E.5 Nature Study Beyond the Journal
Podcast Episode #5 Nature Study Beyond the Journal
Ways to study Nature besides keeping a nature journal, how to nature study in winter and other topics are covered in the last of a 3 part nature study series.
The 3 Episodes in this series are:
E.4 How to Start a Nature Study
Some of the ways to do nature study included in the podcast are:
1. Early Geography Concepts
2. Foundations of literature
3. Connections with the visual arts
4. Practice the sciences
5. Natural History
6. Beautiful, Natural Math
7. Gardening
8. Deep dive with a family passion
9. Create a photo journal of local plants
10. Eco-tourism
11. Join a Naturalist Club
12. Be a citizen scientist
13. Learn herbology
14. Craft
15. Use apps
16. Wear appropriate gear and head out in all seasons
Some of the nature study in winter ideas:
1. Look for animal tracks
2. Look for buds on branches
3. Study snow, frost or icicles
4. Cloud watch
5. Weather Track
6. Moon phases
7. Constellations
8. Drawing instruction
9. Nature study inside
10. Bird watching
The podcast also includes many ideas systems to make sure it happens!
Resources mentioned in the podcast with affiliate links where applicable:
“The Story of Maths” BBC Documentary sometimes found on Netflix
The apps: Seek, Inaturalist, Starwalk2 (and not mentioned in the podcast but while you are getting nature study apps: AllTrails).
Ocean friendly Sunscreen (my kid is allergic to sunscreen so we don’t use it but if you do please watch out for our corals and choose a sunscreen that is ocean safe!)
The Handbook of Nature Study by Annie Botsford Comstock
I make Nature Journals for adults too!
Transcript:
Podcast Episode #5 Nature Study Beyond the Journal
Intro.
Your listening to episode 5 Nature Study beyond the journal the 3rd in a 3-part intro to nature study series.
So far, we have covered why you should include a nature study habit in your homeschool in part 1, Episode 3 and how to start a nature journal, overcome objections, and the method of nature study in part 2, episode 4. Today, we are going to cover nature study beyond the nature journal in our 3rd and final episode of the intro to nature study series. I know we will cover nature study in episodes to come but I wanted to give you some steppingstones if you were curious about how to incorporate this concept into your home.
While Nature Journals are the first thing that comes to mind for most people thinking of starting a nature study and certainly a valuable tool for the process, they are not the only resource for this subject.
Nature Study is to study nature. Which if you think about it is actually a pretty broad topic! We are studying the world. How living organisms work and interact with their environment. How the environment shapes our landscape, experiences, and perspectives. It lays the groundwork for geography and science while also helping us to feel connected to our home by knowing the local flora and fauna and becoming familiar with its landscape.
There are many topics easily combined with nature study:
· One activity mentioned by Charlotte Mason specifically is a “geog walk” or geography walk. They are a great way to introduce concepts like rivers by carefully observing a nearby stream. Children get a concept of how canyons are formed when they climb down the ravine to get to the stream. Seeing hills on the playground help lay the foundation for understanding what a mountain is and can be a great point of reference when comparing distances and sizes of other landmarks. Walking around your neighborhood you can introduce streets, blocks, and cities in a living way which you can then map together showing how maps visually represent real places. Driving to a trail you can talk about counties and fields. Knowing where they live and helps connect their understanding of the world at large.
· Another topic that lies perfectly with nature study is literature. Aside from being able to read aloud anything outside, many poems, symbols, and metaphors focus around nature so by understanding nature more fully you’ll get the depth and meaning of literature as you come across these things. Another way to incorporate literature is with living nature books. When you add them to your read aloud rotation you spark interest and add help kids make organic connections about the natural world.
· As mentioned before drawing instruction as a separate lesson will help with and be reinforced by their nature journal and just like literature understanding the natural world will help them make connections with the visual arts as you study landscape paintings in their artist study. If they have an intimate understanding of the quiet cold days of winter they will be able to relieve their experiences and apply them to the books and art they see that show a quiet cold landscape making these expressions all the more vibrant and real in their minds.
