we will show you how. Grab this free Homeschool Nature Study Guide and discover the joys of nature study in your homeschool.
We spent a little while observing the weather in our own backyard this week! Summer weather always has something interesting going on for sure!
The night before, or the morning of, I check to see what we’ll be studying. I love that I can access everything in the member section by computer or on the go on my phone!
I pre-read the suggested pages in The Handbook of Nature Study. This book was not written to be read aloud word for word; so I try to get an idea of she’s saying before I go over it with my kids. Both of these steps take maybe 5 minutes altogether.
Quickly gather supplies. We try to keep our supplies together in convenient places; so we don’t have to search all over the house for them.
Sit down and go through the assigned pages in The Handbook of Nature Study together. There are usually other activities, such as watching a video, to do as well.
Go outside and do the Outdoor Hour Challenge! This week it was observing the weather! We had beautiful weather to observe, using our senses! This can be as simple as spending 15 minutes in your own backyard, which we did today!
Then, we come back inside and do our nature journaling. . .drawing/making observations on what we saw.
Time for clean up!
Yes, it’s just that simple. 😉
More Tips For Nature Study In Your Homeschool
Here are some practical tips for you to use to get started!
We’ve heard from families that they were reluctant to start a nature study plan, but, they found that having a focus each week actually helped them to stay regular at getting outside. It also helped them be better at taking a few minutes to learn about an object they encountered, even if it wasn’t the original aim for getting outdoors.
We make it easy with resources you can use at your own pace and on your own schedule. Or, you may choose to follow our annual nature study plans closely and have everything at your fingertips.
Amy Law is wife to Jeremy, and mom to three. They homeschool using Charlotte Mason’s principles, and love to spend lots of time in nature! You can often find them hiking the beautiful trails of their beloved Tennessee hills, while Amy attempts to capture the beauty of it all with her camera lens.
You can plan a simple outdoor picnic with the benefit of homeschool nature study! Even a snack in your backyard will make for a fun time together outdoors. You will be surprised at all you notice while you are outside.
“..by beginning with the child in nature-study we take him to the laboratory of the wood or garden, the roadside or the field, and his materials are the wild flowers or the weeds, or the insects that visit the goldenrod or the bird that sings in the maple tree, or the woodchuck whistling in the pasture.”
Picnics don’t need to be fancy. Wrap up a sandwich in a cloth napkin, grab a piece of fruit, and some water and you are set. Venture outside even if it is only to your own yard to sit on a blanket and enjoy your lunch. Afterwards you can make time for a short period of nature study.
I love eating outside with my family, especially in the summertime. This week’s Outdoor Hour Challenge encourages you to share a meal outside with your children. Keep it simple as far as food selections and location. Even if all you do is put a few things in a bag, grab a blanket, and then spread it all out on your own backyard lawn, I’m sure you and your children will enjoy the fresh air and the time spent outdoors sharing a meal.
Our family looks back fondly on the meals we shared outside in the summertime on our back deck. It made us slow down a bit and take notice of the things that happen outside like clouds floating by, birds chirping, and trees swaying in the breeze. We watched loads of sunsets and I remember a few times being sprinkled on by a passing late afternoon thunderstorm.
Our family eats dinner outside every night from June to September….longer if the weather allows. We have arranged our patio table under a canopy and the citronella candles are always kept nearby. We have a tree that the hummingbirds sip nectar from in the dusk hours and after our meal we sit and observe their dinnertime.
“…When the weather is warm, why not eat breakfast and lunch outside?…Besides the benefit of an added hour or two of fresh air, meals eaten outside are often delightful, and there’s nothing like happiness to convert food and drink into healthy blood and bodies.“
Charlotte Mason, Outdoor Life pg 43
Summer Nature Study Tip
Purchase some inexpensive, unbreakable dinnerware and reusable utensils. Make sure you have a small ice chest and some cooler packs to pop into your freezer. Gather a blanket or camping chairs to leave in your garage for those last minute excursions to the park for a picnic. Make sure to bring your nature journal and some pencils so you can create a nature journal page if the opportunity arises during or after your picnic.
