Nature Study, why isn't everyone doing this???

[8filltheheart]

I am highly incompetent in identifying things. We own lost of field guides (the Audobon ones are my favorites). My kids are very efficient in going through and finding the different species. Field guides are also a great way for them to learn about the finer details of classification.......they have to look at the map to see if the species they think it is actually lives in our geographical area, etc.

 

I even have huge picture book guides of spiders, bugs, etc for the younger crowd.

[txchick]

When we try to do formal Nature study, the kids have no interest.

 

Here is what we do. We do it naturally. We live on an acre out of town. We have mostly a desert landscape...weeds, cactus, mesquite growing everywhere wild. Clumpy grass. We are raising Poultry(duck, chickens, guineas) and Rabbits now. We have access to watch all sorts of other animals from Coyotes to Horses.

 

Bugs are often captured and studied...usually released. We try to garden as well. My kids are both wanting to do Photography so I'm encouraging them to photograph anything they find interesting outside. This is especially helpful to my 9 year old who really doesn't have art skills like his older brother.

 

Instead of a notebook, we will do a photo album or blog style website.

 

Its better to live it than made it into a subject in our house...We have had complete Life cycle lessons without books or paper!

 

Donna

[GreenKitty]

It sounds like you had a wonerful time. We love nature.:)

[Soph the vet]

It was forty below wind chill overnight. There is nothing but white as far as the eye can see. As soon as we thaw out we will will walk, we will look, we will never come back inside!!:D

[GothicGyrl]

Itemized for those organized peoples:

 

1--Sun isn't good for someone strange like me.

2--If I have to get out in the sun, I melt.

3--It's too hot.

4--Bugs. I hate them.

5--It's too hot.

6--BIG bugs. Skeery. They stalk me.

7--It's too hot out.

8--My kids are too old.

9--they'd rather be putting on makeup and kicking my butt in guitar hero

10--It's just plain too hot.

 

Seriously though--if I had younger kids, I would do this. But they are older now and are not interested in these things anymore. Instead, they like to hear mom scream "Quit stalking me" all through the house because a stupid 3 inch praying mantis made her side porch his home. We've got bugs big enough to make anyone scream and I just do not do bugs of any kind.

 

Which is why, in summer, I stay inside, with my nice air conditioning.. ;)

 

 

(this is,however, what I would do if they were younger..did I say that already? My mom, who watches my 3 yr old nephew, does this with him all day long. They bike ride to Weedon Island --which is like a block away from her and do nature walks all day)..

[theodwyn]

I dragged my kids out to do this at the pond next to our library. I enjoyed it. I'm not sure how much they did!

Wendy

[St. Theophan Academy]

This is one of our favorite "school times". My kids love being outside, so we try to take a nature walk as often as I can handle it (w a newborn :) We are in fact on our way out the door to our local wildlife preserve to walk around there this morning :) The Comstock book is great, we love it - along with a few good field guides. If you are loving this part of CM - you really should try doing a "tea time". This is our afternoon snack - with hot chocolate (or lemonade in the summer) served in china teacups (I have a collection of mismatched pieces, so even the 3 yo gets a fancy cup). This is when I read our poetry - we do poetry on the Ambleside schedule so I read from the poet for that term, and then take requests for poems from previous readings. I never thought my 9 yo boy would beg to hear poetry, but he loves tea time! Oh, and no discussion of the poems, we are just listening and enjoying (and they do not have to recite memorized poems at this time, that is done during recitation). I have found that CM methodology works well for the arts especially, so we follow her ideas for "studying" art, music, poetry and nature (and of course narration). Check out Tanglewood School curriculum for some good ideas on incorporating CM and classical homeschooling.

 

Anne Marie

 

http://www.tanglewoodeducation.com/

[danielle]

For the nature impaired, like me: we did this great 2 week program last summer, and now that dd is headed for high school at home, she's begging to do their 2nd and 3rd level instead of hs biology. I learned more in 2 weeks than in my previous 54 (ahem) years, and also how to find the answers. I highly recommend it for older kids (12+) or parents trying to stay ahead of the bugs, snakes, tree identification, endless questions, yadda, yadda. http://www.wildernessawareness.org/home_study/kamana.html

Danielle

[Trivium Academy]

My original post was just to share our adventures and encourage those that want to do nature studies but don't know how. It wasn't to pick on those that don't wish to do nature studies with your children. It wasn't meant to start a negative thread.

