As homeschoolers, we seem to run in one of two directions, doing too much or isolating ourselves and our kids. It is so important to find a balance between the …
A Special Study: Let’s Learn About Mushrooms
Does nature study make you uncomfortable? What is it, after all? And how are you supposed to do it? When I was pretty new to this style of education, I …
Nature Study: Special Studies
What are Special Studies? A special study is a seasonal study of one object or group of objects — a plant or animal generally. Still, things like stars, shells, or …
Nature Study Lays the Foundation for Science
Form 1 science (grades 1-3) includes all nature study and no formal science. (e.g., chemistry or physics) That is hard for some people because they want to get to the …
The Lists
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,” …
A Brush Drawing Tutorial
The idea of keeping a nature notebook sounds so lovely, but for some people, the thought of making a nature painting is more than a little overwhelming! You may feel …
Brush Drawing for Nature Notebooks
Miss Mason, in her admirable system at the House of Education, gets her students to bring back leaves and buds of trees from their walks, and to copy them in …
Beginning Brush Drawing
The idea of keeping a nature notebook sounds so lovely, but for some people, the thought of making a nature painting is more than a little overwhelming! You may feel …
Nature Notes, part 2
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 …
Nature Notes, part 1
“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 A cornerstone …