As homeschooling parents, you’re doing something remarkable: you’re shaping how your children see the world and guiding them to connect with the Living Teacher who created it all.
Nature study, simple as it may appear—a walk, a sketch, a few questions—is one of the most powerful ways to do just that. It also builds habits of attention, lays the foundation for scientific thinking, and invites children to fall in love with God’s creation.
Yet I know how easy it is to feel unqualified or overwhelmed by the idea of “doing it right.” When I first encountered Charlotte Mason’s references to nature study, I was excited—and utterly lost. Her assignments felt scattered, like juggling too many balls at once.
After years of refining her approach, I’ve organized Mason’s nature study tasks into five core practices—the Guideposts of Nature Study. These guideposts offer a clear, life-giving routine that fosters curiosity, observation, and delight, even if you’ve never done nature study before.
Ready to bring intention and wonder to your homeschool? Let’s briefly explore each guidepost together.
1. Nature Walks: A Weekly Ramble
When my children were young, we often did our nature walks with a co-op group. Everyone brought backpacks filled with nature notebooks and paints—but the moment the kids piled out of the car, those packs were forgotten. They ran, played, laughed. And as for notebook entries? Only under protest.
Eventually, I realized we were overcomplicating things. In the Parents’ Review, I read about large groups that went on “nature rambles” regularly but they didn’t stop for sketches or collections—just a simple walk together, maybe stopping for a cup of tea. That was the moment I realized our expectations for nature walks had been all wrong.
Nature walks aren’t about producing outcomes—they’re about exploration.
Consistent, simple walks help children notice what’s changing season by season. They begin to anticipate the return of spring ephemerals, the silence of the first snow, the color shift of autumn leaves. The walk itself becomes the lesson.
Practical tip: Choose a simple route and walk it once a week. Set a seasonal goal (e.g., spot as many flower colors as you can in spring) and let wonder lead the way.
2. Seasonal Special Studies: Let Nature Set the Pace
At first, I wasn’t sure what Seasonal Special Studies really meant, so we did the simplest thing: we opened a book and read about whatever nature topic the kids chose. Some of my choices—like studying insects in winter—proved less than ideal! Then one afternoon, a delicate, sweet-scented flower caught our attention on the tree just outside our schoolroom door. We paused to examine its wisteria-like blooms, ran our fingers along the trunk to feel its spikes, and noticed the compound leaf pattern. (Though we didn’t know to call it that at the time!) Finally, we turned to our field guide and identified a tree we had never noticed before. (A honey locust—hence the wonderful smell that caught our attention in the first place.) That single discovery blossomed into weeks of notebook entries, sketches, and delighted exploration.
This wasn’t just appreciation—it was biology in its purest form.
Charlotte Mason taught that all things are part of a series. When a child studies a house cat, they’re also learning about lions, tigers, and the entire Felidae family. Over the course of a 12-year education, intentionally rotating seasonal and local topics allows your child to build a comprehensive, firsthand understanding of scientific classification—often more robust than a textbook could offer.
Try this: Choose one or two seasonal topics (e.g., birds, trees, reptiles), and observe them weekly. Let your children sketch them, talk about them, read about them, and watch them change.
3. Object Lessons: Zoom In and Observe
Where a nature walk invites a broad view, an object lesson zooms in on a single treasure. This is the moment to examine a flower, a seedpod, or a pinecone: hold it, study it, ask questions, and learn its parts. Asking focused questions—like “How many petals does this flower have?”—encourages children to notice details they might otherwise have missed.
Object lessons can be simple and spontaneous, or more formal and prepared. You might bring a single object inside to examine more closely—perhaps a unique seedpod or a twig in winter—or discover it during one of your walks.
Goal: Plan one object lesson this week to nurture your child’s scientific skills by sharpening their observational abilities.
4. Nature Notebooks: Capturing the Wonder
A nature notebook is not an artistic endeavor. It’s a record of things seen and rambles taken. It says: I noticed these things, and they mattered to me.
Brush drawings don’t need to be perfect. Sentences don’t need to be long. The notebook simply gives children a place to remember, to reflect, and to return. Over time, it becomes a personal field guide—a living record of scientific inquiry and delight.
Idea: After your walk, ask your child: “What’s one thing you want to remember?” Then capture that thought with words or a brush drawing.
5. Living Books: Fuel for the Imagination
Living books—beautifully written narratives that stir the imagination and deepen understanding—are perfect companions to your outdoor work.
Whether you read about birds, bugs, or beavers, these stories will reveal hidden wonders you might otherwise overlook. You may discover that there are hidden features, secret behaviors, or special adaptations you never knew existed, and you will want to see it for yourself.
Tip: Choose nature lore books that connect to your seasonal topics or discoveries. Let reading be a way to revisit and enrich what was seen outdoors.
Nature Study Is Where Science Begins
Nature study is biology in its most living form.
We don’t need a laboratory to begin a scientific education. We need time outdoors, tools for observation, and a willingness to wonder. Through the 5 Guideposts of Nature Study, your homeschool can be full of beauty, discovery, and real science—one walk, one notebook entry, one question at a time.
Ready to Begin? Let Me Guide You
To make nature study simple and sustainable, I am working on Nature Explorers, an open-and-go curriculum designed to bring these guideposts to life.
Each week includes:
- A video object lesson
- Suggested goals for your nature walk
- Prompts for nature notebook entries
- Living book recommendations
- Extension activities to round out your study
All designed to point your children toward the wonder of the natural world around them.
🌿 Download a free week of Nature Explorers here and discover just how meaningful and doable nature study can be.
Let nature set the pace—and science, beauty, and connection will follow.