Outdoor Hour Challenge Picnic
1. The challenge is to have a picnic. No need to go far or to even have a picnic table. Food always tastes better outside and if you don’t want to commit to a whole lunch, why not just a snack?
After you eat, sit and listen to the sounds of the spring.
“Given the power of nature to calm and soothe us in our hurried lives, it also would be interesting to study how a family’s connection to nature influences the general quality of family relationships. Speaking from personal experience, my own family’s relationships have been nourished over the years through shared experiences in nature-from sharing our toddler’s wonder upon turning over a rock and discovering a magnificent bug the size of a mouse, to paddling our old canoe down a nearby creek during the children’s school years, to hiking the mountains.”
2. After your picnic, spend 10-15 minutes observing your surroundings. Add anything new to your list of items observed in your focus area that you are keeping in your nature journal. Make note of any additional research that needs to be done for things your child is interested in. Make a journal entry if you wish.
This challenge is found in the Getting Started ebook which is included in Homeschool Nature Study membership. The ebook provides the challenge as shown above as well as custom notebook pages for your follow up nature journal if desired.
Homeschool Nature Study MembersHave Great Resources at Your Fingertips
Consider working through the first three Outdoor Hour Challenges in the Getting Started ebook. These three challenges can help build your nature study habit. I highly recommend following the suggestions for reading in the Handbook of Nature Study that go along with those challenges. The words expressed in those readings include timeless advice to parents about the value of regular nature study close to home. Make sure to have the printable nature journal pages bookmarked in case your child is ready to create a record of their Outdoor Hour Challenge.
#1 Let’s Get Started #2 Using Your Words #3 Now Is The Time To Draw
Look for the Outdoor Hour Challenge Planning Pages printable in the Planning Resources course. Use these pages to make a rough plan for your nature study.
If you’re not a member here at Homeschool Nature Study yet, please consider joining to gain the benefit of having a nature study library at your fingertips. There are numerous resources available for you to help create the habit of nature study within your family.
Nature Study Encouragement for Your Outdoor Hour Family Time
Before you begin homeschool garden activities, enjoy these ideas for getting outdoors with your family.
Nature Study in Ripples: Simple Ways to Study Nature
Simple Ways to Study Nature – Here are some simple ways to study nature in your homeschool. Start in your own yard then let your discoveries grow out like ripples in a pond.
“Nature study is, despite all discussions and perversions, a study of nature; it consists of simple, truthful observations that may, like beads on a string, finally be threaded upon the understanding and thus held together as a logical and harmonious whole.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 1
99 Homeschool Nature Study Ideas to Get Your Family Outside
Homeschool Garden Activities Perfect for May Nature Studies
“A child who makes a garden, and then becomes intimate with the plants he cultivates, and comes to understand the interrelation of the various forms of life which he finds in his garden, has progressed far in the fundamental knowledge of nature’s ways as well as in a practical knowledge of agriculture.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 20 in the section “Gardening and nature Study”
Here are some great nature study ideas for your May homeschool!
Garden and Wildflower Nature Studies with the Outdoor Hour Challenges
You can enjoy a simple garden and wildflowers homeschool nature study with these resources we have gathered for you to use in your own backyard. It is such a delight to study and learn about a garden and the beauty of wildflowers!
Make a Wagon Garden
For this particular garden, I have a rusty old Red Flyer wagon that has wheels that no longer turn…How to Make a Wagon Garden.
World Turtle Day Nature Activities
Turtle Nature Study for Your Homeschool – Learn about pond life, pondweed and a pond habitat with this fun turtle nature study for your homeschool. Includes activities for learning about tortoises and microscopic pond life too.