 

I'm disappointed in the need to attack something worthwhile just because you may decide not to do in your own home. I wasn't calling anyone out to justify themselves, I did wonder why so many don't use nature studies as a tool in their homeschool and now I know. My ds3 picked up a book about trees this morning and told dh all about it, practically narrating to dh about the 20 minutes we spent in the yard the other day.

 

I know those who wish to create drama will take this post and run with it but I won't be here to respond. I am sorry if I put anyone on the defensive, it wasn't my intention.

 

I'm also sorry for those who felt they were criticized by others by sharing their nature adventures and how they conduct nature studies in their homes. Thank you for sharing your experiences and how it has affected your homeschools, it's encouraging and beautiful.

[Kimber]

In case you do read this, I think you misunderstood. Your thread was wonderful, and I think the rest of us were not angry at all, just making fun of our situations. I know mine was written with underlying humor, and I read humor into the other post as well.

 

Don't be sorry, it was great!

[GothicGyrl]

I think she was speaking of me--in which case, my humor was sorely misunderstood. It was all humor and I do believe I said, twice, that I would do this with my kids if they were younger and in fact, my mother does this with my younger nephew.

 

Kimber is correct--we were all making fun of our own impairments in this situation. There was zero negativity involved. It was meant in fun and lighthearted.

[ncmomo3]

In case you do read this, I think you misunderstood. Your thread was wonderful, and I think the rest of us were not angry at all, just making fun of our situations. I know mine was written with underlying humor, and I read humor into the other post as well.

 

Don't be sorry, it was great!

 

Correct.

Just amusing experiences from different people with different experiences--nothing neg. or attacking.

[Kimber]

In case you read this one (other post was in the wrong place), my post (and I assume the others, too) were written tongue in cheek, so to speak. No offense was taken from your post. I thought it was great.

 

In fact, my dh and I would like to move so that our children can actually be outside more. It is my number one complaint about where we live--so close to the creek and all the snakes. :-)

 

I am a total wimp. :D

[Trivium Academy]

If it was all tongue in cheek, not a problem. I thought I had caused a problem and wanted to apologize for it, some comments didn't seem so tongue in cheek to me and I felt obligated to apologize for those since I spurred this on.

 

I'm not going to point out any particular posts, I think those that made comments in a mean-spirit will know who they are. Those who didn't make comments in a mean-spirit have nothing to worry about concerning my apology to those who might have been offended or disheartened. I was disheartened by some of the comments and since I started it, I figured it would be best to apologize to those who might feel the same as I.

 

Kimber, GothicGyrl your posts were tongue in cheek. See, now I'm causing problems by posting again. Sigh. Off to read to my kids. :rolleyes:

[GothicGyrl]

Jessica--don't worry about those naysayers--I don't :) Yes, I think most posts were tongue in cheek though--even though I could have said something like "Me? Outside? No way..I can do that?" or "Ewww nature, yuck" or even if I was serious (which I only partially am, I really do despise bugs), my kids don't like the "nature" either. hehehe.. We're all just a bunch of freaks. ;)

 

Ahh, don't worry about it--you didn't cause anything. I just wouldn't worry over it. You did nothing wrong. Honestly.

[Karen in CO]

For the nature impaired, like me: we did this great 2 week program last summer, and now that dd is headed for high school at home, she's begging to do their 2nd and 3rd level instead of hs biology. I learned more in 2 weeks than in my previous 54 (ahem) years, and also how to find the answers. I highly recommend it for older kids (12+) or parents trying to stay ahead of the bugs, snakes, tree identification, endless questions, yadda, yadda. http://www.wildernessawareness.org/home_study/kamana.html

Danielle

Danielle, thanks for the link to the wilderness awareness site. I hadn't seen that before and it looks great.

