Nature study is an essential piece of the intertwining puzzle which is a Charlotte Mason education, but it can be intimidating to some. I hope this post will encourage you if you are just getting started.
“As soon as he is able to keep it himself, a nature-diary is a source of delight to a child. Every day’s walk gives him something to enter: three squirrels in a larch tree, a jay flying across such a field, a caterpillar climbing up a nettle, a snail eating a cabbage leaf, a spider dropping suddenly to the ground, where he found ground ivy, how it was growing and what plants were growing with it, how bindweed or ivy manages to climb” (Vol. 1, p. 54).
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I have removed this post (published in 2014) because the directions it included were incorrect. Over the years, through faithfully studying Charlotte Mason’s volumes, the Parents’ Review, and actually keeping my own notebook, I have come to a new understanding of the principles applied to keeping a nature notebook, and the practices implied. I hope you will take a few minutes to read both the article I wrote for Charlotte Mason Institute called “The Evolution of my Nature Notebook,” where I chronicle this change in my understanding, and the new article on this website called “Nature Notebooks,” where I explain how it should be used.
Wonderful tutorial! This is one area I still struggle with, especially this time of year. I needed the promoting of this post.
You are always such an encouragement to me! I'm happy if I can give back in some small way.
Nicole, thank you so much for sharing this wonderful post with us! I’ve been implementing some of CM’s principles over the last 12 years of homeschooling, but now I’m finally reading her original works and am planning a true CM education this coming school year for my 5 students. The podcast has been a tremendous blessing and help to me as I strive to do this – THANK YOU!! And this post on nature journaling in exactly what I needed to know to get started. Where I once felt very intimidated and inadequate, now I’m inspired and excited to get started on nature journaling – including having one for myself (which is the MOST intimidating part as drawing is not something I do well at all). Many blessings to you and your family!
I’m so glad you are encouraged, Kristin! There is one thing I need to add to this post, which I recently learned by reading a PR article – when children are little, they sometimes don’t have the words to describe what they see. (This is one of the reasons for object lessons – they learn a few new words as we ask questions about the object.) But, these little children can draw what they see. Sure their representations might not be a work of art, but they are truly narrations. With this in mind I went back to look at some of my children’s early nature drawings, and I did indeed notice this. Where I had previously thought they were just a little messy with their brush, they were trying to show hairs on the stem – things like that. Anyway, enjoy your adventure! It leads to a full life!
~Nicole
Thank you Nicole! Yes, I can see how a little one might be able to draw what he doesn’t yet have words for. I have a question about logistics of using water colors in the nature journals: do you paint while out on your walk or do you bring the specimen home or perhaps use a photo? And if you paint while on your walk, do you carry water for cleaning the brushes? Trying to figure out how to make this work! 🙂
Kristin, This is a tricky subject. There is nothing like journaling while we are out in the field. It reminds us that we are using our journal to take notes, ask questions, and record things so we both see it and remember it. It might be hard for a real little person to paint in the field, and maybe that they just need to narrate to you for you to take notes while you are in the field. Or sit in front of something that isn’t moving. But there is also a time for practicing our painting skills, which should likely happen around the kitchen table. So try to do both. For a walk with paints, I usually bring water in a mason jar with a good lid, but recently I learned that John Muir Laws recommends a paint brush that has a water tube as it’s handle. My kids are anxious for us to get some of those to try out.