Mammals: Goat Nature Study
This goat homeschool nature study is packed with fun from fainting goats to advanced mammal studies! Bring the Handbook of Nature Study to Life in your homeschool! Here’s a peek at what you can expect to enjoy in this Outdoor Hour Challenge for Homeschool Nature Study members.
Butterfly Nature Study: How to Make a Butterfly Puddle
Over the years, I’ve observed butterflies along hiking trails in the muddy edges. There will sometimes be 10 or 12 butterflies sitting on the mud slowly opening and closing their wings. This behavior fascinated me! After a little research on the internet, I discovered that butterflies are attracted to mud puddles for not only the moisture but the minerals and salts that are present in the mud. Learn How to Make a Butterfly Puddle!
Homeschool Garden Activities: The Great Sunflower Project
What is the Great Sunflower Project? This is a citizen science activity that you can participate in with your children. If you can grow a sunflower (or selected other flowers), you can join the project with just a few minutes invested later this summer.
Beautiful Queen Anne’s Lace Wildflower Nature Study
Our family made great memories together one year while noticing and studying Queen Anne’s lace throughout the seasons. Enjoy this beautiful Queen Anne’s lace nature study for your homeschool and see what you notice in each season too!
Charlotte Mason Nature Study: Simple Ideas for Wildflowers
These timeless Charlotte Mason nature study ideas are as relevant today as when they were written and I’m forever grateful for the encouragement these gave me when I was a new homeschooler.
Gathering Things for Your Nature Table
Unsure of what a nature table is exactly? Here is a simple definition with some ideas and tips. These will help you begin the habit of gathering things for your homeschool nature table during your Outdoor Hour Challenge time.
Plan a Picnic
You can plan a simple outdoor picnic with the benefit of homeschool nature study! Even a snack in your backyard will make for a fun time together outdoors. You will be surprised at all you notice while you are outside.
The Ultimate Guide to National Parks Nature Study
Ready to enjoy a trip to a national park? Use this guide to national parks nature study for your homeschool and enjoy nature study learning while you explore the great outdoors!
More Homeschool Garden Learning
Gardening in Your Homeschool – As the plant world comes alive again in springtime, what better way to teach our children about nature, food, hands-on history, and practical skills than by gardening? Whether we do a formal study or make gardening a purely hands-on project, our children will learn with a homeschool garden.
Get Them Gardening! Fun Garden Books for Kids – As spring starts to roll in, we turn our thoughts to finally getting outside and enjoying the nice weather. Along with this comes budding trees and growing plants, and gardening both for food and flowers. This collection of garden books for kids will help you include gardening in your homeschool.
12 Delightful Farm Activities for Kids – These 12 delightful farm art activities for kids include fluffy baby chicks, a tractor, a barn, ducklings, a lamb, a cow, a piglet and even the chicken life cycle. Such fun learning for your homeschool!
More Nature Study Ideas for Your May Homeschool
Out of School and Into Nature: The Anna Comstock Story – Out of School and Into Nature: The Anna Comstock Story is a beautiful picture book biography about the author of The Handbook of Nature Study. Anna Botsford Comstock was passionate about children getting out of the classroom and into nature to learn first hand about our beautiful world.
3 Tips for Nature Journaling When You Think You Can’t Sketch – Here is some encouragement for you with 3 tips for nature journaling when you think you can’t sketch. My personal nature journal is a source of great joy and it gives me such pleasure to create pages that record my observations and memories of a particular day, excursion, or season.
How Nature Study Enriches Your High School Biology in Your Homeschool – Just how to include homeschool nature study as part of high school biology? Here you will find a break down of nature study suggestions and accompanying resources for each module of your homeschool biology lessons. I really think it depends on the family and how much nature study you have time to fit in with your high school age children.
