Source: Archive.org, Charlotte Mason Digital Collection, Florence Rankin, 1894.

In Home Education, Charlotte Mason referred to nature notebooks as nature journals. What is being recorded, however, is not a daily record of a person’s life, but a narration of the beauties God has revealed to us.  For a journal of any kind to be useful, the entries must be descriptive enough to give a sense of what the writer has seen, heard, tasted, touched, and smelled. It’s not surprising then, that one of the most common negative critiques of the House of Education student-teachers’ notebooks was a general lack of description:

Hussey, A. A. … There are too many vague and loose statements. (PR 27, p. 156)

Alfred Thornley explained: “Now and again the observations recorded are a little superficial, and sometimes words are too vaguely used, and sentences do not always convey a clear idea of what was really seen.” (PR 21, p. 228)

In the same way, Agnes Drury emphasized the importance of accuracy:

The interest in birds is remarkable, but there are few notes to enable the writer to recognise her bird a year later. Accuracy should be the aim as opposed to vagueness. For example, notes on dragonflies, with one exception, give no indication of the size, or even relative sizes. Generalisations about weather, harvest, fall of leaves, or differences between Ambleside and the South, if vague, are useless; but by exact statements evidence is accumulated. (PR 52, p. 62, emphasis mine)

In her article, “How to Keep a Nature Note-book,” Drury gives an example from her own book. Notice the level of detail seen in this record: Continue reading →

“The pleasure and value of every walk or journey we take may be doubled to us by carefully noting down the impressions it makes upon us.” —John Burroughs

Source: Archive.org, Charlotte Mason Digital Collection, Florence Rankin, 1894.

A cornerstone of a Charlotte Mason style nature notebook is the notes, and much of their value lies in their continuity. It’s unlikely that your book will represent a “pageant of the seasons” if several months have been skipped. Alfred Thornley said, “…it is essential that a nature note book should preserve a continuous record,” (PR 26, p. 233) and therefore, all of the House of Education examiners critiqued the student-teachers’ notebooks on how complete they were.

Vine. A very full and charming book …
C. Nevitt Bennett. A nice, full book, showing good powers of observation. …
…
Clendinnen. … The book appears to stop short with November.
S. Henderson. Apparently an incomplete book. The Ambleside records are scant; the account of the voyage to Canada is very good. The book stops suddenly on August 23rd. (PR 20 p. 230)

Repeatedly I read comments from the examiners that a book would have been great if not for significant gaps. My own book has been on hiatus on multiple occasions, so don’t feel any judgment from this corner! Still, learning what kinds of things to enter and when to make those entries has greatly increased my motivation. Continue reading →

Each of the aspects of nature study that we have talked about so far has focused on observation, but now we will begin looking at the expression of things observed by the use of a nature notebook. Charlotte Mason explained how keeping a nature notebook complimented the child’s interest in nature:

Children should be encouraged to watch, patiently and quietly, until they learn something of the habits and history of bee, ant, wasps, spider, hairy caterpillar, dragonfly, and whatever of larger growth comes in their way. … Let all he finds out about it be entered in his diary––by his mother, if writing be a labour to him,––where he finds it, what it is doing, or seems to him to be doing; its colour, shape, legs… (vol. 1, pp. 57-58)

Not only does this activity prime a young child for future narration lessons, but it also builds the habit of attention through a natural reward as the child gets to record the interesting things he has seen in his own nature notebook.

Charlotte Mason said that children should begin keeping a nature notebook as soon as they can keep it themselves, however, she allowed that a mother can take dictation for her child. She added that a five or six-year-old child should begin adding drawings to his nature notebook. Once lessons were begun, all children from Form 1 through Form 6 (grades 1-12) were instructed in their programme of work to “Keep a nature notebook.” There was a small amount of time on the morning schedule allowed for Brush Drawing in Form 1 (grades 1-3,) some of which could have been used to produce a nature drawing, but once a student reached Form 2, the foundation was laid and keeping a nature notebook became an afternoon occupation.

It was hoped, however, that every student would continue keeping a nature notebook beyond their school days, that it would become the work of a lifetime. In the article “Neglected Nature,” Pennethorne noted: “The ‘Nature Note Books’ still kept by the students of Ambleside are not, and never were, ‘lesson books’—they were personal records of a life lived in close communion with the life of the countryside around them.” (PR 46, p. 47)

The student-teachers at the House of Education were taught to keep their notebooks in a rather particular way. While they each reflected the student’s unique style, they all included, in some measure, the same components. Keep in mind that these students were young adults who were studying to be teachers themselves, so their books were held to a high standard. Eventually, it would be their job to inspire and guide the children in their care to keep a nature notebook of their own. Continue reading →