This quote came to my mind this morning as we were walking along the walking trail in our town. The walking trail extends from the center of town all the way to a the far, far side of our town, three and a half miles one way.
It winds along through a wooded area, near the highway for a stretch, back into a wooded section, out into the open along a pasture, and then back into another wooded area. There are many different habitats you can experience as you walk. Over the years we have learned what grows in each section and what to expect in each season.
Our children have walked with us hundreds of times along this trail and we came to have certain spots we would meet up if we got separated. This idea of learning how far it is between landmarks and what to expect on the trail ahead is an easy way to introduce the idea of geography to your children during a nature walk.
I can remember saying, “Stop at the bridge and wait for us on the bench.” Or I would say something like, “Turn around at the old mill and meet up with us on your way back.”
Naming certain landmarks reflects a knowledge of local geography…maybe it will inspire you to do the same on a favorite trail in your neighborhood.
The Tunnel: an old train tunnel we walk through
The Acorn Oaks: place to gather acorns or to watch squirrels
The Sweet Pea section: spring and summer colors
The Star Thistle section: the hot part of the trail where you want to stay clear of the edges
The Mill: an old lumber mill site now vacated and being overgrown with a variety of weeds
The Bridge: crosses over the highway and marks a turning around point for many of our walks
The Llamas: this is the farthest point from our parking spot…always fun to see the llamas on the hillside
My September Collage: Beautiful coneflowers from a visit to a botanical garden. My swallow bird study nature journal entry. Smoke from the large and destructive wildfire we experienced here in California. A new variety of apple from our apple farm visit.
Charlotte Mason said, “Some children are born naturalists, but even those who weren’t were born with natural curiosity about the world should be encouraged to observe nature. Most children are influenced by the opinions of those around them and if their parents don’t care about nature, or are disgusted by little creatures, they will pick up that attitude and all the wonders of nature will pass them by.”
I think I was born a naturalist. I know a few fellow naturalists in my real life and I see them here through the lens of my blog. Perhaps you have one in your home.
I try to feed that love of the natural world as much as I can fit it into my busy life….it is a balm and a balance to our very fast-paced, technologically focused world.
Most inspiring this month was my butterfly observations in my own front yard. I spent quite a bit of time sitting quietly waiting for a butterfly to stop flying around and land for a photo. I was rewarded for my effort.
I wondered about how the migrating birds know when to come back. I saw the appearance of my juncos and sparrows. They arrived at our feeders just as we got our first measurable rain since last spring.
I am anticipating and dreaming about a soon to happen trip to Connecticut. We are hoping for fall color and good weather for hiking. Time will tell.
Two photos I want to share!
This is one of my morning glories that I have growing in a pot on my back deck. It is so amazing when it firsts opens up….just like a paper flower! It is truly a glorious flower.
This is something else from a pot on my back deck. Tomato hornwormsthat completely ate my tomato plant pretty much in a night. I check this plant everyday and somehow missed them until I saw their telltale droppings on the deck around the plant. I left them for the birds to deal with. It’s kind of late in the season to hope that the plant revives but I can always have hope. It is hard to believe that these caterpillars eventually turn into beautiful sphinx moths.
It was a great month….looking forward to finding the autumn gifts in October.
Outdoor Mom’s Journal
Whether your family spends a few minutes a week outside or hours at a time, share what is going on in your world. I hope you have enjoyed your August.
How Do You Join?
Answer all or just one of the prompts in a blog entry on your own blog or right here on my blog in a comment. If you answer on your blog, make sure to leave me a link in a comment so that I can pop over and read your responses.
During our outdoor time this week we went….
The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)…
In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting….
I added nature journal pages about….
I am reading…
I am dreaming about…
A photo I would like to share…
I will be posting my Outdoor Mom’s Journal entry once a month. Look for it during the first week of the month each month.
