Hi girls--it's official--we're moving. :cry: We're moving from our inner city neighborhood out to the country. :cry::cry::cry: So up until now, to do a 'nature study' anything, we've picked and animal or a "region" and gone to the zoo or the botanical gardens. Now I'll have a back yard that's on the edge of the forest. I am having a hard time wrapping my brain around doing a nature study that's informal. So. . . if you do a Charlotte Mason style nature study--what do you do? How do you do it?
I don't have time to write alot but their are great links on Charlotte Mason here. Here is another one Nature Study The short of it, we gather our materials, paper/journals, pencils, scope, jar/bags, tweezers, little shovel, net, magifying glass. You really don't need to take anything, but all these items are fairly small and if we are staying in the back yard we put them on a table. In a backpack if we are going walking. We also have field guides and a few other books for reference. This is pretty good for identifying Backyard Plants.
During this time of year - have them plant something and watch it grow!! Try a veggie as my kids think it's cool to "eat" their school work. Believe me - living in the country - every day is a schooling experience! Just don't be afraid of the outside. If you have an area without a lot of night lights - get a telescope!! We had a blast last year with it and my kids thought a comet was really cool.
We're not moving until August. . .but I'm told to plant tulips then and they'll bloom in Spring? I hate gardening. . .LOL. . .I want to get the gardening project's for kids book from Williamson's books. ;-)
Nellie is right on. Just have a small bag of those items she mentioned to use if you need them. We were at the park last week playing and Samantha spotted a robin. We all stopped what we were doing and just sat and watched it. That is informal nature study. When we got home we looked it up in the book. Let the kids plant a tree, herb garden, fruit & veggie garden, care for animals, anything like that. I think the point is being immersed in nature and just experiencing it as much as possible.