Flower and Gardening Activities and Notebook Pages
Learning leaf parts
Poppies and buttercups
Ferns
Looking for pollen
Pressing flowers
How to draw flowers
Learning flower parts and dissection of flowers
The garden snail
Garden Seed Ideas
Coronation Crown Nature Craft for Annual Homeschool Nature Study Members
Victoria Vels shares, “May’s nature craft has landed for our lovely members and we’re feeling rather patriotic with these stunning Nature Coronation Crowns, just in time for the crowning of King Charles II.”
You will find hundreds of homeschool nature studies plus all the Outdoor Hour Challenges in our Homeschool Nature Study membership. There are 25+ continuing courses with matching Outdoor Hour curriculum that will bring the Handbook of Nature Study to life in your homeschool! In addition, there is an interactive monthly calendar with daily nature study prompt – all at your fingertips!
Outdoor Mom Encouragement for Annual Homeschool Nature Study Members
The Outdoor Mom in May Helps Us Refocus
Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to attend your own business and work with your hands –
1 Thessalonians 4:11
It reminds me to re-focus my goals and ambitions so that they align with God’s will rather than my own, often more worldly, ambitions.
This verse grounds me. When I put this verse into action in practical ways in my everyday life I find that life slows down and I have enough head space to allow my thoughts to centre on what is important.
The May Outdoor Mom includes:
Choosing a journaling spot
10 (!) May nature prompts for outdoors, for journaling and for either the seashore or mountains
Ideas for working with your hands
Six ideas for making the ordinary extraordinary – including planting a kitchen garden!
Even if you or your children are squirmy about insects, there is so much to discover and learn! In this insect nature study, learn how to identify an insect with simple steps!
“Insects are among the most interesting and available of all living creatures for nature study. The lives of many of them afford more interesting stories than are found in fairy lore; many of them show exquisite colors; and, most important of all, they are small and are, therefore, easily confined for observation.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 294
I am finding this to be the case in our everyday life…there are insects everywhere. The caterpillar above we found on our hike yesterday. The more we looked, the more we found.
Rain beetle: Although she looks dead, she really wasn’t. She kept flipping over on her back and wiggling and stretching her legs. Today was a first. I actually looked closely at a very ugly beetle. Yes, I am becoming an insect gal. I know this for sure because my daughter and her friend Shyloh brought me home a very large, very alive beetle creature. I had asked all my family to bring home any interesting insects they find and had even given them each a ziploc sandwich bag to bring them home in. Yesterday was the first time someone brought me an insect treasure. They said they couldn’t bear to put it into a baggie so they used a small plastic container from my daughter’s lunch box. She said there were hundreds of the beetles so she felt like she could bring one to us to study
How to Identify an Insect
At first I was disgusted by this creature but after taking her out of the container and looking carefully, I once again found the beauty in the design of the Creator. Now all that was left to do was to discover what sort of beetle this insect was.
Steps To Identify An Insect
1. I pulled out my field guide but could not see any beetles that looked like this one.
2.So it was off to the internet and we started by looking up “beetle, california” on Google. I am finding that if I Google something and then look at the images it takes me far less time to identify a creature.
3.Once you find an image that looks like your insect, click on the link associated with that image. The majority of the time this is enough to get you pointed in the right direction.
Insect Nature Study For Kids
Here’s what I learned about this little female insect: Rain beetle or P. puncticollis (more on classification at BugGuide.net)and can be found in California woodlands. The male is approximately 1″ and the female can be slightly larger at 1 3/4″. The males have wings but the females do not. They range in color from reddish-brown to black. The underside is covered in hairy bristles.
The interesting thing about this beetle is that it makes a sudden appearance after a soaking rain….hence the name Rain beetle. We had a really good rain all the night before so I think this is probably why we were able to see this amazing creature. The life cycle of the Rain beetle is very long. The larvae, who feed on roots of live trees and bushes of oaks and conifers, take up to as much as 10-12 years to mature but once they become adults the males wait for the first rains to bring them out for their mating flight and the females dig a tunnel to the surface to wait for the males to find them. Here is the fascinating part:The conditions that trigger the males and females to emerge are so stringent that this may only happen in a population for a single day in a given year. This made the finding of this insect all the more precious since it is a rare event.