“But he learns naturally at his own pace, never tiring, and slowly learning just what he needs to know about the world around him. And this is exactly what a child should be doing for the first few years. He should be getting familiar with the real things in his own environment. Some day he will read about things he can’t see; how will he conceive of them without the knowledge of common objects in his experience to relate them to? Some day he will reflect, contemplate, reason. What will he have to think about without a file of knowledge collected and stored in his memory?”
If you have been following the blog in the past few years, you are aware that Renee’s Garden Seeds has been a sponsor and valued part of my summer gardening experience. Not only have I enjoyed her seeds in my garden, but I have shared seeds with my dad. He has a beautiful garden and each year he tenderly nurtures his vegetables through the hot California summer. This year his pond went dry but he still kept his garden green with his well water.
Here in town I did not have that option…we are on city water and have been restricted not only in the number of days we can water but we were asked to reduce our usage by using less than last year. I took the challenge and created a container garden on my back deck and watered using only a drip system and water that I caught from our shower warm up time that I collected in a five gallon bucket. This garden has brought such joy to me over the summer. I could look out and see the insects buzzing around the blossoms and the hummingbirds stopping by for some nectar.
Hello Mr. Sunflower! So glad you joined us….the bees have spent many hours hovering and gathering at my container sunflowers.
Each morning I would check my plants for something to harvest. It could be a handful of cherry tomatoes, a zucchini to pick, or some herbs to include in my dinner plans.
I would talk to my morning glory vines and coach them to stop growing so tall and to start blooming. The first morning that I looked out my window and saw these gorgeous flowers made all the waiting worth it. They now greet me every morning with a few blue flowers…happy, happy, happy.
The zucchini at the beginning of the season were small but more of a traditional shape. As the summer has worn on, they have started to change into this interesting shape, still tasty and summery on the table at dinner.
Apple Time!
We are looking forward to apple time in the coming weeks. Not only our local orchard but our very own apple tree in our backyard! This is the first year we really have an apple “harvest” on our young tree and it surprises me that even in our drought that we have apples to eat from our own tree. We will be visiting our local apple farm to purchase apples for various treats including applesauce. The taste of autumn around here is apple!
August was a great month of being outdoors for this nature loving mama. I accomplished one of my nature study goals for the year by visiting a new state park, Sugar Pine Point State Park! I will share that in an up-coming post here on the Handbook of Nature Study. The season is about to change here and that means even more time outside hiking with the cooler temperatures.
Outdoor Mom’s Journal
Whether your family spends a few minutes a week outside or hours at a time, share what is going on in your world. I hope you have enjoyed your August.
How Do You Join?
Answer all or just one of the prompts in a blog entry on your own blog or right here on my blog in a comment. If you answer on your blog, make sure to leave me a link in a comment so that I can pop over and read your responses.
During our outdoor time this week we went….
The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)…
In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting….
I added nature journal pages about….
I am reading…
I am dreaming about…
A photo I would like to share…
I will be posting my Outdoor Mom’s Journal entry once a month. Look for it during the first week of the month each month.
“It would be well if we all persons in authority, parents and all who act for parents, could make up our minds that there is no sort of knowledge to be got in these early years so valuable to children as that which they get for themselves of the world they live in. Let them once get in touch with Nature, and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight through life. We were all meant to be naturalists, each in his degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things.”
I have the privilege of hosting the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival for this week’s science edition.
Charlotte Mason was an educator during the late 1800’s and was adamant about science being about real things…things that the children could relate to and have a connection with. She also was a huge advocate of nature study, regular outings that started when the children were young and curious. These ideas have heavily influenced how science and nature study were offered in our homeschool.
I am eternally grateful for Charlotte Mason and her emphasis on keeping things real. I am sure you will be interested in reading this edition’s entries from all around the world.
Here are several of our science related entries, showing our family’s application of the CM Method for our science studies: Living Books for High School Science “I was determined to include living books as part of our weekly plans as well. I didn’t want to abandon our Charlotte Mason feel to our homeschool even in high school. Looking back, I think it was one of the most important decisions we made”
Making Apologia Science Texts Work in Our (Charlotte Mason) Family “Any text is a tool and you can make it work to fit your child. Just because a text has a certain plan for its study, don’t forget that you can adapt the plan so your children get the most out of that text.”
