In June, we ventured out for our first family camping trip in 16 years! It was so much fun that we have committed ourselves to camping several more times this year beginning in October. June was a bit warm here on the Gulf Coast of Texas, but in spite of the blazing heat, we made some wonderful memories, saw some beautiful creatures and creations.
In planning for this school year, I knew that I wanted to bring Nature Study back into our lives on a more consistent basis. As I have been homeschooling using Charlotte Mason's methodology for the past 11 years, I know full well the true benefit of this type of education.
I was fortunate enough to happen upon a wonderful blog, Handbook of Nature Study, aptly named after Comstock's book, and immediately fell in love. This blog is a treasure trove of information and a great source of inspiration if you need a bit of a nudge to get back to nature and/or nature study.
Last week we set out on our first Outdoor Challenge of the year.
We ventured a little further than our backyard, but not too far. There are two nature preserves within a few minutes of our home and I felt that it would be a good plan to establish these locations as our "nature study" home. We will also use our backyard and neighborhood, but to find things of which we are less familiar, I thought this would be a perfect fit for us, and it is.
Our first challenge was to just get outside. This may sound so simple, but with many children homeschooling, and most of them reluctant to participate, this in and of itself was a huge event.
Mom was assigned some initial reading from The Handbook of Nature Study, which was a pure joy to re-visit. I read this book almost cover to cover when I first purchased it 10 or so years ago. I was amazed at what I had forgotten or perhaps, even overlooked in my zeal to "DO" nature study.
I discovered that Ms. Comstock actually recommends that those students who do not want to participate should not! That by requiring them to do so would only give cause for their disdain of the out of doors. She also suggests that children should not be required to keep a nature journal, and that outings be short, no more than about 15 or 20 minutes. Being the control freak that I am, I had never absorbed this information.
We do have a rule in our home, and that is, you must try a "no-thank" you portion. Usually, this pertains to foods usually, but I also apply it to new activities, new experiences with art/music/museums, etc., I decided to go ahead and implement this to our nature study experience.
So, we set out to the Nature Preserve and planned to only stay for about 20 - 30 mins. (I know...I know...) Our task was to come out of the woods with 2 things that we would like to know more about. We found many more than 2, but I made them each choose only 2.
The outing was very enjoyable, and even though it was still quite warm, the kids, Mark, and I stayed almost an hour. I did not bring our nature journals because I did not want this to seem like an assignment.
Here are some of the beautiful things we discovered:
Some other discoveries on our walk...
Lilipads
Cicada Shell
Turkish Cap
We are looking forward to our next outing which is planned for today. I wonder what treasures await our discovery!