 

Jessica, aren't nature studies great? I have been doing a 10 week "formal" science program with my dd each year and using nature studies the rest of the year. It is my compromise. My dd also grows her own little garden and the youngest helps in the garden - she loves fresh tomatoes. For the cold winter here, when the weather is nicer, we bundle them up and take them to our favorite park and enjoy the changes in the lake and streams as they freeze over. We also feed birds and keep an identification book by the window. Something to look for as spring arrives is an opportunity to join a CSA (community supported agriculture) or a local u-pick farm. It is wonderful for kids to get connected with their food supply.

 

For those with snakes - YUCK. After we moved in our house we discovered that our yard was infested with garden snakes. I would put the baby on a blanket in the yard then within minutes 4 or 5 would be slithering toward her. I am originally from a swampy part of FL. I have a very healthy snake phobia. I have been on a quest to kill everyone (the kind in my yard can lay up to 80 eggs per year). Two years later I still kill at least two snakes a week. My dh chides me - "How can you teach our kids to appreciate nature if you have to kill every snake in the neighborhood?"

 

It is nice to see people getting excited about something that is a wonderful addition to our school day, but I know many families in which it just wouldn't work.

[GothicGyrl]

For those with snakes - YUCK. After we moved in our house we discovered that our yard was infested with garden snakes. I would put the baby on a blanket in the yard then within minutes 4 or 5 would be slithering toward her. I am originally from a swampy part of FL. I have a very healthy snake phobia. I have been on a quest to kill everyone (the kind in my yard can lay up to 80 eggs per year). Two years later I still kill at least two snakes a week. My dh chides me - "How can you teach our kids to appreciate nature if you have to kill every snake in the neighborhood?"

 

I can SOOOOOOO relate to "healthy fears" of something--I am this way with bugs... but sheepishly I say, your DH is right, yanno.. ;) If all they are is garden snakes--killing them is bad, very bad. They eat all the nasty pesky bugs that like to tear up wonderfully delicious gardens. ;) We've got nice sized Rat Racers, Greens and Blacks here and I try not to kill them at all --I just keep repeating "they eat the nasty evil bent-on-putting-me-in-therapy-bugs" over and over.

 

Shooing them away is easy--just use a broom, and scoot them off--they usually scury away fast. But don't kill them. They eat the nasty evil bugs. ;)

[Excelsior! Academy]

This is one of our favorite "school times". My kids love being outside, so we try to take a nature walk as often as I can handle it (w a newborn :) We are in fact on our way out the door to our local wildlife preserve to walk around there this morning :) The Comstock book is great, we love it - along with a few good field guides. If you are loving this part of CM - you really should try doing a "tea time". This is our afternoon snack - with hot chocolate (or lemonade in the summer) served in china teacups (I have a collection of mismatched pieces, so even the 3 yo gets a fancy cup). This is when I read our poetry - we do poetry on the Ambleside schedule so I read from the poet for that term, and then take requests for poems from previous readings. I never thought my 9 yo boy would beg to hear poetry, but he loves tea time! Oh, and no discussion of the poems, we are just listening and enjoying (and they do not have to recite memorized poems at this time, that is done during recitation). I have found that CM methodology works well for the arts especially, so we follow her ideas for "studying" art, music, poetry and nature (and of course narration). Check out Tanglewood School curriculum for some good ideas on incorporating CM and classical homeschooling.

 

Anne Marie

 

http://www.tanglewoodeducation.com/

 

I totally agree with the tea time and china. Our dds have tea cups and saucers that have been collected from various places. Garage sales, b-day parties, antique malls, etc. They LOVE that they can drink out of real china. If they get broken, oh well, we'll just get new ones.

[Hazelt"nut"]

I always did this when my dd6 was a little tot...then I let the hustle and bustle of school get in the way. Now we are getting back to our "roots" ha ha. Had a great first nature trip to a local pond and an amazing time with some feathery friends. Both dd6 and ds3 added pics we took to their journals and wrote about their observations. (I wrote for the three year old!) Read about it at our blog under A Sick Day of Homeschooling.