Nature Study for High Students- Reflections
“When we crossed the gap from elementary science to upper level science, I was grateful for our outdoor studies and the solid ground laid for high school biology…the study of life. All those years of personal face to face contact with nature, making observations and asking questions, has given us something to digest and to reason on as we work through the upper level sciences.”
More Science Related Entries from Other Charlotte Mason Homeschoolers
Elisabeth from Treasuring the Moments shares her entry: Science-Are We Equipping Our Kids for Life?
“So how did our friend Brian Jones captivate us? By stories. He told us so many stories about “his animals”. Stories of mischief, danger, protection. We were captivated and enthralled and learned more about those animals than we had ever known before.”
Nancy from Sage Parnassus has submitted her entry: Science-Each New Thing is a Delight.
“Mason assures us that we can make science that wide place where each new thing is a delight. I don’t think the answer is in dry textbooks but in living books with plenty of time and space to explore and discover.”
Nebby from Letters from Nebby has written and shared her entry: How to Study Science in a CM Way. “But how do we study science in a CM way? I put that little question mark in parentheses in the title of this post because I am as much asking as telling. I have a few thoughts but I would love more input, especially as we enter the dreaded high school years.”
Nicole from A Sabbath Mood Homeschool would love to share her entry with you: Science-The Last Hold Out.
“Science seems to be a last hold out – that one subject we don’t want to hand over to Miss. Mason. We reason that she lived in a different time and place than we do now, and that she couldn’t have understood then how important a science education is now for our students in this technology driven world.”
Tammy from Aut-2B Home in Carolina submits her entry: Science for Students in the Autism Spectrum.
“Some autistic students develop the habit of frustration for a variety of reasons. It takes time to help them find joy in learning what is beyond their pet interests. Every person is different, so what works for one autie may not inspire another.”
Megan from The Winding Ascent has submitted her entry: Knowledge of the Universe.
“As many of you know, Science is not my forte. Neither is math. These are the joy of left brain, administrative people, not right brain creatives like me, right? Well, that’s not completely true.”
Additional Charlotte Mason Themed Entries
Annie Kate from Tea Time with Annie Kate share her entry: Review-Mathematics: Is God Silent?
“This is a beautiful book for moms about the history and philosophy of mathematics and it explains a way to teach math that’s consistent with the way the universe functions. I think I finally am starting to understand the idea of ‘living math’.”
Brandy from Afterthoughts submits her 31 Days of Charlotte Mason post for you to enjoy.
“I’m hosting 31 Days of CM and thought I’d submit the link to Day 1, which includes the directory for the month (which I add to each day)…..I think total there will be something like 17 guest posts from about 15 different authors.”
Cindy from Our Journey Westward would love to share her entry: How I Teach Active Kids Using the Charlotte Mason Method.
“Just how does a CM education mesh with the busyness of boys – or inquisitive gifted kids – or minds that jump from one thing to another in a matter of seconds?”
Amy from Fisher Academy International would love for you to view her entry: A Nature Study.
Celeste from Joyous Lessons would love for you to read her entry: The Case for a Non-Fiction Home Library.
“I don’t know about you, but non-fiction books used to be the first kind of books I would pass over at a book sale, thinking, “Oh, I can just Google it,” or “We can get books on that topic from the library when they’re interested.” But once my kids really started reading independently, I had a change of heart.”
Join the carnival for its next edition:
October 29 – Knowledge of the Universe: Geography (Ch10, pt3a)
You can send your entries to this email address: charlottemasonblogs@gmail.com.
“Come, little leaves,” said the wind one day,
“Come over the meadows with me, and play;
Put on your dresses of red and gold;
Summer is gone, and the days grow cold”
-from Songs of Autumn
I love Google Books…you can find so many wonderful books that are in the public domain to use in your homeschooling and nature study. I have had one ebook downloaded and on my desktop just waiting to use with our nature journals…and to share with you.