· Biology, geology, physics, and basically any kind of science can be demonstrated, applied or observed in nature- That’s how science works, science is essentially the study of our natural world. When you observe, record, and question nature you are laying the foundation for “doing science” later.
· It almost goes without saying that natural history or the study of tree trunks, coral reefs, glaciology, fossils is done outside. We learn that we can learn from the past by looking at the evidence left behind which is foundational to the study of history.
· There is SO much beautiful Math outside with symmetry, counting, patterns, measuring, charting, statistics, biomimicry and more. I feel that a mathematical education is not complete until it is applied. I was one of those kids who did not like math. I struggled with it in late elementary and just kind of fell behind my peers. I “got through” math instead of enjoying it and considered it a necessary evil. Then when I was an adult, I watched a documentary on Netflix called “The story of Maths” which was a cross between history and math. That showed the evolution of math throughout history and some of its amazing applications. This led to other docs being recommended on Netflix that unfolded the beauty of math all around us. For the first time I was EXCITED to teach my kids math and wanted to share this love and beauty with them as I taught them the practical skills. When math gets hard, I try to help them see it as a fun challenge, a puzzle, or unlocking a mystery. When there are real life applications for something, they are working on we get out and do it! This helps them see the practical use for math as well as the fun and beauty of it.
· Lastly gardening is a great “subject” if you want to call it that. It can help you understand plants, animals, life cycles, soil, and man’s relation to nature. There are proven chemical benefits to your brain chemistry when you get your hands dirty. Kids who grow their own vegetables are more likely to eat them because they are invested in the process. Planning, weeding, watering, trouble shooting and harvesting also provides mathematical and writing connections as well as teaching patience, endurance, work, handling disappointment, and offering many opportunities for learning through parables. I boldly say that having a garden is one of the best things you can do for a child’s education. It combines the beauty of nature study with the character building benefits of work and the mental exercise of planning and following through on a project.
Aside from combining other subjects with nature study you can do nature study by researching a natural subject thoroughly. Perhaps you become a bird watching family where you know the names/ habits of all the local birds and get excited when you find rare ones together. You have shelves of books about birds and take birding vacations together. You may not have a “comprehensive” understanding of nature because you dive so deeply into ornithology but having a “comprehensive” education is a myth anyway. If you do nature study in this way, you’ll have a shared experience to bond over, know how to research, and most importantly spark a love of learning.
Another way you can do nature study is to keep a photographic journal of local plants. Take pictures together of wildflowers in the spring. Press samples. Diagram their anatomy and look up what you can about them in field guides after identifying them with apps like “seek” or “inaturalist”. You can even make your families own “field guide” by compiling what you know about each flower into a book made on Shutterfly or a similar book building website. This is similar to having a deep passion like the bird example, but the difference is using photography as the main tool instead of journaling and recording local observations on something of current interest. This is a great way to do a “nature study unit” or project then set it aside and come back to it if you don’t want to make nature study permanent part of your routines. Whereas will the birds it was all about research and having a shared passion over time.
You can try eco-tourism. Instead of planning your next trip to Disney look at vacation destinations that focus on the natural beauty of the places you visit. National Parks are a great source for this, but you could go as far as seeing the natural wonders of the world on each continent or as simple as camping more. Travel can be the best education so choosing to travel in nature builds memories and connections that will last a lifetime.
It might be fun to start or join a naturalist club where you get together every week at different locations to discover the plants and animals together. You can take turns teaching mini lessons or leading the hike.
If you have older children, you can participate in citizen science when you find a butterfly with a tag you can go online and record its location or count swallows in a nearby field to help local scientists track populations and migrations.
Together you can learn about edible herbs and herbal remedies or how to identify edible berries. At the very least it would be helpful to know how to identify poisonous plants.
