Charlotte Mason Moments: Nature Study

Last week, I wrote about how Tax Time sets spurs to my desire to begin planning for next school year and shared the practices and resources I use in our home school for the study of great artists and composers.  I also told you that, though we primarily use Ambleside Online, a Charlotte Mason-based organization, for our home school, I'm not a purist.  Call it an educational springboard, if you wish, or you could call  me a course tinker, which sounds a lot like "core stinker," and I don't much prefer it.  Yes, call it a springboard.  And, from this springboard, I jump into, in my opinion, richer studies with the help of some fabulous resources, which can oft be found and used for *FREE* on the internet!  There is nothing better than *FREE* when living on a single income while training and educating multiple children, unless you have buckets of money lying around and a library yet to be filled.  If so, have at it.  As for me and my house...we read for *FREE*.

This week, I'd like to share why and how to study nature and the fantastic resources which have made this part of our week fab indeed.  I'll also post the resources we'll be devouring come autumn.

Primarily, Nature Study is exactly what it states: the study of nature.  By studying nature, children (and 'rents, too!) acquire and cultivate a knowledge of God's world through observation, investigation, and reflection.  But, before the time of study begins, you should prepare yourself in order for the time to be most profitable.  The very best resource for this preparation is The Handbook of Nature Study, by Anna Botsford Comstock.  It's such a huge resource of information about a number of topics in nature that I can hardly believe she was able to write this in a lifetime!  And, you can even read it for *FREE* through Google Books, or another Free Domain source.

Although the size alone is intimidating, you don't need to read the entire handbook to make good use of it.  For example, if we are studying insects for a term, I read the general information selection about the insect world, and then choose which lessons--of the one-hundred five!--I wish to formally cover, such as Wasps & Bees (eight lessons).  Next, I read those lessons, which include many directed questions that help me lead a time of observation and investigation while out-of-doors.  With young children, I cannot handle more than thirty-six lessons each term.  I don't feel guilty about this because I teach in rotation, which means we'll come back to insects again in a couple of years.  

Plus, once you get children's minds excited about and tuned in to a topic, you'll find them using the handbook for its pictures, reading it on their own, or begging for books from the library, another great and *FREE* resource, to continue learning.  And you cannot help but catch the fever when you witness the delight on their sweet faces!  God created His world to fascinate us while declaring His glory.  As in all things, it often takes a child to lead us back into that childlike awe of the living world around us.

If you'd like some hand-holding, or if you like to feel more connected to a community of nature students, Handbook of Nature Study is a wonderful resource.  No, I didn't just stutter: it's a blog, created to help folks make better use of Comstock's enormous handbook.  Sometimes being told what to do is a great help until, with practice, you feel confident in your ability to do it yourself.  And sometimes it's just plain fun to be a part of something bigger than your solitary home school.  For me, not having the dramatic changes of seasons here in northern California makes it a challenge to cover many areas of nature study, especially in winter.  It's nice to have a safe place to watch videos and view photos of things we may never experience.

Now that you're armed with a wealth of information, and some virtual fellowship, get outside, which is totally *FREE*, and soak in nature!!!  Ask questions, find answers through observation, give the children time to reflect on what they've seen, touched, smelled, heard ((no tasting now!!)), and then journal about it: write it down, sketch, color, paint, record, label everything you remember, searing it into your heart and mind and bringing you closer to your Creator.  There is no better place to feel your true identity in humility than at the shore of the great expanse called ocean, and there is no better place to recall that we are like grains of sand compared to our loving Heavenly Father than while trekking along its shores.

So, what are we studying next year?  Trees, birds, and water forms, and here are a few of those mostly *FREE* resources I've found to supplement:

1. Trees Every Child Should Know, by Julia Ellen Rogers (FREE)
2. Birds Every Child Should Know, by Neltje Blanchan (FREE)
3. Water Wonders Every Child Should Know, by Jean M. Thompson (NOT)

Now, get out!!

Outside, that is.

And glory in Him and all He's done.