Near to being a CM dropout

[SorrelZG]

I am loving this different perspective and approach. I have been drawing deeply from this well of wisdom and have been feeling a little intoxicated this morning with a new sense of ability and liberty.

 

I took out my notepad today and began listing strengths, individual inclinations, weaknesses (that will need either specific attention or consideration) and goals for myself and my oldest two. I love the Venn Diagram idea. This certainly feels more productive than starting with a philosophy or curriculum and then trying to fit us all into it. I'm already having some ideas about what will actually fit us and the most exciting part for me is that they are freeing me to enjoy this year without guilt (what I've got going right now is working blissfully, especially without the guilt over what I am/am not doing).

 

Michele, thank-you for the link. I made it to the destination sans special offer gauntlet.

 

All the thoughts that have been contributed on nature study are bringing back to this reality and enabling me to think about it in a more sober light - like I can actually make it doable and it's alright that if it doesn't look just like CM did it.

 

8FilltheHeart, I understand your trepidation over sharing that link. It was risky. Thankfully however I was able to go browse around, appreciate and make notes of some things and jettison (that's my new word for the week) the rest. I am listening and learning. :D

 

And a random observation, having been reminded of Mergath's comment, I am pleased to know I am not alone in my clumsy, introverted, nerdiness.

[LMD]

I'm loving this thread! So many great posts!

 

Nature Study: yeah, not really... I do have handbook - but I have barely glanced at it. :blush: I 'tick off' nature study with all the camping/beach going we do over summer, plenty of nature to explore! Last summer my kids touched an echidna we happened to find, they haven't forgotten that and I couldn't have planned it. I didn't make them do a nature journal though...

As for everyday, or over winter, it just doesn't happen. They explore the backyard and local park, scream at bugs and spiders, watch our garden grow, pick up pinecones when we take MIL's dogs for a walk etc. I don't remember to officialise or record any of it, but when I really think about it - I think Ms Mason would say "that'll do..." :tongue_smilie:

 

Now, when I'm starting to feel the 'not doing x-philosophy right enough' pressure, I put down the books, turn off the computer, and talk to DH. He always reminds me of OUR goals, helps with insights into OUR children, and his thinking hasn't been clouded by fawning over amazing homeschooling ideals :lol:

[boscopup]

My DH mostly handles nature study here. When he's out working in the barn or pastures and finds a baby bunny or some other critter, he gets the kids and discusses stuff with them. The other day, he was working on his tractor and discovered a caterpillar with long, black spines on it. It curled up in a ball. He got a box and scoped it up to show the kids, asking them things like "Why do you think it rolls up in a ball like that?"

[Heather in VA]

My DH mostly handles nature study here. When he's out working in the barn or pastures and finds a baby bunny or some other critter, he gets the kids and discusses stuff with them. The other day, he was working on his tractor and discovered a caterpillar with long, black spines on it. It curled up in a ball. He got a box and scoped it up to show the kids, asking them things like "Why do you think it rolls up in a ball like that?"

 

See now that would be nice but it just can't happen here. We don't live anywhere near a farm or pasture. I suspect that Charlotte Mason didn't live in a DC suburb when she envisioned just wandering outside to learn about nature. We'd be more apt to learn why we are the 2nd worst traffic in the country than to learn about a baby bunny.

 

Heather

[Rosie_0801]

See now that would be nice but it just can't happen here. We don't live anywhere near a farm or pasture.

 

Nature doesn't just happen in the country. At our last place, in an ordinary suburban front yard, I counted seven different types of grass. You don't care about grass? Neither do I, generally speaking, other than to curse at the couch grass as it invades my garden bed, but grass is as valid a part of nature as a baby bunny! Moreso, in our case. Stoopid introduced species. :tongue_smilie:

 

I was reading a book recently that stated we can reduce the frequency of introduced bird sightings, by planting native to the area species, by something like 40%.

 

Nature somewhere else isn't more real and nature-ish than the nature you have at home! It might be more interesting, but it is not more real!

 

Rosie

[SorrelZG]

Nature doesn't just happen in the country. At our last place, in an ordinary suburban front yard, I counted seven different types of grass. You don't care about grass? Neither do I, generally speaking, other than to curse at the couch grass as it invades my garden bed, but grass is as valid a part of nature as a baby bunny! Moreso, in our case. Stoopid introduced species. :tongue_smilie:

 

I was reading a book recently that stated we can reduce the frequency of introduced bird sightings, by planting native to the area species, by something like 40%.

 

Nature somewhere else isn't more real and nature-ish than the nature you have at home! It might be more interesting, but it is not more real!

 

Rosie

 

That's it. You've just inspired me to count all spider and snake encounters as nature study. Poison ivy encounters only count if one learns which weed to avoid in future, otherwise it's just a first aid lesson. Urgent Care visits count as field trips.