 

Sheryl in GA

 

www.hazelnutacademy.blogspot.com

[Rhondabee]

Well I wouldn't say we aren't doing it but I can tell you why it isn't all we do. Primarily, because regardless of what all the Charlotte Mason-type lists imply, there is alot more to science than what you see wandering around your backyard. I am pretty casual about science as far as curriculum goes in the elementary years but we learn more than 'nature' stuff. The kids love to make things bubble and wonder what makes things move etc.

 

So I guess what I'm saying is when people say they do 'Nature Study' for science, I usually assume they are following the recommendations of those philosophies that focus elementary science on the plant and animal world. So I would say that no - we don't do Nature Studies.

 

Heather

 

My kids also much prefer more active science experiments.

 

But, there's no reason not to take the concept of "find something that interests you and pursue" outside of the realm of "nature studies". That is the ideal in our "studies", whether related to school or not - asking questions and finding the answers.

 

I think that's one reason why we love Read-Alouds, because they expose us to things that otherwise we wouldn't encounter. And, if it's something we're curious about, we go find out more.

[DawnUK]

Lorna,

Thanks for the CD recommendation-- I'm off to hunt it down!

 

--Dawn

[Amy in MD]

We've moved from a great property/land to a postage stamp back yard. I have been pouting about the change instead of doing something positive.

 

Thanks for the inspiration to enjoy nature,

Amy

[Colleen in SEVA]

We don't do nature study because I hate nature. :) Not ALLL of nature, but pretty much most of it (at least according to my hubby).

 

My boys would probably like nature walks, but Red still puts rocks in his mouth. Green is dangerously adventurous and not ready for that much freedom. Yellow would want to be carried, and I don't have enough hands. Plus, Blue would want to know ALL of the answers, and we would get no other schooling done beyond answering his questions from our nature walk. They do play outside most days, dig in the dirt, find neat rocks, climb our tree, play gently with worms, bring me dead bugs to look at in the microscope (Brock was a good investment) -- but we don't *study* it per se. And we DO NOT go on nature walks.

 

So... my compromise was to enroll my son in an ecology class through homeschool co-op. Each week, they go on a nature walk and collect things, learn about them, draw about them, clean themselves up, and the rest of the boys are safe in the nursery while I chat with other moms. It really is a win-win situation! LOL!!

[BizyPenguin]

We just couldn't make it work. We do the Green Hour just about every day, though and that works very well and is more natural for us. I blogged about this very thing last week. If you visit my blog, click on 'Mother Nature' in the sidebar for more of an explanation. All the best!

[kalanamak]

She's excited, my ds3 is excited and their neighbor friend that came along with us is excited. 20 minutes walking around the yard with 3 kids and they want to learn!

 

 

Yup. That's why I have pussy willow branches on my dining room table (today's find). Although brave dh has done most of it, we strive for 2 hours outside every day. Luckily, it is temperate here.

[SandraDumas]

I think it's a GREAT question!!! If you find something that you tried, it worked, it sounds perfect in theory, it's easier, cheaper and more efficient than the "other way" you wonder to yourself....WHY doesn't everyone do it this way???

 

I think it was a great question. I didn't realize my post sounded frustrated. Sure, nature study was a frustration b/c it didn't live up to my dreams, but I'm not frustrated now, and wasn't at your post!!

 

:D

[Kathy in MD]

Ok.....I promise to log off after this one!! LOL!!!! If you literally stake off a 1 ft square in the yard, you would be amazed at the number of things you can find and study. There is actually a book about nature study this way. I can't remember the author.

 

I've linked to the backyard one. There's also one on the night sky, however any of the books would give hints on how to look at your backyard. http://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Donald-M-Silver/dp/007057930X/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203618398&sr=8-2

 

But even without the book, the OP could set up a bird feeder and bird bath and observe. Then she could dig a 6" deep hole in the yard and look at the roots and bugs :D hiding there. With the tree, pull a leaf and have a magnifying glass to look at the pores. Do rubbings of the tree bark and then go to a park and compare barks. Compare the blades of grass to tree leeves. Get paint chips in all the shades of green, glue them around the edges of a piece of cardboard (calendar or paper pad type), cut out the center and pick out the different shades of green in nature. Do the same with shades of blue and grey and look at the sky and clouds. (The color frame will look like a picture frame made entirely of paint chips) Lie down on the grass an see how a mouse would view your yard. Start a compost pile and watch decompossion.

