Nature Journals

[Christine]

I REALLY want to do nature journals. I can't draw a wit, but it just sounds "fun".

 

I want to start this with my two youngsters. (Maybe drag the older two in, but that's only if I'm willing to put up with all the groaning that would ensue.)

 

The thing is, I can't seem to figure out "how" to start.

 

"How" is the key word in my life recently. . .

 

I don't want to start with something like birds. I think even I would get thoroughly depressed within minutes of starting.

 

Maybe a twig? Or a twig with a bud on it, and we can follow it's progression through next year? Maybe get real ambitious and attach that twig to a branch, that maybe has a nest in it, with eggs (but Mom and Dad bird aren't around).

 

I just don't know.

 

I have 2 books on nature journals. They were wholly unhelpful.

 

I have a friend (homeschooling mom) that also wants to do this, so we figure we can bunch our kids together to go off and do this.

 

But, it would be really nice to have a starting point and a direction to follow.

 

Any ideas?

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

Have you seen this? I have not seen a single better resource for nature study. This is one that truly helps you get started. And did I mention it's free?

 

http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/2008/02/green-hour-challenge-1-lets-get-started.html

 

See the sidebar on the right for all the challenges to date. You can read through them to see if you think they would work for you.

 

Also, are you already spending time in nature? If not, that's the first step because without being out there, it's hard to become inspired to start a journal. Just communing with nature inspires the notebook (the things your kids pick up--the textures, colors, all of it). It's a visceral experience.

 

Good luck!

 

Kristina

[Julie in MN]

I started with A Junior Scientist's Field Journal from Kathleen Julicher (Castle Heights Press). It was a little notebook with a couple questions about the weather & environment, then a page to draw (with a grid on the back to help). It was just a crutch but it got me going. Then we graduated to a drawing tablet with a few lines on the bottom, from Walmart.

 

Julie

[fshinkevich]

I really love this journal, fill in the blank, with good ideas :)

 

http://www.amazon.com/My-Nature-Journal-Personal-People/dp/0967245915/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229151389&sr=8-16

[Jeanne in MN]

It literally walks you through different nature topics, offers bits of info. with space to draw or add things or write in the book. Cool, cool, cool.

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/My-Nature-Journal-Personal-People/dp/0967245915/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229151467&sr=8-3

[Pata]

I also highly reccommend Barb's Outdoor Hour Challenge! (Kristina also put a link to it.) Your theme is planned out for you, which makes it easier to get started. On the sidebar of her blog there is a how to get started section that will answer alot of your questions. If you want to see how this works for us, here's a link to all the nature study posts on my blog. Our nature journal entries are pictured there too.

[Trivium Academy]

Yes, we're loving this!

[Chris in VA]

Do you have Cindy Rushton's Nature Study the Easy Way? It will give you step by step inspiration, and it's loaded with examples, hymns and poems to copy, ideas for study, and what to do each season. She is a Christian, and believes nature points to God. If you are ok with that, it'll be a good resource for you. If not, then you can still use 90% of the book.

 

I just started by having my dd go on a walk around our yard--but we are blessed with a big, wooded, interesting yard. Try a park. Have your kids use their sharp eyes to find something interesting to draw. It helps if they have a little drawing confidence--but don't let them get hung up on perfectionism. Either take a narration of what they tell you about the object they pick, or let them look up more info about it when you get home. Take a couple of simple field guides with you as you explore, and you'll be able to name what you see right away (most of the time). Even if you can't name it, still ask your kids to write down the date of when they drew it and where they found it. It's ok to have an entry with a latin name, date/place info, and a jazzy description, but it's equally ok to have an entry that simply has a drawing and says "I saw this interesting flower."

 

Adding copywork poetry and fun observations is neat, too--Remember, it's not all flowers and such. You can go to the zoo and draw a couple of favorite animals. You can watch the stars, and copy a few lines from a Greek myth detailing the constellation you saw. You can press leaves or small flowers or gather some feathers and put them in your journal, too. Think broadly.

 

I just use a binder and paper, and put the paper into page protectors, so we can add feathers and protect pressed flowers and such. I don't worry about organizing it by biome or type of animal or anything--it's eclectic and fun to go thru. There are a few examples of my dd's K and 1st grade entries on my blog.

 

Have fun!

[Chris in VA]

Pata, I just want to say, I love the journal entries on your blog! I'm going to steal, I mean, use, your ideas! Nice job.