This is the head of the beetle and if you look closely you can see her little “horns”. The males fly slowly over the area, low to the ground, looking for the females who although rarely leave their underground burrow, wait at the burrow’s entrance for the arrival of the males. She puts off a pheromone that attracts the males. After mating the female closes off the entrance to her burrow and lays her eggs. These mature the following spring.
I love this photo that shows her leg parts.
Wow, so much to learn. I have a new appreciation for the study of insects after learning that this was not just an ugly bug. It has a whole life story to learn and now I can share it with others.
“When it is properly taught, the child is unconscious of mental effort or that he is suffering the act of teaching.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 6
I did all this research and it hardly felt like any effort at all. I will be striving to make our nature study so that it is interesting and feels not like work but like refreshment.
If you’re not a member here at Homeschool Nature Study yet, please consider joining to gain the benefit of having a nature study library at your fingertips. There are numerous resources available for you to help create the habit of nature study within your family.
Here are some tips for enjoying summer nature study when it’s hot outside. I live where it gets really hot outside in the summer. We have had just a taste of the heat so far this year but it has been enough to remind me just how hot it can be in the sun in the afternoon.
I want to encourage those that have emailed me lately telling me that it is too hot to participate in the Outdoor Hour Challenges right now in their part of the world. I sat and thought about how we can accomplish the Outdoor Hour even when the temperatures and humidity get up to the point where staying outdoors is unpleasant and potentially dangerous.
Homeschool Family Tips for Enjoying Summer Nature Study
Here are homeschool family tips for enjoying summer nature study (what we do in our family).
We try to get outside early in the day when there is still a little shade. We take a few minutes first thing to take a walk around the garden to pull a few weeds, make sure the watering system is working, harvest any goodies that are ripe, and enjoy the progress of the garden.
This gives us an opportunity to watch birds, look for worms, see butterflies, look at spider’s webs, watch ants, pick up some acorns, feel the cool breeze, look at signs of nocturnal visitors, and so many other everyday sorts of nature study.
Other than working in the garden, we many times take a short walk just around the perimeter of our property just looking for anything interesting. Ten or fifteen minutes is usually all that takes. Do we sometimes get hot? Yes we do but then we come inside and get something to drink and take a little time looking up anything we found interesting online or in a book while it is fresh in our minds. It might be a feather we found or an interesting rock. It could be a new flower blooming or a spider we don’t know the name of. Here is a quote from a newer participant in the Outdoor Hour and what she wrote on her blog.
“I have noticed in our studies that if we wait, nature will come to us.”
I love that and it is so true. It is the little things that come your way during your everyday business and travels that enrich your nature study.
It really isn’t about the big field trips or the nature study classes, it is the day to day, ho-hum stuff that is fascinating. The house fly that you look at with the hand lens, the ants crawling on your front step, the bird gathering twigs for a nest outside your window, the things we so many times fail to notice.
Nature Study When It’s Hot Outside
Here are some simple tips for summer nature study:
Have a Focus for Your Nature Study
I think in the heat of summer you just need to plan and have a focus for your nature study. You may want to focus your Outdoor Hour Challenges on garden flowers. Each challenge can literally be completed by taking a ten to fifteen minute period of time outside. You do not need to travel to a nature study area or spend a half-day or a whole day outside. For instance, challenge #17 was to look at leaves. My son and I went out and found about ten different leaves to look at and we were only outside about five minutes. We brought the leaves inside and we looked at them and then he drew them in his nature journal in the comfort of the cool indoors. You really only needed to find one leaf and bring it in to look at….tops outdoor time would be five minutes and that is still doable in hot weather.
Involve Water in Your Nature Study
I find that if I involve water in some aspect of our outdoor time the children and I enjoy it more. Watering the grass or watering with a watering can can provide just the touch of coolness to our time even if the temperatures are soaring. How about a squirt bottle to cool off with as you take a few minutes in your yard or neighborhood exploring?
