Nature Explorers was designed to take the guesswork out of nature study. Whether you’re new to Charlotte Mason or just looking for a more streamlined approach, this open-and-go curriculum will walk you through a full year of nature lessons—complete with object lesson videos, nature walk prompts, observation booklets, living book suggestions, nature notebook ideas, and more.
You don’t need to be a nature expert. Just a willing participant.
Rotation A: Songbirds, Wildflowers (aster, mustard, and mint families), Deciduous Trees, Reptiles, and Wild Fruit.
- Pages: 98
- Prerequisites: none
📚 What’s Included
Each Nature Explorers digital guide contains:
- Weekly, seasonal nature lessons (Autumn, Winter, Spring)
- Short object lesson videos for key topics (wildflowers, birds, reptiles, trees, and more)
- Simple nature walk goals to guide weekly outings
- Nature notebook prompts for writing, brush drawing, and seasonal “firsts”
- Book suggestions for each lesson, organized by reading level
- Optional hands-on ideas to enrich the experience (collections, feeders, terrariums, etc.)
- Term end exams to help you reflect on what your children have seen, learned, and loved
“Generally, I’m not always a huge fan of video lessons, but these are fantastic – no bells and whistles, nice and short, the subject is easy to observe, and your questions make the viewer think about what they are seeing. It’s not a passive experience like typical videos. For me as the mom, it’s so nice to have the subject at my “convenience”. I am able to click the link when it’s time for object lesson (the ease means we actually DO IT). … it’s like going on a nature walk with you, and the viewing is guaranteed. I find that I’m better able to locate the subject in “real life” and watch with more attentive eyes now that my interest has been piqued by your videos.”
—Amanda Crandall
Sample Lesson and Table of Contents for each Season
Please note: Nature Explorers in only available as a digital guide. Since this is a brand-new product, I want to leave room for small tweaks before navigating the Amazon approval maze.
Reviews
Finally, it all clicks
This curricula is worth it for the object lesson videos alone. They’re engaging and interactive with fine videos, and they model for me what types of questions I can ask when we’re out in the field. I appreciate the other info and suggestions for activities, too, especially prompts for nature journaling. I plan to purchase the next rotation and on and on for as long as Nicole makes them!
We love this curriculum!
This curriculum has been such a blessing! It has helped me understand Charlotte Mason nature study and actually implement it consistently. The object lessons are so well done and my children are so engaged while we watch them. Just listening to Nicole use terminology as she asks questions in the video, we have learned the technical names for parts of composite flowers effortlessly with no need for diagrams or textbook definitions. As we passed a flower, my daughter offhandedly remarked “I like the disk flowers on that one.” Our nature walks are so much more exciting as we have specific things to look for. After a lesson on goldenrod, my daughters were thrilled to find some on a path behind our home – “I can’t believe I found goldenrod mom! This is better than Christmas.” This curriculum has truly given us “eyes to see!”
This is it!
This is the nature study I’ve been looking for! While I am CM inspired, I haven’t been able to find a curriculum to help me put together all the pieces for a CM nature study. I’ve purchased many different nature study guides over the past five years and none of them were quite a fit for our family. This is exactly what I’ve been searching for. I love the videos for each lesson, along with the books suggestions.
Just what I needed
Breaking down the guideposts or different aspects of nature study has really helped demystify it for me. Before this I did not really know for sure when we had *done* nature study because we did different aspects occasionally but lacked a feasible plan. The videos are also more helpful than I expected. I’m only recently getting acquainted with the Comstock Handbook of Nature Study and I haven’t yet tried in incorporate Comstock’s technique of questions to draw students’ attention to details but Nicole does this very organically in the videos and my children enjoy shouting out answers and observations. The videos are short and peaceful and inspiring. All around, I feel much more confident in our nature study efforts going into this next school year. Thank you!
A wonderful resource
Although I have Form II students who have been doing extensive nature study I still got this guide because of the wonderful object lessons! There are plenty of new things to lean in this guide, even for nature study “pros”. Nicole’s wisdom and passion for science and nature, as always, just shines through the resources she creates, and this one doesn’t disappoint. I’m grateful for all that she does, and all the resources that she makes available to us homeschool moms! Thank you once again, Nicole! We’re awaiting the next guide!
Worth it just for the object lessons!
I primarily use other CM resources to guide most of my resources for my students, but Nicole’s dedication and passion for nature study is a blessing. This resource is worth it just for the object lesson videos. There is plenty of gentle wisdom and planning along the way to guide you the guide (teacher) to help your students practice the habit of attention and knowing the world and creatures God created. Looking forward to the next explorers resource she develops!
A simple and powerful nature study guide!
Nicole shared samples of Nature Explorers on Patreon and I’ve been eagerly awaiting its release. It does not disappoint! As with her other guides, they’re simple yet powerful and provide a rich learning experience for the mother teacher and the student! The videos are exciting and interesting and I love Nicole’s voice! Just a note for those who homeschool year round, there isn’t a summer term in the guide. I’d love to see that available in the future! Also, there are nature lore book suggestions. I ADORE Nicole’s book selections.
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I second the request for a summer term guide! We are currently using some of the spring term plans for summer nature study in June in the midwest and they are still largely relevant. But I’d love a summer section too.
A Must Have !
A wonderful guide that made our nature study a breeze! Just Object Lesson videos alone worth the purchase..but then we also get nature walk goals and nature notebook prompts to choose from (which are genius!), careful selection of books for Nature Lore and ideas for further exploration. Wow! Thank you, Nicole, from the bottom of my heart!
I was pre watching Object Lesson videos one night and my husband, who usually yawns as soon as you mention the word “curriculum”, started answering Nicole’s questions and we ended up binge watching it together. They are just magical!
But what is even more impressive is that our son, a very reluctant naturalist of 10 years of age, loved those videos too, and made me go out on a “hunt” for maple trees’ samaras the same day. We had a great week of nature study, I have my own Nature Journal now too, and we are all looking forward to the next week of exploration. I heartily recommend it to anyone I know!
I would also recommend getting Keeping a Nuture Journal demonstration video, it has helped me greatly, I will not go into the detail here as I already left review for it, but trust me – it’s a must too.
If you are in the UK as we are, I have a little note for you: there are about 5 lessons (all about birds) that will need adjustment. I have looked it up and it’s easy to find an alternative, for example if the guide mentions crested bird – we can swap it for Firecrest let’s say and so on.
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