Nature in Verse by Mary Lovejoy is a whole year’s worth of poetry organized by seasons. Whether you read these aloud or use them as copy work in your nature journals, this downloadable ebook is a gem.
Poetry is another way to use the words you find as you spend your time outdoors. Not everyone likes to take a stab at poetry but if it is your interest or you are a linguistic learner (or your child is a linguistic learner), it is fun to listen to poetry and to play with words. See last week’s challenge for more ideas on using poetry in your nature journal.
We attempted to write some poems for our nature journal but it just didn’t happen this week. We did have fun manipulating words and it was sort of a silly time for the two of us…I cherish those times with my son just as much as any poem we could have written.
Just the act of slowing down and gathering words, giving our children more words to describe their outdoor experiences, and then taking time to share word pictures is a gift they will carry with them into their adulthood.
“The habit of storing mental images can’t be overrated. It can comfort us and refresh us. Even in our busiest times, we can stop and take a mini-vacation in our own piece of nature to be refreshed and gladdened by ‘the silence and calm of things that can’t speak or feel.’…..anyone who tries hard to really see can have it, and parents can train their children to do this.” Charlotte Mason, volume 1 page 50
Sometimes I just like to record words that come to mind and after they are written in my nature journal they end up sounding like poetry…free form style. Some people collect items for a nature table and some of us like to collect images and words to remember an experience.
This week we found some thistles during a walk with the Kona dog. They always look so pretty but I know that if I touch them they are rather dry, hard, and the thorns will give a good poke. We took some photos and then I drew some autumn thistles in my nature journal along with some words. My words record the experience of seeing some goldfinches hanging upside down to glean some seeds from the thistles. How do they do that without getting stuck by the thorns? They seemed very happy and content as they enjoyed the thistle seed meal.
So whether you actually write a poem or just play with words in your journal, I encourage you to give it a try. Start with a simple sketch and then perhaps a word or two to express your feelings about the subject. Remember that a journal is a personal expression for you and your child….no need for perfection.
“As soon as a child is old enough, he should keep his own nature notebook for his enjoyment. Every day’s walk will give something interesting to add–three squirrels playing in a tree, a blue jay flying across a field, a caterpillar crawling up a bush, a snail eating a cabbage leaf, a spider suddenly dropping from a thread to the ground, where he found ivy and how it was growing and what plants were growing with it, and how ivy manages to climb.” Charlotte Mason in Modern English, volume 1 page 54
I am submitting this entry to the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival and if you have any entries you would like to submit, you can send them to this email address: charlottemasonblogs@gmail.com. The official blog carnival site is not working so you will need to send them directly to this email.
This may very well be the last time I host the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival here on the Handbook of Nature Study as an active homeschooler. This is my son’s final part of his senior year in high school and he will soon be on to bigger and better things.
I won’t think about that right now because it does make me a little sad. Let’s talk about things related to Charlotte Mason and her ideas for making our homeschools an environment for learning. “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.”
The official theme for this edition of the carnival is the science of relations. There are a few entries that will help define and encourage you in your endeavor to understand the “science of relations”.
The Science of Relations
My entry from my Harmony Art Mom blog is entitled: Charlotte Mason Knew the Secret to Learning Relationships. In this entry I show how we have applied this idea to our homeschooling in high school. I hope it helps define this idea for you if it is new to your family. I also wanted to share my Oregon Rocks entry with the carnival this time.
Nebby writes about the Science of Relations on her blog, Letters from Nebby. She mentions that it is the spark of interest that takes hold of our children that makes the difference. Nicely done Nebby.
Other Charlotte Mason Topics
Nadene from Practical Pages has submitted a wonderful entry on Word Banks. Would you like to see how she helps a reluctant writer by using key words and keeping it simple? See a step by step demonstration showing how to get young writers to the next level.
Nadene also shares how her middle schooler is learning to write notes from her reading: Highlight Main Ideas. I love seeing how she steps her daughters through this sometimes difficult process. Excellent help to homeschoolers!