Have a Cool Snack
The promise of a cool snack at the end of a short period outside is always a great way to keep spirits up as you have your outdoor time. We keep popsicles and Go-Gurts in the freezer for a refreshing snack in the shade after we have made our observations.
Remember That Your Children Are Developing Their Senses
The other aspect of nature study is that we are really training our children to see the differences in their world in each season. So many children today are raised in houses heated and cooled to a comfortable temperature year round. Our cars and the grocery stores are temperature controlled as well. Our kids need to feel the hot air of summer and the cold air of winter. It is part of growing up and experiencing our world and developing their senses.
I think that until we recognize that our children need outdoor time in nature close to their own homes, we do not make it a priority or think that it is worth while. Richard Louv in his book, Last Child in The Woods has a chapter titled “A Life of Senses: Nature vs. the Know-It-All State of Mind”. He makes some excellent points. Here is just one quote.
“Children need nature for the healthy development of their senses, and, therefore, for learning and creativity.”
More Ideas for Your Summer Homeschool
You might also like these fun ways to enjoy summer homeschool nature study:
Do you think this will help those that are hesitant to have nature study in the summer? I hope everyone that has a willingness to try will now not use the heat (or cold) as a reason to procrastinate nature study and participating in the Outdoor Hour Challenges any longer.
Begin with a lovely reminder of the Lenten season. Countdown to Resurrection morning with this member printable calendar complete with nature prompts by our Nature Illustrator and Crafts Editor, Victoria Vels.
Easter Lily Nature Study for Your Outdoor Hour Challenge
Outdoor Hour hostess, Shirley Vels, shares, “during the Easter season, churches and homes are adorned with gorgeous, fragrant Easter lilies. But why? Why have these flowers become synonymous with Easter?”
Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
Luke 12: 27
Also grow a mini egg shell garden and learn about seed germination! Make an edible Easter lily dessert and make paper lilies too. All available now in your Spring Course in Homeschool Nature Study membership.
Easter Craft – Make a Resurrection Garden
Just some simple supplies but plenty of discussion can happen while making it. Victoria is leading our members in creating your very own Resurrection Garden for her continuing Nature Crafts series.
What a beautiful symbol of the Easter season – the lily! Enjoy this art lesson from our sister site, You ARE an ARTiST, included in the Easter Lily Nature Study in membership.
Julie shares, “Easter seems to come up suddenly. Maybe it’s because Easter weekend moves around the calendar, or maybe because it is preceded by Lent which is more solemn.
I decided I wanted to spend as much time anticipating the Resurrection with my children as we did the Incarnation. Both are beautiful events in our faith. Both bring a sense of wonder and awe. The Resurrection is special because it shows “God with us,” and God victorious for us!” Draw Your Way Through the Resurrection Story
More Spring and Easter Activities for Your Homeschool
Here are even more spring and Easter activities for your homeschool:
Easter and Spring Nature Studies in Homeschool Nature Study Membership
Join us for even more homeschool nature studies this spring! With a new nature study each week plus a nature study calendar with daily prompts, you will have joyful learning leading all the way to summer!
All homeschooling moms have them: homeschool topics that we don’t feel confident to teach. Here are some tips for tackling difficult nature study topics.
Building the Habit of Tackling Difficult Nature Study Subjects In Our Homeschools
Tackling the difficult topics found in nature study can be a stumbling block for many moms. Most of us find it easy to be interested in and to learn about topics like birds and butterflies alongside our children. But, what about things like spiders, fungus, or rocks? Are we as eager to study those things commonly found in nature? I’ve suffered from this lack of interest in tackling difficult topics in nature study with my children.
Reasons We May View Topics as Difficult
Let’s face it. Most of us are not “experts” in nature study. These things were not covered in our educational years. So many times, when we’re faced with introducing our children to nature study, we feel unqualified.