[Bluegoat]

The book The Amateur Naturalist, by Gerald Durrell, has a section on looking at nature in your own home. It might be kind of inspiring.

[Rosie_0801]

That's it. You've just inspired me to count all spider and snake encounters as nature study. Poison ivy encounters only count if one learns which weed to avoid in future, otherwise it's just a first aid lesson. Urgent Care visits count as field trips.

 

What if they can't identify what bit 'em. You're not planning to work to mastery on this subject, are you? :001_huh:

 

 

:lol:

[Heather in VA]

Nature doesn't just happen in the country. At our last place, in an ordinary suburban front yard, I counted seven different types of grass. You don't care about grass? Neither do I, generally speaking, other than to curse at the couch grass as it invades my garden bed, but grass is as valid a part of nature as a baby bunny! Moreso, in our case. Stoopid introduced species. :tongue_smilie:

 

I was reading a book recently that stated we can reduce the frequency of introduced bird sightings, by planting native to the area species, by something like 40%.

 

Nature somewhere else isn't more real and nature-ish than the nature you have at home! It might be more interesting, but it is not more real!

 

Rosie

 

Well sure you can look at grass but nature studies a la CM call for 30+ minutes a day of nature walking plus sketching, following Handbook for Nature Study etc. Frankly I could spend one day staring at our grass. That's about it. Anything else would require leaving and finding somewhere else to walk which is just not feasible when you have high schoolers who are studying 7+ hours a day.

 

Heather

[Critterfixer]

That's it. You've just inspired me to count all spider and snake encounters as nature study. Poison ivy encounters only count if one learns which weed to avoid in future, otherwise it's just a first aid lesson. Urgent Care visits count as field trips.

I do. I figure that knowing what snakes are poisonous (we've three varieties in my state) and why it is prudent to pick up rocks with gloves on (we've a robust population of black widow spiders) is important to living in relative harmony with the wildlife. And identification of poison ivy is important, as is recognizing it's taller form--poison oak! Not to mention ticks--several varieties of those too. Fortunately none of us are particularly tasty to chiggers.

 

Anything else would require leaving and finding somewhere else to walk which is just not feasible when you have high schoolers who are studying 7+ hours a day.

 

I'd probably say that 30 minutes of resting and staring at the clouds and doing nothing at all would be particularly restful for kids that are studying 7+ hours a day. I know that when I was in college, nothing could soothe me more than a walk in the afternoon after a long day of school and studying. It's important to teach a child that there is healing in simply sitting still, closing the books and just looking at the sky for a while. May not be nature study a la CM, but that's my opinion on the matter.

Edited October 5, 2011 by Critterfixer

[SorrelZG]

It's important to teach a child that there is healing in simply sitting still, closing the books and just looking at the sky for a while. May not be nature study a la CM, but that's my opinion on the matter.

 

Being that I can't see the sky for the trees and you can't see snakes approaching in that position, and there's no grass to lay in, that's not happening at our house.

 

Unless it's winter - no leaves, no snakes - just the freezing weather, which none of us are acclimated to and we're all prone to colds.

 

I love the idea though!

 

What if they can't identify what bit 'em. You're not planning to work to mastery on this subject, are you? :001_huh:

 

 

:lol:

 

Not with the snakes and spiders, however, the poison ivy is all trial and error. We're mapping the yard (geography) and marking the locations the victim was in when exposed and in this way we're narrowing down which plant is the poison ivy. We'll have that thing identified eventually.

 

 

 

 

 

 

;)

[Rosie_0801]

Not with the snakes and spiders, however, the poison ivy is all trial and error. We're mapping the yard (geography) and marking the locations the victim was in when exposed and in this way we're narrowing down which plant is the poison ivy. We'll have that thing identified eventually.

 

That has "scientific method" written all over it. :lol:

[Amie]

We put a hummingbird feeder just outside our window at the kids' eye level. Then I picked up a hummingbird documentary and some field guides at our library. The kids (and the inside kitty) are loving it! And my oldest has been trying to use the guides to identify the birds. So yeah, I've been feelin' all C.M., helping the children study nature...as I browse this forum in my recliner... :D

[Critterfixer]

Being that I can't see the sky for the trees and you can't see snakes approaching in that position, and there's no grass to lay in, that's not happening at our house.

Do they know the names of most of the trees? I remember when I was little, my father would point out a tree, give its common name and then tell us the Latin name, which we were then expected to learn. Sometimes we would also learn things about the trees that were interesting--how they grew, whether they were part of a fire community, what animals liked to use them for their homes. That started a life-long habit of looking at things as having a place and a purpose; seeing things as relating to each other.