More narration help is in store in Carol’s entry to this edition to the carnival: Narration/Composition. This post is loaded with visual examples from the various stages of written narration. This post will help a lot of people with some fresh ideas for narration
The Ultimate Guide to Living Books Based Curriculum! Jimmie has put together an entry full of resources and ideas for Charlotte Mason families striving to use living books. Don’t get carried away following all those links. 🙂
Lindafay from Higher Up and Further In has submitted the second installment in her nature journal series: The Second Stage of Nature Journaling. This is a topic near to the hearts of the Handbook of Nature Study blog so dig in and find some points to apply in your nature journals.
Cultivating Curiosity with Nature Study: This post made my week…love the way the Hodgepodge family makes nature study a natural and simple extension to their life. Watch out for squishy mud toes!
Silvia from Homeschooling in a Bilingual Home My Ugly Neighborhood or Nature Study 101. She shares some realistic short and long term goals and some steps to making nature study a rewarding experience in even the “ugliest” of neighborhoods.
Leah from Home Grown Babies is Clinging Onto Summer. I think a lot of us are feeling the same way and are trying to squeeze in a few more summer activities before the season changes.
Tricia from HodgePodge has submitted a fun chalk pastel tutorial for this edition of the carnival: Madeline Chalk Pastel Fun. I love how it ties their art and literature together!
Laura from Windy Hill Home School writes about her Plans for AO Year 2 for carnival readers. What a helpful post for those families that are going to be following along with this year too!
Jessica shares their Homeschool Plan 2012/2013 for carnival readers.They are putting an emphasis on living books right from the start. She also shares some free printables.
Nancy from the Sage Parnassus shares Gratitude is a Scattered Homeless Love. She recounts a little of the latest from the Living Education Retreat. What a beautiful setting!
A Few Additional Charlotte Mason Links I Think You Will Like
“Children are quick. In fifteen minutes, they will have finished with their sight-seeing exercise or imaginary picture painting. Other than that, an occasional discovery that the mother shows them with a name and maybe a dozen words about it at just the right time are all that’s needed; the children will have formed an interest in something they can continue on their own. Just one or two of these discoveries should happen in any given day.” Charlotte Mason, volume 6 page 78
We spent our fifteen minutes everyday this week outside in our own yard. Here is a short list of the things we noticed and enjoyed from our time outdoors.
There were robins in the grass after the sprinklers turned off.
For the first time this year, we observed a tattered Monarch butterfly in our garden.
Our sunflowers started blooming..some yellow, some orange, some almost brown.
We noticed the first blooming morning glories in the front container garden.
We saw Painted Lady butterflies and Western Tiger Swallowtails too. There were a few more but we had to pull out the field guide so we can identify them the next time we see them in the garden.
The zucchini is blossoming.
The Starlings are back and eating the little fruits off the tree on our fence line.Noisy birds.
Hummingbirds in the butterfly bushes and the Red Hot Pokers. Amazing to watch.
Day lilies, day lilies, day lilies!
Big black bees in the lavender…had to cut it back off the walkway.
The winds on Tuesday and Wednesday were not cool at all…hot! The breeze on Friday was cool and from a different direction.
Those are just the discoveries we brainstormed as I was typing this up. This informal everyday noticing of nature related subjects taking just a few minutes a day adds such joy to our busy lives. As my boys grow older, I love that we have established this habit of noticing the seasonal changes and the cycle of life in our own backyard. You don’t always need to do lots of talking and follow-up to make nature study meaningful. Sometimes it is just the time spent together and enjoying a moment during your day.
We truly do discovery something every time we make the effort to get outside.
Give it a try! The Outdoor Hour Challenge July Newsletter is going to have suggestions for nature study when it is hot and humid. Make sure to subscribe to this blog for your free copy of it the minute it publishes.
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I am submitting this entry to the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival and if you have any entries you would like to submit, you can send them to this email address: charlottemasonblogs@gmail.com. The official blog carnival site is not working so you will need to send them directly to this email.
