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: Object Lessons
Charlotte Mason tells us that the young child is “full of vivid interest. He has a thousand questions to ask, he wants to know about everything; he has, in fact, …
Opening Their Eyes
Early on in my family’s Charlotte Mason education, nature study time just meant going outside to see what we could see. There was no plan. I’m not knocking that way …
Special Study – Minerals
Natural bodies are divided into three kingdomes of nature: viz. the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. Minerals grow, Plants grow and live, Animals grow, live, and have feeling. — Carolus Linnaeus, …
Special Study – Rocks
Every stone detective needs these things to work with: A knife or a steel file for scratching the stones, A piece of glass to make scratches on – get a …
Special Study – Soil and Soil Conservation
In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth. – Rachel Carson Where to look for books in your …
Implementing Special Studies – An Outline
Nature study is the foundation of formal science, and it shouldn’t stop in the upper grades. To facilitate much learning in the areas of botany, biology and earth science during …
Stuck at Home
I have been practicing what I preach, by doing a little nature study out the window! It’s been dreadfully cold and snowy here this week, as it has been over …
Winter Nature Study – From Inside
I marveled when I first read The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry and came across the section called Window Poems. He has since published a book devoted to these Window …