We lack knowledge in the area under study.
“But she should not let lack of knowledge be a wet blanket thrown over her pupils’ interest. She should say frankly, ‘I do not know; let us see if we cannot together find out this mysterious thing.’”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 3
We lack personal interest in a topic.
It’s our attitude about a topic that can either encourage or discourage our children in their pursuing the study of a topic. If you are disgusted by spiders, they will probably take on your attitude. Honestly, I found studying snakes one of the most difficult things to do with my children so I would continually put it off until a future date.
Resources may not be readily available.
At some point, we come across something during our nature study time that is not in the Handbook of Nature Study. It may be a local wildflower or a migrating bird. Whatever the topic, we lack the knowledge or resources to easily study it with our children. We realize we need to do more research in our study. It seems like too much work.
Ideas to Help with Difficult Nature Study Subjects
Start with the Handbook of Nature Study lessons for a topic.
Build Up Knowledge
If you need additional information, try the children’s section at your public library for books that talk about the topic. Search for videos on YouTube if you want some help making a topic less intimidating. (Note: The Outdoor Hour Challenges (OHC) will usually have all these ideas in the lesson so make sure to look up your topic to see if there is an OHC on the website that you may be able to use.)
Example from our nature study:
Rain Beetle – How to Identify a New Insect: I found that the closer I looked at this insect, the more beauty I found in its design and features. It taught me that sometimes if we just take time to learn more about a topic, the more interesting it becomes.
Develop Interest Over Time
If you introduce a topic and it falls flat, nothing says you can’t move onto something else. Sometimes you just need to let some time pass before you find a hook for a particular nature study topic. This is especially the case when you’re studying a subject that you haven’t encountered in person. We all get more excited about something new we see and experience with our own eyes!
“No teacher is expected to teach all the lessons in this book. A wide range of subjects is given, so that congenial choices may be made.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 24
Study a Variety of Nature Study Subjects
There is no end to the variety of nature study subjects available to you. You could easily stick to topics you are passionate about for a long time. Eventually, you may develop a desire to tackle some of the less attractive topics with your children. Give it time.
“Usually, the reason for this lack of interest is the limited range of subjects used for nature study lessons. Often the teacher insists upon flowers as the lesson subject, when toads or snakes would prove the key to the door of the child’s interest.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 6
Find a Group That Can Support Your Study
Ask around your community or look at local social media to find a group or event that will help you get excited about a nature study topic. Ask at a local nature center. Put the word out in your homeschooling community. Find a mentor for a topic that your child is interested in learning more about and you have no interest in tackling. There is no shame in finding help for difficult topics.
My Homeschool Mom Experiencewith Tackling Diffucult Nature Study Topics
One year we studied rocks and I took the kids to the local rock and mineral show at our fairgrounds. Talk about the perfect place to find a mentor in this area! Most of the participants were eager to share their knowledge and even invited the kids to join their rockhounding group. I was able to get suggestions for places to go look for rocks to collect and for books that we could add to our nature library.
More Ways to Include Nature Study in Your Homeschool
All of the materials in Homeschool Nature Study Membership are going to give you support and direction in offering a simple study of difficult nature topics. Because we each have our individual likes and dislikes, it’s hard for me to point to just one resource for you to use in your study.
Keeping a perpetual calendar of nature firsts is a wonderful long-term nature study project for families. It’s a simple way to learn the cycle of life in your world, noting the nature firsts that catch your attention each year. Comparing the dates of the firsts in nature will give you a more accurate telling of the passage of time.
Keeping a Calendar of Nature Firsts
Calendars: It’s a great idea to have children keep a calendar to record when and where they saw the first oak leaf, the first tadpole, the first primrose, the first ripe blackberries. Then next year they can pull out the calendar and know when to anticipate seeing these things again, and they can note new discoveries. Imagine how this will add enthusiasm for daily walks and nature hikes! A day won’t go by when something isn’t seen to excite them.