You can even just take bites at it. For example, you can print off something about butterflies one day and do a craft about butterflies. Include a nature poem in your copy work about a mountain then take a Sunday drive to see the mountains. You can have your kids do a scavenger hunt outside. Use the app “starwalk2” next time you are outside at night to identify some constellations. Really the ways you can include nature study in your homeschool are endless. As long as you are consciously trying to allow your kids to experience and learn about the outdoors you are doing nature study.
That said, there are things that go a long way to making your experience outdoors more positive and productive.
One of my favorite Scandinavian sayings is “There is no such thing as bad weather only bad clothes”
Dress properly for the conditions and you’ll feel more confident getting out into places you wouldn’t otherwise venture. Ocean friendly sunscreen, bug repellant, galoshes, rain jackets, under layers, can all make the biggest difference in how long the kids last outside. Some of my favorite finds have been Baffin Boots (Crazy expensive but the ONLY boots that could stand up to hiking in Alaskan winters with little ones) and I’ve heard Oaki rain suits for kids are the way to go to keep them covered from head to toe. We also love to bring small backpacks so they can pack their own water bottles, nature journals (occasional toy dinosaur) and trail mix. Keeping them protected from the elements, hydrated and fed are critical to the success of your trip.
I often get the question “What about nature study in the winter?”
I personally feel like winter hikes can be some of the most magical peaceful hikes out there, yet it can be hard to imagine how much nature study will take place in such a sleepy season. Some ideas for winter nature study include: Looking for animal tracks in fresh snow, watching tree branches for the first buds of spring, tracking trees or gardens over time, studying snowflakes, frost, or icicles. Did you know that the Inuit people have more than 52 different words for snow? Each of these words have a nuanced meaning. Notice how the snow behaves in differently when it is fresh, after a warm spell, when it is 20 below. By the end of the winter you’ll be able to tell what the temperatures are like, or have been, just by looking outside! You can also formally track the weather, cloud watch, study moon phases and constellations, spend more time on drawing instruction from animal books, or do nature study inside with pets and plants.
Or Don’t! A seasonal nature study is better than no nature study at all!
Just make it happen.
If you’d like to make it a habit but getting outside doesn’t come naturally for you put it on a schedule. Find 2-3 spots near your home (Like a trail, a park, and a pond) and rotate between them so you don’t have the burden of choosing each time you get ready to leave. Keep their backpacks by the door. When you get home from an outing replace the trail mix, wash the water bottles and put them back in the fridge, and make sure the nature journals end up back in the bags, so you are not scrambling the day of. Commit to going outside regardless of the weather or have a list of back up plans to fill that time with instead (a drawing lesson, window work, etc). View this as a valuable subject like math, or reading, not like a field trip or fun extra if you have time. Make it a priority.
The absolute best take home point if you’d like nature study to become a part of your family culture comes from Anna Botsford Comstock in the handbook of nature study: “…If the love of nature is in the teacher’s heart, there is no danger: such a teacher, no matter by what method, takes the child gently by the hand and walks with him in paths that lead to the seeing and comprehending of what he may find beneath his feet or above his head. And these paths, whether they lead among the lowliest plants, or weather to the stars, finally converge and bring the wanderer to that serene peace and hopeful faith that is the sure inheritance of all those who realize fully that they are working units in this wonderful universe.”
Keep a nature journal yourself. Follow the TJED mantra of “Inspire, not require”. If they see you doing it, they will eagerly do it themselves because they see it as grown up and of value. Start with the topics you are excited about. Catalog butterflies or keep a rock collection together.
Allow the beauty, peace, and wonder of nature to be a welcome and prioritized part of your day or week.
I know that if you lead by example not only will your children readily follow but you will rediscover the power of this habit in your own life and have the blessings of serenity that comes from slowing down and smelling the roses.
I hope you enjoyed this miniseries on nature study, join me next week with my first interview on “Inspire not Require” and be sure to follow me on Instagram for more nature study and geography inspiration. until then- stay curious.
Do you nature study in the winter? Why or why not?
Join the conversation on Instagram @hatching curiosity.