 

Of course it helps that I am not afraid of snakes or spiders, but I am petrified of grasshoppers! Enough to actually spend time trying to identify the species that invaded this summer. We actually counted twelve of the same species in a square foot of space! It has been so hot this summer that nature study was more about bemoaning 115 degree days, but we'll get more in this fall and winter. Spring is meteorology season--time to dodge the tornadoes again.

 

Poison ivy will be a vine on a tree, but people often don't realize that as a sprout it "almost" looks like a young maple tree. The key is that it has three leaflets, and the leaves themselves would be alternate. There's a bush form here that is called poison oak--a nasty thing. Most of the time you don't realize it's there until you are right in the middle of it.

 

We put a hummingbird feeder just outside our window at the kids' eye level.

That reminds me of our coolest nature study experience this summer. We had a very large orb weaver set up on the porch this year right below the hummingbird feeders. We enjoyed going out and seeing what she had caught. One evening my son came screaming down the hall--"Mom, there's a hummingbird in the spider's web!" Of course I dropped everything and came running, and we got the bird out of the web although the spider was not happy about that. She actually injured the hummer's eye, which I treated with plasma, and she recovered enough to be released. I saw her after that and she seemed to be doing pretty well, eye injury and all. The spider was relocated to the chicken coop wall, where I noticed an egg sac this fall, so lots of little spiders in my garden next year. At any rate, I know they've got good genetics when it comes to trapping things.

I didn't know a spider would tackle a hummingbird. I knew large praying mantids would. Live and learn. No more spider's webs allowed below the hummingbird feeders in the future.

Edited October 5, 2011 by Critterfixer

[silliness7]

I am a CM drop out too. I was inspired by Karen Andreola's vision of CM way back when I first began my homeschooling journey. I think it was too big of a leap for me to take.

 

In hindsight, I wish I had started with what was comfortable for me (traditional textbooks) and added a bit of CM here and there year after year. Instead of throwing them all out and trying to embrace CM 100% right from the get go. I believe that is how Karen got it to work for her. It was a slow process.

 

My all or nothing attitude left me discouraged and deflated. Maybe when I'm finished re-grouping I can give it a slower and more moderate whirl with a wiser head on my shoulders. I've still got many more years left of my homeschooling journey.

[Amie]

 

That reminds me of our coolest nature study experience this summer. We had a very large orb weaver set up on the porch this year right below the hummingbird feeders. We enjoyed going out and seeing what she had caught. One evening my son came screaming down the hall--"Mom, there's a hummingbird in the spider's web!" Of course I dropped everything and came running, and we got the bird out of the web although the spider was not happy about that. She actually injured the hummer's eye, which I treated with plasma, and she recovered enough to be released. I saw her after that and she seemed to be doing pretty well, eye injury and all. The spider was relocated to the chicken coop wall, where I noticed an egg sac this fall, so lots of little spiders in my garden next year. At any rate, I know they've got good genetics when it comes to trapping things.

I didn't know a spider would tackle a hummingbird. I knew large praying mantids would. Live and learn. No more spider's webs allowed below the hummingbird feeders in the future.

Wow! You sound like the nature queen! You treated a hummingbird's eye?? My mom would love visiting with you; she is the reason we have a hummingbird feeder. I am so impressed. And I was already impressed with you. I have loved many of your posts I've seen lately; you have been so inspiring in the nature/science category. I have been saving your vintage book recs in my google books library and I'll be following you around on here. ;) (Wait, did that sound creepy?)

[Lizzie in Ma]

I read a lot of CM a year or so ago, and it sounds so nice in theory. Then I remembered- I'm a nerd. A clumsy, introverted bookworm. We follow some of the CM philosophy for a half hour a day, then we return to our regular bookyness. :D

 

And I think all the chemicals of the last few decades have done something to enhance the mosquito population of the world. If they had to fight off the murderous, poodle-sized beasts we have now back when CM was formulating her philosophy, there's no way people would have spent that much time outside. No way.

 

Clearly. :D

Never mind other bugs like spiders and ticks.

[kolamum]

One word: Eclectic. :) You take what works for you from many homeschool philosophies and you run with them. It gives a person a wonderful peace of mind in knowing they are doing what works for them not against them. :grouphug:

[Critterfixer]

Wow! You sound like the nature queen!

Not so much. You should hear me squeal when I am attacked by a deranged, rabid grasshopper. The last one got me in a parking lot, and I thought the people watching were going to take fits from laughing so hard.:glare:

[Amie]

Not so much. You should hear me squeal when I am attacked by a deranged, rabid grasshopper. The last one got me in a parking lot, and I thought the people watching were going to take fits from laughing so hard.:glare:

:lol: I'm not sure which would be funnier to see--this "deranged, rabid grasshopper" you speak of, or you being attacked by it.