Charlotte Mason-in modern English
Download Your Free Calendar Page
(Note that members have this printable in your Planning Resources course in Homeschool Nature Study membership!)
You can use a calendar page for each month with the list of days down the side or a more traditional grid style calendar where you fill in the boxes as you go. Whichever way you choose will work if you just remember to weekly take a minute or two to note any nature firsts you observed. Make sure to record the date (including year), time, and or location of your observation.
Nature Study Items To Look For Each Year
First elk
First ground squirrels
First snow
First robin, junco, swallow, hummingbird
Last leaves on the aspen (Yes, you can keep track of “lasts” as well.)
First campfire of the season
First fire in the wood stove
More Nature Study Firsts for You to Observe in Your Homeschool
First bee seen
Frogs chirping– first day heard
First mosquito bite
First skunk smell
First trillium or other wildflower blooming
First acorns on the ground
First green grass
First tulips blooming
First day warm enough for shorts and t-shirts
First freezing temperatures
First snowfall
As you can see from the list, you are not limited to any one season or any one area for your firsts. Challenge your children to come up with some nature firsts of their own.
A calendar of firsts can be kept by the entire family or by each individual child. The observations can be listed in words and/or pictures!
The beauty of this project is that it can be started at any time and can be completed over many years with no guilt if you forget to record something for a period of time. If that happens, just pick up where you left off.
More Ways to Include Nature Study in Your Homeschool
Just what is the purpose of nature study? Use these examples for how to use questions and answers in your homeschool as a jumping off place for even more discoveries and further adventures! Learn together and make memories as a family.
The Purpose of Nature Study: How to Use Questions and Answers in Your Homeschool
Nature study is more about asking questions than it is about finding answers. I always enjoy a good question because it means that my children are taking something they see or hear and are internalizing it and then coming up with a good question. Many times just asking the question helps solidify what they already know.
“Nature study does not start out with the classification given in books, but in the end it builds up in the child’s mind a classification which is based on fundamental knowledge; it is a classification like that evolved by the first naturalists, because it is built on careful personal observations of both form and life.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 6
For instance, if they see a little creeping creature and wonder what it is, they will need to look a little closer. On examining the creature, they see that it has six legs. Six legs equals an insect and not a spider.
So already before asking me what it is, they have decided it must be some sort of insect and we can then pull out the proper field guide to see if we can identify it by habitat, color, shape, and size.
Using Field Guides and References in Your Nature Study
If we never positively identify a particular insect, we still have taken some time to investigate it further both in the field with our eyes and afterwards in the house with the field guide. The important work was done. We could be finished there if we felt satisfied or we could dig further, checking on the internet or at the library if we were inspired to know more.
Other than the Handbook of Nature Study, a science reference shelf with a collection of field guides are the best tools for research. The process of going through identifying a subject leads you through a series of questions…good questions.
Nature Journaling in Your Homeschool
Some families are making the next step and trying to keep a record of their time in nature with a nature journal. Our family finds this activity very rewarding but we don’t always draw in our journals after every outdoor time.
Honestly, when we do take the time to try to draw what we see during our nature time, we get a lot more out of it. There is something about the process of taking your experiences and putting them down on paper that creates a special bond between you and the subject whether it is a leaf, a spider, a flower, or anything else you choose to draw.
Maybe you have a collection of items from a picnic nature study last summer….the process of collecting the items can be more fun than spending time identifying them. Just enjoy them and then leave them there at the beach. Maybe next time you will have some questions ready to ask and the proper field guide on hand and will get down to the business of knowing the particular rock and tree.
So don’t be afraid of questions….questions are a great tool. You don’t need to know all the answers to the questions that your children have about nature study. Consider it a good thing when you find something you need to research because you will learn right alongside your child.
More Ways to Spark Interesting Questions and Answers in Your Homeschool