“The Field Lesson. When planning a field lesson, three points should be kept in mind:
First. The aim, to bring the children into sympathy or in touch with nature, through the study of that part of nature in which they have been interested.
Second. The conditions out of doors, where the children are at home, where they must have greater freedom than in the schoolroom, and where it is more difficult to keep them at definite work, and to hold their attention.
Third. The necessity of giving each child something definite to find out for himself, and of interesting the children so that each will try to find out the most and have the greatest number of discoveries to tell.” Nature Study and The Child, Charles B. Scott, 1900.
I am finding that for my high school aged son there needs to be a different sort of follow-up to our observations…more than just a nature journal. He is using his past experiences with nature study and making some connections. This has led me to going back to the internet to research more closely how nature study develops into upper level science. I am finding it fascinating. I am excited to share my findings and show how I am implementing the ideas learned with my son as we go along (see the printable below).
“But true science work does not stop with mere seeing, hearing, or feeling: it not only furnishes a mental picture as a basis for reasoning, but it includes an interpretation of what has been received through the senses.”
Nature Study for the Common Schools, Wilbur Samuel Jackman, 1891
This is the part of nature study I find most meaningful for my son. When he can take something he already knows and build on it with new information, he develops an interest. If I am merely telling him a fact, no matter how interesting the fact is, he is not as impressed. He needs to find the answers to his questions.
“Adults should realize that the most valuable thing children can learn is what they discover themselves about the world they live in.” Charlotte Mason, volume 1 page 61
My research found that this pattern – observation, reasoning, expression – is nothing new or unique to nature study. This pattern is the process that all science is built upon. Watching my son work through the More Nature Study ebook challenges has brought this into focus for me. I wrote the challenges to include advanced study and just happened to present it in this three step pattern.
If you haven’t yet downloaded and read my Nature Study-Three Steps To A Better Experience, I invite you to now. It outlines in simple form how to build a lifetime habit of meaningful nature study.
What a splendid time to be out in the garden! Our neighborhood is coming alive with spring blossoms and the birds are flocking to our feeders in record numbers. We have an abundance of house finches this year and they vary in color from light pink to purple to almost orange. Amazing display of creation!
The early spring bulbs are all up and many are blooming. The daffodils and the grape hyacinth are blazing with color. The forsythia is starting to blossom and the lavender has new flowers for our bees to buzz in. The tulips and iris are all up but just showing lots of green leaves so far.
We arranged dozens of flowers in the house and our kitchen table is so cheerful and happy. I got out all my vases and dusted them off for the season. I seem to collect pretty vases and I love it even more when they don’t match exactly. Even my hubby had a smile on his face when he spied the colorful flowers on the table.
So our pansy study consisted mostly of admiring them and recreating them in artwork since we have studied them closely in the past. Mr. B and I had pansy art time on a rainy afternoon. There really is no better way to make yourself examine a subject better than to apply your attention to an art project. Slowing down to discover the shapes, form, and patterns makes a big impression.
Mr. B always chooses to work with markers if given the choice but I am still working on feeling comfortable with acrylics. I think these pansy creations are going to be framed and hung in my bathroom vanity area. I have a small collection of floral artwork done by children there already so it will be a perfect fit.
I played around with the acrylics and a small canvas panel I had from Michaels. I tried not to take myself too seriously and just have fun. Art therapy….even for moms.
So now we are officially finished with the More Nature Study Book 2 – Winter 2012 challenges and we will be going over a few of the suggested Charlotte Mason Exam Questions that are included in the ebook. The thing about Charlotte Mason style questions is that they ask the child to tell back in some way what they know about a topic and never to find out what they don’t know. I do not grade these assignments and look at them as a way for Mr. B to review what we learned and enjoy a little more time together discussing things that are fresh in our minds. I recommend you give it a try if you have the More Nature Study ebook and see how it goes.
Don’t forget to send me your Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival entries directly since the carnival website is not working.
harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com
As a reminder, we will be starting the new More Nature Study Book 3 – Spring Splendor series on March 23, 2012. Just in time for the first days of spring! I look forward to another season of nature study with all of you.