[rafiki]

.

[Pata]

Pata, I just want to say, I love the journal entries on your blog! I'm going to steal, I mean, use, your ideas! Nice job.

 

Thanks, we have fun making them!

[harmonyartmom]

Christine,

 

You know I love it when we have new families jump into our Outdoor Hour Challenges and if you need help getting started or inspired, you can follow the links on Mr. Linky and see loads of examples.

 

Also, there are free notebook pages to use in your nature journal listed at the bottom of every challenge. You are free to use those whether you participate or not.

 

The other idea I have is to use Drawing with Children and my lesson plans to connect them to nature journals.

Drawing with Children Nature Journal Style

 

Also on my Handbook of Nature Study blog there is a whole list of nature journal help type entries listed on the sidebar. Most of the entries have examples of what we do in our family.

 

Nature journals are meant to reflect your particular personality and can include many things other than sketches. Rubbings, photos, pressed leaves and flowers, tracings, lists of things, thoughts and ideas, etc.

 

I recently gave a presentation about nature study and as part of the program I had the moms actually sketch a natural item on paper. What helped them the most was when I explained that in a nature journal you are drawing more like scientist than an artist. It was like light bulbs went on for some of the women. There is a different mindset when you are sketching for details and observations than to make it "pretty". There is a time and a place for pretty poems and watercolors but sometimes it is just as satisfying to get something down on paper for the memory.

 

I always tell my children that a nature journal entry can be as simple as a sketch, a label, and a date. Most of the time they go further than that but just those three things is enough to spark memories years later.

 

Check out my links. Email me anytime. Join the Outdoor Hour Challenge when you can...pick and choose the challenges that fit your family's interests and subjects.

 

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

[dragons in the flower bed]

The thing is, I can't seem to figure out "how" to start.

 

I don't want to start with something like birds. I think even I would get thoroughly depressed within minutes of starting.

 

Maybe a twig? Or a twig with a bud on it, and we can follow it's progression through next year?

 

It doesn't really matter. The important thing is to start. You don't need books on journalling, or a store bought journal that says nature anywhere on it, or even a field guide. All you need is paper, pencils, a spot to sit, and something natural in your line of sight. It is possible to put off doing it for years while you accumulate better and better tools and helps and guides and books and pencils. But it's also possible that there's some natural object you already look at daily -- maybe your goldfish or your cat, or your Christmas tree or a houseplant, a tree just outside your window -- and you can sit down near it with a blank piece of paper and a pencil and just draw, today, right now even. The essential elements are looking and drawing, but the most important thing is to just do it.

[Christine]

I recently gave a presentation about nature study and as part of the program I had the moms actually sketch a natural item on paper. What helped them the most was when I explained that in a nature journal you are drawing more like scientist than an artist. It was like light bulbs went on for some of the women. There is a different mindset when you are sketching for details and observations than to make it "pretty". There is a time and a place for pretty poems and watercolors but sometimes it is just as satisfying to get something down on paper for the memory.

 

We lived in England for a period of time and whilst there took a trip to the Lake District.

 

(bells ringing???)

 

Beatrix Potter donated her land to the National Trust, and they have a museum there dedicated to her, including a display case of some of her journals.

 

I want to do nature journals like hers! Sometimes her's were incredibly artistic; other times, thoughtful; MANY times, scientific. (She was very interested in fungi -- your current OHC topic, I believe.)

 

**********************

 

To be perfectly honest, I found the whole Outdoor Hour Challenge. . .overwhelming. And it's probably all me. I read your post about the fuzzy line between "nature journal" and "nature study". To me, it's not fuzzy at all! A "study" is just scary! Maybe, if we grow into journaling, the whole study vs. journal idea will become, errr, "second nature", but at this point. . .

 

It's a whole word connotation thing. (And if you don't believe me, you'll have to read SWB's blog post about gray vs. grey. I SO get that!)

 

I do have that site bookmarked and I go to it at least monthly, and will probably continue to do so. I'm hoping we'll "grow" into it.

 

Geez, nature is too easy to find puns for.

 

*******************

The thing I'm discovering is: I'm not a "natural".

 

Unlike those that can whip up something from nothing for dinner, I need a menu and a recipe.

 

Unlike people that say, "I'm going to cover this math book this year, and we will do approximately one lesson per day to get it done", I've got to have it written (in advance), in detail.

 

And unlike those people that say, I'm going to start nature journaling today, and grab their pencils and paper on the way out the door. . .

