Category Archives: Natural History

Nature Lore: The Beginning of a Science Education

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“In Science, or rather, nature study, we attach great importance to recognition, believing that the power to recognise and name a plant or stone or constellation involves classification and includes a good deal of knowledge. To know a plant by its gesture and habitat, its time and its way of flowering and fruiting; a bird by its flight and song and its times of coming and going; to know when, year after year, you may come upon the redstart and the pied fly-catcher, means a good deal of interested observation, and of; at any rate, the material for science.” (3/236)

The primary means of science instruction in the early years of a Charlotte Mason education is through direct observation of the natural world. However, this wouldn’t be a Charlotte Mason-style curriculum if we didn’t have our books!  Therefore, children beginning school in Form 1 (grades 1-3) were assigned two “Nature Lore” books each term. The purpose of nature lore is to open the children’s eyes, help them know what to look for, and increase their interest and curiosity. Charlotte Mason said:   Continue reading →

The Lists

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In Form 3 (grades 7-8,) a new Natural History assignment appeared on the PNEU programmes. While in Forms 1 and 2 students were simply told to “Keep a nature notebook,” now in Form 3, they were instructed to keep a “Nature Notebook with flower, bird and insect lists, & make daily notes.”

“The Lists” as they were commonly referred to, were described by G. M. Bernau in this way:

The children should also keep a flower list, i.e., a diary of when each flower has been first seen in the year; a tree list, saying when each tree comes into leaf and flower; a bird list, stating when a bird is first seen, etc. (PR 4, p. 605)

Some students also kept lists of mosses, lichens, fossils, animals, and birds’ nesting dates, such as “the dates when the song was first heard, nest building began, eggs were laid and hatched, nestlings took flight.” (Drury, PR 24, p. 188)

Each list item included the common name of the specimen and also the scientific name. Alfred Thornley, an examiner of the House of Education student-teacher nature notebooks, exclaimed in his 1926 yearly report: “The searching out of the scientific names is a good discipline which helps to promote more exact observations, and to systematise them. Let us have scientific names please!” (PR 37, p. 137) Agnes Drury, Natural History teacher for the House of Education, explained further, that the use of Latin names shows the relationship between species where English names cannot.  Continue reading →

Embracing the Method

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I’ve had several opportunities over the last few years to lead workshops about Charlotte Mason’s method of science. Incredibly, there is so much to cover that even when I am given several hours and a particular topic or age range to focus on, I still find myself rushing because I know I cannot cover everything in time! Also, I know that there are so many of you who have not had the opportunity to attend a Charlotte Mason conference or retreat. Therefore, I have prepared an organized series of articles to share with you, starting with the nature work that begins before school and continuing through formal science.

Below is a chart that I created to show the progression of science within the Charlotte Mason method. Note that I’ve used the ditto mark (”) to indicate that an activity is continued in the next form. For instance, Special Studies are begun in Form 1 but are continued throughout all of the following forms. In fact, that is the theme of this chart — the idea that once an activity is begun, it continues throughout the student’s education. This is helpful information if you begin using Charlotte Mason’s method in a later form, because it may be necessary to spend a term giving some extra attention to the earlier forms before settling into the form that is appropriate for your child’s age. I also hope you will notice that we are building a foundation for science in the lower forms — a very necessary foundation. Continue reading →