[5wolfcubs]

I haven't read all the replies (this was a hot topic!) but yesterday we went to another homeschooler's house...she lives in a similar suburban neighborhood to me. Her house was delightful -- collections of rocks, framed pictures drawn by her daughter and of her daughter in the great outdoors and of different kinds of leaves, piles of books. I didn't get to ask her about her homeschool-style, but the love of learning (particularly about nature) were just so evident. My house is just EMPTY by comparison. Anyway, while at her house I thought of you & this post and just wanted to share that I've been encouraged that my "conditions" don't have to be perfect (I don't need 3 acres in GA) to do nature study or be the educator I want to be, it really is up to me! :)

[DarcyM]

I am very eager to be outside. It's hard not to be envious of those of you in warm climates right about now. We have had several inches of snow on the ground since right after Thanksgiving. It's been a snowy, totally white, wet and very, very cold world for 3 months now.

 

I am sooo eager for green! Gosh, even patchy grass sounds nice.

 

Know what my weatherman said this week? -45 degrees outside. That's not a typo. Our actual temperature the day before was -6. With the wild chill it was -45. There was a pet/small child weather advisory.

 

Playing in the snow is only novel for about 2-3 times. We used those up by mid-December. Now we're just dealing with cabin fever and watching the deer play from our big picture window.

 

While I do like many of the CM philosphies, that green hour is something that we haven't seen in months!

[Lux Et Veritas Academy]

We are under 10 feet of snow, but I still try to get the crew outdoors. I think the seasons have a lot to offer- as mentioned before, I let them discover on their own things around us. We do more guided stuff in the other 3 seasons. I am not a big walk around nature girl and prefer the city, but I endorse it with the children....shhhhh don't tell them:rolleyes:

[Cornerstone Classical]

Hey Momof7,

You may be thinking of the series of books from Scholastic called "One Small Square". These books are *awesome*! My dc beg for this series to be read. And they have easy instructions for your own outdoor exploring!

[Cornerstone Classical]

nt

[Rhondabee]

I am very eager to be outside. It's hard not to be envious of those of you in warm climates right about now. We have had several inches of snow on the ground since right after Thanksgiving. It's been a snowy, totally white, wet and very, very cold world for 3 months now.

 

I am sooo eager for green! Gosh, even patchy grass sounds nice.

 

Know what my weatherman said this week? -45 degrees outside. That's not a typo. Our actual temperature the day before was -6. With the wild chill it was -45. There was a pet/small child weather advisory.

 

Playing in the snow is only novel for about 2-3 times. We used those up by mid-December. Now we're just dealing with cabin fever and watching the deer play from our big picture window.

 

While I do like many of the CM philosphies, that green hour is something that we haven't seen in months!

 

I looked to see where you lived, thinking maybe the Yukon or something like that and saw Iowa - -- - just about choked on my coffee! :)

 

Saying a prayer you have a happy Friday and a restful weekend!

Rhonda

[harmonyartmom]

Jessica,

 

I have been watching and reading this thread for the last few days and finally have a minute to post a reply.

 

I wanted to publicly say how proud I am of your progress in nature study this week. I think it is fantastic.

 

You know how much I value nature study, art, and music in our homeschool and I feel so grateful to be able to share my passions with others, especially those that take to heart what I am trying to share.

 

Keep up the good work and don't stop sharing because it really is like ripples in a pond....good ideas just keep flowing until they reach hearts that are open and ready for new ideas.

Green Hour Challenges

[Strawberry Queen]

Our winters are really long. By the time spring comes (May) I am soo done with school. We go to the playground, collect leaves, rocks etc. but I just can't do anything else, I don't have the heart:). Now that dd7 is reading for herself, she'll probably do some.

Of course we do take our nature guides with us so that we can identify things, but that's as far as we're going at the moment.