Nature study with olders?

[Excelsior! Academy]

We are a mix of classical and Charlotte Mason. We have never done nature study consistantly. Now we have more knowledge, supplies, and location. How would nature study look with a high schooler? I am not wanting to replace text book science per se, but am considering delaying the next book. Could we legitamately study botany through nature study for credit before starting our next book? We will be using the Apologia texts throughout high school. My oldest will be in ninth, but we are considering a 5 year high school track for her with College Plus as a way through college.

[JennW in SoCal]

Nature study has been a part of our homeschool all the way through high school. It doesn't change that much between elementary and high school except the questions, observations and connections become more sophisticated.

 

An easy and enjoyable activity is Project Feeder Watch, a nation wide research project through Cornell University. From November through April your family can be "citizen scientists" and report the number and kinds of birds that visit your backyard feeders. Project Feeder Watch also has homeschool resources and even a college level ornithology course. As a member you also get a newsletter, e-mails and magazines that have many interesting articles. The data generated from the PFW annual counts are used by researchers all over the country. There is also a spin off urban bird count, great backyard bird count weekend in February, and even a Pigeon Watch, which is truly interesting.

 

Bird watching has crept into all of our homeschooling subjects, as we read books about obsessed birders, such as To See Every Bird and The Big Year. (The first title has some mature content, not a lot, but some, early on as it is part memoir, part biography of the author's dad. The beginning is set in the 1960s, and well, it is very much the 60s!) Big Year is funny because it describes the annual competition to score the biggest bird count in America. Birders are a little nuts! I also have a couple of books with selections of writings -- poems, snippets from novels, essays and quotes about birds. My ds wrote about the birds in our yard in addition to nature journal entries.

 

We also read other books by naturalists, such as Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals, and other titles I found on the book shelf at our library. Through our local museum,various homeschool sponsored hikes, and through our own exploring with are guides we got to know our local canyons, mountains and deserts.

 

Of course there is lots of art involved. Aside from our own sketches of our backyard birds, we started looking more closely at the paintings, sketches and photographs by other naturalists. Our natural history museum has a lending library of mounted specimens and even animal skeletons which you can bring home and draw. I never did that, but know others who did. A budding artist might enjoy that and it helps to really study how critters are put together. I have gotten hooked on photographing the birds in our yard.

 

MODG (I think it is them) has an actual Natural History course that I believe Nan used many years ago. We never used it because it focused mostly on bugs and my kids never liked bugs!!

 

Keep in mind that nature studies isn't just identifying a bird, rock or bug and that's it. It is observing, measuring, quantifying and recording what you see followed by thoughtful analysis of what you've seen. In other words it is the actual work that scientists do. It doesn't have to be a tedious, assignment heavy part of your homeschool week -- the thoughtful analysis at our house was primarily us talking about what we've observed and learned.

 

My favorite book, by the way, is Keeping a Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E. Roth. The lovely sketches in it intimidate me, but what I appreciate is that the authors explain how to observe and measure, they have specific ideas to get you over that obstacle of facing a blank page.

 

Have fun with it. Nature studies helps teens maintain that child-like curiosity about the world and with the payoff of all kinds of learning happening with it feeling like school.

Edited July 7, 2011 by JennW in SoCal