 

*sigh* I'm hopeless.

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

It doesn't really matter. The important thing is to start. You don't need books on journalling, or a store bought journal that says nature anywhere on it, or even a field guide. All you need is paper, pencils, a spot to sit, and something natural in your line of sight. It is possible to put off doing it for years while you accumulate better and better tools and helps and guides and books and pencils.

 

the most important thing is to just do it.

 

Perfectly put!

 

Christine, you say you're not a natural and that's fine. If you know that about yourself and can accept it then that's a good first step. Then the logical second step after recognizing that you're not a natural--if you really do want to do this nature journal--is that you're just going to have to force yourself to start.

 

The above quote reminded me so much of this gem from my homeschooling notes...jotted down from some book, can't remember which one...

 

"You can only avoid educating your children for so long and eventually you'll have to own up to the fact that ordering products has served as a distraction from the real work you are to do."

 

I mean, ouch! Now, I'm not accusing you of this. I don't know you. However, I think this is true of many homeschoolers for at least a subject or two. We just can't figure out how to do it so we don't do it at all. We procrastinate, endlessly searching for the perfect tool to get us started, when in reality all that is required is getting started in and of itself. Few people would indefinitely postpone reading instruction because of an inability to get motivated to teach it, because there is an obvious value to the skill of reading and because it would be irresponsible. Maybe if we had more respect for the human need to stay connected to nature, we wouldn't indefinitely postpone nature study.

 

I'm wondering if nature journaling is something you feel you should be doing, rather than something you're inspired to do--and, further, that even though you feel you should be doing it, you don't necessarily see enormous value in it. I think it makes a big difference. If you're in need of inspiration and discussion of the inherent value of being in nature, I highly recommend Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods. Frankly, we have a duty to get our kids out in nature. It's good for them. And for us. And for families.

 

If you can't find the perfect resource and you're not otherwise inspired, it seems you have two choices--just start and hope to get inspired or just forget it and make peace with not doing it.

 

This is sounding much harsher than I intend! I personally found the idea of nature study daunting. So our first step was to just go be in nature. No notebooks, no goals...we just got out of the house and drove to a nearby state park. Heaven on earth. Period. How anyone could be out there and not be inspired is beyond me. We got inspired. It's an all day every Friday thing now, nature journals, bug jars, insect nets, Outdoor Hour Challenges...the whole nine yards. Just start. What do you have to lose? :)

 

Kristina

Edited December 15, 2008 by Alte Veste Academy

[harmonyartmom]

I am always about "something is better than nothing". If we hadn't started with the little scribbles and notes years ago, we wouldn't have the filled nature journals now to look back and remember our time outdoors. Nobody cares if they are very artistic or pretty.

 

I consider the nature journal the icing on the cake. The cake is the time together outside having the time to find something to be excited enough about to put into the nature journal.

 

The nature journals were for the kids to keep track of their experiences outdoors. I just did my best to model the process. Time outdoors, find something interesting, come in and make a record of it if they felt like it. Ask a question...look it up if you have time. Share the info together and be excited about the next time outdoors.

 

The Outdoor Hour Challenge is as simple or as complex as you make it. Read challenge number one....it is some reading in the Handbook and then fifteen minutes outside just in your own yard or on your own street with no agenda. Let the children lead and you follow quietly and just see what happens. If you find two things to find more information about, great. If you don't, you haven't wasted your time.

 

It is the process and not the product that is the priority. You learn intangible things like comparing and contrasting by looking at something many times or from season to season. You learn critical thinking while deciding why a duck's beak is different than a chickens. You learn to see beyond the obvious...Are all tree trunks "brown"? Confidence in the outdoors comes over time as you learn the names for things you have all around you everyday. Learning researching skills about something the children are interested in learning. Categorizing collections catches the attention for some children. Counting birds in the feeder and learning to tally for the Great Backyard Bird Count. For some it is all about connecting with other families that participate from all over the world including Brazil, Canada, Scotland, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the Netherlands, and too many to list from the States.

 

Each family has a different style nature journal and maybe one is what will spark your child's interest.

 

Sorry if I seem a little passionate but this is really is what I am passionate about in real life. I know all the stumbling blocks and if keeping a nature journal is keeping you from starting your nature study experience, it makes me sad.

 

Sometimes you just have to give it a chance.

Barb

[sagira]

I'm all excited about starting our Outdoor Challenges next year! :)